Looking over the Pond

Today (our last day in Ireland) is my 31st birthday, so Sarah surprised me with a great breakfast of scones and fruit. We're getting ready to go out on a drive and walk somewhere now. After three beautiful days, the weather is turning more typical, so we'll brace ourselves and go out into the wind and drizzle and enjoy the last full day of this trip. Tonight we're going out for a celebratory pint at a local pub.

Tomorrow we have an early flight back to the States. This adventure will switch gears at this point, with Sarah heading up to Minnesota to see her family and work on some various projects she's interested in doing. More on that later. I'm heading down to South America with my buddy Johnny B in a few days, so both Sarah and I are going to enjoy the few days at home in New Mexico by eating lots of good Mexican food and ice cream and spending time with my family, including my new little niece. Thanks for joining us on the adventure so far. It's been an amazing one!

-Matt! and Sarah

Dublin, Bray, and Wicklow Mountains National Park

Sarah and the rental car, Bray, Ireland

Wicklow Mountains at sunset through the car window

Wicklow Mountains, Ireland

The Mucky Duck, site of my birthday beer

the seaside village of Bray

Give that dog a red card! No fouling!

The cliffside walk from Bray to Greystones

Sarah and Matt on a hike

cute picture of Sarah

Matt at the Guinness Brewery

Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin

The Temple Bar neighborhood, Dublin

St. Stephan's Green, Dublin

Guinness. 

Believe it or not, we did actually manage to do some sightseeing while here. We took a day and went into Dublin on the train. The first strop in town was the Guinness Brewery (St. James Gate Brewery), since it was close to the station. This massive brewery complex churns out 2.5 million pints of Guinness every day. The brewery tour cost $21 per person, so we skipped that and simply went into the gift shop, Once there we were able to listen to the beginning of a tour, and could easily have gone on the whole thing without anyone noticing. A trip up to the restroom also let us see a couple more floors of the amazing multi-media extravaganza that is the Guinness Storehouse. We left feeling like we had done the tour anyway, and realized that really what people are paying for with their entrance fee was a $21 pint of Guinness at the bar at the top of the building. Guinness is a decent beer, but it isn't worth that much!

After the brewery, we wandered the streets of Dublin down to the city centre, where we ate out picnic lunch of soda bread, Irish cheese, and apples on the grounds of the Christchurch Cathedral, then wandered down through the manicured lawns of Trinity College and stopped at the bookstore and library where the famous Book of Kells is housed. After we left campus, we looped around to St. Stephan's Green, where people were out lounging in the sunny (!) fall weather. I bought the requisite fish and chips from a little place on the pedestrian shopping area of Grafton Street, then we headed to St. Patrick's Cathedral, the site of St. Patrick's holy well where he supposedly baptized the "heathen" Irish. We walked back to the train station through the neighborhood called "The Liberties", where we found a small pub and popped in for a pint. It was pretty fun to drink a Guinness just down the street from where it's brewed (and best of all, it was only old-timer locals in the bar). Though Guinness is a mediocre beer as far as taste goes, it is certainly the most beautiful beer out there, bar-none. Watching a Guinness being poured is like watching someone create a fine work of art. 

After spending the day in Dublin, if I didn't know better, I would guess that the official language of Ireland wasn't English but was some Slavic tongue. We were blown away by how many Poles, Slovenians, and other Eastern Europeans have migrated to Dublin with the incorporation of their countries into the European Union. I would be willing to say that 3 of 5 people who were obviously local and not tourists didn't speak English as their first language. Very surprising.

Yesterday we put the car into use and headed down to the seaside community of Bray, just south of Dublin. Our goal for the day was to do the seaside cliff walk from Bray to Greystones. Once again, we lucked out with a beautifully sunny day, with a slight breeze coming off the ocean. The cliffs along Bray Head are nice and craggy, and held groups of European Shag and Great Cormorant, as well as Eurasian Oystercatcher and Great Black-backed Gull. There was a single Razorback off the coast at one point, and a migrating Whinchat in the cliffside heath. Once we'd hiked the seven kilometers to Greystones, we decided to hike back rather than catch a train. Once again, we were struck by the sheer number of languages being spoken by the people along the trail. This time, as we walked along the winding path along the cliffs, it provided an interesting analogy to our trip; we've wandered in a linear path through so many cultures and languages since we landed in China, and here we were seeing our trip in a microcosm. The diversity of this planet is stunning. I have to give Sarah credit for noticing this, since she was the one who made the observation.

