Dec 26, 2003: Happy Canadian Update
Jan 5, 2004 Tahiti Treat
Jan 16, 2004: Krazy Kiwi - The North
Feb 5, 2004: South Island Stories
Mar 2, 2004: The Wet Hot World of Oz
April 3, 2004: The Aussie Adventure Continues...
Apr 21, 2004: Back Over the Rainbow
May 8, 2004: Peace of Thai
June 9, 2004: Incredible Insane Intense: INDIA
Fri, 26 Dec 2003
Happy Canadian Update
Ho ho ho!
10 days of winter seems like a token, coming from Costa Rica, and knowing that Tahiti is at the end of it all, but we must admit, it's really been a blast frolicking in the snow and having a real Christmas!
We arrived in Vancouver, where its pretty cold and wet, had a nice visit with Zaida Jack and Philip and Gabi and Elisha and Mara. Even saw a real Nativity Play, to round out the whole cultural experience. Staging was pretty uninspired, (if they circled the entire audience one more time singing the same hymn I might have had to trip a Wise Man) but Mary's birthing sequence really was, well, a spectacle to behold.
Uncle Philip was kind enough to drive us 9 hours east on Saturday to the small village of Proctor, just outside of Nelson, where we were greeted with some serious hospitality by the Clement and Foot families. 10 year old Kaitlyn took it upon herself to be our Christmas Ambassador, and we all went out hunting for a tree. Luckily, living on the edge of a forest in the Kootenays it wasn't difficult to find a tree, but we realized, trudging through thigh deep snow and ducking 12 year old Marley's snowballs, that it was the most snow either of us had seen in many years. Refreshing, exhilarating, but nice to know there was an end to the cold in very close range.
So much winter fun, we went sledding, drank Melinda's special hot chocolate, decorated the Christmas tree with family ornaments, lit Chanuka candles and bet on them, thanks to Peter's Chanuka spirit, and feasted on some unbelievable gourmet organic meals prepared by Chef Ken. We even had a very intense Lord of the Rings day, watching all three movies in quick succession, then dreaming of Middle Earth all night long.
After Christmas Eve, Christmas Dinner, Christmas Breakfast, Stockings, Cookies, Gifts and Leftovers, we sadly had to say goodbye the idyllic Proctor life and board a 12 hour bus ride back to Vancouver, armed with nothing but turkey sandwiches and an abundance of chocolate.
Began the string of celestine coincidences that we generally find liberally sprinkled throughout our travels by running into Kristen's guy, Cliff, aka Shecky Grey, in the bus terminal in Kelowna around midnight, on his way to pick up Kristen in Vancouver. We are living proof that the world is one tiny global village.
We are ready to shed our jackets, and hats, for tomorrow, we are off to Tahiti. We've been married 19 days so far, and I believe tomorrow, or no, maybe the next day will be our very first day alone together as a married couple.
Love you all.
Merry Christmas Happy Chanuka Happy New Year Keep Warm
Dori and Josh
Mon, 5 Jan 2004
Tahiti Treat
Happy 2004!
So, six days and five nights in Tahiti. Just the name says it, it doesn't get any more tropical than Tahiti, so far away from anything else, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a world all unto itself.
We arrived at 3:30am to Papeete, the capital, and had to do a lot of waiting around before catching a ferry to Moorea, the island we stayed on 12 km away. We got to watch the city waking up and coming alive, and it was really a fascinating introduction to this Polynesian Paradise, as they call it. The thing that struck us the most was the prosperity of it all. It's very affluent, pretty clean, the people all seemed very put together, very modern. Quite different from other tropical places we have been, where the poverty and filth can be the first thing that hits you. It was really interesting to observe.
We arrived in Moorea, and checked into our prebooked, little honeymoon hideaway hut on the beach. It was perfect, and exactly what we needed. A little kitchen, a stack of magazines, and a big bed we could see the ocean from. Ahhhhhhh.
The ocean, we have no words to describe the colours of the ocean in this part of the world. And just the vast number of colours is mind-blowing. We would sit on the long dock in front of our place for hours on end, just looking out, or watching the aquatic life below us. The water was so clear, and the dock was right beside a huge reef, there were so many fish and sea creatures to watch and marvel at. One night we even saw sharks circling, they looked just like they do in cartoons, with the triangle sticking out of the water, zigzagging ominously. The only thing missing was the sound effects.
