HONG KONG--Lantau Island Tour

Today I went on my second tour which was of Lancau Island which is also part of the Hong Kong area...This tour was even better than yesterday's despite the early morning rising...The tour consisted of the Avenue of the Stars, another fishing village, another temple, a ferry ride across, the BIG BUDDHA (currently the largest in the world although we were told that India is trying to build one that is about 6 times the size of this one--My brother and I both can agree, I think, that it will probably take at least about 20 years for the Indians to build something that size because they work sooooo slowly), and finally we took the cable car down to the bottom...Dad, I'm sure that you would have loved the ferry ride and the cable car ride down as they both went by the International Airport, which they say has the most flights coming in and flying out on a daily basis (about every 3 minutes they say)...What an amazing day!!! I met some great people on each of these tours and made some new connections in various other parts of the world!!! I have been staying with my friend and her parents in THE PEAK for two days and checked into a hostel in Mt. Davis yesterday since she had to go to China on business for a couple of days but will be back with her tomorrow to spend my last night... Hong Kong is an amazing city!!! Off to Fukuoka, Japan on Friday to see YUKO!!!

HONG KONG--Hong Kong Island Tour

Hong Kong is an extreme change from being in India...Much higher class and barely ANY beggars and hardly any honking, which is heaven after having had spent 2 weeks surrounded by it...I'm sure that my brother can understand!!! On Tuesday I went on the afternoon Hong Kong Island Tour which started out by going to a temple...The Chinese light incense inside of the temples because when you make a wish their idea is that the flames will go up to the God's to make your wish come true...After that we went on the Tram which took us all the way up to THE PEAK, which is the richest place in Hong Kong and also where Jackie Chan has a house...His house is right up the hill from where my friend lives...Then we continued on to the fishing village and took a boat ride around to see how the less fortunate live...Our final stop was Stanley Market, which is an outside market that sells all sorts of clothing, fruits, souvenirs, etc...Very good beginning to my visit to Hong Kong!!!

INCREDIBLE !NDIA (JAIPUR)

Wednesday, our first full day in Jaipur, was our relaxation day although at night we decided to go out into town for dinner...As we stepped out of the gates from our hotel, there were some Tuk Tuk's waiting and two men started walking up to us. We ended up taking the ride from one of them who drove us to Niros Restaurant where we had dinner. He waited for us outside of the restaurant because according to him, it was a slow night, when it was probably actually because we paid him better than what he normally would get on a given night. On Thursday, we woke up and again he was waiting outside of the gate to Jas Vilas, our hotel...He drove us to see all of the major sights in Jaipur until we were tired and had enough for one day. On Friday, again we ran into him at the gate to our hotel and he drove us to see the Monkey Temple, which was the only place that we had not seen on Thursday. There were monkeys all around the Temple, hence the name. Tomorrow, Saturday, we head back to Delhi via bus and then on Sunday I am on to my next adventure, HONG KONG, and my brother is returning to Dubai!!!

Agra--Taj Mahal

On Monday morning, we woke up at about 5am although we didn't end up leaving the house until about 6:45am (we were supposed to leave at about 5:45) to go to Agra to see the famous Taj Mahal...The same driver ended up taking us there...It took us about 3 hours to get to Agra and about 4 hours to get back...In first world countries it shouldn't have taken that long but since the roads aren't the best in India, it took a bit longer...The Taj Mahal is an amazing building that attracts tourists year round...We ended up taking a camel carriage back to the parking lot after seeing the Taj Mahal...A little boy jumped on as we were trotting along and when we got back to the parking lot, I asked them if someone could take a picture of us, and they told me to hop on the camel for the little boy to take a picture of me...After we were finished with the Taj Mahal, the driver took us to see some other attractions about 40km from Agra...It has been great to see various different parts of India as they are all different and interesting!!!

