Ruins

Ruins of Angkor

Posted on June 18, 2013 by peachandbones

After our week of fun with the family in Phuket, Thailand half of them headed home, but Jen and Paul were able to stick around and join us for the next leg of the journey into Cambodia. The four of us booked it out of Thailand and into Cambodia so that Paul would have enough time to see as much as he could before heading home one week later. It took us only one full day to make our way from Phuket to Siem Reap, Cambodia–the gateway to the ruins of Angkor.

By this point in our trip Sarah and I were seasoned land-border-crossers, but it was a first for Jen and Paul. There’s really not much to it. You get an exit stamp from the country you’re leaving, walk through some sort of buffer zone to a building to pay for and receive your visa, and the finally walk a bit further to get an entry stamp for the country you’re entering. Most of the time this process is pretty straight forward, but occasionally you encounter someone trying to run a scam. In this case the only scam we encountered, but avoided, was a fake visa issuing building that charges double the going rate for a visa. In the case of Cambodia a visa costs about $23, which is what we paid.

The contrast between Thailand and Cambodia was immediately obvious at the border. As soon as we entered Cambodia the feel of everything changed. Cambodia was less organized, a bit more hectic and there was far more trash lying around. Sarah and I had seen places like this and worse but it was interesting to see it settle in for Jen and Paul. Thailand is a pretty clean and well organized country by most standards, so leaving it and entering Cambodia created a whole new vibe for the trip.

From the border we took a two hour taxi ride to Siem Reap. We researched the trip ahead of time and knew approximately what the two hour journey should cost. With a little negotiating we easily reached that price ($12 per person). Our taxi was a fly Toyota Camry from the early 90’s. Cambodia is full of Toyota Camrys. It seems like it’s the only car on the road at times. Maybe they get some sort of bulk discount. 😉

The taxi driver dropped us on the side of the road in an unknown location where a few tuk tuks (I think they call them Motos in Cambodia) were waiting to receive us. We’d read that the tuk tuk drivers will take you to your hotel for free if you agree to use them as your mode of transport around the Angkor ruins. The ruins area is a massive complex and so this is the most popular and easiest way to see them. Before knowing what the going rate for this “tour” around the ruins was we didn’t want to agree to use these particular tuk tuk drivers. So we instead negotiated on a set price to take us to the hotel of our choice. With the four of us and our luggage we had to hire two tuk tuks.

Instead of taking us to the hotel we requested, and that they originally agreed to take us to, they took us to a different hotel where they presumably hoped to receive a commission for bringing us to. We don’t like to support this kind of tactic and so refused to even look at the rooms and insisted they take us to the hotel we requested. Either because of language barrier issues or shear stubbornness, they wouldn’t take us to the hotel. So we grabbed our bags and walked away without paying them the fare. We quickly found another tuk tuk driver who was willing to take us to the correct hotel and at a reasonable price. Being the nice, honest fella he was, we decided to hire him to be our driver for the next two days to make our way around the Angkor ruins complex.

The Angkor complex contains many temple ruins, with the most well known being Angkor Wat. We spent two full days touring the temples via tuk tuk and walking. Both days had beautiful skies, though the heat was a little oppressive at times. The first day of the tour consisted of seeing the temples along the large loop road (green road shown above). The second day we arose early to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat (the largest religious temple in the world) and then continued along the small loop road (red road shown above) to see a few more ruins sites. The complex dates back 1200 years and more temples are still being discovered.

For more info on the Angkor ruins check out Wikipedia or the UNESCO site. It’s an amazing place and I feel fortunate to have seen and walked in such a fascinating historical site. The pictures below don’t do it justice but I hope you enjoy them. Click on any of the images to view all of them in a slideshow format.

Categories: Ruins, Traveling | Tags: Angkor, Angkor Wat, Border Crossing, Cambodia, Siem Reap, thailand | 4 Comments

The Blue City: Jodhpur

Posted on February 28, 2013 by peachandbones

The last city we visited in Rajasthan was Jodhpur, also known as the “Blue City” because of the many blue painted homes. The blue color is historically indicative of the Brahmin caste of the Hindu society, but the use of the color in modern times has spread to, well, anyone that wants to paint their house blue. Whatever the reason, it looks really cool, especially in contrast to the brown sandstone fort set high above the city.

Blue houses of Jodhpur

During our brief two day visit we decided to finally do a proper tour of a fort. There are quite a few forts in the Indian state of Rajasthan but up until visiting the fort in Jodhpur we’d simply done a walk through on our own without a hired guide or audio-guide. As part of the admission fee in the Mehrangarh Fort an audio-guide was included. The information provided in the guide was great. It was very informative and professionally narrated. Later in our travels we found out from a fellow traveler that most of the audio tours in Rajasthan are well done. Oh well, at least we were able to experience one.

Unlike the fort in Jaisalmer, which had hotels, restaurants, and stores inside, the Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur could only be seen from the inside by paying an entrance fee. The fort was more of a museum. We were able to walk through the old living quarters and meeting chambers as well as view the city below from the many balconies and walls around the fort. Because the fort sits so high up from the rest of the area there are views as far as the eye can see and the haze surrounding the city will allow. As with theme parks in the U.S. there were a few actors and musicians placed throughout the grounds of the fort to help replicate the atmosphere of old. Though, the musicians would only squeak out a handful of notes in an attempt to get a donation and then stop if no donation was given.

View of the fort from the city below.

View from one of the balconies of the fort.

Enjoying the audio tour. Those circles behind me on the wall mark the spot where cannon balls hit during battle. The fort was never penetrated in its history.

Supposedly the spot where wives of a previous ruler left their hand prints with orange paint as they left the fort to commit suicide in response to the ruler’s (their husband) death.

Nice turban.

One of the courtyards inside of the fort.

Actor pretending to smoke opium from a hookah.

One of several balconies used by the aristocracy to look down on the city.

Beautifully decorated hall.

Assembly room for the emperor and his guests.

Another courtyard. I really like the sandstone carving, especially the awnings over the windows.

A handful of examples of different turban rapping styles and colors.

One of the cannons collected by the army during a victory.

Looking down on the blue city from the fort walls.

Another cannon collected from a victorious battle.

One of the musicians squeaking out a few notes for a donation.

Flag flying on the fort wall.

Near the fort was the Jaswant Thada mausoleum dedicated to the past rulers of Jodhpur. On our second full day in the city we took the slightly longer walk from our hotel to the mausoleum. The main building on the premises is made of a white translucent marble. At first I thought the marble was thin enough to allow light to pass through but it turns out that the marble is pretty thick and just naturally translucent. The main building is surrounded by individual sealed chambers housing the remains of past rulers as well as a few large grassy areas. Unlike the bustling Mehrangarh Fort we’d visited the day before, the mausoleum had a fraction of the visitors. Because of this we decided to seize on the opportunity and take a rare break from the usual hustle and bustle of India and perch ourselves under a tree on the lawn outside the mausoleum.

Statue of a man and horse near the Jaswant Thada mausoleum pointing to the Mehrangarh Fort.

Jaswant Thada mausoleum.

A painting of one of the many emperors inside of the Jaswant Thada. There was a painting of each emperor from as far back as the middle of the 13th century. Interestingly, all of the images were pretty much the same.

Front of the Jaswant Thada mausoleum.

Front of the Jaswant Thada mausoleum

Tombs outside of the Jaswant Thada mausoleum.

Relaxing on the grass outside of the Jaswant Thada mausoleum

View of the city and fort from near the Jaswant Thada mausoleum.

Jaswant Thada mausoleum and protective fort wall surrounding it.

