Shanghai

I arrived 9 hours delayed to Shanghai due to "fog." Turns out, it was actually just the worst pollution day in recorded history of pollution for Shanghai. The reading on that day was higher than the scale had previously considered a maximum. Above 500. Here's a  very unnerving screengrab from a few days later, when the pollution levels had subsided considerably.  That said, the consensus is even at 167, we're squarely in the unhealthy zone! Me at the bund. With my breathing apparatus. 

Mari and I were really thrilled to be wearing these masks on our Shanghai Adventures.

Shopping for eyewear in Shanghai. I went with these:

Club 88 in Shanghai. Best people watching ever.

This is the view from Mari's apartment on the day I arrived (pollution-acalypse)

Same view, less pollution.

The Bund at Night from Captain's Bar:

Delicious Fried Pork Pastry. (And is was Kosher!)

This guy made me very happy.

This Maglev Train Goes Very Fast:

Me and my Baijiu shot

Hong Kong

Going out to the BIg Buddha was a ton of fun, check out the lady being carried up all those steps by her obviously brownie-points-deficient partner. The Epic Meal @ Lung King Heen

Walking around Hong Kong I saw stuff like this all the time. It made me hungry:

I love the sweater this dude is rocking on the Metro. He digs that G-Funk.

Yeah, fish sausage. What?:

This was the magazine they had for me when I showed up solo to the 3 Michelin starred Lung King Heen. Kudos to them for trying to think about my lack of conversation partner. But, they may have missed the mark by making the magazine about what it's like to own a personal jet. Yeah, I'm not the target audience of that place.

Obligatory tourist shot of me at the Peak. Kind of awesome:

India (Chandrashila Hike)

One of the things that pushed me out of my comfort zone the most on this trip thus far was my trek in the Himalaya. It wasn't all that long (4 Days), or all that high (about 4100m), but it definitely was a big push into things I'm less-than-totally-comfortable-with. Like, you know. Camping. And being really cold. Anyways, it was really rewarding and totally gorgeous. Here's a little about the place I was: Chandrashila is summit of the Tungnath . It literally means "Moon Rock". It is located at a height of about 4,000 metres above sea level

Here are some photos I snagged throughout the journey. Shout out to my trekking partner, Mia - she was a great thought and hiking partner during the four days.

The road we needed to use to get up to the trek start had been washed out in some pretty terrible landslides that happened back in June. Entire parts of town and road had been washed away:

This is where I camped on night one (also where that leopard was hanging out):

Some pics of the "Jungle" we trekked through to get to our second camping site:

I was pretty stoked to be out there:

I think this pretty much sums up what most of the scenery looked like on the way to the top: Being the city-slicker that I am, things like campfires truly impressed me. Here's a couple of pics of that plus our awesome guide Rohit, doing his survivorman thing:

We got to a point that the clouds kind of sunk into the mountains around us, it was kind of gorgeous:

Temple near the top of Chandrashila:

Mia and I early on summit day:

The ride back to Rishikesh looked like this the whole time (Bliss):

This is how I looked on the last day of the trek right after waking up, in the freezing cold and not having showered for a few days (I was thrilled with life I swear):

India (Rishikesh/Uttarakhand)

One of my first and longest lasting impressions of Rishikesh is how beautiful the sun hits the Ganga in that valley: White Water Rafting on the Mother Ganga:

On my first night at Seventh Heaven, I got invited to an Indian Wedding (As did everyone else in town, from what I can gather):

Pics from our kite-making and kite-flying event with the orphans from Ramana's Garden:

Right before gashing my foot attempting to "demonstrate" proper kite-flying technique. Lucy was amused, as she often is:

Vini (and Dennis!), my excellent Yoga Teacher during my time in Rishikesh, during the Orphan event:

My Friends @ Seventh Heaven. Enjoying one of our many meals and chats. Quite the Group:The Ram Jula Bridge looked crowded like this most of the time (see if you can spot the Elvis impersonator)

Rishikesh: Top 10 Thoughts to Remember

I think it's easy for me to say that my time in Rishikesh was one of the highlights, if not THE highlight of the trip thus far. There was a ton of amazing stuff going on with me while I was there, all of it pretty simple. However, I haven't really tried to document that time. Basically, it was a lot of yoga, a lot of laughing at immature things and hours of conversation with some truly inspiring + real people. I'll be posting some photos from Rishikesh soon (I Know, I Know, I'm WAY f-ing behind). That said, I wanted to share some of the great things my friends in Rishikesh reminded me to keep in mind as I progress through this excellent journey. Without Further Ado, My Top 10 Thoughts About How to Be Awesomer from Rishikesh:

1. Be Generous
2. Be Grateful
3. Be Real
4. Follow Your Heart
5. Be Fun
6. Check your Ego
7. Challenge Expectations (Yours, The World's, Physics')
8. Do. Not. Settle.
9. It is All Possible, Be Interesting
10. Be Uncomplicated

There are lots of similarities to things I've written about before that I'd like to focus on, but this list was compiled in the midst of some of the best times of the trip, and I wanted to call this time out specifically. Special shout-out to my co-conspirators from the Seventh Heaven Guesthouse that shared that time with me and contributed to this list. Those guys rocked.