Surprisingly, we did leave our place, riding bikes around the island, and hitching rides with the locals. Most of the local Polynesian we met were very friendly, we on the other hand were hugely frustrated and embarrassed by the lack of French we could muster to communicate with. Opening our mouths, Spanish was the only thing that would come out. Sitting in the back of a truck with kids, 4 year olds, 10 year olds, and the words just struggled to the surface. "Aren't you from Canada?" Yeah, but it's not all our fault, its the school language system, right? One day we took an Aquascope, a boat that is 90% submerged underwater and surrounded by plexiglass, and the two of us were driven around the reefs, checking out the water wildlife. It was just like scuba diving, without the wetsuits and the breathing and all that. Civilized. It was actually really awesome, we saw a billion different species of fish, big ones, small ones, yellow ones, blue ones, striped ones, spotted ones, one fish two fish red fish blue fish. At one point we stopped to get out and swim with a huge pack of stingrays that were hanging out on this shallow sandy bank in the middle of the ocean. Stingrays! Not dangerous. Just big and beautiful. You just can't do that at home. One day we went to the Tiki Theatre Village, we were taught how to dance the hip shaking hula dance of the Polynesians and then treated to an open air performance in their native language. Outdoor theatre, you can just do so much more. Bad guys riding up on horseback, fire dances, sand throwing, you can't do that stuff in a black box. It was a very engaging performance by over 60 dancers, chanters, singers and fire eaters. Only when it was all over and the Baby Jesus emerged did we realize it was basically the same nativity play we had seen in Vancouver at the Waldorf school. But way more entertaining. So we relaxed, we kayaked, we cooked fat meals, we rode bikes and walked and had a great time. It was very expensive and we will probably never return. It was the perfect transition between winter and the start of our honeymoon adventure. Now we have landed in the magical land of New Zealand ready for the next step. Hope you are all happy, healthy, and enjoying every moment of 2004 so far,
Lots of love
Dori and Josh
Fri, 16 Jan 2004
Krazy Kiwi - The North
Ok, this country is so breathtaking its ridiculous. It's like everywhere we turn it's another gorgeous view of sparkling teal waters, glowing sand dunes or those rolling green hills that you see in the movies. The hills are really wild, it looks like someone just lay down a big roll of green velvet over the entire country, and then carefully placed little toy farm animals to graze; cows, goats, horses, sheep. Then there are the trees, Kauri forests they're called. We took hikes through these Kauri forests to stare at trees that are 2000 years old. The sheer size and magnitude. A football team could hold hands, in a circle, and still not make it all the way around the base of this mammoth trunk. Seriously Ancient.
We landed in Auckland after taking Air New Zealand - your airline to Middle Earth. Lord of the Rings covers on every seat, LOTR magazines in the seat pockets, LOTR documentaries on the screen, New Zealand is slightly obsessed. Just a highlight of the Rings stuff we've seen - a giant Gollum climbing on top of the movie theatre where the movie had its premiere and continues to show, 5 weeks later, 6 times a day on the largest screen in the Southern Hemisphere, a giant Gandalf made of MARGARINE in the National Museum, a Troll hanging off of a building in Wellington and a model of Mordor made for the movie, also in the National Museum. 5 different postage stamps were issued this year, each depicting a different character from the movie. And I will not even begin about the merchandise being hawked everywhere.
Anyway we explored Auckland top to bottom, absolutely awesome city, maybe the most physically beautiful urban centre we've ever seen, it's on the water, with a huge marina filled with thousands of boats ranging from dinghy to yacht, it's built into the mountains, so the views are outstanding, and its just so clean, so friendly, so laid back, and quite expensive. Here's a perfect example of New Zealand - McDonald's NZ is completely organic. No kidding, all organic, and that is not the name of the company.
So we rented a car and peeled ourselves away from Auckland to explore the Northland. Picked up a couple of Israelis to split costs, but they got very clingy and annoying so we had to cut them loose. We went up to the northern tip of the North Island, where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet, and you can see the currents actually colliding, down below this towering lighthouse, and on the tip of the shore is this completely untouched beach, THE beach, the most magical beach that is completely forbidden to be trespassed, and is quite unaccessible because the Maori believe that is where souls go after the bodies die. That is where they leave from to go to the otherworld. I would like to go there when I die. Did I say breathtaking?
Back down the west coast we had a really cool stop in the Waitomo Caves where we treated ourselves to a caving adventure. First we abseiled 30 metres, which is like letting yourself down a rope, straight down into a cave, attached by climbing gear on a carabiner. Then we waded through dark water into the cave with only our headlamps on. Then we turned off the headlamps to marvel at the billions of glow worms that live in these caves. It was like being in a planetarium, surrounded by blue stars, up to your waist in water. Ok, not like a planetarium at all. Then we got into inner tubes and floated through the cave on the mild current in complete silence and darkness, except for the constant glow of these worms. After that we squeezed through holes, (I believe that part is just so we could get the full caving experience) and fought the current back to the hole we started at. You can't abseil up, so we rock climbed back up to the top. It was a very cool day.
We really haven't stopped since we got here - ok, more highlights - we climbed the Skytower in Auckland (nothing compared to the CN Tower, 12th largest in the world, ha) we went to an Underwater World where we walked though a tunnel made inside a giant aquarium and got to see sharks, stingrays and fish swimming all around us while we were safely protected by glass. We took a breakneck speed boat ride through a big hole in a rock in the Bay of Islands. We took a gondola up to the top of a mountain in Rotorua and then got into luges and raced down a winding track. We've seen active volcanoes, craters, geysers, hot pools, bubbling mud, and just a multitude of stinky thermal activity.
And that was just the North Island. And they say the South Island is the really beautiful and exciting part. We'll let you know...
Sorry to hear about the deep freeze you're having. Try not to step outside.
