I had heard a lot of not-nice things about Bangkok... from the book Earth Odyssee, which described it as one of the most polluted cities on earth, to a friend from the Nepal portion who called it "soul sucking." But to be honest, Bangkok was much cleaner, quieter, politer, and MUCH more Western than Kathmandu. All of a sudden we had a room with A/C, western flush toilet, TP provided, a private (hot) shower, towels on the beds... we were in the lap of luxury. Meanwhile, we were across the street from a mall with A/C (see a theme) and all sorts of restaurants, including such things as Dairy Queen. We did some touristing and saw amazing temples and things, and people were really polite. The only weird thing had to do with tuk-tuks, but that'll have to be a separate story. Oh, and NOBODY HONKS. Which was an incredible difference from not only Kathmandu, but also most urban centers in developing countries where I've been.
So we ended up spending an extra day in Bangkok, which meant two nights and three days. We ate a lot of street food. Then we took a night bus to the south in an effort to reach the island of Koh Phangan, where there is a really famous Full Moon Party every month. When we found out that the party would work well with our proposed itinerary, we went for it.
For the overnight bus, we didn't book in advance so we ended up in third class. I might have chosen third class anyway, but Carla was having some weird skin issues (this seems to be a pattern in tropical areas!) and wanted to be able to lay down and put up her foot, which was unreasonably swollen from a mosquito bite. It really turned out ok-- there was no air conditioning but the windows opened really far, and I had brought my ground pad (second time using it in 3 months, yay!) so we put that down on the floor and one of us could sleep with our head under one bench seat and feet under the other while the other of us stretched out across the bench (which was a 2-seater; not very long). We arrived in the morning and basically got straight on a tourist bus, then a ferry, then a taxi, and finally arrived at our beach destination.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
Everest Recap
Before too much time gets between me and this part of the journey, let me recap the second part of our Everest journey.
We spent a rest day in Namche so we were there for two nights. While there, we met a group of doctors on a continuing education trip, and we just somehow ended up integrating ourselves to the level that we took off from there with them. On this part of the trip we had less weight (we left a bunch of extraneous stuff at a lodge between Namche and Lukla), there was less time spent hiking (since altitude changes dictated a slower pace) and overall we just had a LOT more free time. So it was great to be traveling with a group, since we benefited both from their wacky and cool personalities in the evenings for card games and social games, and we got to sit in on their courses, which ranged from insect transmitted diseases to how to avoid getting struck by lightning in the outdoors. I picked up quite a few new bits of knowledge.
The trip to Everest Base Camp was inspired by my friend Joe's status as an employee there, so I was REALLY excited the day of our summit to the camp... and instead I ended up crossing paths with him along the trail. Which was cool because I got to catch up with him and also meet his girlfriend, whom I'd heard plenty about but never met, but it kind of took the wind out of my sails for the trip to camp. Still, base camp ended up being great! Carla and I left the med group to go there, and we ended up chatting first with an American solo climber, and then we chatted up a group of Spanish climbers and got invited into their tent for a hot drink and a chat. This group was led by a badass woman who had been the first woman to climb all 14 peaks over 8000 meters tall, and was now leading the team to do all 14 without oxygen. So far the had accomplished all but Everest. I have the website info for them so we'll check it out-- and we might even be on Spanish TV! (their videographer took video of our conversation).
Thank goodness we are both Spanish speakers! Though to be fair probably our being female had a lot to do with having gotten the opportunity... base camp has some pretty skewed male/female ratios and we got a ton of attention just walking around the camp in our hiking skirts.
BTW, general info about base camp: it's a little village of tents, with no permanent structures. There are sleeping tents, which are short and igloo shaped, and cooking tents, communal tents, storage tents, and even toilet tents. The Spanish crew showed us their provision tent, which was chock full of all the Western junk food you could ask for, from cookies to hot chocolate to chips and candy. Though it seemed like paradise to our variety-starved palates, I'm sure they get pretty sick of it.
Climbers spend most of their 1-2 months at base camp. They will go higher for short periods to acclimatize at Camp 1 or Camp 2. They go up to Camp 3 briefly, and beyond that is the "Death Zone" where acclimatization is physiologically impossible, and basically you only go there for as long as you have to to summit and get the hell out. It takes I think 5 days to summit Everest from Base Camp, and people just wait for the weather to clear to go for it. Sometimes there is not a single window in the entire season and it just sucks to be you if you hung out for two months and paid tens of thousands of dollars for permits, guides, supplies, and support staff.
It's a crazy culture and I can't imagine wanting to climb those peaks, but some people live for it. In Namche we saw a couple of movies/documentaries about it and I would recommend you check it out if you're interested. One was Into Thin Air and the other was some National Geographic flick. People are just NOT designed to be up there (though Sherpas are genetically predisposed to be able to withstand much higher altitudes than we are). And it is no joke. We saw plenty of people not take it seriously, and we also saw some life-threatening altitude sickness. We personally met three people who got helicoptered out for medical treatment. One was in our med group, and one was a guy I hiked with for a day who had done the same treks as me and Carla, only faster. It happened all the time, and apparently 1-2 people a day DIE up there. It's crazy because it feels like you're just living life normally (albeit a little breathless) but it can creep up and kill you. We followed the rules and outside of a few headaches, we made it through with no trouble. We took our pulse throughout and after descending, and while we were in the 120s resting at altitude, I had a resting pulse rate of near 50 back in Kathmandu!
