Trekking, Cooking, and Chilling in Chang Mai
Mood:  chillin'
Topic: Asia Trip

************NEW PHOTOS!!!**************

We have uploaded 200+ new photos of our time in Cambodia and Thailand. Click on the Asia Photos link on the homepage http://marisaandmolly.tripod.com -- the photos come after the India photos in the album.

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Greetings from the north of Thailand. We finally peeled ourselves away from the beautiful beaches and headed to Chang Mai in the northwestern part of Thailand. Chang Mai is a city of 1.6 million people and sits in the foothills of the mountains. It's a great place to relax and a very livable city. The locals are super friendly and we are enjoying just staying put and getting to know the local Thai life.

As part of our explortion of this region, Molly and I went on a three day, two night trekking trip up near the border with Burma to stay with mountain tribes. We booked it through our guest house, Libra Guest House (very organized and friendly, we highly recommend it!) We were with nine other westerners -- four guys from Ireland all traveling together for a year, two women and a man from England who all went to law school together and are traveling for their last long vacation before starting work, and two young guys from Seattle. While the group was nice, Molly and I definitely felt like outsiders. They were all between 21 and 23 years of age and were incredibly talented at staying up until 2:00 AM drinking locally brewed moonshine and keeping the village up with their graceful use of the word "f*ck" every other word. Nonetheless, we trekked through beautiful mountains: part lush jungle and thick bamboo forest and part dry, hot pine forest. At night we stayed in mountain villages where no electricity existed, but where most of the locals dressed in modern clothes. We all slept in a large bamboo cabin on stilts with locally sewn mats on the floor and mosquito nets suspended from the center beam. The bathroom was a tiny hut shared by several families with a squat toilet, a spicket with a concrete basin from which you used the same water to wash yourself as you did to flush the squat toilet (we're starting to get used to these toilets...sigh). We opted to use our wet wipes to "wash" ourselves and leave the spicket water for flushing only. At night it was so dark it was freaky, you couldn't see anything, not even your own hand in front of your face. I had a hard time adjusting to the total darkness as did some of the others. One of the Irish men woke up in the middle of the night not knowing where he was (a little too much moonshine) and needing to leave on his flashlight for about 15 minutes just to cope with the darkness.

As part of our journey, we floated down a river on rafts made of bamboo, using long bamboo poles to steer through the rapids. One of the rafts seemed to be sinking and several of our trekkers fell off and into the river, so the local guide had us all get off the rafts and he hiked up a steep cliff to cut down some huge bamboo plants that he then attached to sinking raft to make it a bit more boyant. We then continued for another two hours down the river. I sat in the middle of the boat holding onto a thick bamboo pole and let the rapids just wash over me -- Molly managed to stand the whole time and not get knocked off. The next morning we went for a elephant ride through the area outside the village and greeted the local farmers who were slashing and bundling grain. Molly and I laughed as our elephant kept stopping to eat off the trees and then proceeding to walk us through the branches as she got back on the trail.

The day after we returned, Molly and I took an all day cooking class taught by the cooking school
owned by our Guest House. It was amazing. We began by shopping with our teacher at the local market learning about the local ingredients we would use to cook our dishes. She had us sample some fruits and snack foods which Molly and I can now buy on our own on the street. We then returned to the cooking school, put on our chefs hats and aprons and began by using a mortar and pestal to make our own green curry. We learned all the secrets that I now realize my American cookbook lacks...for example Thai ginger is a totally different ginger from Chinese ginger a.k.a. common ginger and that one must not substitute them in a Thai dish, but rather just add more lemongrass. We told the school in advance that we are vegetarians and do not eat any seafood nor fish sauces -- fish sauce is the staple of almost any Thai dish...We were so happy that they made everything for us 100% vegetarian. And the best part was that each of our dishes tasted so incredibly authentic Thai even without the fish sauce. We cooked seven dishes and had three eating sessions throughout the day. At the end, they packaged up each of our leftovers and then stored it all in the kitchen back at the guesthouse so that when we want to eat a meal, we just go to the kitchen and pick what we want to eat and they heat it for us and provide us with plain
white rice all for 5 Bhat -- that's about 10 cents!

Last night Molly and I headed over to the soccer stadium for the FIFA (Soccer) Women's International Tournament being played throughout Thailand this month (we eventually learned it was the U-19 tournament -- Under 19, but it was still fun to watch). When we got to the door we said to the woman collecting tickets that we needed to purchase tickets. She just smiled at us and said, "Tickets?" and then proceeded to stamp our hands with a VIP stamp letting us enter the stadium for free for the entire evening -- 2 games worth. We watched Nigeria and Italy tie 1 to 1, and we left half way through the second game since Australia was beating Thailand 4 to 0.

So all in all, we're having a great time. We will be continuing on to Pai tomorrow, a small town in the mountains about 4 hours north and west of here.

xoxo,

Marisa and Molly

Island Hopping in Thailand
Mood:  happy
Topic: Asia Trip
Greetings from the islands of southern Thailand in the Adaman Sea. Sorry we have not written in a while. Let's just say that like many Americans, after the election we needed a vacation!