Sending you sunshine and love,
Dori and Josh
Thu, 5 Feb 2004
South Island Stories
They say it's the people that really make a place, and New Zealand really does have the nicest, friendliest, genuinely helpful and kind people we've ever had the pleasure of coming in contact with. From bus drivers to bank tellers, everyone here is just so proud of their country and so wanting to share it, its really lovely. They call native New Zealanders Kiwis, they also have the Kiwi fruit, and then there is the national symbol, a funny little flightless bird with a big butt and a long pointy beak, that everyone is always trying to catch a glimpse of. These birds are also called Kiwis. Can be a little confusing. So we put about 3100 km on the rental car in the past three weeks, exploring the South Island. Here's a taste: So much wildlife here, both indigenous and introduced. The animals that have been introduced include many pests that they now know are predators to a lot of the native species, so they are trying to undo the mistakes of the past and kill them all. It doesn't seem to be working. But they do have a very extensive system in place for helping to preserve the native creatures that is really impressive. Like this great underground tunnel, trench and hidden walkway system to observe the yellow eyed penguins. We hid in little wooden shacks watching the two foot tall yellow eyed penguins waddle along, to feed their cute baby chicks. We stood in the rain at night to watch 6 inch tall blue penguins waddle out of the water, avoid a sea lion and make their nests comfortable to sleep in. Who knew New Zealand was so close to Antarctica? That's where they come from. Funny little birds that don't fly, but when they glide through the water they flap their stubby little wings. We took a 30 metre boat out in Kaikoura and watched Sperm Whales bigger than the boat we were on breathe and spray through their blow holes (just like in the cartoons) and then dive down, with a swish of their cartoon tails and disappear into the 2000 metre depths of the ocean while giant albatross birds with a wing span of 3 metres swooped over them while the Southern Alps loomed in the background. Yeah, it's hard to take a bad picture here, and we should know, we've taken a lot. On the way back to shore on this same boat a very determined band of 30 dusky dolphins joined us. They swam, twirled, jumped, dove and danced for our pleasure while we just stood there in awe. That was really cool.
We hiked up the coast of the very picturesque Abel Tasman National Park, then sea kayaked our way back against some seriously strong gusty winds. It was beautiful, but in all honesty the Abel Tasman kicked our butts, and we treated ourselves to massages after that. They call it Tramping here. Which is funny, because we call it Hiking and Camping, in India and Nepal they call it Trekking, and in Israel (and Perth and Liberty) its called Tiyul.
Against all instincts, the husband convinced the wife to layer up with all of our warm clothing, including hat and gloves, and hike through the bush to the Fox Glacier, strap on some metal spiky crampons, grab a stick and follow a guide with a pick axe, hacking steps into the ice field we found ourselves on. Then it started to rain. Frozen rain. It was actually really pretty, seeing the ice caves and frozen rivers, it looked kind of like where Superman lives. But we were happy to be able to escape the ice and go back to summer. Not that the weather was all sunny and warm all the time, you shouldn't be too jealous. We actually had about 16 days of rain in the last 21, everywhere we went it would start raining and the locals would say, "Finally, after this long drought!" We brought the rain with us everywhere.
We finally got a beautiful clear day in the self proclaimed adventure capital of the world - Queenstown and took full advantage by strapping on some wings and running off a mountain. Well, only Dori. But it was so totally cool - Hang Gliding! Attached to the wings by a carabiner in the middle of my back, it was probably the closest I will ever come to flying like a bird. Soaring, plunging, twirling for twenty minutes over the mountains and finally coming to land in a grassy field, it was just so free and fabulous. Loved it. A natural, the guide said. Josh chose to go River Sledging for his adventure sport, holding on to a boogie type board with handles, and hurtling through rapids at break neck speeds, avoiding rocks and screaming all the way. We each think the other is crazy.
Don't think its all been exercise and adventure, we did have to hide out from the rain some days, discovering some really funky little art house indie cinemas, with red velvet couches and pillows to curl up in. We searched out jam nights in every town, where Josh got up and wowed the crowd every time. We even went to the circus one night, and saw a terrible French play in a great little theatre in Christchurch.
More highlights - Kite Festival in Nelson, where there were really creative kites, but it actually gets really violent, kites fighting each other, trying to cut the other out of the air. Jade carving exhibit in Greymouth, amazing Maori artistry, 3 hour cruise through Milford Sound, which isn't a Sound, it's a Fiord. Giant limestone rock formations jutting out of those crystal green waters, with spontaneous waterfalls spurting down from every crack and crevice. That was awesome, and the cruise stopped at an Underwater Observatory, where the people descend four storeys under the sea to a contained glassed in room, in the middle of a reef made of the very rare black and red coral, where we were caged in and the marine life swam all around us, unhindered and uncaged. Oh, and watching the Superbowl Live, which began at noon on Monday here, in a giant sports bar in Christchurch, complete with jumbotron and a thousand screaming Americans. Congrats to the Patriot fans, but our favourite part was definitely Janet Jackson flashing a billion worldwide viewers.
We have just landed in Brisbane, Australia. It's hot, and we love it already. We welcome any tips and travel advice on the Land of Oz.
Love and Sunshine
Dori and Josh
Tue, 2 Mar 2004
The Wet Hot World of Oz
G'day from Australia, Oz, Down Under, the biggest island in the Southern Hemisphere, whatever name you fancy. We made it, and here are the stories to prove it.
Arrived almost a month ago in the sunny city of Brisbane, and spent a couple of days wandering around, getting a feel for the country and thinking about how we should tackle our time here. It didn't take us long to grasp the idea that if we really wanted to see as much of this vast, diverse country as we could we would need to do something we have rarely done before. We pondered, and then finally sucked it up and...made a travelling schedule. It just had to be done. Also, realizing how enormous this country is (like trying to see all of Canada, flying into PEI, out of Vancouver, and hoping to hit the Yukon and take a side trip to Newfoundland in 10 weeks, doable, but slightly crazy) We figured we would start off at least by bus, no more luxury of having our own wheels, steering off the road whenever the wind blew our way. No, now we were following a well trodden path paved by a huge tourist industry in a country where towns seem to have been created for "backpackers." A little unnerving at first, but all we had to do was stay true to ourselves in all of this.
First stop, Byron Bay, supposed hippie heaven and the Aussie capital of "alternative lifestyles" Took us a while to figure out what was meant by that, apparently it means an abundance of vegetarian restaurants in an otherwise meat obsessed country, along with many chiropractors, naturopaths and yoga centres. All of this, and this was the part that surprised us the most, in a glossy, modern, high class package of a beach resort town. Ok, we hung out on the nudist beach and burnt our bits.