We spent a rest day in Namche so we were there for two nights. While there, we met a group of doctors on a continuing education trip, and we just somehow ended up integrating ourselves to the level that we took off from there with them. On this part of the trip we had less weight (we left a bunch of extraneous stuff at a lodge between Namche and Lukla), there was less time spent hiking (since altitude changes dictated a slower pace) and overall we just had a LOT more free time. So it was great to be traveling with a group, since we benefited both from their wacky and cool personalities in the evenings for card games and social games, and we got to sit in on their courses, which ranged from insect transmitted diseases to how to avoid getting struck by lightning in the outdoors. I picked up quite a few new bits of knowledge.
The trip to Everest Base Camp was inspired by my friend Joe's status as an employee there, so I was REALLY excited the day of our summit to the camp... and instead I ended up crossing paths with him along the trail. Which was cool because I got to catch up with him and also meet his girlfriend, whom I'd heard plenty about but never met, but it kind of took the wind out of my sails for the trip to camp. Still, base camp ended up being great! Carla and I left the med group to go there, and we ended up chatting first with an American solo climber, and then we chatted up a group of Spanish climbers and got invited into their tent for a hot drink and a chat. This group was led by a badass woman who had been the first woman to climb all 14 peaks over 8000 meters tall, and was now leading the team to do all 14 without oxygen. So far the had accomplished all but Everest. I have the website info for them so we'll check it out-- and we might even be on Spanish TV! (their videographer took video of our conversation).
Thank goodness we are both Spanish speakers! Though to be fair probably our being female had a lot to do with having gotten the opportunity... base camp has some pretty skewed male/female ratios and we got a ton of attention just walking around the camp in our hiking skirts.
BTW, general info about base camp: it's a little village of tents, with no permanent structures. There are sleeping tents, which are short and igloo shaped, and cooking tents, communal tents, storage tents, and even toilet tents. The Spanish crew showed us their provision tent, which was chock full of all the Western junk food you could ask for, from cookies to hot chocolate to chips and candy. Though it seemed like paradise to our variety-starved palates, I'm sure they get pretty sick of it.
Climbers spend most of their 1-2 months at base camp. They will go higher for short periods to acclimatize at Camp 1 or Camp 2. They go up to Camp 3 briefly, and beyond that is the "Death Zone" where acclimatization is physiologically impossible, and basically you only go there for as long as you have to to summit and get the hell out. It takes I think 5 days to summit Everest from Base Camp, and people just wait for the weather to clear to go for it. Sometimes there is not a single window in the entire season and it just sucks to be you if you hung out for two months and paid tens of thousands of dollars for permits, guides, supplies, and support staff.
It's a crazy culture and I can't imagine wanting to climb those peaks, but some people live for it. In Namche we saw a couple of movies/documentaries about it and I would recommend you check it out if you're interested. One was Into Thin Air and the other was some National Geographic flick. People are just NOT designed to be up there (though Sherpas are genetically predisposed to be able to withstand much higher altitudes than we are). And it is no joke. We saw plenty of people not take it seriously, and we also saw some life-threatening altitude sickness. We personally met three people who got helicoptered out for medical treatment. One was in our med group, and one was a guy I hiked with for a day who had done the same treks as me and Carla, only faster. It happened all the time, and apparently 1-2 people a day DIE up there. It's crazy because it feels like you're just living life normally (albeit a little breathless) but it can creep up and kill you. We followed the rules and outside of a few headaches, we made it through with no trouble. We took our pulse throughout and after descending, and while we were in the 120s resting at altitude, I had a resting pulse rate of near 50 back in Kathmandu!
Saturday, May 14, 2011
2nd perspective: Shivalaya to Namche
I actually haven’t read Carla’s last post as I write this, so forgive any redundancy. We’re in Bangkok and having to pay for internet, so I’m writing this offline and will upload it.
I can’t believe that it’s been nearly a month since we left Turkey for Nepal! Oh man, Turkey feels like a long time ago. So much happened in the last month, and each day stretched out so long (in a good way—we just had so much time to think with all the hiking and resting).
The first part of the journey, Shivalaya to Namche, was much harder than anything that followed (for the most part—stay tuned for the last few days). Each day we got up early, had breakfast, packed up and hiked till lunchtime, then ate, then hiked till somewhere between 4 and 6. Then we had dinner, and then usually we went to bed by 9 to get up and do it all again. The first day we hiked with the five guys we had joined up with, and on subsequent days it was either just the two of us or us two and this Israeli guy.
Carla just told me that she didn’t mention these guys in her post, so allow me to recap: on the bus to Shivalaya, we met a group of five guys who were planning largely the same treks. I will refer to them by their nationalities: English, Canadian, American, Belgian, and Israeli. We spent a 12 hour bus ride with them and we were all getting along really well! English was particularly funny—he did these great impressions of the kid who was running the show on the bus (“Hello ladies. Don’t know if you noticed, but I’m the bus conductor. If you want to chat about it, you know where to find me.”)
So yeah, we all hiked together the first day and we were all excited about our great group. Then as the days wore on, it seemed like the guys became increasingly involved in a 5-way bromance that required them to go ever faster, talk ever more about how badass they were, and increasingly ignore us girls. So by the end of day 5, when the guys were talking about doing a super long day 6 to get to Namche, we told them that we wanted to take it slow and would be leaving later and going the distance in two days. Carla and I had a great, peaceful last two days during which we went at our own pace.