We flew from Phnom Pehn, Cambodia directly to Phuket island - sometimes referred to as the Cancun of the Thai beaches. We treated ourselves to two nights at a nice resort set among old growth jungle on a hill overlooking Karon Beach. On Tuesday, November 2 we searched for several hours to find a hotel with satellite TV so we could wake up on Wednesday morning and watch the election day evening coverage on CNN. In a way, we almost wished we hadn't, because it just made us even more depressed. At 1:00 PM (1:00 AM EDT in the US), we had to check out of our hotel to catch a ferry to another island, so we left not knowing the real outcome. But what followed the nightmare was a true gift that has brightened our travels immensely. As we got off the small ferryboat at the dock in Koh Yao Noi -- a small undeveloped island with small fishing villages and family run rubber processing shops -- we approached the only 3 other westerners who were on the ferry with us and asked them if they wanted to share a tuk tuk. We all hopped
on and we decided since we hadn't picked a place to stay that night, we would join these two German guys who had already identified a place. Well we really lucked out. We arrived at the small row of spartan bungalows on a fishing cove and decided to check in -- after all, for $9 a night, this would help our budget a lot. But best of all, Marc and Mattias, the two guys from Berlin have now become good friends of ours. Molly and I thought we would remain on this island just one or two days, but our friendship with Marc and Mattias made it too hard to leave, so we stayed for five days with them. We feel so lucky to have met them. Mattias, a PhD in business heading off to work at Booz Allen and I loved talking business. Marc, a nurse, who was wearing a Dolce & Gabana t-shirt the day we met him with the word, "Hedonist" on it, has the best smile of anyone -- yes it rivals Molly's -- and a heart of gold. They don't know this, but the morning we left them to continue to a new part of Thailand, I cried, because we had made such good friends and had to just leave and say goodbye indefinitely. This is the hardest part of traveling -- meeting new friends and then having to say goodbye to maybe never see them again, or at least not for a long time. But Molly and I are sure that we will be making our way to Berlin soon.

Oh I can't forget to mention the highlight of Molly's time on Koh Yao Noi...she got to rent a motor scooter and ride around the island! And I did pretty well as a passenger, much to my amazement. We spent the time on the island hiring a local long-tail boat and hopping to small remote islands to snorkel and relax. At night, we hung out at the small restaurant at our bungalows and ate yummy yellow curry and vegetables, drank local beer out of a can, and played a fun German strategy game that Marc and Mattias had brought. Life on Koh Yao Noi was great.

Now we are on the island of Koh Phi Phi -- the island where the movie "The Beach" was filmed. While a culture shock compared to Koh Yao Noi, it is nice because there are no cars -- so getting around is by foot, bicycle or boat. Today we went snorkeling all day to make the most of our final beach day. Tomorrow we head to Chang Mai to see northern Thailand and hopefully go on a trekking trip.

We miss you all a lot. Even though we don't send individual e-mails to you, please know that we think about you all the time and wonder about each of you. I (Marisa) am thinking about you all and home probably a little too much. Somehow, even though I am seeing so many new places and experiencing new cultures, my mind seems to always wander, drifting to what job I might get when I return to the States and how I will manage to explain this huge gap in my worktime when I apply for jobs. Which really is a crazy way to spend this time...but I guess after two years of business school, which really is a life break, I'm feeling more ready than ever to begin work. I never imagined I would feel this way, but I do.

Love to you all.

Marisa and Molly

Living well in Cambodia
Mood:  quizzical
Today we are in Phnom Penh Cambodia and will be here until Sunday. The are having a coronation of their new King today so the riverfront is decorated with flags and streamers. While there were fireworks over the water last night, the celebration is mostly behind the walls of the palace. The people seem to be going about their daily lives and are left out of most of it, but we still hope to get some information on a parade or festival.

We spent several days in Siem Reap which is the town closest to the Angkor Wat temples. It is a town like no other in Cambodia and has benefited/suffered (depending on how you look at it) from an influx of foreign dollars. There are large beautiful hotels and resorts being built everyday. Everything is advertised in American dollars (not reil) and prices are jacked up. The effects of the civil war and other wars is apparent. There are many many amputees begging for money, or selling books and souvenirs. The land mines are still an issue in the countryside. We went to a landmine "museum" which was really just a shack with stories, pamphlets and artifacts from the war. It had many different kinds of mines and dramatic images of war. I found it empowering how the amputee children where working the museum and playing soccer out front. This charity serves as a home for many of them and ensures that they are educated.

We visited the temples at Angkor and got on a bus for Phnom Pehn. This is the capital of Cambodia and sits at the confluence of the Tonle Sap River and the Mekong River. Our hotel overlooks this spot. Yesterday we went to visit a museum that is in a Khmer Rouge Prison camp. We learned about the torture and brutality of the regime. We then went to the killing fields and learned about the genocide that happen, and saw the 8000 skulls of the dead. At the museum there were photos of the people who had been held and torture there. This was in 1977! I was a kid at the same time as the kids in the photos, but lucky enough to be born in the USA.

Yikes! but still smiling
Mood:  don't ask
Topic: Asia Trip
It all sounded so nice and easy in our last posting. "We are taking a bus to Cambodia" How ignorant and naiveI was. I read all of the guildbooks, learned about the "great bus scam" and figured that it would not happen to me. Well, it didn't, not that scam - - a new one (sigh).

A mini-bus picked us up at our hotel at 7am yesterday and drove us to a large tour bus. We got on with about 17 other travelers and headed out. All was well until about noon when we reached the Cambodian border. We were processed to exit Thailand then went to the Cambodia entry point. Our "tour guide" collected out passports and had visas processed. I was wondering when I was going to pay the Cambodian Gov for the passport. It was suposed to cost $20US. We were then taken to a restaurant where we were told to exchange money because we needed Cambodian Reil. The rate was terrible so I exchanged 3000 Thai Bat ($75) Far TOO MUCH. Then the men asked us to pay THEM for the visa and charged and extra $12US for the service. UGH!

