Some people have asked, how many miles did we travel in the 70 day sabbatical?
I did a quick calculation this morning: we flew over 53,000 miles on flights and over 2,000 miles of travel by ships, trains, buses, cars, tuk-tuks, running and walking 🙂
The map is not 100% accurate of everything, but it provides a pretty good picture of the routes we took.
Needless to say, it was an adventure of a lifetime!
When you have a long travel layover, find a great location, and stay a full day. It reduces the stress and makes travel easier.
The hotels along the Mediterranean ocean in Tel Aviv are a great way to enjoy the sunset, walk along the beach and have a great dinner.
Only 30 minutes from the airport. Much better than the 3 feet of snow in New York at JFK airport.
I took a nice run along the boardwalk to Jaffa to build up my appetite before dinner. 🙂
We stayed in Gurgaon which is closer to the airport and near many of the high tech call centers, etc. in India. I snuck in one more run around a nearby park…the entertainment was all about the dogs tangling with the wild pigs. I think the pigs won.
When I got back to the hotel, another (Indian) was coming back from the hotel gym. He asked me if it was safe to run India any more. I educated him positively.
On the last day we all visited the tallest minaret in the world. This was erected in the 12th century and was a long time before the Mughul emperors. The oldest mosque in India is also at this site, but it is no longer used.
The mosque and minaret were built from the plethora of Hindu temples that previously existed here.
You can see the Hindu symbols, sculptures and carvings in the stones and pillars that comprise the minaret and mosque.
We missed some of these sites earlier due to the road closures for Republic Day, etc. when we first arrived in New Delhi.
One example was a close up shot of the India Gate.
Later in the morning, we visited the archeological museum and the national museum.
The archeological museum was similar to the observatories that we saw in Jaipur I believe. Nice outdoor park to visit in the diplomatic area of New Delhi.
A real highlight which was not in our tour was our second stop was the National Museum. We could not take any pictures, but we really learned a lot more about how old the history is for India. As Americans, we learn a lot about Egypt, Greece, the Romans, etc. – but there is some much older history in India that we know very little about in the US educational system. We saw pottery and tools, necklaces, etc. that were over 4,000 – 5,000 years old. Many centuries before the Romans and Egyptians. It was also fascinating to see how the language has evolved and changed for any dialects over the centuries. Lots of great exhibits and artwork to see here – and it is only 300 rupees ($6 to visit).
Although there is a lot of renovation underway, we visited the National Zoological Park. We had to educate our driver on the word “zoo” and then we finally made it there. There was some nice exhibits if some different monkeys, etc. which we had never seen before.
Never saw this before…parrots digging into the ground.
Overall, it was a nice way to spend the afternoon before heading out on a flight. The only challenge is that we had to keep refusing our driver to take us to a bazaar, emporium, shopping. It got old, but we are already used to being a tourist in India :-)
Before we left, we had a nice diner in Nepal at Krishnarpan at the Dwarkika’s hotel so I took a few pics with my Windows Phone 8 (Lumia 920) 🙂
It was a gorgeous hotel with numerous fountains, sculptures and 15th century architecture. I wonder if this place used to be a temple…
It was fortunate this hotel, like our hotel had full electrical power in the evenings. Large portion of Nepal, like India only have electricity 8-10 hours a day. After that, they must use batteries and generators. Driving through the streets at night is a little eerie as you see candles, a lot of darkness, some portable generators…a different way of life compared to the western world.
Our hotel, the Soaltee Crowne Plaza was quite unique as it housed many diplomats from many countries as well as hosted a Casino that only foreigners can visit.
I played some baccarat like James Bond which resulted in winnings to pay for a nice dinner 🙂
Back to the nice dinner at Krishnarpan…
It was an amazing 9 course meal with private menus that was complemented with the local rice wine called “raksi” (moonshine).
We of course shared food with the gods first following local tradition.
Quite a treat and food flavors. It was hard to make it through all 9 courses.
Great way to end a few days in Nepal.
