Thursday, August 23, 2007

kathmandu in a different light

I am currently in one of the most interesting places I have ever been in my life. The sights, smells and sounds of Kathmandu intermingle to form this incredible sensory overload at every moment. There are cows, bikes, people, motos, everything, wandering in every direction. The streets are sometimes paved, usually not. I've seen temples, both Buddist and Hindu. Sari'd women are everywhere. I had no idea. I'm in shock. This is amazing.

AND I went shopping for trekking stuff. I spent a whopping $65 US dollars and got...

1 -10C sleeping bag (North Face)
4 pairs of thick hiking socks
1 north face fleece jacket
1 pair of long underwear
1 fleece headband
1 light weight gloves
1 Nalgene water bottle

oh. my. god.

I will probably buy a new winter jacket as well. I've had mine since grade 11...there's nothing wrong with it, but come ON!!! I can get a North Face lined winter jacket for like $50...if that. I'll probably also buy another smaller backpack that'll act as my carry-on from now on.

I'm moving back to Canada and ski mountains...and now it's all justified ;)

darker side...I also bought a Nepal Lonely Planet so I could understand it all a bit better. Under dangers and annoyances:

- Keep an eye on the local press to find out about impending strikes, demonstrations and
curfews
- don't ever break curfew - instructions have been given to shoot those who are found breaking
curfew
- don't travel during Bandhs (strikes) or blockades. Get very nervous if you notice that you are
the only car on the streets of Kathmandu!

I am VERY glad that I did not read that prior to last night. I've asked a few people...and yesterday was a Bandh.

There are three different kinds of strikes in Nepal:

"A normal procession or demonstration is a julus. If things escalate there may be a chakka jam (jam of wheels), when all vehicles stay off the street, or a bandh, when all shops, schools, and offices are closed as well."

p.s. my taxi was the only car i saw last night, except for the police road blocks...and a cow.

not in kansas toto...my first 12 hours in Nepal

You know how sometimes you just know when things aren't going to be good? How, no matter how alright the current situation may seem, you just know that things won't be going your way for much longer? Danielle and I have often joked about "forebode" in the past few months. A word to the wise. Don't joke about forebode...apparently it's like karma and will come and bite you in the ass.

In retrospect my first 12 hours in Nepal weren't as scary as I felt at the time. It was just the variable of the utter unknown mixed with being alone and apparently in the middle of a general strike during which all traffic had ceased and fiery rocks being thrown at cars. Seriously, who lands in the middle of that? Apparently me, stupid Murphy's Law.

I shall explain.

It started when my flight leaving Bangkok was an hour late. As I sat in the waiting room reading my book I kept glancing around for any sign of a friendly face. There were none. Well, that's not true. I was definitely getting attention from 95% of the male passengers also waiting. I've lived in Asia long enough to be able to ignore it, but it in no way helped with my feelings of forebode. Now, since I was still in Bangkok I was wearing shorts and a tank top. Aware that Kathmandu would be colder I reasoned that I would change in a bathroom upon arrival. What I didn't count on was the airplane being a refrigerator. I asked for a blanket, but there were apparently only 20 on board, and all had been previously claimed. Honestly, 20 blankets?

...sense of foreboding getting stronger.

At this point I had plenty of time to look around. It's sad, but I guess seeing that I had just finished a month of travel in SEAsia I had focused primarily on that area, the cultures, what to do, see, etc. Since my time in Nepal would be mostly taken up by my trek I honestly had not thought about the Nepali culture, their dress, attitudes...anything. I was now realizing. From my time living in Abbotsford I became quite aware of Indian culture. I wasn't only flying to Nepal, I was flying into an arm of India. Hmmmm...wasn't prepared for that. The plane ride was loud, despite the fact that the lights had been turned off. The food was amazing, curry, and I had a pick of two meals, fish or pork. I chose pork, realizing even more so that I was heading into a different place than I had ever thought to realize. No beef here! For the rest of the ride I hunkered down and buried myself in my book.

During the flight I had strained to see signs of life in the darkness. My flight had left Bangkok in late twilight so my only hopes were the small dots of life I sometimes saw. The pilot informed us when we were flying over Dhaka. Again, the realization that I'd put no thought into this trip whatsoever struck me. I was currently flying over Bangladesh! All I can say about the capital city of Bangladesh is that it's not very big, or the majority of the outlying structures don't use lights. I'd say it's about the size of Campbell River. How didn't I realize the enormity of the trip I was embarking on?? I think somewhere in my mind, I must of, but that realization was a little scary, so I chose to ignore it. No ignoring it now...shit.