So we are sitting and waiting for a new bus to pick us up to take us to Siem Reap. We find out that we are at some new obscure border crossing -not the one that is closest to Siem Reap and that we have a 7 hour drive on bad dirty roads. OK, sigh, I can deal with it. Three pm rolls around and the men start putting our packs in the back of a pickup truck. Soon they are ordering us to get in the back of the truck - with the packs - 15 people. When we start saying NO that this is not acceptable they get mean and say that we can stay there. UGH. So we all pile in and on top! French, Spanish, Brittish, Sweedish, Malaysian, Canadian, Slovakian, alike.
Now these dirt roads are dry, and dusty, and very very very full of huge holes and it does not take long before we realize that the sun screen that we quickly applied before the truck started was not needed because we were protected by a thick layer of dirt covering our entire bodies. Marisa and I did the bandanna over the mouth and nose and sunglassed to cover the eyes. This trip was really bumpy and Marisa's little body was flying. We are both sore from the journey, but did arrive in Siem Reap around 11pm so covered with dirt it was funny. A guy at the hotel said that we looked like we had been through a war zone.
Have no fear -- we are here and found a nice hotel called Molly Malones that has an Irish Theme. Who knew that in Cambodia? We got to see lots of Cambodian country side on the journey and will tour Anchor Wat tomorrow. I took our shoes and bags outside this morning and paid a little boy to help me give them a brushing. I sent our clothes to the laundry and washed my hair three times. Although I continue to blow dirt out of my nose, I think that I got it all out of my ears.

-later
Molly

Greetings from Bangkok
Mood:  happy
Topic: Asia Trip
Wow, what a difference! We arrived from Delhi to Bangkok four days ago and have been so surprised at how incredibly modern and awesome Bangkok is. Everyone said to just stay a short time in Bangkok and move on to see the rest of the country, which we will certainly do, but for now, we are loving being in a big, modern city with all the fabulous city living and ammenities. Bangkok rocks! We've been touring on our own via the skytrain, river boats, foot etc. On Sunday, we are taking a bus to Siem Reap in Cambodia to spend a few days at Angkor Wat while we wait for the monsoon transition to occur in the south of Thailand. We are feeling happy and relaxed and so relieved that we traveled to India first. We feel prepared now for the challenges of traveling and look forward to the adventures ahead.

{Molly here:} Hi. I think that if we had come here straight from the US we would not have appreciated Bangkok. We would have thought that it was not much different than a US city. Since we were in India first, we can see the differences very well between NY, Delhi, and Bangkok. As Marisa was strolling along looking at the modern architecture and clothing, she looked to her right to let pass a street vendor selling fried cockroaches, crickets, and other larvae. Some things are different.. although I must confess that today I had a starbucks coffee and a dairy queen cone. : ) no larvae for me.

Today we also went to the famous Patpong district that is notorious for the Thai sex trade. We did not want to miss it, yet had no interest in seeing the scene.... so we went during the day and got the idea. We are staying in Khao San area which is famous for hippy backpackers and other travelers. It is a huge party scene and there are bars built into VW vans selling cocktails on the street. It is a comfortable location that makes everything easy. We look sheepishly at the street vendors selling food because everything is some kind of meat or seafood.. that is if it is not a roach. We just learned how to say that we are vegetarian today from the girls at the travel counter. Now we are ready to go!

We miss you all.

xo,

Marisa and Molly

Check out our Photos!
Mood:  special
Click Here for India Photos

Trekking in the Himalayas
Mood:  lucky
Topic: Asia Trip
Greetings from India, where we will only be for another 3 days before we head off to Thailand. We've had quite an adventure over the past 3+ weeks. We've just returned from a trekking trip in the Indian Himalayans. It was the most quiet and remote place we've ever been -- the only sounds were a roaring river in the bottom of the valley and an occasional bird. No planes with flight
patterns in the skies, no roads, and only small mountain villages, accessed via steep mountain trails on foot or horse.

I'll preface our trekking trip by saying that in India, we have come to learn a few phrases: 1) TIDI -- This is definitely India; 2) "Only in India"; 3) Things can definitely get worse (the
opposite of the notion -- "Things can only get better"). Well, the theme in our trekking adventure is most heavily dominated by #3.

Our group: Our leader, Vipin, is a cool, long haired Indian who grew up in the mountains. He owns
the outfitter we went with and has a laid back attitude. Natalie, from Belgium, is a jounalist,
and a born traveler. She's been to Ethiopia, Cuba, etc. Very nice and down to earth. The rest of the group, four Americans, are traveling together. They live in Delhi and are Christian Missionaries working at an orphanage. Mostly they are Texans. Sweet, loving and nice to be around.

We began our trip with Red Chilli Adventures (their tagline is "We Add Spice to Your Life" and you better believe they did!) from Rishikesh at 6:00 AM on Sunday morning, where it was cool and rainy -- approx 500m elevation. About 20 minutes into the drive our car got a flat tire. After a quick change we were on our way. We climbed for several hours along the edge or numerous mountains weaving our way deep into the Yamuna Valley and on into Tons Valley. The scenery was breathtaking -- super green, lush mountains topped with trees and steep drops from top to thebottom carved by a river, all visible in one view. The sides of the mountains had been carved into terrace gardens of bright yellow and red crop colors.