Since the weather was so grand, we decided to drive the backroads back to Celbridge, and made a winding path south to Wicklow, then west through the Wicklow Mountains and up over Sally Gap. I had no idea there was such stunning scenery in Ireland. Up in the high heath, I felt like I'd driven right back to Alaska. The sun shining on the grassy mountainsides turned everything golden, and the green fields full of fluffy white sheep provided good counterpoint to the desolate gorse and heather higher up. Calling Ireland's hills "mountains" might be a bit of a stretch, but once you are up there, it's obvious the weather and topography makes it a tough place to live.

Irish hospitality

With this trip amazingly drawing to a close, Sarah and I set our sights toward Ireland, the last destination on our itinerary before we fly home. The reason we ended up doing this jump is that we were able to get extremely cheap tickets from Budapest to Dublin on Ryanair, a low cost airline in Europe. Flying Ryanair is a lot like riding the local bus -- the clientele is similar and the feel is the same. They don't do reserve seating (kinda like Southwest Airlines used to do), so there is a mad dash to push to the front of the line to get the best seats. But since our tickets cost $15 each (that includes taxes), I guess we can't complain. =)

The flight ended up being delayed for three hours (of course), due to a radar failure in London airspace that disrupted air travel all across Europe. This was going to be our one flight the entire trip that didn't require getting up early or staying up ridiculously late, but with the delay we didn't get into Dublin airport until 2am local time, which meant that by the time we were settled for the night, it was 4am by our clocks (and 3am locally). But, the Budapest airport was comfortable, the flight was smooth, and we had a great place to stay in Ireland, so all was well.

We have been looking forward to this part of the trip for awhile, since my friend Joan McDonnell has a house just outside of Dublin and graciously allowed us to stay during our four days in Ireland. She and her husband Joe live currently live in Phoenix, so we weren't able to actually see them, but it was great to have an actual home to stay in! Their son John was home from university for the weekend, so it was nice to meet him. The house is located out in Celbridge, about 15 miles west of Dublin city centre. It is a small village that has grown a lot in recent years as the city has reached out to engulf it. Nevertheless, there are wonderful green fields and woods all around and the town feels fairly rural still.

We had done a little research and found that it cost as much to rent a car for the duration of our Irish visit as it did to take a taxi one way from the airport to their house, so that's what we did! We could have gotten there by public transport during the day, but our flight came in too late to catch a train out of town (even before the delay). So we picked up our Nissan Mirca and I tried my hand at driving on the left side of the road. Luckily it was the middle of the night and I was able to practice without many drivers on the road. The rental car was a standard, and I was concerned that the pedals were going to be switched around and I'd have to learn to push the gas with the left and the gear shift with the right, but luckily, that wasn't the case. Irish roads are often poorly signed and very narrow with no shoulder, so this just adds to the excitement!

Though Joan wasn't in Ireland to see us, we have been very well taken care of by her neighbors, David and Cooleen. We arrived at the house to find the bed all made up, a fresh, home-baked loaf of Irish soda bread on the counter, and even some groceries in the fridge! And if that wasn't enough, they also invited us over for dinner the evening after our arrival. We were treated to a wonderful, multi-course spread of melon and prosciutto, wine, rack of lamb, ratatouille, garlic scalloped potatoes, a french cheese, and finally, tea and an almond tort. This was hands-down the best meal of our entire trip, and Sarah and I left their house after 4 hours hardly able to walk! Irish hospitality is a beautiful thing to behold. =) We will be forever grateful to Joan and Joe and David and Cooleen for making our stay in Ireland so great.

Hungary anyone?

a cool coffee machine, Budapest

Parliament, Budapest

A Common Quail that hit a window on the Royal Palace, Budapest

Sarah and Matt at the Royal Palace, Budapest

Sarah on top of Citadel Hill, Budapest

The former Nazi Headquarters which was later occupied by Russian KGB during the cold war. Now a museum.