The rest of our time was spent walking through the market near our hotel searching for foods we haven’t tried yet, shopping for blankets to keep us warm during train travel and just good old people watching.

I hope Sarah and I are traveling when we’re the age of this couple.

Clock tower in the center of the market in Jodhpur.

Night shot of the clock tower in Jodhpur.

Famous Makhania Lassi drink. Not too bad but doesn’t live up to the hype.

Yummy omelette sandwiches for breakfast. The guy running this stand started it when he was 11, so he says, and now he’s 22. He was a very happy dude.

I love seeing these vendors. They remind me of the images I see of old markets in the U.S.

This guy was making bangles by hand to sell in his store. So much is still made by hand in India.

We’d traveled around India for nearly two months by the time we’d reached Jodhpur and along the way have witnessed quite a few funny animals. We’ve included some of the images in previous posts. While in Jodhpur we came across more funny animals and animal related situations than normal and captured many of them. So I decided to include them in this post for no other reason than to add a bit of humor.

Curly eared horse of Rajasthan.

Not sure how he got up there. Maybe the wall to the right. Not the safest resting place though.

This feisty goat was butting heads with the cow. The dog was observing from a safe distance.

It gets a little chilly in Jodhpur. By the look on his face I think the goat feels a little ridiculous in that sweater.

Local pack of dogs soaking up the afternoon sun.

Local pack of dogs simultaneously soaking up and hiding from the afternoon sun.

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Continuing with the theme of a previous post of mine (Ellora Caves), I will include another fun travel experience we had while in Jodhpur. Before heading to the heart of the city to find a hotel we decided to stick around the train station we’d just arrived at to try to buy train tickets for future travel.

It’s hard to tell but there are two separate lines at the window where Sarah is standing. More people joined the line a few minutes later.

A relatively orderly looking ticket reservation area. The group to the far left was having problems creating an orderly line.

A relatively orderly looking ticket reservation area. Though, the group to the far left was having problems creating an orderly line.

Some stations have foreign ticket sales windows or even altogether separate rooms for foreign tourists. Jodhpur has a window, but that same window is for women and elderly people as well. Whenever possible we try to use the window for women because it usually has the shortest line. In this case the one window actually had two lines, one for women and the other for foreign men and elderly men, though, the two lines were not visibly distinguishable. So Sarah waited in the women’s line while I hovered behind her to defend our place in line. Defending your place in line is serious business. There are always people trying to find even the smallest space to squeeze their bodies into. My tactic usual involves making obvious gestures with my body to claim our space or even physically putting my arms between me and the window to prevent anyone from sneaking in. It’s really a fun game to play and the line cutting-perpetrators usually don’t put up a fuss if you thwart their attempts to cut into the line. I said “usually”.

While slowly making our way to the window and waiting in the somewhat orderly mixed women’s, foreign tourist’s, and elder person’s line an elderly Indian man appeared just to our side, cutting in front of everyone behind us in line. I wasn’t too concerned because Sarah was waiting in the women’s line and was clearly the next to be served at the ticket window. Nonetheless I still kept an eye on the old guy to make sure he didn’t cut in front of us. It turned out that the old man was indeed trying to not only cut in front of us but also in front of the two old men who were already at the window being served. He physically wedged his body in between the two of them but was quickly pushed back by one of the men. At first the two men began to argue with a little physical contact in the process. A little physical contact escalated to a lot with the two old men pushing and pulling one another accompanied by even more heated arguing. We obviously didn’t understand what they were saying but could tell that it wasn’t good.

We and everyone witnessing the event nearby began laughing at the absurdity of these two old guys going at it. Soon the third old dude joined the scuffle helping his partner push the line-cutting old dude back. I don’t understand how this guy thought that cutting in front of people already being helped at the window was a good idea. Did he think that the ticket teller was going to stop in the middle of serving the two men that were already there to help this other guy. On one hand, yes, because we’ve seen somewhat similar situations in India where the teller (or who ever is providing the service) helps the person who is the most assertive in a given situation. Anyway, the three men continued pushing and arguing while we continued laughing, and maintaining our place in the line of course.

After a few minutes of this they all calmed down, though, the line-cutting perp still held is ground behind them. They also came to an agreement without our involvement that Sarah would still be next in line, but the line-cutting perp did cut in front of everyone else behind us. Oh well, it’s dog eat dog at the railway ticket office I guess.

Though we were unsuccessful at getting the tickets we wanted, we were happy to have witnessed the absurd situation of the three old guys going at it. There you have it, another travel adventure from India.

Categories: Architecture, Cities, India, Ruins, Traveling | Tags: audio tour, blue city, funny animals, Jaswant Thada, Jodhpur, Makhania Lassi, Mehrangarh Fort, Rajasthan | 2 Comments

Camel Safari and Living in an Old Fort

Posted on February 24, 2013 by peachandbones

We had done some research ahead of time and decided that it’s going to be cheaper to do a camel safari from a small village outside of Jaisalmer called Khuri, so we decided to head there first. Jaisalmer and Khuri are the farthest west most tourist will go in India. It’s very close to the Pakistan border. Because it is so far west, you have to back track when heading anywhere else in India. So we decided to book it out west and we’ll see the things we passed on the way back. Because of this decision, we had a very long travel time.

It started with a bus from Udaipur to Jodhpur. This bus was suppose to leave around 2pm and ended up leaving around 3pm. This is completely normal, we were just concerned because we had train tickets from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer that we didn’t want to miss. The bus was in rough shape. We had fought with the guy to not get the back of the bus, but of course we ended up there. So the whole ride was bumpy and the seats were broken in the partially reclined state. Our poor necks got so sore holding our heads out for 5 hours. Anyway, the ride was long and uncomfortable to Jodhpur. We arrived pretty late there, got on a rickshaw and headed to the train station where we boarded an overnight train to Jaisalmer. We arrived 6 hours later at 5:30 am. We decided to wait inside the train station until it was day light for safety reasons. So, we left the station on foot for the bus stand to Khuri around 7 am. We never found the bus stand, but we did meet plenty of people who told us where to stand for the bus to Khuri and we got a rough estimate that the bus will arrive around 9 am. Nine came and went and someone told us it was actually 9:30 am. Well, 9:30 came and went and someone told us it was coming in 5 minutes at 9:40. The bus actually came around 10:30. We stood in the middle of no where for about 3 hours. It was great to watch all of the cars, rickshaws, cows, and people go by…

Waiting for our bus.

One of the many interesting things to pass us.

We also met a guy at the bus stop who owned a hotel in Khuri who set up camel safaris. He told us the price was the cheapest there and convinced us to get picked up by his brother and check the place out. No promises of staying there if we didn’t like it. We arrived an hour later in Khuri and were welcomed with his brother. It was a quick 5 minute walk and after looking at his place and other places we decided to stick with his place and do the camel safari that night so we wouldn’t have to sleep on the far from perfect mattresses they had there. So, after a long 24+ hour of travel we got on the back of a camel.

Camel relaxing in Khuri

Camel drawn cart

Kids playing in the little village of Khuri.

Camels are much larger than I thought. They are much taller than horses, for some reason this never came to mind when I wanted to get on the back of one. The height wasn’t that bad, it was the getting on and off that was a little creepy. The camels have to kneel and then lay on their legs in order for their passengers to board. They can only go up and down one side at a time, the back legs are first up and then the front. So you’re at a steep angle for the duration of the camel going up and down. Some camels are faster than others and sometimes the camel your on is tired and slower.

Camels waiting to be mounted.