The deeper into the mountains we drove, the rain had started to make sections of the road too muddy for our HM Ambassador (classic India car) to pass. We got to one section where we all had to get out of the car -- I (Marisa) chose to get out of the car on the wrong side...and my feet sank into about a foot of mud covering my shoes and socks. Little did I know this would seem insignificant compared to what was ahead. We were supposed to arrive to camp the first night by 6:00 PM -- nightfall. At 6:00 PM, we were negotiating with the first set of local jeeps in a small village to get us past one section of road (if you can call a one-car wide dirt/rocky pathy along the edge of a mountain with cliff sides and no guard rail...a "road") that had been washed away in several places from land slides due to the monsoons.

(OK, Moms and Dads...look away and don't read this next part :) )

Between 6:00 PM and 10:00 PM, we switched a few times into different jeeps, each one leading us
to the edge of the next landslide. It was raining, cold and very dark. The hightlight was when our jeep hit a huge section of muddy road, fishtailed, and then skidded off the side of the mountain with the front left wheel hanging over the edge. The car was miraculously stopped by the front axel which caught us and prevented us from rolling down the cliff. We leaped from the jeep only to spend the next two hours pulling and tugging to get the vehicle back on the road. At this point, Marisa told our very cool and calm Indian guide, who was communicating nothing to us during this time, that "this was not ok!" He agreed that we could walk the remaining 3 km to camp rather than get back into the car. We made it safely to camp in the end, a bit shaken up to say the least.

The next day we had a beautiful day for hiking, 12 km in to the village of Osla, following the roaring glacial waters in the Supin River -- a beautiful green/grey color. On our third day we were supposed to hike uphill 14 km to Har Ki Dun, Valley of the Gods, but we awoke to a snow storm...yes, a snow storm. Molly and I had gear with us for maybe a low of 50 degrees -- 3 t-shirts, one polypropolene shirt, hiking pants, socks, a rain poncho, and a pashmena shall which
saved us as we wrapped them around our heads like a turban to keep warm! We got stuck in the valley at camp and enjoyed the incredible gourmet cooking of our cook, Ashok. The service on the trip was amazing and the food better than any we have had anywhere in India (fried pineapple with chocolate sauce and fresh banana pudding for desserts). We all sat in the dining tent and told stories and played cards drinking chai and trying not to shiver.

The weather cleared the next day and we used the opportunity to hike back towards our starting point, rather than further into the valley. We hoped that a lower elevation would bring warmer temperatures. On the way, we stopped at the village of Gangar. The children were so excited to see us. This village is so remote that it is completely self sufficient. No electricity etc. For men to marry, they must still pay a dowry to their wife's family -- money earned by the men being porters etc. for trekkers passing through the valley. That night, as soon as we arrived to camp, the skies opened and the rain poured long into the night -- which was heavy snow where we had camped the night before, so it was a good thing that we headed back when we did and not onward to Har Ki Dun.

The trip got easier as the days passed, with skies turning blue and temperatures reaching the 40s and 50s. The drive back out of the valley in local India SUVs was hair raising to say the least. And for some reason, we're noticing a pattern of all India drivers we hire...as we enter a village or town, they seem to speed up dodging people, animals, vehicles etc. at a faster speed than they chose on the open road. Only in India.

We are back in Rishikesh -- yoga capital. We met two American men today who had moved to India --
deep in the Himalayan mountains -- five years ago to create an ashram and live a simple life based around transidental meditation. We had a nice conversation about politics -- we shared similar views, but it was amazing how little they knew about what had transpired over the past several years. They have not been in the US since pre-Sept. 11th. They gave us good advice to go and vote at the US Embassy in Delhi -- a good option for us to get our absentee ballots in before the election.

We're off to Thailand on Tuesday the 19th and actually think we will miss India a lot, accept for
the cow shit.

Love to you all. We're doing our best to load photos to Snapfish, and we'll post the link to our
Website once their up.

xo,

Marisa and Molly

Easing Into Indian Life -- Day 10
Mood:  happy
Topic: Asia Trip
Greetings from Udaipur in the Rajasthan region of northwest India. We are finally easing into our trip and getting used to the uniqueness of Indian life (e.g. I'm at an Internet shop and just looked out the door to see an elephant walk by!). I'm feeling a bit of regret for the brutal honesty of my feelings conveyed during my adjustment period in the beginning of the trip. I do hope that they have not offended any of our Indian friends. While we still feel shocked and amazed at many of the ways of life here in India, we have begun to accept them more readily. Though I'm not sure we'll ever get used to the driving. Our driver, Anil, always says to us when we're making plans etc., "No hurry, no worry." So the other day I said to him, "Anil, when you drive, you hurry and I worry." He laughed.

We have been in India for ten days now. The best decision we made was to leave Delhi and hire a driver to take us around the Rajasthan region. While we are a bit spoiled by having all of our arrangements taken care of by our driver in advance it has made it possible for us to relax, take in as much culture as possible hassle-free, and see a huge region in a much shorter time period than using public transport. I do realize that once we begin the next part of our India journey and beyond, we will have another adjustment period of being our own tour guides and logistics coordinators.

We've spent the past two days in the Aravalli Mountains region -- green, lush, and rainy. Though the monsoon has been weak for five years straight now, and the two lakes that make Udaipur a magical city on lakes are both dried up. The palace in the middle of Lake Pichola that was once accessed by boats and fully surrounded by water, can now be walked to.

What an amazing difference water can make in the way of life for people and their affluence. The incredible desperation that we saw in the dry desert parts of Rajasthan seems to not exist on the same level in Udaipur and Ranakpur. The interesting thing is that Molly and I noticed this exact same scenario during our cycling trip across the US -- in dry parts of the west -- Montana, Wyoming, eastern Washington -- people were very poor as the land was anything but fertile. The difference in India is that millions of people live in these dry areas, where as in America places like Montana are the least inhabited in the whole country.