Crazy Delhi Bed & Breakfast

How do I begin to explain the Bed & Breakfast situation in Delhi??? I guess that the main thing is that the father in the family is CRAZY!!!! There were some good parts to the experience, but basically he tried to control us and treat us like children while we were there...Let me rephrase that...He DID control us and treat us like HIS children... Poor kids!!! Hahaha!!!!! The good thing about that experience was that if it wasn't for him telling us what to see and getting his driver to take us around then we probably wouldn't have seen as much of Delhi as we did since the Bed & Breakfast wasn't as central as the hotel in Mumbai...After the fact, we also believe that he overcharged us a little bit, but at least we are out of there now!!! On our way to the bus station (parking lot) yesterday, he took us to this South Indian Vegetarian Restaurant for breakfast and somewhat forced us to try these various dishes when neither of us are big breakfast people..We finally put our foot down and said NO!!! A little awkward that he would take his "guests" out to breakfast...Also, he kept on repeating when we were at his house that he never charges guests for alcohol...We think that the reason why he doesn't charge is so that his guests will hang out with him...Hahaha!!! We also did meet some very nice people while we were there...The first night there was a French woman and a Pakistani man...Then the second and third night there was a family from India...The last night we were all alone with him!!! All VERY nice, and the crazy hosts wife was very nice, so he was the only crazy one...:) They also had a dog, named Whiskey, who somehow I managed to make friends with by the end!!! He mentioned to us on day one that both of his boys had arranged marriages and he had hoped that they would have stayed close to him so that the women would have children, which is what he dreamed of when his two boys got married, and he could see them often... It turns out that one of the boys moved to San Francisco and the other one lives in another part of Delhi...The daughter still lives at home...I don't want to sound negative but no wonder why the boys moved out...Hahaha!!! It was quite an experience and if India is exhausting, imagine how that experience was for 4 days!!!!!! We are in Jaipur now (arrived yesterday afternoon after a 6 1/2 hour bus ride) and that's why we are taking a day of "rest" today!!!

INCREDIBLE !NDIA (DELHI)

Sorry for the long delay in postings but it has been hard for me to get to a good internet until now...Delhi is much different than Mumbai!!! There are many more green areas in Delhi and it isn't as much of a "city" as Mumbai was but we really liked it a lot despite the lack of sleep that we got from our Bed and Breakfast because of the noise of the cars passing by on the street...We had a great driver who took us to the main places to see in Delhi such as the Red Fort, some temples, mosques, tombs, gardens, etc. Overall, India is a VERY exhausting place so we have been going to sleep quite early...We love India and it is a great place to visit however it does get tiring when beggars are all over you because you are a tourist (meaning $$$ to them), whether you are sitting in the car at a traffic light or walking along the street, taxi drivers attacking you just as you step off a bus, or rickshaw (3-wheeled bicycle) drivers standing in your way as you are getting out of the car wanting you to hop on...As you can see from one of the photos, the colors of the burqas and saris (Indian womens clothing) are beautiful...India is a very poor country for the most part but very rich in some other ways as the photos show...

ELEPHANTA ISLAND (OFF OF MUMBAI)

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Yesterday (Wednesday) we decided to take a boat jaunt to Elephanta Island! This island has some old caves and it appears that some people also live on it as there were a bunch of outside shops and restaurants as you walked up the path to the caves... One of the things that I really liked about the island was the monkeys who seemed to TAKE OVER the island completely!!! We witnessed two thefts of chips that the monkeys stole directly out of peoples hand! Crazy but it does happen!!! Hehehe!!! One other thing about India, being a third world country, is that there are a lot of dogs around but who are VERY unhealthy and it's very sad!!! The island was very different from the mainland although still extremely poor! It was just MUCH quieter!!! :)

INCREDIBLE !NDIA (MUMBAI)

What a crazy beginning to an amazing trip!!! Mumbai is a very busy and CRAZY place but we love it despite the beggars (some of them being Gypsys with their babies who we all know that I hate after my Spain/Italy experiences!!!), the major poverty, the people peeing on the side of the road, the beeping of cars, etc. We are having an absolutely amazing time!!! J and I went on a car tour on Tuesday and our driver, Vijay, was great!!! He took us to the Hanging Gardens, the Ghandi Museum, a Temple, showed us where some Indians wash their clothes, etc. It's definitely a different place than either of us have ever experienced in any of our previous travels, but that's only part of what we love about Mumbai!!!

The Indian Adventure Begins

What a crazy first few hours to the Indian stretch of the trip!!! My brother and I arrived in Mumbai, India from Dubai, UAE at about 4am yesterday morning (March 5th) only to be confronted with a few problems that we managed to get out of fairly quickly...The first one was when we picked up our baggage from baggage claim, we found that the bag that I had just bought in Dubai had been opened from one side...Nothing was stolen!!! It is still a mystery but we do not believe that it just ripped open...It was right on the hem and a clean rip, so our suspicion is that it was cut open by someone who handles the bags when they come off of the plane...I got another bag today that seems to be a little stronger, so we shall see...They're not expensive so if worst comes to worst then I just buy yet another one... Hahahaha!!! I bought another one in the first place because it got to be annoying having to unpack everything to get to my things that were placed at the bottom of the bag... The second adventure also happened at the airport at about 5am when no one was there to pick us up! I had an e-mail confirmation from someone from the hotel that said that someone would be waiting at the airport with my name on a placard to pick us up so I was not too worried... Well, that was not the case!!!! We had to take out money from the ATM but neither of our cards worked so luckily I had some US Dollars that I exchanged at the airport at the Currency Exchange window and we paid for our taxi at the Prepaid Taxi window so we wouldn't get ripped off from the actual taxi drive!!! Then we eventually made it to our hotel that is overlooking the water and right down the street from the Gates of India...Upon arrival, the Indian desk agent was half asleep and woke up to tell us that our room wasn't ready yet and to go upstairs to the eating area to have a cup of coffee...Of course we did not want coffee at that hour and the only thing that we wanted was SLEEP!!! We went upstairs to the eating area anyway and came downstairs around 15 minutes later when our room was ready...It was great to get some sleep until we were woken up at about 9:30am to some banging from the outside that sounded like they were trying to break down the wall. It turned out to be construction but we couldn't handle it anymore so we asked to get a room change which we did... We moved to the exact opposite end of the hallway (still overlooking the water) where we had some peace and quiet and slept until about 12 noon....That is how the Indian Adventure has begun in a nutshell... Quite a wild beginning, but things have gotten LOTS better and assume will continue to get better!!!! :)