Anyway, we bumped along the back of the camel for a good 2-3 hours into the desert. Some people had the camel drivers on the back with them and others didn’t. Dave and I both had drivers with us. At one point, my driver left me alone with my camel to drive myself. Thankfully my camel was the nicest, best behaved, and thoroughly trained camel there and I had no problems. We have a funny video of me being stuck on my camel. The only thing I wasn’t taught was how to do the up and down commands to get on and off. So when we arrived at camp, everyone else is off their camel and I’m just sitting there waiting for one of the drivers to help me. We actually put this one on Youtube so you’ll all be able to laugh at me as Dave did. Click here.

Dave on his camel

Some of the local women carrying water back to their homes.

Camel drivers ride in the back. Apparently camels can carry 3 people no problem as long as they are healthy.

This camel driver owned both of these camels.

He was peeing, that is why I was standing so far away.

They sure are goofy looking. The camels only, I mean…

Wild mom and baby camel.

At camp, the drivers made two separate fires, one for the tourists and one for them to do most of the cooking on. We got to relax and watch the sunset while the drivers prepared dinner. Some of the people on the safari with us had paid extra for chicken. The chicken was thoroughly cooked over our fire with bonus seasoning of sand and coals, I’m glad Dave and I didn’t pay extra for that. The food was good considering we were in the middle of a desert-we had chapati, rice, vegetable curry and a lentil curry. Very tasty. We had some good conversation with the other tourists on the safari over the camp fire. We talked for many hours then we decided to hit the sand. Literally. We slept on a blanket on the sand with another blanket over us. It was a good experience. We were mostly freaked out that the camels would walked over us during the night since they were free to roam and did so very close to our fires and beds prior to us being in them.

Hungry camel

Our camp.

Drivers getting ready to cook.

Chicken.

The bedroom at camp.

Sunset and sunrise!

Chilly morning, didn’t want to get out of bed.

Good news, no one got trampled over the night. The drivers cooked breakfast for us, which was pretty pathetic. It consisted of tea and chapati. Not very filling. Dave and I brought cookies we didn’t eat the day before so we had cookies for breakfast too. Not sure why mom doesn’t think that’s a good breakfast…

Anyway, another short bump back to the hotel and the whole thing was done. Short and sweet. It was a perfect amount of time on a camel as they are not the most comfortable things to ride and sleeping in the sand is also not the most comfortable thing.

This guy was not part of our group. Check out his sweet turbine.

This guy was not part of our group. Check out his sweet turban.

Another big reason it was the perfect amount of time for me was because one of the camels was in heat. I know heat isn’t the correct term because it was a male camel, but he was in the mind set of attracting and finding a female camel to mate with. This consisted of foaming at the mouth and ballooning this large and very disgusting sac from the side of the camel mouth. This wouldn’t have been so bad, but the camel belonged to the same camel driver as my camel. So the mate attracting camel rode right next to my face the whole time. Anytime the camel needed to move away from a tree the foamy, stinky mouth was inches from my face. Also, at one point, the gross sac that comes out the side of the mouth ballooned inches from my face. I winced and the camel driver put his hand between my face and the sac until the camel decided to suck it back in. But, “don’t worry Sarah, he won’t bite” was my assurance from the camel driver. HA. Like I was concerned with that. I was focused on not getting foam on my clothes or in my mouth and to not get slapped in the face with a mating sac. Yup, definitely the perfect amount of time.

Inches from my face…

We couldn’t get a picture of the sac, but i borrowed this one from the web.

After the camel safari, we headed back to Jaisalmer and into the fort. Jaisalmer is one of the few, if not the only, places you can stay inside the fort. It was very awesome to be inside the fort the whole time. We noticed here that the people are more friendly than we’ve experienced in other places of India. We had many conversations with locals who owned shops, hotels, or restaurants and just wanted to talk rather than talk to make the sale. It was nice. We spent a good hour or longer in a jewelry shop talking to the owner sharing stories about the different cultures. He even gave us some of his cadbury chocolate. We didn’t buy the ring his shop is famous for, but he didn’t seem to mind just hanging out. This was our second stop in Rajasthan and we can tell from interacting with the people why it is such a popular tourist area in India. It was a fun place to spend a couple of nights.

Dave outside our hotel.

Inside the fort

Mind your head. We come across these all the time. Never stops being funny.

Washing clothes in a bucket. We hate doing it, but it’s a must.

Dave also hates doing it. Travel size washing machine anyone??

From the fort looking into the golden city.

From the fort looking over the golden city.

Categories: Cities, India, Nature, Outdoors, Ruins, Traveling | Tags: camel safari, fort, Jaisalmer, Khuri, Rajasthan | 2 Comments

Ellora Caves

Posted on February 12, 2013 by peachandbones

During our visit with Preeti and Pramod in Pune (refer to previous post for more on that) they encouraged us several times to make a trip to Aurangabad in order to view the nearby Ellora Caves. Neither the city of Aurangabad nor the caves were a place we planned to visit. We hadn’t heard of them during our travels or read about them in our guide book. So after Preeti and Pramod first mentioned them we had to looked up both places and did indeed find short mention of them in our Lonely Planet guidebook. But there was little mentioned and not enough to convince us to deviate from our plan to head to Mumbai.

But after a little more encouragement by Preeti and Pramod and a bit more research on our part, we decided to take their advice and head to Aurangabad to check out the Ellora caves. A big reason for deciding to go was because going would also allow us to spend more time with Preeti and Pramod. Pramod’s company closes their office on Thursdays as opposed to the weekend and we would be returning to Pune from Aurangabad Wednesday evening, allowing us to spend a full day with the two of them on Thursday. Sarah described the fun we had with them in the previous post.

Panoramic shot of the Jain caves.

We took a five hour bus from Pune to Aurangabad and woke early the next morning to catch a another bus to the Ellora Caves. They were only about 45 minutes away from Aurangabad and we arrived just after sunrise before the crowds. There are 34 caves total: 12 Buddhist, 17 Hindu, and 5 Jain. I’ve read only a little about each of those religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism) since being in India and the relationship and history between them seem to be very intertwined. Supposedly, both Buddhism and Jainism are offshoots and reactions against some of the beliefs of Hinduism. I won’t attempt to explain the details of these interrelations because I’ll surely get it wrong. The caves were carved over a period of five centuries and consist of monasteries, temples and more functional spaces like granaries. Many were carved around the same time, implying religious tolerance. Nice.

Entrance to the Ellora Caves. Only a small crowd at this point.

The first cave you encounter after entering the main gate is cave 16, Kailasa Temple, a Hindu temple. It’s the biggest and most impressive of all of the caves. It has many rooms, multiple levels, large carvings of elephants and lions, and a long path around the perimeter with carvings of many of the Hindu gods and goddesses. In a handful of areas there was original paint remaining. The painted surfaces had a white base layer and used other more vibrant colors for the detail work. Most of what you see though is the raw stone. While the remaining 33 caves were not as big as cave 16, many were equally impressive. Even though the caves were a mix of Hindu, Buddhist and Jain they shared similar styles and details. Nevertheless, we enjoyed checking out each one of them.

The first cave you see as you enter is Cave 16.

Entrance to cave 16.

Cave 16

View of cave 16 from the top. You can see the scale of the place from this perspective.

Another shot from the top.

Cave 16

Pillar in cave 16. We saw this style of pillar in all the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain caves.

I like how they carved sections out to make it seem like a collection of separate pieces.

You can see some of the remaining paint.

These little tie-down locations were carved everywhere and seemed randomly placed. We couldn’t figure out what they were used for.