Here's to keeping this stuff in mind for a long time to come.

Here's a pic, that kind of sums up how I felt when I was out there:

Laguna Esmeralda - Ushuaia

Homebrew served with our epic Nola themed dinner

Puerta Cerrada Restaurant

The Taj and I

India (Rajasthan)

So, it's taken me forever to write about India. And that's probably for the best. Well maybe not for the best that I effectively took a month off of updating the blog and documenting what I'd been up, but I think it's been good to let the Indian experience settle in my brain and heart a little before summing it up. I don't think I'll even try to do a full-on "this is what India was like" blog post. That is probably impossible. India was a lot of things. It was busy, it was dirty, it was crowded, it was delicious, it was challenging, it was beautiful, it was sad, it was really happy. It's a complicated place and I am thrilled I went there. The first thing I learned about India was that it is freaking huge. My initial hopes of doing a Big Tour of the country really were dashed pretty much out of the date. I was there about 6 weeks and that just isn't enough time to see "everything." There is a quote from this documentary about backpacking that I love: "India is where itineraries go to die." This is SPOT ON. The time in India broke down into Rajasthan, Rishikesh/Uttarakhand and Other.

The Rajasthan tour was tremendously productive, we saw a bunch of cities in a relatively short period of time. Something that wouldn't have been possible without our driver, Mohan.

Here's the top photos from my time in Rajasthan.

Red Fort in Delhi

Awesome door at the Fort in Jodhpur

Atop a Haveli in Nawalgarh

Amber Fort in Jaipur

Every Indian took photos with themselves in Mirrors at this Fort in Bikaner.

All Indians also took this photo:

Rat Temple (As gross as it sounds)

Awesome dude at Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur 

Jain Temple in Ranakpur

Cool Monkeys outside Jain Temple (Ranakpur)

Our excellent Rajasthan (and later Rishikesh) Travel Buddy Lucy in Jaipur

Crazy huge and heavy silver  water containers

Diwali in Udaipur

Jain Temple in Ranakpur

Business Class from Amman to Delhi (Two Months Ago)

Jordan Part 3: Wadi Rum

Things I loved about Wadi Rum:

1. Totally Unique and bizarre, beautiful landscape
2. The Rum Stars Beduoin Camp where we stayed
3. The group that was on our jeep
4. Hearing Akmed (the owner of the camp/guide) talk about life as a Beduoin and how that is changing because of technology and tourism. (Over alot of sugary tea of course)
5. The feeling of isolation you get being out there.
6. Climbing up the rocks! They're so sticky it makes walking up these rock so easy and getting to interesting viewpoints really fun and accessible.
7. Facing my fear of heights and climbing up to the arch and walking along the ledge to get the photo below

     

Jordan Part 2: Petra

Petra lived up to my expectations and then some. I loved hiking through the park and challenging myself with some pretty scary (for me) walks on ledges at pretty severe heights. The history there is also just beautiful to explore and experience. It's a magical place. I caught myself smiling for no reason the entire time we were there. Two days was a good amount of time but we could have easily spent some more time. The highlight was definitely entering Petra from behind and hiking up the mountain that the Monastery is on. Tremendous way to see the park. Beyond that, it often felt like we had the place to ourselves, the exact opposite of what I expected going in. Check out the photos below. Good Stuff:  

Jordan: Amman & Jerash

Some great things happened in Jordan. Really, some quite special moments. I'll be posting photo blogs of the two real highlights of the trip, Petra and Wadi Rum. But I wanted to have a post that highlighted my first few days in country. Some interesting stuff happened while I was in Amman: particularly, there was the struggle to find the bar that Litsy claimed was near the Jordan Tower Hotel. Jimmy (great Aussie who was staying in my dorm) and I walked in circles looking for beer. This proved fruitless, but was fun to remember exactly how stubborn I could be about trying to find things once I'd started. Anyways we spent way too much time looking for a place for beer. Turns out we needed to make our way to rainbow street in search of elusive beer (this being a Muslim country, beer isn't easy to come by).