Yesterday, we visited the Kembalgarh Fort tucked in the mountains on the way to Udaipur. The drive was hair raising, to say the least. For the first time since arriving to India, we had a positive encounter with local Indians -- the kind of story/interaction that used to happen with American travelers before we decided we could become an imperialist power. We were walking down the steep road from the fort, and some local school kids -- 14-15 years old -- ran up to us and asked if they could take their picture with us. They asked us where we were from and why we were there. One small boy told Molly that when he turns 25, it is his dream to visit America. He asked Molly where he should go, and of course we said DC. So Molly wrote down her name and e-mail on a piece of paper and told him to tell us if he ever came. Well he became the most popular boy in the crowd at that moment. The girls were so excited to see us, they smiled at us, told us we looked cool and wanted to shake our hands. I told them their English was great, and one girl said that her parents raised her (in this small mountain village!) to only speak English -- it is amazing how this minor difference will raise this young girl miles above so many of her fellow Indians.

We've seen some incredible structures over the past week. Palaces, forts, temples, havelis (private residences of the rich). The most intricate of all have been the Jain temples -- all hand carved with hundreds of pillars. The forts are astounding -- often sitting on top of hills that look impossible to access anyway, so why the need for a fort? One thing that I can't stop thinking of, and not to put down America, but our history and culture seems a bit bland compared to that of India and even other places I've visited and have been remembering. In India the food is spicy, colorful and intricate, in India the buildings are not only grand and beautiful as in many parts of America, but the detailed, back breaking artwork that covers every inch of their interior and often exterior makes our prettiest buildings look simple. What explains this source of incredible intricacy and detail in India?

We're off to Pushkar tomorrow -- home to a famous camel festival each year, which we'll miss by a few weeks. We hope in a week's time to be making our way north from Delhi to Rishikesh to see the Himalayas and possibly go trekking.

Hello to all!

Marisa's Thoughts on First 9 Days
Mood:  surprised
Topic: Asia Trip
I wanted to supplement Molly's journal with my own additions. We left the US 9 days ago, and we are just starting to get used to India. Probably because we are settled into a groove of a now-14 day car trip through Rajasthan. The first few days in India were very trying, and I wondered how we would make it through the trip. We finally met westerners for the first time yesterday, and have enjoyed speaking english in full sentences -- almost no one in this region of India speaks english. They are all surprised that we began our trip in India -- many of them have been traveling for months through the countries we will go to next in SE Asia, and therefore are seasoned travelers, but they still find India to be the most difficult.

We've been traveling by car for 5 days now through the desert of northwestern India. The land is as dry and empty as the most deserted parts of Nevada in more ways than one -- the Indians also use this region for military testing/training. After all, we are 150 km from the border of Pakistan. But even though we are in one of the most remote parts of this country -- there are people along the side of the road most of the way. They are super poor and the land is too dry to grow anything. Camels are the way of transporting most goods -- but yet, the occasional motorbike and autorickshaw appears out of nowhere even in the quietest parts of the road. The women are all dressed in the most colorful, beautiful traditional saris with their faces veiled. We went on a camel safari yesterday, visited remote desert villages where water is fished out of a tiny well dug in the sand. They use a leather bucket and string to fill metal water jugs which the women then carry to their huts on their heads.

We have conflicted feelings each day about being able to escape the hardships of the desert heat and poverty as we duck into our air-conditioned car or hotel and eat clean, nutritious food. Our guide book gives the population of each town we visit, but how can they possibly know how many people live in these towns and villages? In the US, most babies are born in a hospital or medical center and are registered and given an identity even if just simply with a social security card etc. But in India, there are millions and millions of people living in extreme poverty with very little of anything -- it seems impossible that the government even knows that many of them exist, or even cares that they exist -- let alone be able to count them. Perhaps it's just my American experience that makes it so unbelievable to think that the government could know people exist in such destitude and not do anything to help them.

India
Mood:  hungry
Topic: Asia Trip
Journal Entry: 9-24
Hotel Jamuna Resort - Jhunjhunu
We are sitting in a beautiful courtyard. We just ordered some food - which we need - There is a sitar player and a woman singing beautiful Indian music. It is lovely! A huge change from yesterday. Our room is traditional with hand painted walls and mirrors. What a difference some money makes.

9-25 Breakfast
We hung out with Anil and a German tourist named Simone under the gazebo last night. They drank Indian whiskey and I had thunderbolt beer. Simone had no idea what we were saying.

On our way to Bikamer 9-25
Well I'm smiling at Marisa because it occurred to me that she is right. It is not just because she is frightened or rigid. India is not fun. We toured Mandawa this morning with a nice local man. He was proud to walk us around these concrete buildings that have been ignored for years, just to point out the chipped and faded paintings on the walls. This was it - the hight light of our day. The whole reason we drove out here.
We were also struck by the way everyone lived. Walking the litter filled, dirt streets, stepping over dogs and around cows, over open sewage. Little dirty children followed us with reaching hands - "hello, rupes?". One child desperately wanted the almost empty water bottle that Marisa carried. Right now, I cannot imagine why you would want to stay for more than a night in any town. What would you do? There is just no fun to be had - only the realities of poverty and the differences in our cultures. Our living standards are dramatical different. We worry about TV characters and they live in garbage. I make no judgments. I am only Jared by the realities and do not know what to do or think of them. - and then, in my American way- I'm worried about having fun.