Hindu Cave

This Buddhist temple reminded me of a Catholic church because of the high arched ceiling.

Photo op with Buddha.

We noticed nests like things hanging in a few locations.

We noticed nests like this hanging in a few locations.

Upon closer inspection we found that the bees or wasps (not sure) were covering the outside of the nest. We zoomed in close enough to seem them moving. Gross!

Upon closer inspection we found that the bees or wasps (not sure) were covering the outside of the nest. We zoomed in close enough to see them moving. Gross!

High five! In hindsight maybe not the best way to act in a place like this.

HIndu God.

Many of the figures carved had very rigid postures. This one seemed the most natural. Also, you can see where most people touch the statues.

Many of the figures carved had very rigid postures. This one seemed the most natural. Also, it’s funny to see where people touch the statues (shiny sections).

In the rainy season there’s a waterfall just to the left of the cave. Pretty sweet location.

This lion reminds me of the lions commonly found in front of ancient Chinese buildings.

Giant doorway.

Doing my part to preserve the caves.

Sarah and I in a Hindu cave.

I think I saw him move.

Couldn’t get him to smile for the camera.

Jain cave. This cave had a lot of detail in some places and seemed incomplete in others, specifically the path leading to the cave.

Jain caves had more fine detail than the others even though they tended to be smaller.

Jain caves had more fine detail than the others but tended to be smaller.

Elephant.

We saw this seam of another type of stone running through the cave and imagined how angry the builders must have been when they found it.

While we were there they were installing metal screens at the entrances of many of the spaces to prevent bats and birds from entering. Bats in particular have been making the caves their homes for sometime, which is evident by the strong smell of guano. There was also a lot of restoration work taking place at the Buddhist caves. The men doing the work were carving the stone with hammer and chisel just as with the original construction.

During our visit we came across yet another school field trip. In previous posts we’ve talked about our fun experiences with school groups. The kids always make you feel like a celebrity when they smile at you, say hello and want to have a photo taken with you. We spotted the kids heading our way near the Buddhist caves and decided to let them go ahead of us to avoid getting caught in the middle of their group. The school groups usually move pretty quick and are very well organized, so our wait wouldn’t be long. While waiting one of the teachers prompted a student to shake our hands. This in turn prompted the entire group of kids, boys and girls, to shake my and Sarah’s hands. Unfortunately, we didn’t anticipate the moment and didn’t have our camera ready. We must have shaken the hands of nearly a 100 students. The entire time we were grinning from ear to ear, as were they. The kids in India are great and consistently put a smile on our faces.

School kids are our biggest fans. We love you guys.

All of the caves, even the less detailed caves, were very impressive. We were so happy that we decided to listen to the advice of Preeti and Pramod to visit the caves. It was well worth the long trip and ranks high on the list of cool sights we’ve visited in India.

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At this point in the post I’ll go on a tangent and describe some of the fun we had with a rickshaw driver upon arriving in Aurangabad. Occasionally on the blog we share some of these stories but opt to leave them out most of the time because they can sound repetitive or come across as complaining. But based on a request from one of our blog followers I’ve decided to share a story that helps paint a more complete picture of our experience here. Feel free to not read ahead.

We’ve taken many long journeys in India and the bus ride from Pune to Aurangabad was no exception. The journey took 5 hours. Most of the time we opt for the least expensive mode of transportation, trains whenever possible and buses when we can’t get a train. In this instance we took a government bus. On these buses we rarely see other foreign travelers. The buses aren’t particularly comfortable (sometimes I don’t fit in the seat), don’t have A/C, are old and have rough suspensions, likely don’t meet any kind of safety standards, stop frequently, and involve going to the often times hectic and confusing public bus stand. And after these long and uncomfortable journeys we are always greeted by a traveler’s best friend (not), the rickshaw driver.

It’s semi-entertaining to watch them hunt for potential customers before the buses have even stopped. Sometimes they run alongside the bus and jockey for position to get closest to the door of the bus in an effort to nab customers as they exit. As they follow the bus they’re peaking inside to spot the best candidates. When they spot foreign travelers their eyes light up and they become even more frenzied in their hunt. A foreign traveler can mean they’ll get a larger fare—because foreign travelers are nearly always overcharged compared to local travelers—or they’ll get a commission for taking you to a hotel or travel agent, or best of all you might agree to hire them as your tour guide. Sarah and I don’t ever hire them as a tour guide or allow them to take us to a hotel they’ve recommended. We’ve even gone as far as to tell them not to enter the hotel with us as not to make the hotel staff think that they brought us their for commission. Though we avoid those two scenarios with the rickshaw drivers we still have to use them as the most common source of short distance travel in a city—when walking isn’t an option or we just don’t know where we are.

Combine the frenzied scenario just described with two road weary travelers with sore butts and things can become a bit volatile. So here’s how the rickshaw ride played out in Aurangabad. We were greeted by the rickshaw driver as soon as we exited the bus. He throws out the usual questions like: where are you from?, how long have you been in India?, can I recommend a best, cheap hotel? We say no to the best, cheap hotel and try to politely answer some of the other questions all the time knowing they’re leading up to some sort of sales pitch. We then told him the name of the hotel we wanted to go to and discussed price. The price of a rickshaw ride is not straightforward. If you’re lucky the rickshaw has a digital meter that clearly states the price. This is very uncommon. Most of the time the price has to be negotiated before you agree to the ride. This is challenging because prices are not consistent across India and so you have to learn the going rate in every new place you visit. In this case the rickshaw had an analog meter that tracks the distance but does not display the price. In places that use this type of meter you have to know the cost per kilometer to know what the price will be at the end of the ride. This is the kind of meter we encountered in Pune. The rate in Pune was 10 rupees per km (~ $0.20/km). Armed with this knowledge we insisted that the driver use the meter or we would move onto the next rickshaw. Walking away is the only way to get what you want in negotiations in India.

During the ride the driver again asked if we wanted to see a best, cheap hotel instead of the one we asked him to take us to. We politely said no. The rest of the ride he fed us his sales pitch about the tour service he offered that would take us to all of the sights. We again politely said no. But saying no does little for you in India when you’re talking with touts, beggars and of course rickshaw drivers. We typically let them talk while we repeatedly, and most of the time, politely tell them no thanks. He finally gave up and handed us his business card just in case we changed our mind. “We’ll think about it.”

After arriving at the hotel we unloaded our bags and asked the fair. Now this is where I realized we may have made a mistake. I assumed that the rate/km was the same in Aurangabad as we had paid in Pune. If anything it would be cheaper. I mean, Pune is a big city and big cities are always more expensive. The meter read 1km, so I calculated that the rate should be no more than 10 rupees. Not bad. But the driver wouldn’t tell me the cost and instead followed Sarah into the hotel. While on our way to the hotel Sarah and I discussed that she should go into the hotel to inquire about rooms while I stalled the driver by paying him the fare. This would help us avoid having to pay a higher rate for the hotel because of the commission the driver might request from the hotel for bringing us to them, even though we asked him to take us there. And so this is what we did. Sarah went into the hotel and I asked the cost of the ride. To which the driver told me it was going to cost 50 rupees. Wow, that’s way different than my calculation.