A little while later we arrived in Kathmandu. Upon exiting the plane I was surprised to find it at a perfect 23C with no humidity. Yay no humidity!!! My spirits raised. I'd had time to deal with the fact that I knew nothing about Nepal (or what I was going to do in the day I waited for Ginny and Martha), but reasoned that my company would provide lots of information and I could get a book first thing in the morning. I was ready to begin the adventure. I breezed through security, waited heart-stoppingly long for my bag - feelings of unrest beginning to creep in again - and headed for the exit to meet my trekking company.

I've read a lot of travel books and I've traveled my fair share in places where at every turn someone is ready to part you and your cash. I know the lines "miss, your hotel is not good, you should come with me" "oh no madame, i'm sorry to say that your hotel isn't there anymore. "Oh....THAT company, nono, very bad, you must come with me." I've stepped off of buses in remote places and been bombarded. I know how to say no, i've perfected the hard face. i was prepared. The same thing happened in Kathmandu. I stepped out the main doors and into a sea of "helpful" faces. It's ok though, I was looking for my name of a sign. It would all be over soon. I scanned the crowd. It wasn't that big, seeing as it was almost 10pm, but nowhere was anyone holding a sign with my name, nor even speaking anything close to it. hmmm...not good.

Alright, buddy's held up in traffic. I was comforted a bit by the fact that the entry was also crowded with police, holding big guns. At one point, when I was surrounded by 5 guys telling me different stories and had resorted to not saying anything, just staring blankly past them, the police came up and ushered them away. I was placed in a small roped off area where immediately two stray dogs came over, licked my hands reassuringly and fell asleep on my feet. At this point I had to laugh at the scene. As soon as I'd got off the plane I'd thought "wow, not in Kansas anymore." Now, here I was with my own two Toto's.

However one thing was really worrying me. A lot of the taxi drivers trying to whisk me away to their "good hotels" had all had the same story. Today was a surprise general strike in Kathmandu. Everything was closed, there was no traffic. The only vehicles on the roads were the police and no one was coming to get me. The main reason I had a very difficult time believing this was that THEY were on the road, so obviously it wasn't just the police and the fact that my trekking company had told me not to listen to any drivers, not to go with them and to wait for him. Other options weren't sure to be safe.

I'd heard about the general strikes in Nepal, though. Not good. I'd read the news stories and heard first hand accounts from a friend who was here during one. I'd also met a girl last year who had to flee Nepal during something very similar. It just wasn't safe. The taxi drivers stories were becoming increasingly alarming. Flaming rocks were being thrown at cars, it wasn't safe. THEN the police took it upon themselves to inform me that yes, the taxi drivers were speaking the truth, I'd been waiting almost an hour, it was becoming less and less likely that my group was coming.

Riiiight, the reality of my situation sank in. I knew nothing of Kathmandu. I knew I was booked into a hotel, but didn't know any information about it. I knew the name of my company, but again, no contact information. I was stranded at an airport with a ring of armed police now separating me from the anxious taxi drivers who knew that I had given up and indeed needed a ride into town. I looked frantically at one police officer who'd been particularly kind to me. I had to depend on him, however realized that he too could be just as corrupt. He chose one driver, confirmed that the hotel was safe, that the driver would take me to a safe place, gave me his name, phone number and email and with a pat on the back, sent me on my way.

Tears began to flow. I was now in the hands of some people I was told not to put myself in the hands of. I'm a strong person, I knew I could handle myself, but the mere fact that I was now thinking of ways in which I'd have to handle myself scared me. I was also thinking about my tour company. what if we'd been screwed over?? A friend had just done a trek with the same company and had only good things to say. We'd already paid part of our fees and I'd been certain the company was reputable, but now I wasn't so sure. Another story being thrown at me by the taxi drivers was that my company had taken my money with no intentions of ever coming to see me. The company didn't exist etc. etc. etc. The only straw i had was that Dave had dealt with the same company and been fine. If I didn't have that, I had nothing.

The story dies from here. I was put into a hotel, it was nice and decently cheap. I immediately ran to internet for any word from my travel company. There was none. I sent off an email to them, telling them where I was and went to my room, deadlocking doors.

The sleep was fitful. The room was nice enough, but I still had no idea where I was. Kathmandu, sure, but where? I was awakened at 7:15 by knocks on my door. It was the counter with a telephone call for me. The strike had caused all of my problems. The person who was supposed to pick me up had been outside of Kathmandu when the strike happened without warning. He was stuck out of the city and didn't get back in until 4am. He had no cell phone signal (i knew that because I'd tried to call him once I got to the hotel). He managed to call other people who worked for his company so they could come and get me, but they too had no way due to traffic being shut down. He'd be at the hotel in 15 minutes to come get me and bring me to where I was supposed to be. I most certainly was NOT in the tourist area, he had no idea where the hotel was where I had stayed, no one did. It took 45 minutes for them to find me.