Again I will backtrack a little to tell about our surroundings. From the time we left Kathmandu basically until we hit the trail from Lukla, we were in the land of the squat toilet. There is a wide range of squat toilets. Some have porcelain foot platforms in a cement floor. Others are little wooden sheds that make use of a hillside, with a couple of widely spaced boards suspended over a 6-foot drop, wherein you stand on the boards and let your business go down the space in between. For the most part, the squat toilets were preferable to the dirty, seatless, peed-upon thrones that we found a little later on the trail. It’s way easier to do the full squat down on your haunches than to try to hover-poo over something that’s already a foot tall.
Along the way, we saw virtually no tourists. We did see plenty of Nepalis, and we would always exchange a Namaste and often a little clasped-hand bow. We saw porters carrying unbelievable loads in wicker baskets suspended from the crowns of their heads, and often wearing sandals over the rugged rock paths.
We stayed in guest houses that were basic. The rooms were usually doubles, and Carla and I would get our own room. The bathroom was always elsewhere—sometimes indoors, sometimes outdoors—and showers ranged from a running, hot (or cold, depending) shower to a bucket shower with hot water. Showers cost extra, anywhere from $1.50 to over $4. Meanwhile, the rooms were anywhere from free (cause you’re buying dinner) to $0.75 a person. During the first week, Carla and I probably averaged about $10-15 a day on food, lodging, outlet charging, and showers. Together, not each.
It was a really spectacular taste of rural Nepali life, which largely ended when we hit the point where the trail joins up with the trail from Lukla (to which you can fly from Kathmandu). Suddenly white people were all around, squat toilets were replaced by (gross, seatless) thrones, and prices were double. Nepalis would sometimes answer your Namaste but rarely initiate it and never bow. So in general, the latter part of the journey was a diluted version of the first.
One more funny story from the first week: at one of the lodges, we found out that the owner had summited Everest twice AND met the Dalai Lama (Me: “You’ve met the Dalai Lama?” Him: “Yeah. Good guy.”) So we asked if we could take a photo with him, and he sat between us on the couch for it. With his hand on my butt. When he got up, I told Carla, “he patted my butt!” and she replied, “MINE TOO!” So basically, this guy took the opportunity to cop a double feel with some young ladies. Oh well, I guess I can’t begrudge him that. I wonder if we look surprised in the picture…
I can’t believe that it’s been nearly a month since we left Turkey for Nepal! Oh man, Turkey feels like a long time ago. So much happened in the last month, and each day stretched out so long (in a good way—we just had so much time to think with all the hiking and resting).
The first part of the journey, Shivalaya to Namche, was much harder than anything that followed (for the most part—stay tuned for the last few days). Each day we got up early, had breakfast, packed up and hiked till lunchtime, then ate, then hiked till somewhere between 4 and 6. Then we had dinner, and then usually we went to bed by 9 to get up and do it all again. The first day we hiked with the five guys we had joined up with, and on subsequent days it was either just the two of us or us two and this Israeli guy.
Carla just told me that she didn’t mention these guys in her post, so allow me to recap: on the bus to Shivalaya, we met a group of five guys who were planning largely the same treks. I will refer to them by their nationalities: English, Canadian, American, Belgian, and Israeli. We spent a 12 hour bus ride with them and we were all getting along really well! English was particularly funny—he did these great impressions of the kid who was running the show on the bus (“Hello ladies. Don’t know if you noticed, but I’m the bus conductor. If you want to chat about it, you know where to find me.”)
So yeah, we all hiked together the first day and we were all excited about our great group. Then as the days wore on, it seemed like the guys became increasingly involved in a 5-way bromance that required them to go ever faster, talk ever more about how badass they were, and increasingly ignore us girls. So by the end of day 5, when the guys were talking about doing a super long day 6 to get to Namche, we told them that we wanted to take it slow and would be leaving later and going the distance in two days. Carla and I had a great, peaceful last two days during which we went at our own pace.
Again I will backtrack a little to tell about our surroundings. From the time we left Kathmandu basically until we hit the trail from Lukla, we were in the land of the squat toilet. There is a wide range of squat toilets. Some have porcelain foot platforms in a cement floor. Others are little wooden sheds that make use of a hillside, with a couple of widely spaced boards suspended over a 6-foot drop, wherein you stand on the boards and let your business go down the space in between. For the most part, the squat toilets were preferable to the dirty, seatless, peed-upon thrones that we found a little later on the trail. It’s way easier to do the full squat down on your haunches than to try to hover-poo over something that’s already a foot tall.
Along the way, we saw virtually no tourists. We did see plenty of Nepalis, and we would always exchange a Namaste and often a little clasped-hand bow. We saw porters carrying unbelievable loads in wicker baskets suspended from the crowns of their heads, and often wearing sandals over the rugged rock paths.
We stayed in guest houses that were basic. The rooms were usually doubles, and Carla and I would get our own room. The bathroom was always elsewhere—sometimes indoors, sometimes outdoors—and showers ranged from a running, hot (or cold, depending) shower to a bucket shower with hot water. Showers cost extra, anywhere from $1.50 to over $4. Meanwhile, the rooms were anywhere from free (cause you’re buying dinner) to $0.75 a person. During the first week, Carla and I probably averaged about $10-15 a day on food, lodging, outlet charging, and showers. Together, not each.