The weirdest bike I've ever seen. How do you ride it?

Hungary is known for its chile too!

Sarah with lunch: a dark beer, strudel, and goulash soup.

Central Market, Budapest

Budapest at night

Janos, Sarah and Matt!

Part of a holocaust memorial on the side of the Danube River where the Nazis lined up prisoners and shot them so they fell in the river. They always took off their shoes first, so the memorial is dozens of cast iron shoes along the bank of the river.

Budapest

Budapest

After a wonderful (and cheap) stay in Vienna with Eva, we boarded a train for a three hour ride to Budapest, Hungary's capitol city. This particular train trip turned out to be one of the easiest travel days of our entire trip. It was nice to have an easy one after some of the hellacious journeys we've been on. =)

Budapest is another big city situated along the Danube River. It was originally two towns, Buda and Pest, until it grew up and was eventually connected by a bunch of bridges. Buda is the hilly side, and has a wonderful historical district and a royal Hapsburg palace perched above the surrounding city. Pest is flatter and more of a shopping and governmental district now. This city is definitely rushing headlong out of the years of decline behind the Iron Curtain, with massive infrastructure projects going on all over the city (new metro lines, building refurbishing, bridge maintenance, etc). It'll be a totally different city in 10 years.


We stayed with a man named Janos (pronounced Ya-no-sh), whom we found on http://www.couchsurfing.com/. For those of you who may not have heard of this particular website, it is a wonderful way to stay places when travelling. Members offer up a room or bed in their home to travellers, but at no charge. The idea is cultural sharing, making new friends, and simple good hospitality. After a stay, there is a rating system for both guests and couch owners, so the whole system stays honest, fun, and safe. We've hosted a few people in Tucson, and will likely do so again. Anyway, Janos was a real gem. Not only did he put us up, he also made dinner for us the first night and ate dinner with us each night we were there. On our last evening, he took us out on a driving tour of the city at night, which I must say is quite a sight. Janos has one of the more interesting jobs I've ever encountered. In addition to working on his PHD in Norwegian/European Union interactions, he is a translator for English and Norwegian TV shows into Hungarian (which is a pretty tough and weird language, frankly). His translations are used for both subtitles and dubbing. He does all the translating work for such series as Bones, the Amazing Spiderman (a cartoon), nature shows, etc. What a crazy job! He is also an avid traveller, and jets off to some interesting destination several times a year. He has been in every single country in Europe (including all the little ones, like Monaco) except Lativa and Malta (we're talking over 40 countries here, from Ireland to Russia, Kosovo, and the Ukraine). He's going to Lativa in a couple months, and if Obama wins the election, he'll celebrate with a ticket to Malta. Anyway, he was a really interesting, intelligent, and caring host, so we enjoyed our stay immensely.

Other than that, we basically spent three days walking all over the city (literally), crossing back and forth over the Danube and seeing the sights. We especially enjoyed the Central Market -- it was slightly touristy, but we were able to get cheap and tasty strudel in various flavors (sour cherry, apricot and cottage cheese, etc) and do some great people watching. There was a line of food vendors on a balcony overlooking the market where I discovered Dreher Bak (a great dark beer) and Sarah found some great creme cake, so we sat and watched all the locals chatting over pints before they headed home. Interestingly (to me at least), Hungary is famous for its chile and paprika (though they call them both paprika), so it felt a bit like home to see all the chile ristras and tourist shops selling goods with peppers printed on them. Just like New Mexico!

Oh, and I had one of the absolute best burgers of my entire life here, too.

One of the "must do" activities in Budapest are the thermal baths that dot the city. I contented myself with looking into a couple instead of actually bathing, because even at home I'm not particularly interested in soaking in hot pools. I'm not sure why, but I've never been a fan. Sarah had the public hot bath (Hammam) experience when she was in Morocco a couple years ago, so she wasn't ready to jump in either. The bath buildings themselves were really neat -- some are many hundreds of years old.

Our stay in Budapest was really great. I highly recommend a visit if you ever get the chance.

Weinerschnitzl

Hello from Vienna!