Last Day in Dubai

Today was my last day in Dubai, so my brother and I spent the afternoon at Wild Wadi, which is a water slide park and was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!! We got a few bumps and bruises from hitting the sides of the slide while going down in a tube, but nothing too excrutiating!!! Hahaha!!! We are off to India on a very late flight tonight! Be in touch from India!!!

VU'S BAR

So you could have only guessed that I would manage to meet two Emiratis at the Vu's Bar at the top of the Emirates Towers on Saturday night. My brother and I went there for a couple of drinks and at the table next to us were sitting two Emirati men, an Indian, and a Nigerian. We started to talk to them and they all turned out to be very nice guys. The two Emiratis were very talkative, the Nigerian was a little sketchy, and the Indian guy was very helpful and gave us his friend's number in Mumbai, India to call if we have ANY problems. I was hoping that I would get to meet some Emiratis while I was here in Dubai and on my last night in Dubai it just happened!!!

Second Day in Dubai

Another day in Dubai is coming to an end!!! Today was a very fun but exhausting day with the warm sun beating down on us! We went to the mall to see the indoor ski slope, however it was a little difficult to grasp the whole look through pictures from the outside, but it was amazing to see in person. Later we tried to ride camels but no one really spoke enough English to understand what we were saying so we took pictures of them instead!!! :) We also were going to go to the pool at one of the hotels but it cost about the equivalent of $45 so we decided to just go for a ride and have lunch at this Italian Restaurant, La Veranda, at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel. Tonight we are going to head to the Emirates Towers to have a drink at this bar on the top called Vu's Bar. Looking forward to more adventures ahead!!!

First Day in Dubai

The first day in Dubai was quite an eventful one! I arrived in Dubai at about 8:30 in the morning and the day began instantly. My brother was waiting for my at the airport, we came back to his apartment, dropped my bag off, met his roommate, Matt, and Matt's mother, who is here visiting from California, and then we were off. We went into the center of town through all of the Indians, and there are lots of them (most likely more than actual Emiratis), and saw some mosques but just from the outside, and actually heard the prayer calling while we were eating lunch. We ate lunch by the water and smoked a shisha and then took an abra (a little wooden boat) across the canal to the other side, again filled with Indians. It was quite an experience!!! Later on in the day we went to the Dubai Open Tennis Semifinals and Roger Federer was competing against Tommy Haas and Federer ended up winning this match again 2 games to 0. It was quite a match though!!! There are special leather seats that are designated for the Sheikhs who are rich Emiratis and usually part of the Royal Family. There were a few at this match!!! At that point I was also getting quite tired after having had flown all night long and not taking a nap once I arrived but everything was fine. Now we are on to day two, which is going to be another fun day!!!

"Hostal"

Ok!!! To all of those who kept on mentioned the movie "Hostal" before I left, I want you all to know that I am safe and sound after my first hostal experience on this trip although I have stayed in plenty others in the past. :) I stayed at a hostal very close to the city of Stockholm, Sweden and I met some very nice girls who I roomed with. I roomed with quite a few during the 4 nights that I spent in Stockholm, but I was able to strike up conversations with 3 of them. One was from Japan and didn't speak much English but was learning, one was from Kenya but lived in Stockholm for 4 years and for the past year has lived in Copenhagan, Denmark, and the last one was from Russia who was visiting Stockholm on business and stayed a few extra days after the conference that she attended because she wanted to do research on the History of Scandinavia since that was her specialty and what she had studied. The last day in Stockholm was a miserable day so I ended up just relaxing and went to have a late lunch at a Pizzeria with Bena, the girl from Kenya and then I read during the day and she cooked dinner in the kitchen at the hostal that night. Now I am off to see my bro in Dubai and have a 4 hour layover in London Heathrow airport. Not fun, but make use of the time...I'll read or use the rest of my British pounds shopping or listen to music...:)