It was a really spectacular taste of rural Nepali life, which largely ended when we hit the point where the trail joins up with the trail from Lukla (to which you can fly from Kathmandu). Suddenly white people were all around, squat toilets were replaced by (gross, seatless) thrones, and prices were double. Nepalis would sometimes answer your Namaste but rarely initiate it and never bow. So in general, the latter part of the journey was a diluted version of the first.
One more funny story from the first week: at one of the lodges, we found out that the owner had summited Everest twice AND met the Dalai Lama (Me: “You’ve met the Dalai Lama?” Him: “Yeah. Good guy.”) So we asked if we could take a photo with him, and he sat between us on the couch for it. With his hand on my butt. When he got up, I told Carla, “he patted my butt!” and she replied, “MINE TOO!” So basically, this guy took the opportunity to cop a double feel with some young ladies. Oh well, I guess I can’t begrudge him that. I wonder if we look surprised in the picture…
Friday, April 29, 2011
Everest or Bust
This update comes to you one week into our three-week trekking adventure in Nepal. As Audra described, we flew into Kathmandu and spent two busy days prepping for three weeks on the trail away from most modern conveniences. This trip would mark the longest consecutive amount of time either of us had spent backpacking/camping. Feeling pretty well prepared and having left a bag of stuff at our hotel in Kathmandu (who knew we had so much extra?) we set off on the dusty, bumpy, terrifying (think climbing next to sheer drop-offs while passing trucks around blind corners at full speed), exhilarating 12-hour bus ride to Shivalaya, from where we would begin a 6-day walk to Lukla before heading to Everest Base camp.
I don't think either of us realized exactly what we were in for. The hiking we did in the first 6 days of this trip has been by far the most strenuous physical challenge I've ever undertaken day in and day out. These 6 days were supposed to be a sort of "training and acclimatization" pre-trip, which I think we assumed would mean "gradual warm-up" but turned out to be more like, "if you can do this, the rest will be a piece of cake". Serves me right for not checking out the elevation gains and trail details in advance.
In short, those first 6 days were grueling. Both physically and mentally. We walked an average of between 7 and 10 hours each day, starting early and often arriving at our destination as it was getting dark. During that time, we climbed and descended between 700 and 1200 meters (not feet!) each day. I don't know if I've ever climbed 3000 feet in a day prior to this trip, and we did it at least three times, often on back to back days. For a point of reference (for those who live in the Bay Area), Mt. Diablo is 1,178 meters high.
Day 3 was the most challenging. After it was over, Audra and I marched ourselves down to the freezing cold mountain stream to soak our legs up to the hips, chanting songs back and forth to distract us from the pain of freezing limbs. That night, I hit a personal emotional low. Feeling overwhelmed by what was ahead of us and a strong pang of homesickness, I took control of the situation by rifling through my pack and separating anything that could be considered a "nice to have" from the "must haves". Goodbye book (that I was 3/4 of the way through!), goodbye hair conditioner! goodbye lotion! goodbye Afterbite (no mosquitoes this high anyways), goodbye extra black tank top! goodbye forever and good riddance. Though Audge and I pride ourselves on light packing, the term "light" takes on new weight (so to speak) when you have to carry all your stuff (or "S" as we call it) on your back up and down a few mountains.
Things improved from that point on. We've taken precautions to be very careful and kind with our bodies, as they are our only mode of transportation at this point. It's interesting how you pay attention to little aches and pains differently when you know you're 2 days' walk from the nearest medical care. We made it to the first major landmark in our journey, Namche Bazaar, the day before yesterday and were able to take a day to rest and acclimatize (we're at 3,400 meters here) before moving on. The altitude has been an interesting factor as well...both of us felt pretty strange (light headed, short of breath) going over a pass at about 3700 meters earlier on the trip, and Namche is just a bit below that. I developed a pretty uncomfortable headache our first night here (despite massive hydration) and started taking Diamox (acclimatization meds) on a preventative basis that evening. Interesting, but normal, side-effects include tingly fingers and lips. But the headache's gone! Pick your poison :)
Today we're hitting the trail again for a longer stint, about 2 weeks in total. The plan is to head up toward Everest Base Camp, following a group of doctors taking a wilderness medicine course (moms, dads, and relatives, that should make you feel good). After base camp, we'll split off to see the view from Kala Pattar before heading over the Cho La pass towards Gokyo and coming back down to Namche Bazaar via the Gokyo route. This is all assuming good acclimatization and healthy joints. Expect to hear from us on or around the 15th of May!
If you're curious where we're headed, you can see a simple map here: http://vic.com/nepal/map1.html
Check out the Lonely Planet website if you want more details. See you on the other side!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Traffic Laws? What Traffic Laws?
We have spent the last 30-ish hours in Kathmandu... this city is nuts!! Carla guessed that the right of way belongs to whoever is moving faster. The streets are absolutely teeming with people, and there are a million shops for all kinds of outdoor gear. Even though it's definitely cheaper to stay and eat and get around here than anywhere else we've been, our fear of being cold, hungry, and unable to find warm things and food have led us to drop a lot of money. Now we're equipped with down jackets and mittens, thick socks, new sunglasses (I of course lost mine in Greece--I basically lose everything when I travel--and Carla's broke), hiking pants for Carla, and a hat for me. We also bought out half the drugstore-- I mad-dogged Carla the whole time for being such a mom, but if I get sick I'll have to really butter her up to fork over the goods.