I asked the driver how that could be and what the cost was per kilometer. He had no good response and just kept telling me that the ride cost 50 rupees. I refused to pay him and told him that the rate in Pune was 10 rupees/km. How could his price be 50 rupees/km. That’s a huge difference. He couldn’t explain why there was such huge difference or what the actual cost/km was. He just insisted the cost was 50 rupees. Things escalated quickly and both Sarah and I began shouting at him. We told him that we only agreed to take his rickshaw if he used the meter. Now he’s totally discounting the meter and trying to charge us a flat rate. That’s not what we agreed on. We’ve had many bad rickshaw experiences prior to this and unfortunately for this guy he was dealing with two disgruntled tourist. We took all of our frustration from the other experiences out on this one guy. I continually refused to pay him. We asked him why he would lie to us and why he lies to so many other tourists. He had no good answer. We asked him what he would do if he were cheated as he was cheating us. He replied that “he would just deal with it”. Yeah, I don’t think so. So I responded by saying that I only had a portion of the fare and not the 50 he requested and that he’d “have to deal with it”.

In an attempt to learn what the actual fare from the bus stand to the hotel should be we asked the hotel receptionist and another driver and sternly told our driver not to discuss anything with them until they answered our question. He didn’t comply and spoke to them in an language other than English. This just escalated the situation. He then tried to support his case for not using the reading from the meter by wiggling the cable on the meter and then telling us that is was not working. To which we again reminded him that we only took his rickshaw under the agreement that we use a functioning meter. After much yelling and refusal to pay on our part, the hotel receptionist—visibly upset by the act playing out in his lobby—negotiated a slightly lower fare of 40 rupees. We reluctantly paid the fare and shared more unkind words with the driver.

There you have it. A scenario that’s all to common for travelers in India. I should add that we’ve encountered countless helpful people in India. But, as a traveler you deal with touts, drivers and hotel staff so often that your experience can’t help but be shaped by them. And it’s this group of people that we feel are some of the most dishonest and misleading people we’ve met during our travels. That said, the longer we travel here the better we get at dealing with them and the saner we stay.

Categories: Architecture, India, Ruins, Traveling | Tags: aurangabad, ellora, rickshaw drivers | 3 Comments

Guests are God in Pune

Posted on February 8, 2013 by peachandbones

A previous coworker and friend of mine, Neeraj, is from India and when he heard we were traveling there he invited us to stay with his Family in Pune (pronounced poonay or poona). Indians have a saying “guests are god” and we sure felt like this was true when we stayed with Neeraj’s parents, Preeti and Pramod.

Before I get into our experience in Pune, I want to share our first experience on a sleeper bus. Because we couldn’t find a train out of Hampi, we decided to take a sleeper bus. We were familiar with partially reclining chairs from South America and Thailand, which they called semi-sleepers here. The sleeper buses have actual beds. We ended up with an upper bed in the middle of the bus. There was a lot of rolling and bumping from the turns and various potholes or speed bumps in the road, which makes it hard to sleep. It was an experience that we didn’t want to repeat if we could avoid it. The trains are by far the better option-they are both cheaper and more comfortable.

Inside the sleeper bus. Just enough room

We had our own little fan and TV. It was luxury.

Ok, back to Pune. When we arrived, they had family staying with them so they offered us our own apartment-Pramod’s sisters apartment who lives in Scotland but needs the apartment when she stays in India for a month or so every year. It surprised us how much we missed having additional space to go to. It actually felt like home having a living room to hang out in. They also had a washing machine, which we jumped at the opportunity to use, it’s one of the things we greatly miss from home.

They play cricket every day all day. It was nice to see people play outside, that’s become so rare in the U.S.

But, the best part of Pune was hanging out with Preeti, Pramod and their extended family. They were so welcoming, they made us feel like we were part of the family. We were able to meet Neeraj’s Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and even his grandmother who told us “learn Hindi” so she could talk with us. We’ll have to learn next time we visit India. We had many interesting and insightful conversations with Preeti, Pramod, and their family. Preeti cooked some very tasty Indian food, a lot we haven’t tried before, and Pramod was excited to share with us all the different types of Indian sweets they had.

They took us to some very fun and interesting restaurants-one was called Grill Nation, where you grill chicken, fruit, paneer (Indian cheese), and various seafood over hot coals right at the table. It was definitely a first for us.

The awesome parking garage with moving parking spaces to maximize the space used.

Neeraj’s Uncle, Aunt, and mother, Preeti

Pramod, Neeraj’s Uncle, and us

The second restaurant was an hour drive outside of Pune into the nearby mountains. It was an old fort that was converted into a hotel and restaurant called Fort Jadhav Gadh. The location was great and so quiet. The food was really tasty as well and we got to enjoy gulab jamun with ice cream. Which Dave and I both agree is the best dessert combination we’ve had in India. We plan to share this experience with everyone back home if we can find gulab jamun somewhere.

Us outside the museum they had on site.

Lotus flower

We even had time to smell the flowers!

They even have a temple on the grounds where people can get married at.

They have a temple on the grounds where people can get married at.

A picture of the whole fort.

Dave trying it, it tasted a little sweet and sour.

Dave trying tamarind, it tasted a little sweet and sour.

Tamarind seed with the outer layer still on.

Pramod and Preeti

There was a tamarind tree on the grounds and this is a seed with the outer layer off

small doors

View we had while we ate our lunch.

They blow this horn and play a drum for every arriving guest.

The entrance to the fort.

Pune also has some interesting places to visit. One was the Ghandi National Memorial, which is also the Aga Khan Palace where Ghandi, his wife, his secretary, and other prominent nationalist leaders were interned by the British. They were held there for two years.

The palace Ghandi was interned in for two years.

Both Ghandi’s wife and secretary died during the two years they were at this palace. Their remains are kept in the back garden at the palace.

We also visited the Shaniwar wada, which includes the ruins of the fortresslike palace build in 1732 and burned down in 1828. This place is huge sitting in the middle of the busy city.

The fort ruins.

Looking through the gun hole.

The entrance to the old fort, the only wood piece that didn’t burn down.

We also got to meet up with another ex-coworker of mine, Ameya. He moved back to Pune India a few months ago. He took us to a “daba” which he described to us as a truck stop. The food was really good and the atmosphere was cool. The seats they have there are really wide as the truck drivers would typically take a nap after eating.

Ameya and Dave at the daba restaurant

We had a really great time hanging out with Preeti and Pramod. We can only hope that they visit Neeraj again in Massachusetts and we can show the same hospitality to them that they showed us. It really was one of the best experiences we had in India. Thank you again Neeraj, Preeti, and Pramod!

Categories: Architecture, Cities, India, Ruins, Traveling | Tags: fort, Ghandi Memorial, Pune | 5 Comments

Hampi

Posted on February 4, 2013 by peachandbones

I can’t believe we almost decided not to go to Hampi. Actually, we did decide to skip it but changed our plans at the last minute in favor of going. Initially, we thought that the journey from Mysore to Hampi would be convoluted and take too much time. It turned out to be pretty straight forward and we had no trouble getting train tickets. Hampi is known for its Hindu ruins and climbing scene but we didn’t partake in any climbing while we were there.

Hampi was one of the biggest Hindu empires in Indian history. It was the capital of the kingdom of Vijayanagar and flourished between the 14th and 16th centuries before its sudden collapse due to attack from outside forces. Evidently, it reached a population of around 500,000 and was a major stop for travelers and traders during its heyday.

We spent a few days there soaking up the plentiful sun and exploring the two major ruin sites, those nearest the Hampi Bazaar where we stayed and those a little further south in an area called the Royal Center. The photos are in Gallery format for better viewing instead of the format we typically use of embedding them in the text. I hope you enjoy the photos.

In Hospet, walking to catch the bus that would take us to Hampi, these ladies asked us to take their photo.

Sarah making pockets to hold the battery and extra SD card in our new camera case.