Sunday: Sept.26
We are at the hotel sagar in Bikaner. A very nice hotel and a guilty oasis from the town. We had Anil take us to the Bizarre last night but we only could handle the rush for about 5 min. We then returned to the room to watch cricket and discuss the day and our feelings. We also washed out our clothes and tried to decide how long to stay in India and where to go. This morning we will start with a tour of the fort at Bikaner then we will drive 5 hours to Jaisalmer. Anil says that there are three important things for driving in India.#1 horn, #2 break, #3 luck.

Last night I dreamed that I found a little lost boy - dirty, no pants and snotty nose. He was standing by the tree outside of my parents house. I asked him what his name was and then looked on the net to see if he was missing. I found an announcement of his disappearance with a photo of the clean family. We called and they were so happy. We gave the boy a bath, some food and put him to bed until his parents would arrive. In my dream there was a logical-solvable reason that the boy was alone and uncared for - here I feel helpless-

Yesterday we went into a temple - kind of - that is the thing about Hinduism. All you have to do is paint an image of a god and it is now a temple. The religion is very accessible. You do not need wealth to build a big altar like in Christianity. Anyway, the boy there put the orange stain on our for heads and we felt silly.

Later that day
Today we saw Junagarh Fort 1589 - 1949. Amazing. Huge with beautiful paintings and stone carvings. We were with a group tour of Indians. We started out first in line and were soon passed. The toured was the express tour and we had trouble keeping up. The guide would yell for us to wait in a certain section for him to give us an English explanation. cost 20 rupes. Now we are in another nice hotel room, and tomorrow we do the Fort in Jaisalmer and then go on a Camel safari.

Mon. Sept. 27th.
Jaisalmer is a great city and we are starting to have fun. It is a desert town with half the population living in the old city within the walls of the coolest, sandstone fort. There is an air of happiness with a certain level of prosperity here. Mind you, everyone is not rich, but we did not experience the same level of poverty that we did in other towns. The children who said hello to us were usually holding mommy's hand and smiling. It has a well developed tourist trade especially in the fort village. There are many tourists about. We toured the fort with a local guide named Jai. A 21 year old history student who knew it all. We saw beautiful Jain temples with intricate sandstone carvings. A great day. At night we went to a small village and began our camel safari. We both rode camels named Disco and watched the sunset over the dunes. We then hung out with an American couple and a UK couple who have just completed the trip that we are beginning.

India
Mood:  accident prone
Topic: Asia Trip
Our first day in Delhi we hired a driver who took us to all the main sites. The traffic is nuts and Marisa's palms were sweating. Our hotel was, well lets just say that it was below Marisa's standards. It was a little bit creepy but it was ok. We tried to get in touch with Gopaul who was our friend's driver when they were in India. He was out of Delhi but hooked us up with Anil his brother who picked us up at the creepy hotel in Caunaught Circus yesterday morning at 7:30 to begin our 11 day tour of Rajasthan. This involves more crazy driving out into the rural areas. More sweating palms. Below is my journal entries from the last few days.

"We are in the car driving out of Delhi with Anil. On our way out we ran into Manute our driver from yesterday and they laughed. They are friends. I think that Anil forgot that we did not eat br4eakfast so it is 9am and we are rolling with rolling stomachs. I took a shower with the hand spray this morning and it was just fine. My legs feel achy and lazy. We are watching the bicycle rickshaws pull huge loads and I am mssing the bike trip. With the bike trip there was a built in purpose. Not only to tour and to learn but also an acomplishment at the end of each day. With this, I just sit in the car and feel lazy. I do not even deserve a cold beer at the end of the day.
The polution in the air in and outside of Delhi is getting to me and my eyes are burning. Of course I only slept in 2 hour increments last night and was awoken by some crazy screaming ally cats. We are now weaving our way through the busy streets of Narnul, cows-rickshaws-wagons-camels-motercycles-cars-bicycles and lots of people. It is common proccedure to honk your horn when you pass ANYTHING.. so there s lots of honking and lots of near misses. We just passed a pig digging through some trash.

Greetings from Delhi, India
Mood:  bright
Topic: Asia Trip
Well, we finally made it here. Here is what it took to get to Delhi -- the economical way:

Boston to Detroit -- 2 hours
Detroit to Tokyo -- 13 hours
Tokyo to Bangkok -- 7 hours
Bangkok to Delhi 4 hours

We are experiencing our first full day in Delhi. The sites, the smells, the traffic are all incredible. We are hoping to hire a driver to take us around Rajasthan beginning on Friday for a week or so. Below are some hightlights from the last few days.

-- Dumb American films shown over and over again on the flight to Japan. They must think US film is crap.

-- Sumo wrestling and edamame (only vegetarian food we could find at Tokyo airport) during our layover

-- One night in Bangkok

-- Same taxi company at Bangkok airport located at three separate stalls 100 feet from eachother, gave us the following rates to our hotel which was 10 minutes away: 350 bhat, 700 bhat, 900 bhat. Got to love it.

-- Delhi, people everwhere!

-- Eating Indian food first thing in the morning.

-- Forgetting to turn on the water heater in our bathroom one hour before we wanted to use the hose in the middle of the bathroom for our "shower"

Love to you all.