Next stop Noosa, another beautiful beach town on the Sunshine Coast, this time we got up off our butts, seemingly accustomed enough to the intense, wet heat now to hike through the National Park. This was awesome, we were rewarded by encountering our first bush turkeys and lace monitors (bizarre name for big lizards) who are so friendly they posed for pictures before scampering away. Here we also saw our first (and so far only) koala bears! They really are as cute as the pictures, hanging out high up in the gum trees, chewing leaves that get them high. They don't move very fast. Or really much at all. Hopped on the Greyhound from there to Hervey Bay, jumping off point for Fraser Island, largest sand dune island in the world (don't quote me.) Unbelievable place, really, 4WD drives only on the island, because it's completely made of sand, not just any sand, but white, fine, talcum powder sand. Tons of it, for miles around. On this island there are big beautiful, oasis-like freshwater lakes that seriously take your breath away. It is so hot, we're driving around with 9 people crammed into the back of a rented 4WD, sitting on sideways, inward facing benches, and then you get there, Lake Mackenzie (although there are many of them) a giant freshwater, white sand bottom lake. The most beautiful lake any of us had encountered in our world so far. Magnificent. We played there for hours. This sand dune island was really just magical; cold water Eli Creek, 2 km long with a mild yet forceful current to carry you along. The Maheno Shipwreck, a big old rusted out frame of a ship appearing out of the sand on a hundred mile long, uninterrupted, unadulterated stretch of perfect beach; the night sky, stars that were the closest they have ever been, no moon, just the milky way, the southern cross, and a bazillion stars. We swore we saw the Big Dipper that night, but apparently he only appears in the Northern Hemisphere. But he must have lost his way that night.
As we said, big country, lots to see, and us honeymooners trying to pack it all in, so we left Fraser Island, took an overnight bus up to Airlie Beach, and headed out on a sailboat for 3 days in the Whitsunday Islands. It was just a blast, we had a great crew of 2 who cooked up big fat meals for 14 of us as we lazed on the boat, in the onboard jacuzzi, in between stops on the natural world wonder - the Great Barrier Reef. We snorkelled to our hearts content, although we had to wear Stinger Suits, because this time of year there are killer jellyfish in the water. For this reason I would not call these beaches the best in the world, which Conde Nast Travel Magazine has. You have to wear protection to go in the water, its not perfect, that's all. But the underwater life was really incredible. We hung out with fish of every colour in nature, made up names for every kind of coral we could see, and even sailed along side dolphins and sharks. Really lovely sailing trip. Absolutely no seasickness.
Another overnight bus later and we reached Cairns (which is pronounced Cans, lest you get laughed at by the locals) which we made our home base for 9 whole days. Upon reaching the closest either of us had ever been to the equator, a heat wave blasted into town. It was hot. Real, hot, sticky, rainforest at the equator hot. We spent a couple of days sweating in the rainforest, billions of species of colourful butterflies mating around us as we were crossing crocodile infested waters, where despite the numerous stories that preceded us, all we saw was one little baby croc. Then Josh went off to a big sailboat in the Great Barrier Reef, 1000km north of where we were the last time, and at this point it was only the middle of the mammoth wonder. He began his Advanced Dive Course, while I stayed back in Cairns for a day (our first separation in 80 days of marriage) Happily we reunited on the boat the next day, and although they wouldn't let me dive without being thoroughly checked by a dive doctor due to my asthma, I was able to snorkel to my hearts content, which I did, and I saw my first giant turtle in the water, graceful, quick creature, flapping her little arms, if that's what you call them, I tried to follow, but they are faster than legend would have you believe. We swam with sharks, stingrays, and the fish, big ones, little ones, and so many coloured ones. Josh did some crazy dives, deep ones, long ones, night ones, naturalist ones, navigational, and after emerging with a new distinction in diving he claimed that every dive on the Great Barrier Reef was truly amazing. Cool.
After a couple of rainy days in Cairns where we holed up in a hotel with a tv and watched the Oscars (yay Sean Penn, and while we're talking movies, go see Big Fish, best movie we've seen in years.) So now we have reached the Red Centre, the heart of the country, and its a mere 40 degrees in the desert. Tomorrow we embark on an Outback adventure. We'll let you know.
So... we're beginning to feel like a bad date with some of you, blabbling on and on about what is going on with us and not hearing a peep about you. Some of you. So please send us a note and let us know what's up. We might not be able to write back personally but we would love to hear from you. To those who write, thanx, and good on ya, as they say here.
Lots of love
Josh and Dori
Sat, 3 April 2004
The Aussie Adventure Continues...
Oh my goodness, where to begin. Australia really is just a huge diverse country. It's so different in each part of the country, yet there is an underlying Aussiness that exists everywhere. Laid-back, friendly, so proud of their country, so happy that we are here exploring their homeland. It's great. We meet a lot of people (England, Ireland and Scotland mostly) who just have nothing nice to say about their homes. Australians are proud, and rightfully so.