We finally bought a knife to cut up our own fruit.

Camera case with Sarah’s alterations. Nice!

Finished product. Yummy.

You can’t tell here but Sarah is a little frightened by the lumbering elephant coming too close for her comfort.

We’ve met people during the trip that asked to take our photo or just wanted to shake our hand but it happened quite a few times during our time in Hampi. It gives us a sense of what it might be like to be a celebrity.

The kids love Sarah.

Kingfisher

Categories: India, Ruins, Traveling | Tags: Hampi | 4 Comments

Myanmar: Sorry we couldn’t stay longer

Posted on November 24, 2012 by peachandbones

After our few week visit back home in the U.S., we decided to use the extra time we gained by leaving South America early to pay a visit to Myanmar (Burma). When discussing travel through Southeast Asia we had tossed around the idea of visiting the country but it had been pretty low on the list of countries to see in the area. The low placement wasn’t really based on much, because we honestly knew little about Myanmar. But what we did know wasn’t very good.

Myanmar flag flown in Yangon, the old capital city.

Myanmar, or Burma as it’s officially called by the U.S. government, has a pretty bad rap sheet for human rights violations over the past few decades and has only recently opened up to tourism. Don’t quote me on this, but I think it has the record for the longest consecutive years ruled by a military government, something around 50 years or so. Because of sanctions placed against the country for the government’s human rights violations it has been shut off from the rest of the world in a lot of ways. The guidebook we used (Lonely Planet) described it as not having changed much since its days as a British colony. It gained independence from England in 1947.

So we were pretty curious to see a place that supposedly hadn’t changed much in over 50 years and hasn’t seen tourism on a large scale for some time, if ever. We didn’t know what to expect. We did a little research online about Myanmar’s history and the logistics of entering and traveling the country and then we were off.

Through our research we found out pretty quickly that traveling in Myanmar wasn’t going to be as easy as we’d experienced in Central and South America, or what we knew about other parts of Southeast Asia. For example, there are no ATM’s so you have to carry all cash that you expect to need for your entire trip. The only place to exchange for Myanmar money (Kyat) is in Myanmar. One or two hotels in the major cities give cash advances on a credit card, but with a hefty percentage charged per transaction. No businesses excepts credit cards, save the aforementioned hotels, again, with the hefty fee. All U.S. cash that you bring to Myanmar has to be pristine and no older than 2006, and if it’s not, then you get a lower exchange rate or can’t exchange it at all. The bottom line is that there isn’t much in the way of infrastructure. All of this just added to our curiosity and desire to visit the country.

First things first, we needed a visa to enter the country. During our visit home we applied for and received our India visas in about a weeks time. That’s speedy. Not the case with Myanmar. We read that we should expect a visa for Myanmar to take up to 3 weeks. That’s a long time. So we searched and found a faster route. You can get a visa for Myanmar in as little as 1 day in Bangkok, Thailand. So that’s what we opted for. We flew to Bangkok, arrived at 6 am, applied for our visas at 9 am the same day, and then picked them up the next day. Done.

Cash was the other major challenge. Before leaving the U.S. we had to withdraw all of the cash we thought we’d need for our travels in Myanmar. Our plan was to travel for the entire length of the 28 day tourist visa. We roughly estimated what we’d need and then threw in a little extra for a buffer. Remember, there are no ATM’s. Unfortunately, we made one major mistake. We assumed that all banks carried crisp new bills all of the time. Nope. Wrong. They actually don’t like crisp new bills because they stick together and every once in a while a teller gives away free money. The only chance we had at new bills were the $20 bills in ATM’s. ATM’s like new bills because they don’t jam the machine. So we spent several hours visiting about 6 banks on our last day in the U.S. trying to get the prettiest bills we could find in $100, $20, $10, $5, and $1 denominations. The only new bills we got were the twenties. Tellers at several of the banks were nice enough to look through there cash and pull out the best bills they could find. In the future it’d be best to inform our bank ahead of time so that they can order new bills. Whoops!

That’s not even close to all of the cash we had to carry.

This is where we stored U.S. dollars that we planned to use during our day trips to keep it flat and in good shape.

The pristine bill thing turned out not to be a huge problem. We only had a bill rejected twice. Other times we slipped in the ugliest bills we had with a shiny, spanking new $20 and had no issues. We figure they’d be distracted by the $20 bill. You may be wondering why we needed smaller denomination bills if we were only exchanging for Myanmar money. Our research told us that some places only take U.S. money or at a minimum prefer it. I think this may be changing. Many places seemed to take U.S. dollars or Kyat. In the end the cash thing wasn’t a big issue. Though, it was a little unsettling carrying that much cash around. We got a taste of what it must have been like to travel in the “old days”.

As I mentioned, we planned to travel the entire length of the 28 day tourist visa. I mean, it’s a once in a lifetime experience to travel in a place like Myanmar at a time when it’s just opening up. While that’s true, we ran into a reoccurring issue that led us to decide to leave the country earlier than planned. One thing we didn’t expect, and hadn’t come across in our research, at least not until the last minute, was the trouble we’d have finding accommodations. While in Bangkok we decided to read some online reviews about hotels listed in our guidebook. In some of the recent Trip Advisor postings reviewers mentioned the trouble they had finding a hotel. Many of the hotels were either all booked up or charging an exorbitant amount of money for very basic accommodations. So we scrambled in our last day and a half in Bangkok to email several hotels to try to reserve a room before our arrival. Luckily, we found a place. They were charging $22 a night—the cheapest we could find and much more that we wanted to pay—for a room with a window and a fan. This price was about double of what was shown in the guidebook.

We stayed a couple of nights at the “White House” hotel in Yangon. Pretty pricey at $22/night for a hot box room on the 8th floor with a sliver of a window and small fan. They had an amazing breakfast though.

We found out right away that this was the case for much of Myanmar. Unlike with our travels in Central and South America, we had to book our rooms in advance. This was a challenge because nearly all of the hotels throughout Myanmar were fully booked. We spent hours making dozens of phone calls in every city we stayed in prior to moving on to the next city to try to reserve a room. To do this we had to use local pay phones (costly) with some dropped calls and some people simply hanging up on us because we couldn’t understand one another. When we couldn’t find a room we spent even more time changing our itinerary in a way that we thought might give us time to reserve a room in the next town. We heard of other travelers arriving in a town expecting to find a room, finding nothing, and having to sleep at a bus station.

The local phone booth. The people who run them are very helpful and patient. They dial the number for you and make sure it connects. It cost anywhere from 50 to 100 Kyat per minute. That’s about $.06 to $.12 per minute.

At one point we stumbled upon the “free” services offered by the Myanmar Travel and Tourism association. They called dozens of hotels for us in the next town and found us a room. We found out later that they tacked a $7 commission onto the cost of the room without telling us. Which led to us having to convince the owner to give us a room at the $25 value that we had paid. Needless to say, we found ourselves wasting a lot of time trying to find a place to sleep instead of experiencing all that Myanmar had to offer. In addition to time, we spent way more money for the rooms than we allotted in our budget. In the end we saw about a quarter of what we wanted to see and spent only 9 days in Myanmar.

The staff and Myanmar Travel and Tour association are very helpful but forget to mention that there service comes at a charge, sometimes. They helped us and many others for free, leading us to believe they were a service set up by the government to help deal with the trouble people had finding rooms.