Tomorrow morning we will leave on a bus for Shivalaya and from there hike to Everest Base Camp. It should take some 17 days to get there, then 5 to get back to Lukla for a flight back to Kathmandu. This will be by far the longest hiking trip of my life, though to be fair we will be sleeping and eating in tea houses, which negates the need for most of the gear that limits the length of backpacking trips.
We will probably not post again till mid-May, but look forward to some epic pictures!
Tomorrow morning we will leave on a bus for Shivalaya and from there hike to Everest Base Camp. It should take some 17 days to get there, then 5 to get back to Lukla for a flight back to Kathmandu. This will be by far the longest hiking trip of my life, though to be fair we will be sleeping and eating in tea houses, which negates the need for most of the gear that limits the length of backpacking trips.
We will probably not post again till mid-May, but look forward to some epic pictures!
Dubai: Supersize Me!
When we were shopping from flights from Istanbul to Kathmandu, the one that was cheapest by far was on the airline FlyDubai. It had an 18 hour layover in Dubai, so we decided to go for it and I posted on facebook to see if anyone knew anyone there we could crash with. True to form, my good friend Ghyrn, who has connected me with more awesome people than I can count, introduced me by email to his friend Jeremy who lives in Dubai, and we were set!
I was actually pretty excited about Dubai, which is in the United Arab Emirates, since one of the hostel workers in Jordan had showed us a bunch of pictures of the city and its architecture back in March. Sure enough, when we got off the plane the first thing I noticed—other than the blessedly warm weather—was the spire of the world’s tallest building rising in the distance.
We took a cab to Jeremy’s building and called him. He was coming back from Abu Dhabi in an hour and a half, so we left our packs in the lobby and went to the mall adjacent to his building. Biggest mall in the world, turns out! And—where do I begin? Dubai is like Vegas on steroids. More lights. More fancy cars. Taller buildings, bigger malls, more recent technology—you name it! This mall was full of all the usual stores you’d find anywhere, plus an ice skating rink, a completely ENORMOUS fountain covering 2+ stories of walls, extremely fancy restaurants, and familiar not-so-fancy restaurants including Chilis, California Pizza Kitchen, Au Bon Pain… it would have taken all day to see this whole mall. One thing I saw there that I’d never seen before was 3D television. So it felt like this place was stop #1 for technology that hadn’t even made it to America yet, and it was all very mind-blowing.
Not one store was un-Western. Not one ad showed a person who looked un-Western (I mean, there were Asian looking people in the ads but wearing Western clothes, and there was a notable absence of anyone Arabic looking or wearing so much as a hijab. Carla pointed out how alienating it might feel to the local women to feel marginalized in this way in their own homeland.) Also, not one worker we saw looked un-Asian. By which I mean Indian/South Asian or East/Southeast Asian, aka not Middle Eastern (or white).
Honestly we could have been in Houston. The only difference were that some 10% of people were wearing outfits that would have been rare back home—either full black robes with only a slit for the eyes (women) or long gowns and white or checkered head coverings held on with a round rope (men).
After getting lost and finally making it out of the mall, we met Jeremy at his building, which is a combo fancy hotel and apartment building. It. Was. Fancy. His apartment was far nicer than ANY residence I’ve seen inhabited by anyone our age. And I guess it has elements of a hotel, in that it gets cleaned and stocked with mini-shampoos and stuff (Jeremy, it took tremendous restraint not to steal your roommate’s mini-shampoos). There were 2.5 baths to 2 bedrooms, and on either side balconies looked out onto the spectacular night lights of the uber-skyscraper, the mall, and a fountain which is the—wait for it—yep, the biggest in the world, which had incredible water-light-music shows every half hour.
We hung out and watched a few shows and chatted over some wine, then went out to an Asian fusion restaurant where Jeremy treated us to what was BY FAR the nicest meal we’ve had since our travels began. Other than one time when we each got our own kebab sandwich, we always share meals. Which is something I really love about traveling with Carla—it saves money and keeps me from stuffing my face, and food is never wasted; our plates are always scraped clean. But we ate everything we wanted at this place and the food was awesome. Another thing to point out is that you can apparently get absolutely any kind of food in Dubai.
So we had a nice relaxed dinner, the three of us, and Jeremy paid for us so then we took him out for ice cream. On the way back we dawdled, walking slowly and stopping to look at fancy cars. It struck me that the whole evening felt a lot like… a date. But a 2-on-1 date. Regardless, it was a really great evening, and I was left with a great impression of Dubai!
Our 2-on-1 date... Why isn't that a more standard practice? Actually, once I brought a friend along on a first date with someone I met online, and it was really awkward.
I was actually pretty excited about Dubai, which is in the United Arab Emirates, since one of the hostel workers in Jordan had showed us a bunch of pictures of the city and its architecture back in March. Sure enough, when we got off the plane the first thing I noticed—other than the blessedly warm weather—was the spire of the world’s tallest building rising in the distance.