Right, so March began in the Outback, right in the red hot centre of the country, Alice Springs. We only spent one day sweltering in Alice, before heading off on a 6 day Outback adventure, heading south. First stop was of course, Uluru, aka, Ayers Rock. Nothing can prepare you for how massive a natural wonder this is. First you see it from afar, easy enough considering how flat most of the area around it is. So it looks really big from far, but you just have no idea how big it is. Then you get there, and someone says that only one third of the Rock is exposed, that it goes on for 6 or 7 kilometres under the ground. Unfathomable. Then we decided to walk around it. Circle the mammoth thing. Yeah, it took us three hours. It's about 10 km around. It's huge. And so are the flies. Billions of them. We bought those dork nets to wear over our faces because Outback flies are not like regular flies, Outback flies live on human proteins, so they go straight for the eyes, nose and mouth. Really disgusting. So alternating between swatting and taking pictures from every angle, we made it around the rock. Then we went to another outcropping of rocks, Kata Tjuta, aka, The Olgas. I don't know why these rocks aren't as well known, they are just as spectacular, and there are more of them. We were restricted from walking all the way around them because the temps had already exceeded 40 Celsius for the day and they didn't want to have to make a rescue. Apparently people die in these parts all the time from heat exhaustion. Probably because they are exerting so much energy swatting flies.
Nights in the Outback were really the best, for one thing the flies go away, and plus the close proximity of the stars, with no buildings or any structures to block the view or pollute the light, and it was a full moon. The best part though, was sleeping in a Swag. These things are absolutely ingenious and we have no idea why they don't exist anywhere else. Its like a mattress inside a waterproof canvas square sleeping bag. You roll it up, and then roll it out, you can put your own soft sleeping bag inside it, and you can prop up the head part to give yourself some breathing space. Brilliant. Of course we slept on top of them, zipped completely open, it was not raining and it was warm enough.
The weirdest place we encountered in our travels so far was yet to come. So it's hot, flat and dusty and we roll into this seemingly desolate "town" although you can't really tell its a town because it just looks like piles of gravel, and then we pull up beside a space ship. The heat was not playing tricks on our eyes, it was not an oasis, it was a spaceship, left there by Mel Gibson after filming one of the Mad Max movies. We had reached Coober Pedy. Bizarro town. Established after some lucky sap found opals lying on the ground, thousands of miners made their way through the desert to find their fortune. So after blasting countless holes in the ground someone had the idea of making the holes into homes. Peak temps reach about 57 in Coober Pedy, and supposedly it gets cold in the winter too. So they began to build homes underground, where it would stay 20 - 25 degrees no matter what. Then they built a church, a hotel, a nightclub, swimming pool, everything. The entire town is underground. It's just wild really. We slept underground which was really kind of claustrophobic and dusty, but one place we will never forget.
We saw camels, emus, kangaroos, and a couple of snakes and spiders in our outback tour, we climbed the gorgeous Flinders Ranges for a spectacular canyon view, and basically just had a great time. Definitely a highlight. Advice - If you come to Australia, yes the beaches are the most beautiful in the world, but there is no place like the Outback. Make the effort to go through the bush.
Arrived in Adelaide, southern capital city, in time for their massive event of the year, the Arts Festival. Great vibe in the city, don't know if it was the fest or not, but just a great place, lots going on. Josh got up at a bar to jam one night and the locals loved him so much they were chanting his name by the end of it. We saw a great Australian R'n'B singer, a terrible English children's play and a wacked out, but quite impressive and innovative American voyeur thing. Play. I guess.
Rented a car and got back on the open road, just in time to explore the beautiful Fleurieu Peninsula, vacation spot for many wealthy Adelaidians, sweeping coastline, crazy geological formations, nice people. Fell in love with the small town of Victor Harbor, climbed bluffs to look out over the water and watch the sun go down. In our humble opinion, every town should have a spot that you have to work a little to get to, but once you get there it is the best sunset viewing place.
The next day we steered the car onto the Great Ocean Road, difficult to keep your eyes on the road when there are white sand beaches, crystal blue water and strange geological formations lining the stretch of coastal highway all the way to Melbourne. So we made many stops to admire and capture on film.
Finally we reached Melbourne, and arrived at our old Camp Micah friends, Shelley and Jeff Moredock's house. They welcomed us and we had a home away from home for a little while. It was great to have a homey home. Couches, kitchen, friends, fun. It was hard to tear ourselves away from the comforts of home, but we managed to ride a 100 year old steam engine train called Puffing Billy, where passengers are encouraged to stick your arms and legs outside the windows as you careen through the rainforest. We climbed their tower, checked out their museum, wandered their streets.
From Melbourne we hopped on a 9 hour ferry ride to Tasmania, the little island state found below Australia. Under down under. In comparison to mainland Oz, this place was pristine, peaceful, and totally National Parks protected. Very underpopulated, the tourists are almost all Australians on vacation, and the whole place is like a bunch of little small towns. Even the capital and biggest city. Its interesting, because we found it so peaceful and quiet, but Tasmania was the first penal colony. In the southern tip of Tasmania there is a little peninsula where they sent the really hardcore convicts who had committed numerous crimes and had to be taken out of the general prison population. Port Arthur. That's where all the tourists were. It's like we'd seen no one for days and all of a sudden there were 10 parking lots filled with tour busses and caravans and campers, all clambering to get a view of the old jail, maybe catch a glimpse of one of the many ghosts reported to still live there. I thought it was a sad, moneymaking exploitation. Just my opinion. Besides that Tassie was all beautiful hikes, and quirky animals, like the Tasmanian Devil, who looks nothing like the Looney Tunes character but is actually a little marsupial dog. It looks like a cross between a mouse and a bear, it's the size of a puppy, has the second strongest bite in the animal kingdom (next to a shark) and is known for its foul odour and bad temper. And we got to see one face to face. Unfortunately the funny looking duck billed platypus eluded us.