Well, the context of the streets it happened to be pointing us down. We happened upon one particularly dark alley with a fair amount of distressed buildings around it and just one dude down at the end. Oh, by the way the end really wasn't clear in terms of what exactly it was. It just stopped being lit up and up a hill there was no way of knowing if the street continued or if this was a no-thru street. Anyways, as we approach this guy on the street on the too-dark road, walking up the hill. I notice that he has pulled out a knife and is brandishing it and he began kind of strangely hollering at Jimmy and I. This made us both rather uncomfortable. We walk in a long oval kind of around him. At this moment we noticed that there was a Jordanian approaching us from behind who had picked up speed. Right then, I was pretty concerned. I wasn't sure if the two dudes knew eachother, and most pressingly there was a guy jabbering at me in Arabic while playing with his switchblade on a pitch black street my first day in Amman. NOT a good look. Anyways, the guy behind us ended up being even more freaked out than Jimmy and I, and we escaped unscathed. But, it was a quick way to get the heart pumping and a good lesson about listening to Google Maps over some common sense in new places.

That night ended up pretty hysterically, we found beer at the Book Shop Cafe, which was really a great place to spend some time (although the beers were unbelievably expensive). Another interesting facet to the evening ended up being that the cafe, unbeknownst to us, converted into a hangout for gay Jordanians on Thursdays. So we spent a fair amount of time trying to figure out if we were in the right spot. Turns out we had a blast and were. But it also was a gay bar. Something, I didn't quite expect to be so easy to find in the center of Amman. Pretty interesting. 

Overall, I ended up loving Amman after at first being a little overwhelmed with the congestion and noise-pollution. The food was fantastic and the company was excellent.

The next day, we went to Jerash which really was a treat. Roman ruins from at least 100AD that were preserved really well and were just  remnants of a sprawling city. Easily the best ruins I've seen from Antiquity.

Here are some Jerash pics:

And then there was that time...

I moved to a hotel with a  bathroom I'm not scared of,  with clean white bleached American-sized towels, and a balcony overlooking a loud Indian wedding. And it felt like I'd won the lotto. #winningisrelative

Bonus: it has furniture!

The First 100 Days

Today is day 100 of the Big Trip. Thinking about what that means, I really have a hard time putting it all in perspective. One thing I've been thinking about is that it really feels like so much longer than just 100 days. Particularly given how many experiences I've had since leaving for Europe back in August. That's one of the main beauties of this journey, compacting so much of the life experience I cherish into what would otherwise be an impossibly short period of time for such a thing. On the other hand, I can't believe so much time has passed, and that my scheduled trip is about 40% complete. I have a hard time thinking it's November, and that on the other side of the planet my friends and family are prepping for the holidays while winter is looming. It's crazy to think it's already this far into the trip. But, that just reminds me how easily this time could have passed without going out on this journey. I'm pretty thrilled I'm here, and have been where I've been during these last 100 days. Here's to another 150 brilliant, fun and sometimes tough, but always interesting days.

With that sentiment, here's a recap of my top experiences thus far:

1. Jordan - Petra. This was such a great couple of days, it had everything I enjoy all compressed into a short period of time. Beautiful geography, great new people, great old people and physically & mentally demanding challenges. I'll never forget the hike up the back side of the mountain to enter the monastery or the amazingness of leaving through the Siq at dusk.
2. Israel - Hiking the Maktesh Ramon. This was a truly wild and fun experience and I did it completely alone. It forced me to face some fears and gave me some of the best scenery I've ever experienced in my life. Great decision to go there, an unexpected joy I think about often.
3. Joran - Wadi Rum. I always knew I'd be going to Wadi Rum, and I had really high hopes for the experience. And it did not disappoint. I'll be writing a post just about Wadi Rum with a bunch of the photos that hopefully capture the desolate beauty of this place. I found it magical sleeping out in the desert and trekking through what felt like other-worldly rock formations and peaceful, pink/orange hued dunes.
4. Italy - Positano Boat Ride. This was really early in the trip but just a pure, unhindered day of fun. Sharing it with Phil and Mom made it even better. I'll need to get Phil to come with me to my next sea-side destination to captain another boat.
5. Italy - Pizza Naples. I knew I would love the pizza here. I didn't think I would eat quite as much of it as I did. But it was glorious, and will be repeated.
6. Sweden - Lake House near Karlstad. I couldn't have come up with a more relaxing beautiful retreat if I had planned it myself (which I didn't, thanks Anders!). Hanging out in the sauna and taking dips in the midnight-moon-lit lake was pretty sweet.
7. Croatia - Not a ton happened in Croatia. And thats exactly how I wanted it. Hanging out with Sarah and LItsy, and sipping too many lattes in various cafes was a perfect vacation from my travels. Rejuvenating, if a little fattening (damn you eastern Europe for your delicious pastry obsession!).
8. Paris - Pure fun. This is what a weekend in Paris should be like. Tons of art. Great new friends. Great conversation. Amazing bread. Outstanding Cheese. These things won't soon be forgotten.
9. India - Salaam Baalak Trust City Walk. Litsy found this walk given by former Delhi street kids. It was one of coolest things I've ever done while traveling. I didn't see much other than the centers where the Trust cares for its children. But, I interacted with some lovely  kids who didn't have a home but clearly had a ton of spirit. Hearing the success stories of our guides, who turned the page from being homeless in Delhi to having big dreams was truly moving.
10. Israel - Prayer Service for Sukkot at The Western Wall. This was pretty great and again, unplanned. I couldn't understand a word of the prayer but I could feel the spirit of the thousands gathered around me in solemn unity.