We visited the old capital city of Yangon; the two small towns of Pyay and Magwe; the Buddhist temple strewn city of Bagan; and finally, Mandalay. We were also lucky enough to be at the airport on our way to Bangkok when President Obama visited Myanmar. In the short time that we were there we saw so much. Looking back through the photos to prepare this post I felt sad that we decided to leave. I don’t regret our decision, I just wish the circumstances were different. Myanmar is an amazing place. I feel blessed to have seen it before it has changed too much. I would love to return, but by the time I do I think it will be a totally different place. You can already see the change. The hotels are scrambling to try to keep up with the demand. As tourists flock to visit the country it will change to accommodate them. That’s not a bad thing at all. In fact, there are likely plenty of folks looking forward to the economic boost that comes with tourism.

My advice to anyone wanting to visit the country in the near future is to go in the off-season, i.e. not between November and February (check guidebooks to see what they describe as the busy season.) or book your hotels in advance. My guess is that finding accommodations in the off-season will not be as difficult and you might even have room to bargain. Also, do a bit of research to see what hotels are charging. There’s a good bit of price gouging happening right now, so the guidebook price estimates are way off. Don’t expect to get what you pay for either. Many of the budget hotels are in a sad state. That said, I’d recommend a visit. The people of Myanmar are fantastic and the country is beautiful.

This post is already too long so I won’t display the images one at a time. Below is a gallery containing all of the images. Our WordPress them doesn’t seem to allow us to create separate Galleries, so everything is together. Sorry for the mess. Hope you enjoy.

: Myanmar flag flown in Yangon, the old capital city.

: This is where we stored U.S. dollars that we planned to use during our day trips to keep it flat and in good shape.

: That’s not even close to all of the cash we had to carry.

: We stayed a couple of nights at the “White House” hotel in Yangon. Pretty pricey at $22/night for a hot box room on the 8th floor with a sliver of a window and small fan. They had an amazing breakfast though.

: The local phone booth. The people who run them are very helpful and patient. They dial the number for you and make sure it connects. It cost anywhere from 50 to 100 Kyat per minute. That’s about $.06 to $.12 per minute.

: The staff and Myanmar Travel and Tour association are very helpful but forget to mention that there service comes at a charge, sometimes. They helped us and many others for free, leading us to believe they were a service set up by the government to help deal with the trouble people had finding rooms.

: Market in Yangon.

: Our hotel in Yangon, The White House.

: Our first night in Yangon cooling down with a crisp beer on this very muggy evening.

: Shwedagon Pagoda at night.

: Shwedagon Pagoda at dawn.

: Yangon skyline.

: Apartment building in Yangon.

: This old guy is in the process of being renovated.

: Another old beautiful building.

: She had one of the best views in town on the top floor of this 4 story building.

: Beautiful old building waiting to be resurrected.

: These old buildings have a lot of potential. I won’t be surprised if foreign investors snatch them up and turn them into high end hotels. Many of them are near the river or temples.

: The Strand is one of a handful of high end hotels in Yangon. I think it’s from the British colonial era.

: River dock market. These people just exited the ferry.

: One of the many old buildings in disrepair.

: Tea “house” in Yangon.

: Street market in Yangon.

: Street market in Yangon.

: This guy is making a leaf rapped concoction of spices other unknown substances that is chewed by most men and some women, causing their saliva to turn red. They spit this stuff out constantly.

: Traditional longyi (skirt) worn by men.

: Another efficient way for one person to carry heavy loads.

: The equivalent of a public phone booth. The phone calls cost between 50 and 100 Kyat per minute. The attendant makes the call to ensure there’s a connection. They were very patient with us despite the language barrier. We made many calls this way.

: Myanmar flag.

: Christian church in Yangon.

: Bogyoke Aung San road in Yangon.

: Female monk wearing their traditional pink robes.

: The not so happy guy making our strawberry lassi. A regular lassi will run you 600 Kyat ($0.70), and a strawberry lassi 800 Kyat ($0.95)

: Sarah enjoying the strawberry lassi (yogurt drink). It was the chunkiest lassi I’d ever had. One of the tastiest too.

: Myanmar has a mix of people from all over Southeast Asia, especially China and India. So there was a good variety of food to choose from. In this case we’re enjoying some Indian cuisine.

: View of the Shwedagon Pagoda from our hotel.

: Where we hid U.S. dollars we’d need for the day to keep it crisp and clean.

: One of the many old houses we saw on our way to the Shwedagon Buddist Temple. They may be from the British colonial era. Some were being refurbished, possibly being turned into a hotel. I think much of the construction was being done in preparation for the increase in tourism.

: Monk at the Shwedagon Buddist Temple.

: No shoes allowed at the Shwedagon Buddist Temple, or any others for that matter.

: Gringo Buddhist monk. The folks in the foreground were very intrigued by him and kept bowing to him. Very interesting.

: Giant lounging Buddha in a state of Nirvana perhaps.

: Shwedagon Buddist Temple

: Thought the temples were sacred places, the rules of what not to do were pretty lax. Here are some kids climbing on white elephant statues at the Shwedagon Buddist Temple.

: Work was being performed on many of the structures. The scaffolding around this pagoda is pretty impressive.

: Towering Shwedagon Pagoda.

: Team of sweepers at the Shwedagon Buddist Temple.

: Shwedagon Buddist Temple

: Buddhists seem to love bright colors and flashing lights. You wouldn’t expect to see this on centuries old temples.

: I think the the Shwedagon Pagoda is covered in inches of gold leaf.

: Shwedagon Pagoda lit up at night.

: Shwedagon Pagoda lit up at night.

: Shwedagon Buddist Temple

: The first and longest staircase leading to our room. We were on the 8th floor.

: Second to last staircase leading up to our room.

: Traditional tea time chair.

: Early morning tea. Each cup cost about 250 Kyat ($0.30), though, this place charged us 300 Kyat. Tourist tax.

: Morning sidewalk breakfast and tea shop in Yangon.

: What might be a British era building being renovated. There were quite a few.

: One of the many water ways branching off of the Irrawaddy River in Yangon.

: Catching a ride from the boat dock.

: Making toast over hot coals at the White House hotel breakfast buffet.

: More of the White House breakfast buffet.

: Though the room at the White House hotel was a little rough, the breakfast buffet was amazing. I’d stay there again just for that.

: Infinity Buddha Power pills were given to us by the hotel owner. He promised great results for almost any ill. We opted not to used them.

: The view from our hostel in Yangon. You can see the Shwedagon Buddhist temple in the distance.

: Pickup group taxi.

: We saw acres and acres of farmland along most of our bus rides. Myanmar is an agrarian society. Much of the work was done by hand and with cattle and oxen. I only saw a few small tractors in use.

: We felt very safe in Myanmar. Partly because people were so friendly and partly because the government made it clear that anyone harming a tourist would be severely punished.

: Sarah’s trishaw driver.

: Our first trishaw ride. This one in Pyay after an evening arrival from Yangon.

: Breakfast in Pyay. Nearly all hotels include breakfast.

: These girls were part of an English speaking class in Pyay. They told us that not many tourist visit Pyay, so they were siked to spend time with us. The girls in the group were especially excited to find out that Sarah was an Engineer. As soon as they did she had a following. The girl in the foreground wants to be a singer. The youngest girl, known as monkey, asked us what we thought about democracy.

: Docked fishing boats and a pagoda in the background on the Irrawaddy River.

: Casting a fishing net on the Irrawaddy River.

: Canoe on the Irrawaddy River in Pyay.

: On the banks of the Irrawaddy River with the English speaking class in Pyay. They were very excited to spend time with us, even if they didn’t do a lot of talking.

: Sarah and the English teacher. I can’t believe I forgot his name.

: Taddy, palm wine drink advertisement. Pretty enticing, right?