Marisa and Molly

--

Bike Ride Cross Country - LAST DAY...
Mood:  incredulous
Topic: Cycling Trip

Durham, NH to Gloucester, MA
On the final day of the ride, we woke up to pouring rain. While disappointing to have to ride in the rain, we considered ourselves lucky since it was only the sixth day of rain we had had for 63 days. We headed over to the dining hall at the University of New Hampshire for our final all-you-can eat meal, stuffing ourselves full of calories to haul us the final 63 miles of our coast-to-coast ride. After breakfast, we gathered a group of about 12 coast-to-coast riders and headed out for our final ride together.

At about mile 10, I (Marisa) had my only crash of the entire 4400 ride. It happened like this: We were approaching a stop sign at a T-intersection to turn left onto Rte 155A. I was the third rider in the line of about 15 riders. About 100 yards in front of me, Keith headed out into the intersection and yelled "clear" to signal that no cars were coming and that it was clear to make the turn without stopping. Then Brian, the second rider in line, about 20 yards in front of me, yelled "car left" to signify that a car was now approaching left and to be careful when making the turn. When I got to the intersection, I saw the car to my left and could have made the left-hand turn, no problem. However, I knew that there were another 12 riders behind me and if I gunned it and went for the turn before the car came, other riders behind me might follow and do the same, even if I yelled back to them "car left". So I yelled "slowing" to signify my intention to stop. But considering that it was pouring rain, it was 1) hard to hear anything and 2) nearly impossible to use our breaks since they were totally wet. So when I stopped at the intersection, David Butler who was riding a short distance behind me was gunning it to make the turn based on Keith's first call of "clear" (he didn't hear Brian's call of "car left"), and ran into me from behind. Luckily, he swerved at the last minute so he didn't hit me head on -- and best of all, when he took me down, he went down first and I landed on him, so he made a soft cushion. :) Just a little "road rash" (the term used to describe the area where lose skin to the pavement) on my elbow. Everyone gathered around us and helped untangle us our bikes -- David's foot was caught in a wierd position under my front chain ring. After that, we thought it would be safest if we all road our own pace and strung the pack out so we weren't so many riders together.

The rest of the ride was definitely a challenge. The rain was relentless and we were on busy roads with tons of traffic -- welcome back to civilization! We headed south on Rt 125 through Plaistow and southern New Hampshire on into Haverhill, Massachusetts. We stopped for our final picnic lunch along the Merrimack River, and then headed east on Rt 133 towards the ocean. It's amazing we made it through the ride in one piece, as the roads were some of the most dangerous and poorly maintained ones we've seen. There was so much water on the road that it would form huge puddles and you had no idea what was under the water -- big potholes? huge cracks? sand? So in order to be safe, we had to ride out in the lane of traffic a lot. Luckily, the Massachusetts drivers gave us room and not a single car beeped their horn. I can't imagine what this ride would have been like in Michigan...scary thought.

Just three miles from the end of the ride, our friend Colin got a flat tire. And yes, a whole group of us stopped and helped him change the flat so we could all ride in together. We arrived to Gloucester High School to a group of cheering friends and relatives. With about an hour before we would leave for our police escort to the oceanfront for our tire dipping ceremony, Molly and I toasted champagne with my parents and good family friends Ira and Laura Lassman, and introduced as many of our riding friends to them as we could.

At 1:45 PM, we gathered in one large group, riders and staff, and were escorted on our bikes by the police through Gloucester and the crowded streets of their annual waterfront festival down to the ocean. As the sirens screamed and I pedaled the final 200 feet, I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes and let my head drop in a feeling of complete and utter amazement that for the second time I had safely made it across the entire country with the power of my own two legs. We crowded onto the rocky beach front and sprinted with our bikes in hand into the ocean. There was even a police boat in the water making sure that we could safely celebrate. I hear the ocean water was 63 degrees (brrrr) but I would have never known -- the feeling of frolicking with our new friends in the ocean after not seeing an ocean for 4400 miles was incredible. One of the best parts was seeing our riding friends from the UK -- Jane, Colin and Len -- feel so proud to be flying their Union Jack and dancing in their same ocean.

That evening we all borded a boat for an evening cruise. As we pulled away from the dock, the relentless rain finally came to an end and the clouds parted giving us a beautiful sunset over Gloucester harbor. The perfect end to a perfect experience.

Bike Ride Cross Country - Final Days
Mood:  happy
Topic: Cycling Trip

Burlington, VT to Stowe VT
What an incredible ride! The main route for the day was only listed at 48 miles. It was a great chance to do touristy Vermont activities -- such as touring the Ben & Jerry's factory, Cabot Creamery, chocolate factories, glass blowing etc. At lunch, Molly and I went our separate ways -- Molly to B&J's and I headed straight past Stowe and onto Route 108 -- towards Smuggler's Notch. Anyone who has ever grown up in New England is probably aware of this Notch (the eastern term for a mountain pass). It heads past Stowe ski area and up a steep mountain with sharp switch backs that are built around huge granite boulders. It was the first time in my entire cycling history that I had to stop partway up a climb. The road was so steep that my heart rate was beyond reason, even though my breathing was fine, and so I stopped to rest. Little did I realize that the summit was about 4 switchbacks up the road. Being the first rider to reach the top, I was able to descend and tell the others what to expect. Definitely my most memorable climb to date!

That night several of us wanted to go out in downtown Stowe. We called a taxi and after an hour of waiting, decided to hitch hike with a pick-up truck that was from the catering company that fed us dinner. We piled 15 people into the back of the pick-up and headed off for some beers. That brings the total number of hitched rides on the trip to 5. :)

Stowe, VT to Littleton, NH
The word of the day -- "climb". This was one hell of a ride -- Green Mountains and White Mountains all in one day. Lots of steep climbing on roads with no shoulder and tons of cars - oh joy. And did I mention the roads stink because the winters are so sever? So even though we rode through beautiful landscapes today, I think I only looked at the pavement in front of me to avoid crashing. Sigh.