Back in Melbourne we spent a great few nights with our Australian family, Saul and Marcia Farberman, who cooked for us, took us out and generally took care of us. It's nice to have family.
Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Melbourne, and our friends and fam, and hit the road again. Quick stop in the capital city of Canberra, pretty quiet, very manicured, strange architecture, and then we arrived in Sydney where we've already seen the Opera House from 17 different angles.
We fly to the west coast in a couple of days, two weeks left in the country, then we are off to Bali, Thailand and India, so if you've got any travel advice on Bali or India, we'd love to hear it.
Thank you so much to everyone who sent us updates on what's going on with you, we LOVE that, keep em coming.
Happy Pesach Happy Easter Happy Spring
Lots of love,
Dori and Josh
Wed, 21 Apr 2004
Back Over the Rainbow
Sawadeeka!!
Back in Thailand, and loving every minute of it. It is so great to be back here. Arriving in Bangkok at night and driving into the city, it really felt like we were coming back to an old, familiar, totally welcoming place. Bangkok is Bangkok, loud, crowded, smelly, but still so inviting and fun and comfortable somehow. The only reason to be in Bangkok is to shop and to take care of business though, so we spent a mere 12 hours there before taking a very long, 20 hour, 3 bus, 1 ferry and 1 pickup truck journey to our favourite little island paradise on Koh Lanta. The place where we are staying has been renovated since our last visit, but the food is still mouthwatering, the fruit shakes delectable, the sand soft, the water warm and clear, the skies blue, the people so friendly and warm and fun loving and the days long and filled with breezes, hammocks and relaxation. We have been moving so much in the last 4 months, we haven't really chilled out in a while, so we are treating ourselves to a little rest and relaxation before the big one. India.
We decided to skip Bali on this trip, the tickets ended up being a lot more expensive than we thought, and even more so we just kind of felt like we were trying to cram too much into too short a time. So we will be spending 3 weeks in Thailand, revisiting favourite spots and people, and checking out some places we missed last time around.
May 7 we fly into Delhi, and we have a month before we fly out of the same city. Any advice would be most appreciated at this time.
Our last couple of weeks in Australia were really amazing, Sydney was a big city, so well laid out, a great walking city, beautiful harbour area, all around the Opera House and the Harbour bridge are just big open spaces closed to cars, outdoor bars and cafes, gardens, walking trails, and like giant terraces for viewing the water and the skyline from different angles. A very tourist friendly place, but not cheesy at all. We saw a hip hop show in the studio of the Opera House, and stayed for an after hours jam that was really fun. Couldn't quite afford to see a show in the big 2000 seat theatre, which while we were there was an 80 member Male Choir voted the best voices in the world by people who vote for that sort of thing. However, we were lucky enough to be hanging out by the steps up to the big House while they were getting ready for their group photo shoot, and while they were posing they were singing, so we got a free outdoor show. They were great.
On our last day with a rental car we drove to the Blue Mountains, a few hours outside of the city and hiked around valleys, cliffs, strange limestone cones and waterfalls. Breathtaking area, so close to the big city. Their big Luna Park was having a grand reopening while we were there, so we went for the festivities, which ended up being mainly politicians giving speeches and cutting ribbons in the pouring rain while grown men dressed as kangaroos in costumes with pogo stick legs bounced around us. Now there's something you just don't see at home.
It wasn't actually the greatest weather in Sydney while we were there, but we did manage to check out a few of the beaches, couldn't go in the water, but we explored the coastline as much as we could.
On the day of the first Passover Seder we were kind of scrambling to find a place to go for the night. There were 2 public Seders we heard about, but one was really expensive and sounded kind of pretentious and the other was supposedly just for Israelis and sounded like it might be really obnoxious. So we went to the Sydney Jewish Museum and met the nicest Australian couple who invited us to their parents home for the night. The family was Israeli and so warm and welcoming, they just took us in and made us feel right at home. We had a great Seder, with matza ball soup and everything, and it was so much better to be a part of a family for the night than to be with a bunch of backpackers. The couple who invited us were all worried that their family was too loud and boisterous for us. Ha. I hope they get a chance to come meet our families one day.
From Sydney we flew to the other side of the country, 6 hours to the west coast, landed in the largest city on that side, Perth, which is about a quarter of the size of Sydney. It's got a definite small town, very chilled out vibe to it. Much more laid back than the other coast. First we went up to the Pinnacles Desert, yet another bizarro geological formation found in this secluded country. This is a relatively small desert area that appears out of nowhere, filled with cone shaped rocks anywhere from an inch to 3 metres high covering the entire area. You just walk around this desert, and it feels like you have entered a science fiction zone. Actually there are a lot of places in Oz that feel like science fiction zones. Or Twilight Zones.
South from the Pinnacles we hung out with our new musician friend Fletch from Perth in his hometown for a while, then drove half an hour south to the port town of Fremantle, which is even more chilled out than Perth, which is like the capital of chill. Freo, as its called by the locals, was having a street performers festival and we saw so many acts. A one man skateboarding circus from Canada, one of only 2 female sword swallowers in the world, a man who holds the Guinness World Record for swallowing 14 swords at one time (completely revolting) and a street trapeze artist/rigger who set up an entire trapeze in the middle of the street herself before doing crazy tricks, all for what people will drop in a hat. She was inspiring.