For the first time this entire trip, we entered familiar territory. I last visited this beautilful city in the winter almost twelve years ago, and Sarah was here about three years ago. This was an unplanned stop, but we decided that it was worth it to come here and see my good friend Eva Kuntschner.

Eva and I had last seen each other 7 years ago when she came to visit me in Las Cruces, so we had some catching up to do. We originally met in Minneapolis when we were both at school there about a decade ago (yikes, I am getting old!).

Eva graciously offered up her place to us, so we have spent the last couple of days doing typically Viennese things: drinking coffee in funky coffeeshops, going out for a nightcap and conversation at night (the current seasons drink is Sturm, young wine), and making meals at her downtown Vienna apartment. It has been pretty great. We did make some time to walk the old city districts, so we got our requisite sightseeing in. One new sight for me was the Hundertwasser house and art museum. Hundertwasser was a famous archtect, philosopher, and artist who believed in organic and curving structures, as well as bright colors and uneven floors. The neighborhood where he built a building according to his ideas is a neat site to visit. Sarah loves his work, so she was excited to go back and see it again.

The weather has continued to be cold, windy, and rainy, which encourages the sitting around in coffeeshops. Apparently, the weather was beautiful and warm here until last week. Of course.

We are backtracking a bit tomorrow and taking the train to Budapest for a couple days before our flight to Ireland.

I will write again from Hungary.
matt!


Sarah at McDonalds. Yes, we ate there. It was warm and cheap. Get over it!


Hundertwasser House, Vienna


Matt! and Eva at the street market, Vienna


Eva and Sarah, Vienna


Some important building, Vienna

Down for the Count!

Bla! Velcom to Dracula's hometown!

Sighisoara was a short overnight stop for us. It's a fortified hill citadel city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the heart of Transylvania, and so was worth a stop since we were in the area. The old part of the town is a small collection of towering spires of churches, old buildings, and graveyards. The whole place was a bit of a mess, since UNESCO funds are hard at work restoring and upgrading the historic area. We walked around the old town for a while and enjoyed the old town feel, and then spent the rest of the time we were there in the flatter areas of town and on walks into the countryside. The rain and wind and gray added to the Transylvanian atmosphere, but the hillsides were green, forested and beautiful.

We found a little Italian place for dinner that made great pizza (Romanians seem to love pizza).

One funny incident of note happened in the graveyard at the top of the hill. Keeping in mind where we are (Vlad Dracul's hometown), we were joking that the graveyard we walked into up there would probably be a creepy place at night. As soon as I made the comment, a little, short legged dog came trotting by us. Suddenly, about ten feet away, it started barking its fool head off at a gravestone! Needless to say, we jumped. It barked and barked at the gravestone, and then we finally figured out why: a squirrel had scampered up the tree behind the headstone. Ha! Great timing, little dog.

We are on our way to Vienna to see a friend next. It will be nice to have a little visit with someone familiar for the first time in four months.

Matt!

Matt! and Sarah, Sighisoara, Romania


Sighisoara, Transylvania


near the train station, Sighisoara


Reading a scary book, Sighisoara


The house of Dracula, jr.


old town Sighisoara, Romania


A graveyard


The citidel on the hill, Sighisoara


Cute Sarah in the Romanian countryside

Photos from Brasov and around

In Turkey boarding the train to Romania - We're in the Schlafwagen.


After no sleep in the Bucharest Train Station.


Beautiful Brasov, Romania


Genuine Romania -- a 2-Liter bottle of beer for 2 bucks-- that's a lot of beer after almost none for an entire month in Nepal and India.


Dinner in our room, Brasov


Sarah in Brasov


Sarah with the same bottle of beer and pizza for dinner!


A view of Brasov from the top of the mountain


Fall is in the air

Welcome to Transylvania!

Sorry about the lack of photos... The last couple places we've found email have old computers, so I haven't been able to upload any. I'll try to get this done soon. Perhaps tomorrow? Perhaps not....

We're in Brasov, Romania now. What a beautiful city! We've been enjoying walking the streets and the nice, forested paths around town. We're going to a free orchestra concert tonight. So cultured!