We took a cab to Jeremy’s building and called him. He was coming back from Abu Dhabi in an hour and a half, so we left our packs in the lobby and went to the mall adjacent to his building. Biggest mall in the world, turns out! And—where do I begin? Dubai is like Vegas on steroids. More lights. More fancy cars. Taller buildings, bigger malls, more recent technology—you name it! This mall was full of all the usual stores you’d find anywhere, plus an ice skating rink, a completely ENORMOUS fountain covering 2+ stories of walls, extremely fancy restaurants, and familiar not-so-fancy restaurants including Chilis, California Pizza Kitchen, Au Bon Pain… it would have taken all day to see this whole mall. One thing I saw there that I’d never seen before was 3D television. So it felt like this place was stop #1 for technology that hadn’t even made it to America yet, and it was all very mind-blowing.
Not one store was un-Western. Not one ad showed a person who looked un-Western (I mean, there were Asian looking people in the ads but wearing Western clothes, and there was a notable absence of anyone Arabic looking or wearing so much as a hijab. Carla pointed out how alienating it might feel to the local women to feel marginalized in this way in their own homeland.) Also, not one worker we saw looked un-Asian. By which I mean Indian/South Asian or East/Southeast Asian, aka not Middle Eastern (or white).
Honestly we could have been in Houston. The only difference were that some 10% of people were wearing outfits that would have been rare back home—either full black robes with only a slit for the eyes (women) or long gowns and white or checkered head coverings held on with a round rope (men).
After getting lost and finally making it out of the mall, we met Jeremy at his building, which is a combo fancy hotel and apartment building. It. Was. Fancy. His apartment was far nicer than ANY residence I’ve seen inhabited by anyone our age. And I guess it has elements of a hotel, in that it gets cleaned and stocked with mini-shampoos and stuff (Jeremy, it took tremendous restraint not to steal your roommate’s mini-shampoos). There were 2.5 baths to 2 bedrooms, and on either side balconies looked out onto the spectacular night lights of the uber-skyscraper, the mall, and a fountain which is the—wait for it—yep, the biggest in the world, which had incredible water-light-music shows every half hour.
We hung out and watched a few shows and chatted over some wine, then went out to an Asian fusion restaurant where Jeremy treated us to what was BY FAR the nicest meal we’ve had since our travels began. Other than one time when we each got our own kebab sandwich, we always share meals. Which is something I really love about traveling with Carla—it saves money and keeps me from stuffing my face, and food is never wasted; our plates are always scraped clean. But we ate everything we wanted at this place and the food was awesome. Another thing to point out is that you can apparently get absolutely any kind of food in Dubai.
So we had a nice relaxed dinner, the three of us, and Jeremy paid for us so then we took him out for ice cream. On the way back we dawdled, walking slowly and stopping to look at fancy cars. It struck me that the whole evening felt a lot like… a date. But a 2-on-1 date. Regardless, it was a really great evening, and I was left with a great impression of Dubai!
Our 2-on-1 date... Why isn't that a more standard practice? Actually, once I brought a friend along on a first date with someone I met online, and it was really awkward.
Turkey III
We were in Istanbul for a week, and at first that seemed like too much time but it ended up being fine. We did some couchsurfing, which was interesting (and cheap) but also had its downsides. For the uninitiated, Couchsurfing.org is a website where you can have a profile and either stay with strangers (who you can scope out based on what previous surfers have said about them) or host people who are passing through. I used its counterpart, hospitalityclub.com, in Europe in 2006 and always had good experiences, but had never used either one since then. At this point we were ready to lay a little lower and save some money, so we got online and stayed first for two nights with a couple of very nice guys in a very cool apartment that was far from everything, and then for three nights with two very nice guys in a well located but... um, well let’s just say that when you are two 30-ish men living alone, sometimes your space is not up to the standards of women. Neither house had an oven, which was a bummer because we bought supplies for making hallah before figuring it out, and ended up hauling flour around the city and accidentally abandoning it in house #2.
We made the transition to Mehmet’s house on Monday and that basically ended up eating our day. It took a while to get going in the morning, and then we had to take a ferry to the Asian side of the city and a bus to his neighborhood, then wait for him. When we got to the house we did laundry and went to the grocery store, then cooked dinner for the two guys and ourselves. On the stove, naturally, even though I’d shopped/planned for a casserole!
The next day we took a ferry to one of the Prince’s Islands and this was one of the highlights for me. The islands are sort of distant suburbs to the city, and it was full of huge and elaborate, though startlingly run-down, mansions with lots of nice gardens, trees, and open green space. We hiked all over the island and got great views on all sides. We also found some great baklava and ate a lot of it. The funny thing about the day was that we had accidentally left the house almost without cash, so we had to strategize carefully to keep enough for all the transit rides! This involved trading the last of our Euros with a Dutch girl for Lira and begging more than one ferry guard for mercy (once when we accidentally bought the wrong tokens, once when we took the wrong ferry and had to turn around). The day was fun and the island was just so peaceful and serene. There are no cars on the island aside from emergency vehicles and a 3-vehicle funeral procession that we saw next to the (beautiful) cemetery, but all the roads are wide and paved! It seemed like a strange allocation of resources…
The boat ride back to the city took place near sunset...
That night we got back hours later than we had planned. Our host Mehmet had planned this outing to see live Balkan music, and the preview recordings he played for us sounded great! Then the night of the event, he had gone on out early, and his roommate who was supposed to take us got sick so he gave us (really bad, it turns out) directions to the bus stop and then Mehmet took a good half hour to meet us at the Burger King where we were supposed to wait for him. We go to the club at 1 and the band had long since finished. So we danced at the club for a while, but we were tired and it was only a so-so night out. My kind of party night—and this has been true since college and before—starts by 10 and ends by 2, and that’s why I know I was meant to be young in the US and not in Europe!