From Freo we headed down through the very southwestern tip of the continent, where we walked along a 2 km long pier and took a boat trip plunging into the freezing ocean in wetsuits for a chance to swim with dolphins. The trip was slightly disappointing, only because we didn't really get any actual interaction with the dolphins, but we did get to watch them swim and play from the boat. There are a lot of companies that do dolphin swim tours that aren't healthy or safe for the dolphins at all, we chose this company because they play with wild animals, not caged animals, and for that reason we didn't get to kiss them or ride them, but we were certainly able to appreciate their intelligence, their strength and their beauty and playfulness. Amazing animals really.
From there we headed further south to the very fertile Margaret River region where we weren't really interested in sampling from any of the 100 or so wineries in the area, we did however hit every fudge, chocolate and cheese factory for miles around, and then climbed rocks each night looking for the most perfect spot to watch the sun go down in the west. We finally found it at the lighthouse where the Southern Ocean and the Indian Ocean meet. Now there is a powerful spot. We saw some nutcases surfing there, in the freezing water, serious waves, crashing into huge jagged rocks. There are a lot of thrill seekers in Australia.
Our last big thrill in the south was yet to come, and we found it in the Valley of the Giants, among the ancient Karri forest. Here we found the gigantic Gloucester Tree, 61 metres high, pegged so that it can be climbed. And climb it we did, right to the top, the tallest fire spotting tree in the world. I think. Anyway, it was spectacular, you could just see the tops of the trees for miles around, we felt like we were on top of the world.
So that concluded our adventures in Oz. We'll miss the friendly fun loving people, the clean and wide open spaces, driving on the other side of the street, swags, marsupials and waltzing matilda.
We won't be missing the hole in the ozone or the prices, for that reason, among others, we are thrilled to be back in the third world. Where we can live like Kings again. Well, maybe like Dukes.
We would love to hear from you,
Be well, Lots of love
Dori and Josh
Saturday, 8 May 2004
Peace of Thai
Three weeks of relaxation. We needed it. Don't laugh. Travelling can be hard work. It can take its toll after a while, schlepping all your belongings around on your back, having to hunt for every bed and every meal, constantly on guard for people trying to rip you off. Of course the wonderful things outweigh all of that, seeing new and fabulous things, meeting new and wonderful people, feeling like it's just us taking on the world. Walking the streets in a big huge city far from home, where nobody knows us, just soaking it all in. Once in a while someone might call out our names, we turn around and it's some long lost friend who happens to be on the same strip of earth at the exact same moment, and we laugh, amazed at the Celestine coincidences in life. Or sometimes it's a new friend who calls out our name, someone we met 3 towns or even 3 countries ago, our paths crossing once again on our round the world tours. It's an amazing thing, being on the road, but when we arrived in Bangkok, we were tired, and so we rested.
Spent a week down in Koh Lanta, the beautiful island paradise we wrote from last time. Long days drinking fruity icy shakes, lying in hammocks, walks on the beach, swimming in the calm, bathtub warm waters of Kantiang Bay in the Andean Sea. Long nights laughing with so many new friends, eating unbelievably tasty Thai meals, watching fire dancers of all shapes and sizes, including a 3 year old fire spinning prodigy, swimming in those warm waters again, but at night we share the water with millions of tiny phosphorescence, glowing blue bits of matter, I don't know what they are really, but they cover you in sparkles and make you feel all giggly inside.
After a week we had to tear ourselves away from the beach and all our new and old friends and head back to Bangkok to take care of more business. Visas for India, shopping, avoiding mad Tuk Tuk drivers, that sort of thing. Hopped right on an overnight bus up to the northern capital of Chaing Mai, so that would be two overnight buses in a row, for no good reason really, but upon arrival we treated ourselves to a nice air conditioned room (its like 40 degrees here right now), watched CNN (where some guy was going on about America needing to boycott Canada and throw the economy into recession just like France because Ottawa let 2 army deserters in the country?) turned that off quickly, and went out for a nice dinner and night on the town.
After a long sleep, we hopped the 4 hour hair-raising, winding road through the mountains journey to our other favourite place in the country. Pai. Such a peaceful mountain town, where Thais and once-travellers who have settled live together happily, sweating, hiking, waterfall jumping and riding motorbikes by day and drinking and playing music at night. We had a great reunion with our friend Thom, the best cook in Thailand, and took more cooking classes with her, in exchange for editing her new Thai cookbook/VCD (Video CD, like an instructional Thai cooking video set in a beautiful outdoor kitchen, with fresh food and strumming banjos, with the most hilarious and best Thai cook doing the demonstrating.)
A week went by in Pai in the blink of an eye, and again we had to say goodbye to our friends and some really great meals and hop an overnight train this time (just for a little variety from the bus) back to Bangkok. Ah, Bangkok, smelly, loud, pouring rain when we arrived, everyone out to rip you off. Nothing quite like it. In the span of 2 days we visited 2 tailors and I had a dress made and we each had a suit made. My first real suit, like a real grown up. We shopped, packed a big box to send home, prepared for India, sorting medications, purging what we carry, gathering all the information we can, and in a few hours we are off to the land of a billion smiles and 2 billion scams. Or so we hear. We'll let you know.
Hope everyone is happy, healthy and enjoying warmer weather.
Less than 8 weeks left to our honeymoon!