I now sit in a decent internet cafe in the middle of the tourist area of Kathmandu. my hotel is fabulous and my friends will be here tomorrow. I'm pretty tired and hungry, but ok.

See, even when i was writing I was realizing that really, it wasn't that bad. In retrospect things are never as scary. Possibly it just smacked me upside the head because the past month had been so easy. Everywhere I'd been, I'd been before. Nothing new, nothing scary, everything familiar. Apparently adversity gods like to keep everything equal...life'd been too easy!

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Chiang Mai, Thailand July 2007

Trekking again. However this time, in rainy season. Kyle, Danielle and I headed out from Chiang Mai for a 2 day/1 night trek into the hill tribes surrounding Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand in the end of July. We were joined by a guy, Robbie, from Beligium and his girlfriend, Katja, from Germany. They'd met in Holland. They spoke many languages, we did not. The main difference between this year and last year was the greenery. Marvelous! Last year I traveled in the end of the dry season. As a result everything was...well...dry. Dry translates into brown. This year was gorgeous. Green, everything green and lush and beautiful...and wet. Yes, it rained. Yes, trails turned to mud. Yes, I fell. Three times. It didn't dampen spirits though. It almost made it all the more real. The first tribe we went to see was the long-neck tribe. I'm sure they have a more Thai-like name than that, but that is how they were described to us. I hadn't seen them last time and wished I had, so I was excited. I remember reading about them in National Geographic some years ago and being astounded by what they do to their bodies and how they do it. It was quite interesting to see it in real life. They start putting rings around their necks when they are 7 years old. They stop adding more rings after a certain point, but put more rings on every few years. The result is an apparently elongated neck. That, however, is not the case. What they end up doing is pushing their ribcage down, compressing everything inside. Not the healthiest thing in the world to do, but it does give the impression that their necks are really long, which they consider to be more beautiful.

We stayed with a different tribe for the night, in the middle of the mountains. For the first time in a long time Dan, Kyle and I saw a sky full of stars. It was beautiful and muchly missed. The next day we walked more to an elephant camp. Rode some elephants and then rafted the rest of the way down some river, back to Chiang Mai.

That night we met Robbie and Katja for some dinner around the night market in Chiang Mai. I love that night market, it's marvelous. However, we got side-tracked by a pamphlet for Muay Thai boxing and ended up spending our night watching people (literally) kick the shit out of eachother. At times it was pretty cool. I reminded myself that I had taken Taekwondo and that was practically the same thing, so I couldn't judge. However whenever a person was KO'd I felt bad. Still an experience...kinda like the ping pong show.

The next day Kyle, Dan and I got in our mini-bus to head to the Thai/Laos border. The next day we were to take the slow boat into Laos. It's a decently long drive (5~6 hours) so we were pretty beat by the time we reached our hotel on the river separating the two countries. The hotel had the cutest puppy though, with the grossest skin condition on his feet. We pet him and washed our hands a lot. Still really cute regardless. That day wasn't too exciting, nor was the boat ride. Since the boat ride occured in another country though, it shall be reserved for a different entry!

the differences between travel alone and...not alone

i've realized for some time now that i haven't been keeping up with this blog nearly as much as I was the last time I did this trip. I wasn't quite sure as to why, but figured it had something to do with less things to write about. Since I'd already done most of the things before, maybe I wasn't as excited about them and therefore didn't see the need to blog about them.

I'd figured wrong.

Everything I've done this year as been just as great as last year. Yes, I've done some things that I've already done before, but a lot of things I haven't. I've realized that the lack of my blogging has to do with the fact that I'm not alone in my travels.

Last year I did this trip alone, however, I was rarely alone. I met up with many different people along the way, shared hotel rooms, day-trips and memories. The main difference between that trip and the trip I am currently on is that last year, although I was only alone when I made a conscious effort to be so, at least every few days I was on my own. This trip is now 2 weeks in, and today is the first day that I've had completely to myself (until 6pm that is).

Now, which way do I prefer? That is an almost impossible question to answer. Both ways are fantastic. Both ways are almost the same as well. The only difference is that during all of the things I'm doing there is a constant person, one who never changes, and that is Danielle. Last year was a lot more work. Meeting new people, earning trust, and finding out about personalities takes effort. Yes, it's awesome and meeting new people is great, but it takes work. What I've done in the different countries hasn't changed a great deal, but the social effort has.