The train ride from Istanbul was great -- having our own space made all the difference. It was a small space, but it had two full-size beds, a table/washbasin, and a mirror. We bought groceries in Istanbul, so we were set for the ride (including having a bottle of Turkish wine!). The biggest irritation of that ride was the 4 hours it took to do immigration and passport stuff between Turkey and Bulgaria. They woke us up for this at 3am, and we didn't get moving (or sleeping) on the train again until it was getting light. The Bulgarian officials harrassed other passengers a bit (at least they did with the Romanians in the room next to us), but they left us alone for the most part. In contrast, the crossing from Bulgaria to Romania took 5 minutes, and we didn't even have to get off the train! The scenery was stunning in southern Bulgaria, with wooded hills in full fall color. Northern Bulgaria flattened out into vast fields, and we could have been in South Dakota! We crossed over the Danube River at the border of Romania and stayed in the flats until Bucharest, the capitol city.

We arrived there late (around 8pm), so we decided to stay the night and then continue on to Brasov in the morning (so as not to repeat our 3am wandering in Pushkar). Little did we know that we as we wandered the dark streets of Bucharest with our packs that all the hotels and hostels in the city were booked full (though we did find one for 280 Euro; about $400). A cold front was also in the works, so it was freezing cold and really windy. I don't even have a jacket! I pulled my rainjacket out (for warmth... it has certainly rained plenty since China, but the umbrella has been the rain tool of choice) for the first time since China. After 3 frustrating hours of trying to find a place to stay, we got some help from a girl who worked at a hostel, and she ended up calling a place in Brasov to make a reservation. So three hours after we left the Bucharest train station we ended up at it again to catch the last train that night at midnight. Long story short, we got back to the train station to find that there wasn't a last train of the night.... So we sat around in McDonald's until it closed at midnight, then moved to the train station waiting room (where at least it was warm). Sarah actually slept some (and looked pretty cute bundled up and sleeping on the bench), but I stayed awake and guarded the bags until 4:30am, when they kicked everyone out for some bizzare reason. Luckily, McDonald's opened back up at that time, so we moved back over there and waited until our 6:30am train. What a night...

The train ride to Brasov was beautiful. The forested mountains were cloaked in thick fog and drizzily rain and full of small, cute towns. Exactly what I thought Transylvania would look like! We arrived in Brasov without any problems and eventually found the cheapest accomodation in town (about $30). We have a great little room overlooking a side street in the old town, with the church clock tower visible from the window. We've spent the last day and a half wandering the streets and finding the best espresso and pastries in town. What else are you supposed to do in Europe? =) Tomorrow we're going to take the tram to the top of the hill above town and maybe take a bus out to a fortress nearby. There's also a castle here that for a brief time housed Vlad Tepes (Count Dracula), but it's aparrently touristy and not really worth seeing.

The vegetation here is interesting in that it is very reminisent of Juneau (and northern North America in general). There's maple, alder, pine, Sycamore, and cottonwood amongst the trees, and the shrub layer includes blackberry, blueberry, twisted stalk, high bush cranberry, red osher dogwood, and various saxifrages. It feels very familiar; a feeling we haven't had much of in the last few months. The birding has been surprisingly good for the little I'm doing of it. Around Brasov I've seen European Roller, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Syrian Woodpecker, Eurasian Nuthatch, Coal Tit, Willow Tit, Chaffinch, Common Buzzard, European Robin, Eurasian Jay, Red-breasted Flycatcher, and Song Thrush. The train ride up here produced a couple surprise species: two Black Storks and (most surprisingly) a Great Bustard in a vast area of plains or fallow fields north of the Danube River. The train had stopped to let another pass, and I was able to see this large, rhea-like bird quite well. They are considered a species in danger, so I certainly didn't expect to see one, let alone from the train!

We're going to Sighisoara next, where the Count was born, so perhaps we'll see more of the Dracula hype at the next destination.

Later! M!

Istanbul (not Constantinople)

Pottery Sarah liked from Istanbul


Spices in the Egyptian Spice Bazaar, Istanbul


Nice chewy Turkish Coffee!