Today, Nepal was like the Northwest United States and Seattle. Rainy and overcast. We wanted to take a flyover of the Himalayas and Mount Everest, but the weather just did not permit it. The mountains were not even visible today 😦
So we toured around the area a little more and saw the largest Tibetan Buddhist Stupa known as Boudhanath.
It actually took a little while to walk around. It felt like home by walking in the light rain with no umbrellas.
We then went out into the countryside a little bit more to see some more history and have some local lunch.
We went to Bhadgaon and walked through the local village above.
Bhadgaon used to be the capital of Nepal during the second half of the 15th century.
It was nice to have a local lunch in one of the old pagodas in the square
And watch a wedding procession and listen to the local band as they went by:
Last, in the afternoon, we visited the Pashupatinath Temple along the riverbank of the Bagmati river. This area was also full of monkeys that were rampant and interested in snacks visitors might share…
This holy Hindu site is where cremations are performed daily and many people visit to watch and pay respects. It is a very public experience.
The only disappointment is all the pollution that is the end result in the Bagmati river.
Nepal is known by the phrase “Never Ending Peace and Love”. We found Nepal to be a very secular country despite being a formal Hindu state. Today, we spent most of our time in the 3 cities including Kathmandu. The Kathmandu valley is approximately 1 mile above sea level, so you can feel the elevation when climbing up stairs when you are from Seattle. Interesting piece of trivia: Nepal receives more tourists than all of India and they love the foreign tourists as part of their economy.
Early morning fog like much if this northern region…
On the way to the (believed) oldest Buddhist stupa in the world, we saw a compound of the famous Gurkha commando unit that comes from Nepal. They are one of the most decorated soldiers in the world in the British Army.
Next, we went to Chabahil. We encountered dozens of Rhesus monkeys were very friendly and loved us when we had fruit to offer.
They enjoyed watching us throw coins into the memorial fountain to earn good luck 🙂
Next, we climbed up the steps to the Buddhist stupa. It is quite a climb depending on which route you take.
The top is filled with numerous memorials, shrines and also a Tibetan monastery.
Not to mention a lot of dogs and monkeys.
It is important that you walk around the stupa clockwise, and only in out numbers of circles. Never an even number of revolutions or bad luck will be the result!
Later in the day, we walked extensively around the city visiting other public squares and temples.
There are A LOT of them in the three cities in the Kathmandu valley. As a joke, we also walked by the “freak street” that made Kathmandu famous back in the 1960s…
We tried to see the living goddess in Nepal (Kumari), but she was not available.
We only got to say hello to her dog when we went into her house.
In case you missed some of my other posting when we were in Nepal:
Once we landed in Nepal, it became clear that the US Marines were on some kind of special mission here.
They had a half a dozen soldiers guarding the C-130 from the Nepalese army…some of them were carrying WWII era British Sten machine guns. Interesting…
From there, getting the Nepal visa was simple and easy. We passed through immigration must faster than everyone that already received the Nepal visa in their passports.
Overall initial perception of Nepal is very positive. Kathmandu is relatively clean and modern in many ways.
It was easy to walk down the street to a local mini-mart and find some local drink.
Who could have ever guessed that Nepal actually makes wine? We thought we would try a bottle tonight…even if it is made from wild fruits 🙂
OK – would you like to see some of the sights of Nepal? Check out my other blog posts over the next few days:
We spent a few days in Varanasi. This is a big city, over 4 million people, much different than the countryside of Khajuraho. The traffic is a deadlock at rush hour, but we were able to walk down the street for half a kilometer without incident to visit the local wine store. We got the owner to dust off a couple of 2011 Cab-Shiraz blends from Sula from his back room and away we went.
India is like the United States…retail, a bottle of wine is $20. The same bottle is $50-60 in the hotel. Walking the streets is also an adventure in India for a Westerner (to say the least).
Varanasi is the spiritual capital of India and lies along the Ganges river. It is visited every year by millions of Hindu pilgrims and tourists.
A dip into the Ganges water is one of the most spiritual events that can occur in the Hindu religion, somewhat similar to a baptism in the Jordan river by Christians.