The following day we had to transition to the other homestay since the guys at the first place both left town. It was raining and we spent most of the afternoon in the modern art museum and then window shopping and reading in cafes in the Taksim area, where there are a lot of Western stores and it looks just like the pedestrian malls of… every other European capital. I was about to say with more kebab shops, but there are a lot of those in Europe too. We got to our new homestay that night, made some conversation, and went to bed early.
Friday we went out and did a few more touristy things, and I was REALLY GLAD that we made it to the Basilica Cistern. I expected an underground water tank, but in fact it was… well, it was an enormous room full of evenly spaced pillars holding up an arched brick ceiling. The floor was covered in clear water (you walk around on platforms) and the columns are all eerily lit with orange lights. I found it spectacularly creepy and ancient feeling! The cistern dates from the 6th century, when it was used to store water for royalty. Given the time of its construction, it really seemed like a marvel! We also went to see Hagia Sophia (cool but not mind-blowing) and the spice market (so many free samples!)
Our last day was dedicated to logistics for our upcoming travel. We planned a Nepal itinerary and sent it to our families, tied up loose ends that would require a computer (aside from this catch up blogging, which I’m doing on the plane and will hopefully get a chance to upload in Kathmandu) and so on. In the afternoon we went out and had a nice lunch, then looked for a place to print some documents including our flight confirmation and the Everest Base Camp chapter from the Lonely Planet Nepal guide we’d purchased online as pdfs.
This episode ended up being hilarious. First we asked around about where to print. A guy in a café gave us directions and then told us to come back afterwards and he’d treat us to a tea. We went on down the road he indicated and asked someone in a photo studio. That guy only spoke basic English, but he came with us and asked in all the shops down the street until we found one that would do it. There, a boy who spoke even LESS English helped us communicate with the other people there who spoke NONE. First they printed it such that the pages were huge (rather than book-style, it was twice the side and each book page had its own sheet). We tried to indicate that we wanted it printed two pages to a side, double sided. Which ended up being hilarious because Carla demonstrated this with one hand in front of her, then the other, then again lower down, in such a way that she looked like she was a mime doing the I’m-stuck-in-an-invisible-box routine!
The guy made a few sample copies and it looked right except that there were 2 copies of each page (side 1: page 59 and page 59. Side 2: page 60 and page 60). We pointed this out using sign language. He tried again and now there were FOUR pages to a side! We sent him back again (all with lots of laughter and good nature all around, thankfully). Then we got it back to 2 to a page, only this time it was out of order (60 then 59, etc) so we pointed THAT out, and finally he got it just right. We all high fived each other. High fives were the common language in that print shop.
Then we went back to that tea shop and sure enough, our Cassanova treated us to not only tea but also two beers each and one Raki (anise liquor, ubiquitous in the regions we have traveled on this trip under different aliases (Arak, Ouzo)). He had similarly recruited three Spanish girls and two Czech girls, so the table contained 7 hot women plus these two Turkish guys, which was funny because it was so blatant. Still, they wouldn’t let us pay for anything, and it was fun to sit around getting tipsy with such an international crew.
The day before at the spice market we’d met a Turkish-Italian guy named Roberto who was cool and seemed genuine. He gave us his number and we’d made plans to have dinner with him that same night, so we ended up telling him to come to this place and he came with his friend who also works in the market. Then it came out that his name was not Roberto and he wasn’t Italian—basically he’d told us all kinds of stories before he thought he’d ever see us again, so we got to make lots of fun of him as his real story came out. I’ve done similar things—when you meet someone in a random place, it can seem fun to give a fake name and a fake story. I’ve never really been burned before, except by one guy I met at a Pomona happy hour and told I was pursuing a career as an actress and really went into great detail before telling him it was all a joke. He wasn’t amused and I’ve never spoken to him again. But I digress.
We left the café and these two guys, “Roberto” as we continued to call him and his friend, took us to a local restaurant where we got one last dose of our fave Turkish food (meat and eggplant in garlicky yogurt with tomato sauce). These guys insisted on paying for our meal! They also got charged WELL under what the menu had said (the perks of speaking Turkish?) and then tried to bargain the price down further before paying.
We got home and got some sleep before leaving for the airport the next day. We managed to spend every last lira cent at the airport before jetting out of Turkey and on to… Dubai. Which I didn’t think would be a stop at all, but it ended up being one of the most interesting ones yet!
We made the transition to Mehmet’s house on Monday and that basically ended up eating our day. It took a while to get going in the morning, and then we had to take a ferry to the Asian side of the city and a bus to his neighborhood, then wait for him. When we got to the house we did laundry and went to the grocery store, then cooked dinner for the two guys and ourselves. On the stove, naturally, even though I’d shopped/planned for a casserole!
The next day we took a ferry to one of the Prince’s Islands and this was one of the highlights for me. The islands are sort of distant suburbs to the city, and it was full of huge and elaborate, though startlingly run-down, mansions with lots of nice gardens, trees, and open green space. We hiked all over the island and got great views on all sides. We also found some great baklava and ate a lot of it. The funny thing about the day was that we had accidentally left the house almost without cash, so we had to strategize carefully to keep enough for all the transit rides! This involved trading the last of our Euros with a Dutch girl for Lira and begging more than one ferry guard for mercy (once when we accidentally bought the wrong tokens, once when we took the wrong ferry and had to turn around). The day was fun and the island was just so peaceful and serene. There are no cars on the island aside from emergency vehicles and a 3-vehicle funeral procession that we saw next to the (beautiful) cemetery, but all the roads are wide and paved! It seemed like a strange allocation of resources…
The boat ride back to the city took place near sunset...