: Houses on the outskirts of town of Pyay.

: All that we saw of the ruins in Pyay. We planned to see more but it was more interesting to spend the day with the students.

: Peter and us on his scooter.

: This is a statue of Bogyoke Aung San, the father of Aung San Suu Kyi. He was a key figure in the work done to secure independence from England. From what I’ve gathered, his historical importance to Myanmar is why Aung San Suu Kyi was only put on house arrest and not imprisoned like most of the other outspoken opposition political leaders.

: Irrawaddy River in Pyay.

: This guy is cooking us dinner at the Pyay night market.

: Delicious, but greasy, rice and coconut snacks for sale at the Pyay night market.

: Sharing a ride from the bus station with other travelers. The two couples were from Germany and Canada.

: Mosquitoes were kind of a problem in this room. When we arrived the staff sprayed what looked like Raid all of the room. We were lucky enough to be trapped between the two of them as they sprayed. Yummy.

: Bathing, washing clothes and dishes in the Irrawaddy River.

: Bridge crossing the mighty Irrawaddy River in Magwe.

: Example of some of the homes in Magwe.

: Stir fried noodles and veggies covered in a scrambled egg, accompanied by a strawberry milkshake that looked and tasted much like a child’s antibiotic drink. Yummy! The meal cost us 1500 Kyat ($1.80) and drink was 500 Kyat.

: Panoramic of Bagan temples. There were way more temples than what is shown here.

: Our early morning departure for Nyaung U (Bagan temples) from Magwe. As you can see, Sarah is very excited.

: Sarah’s hiding behind her curtain on the bus to avoid the walking vendors. If you don’t have a curtain it’s best to not make eye contact.

: These guys are awesome. They’re the equivalent of the work truck in the U.S.

: An example of one of the styles of headdress used in some places in Myanmar.

: Another popular taxi service in Myanmar.

: Road side snack of Pakora. Cost us 500 Kyat ($0.60)for 4. Not bad.

: Scooters were probably the main mode of motorized transport. I rode a couple scooter taxis during out trip.

: How do you unload a giant heavy box from the top of a bus? By balancing it on your neck of course.

: I didn’t quite fit in the seat for our 4 1/2 hour bus ride from Magwe to Nyaung U.

: The Myanmar Travel and Tour association in Nyaung U. They were extremely helpful but managed to sneak in a fee for their help without telling us. Nothing is free, I know, but the last they could do was let us know.

: Not sure what it’s called but it was a delicious midday snack.

: Golden lion at a Buddhist temple near the town of Nyaung U. One of the many Buddhist temples in the area. .

: This lady was very friendly and spoke a little English, though, she turned out to only want our money. Oh well.

: The universal means for transporting heavy loads. The U.S. needs to get on board.

: Sarah was very impressed with the giant trees we saw along most of our route through Myanmar. Here’s a good example.

: The ubiquitous trishaw.

: They dipped this basket filled with food into a boiling pan of oil. Their version of a deep fryer.

: Kids on their way home from school. It was bit rainy that day so this guy picked his legs up to ride through the puddle.

: Nearly all of the bathrooms we had in Myanmar looked something like this, a shower and toilet combo. Efficient use of space. Just be careful not to get the toilet paper wet.

: This trishaw ride cost us 1000 Kyat ($1.20). We planned to walk to our second hotel in Bagan but that was such a good price. The horse drawn carriage you see in the background wanted to charge us 6000 Kyat ($7.15).

: Bagan Buddhist temple. Many more to follow.

: The temples were close enough that we decide to rent bikes and take a nice leisurely tour of the area. It rained for a bit but most of the day was nice and cool.

: What looks like the inside of a crumbling temple.

: Farming near the temples.

: Farming near the temples.

: Bagan Buddhist temple entrance.

: One stop shop for scooter drivers. The bottles are filled with fuel and they can make a call while they wait for a fill up.

: Bagan

: Bagan

: I think this sign was describing the cost of the toll based on the vehicle type. Pretty straight forward if you ask me.

: Cattle traffic jam.

: This is a squat toilet in case you were curious. Not too bad, right?

: Most long bus rides stopped for lunch or dinner at a roadside restaurant.

: These guys were all over. They had small engines that were always exposed. They really worked hard as you can see.

: Pretty gruesome sign warning about traffic safety I suppose.

: In Myanmar they drive on the right side of the car as well as on the right side of the road.

: The hotel in Mandalay was much like a prison or an apartment building storage unit.

: This beauty cost us $25 per night. That’s not much back home but very expensive for budget travelers. We didn’t mind the place as much as the price tag.

: Our flooded room. We had to ask a couple of times before they found us another room to relocate to for the rest of the morning.

: The sink on the right gave way at 3 am, creating a loud bang that woke us up, and subsequently flooding our room. Water was spewing out of the power as several of the workers watched. I decided to place a trash can under the flow to catch most of the water. Par for course for this hotel as far as I could tell.

: Sketchy plug in our second room.

: Enjoying my second tea that morning before the crowd arrived at a tea house in Mandalay.

: A tea house we frequented while in Mandalay. I really like the atmosphere in these places. This shot is pretty early in the morning so it’s not very busy. It’s full most of the day, into the evening. The popular drink there is black tea with sweetened condensed milk. It was tasty.

: An old Jeep Willey outside of our hotel. There were faux Jeeps all over Thailand. There seems to be some sort of cult following. They even use the Jeep brand name, though, it’s obvious they’re not real Jeeps.

: One of the crazy intersections in Mandalay. Cyclist mix in with the rest of traffic. There are no bike lanes. Surprisingly you don’t see any road rage. Everyone just makes there way the best they can without and fuss.

: Many people used bicycles as there main mode of transport. Many of the bikes were pretty old. This guy is cruising on an oldie but goody.

: A monk take a smoke break outside of the Mandalay palace.

: A canal about 40 yards wide surrounds the palace. Not sure how deep it is.

: Pretty interesting warning. A small sign in the bottom right corner of the photo informs foreigners that they cannot enter the palace.

: These guys pound gold nuggets until they flat thin sheets. The gold leaf is used heavily in Buddhist temples.

: All of the hard work of pounding leads to this. Wow!

: These women were packaging the gold leaf to be sold and used. Some others were applying it to figurines to be sold.

: Inside a large Buddhist temple in Mandalay.

: The temple was getting a makeover. A crew of workers were applying 2″ by 2″ gold leaf squares to many of the walls and ceilings throughout the temple.

: Men are allowed to apply gold leave squared to Buddhas body. His head is polished every morning at 4am.

: Women were not allowed in the room with the golden Buddha.

: This woman gave me a huge smile as she passed. She was riding through what seemed like a school for Buddhist monks. This corridor led to a busy matrix of streets surrounding a large Buddhist temple.

: Stone carvers in Mandalay. These guys carve Buddhas all day long. The quality and skill of their work was pretty impressive.

: Large and extra large Buddhas.

: Where’s OSHA when you need them. This guy could definitely use a respirator.

: Carving the text by hand.

: Inking the carved text to make it pop.

: It seemed that the polishing was left to the ladies.

: The junk pile. Some of these statues are pretty far along. Too bad they had to be scrapped.

: Buddhist monks welcoming Obama.

: Obama on the left (obviously) and Aung San Suu Kyi on the right. I think the guy in the center might be the current leader of Myanmar. During Obama’s visit to the country he paid a short visit to Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the National League of Democracy.

: Everyone was very excited about Obama’s visit and what it could potentially mean for the country, in terms of civil liberties and economic opportunities.