It is one of the four sites where the Kumbh Mela is held every 12 years. A Hindu follower can rid their sins by bathing in the Ganges.
The banks of the river are occupied by scores of people every morning washing clothes:
Daily cremation funerals:
And even swimming in the holy waters
Many locals and tourists light a ceremonial offering before the sun rises in the river to pay homage to the mother Ganges.
Varanasi is the holiest city in India for more than one reason. It is also the birth or start of Buddhism. Buddha (I forget his original name) was born in a royal family as a prince, but he later became a monk.
He gave his first lectures here in Varanasi at a site called Sarnath:
and meditated here at some of the stupas which have been excavated in the architectural protected site in the center of the city.
The site can be found next to a large deer park as it is believed that Buddha was a deer in his former life. We could not resist buying some carrots from the local children and feeding some of them. Did you know the carrots in India are a dark red color, not orange?
Later in the evening, we visited the Ganges again to observe the evening prayers next to the rover from the steps known as ghats. Every day of the year, they conduct prayers from these steps next to the river. They have been doing this rain or shine for thousands of years. The crowd was as diverse as they come – locals, Indians from other parts of the country and visitors from all over the world.
Yet another very different experience revealed in India tonight.
Here are some of the sites and places we visited in Northern India:
And here is the latest posting for my recent visit to Southern India.
Today, in Khajuraho, we visited the famous western and eastern temples in this remote area in central India. If the area was full of jungles, I would have thought we were in Cambodia. The structures and detail was amazing.
These Hindu temples were very detailed and ornate. The designs and details were so unique and different around each of the temples.
They told a number of stories, fables and lessons learned…this is where the Kama Sutra came from…I will let your imagination run wild…
Some of the temples are still used today…many of these were built more than a thousand years ago by Chandela kings.
We took notice and photographed some different birds we had not seen previously in India.
I think this was a hornbill.
I think these were some owls that we saw in the middle of the day.
I remained motivated to save money, so I took a job sweeping to make some extra tip money 😉
The rest of the day was spent trying to fly out of Khajuraho and going north. The hassle and challenges of the regional airport were no joke…The security goes overboard over the smallest if things in your carry on luggage…and at the same time, nobody knows when your plane will come in for you to board your flight…ahhh vacation…
I made friends with a local para-military security guard and shared some war stories to help us avoid any serious problems if they occurred 🙂
Today, we headed south from Agra on a train to Jhansi.
This was yet another interesting and different experience. The trains stop for 3 minutes – and you must aggressively plan to get yourself and bags aboard, as nobody will wait for you. A 3 hour trip is quite economical – only 10 dollars for a first class seat. I would not say it is luxurious, but it definitely is better than a bus ride for twice the time duration. The bathrooms and results are a bit scary…think of the worst horror movie and you get the idea. It is a different culture and different world….
An interesting change in some regions in India (like Rajasthan), is that buses can no longer have curtains. This is a result of the recent attack in New Delhi where they used the curtains to hide what the criminals were doing. Bad for everyone…the sun gets mighty hot sometimes on the bus even though we are in the north in the middle of winter.
Jhansi is one of the largest train stations in the center of India. It was definitely warmer here, and a different area of nature preserves and granite mining.
From here we had lunch and visited the next Moghul palace of the 4th Moghul emperor (son of Akbar) in the village of Orchha.
It took 20+ years to build, but was only occupied for one night. Fairly recently, the movie “Singularity” was filmed here.
This was a camel stable. First time I have seen one of those.
There were also some interesting birds here: Egyptian Vultures.
From here, we headed east through the actual rural countryside to the small village called Khajuraho.
It was a very long drive through the limited roads.
In some places, there was no road…in others, it was a one lane road that vehicles, bikes, motorcycle’s, tuk-tuks “battled” for the position on the road to move forward positively.
As a westerner, there were not many places to find a traditional bathroom along this route.
Don’t drink too much tea or coffee at lunch, you will be sorry when the next bathroom is 2.5 hours away!
David Cross Travel Blog 