Now, what does this have to do with my blog entries? Well, Danielle is a constant. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Today, as I was alone for the first time wandering around the Old Quarter in Hanoi I realized that I was bored. I then thought back to last year, trying to recall if I was bored then too. I remembered that on some days, I was. However most days I occupied my time. I got a lot more massages, I shopped a lot more, I sat in a lot more cafes reading. I also spent a lot more time on the internet. Therein lies the answer. This year there's a constant person to talk to, to wander with. There's no effort involved, we've known eachother for a year. Therefore we spend a lot less time on the internet. Is this an excuse? I don't think so. It's just a reality. Another reality is that last year I spent a lot more money doing all of those things. This years a lot cheaper...woohoo!

That all said, I've enjoyed today. Those who know me know that "Krista Time" is an essential. Today has been relaxing. I've gotten a 1 hour massage, eaten a wonderful meal, eaten icecream at a cafe overlooking Hanoi, done a bit of shopping, and am now doing this. All before 3pm.

Friday, August 03, 2007

China, last week in Korea, mud fest...and Thailand. except i'm in laos...and i suck at keeping up with this.

allllrighty.

let's see if i can fit this all in.

I went to China for a long weekend, it was pretty frickin cool. There were 18 of us, all from Youngdo, in our own big-ass tour bus, and our own guide. we all had two seats to ourselves on the bus (wonderful for naps), it was fast-paced, but we saw a lot of Beijing. The pics are all on facebook...and since I'm in Laos right now...I won't be posting them until later...i'll make a slideshow or something. I really liked Beijing, but was told that since the Olympics are there next year it was a lot cleaner and orderly than it has been in the past. Good timing on our part? Went to the Great Wall, climbed it, saw Tiannamen Square and the Forbidden City (FORBODE). All was amazing, took a shiteload of pics. Went shopping in a MARVELOUS market. Bought far too much for far too cheap. I bought SHOES, girls shoes nonetheless...been a long time since i've been able to do that. We rented bikes on the last day and rode around Old Beijing. By far that was the most interesting thing I did. All the cultural stuff was great, but the bike riding really gave us an up close and person look at day-to-day. it was amazing.

so...that's China in a nutshell. loved it, have to go back. people should go!!

THEN i went back to Korea and worked for 3 days. THEN i went to MUD FEST (for the 3rd year in a row - time to leave Korea when that happens). Again it was amazing. Went with 26 people in two big minboks (hotels with no beds, just blankets so you crash on the floor). We got covered in mud, partied, rented quads with people we didnt' really know and rode around on the beach. Did some mud wrestling, some mud sliding...overall...too much fun.

THEN back to school...worked my last monday classes and my last tuesday classes...which equals 5 pizza parties, a lot of pics of kids, and a lot of good-byes.

Wednesday the 25th was my last day in Korea. I jam packed that baby. Got up in my hotel, mailed my last package, went to the bank, closed my account, got my hair professionally straightened, went into Seoul, bought another memory card, went to Itaewon, bought health insurance, a rain cover for the bag, met a friend for dinner and a movie, got on the train, went to another city, met up with Ashley (korean friend) said goodbye, that was sad, got in a cab and went back to my city.

THEN i slept, dan and i got up, ate pancakes with Jen, and were on our way to the airport! arrived in Bangkok after a looooong-ass delay through immigration/customs at the new Bangkok airport. we waited in line for retardedly long. finally got to Khao San, waited a few hours, Kyle showed up, and we were all together!

that night we ate, then went to a pink-pong show. for those who know, it was interesting, for those who don't know...i will not explain. it was....interesting. The song "I will always love you" is forever tained in my mind.

got up the next day. dan and kyle went on a bangkok excursion and i busied myself on Khao San. Bought bags for my parents, mailed them, bought a return ticket for Kathmandu, bought 4 bathing suits....whatever, they were 2 bucks each. and a dress which is very cute for $3. we hung out on Khao San till 6pm then our overnight bus left for Chiang Mai.

12 hours later we arrived in Chiang Mai. We checked into our hotel (with a pool, WONDERFUL since we were sweeeaaty). Took naps, ate and chilled for a few hours. Booked our hill-tribe trek and slow-boat to Luang Prabang and rented bikes. We rode around Chiang Mai and took in a temple. Danielle's brother knows a guy who owns a bar in Chiang Mai. We tracked it down, only to find that he had left for a trip to Toronto a week before! We still met his fiance and had a few beers, headed home to get a good nights sleep before our 2 day 1 night hill-tribe trek the next day.

wow this is long...

i shall write about trekking later...my fingers hurt!