Special Mention I: Indian Food. I can't eat exactly as much of it as I would like, but man the food here is pretty spectacular. I'm currently dreaming of returning to Pind Balluchi in Delhi and pigging out on various curry and tikka dishes.

Special Mention II:  Tel Aviv. What can I say, I love Tel Aviv. I'm not sure why. But it doesn't matter, it's a place I'll return to in the near future for sure. I look forward to more jogs along the beach, delicious food and great people watching.

Looking forward to much more stuff that feels like this:

Good Morning and Hello Rishikesh

Croatia: A rainy, delicious and fun couple of weeks

So, I'm pretty behind in updating the blog about where I've been and what I've been up to. I'm going to surmise that this has everything to do with having too much fun. There's definitely been plenty of that since the last few entries. I've also just tried to update random things I want to remember later, more in real-time as opposed to holding everything back for a long summary post. Either way, I like to keep at least one post that has the highlights of every stop on the trip. Without further ado, here is the one about Croatia: Croatia was the first place I had zero plans of visiting at the outset of the trip that  I ended up visiting. That has mostly to do with the Indian Visa Problems I'd managed to get into and a decent level of discomfort with being without my passport in Israel for a month. That along with hanging out with two of my favorite people in the world (Sarah and Litsy) lead me to Zagreb. I spent about two weeks in Croatia and it was a pretty rejuvenating time, I had the luxuries of being home (well, Sarah's home) and basically ate pastry, drank wine, saw a tiny amount of the coast and sipped a ton of lattes in Zagreb. Pretty excellent if a little waist-expanding.

My Highlights:

1. Hanging out with Sarah and Litsy in Zagreb.
2. Definitely spending time with Sarah in her home for the first time in eight years or so. IT's like we're officially friends again now that I've dined at her place. And crashed there for a couple of weeks!
3. Hiking around Plitvice Lakes National Park - pretty much the most stunning park I've ever been to.
4. Cafe Culture in Zagreb - Loved sipping lattes and getting made fun of for ordering huge,milky, half-caffeinated coffees all over town. I think my favorite place was Diva's (supplies!) or Kim's.
5. Making the best of some terrible weather along the coast in Rovinj and Rijeka - The weather was cold and rainy, but I managed to drink enough wine, make enough cured meat sandwiches and eat enough pastry to have fun out there in Istra with Lits.

The Croatia Photo Stream:

This is the boat we never got to ride that tour's the Fjord near Rovinj in Istra.

My favorite Bathroom sign of the trip thus far

Zagraeb involved a lot of lattes, here is one of my fave's from Diva Cafe (where they were very amused by my coffee order)

Chilling at Sarah's with Monty and Klio 

Random Zagreb street art

This was on the wall at a really cool dive bar we went to one of our last nights in Zagreb, I couldn't tell what the dude what doing and if this head was attached to a sewing machine or if he was carrying it.

Sarah showing me what life in Saudi was like some of the time

Gorgeous Plitvice Lakes National Park

Excellent food abounded in Zagreb these are from Didvo, but I also loved Trilogio

Some Cuban Heritage on Display in Zagreb

Budapest Highlights & Photo Stream

I spent a lovely weekend in Budapest before heading to Croatia. I had visited Budapest back during the Eurotrip in 2005 after graduate school and had loved it then. I definitely had that same feeling this second time around. It was a great way to spend a long weekend. Quick Highlights:

1. Amazing Dinner at  Borkonyha WineKitchen
2. Hungarian Cooking Class with Alicja - We made Hortobágyi palacsinta (Crepes with with savory meat, in this case it was Chicken Paprikas [They love them some Paprika in Hungary]) & Apple Cake - Delish. Also memorable was the homemade Apricot Jam we got to try and the market tour before the class.
3. Checking out the Ruin Pub Szimpla and The Beer Garden in our Neighborhood.

Market Tour Before the Class (Check out that sausage!)

Not sure why they had these cascading russian dolls things of ex and current presidents but they did.

  

We almost had breakfast at New York Cafe - but, they were charging like thirty bucks for continental breakfast, so we snagged this photo and ran out the back!!

Dinner at Borkonyha (This included my favorite bottle of wine of the whole trip)

Hungarian Cooking Class

A pic of Szimpla Kert (The Ruin Pub)

Then there was that time.....

I saw a severed cows head in a bucket at the fruit market in downtown Amman. PS I was discouraged from taking a picture by the fruit stall next door.

Camel ride in Petra