That night we got back hours later than we had planned. Our host Mehmet had planned this outing to see live Balkan music, and the preview recordings he played for us sounded great! Then the night of the event, he had gone on out early, and his roommate who was supposed to take us got sick so he gave us (really bad, it turns out) directions to the bus stop and then Mehmet took a good half hour to meet us at the Burger King where we were supposed to wait for him. We go to the club at 1 and the band had long since finished. So we danced at the club for a while, but we were tired and it was only a so-so night out. My kind of party night—and this has been true since college and before—starts by 10 and ends by 2, and that’s why I know I was meant to be young in the US and not in Europe!
The following day we had to transition to the other homestay since the guys at the first place both left town. It was raining and we spent most of the afternoon in the modern art museum and then window shopping and reading in cafes in the Taksim area, where there are a lot of Western stores and it looks just like the pedestrian malls of… every other European capital. I was about to say with more kebab shops, but there are a lot of those in Europe too. We got to our new homestay that night, made some conversation, and went to bed early.
Friday we went out and did a few more touristy things, and I was REALLY GLAD that we made it to the Basilica Cistern. I expected an underground water tank, but in fact it was… well, it was an enormous room full of evenly spaced pillars holding up an arched brick ceiling. The floor was covered in clear water (you walk around on platforms) and the columns are all eerily lit with orange lights. I found it spectacularly creepy and ancient feeling! The cistern dates from the 6th century, when it was used to store water for royalty. Given the time of its construction, it really seemed like a marvel! We also went to see Hagia Sophia (cool but not mind-blowing) and the spice market (so many free samples!)
Our last day was dedicated to logistics for our upcoming travel. We planned a Nepal itinerary and sent it to our families, tied up loose ends that would require a computer (aside from this catch up blogging, which I’m doing on the plane and will hopefully get a chance to upload in Kathmandu) and so on. In the afternoon we went out and had a nice lunch, then looked for a place to print some documents including our flight confirmation and the Everest Base Camp chapter from the Lonely Planet Nepal guide we’d purchased online as pdfs.
This episode ended up being hilarious. First we asked around about where to print. A guy in a café gave us directions and then told us to come back afterwards and he’d treat us to a tea. We went on down the road he indicated and asked someone in a photo studio. That guy only spoke basic English, but he came with us and asked in all the shops down the street until we found one that would do it. There, a boy who spoke even LESS English helped us communicate with the other people there who spoke NONE. First they printed it such that the pages were huge (rather than book-style, it was twice the side and each book page had its own sheet). We tried to indicate that we wanted it printed two pages to a side, double sided. Which ended up being hilarious because Carla demonstrated this with one hand in front of her, then the other, then again lower down, in such a way that she looked like she was a mime doing the I’m-stuck-in-an-invisible-box routine!
The guy made a few sample copies and it looked right except that there were 2 copies of each page (side 1: page 59 and page 59. Side 2: page 60 and page 60). We pointed this out using sign language. He tried again and now there were FOUR pages to a side! We sent him back again (all with lots of laughter and good nature all around, thankfully). Then we got it back to 2 to a page, only this time it was out of order (60 then 59, etc) so we pointed THAT out, and finally he got it just right. We all high fived each other. High fives were the common language in that print shop.
Then we went back to that tea shop and sure enough, our Cassanova treated us to not only tea but also two beers each and one Raki (anise liquor, ubiquitous in the regions we have traveled on this trip under different aliases (Arak, Ouzo)). He had similarly recruited three Spanish girls and two Czech girls, so the table contained 7 hot women plus these two Turkish guys, which was funny because it was so blatant. Still, they wouldn’t let us pay for anything, and it was fun to sit around getting tipsy with such an international crew.
The day before at the spice market we’d met a Turkish-Italian guy named Roberto who was cool and seemed genuine. He gave us his number and we’d made plans to have dinner with him that same night, so we ended up telling him to come to this place and he came with his friend who also works in the market. Then it came out that his name was not Roberto and he wasn’t Italian—basically he’d told us all kinds of stories before he thought he’d ever see us again, so we got to make lots of fun of him as his real story came out. I’ve done similar things—when you meet someone in a random place, it can seem fun to give a fake name and a fake story. I’ve never really been burned before, except by one guy I met at a Pomona happy hour and told I was pursuing a career as an actress and really went into great detail before telling him it was all a joke. He wasn’t amused and I’ve never spoken to him again. But I digress.
We left the café and these two guys, “Roberto” as we continued to call him and his friend, took us to a local restaurant where we got one last dose of our fave Turkish food (meat and eggplant in garlicky yogurt with tomato sauce). These guys insisted on paying for our meal! They also got charged WELL under what the menu had said (the perks of speaking Turkish?) and then tried to bargain the price down further before paying.
We got home and got some sleep before leaving for the airport the next day. We managed to spend every last lira cent at the airport before jetting out of Turkey and on to… Dubai. Which I didn’t think would be a stop at all, but it ended up being one of the most interesting ones yet!
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