Mosque, Istanbul


Sarah on the ferry across the Bosphorus Strait to the Asian side


The Blue Mosque at night, plus Ramadan festivities


Baklava with pistacios - Yum!


Us in front of the Hagia Sophia


Blue Mosque at night


Hagia Sophia at night


Turka turka!

Hello all--
We arrived safe in Istanbul! We were pretty wiped out when we arrived, since our flight out of Delhi was at 4:45am and we had to be at the airport 3 hours early. Since we didn't have anywhere else to go, we spent most of the afternoon and evening in a coffeeshop, then went to the airport 6 hours early. No sleep at all. We did sleep some during the 6 hour flight here, but I spent a lot of the time watching the beautiful deserts and dunes of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and northern Iraq move by underneath us. There is some desolate, stunning country out here. Osama picked a good place to hide. =)

Istanbul is awesome. What a breath of fresh air for 2 tired travelers. It's Europe! Clean, cobblestoned streets, great cafes, old buildings, gorgeous waterfront -- what more could you ask for? Oh, and how about no hassling! woohoo! We can actually walk the streets without being constantly approached by people for one thing or another. It's Ramadan right now, so the city comes alive each evening with families picnicking in the parks. There is a big festival set up around the Blue Mosque and Aya Sophia with lots of great food, colorful people, etc. It has been fun to watch all the families preparing to break the day's fast at sunset with a big meal.

This city is loaded with amazing mosques (and churches converted into mosques, such as Aya Sophia). Interestingly, they all look very similar from the outside -- a large dome-shaped building with four turret towers around it. The Muslim call to prayer happens several times a day, so speakers through the city broadcast the chanting and locals fill the mosques. An interesting counterpoint to all of this is the mass numbers of tourists wandering the streets and sitting in coffeeshops and cafes. Several large cruise ships are in port each day, which jams the downtown area with tour buses and adds to the bustle.

We took a ferry across the Bosphorus Strait from the European side to the Asian side. It was a great way to see the city better. Istanbul looks a lot like Seattle, but with large religious structures sticking up on the hillsides. The topography is hilly, with building-covered slopes dropping down to the water's edge and large bridges connecting each piece of land to the next.

We have train tickets booked for Friday night to take us to Bucharest, Romania. We plan on 4 days in Brasov and Sighosoara in Transylvania before we head to Vienna to visit my friend Eva. We're really looking forward to the train ride through Bulgaria. We have a private cabin booked; this is the first time we've had this sort of luxury. We're going to stock up on groceries and wine and enjoy the ride!

It's a girl!

I'm officially an uncle! My sister gave birth to my first niece at 11:31am on September 7th! Her name is Isabella Rose, and she's pretty darn cute. Welcome her to the family!


newborn!


Isabella Rose at three weeks

Dehli

We made it to Delhi safe and sound, though the overnight bus ride was pretty crappy. We had a double bed on the bus, so we weren't uncomfortable, but the bus didn't have any shocks and we spent most of the time four-wheeling around on potholed roads (or at least it seemed that way). The worst part was that when we arrived here in Delhi at 6 this morning, we pulled our bags out of the "safe storage area" that you have to pay more for in the back of the bus (to keep them out of the weather on top of the bus), and they had been soaking in muddy water all night.... I was really pissed off, but there's nothing we could do and the bus guys absolutely didn't care. Amazingly, almost nothing was ruined besides a couple paperback novels I was carting around and a t-shirt of Sarah's. All of our other books, electronics, and Sarah's purchases survived. The hotel room in Dehli looked like our bags had exploded in it.... We had stuff drying everywhere. Sarah had to wash most of her clothes because the muddy water really got to them...

We were kind of dreading having to deal with Delhi, but it has been surprisingly pleasant -- we're staying in a Tibetan refugee area, so it feels more like China or Nepal than India, and we took the new Metro into the city today and went to a coffee shop. It was so nice to have air con and good coffee (my first coffee in almost a month!) and a yummy desert. Big cities are good for this. We have all day tomorrow, and then have to get to the airport around midnight for a 4am flight to Turkey. We plan on more coffee shop time tomorrow, and if we get bored, we'll also catch a Bollywood movie!