Littleton is home of the "worlds longest penny candy aisle" and boy did we stock up on treats! We also had the best meal of the trip in Littleton, it only took 60 days and 4200 miles. :)

Littleton, NH to Fryeburg, ME
This was one of the coolest rides for me (Marisa) because I cycled past lots of places I used to visit as a kid. We crossed straight through NH's White Mountains and passed some old favorites, including the Mt. Washington Hotel, Crawford Notch, Kangamangus Highway, White Mountain National Forest, Conway and more. Lunch stop was at Attitash ski area. Molly, Colleen, Kevin and I took the chair lift up to the summit and watched the rain roll in. We got down just in time to get on our bikes and sprint away from the bad weather. Of course -- we weren't quite fast enough. Before heading to camp, a bunch of us stopped for pizza -- what Molly calls the "new icecream". We also celebrated Colleen and Kevin's successful ascent up Hurricane Ridge -- a multi-mile, rediculously steep climb that Molly and I chickened out of.

That night we slept at the fairgrounds in Fryeburg -- which held its first county fair in 1851! We slept in the building where people display their produce, so we slept in large wooden vegetable trays. :)

Fryeburg, ME to Durham, NH
A beautiful ride weaving through quiet backroads with few cars for the first half of the ride. Lots of pretty small lakes along the way. We road with Karina, a women who joined us for Week 9 of the trip. Around mile 30, we stopped at Provence Lake to dip our feet in the water. At lunch, we had our picnic on the property of a gelato shop -- the shopkeeper opened his store a 1/2 hour early to accommodate many of the cyclists...since we eat lunch at 10:30 a.m.! Molly got two scoops to share -- coconut and ginger. They both had real pieces of fruit in them. The best icecream of the trip!

We road into Durham -- 80+ miles pretty fast since Molly and I both had haircuts to prepare for re-entering the civilized world and attending a party my parents had planned for us on Sunday. The ladies at "A Nu Du" on Maybury Street in Durham were great, we recommend them!

That night, we stayed at Durham High School. The indoor sleeping option was cramped and there was no air flow -- and we couldn't open the side door for risk of skunks coming in during the night. We had all set up our sleeping area on the floor just inches from one another. At about 9:00, despite the intermittent thunderstorms, Molly and I decided we couldn't handle the stench of the crowded indoor sleeping and went outside and pitched our tent. Ahh, fresh air! Even though we had severe thunderstorms most of the night...our tent remained perfectly dry inside. Referred to by several riders as the Taj Mahal, the fort, the McMansion, our tent has proved to be one of our best purchases for this entire trip. For those of you in the market and not concerned about the weight of the tent, we recommend the Sierra Design Bedoin 4 person. It rocks!

Cycling Trip Cross Country -- Final Week!!!
Mood:  bright
Topic: Cycling Trip
Mission: New England
Day 1 -- Lake Placid, NY to Burlington, VT ~ 54 miles; cloudy, 68 degrees

Well we have finally made it to our final week. We're writing this message from the home of David Rome, a rider we met during week 1 of the tour -- he lives just outside of Burlington, VT. He came and met us as we got off the ferry that took us over Lake Champlain which crossed us from NY to VT. He has a beautiful home on 10 acres off a dirt road in Essex Junction, VT. A totally idyllic spot. And it just so happened to be a rainy and cool afternoon during which we didn't have to set up our tent with the rest of the group. :) David is hosting Molly and me, Matt Olson "Molson" (from Iowa), and Jane from England. We just returned from downtown Burlington where we met up with the rest of the cyclists for dinner and tour talk, and then we went on to walk around the Church Street area and stopped at Sweets Cafe for a second dinner. :) We just can't seem to get enough calories!

Tomorrow we cycle a short ride -- 49 miles from Burlington to Stowe -- it should be absolutely beautiful. Along the way we plan to stop and get a tour of Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory, Cabot cheese factory and any other place along the way that will offer free samples. At the end of the day, there is an additional 20 mile option to climb Smugglers Notch. I'm still debating the option...the final 3 miles has a minimum of 10% grade with grades going up as steep as 20% -- that's steep enough to hope that your front tire doesn't come off the road while you're riding. The Tour de France doesn't go over 10% in the hardest Alps section.

Last week we weaved our way through New York State. We spent three days hugging Lake Ontario before cutting across the northern section of the state. The final two days of the ride were awesome -- we were in the Adirondack Mountains. The Adirondacks have tons of lakes -- we stayed on Friday night at Star Lake and over the weekend at Lake Placid. We also experienced our first multiple days of cool rainy weather last week. Days when you set up your tent in the rain and wake up and take the tent down in the rain and then ride all day in the rain. But tomorrow we are supposed to have a sunny day, fingers crossed!

Lake Placid was a great place for a day off. We indulged by staying at a hotel again, since the campground where everyone was was 2+ miles out of town and we preferred to be right downtown. We took a boat tour on Sunday on the historic boat -- Lady of the Lake, which was built in the 1930's. There is so much history on that lake and tons of preserved open space so it will always remain pristine and minimally developed. It is also one of the cleanest lakes in America.

Well, it's late and I'm too tired to remember any more details. Just five more days of riding until we dip our tire in the Atlantic Ocean. Amazing that this journey is almost complete. We promise to upload photos as soon as the trip is over, if not before.

xoxo,

Marisa and Molly