Hiding away

A friendly (sort of) long-tailed langur.

Hello again--
The rules at our hotel here in Pushkar state that "No drugs, alcohol, or non-vegetarian foods" may be brought onto the premises. Yes, this is the first city I have ever been to that not only outlaws alcohol within city limits, but also enforces a strictly vegetarian diet. None of the restaurants here serve meat or even egg dishes! Luckily, the food has been great for the most part, so meat has hardly even been missed. I can only think of twice I've had meat at all since we flew into Nepal over a month ago: buffalo dumplings in Kathmandu and a little bacon in a pasta sauce in Pokhara. Ironically, drugs are extremely easy to get for those so inclined: you can't even walk down the street without someone whispering "opium, hash, marijuana....." at your side. But meat or alcohol, no way!

We've adhered to the rules of the city for the time we've been in Pushkar, but it really would be nice to have had a bottle of wine or two at our hotel. Oh well. It's still been a great place to hide away from India for the last few days anyway. Really, I mean that. We've both entered "burn out" mode on our trip -- this is the point in these long term trips were a traveller usually goes somewhere easy like Australia and stays put for 6 months. Instead, we entered India, one of the most hassle-prone countries I've ever been to (and that's saying a lot, since this is my 31st country). In order to stave off burn-out, we've been taking it much slower here, and simply resting and enjoying the places we actually get to. We know there's Jodhpur (the "blue city") and Jaipur (the "pink city") and Jaisalmer (the camel safari city) and other places to see, but really we just want to do a little travel burn-out mitigation and rest before we fly on to our next destination: Istanbul. So without much regret we have chosen to see fewer places here in India for the sake of the enjoyment of the rest of our adventure. And honestly, the parts of India we've seen have been enough: we aren't enamoured of India like some travelers here. I can see the lure of the vibrant colors, fascinating people, varied topography, etc., but frankly, other countries have been far more enjoyable to travel in for me (and I know Sarah feels the same).

Basically, we've enjoyed our time here, but partly because we slowed down and saw less, taking it in small batches and resting along the way. This way we're ready for the next stage of this journey!

Personal space issues

Yesterday we decided to hike up to the top of a small peak overlooking the town of Pushkar. It was a pretty straightforward climb up steps that have been built to accommodate all the pilgrims that head for the temple at the top of the peak. It took us a while to get to the top because we kept getting stopped by groups of Indians who wanted to take photos of us. Well, they mainly wanted photos of Sarah, but they let me be in a few too. It's interesting that they find us exotic enough to want photos.... I guess it goes both ways, since Indians are so colorfully dressed and look pretty exotic to us, too. They are just better at asking without embarrassment for a photo.

We finally got to the top and walked past the temples a little further up the ridge to where we could enjoy the views without people trying to sell us stuff, beg money from us, or simply staring. We walked past trees full of langurs (long-tailed monkeys) and up the ridge. Of course, there were a bunch of men lounging around behind the temple and when they saw us, we became the most interesting thing to happen that day. Lots of staring ensued. So we walked further along the ridge and out of their sight to enjoy the day. Sure enough, three of them followed us up the ridge. We weren't particularly worried about being robbed or anything, since they seemed pretty benign, but it's hard to relax or have some personal time when you are constantly being watched. The men came up to us and wanted to try my binoculars. I already knew they were interested in them, so I let them look through them. Pretty soon, the rest of the men from below had followed along and we had 15 men all watching us, trying the binoculars, and asking us questions in Hindi. Though I'm sure they were perfectly harmless pilgrims, but I don't think they realized that they were making two foreigners very nervous with their closeness and interest.

It's a very different cultural norm here, the issue of space. There are a lot of Indians, and they live very closely packed in cities. The idea of personal space is completely different, especially to our American standards. Once they started asking us about money (I think they just wanted to see some US dollars), we got really nervous and made an excuse to leave or at least get back by the temple. Even then, they didn't realize the anxiety they were causing us. They followed us back to the temple, and then a long way down the stairs....

There was never any sort of aggression or deception on their part -- they were just interested in us. But it certainly made us uncomfortable! Well, I guess that's why we travel, eh? To expand our cultural horizons. =)