Lots of Love,
Josh and Dori
Wed, 9 June 2004
Incredible Insane Intense: INDIA
Nothing anyone can say can prepare you for India. So for those who have been here, forgive the obviousness of the description, but the words Sensory Overload mean nothing until arriving in this country. India is beyond comprehension, the land of opposites, exhilarating, frustrating, beautiful and revolting all in one breath. Walking down any street is an obstacle course, like a tripped out, psychedelic video game. You must have all your wits about you at all times. Don't step in the rotting piles of garbage, avoid the animal shit, don't kick a stray dog, try not to get gored by a cow, don't let the lepers touch you, dodge the beggars and scammers, keep your eyes everywhere, but don't look in the eyes of the men, although they will be staring right through you. And that is all without mention of the actual vehicles on the road. Giant trucks with musical horns speed past busses that overtake cars, both of which have special Indian horns, amped up, higher pitched, more grating versions of any other horn we've ever heard. These recognizable vehicles are bigger and therefore can run off the road the autorickshaw - 3 wheel tuk tuk electrical vehicle, which can beat the cycle rickshaw, which wins out over the regular bicycle. Lowest on the totem pole of Indian traffic is the lowly pedestrian, and highest being the Holy Cow, stopping for no one but themselves, plopping down in the middle of a major intersection in a densely populated area, just chewing and mooing, stopping everything without a care in the world. The smells, intense, from incense to urine, spicy sweat, manure, perfume and garbage all at once. There were times when we wanted to plug our noses, mouths and ears all at the same time.
There were times, like arriving in the Delhi train station at rush hour, when all we could do was stand and gape in awe at the organized mayhem going on around us. Men squatting, lying and sleeping everywhere, children running and laughing, and of course the women. The beautiful women. Dressed in saris and silk suits of every bright and vibrant colour in the rainbow, gold jewels dangling from necks and ankles, wrists and foreheads, fingers and toes. Henna and vermilion paint adorning feet, hands, scalps and foreheads. Decked out! And this all just for an overnight train ride.
True to form, we arrived in Delhi at the height of summer, all the Indians we met telling us we were crazy to be here at this time and we should come back in November. We decided to get out fast so after a mere 18 hours in the capital we boarded a train to the oldest city in the world, Varanasi, on the banks of the holy River Ganges. The train station, overwhelming, we felt like all 1 billion people were taking the train with us. Somehow we pushed and stood our ground with the best of them and made it to Varanasi in 16 hours. We arrived in time for a heat wave. 50 degrees average weather. Celsius. Brainwaves slow down considerably at this temperature. Slept through most of our first day to prepare ourselves for a 5am date to meet the Ganga.
The heat not nearly as stifling at dawn, it's amazing to watch this city wake up, everyone beginning their morning ablutions. Men wrapped in swaths of fabric, women carrying humongous baskets of washing on their heads, dirty, naked and happy children and all of them heading down to the murky, holy waters of the heavily polluted Ganges River. We make our own way down and hire a boat to take us along the river. Yet again, in this country, we are in awe, paddling silently as the dawn's eerie early light bathes the river, the boats and all the Hindus performing their religious rituals, bathing, praying, washing, performing the rituals of the dead. In the Hindu religion this is the most auspicious place to die, for dying on the banks of the Ganga will release the soul from the bonds of this earth, and the cycle of rebirth. There are 2 cremation ghats burning bodies 24 hours a day, and some non cremated bodies are simply wrapped in cotton and sent out to bloat in the river, floating past children splashing, men swimming and diving, women washing and tourists in river boats trying to absorb it all. All this is set to the backdrop of the sun rising through the haze on one side, and the towering Ghats, steep steps, crowds in gathering numbers, temples, and monuments to infinite Hindu gods lining the other side. It is, most definitely, a place like no other. No one has to tell you this place is spiritual, you can feel the energy envelop you from the moment you arrive.
Varanasi, along with being the holiest of Hindu cities, is also the home of classical Indian music. We had the good fortune, through a series of chance meetings, first with a very kind souled rickshaw driver who became our friend and guide to the city, then through the instrument selling family in the town, cousins to Ravi Shankar's family, to find one Vikash Maharaj, Indian Sarod Master. Vikash claims his family, having lived in Varanasi for 10,000 years, were the very first classical Indian musicians. They invented the instruments. Who are we to argue? We don't even know what our families were doing 250 years ago. So we purchased a Sarod, a 17 string, stainless steel, fretless wonder instrument, and spent an enlightening afternoon with the Maharaj family, Josh taking lessons from the master, me looking at pictures of all the famous people they have played with and all the fabulous places they have toured to.
After 5 days in the hot holy city enduring mega pollution and blackouts, not really being able to bear the thought of another train ride just yet, we decided to change the plan and escape the heat and fly to Nepal.
Ah, Nepal, fresh clean air and water, calm, friendly people, yak cheese pizza, the Himalayas. We left Kathmandu quickly and took a most beautiful and bumpy ride through gorgeous lush greenery carved with steps into majestic mountains to the lakeside village of Pokhara. Suffering from pollution sickness from Varanasi and Delhi, we decided to lay low for a couple of days, just revelling in the clean streets and the mountain views, and eating yak cheese pizzas. Once we decided to get off our butts and go trekking, the thing to do in these parts, we were informed that the Maoists rebels had a called a strike for the next 3 days and there would be no transportation available anywhere for fear of the rebels running you off the road, or more likely, demanding a big US dollar payoff. Peaceful, calm, friendly, Nepal? Apparently not exactly. We had to change our flight back to India, because one of the strike days was on the day we were to fly, and we wouldn't have been able to get back. So we were stuck in Pokhara for another little while. There are many worse places to be stuck. We decided to take a Reiki course, as long as we weren't going anywhere, and we spent an invigorating 3 days with Swami Sunil, learning to harness our healing energy. We spent time out on Fewa Lake, surrounded by those towering Himalayas mirrored in the cool, clear waters, all sounds of the world muffled by the vastness of life. The strike, with its militaristic origins, was actually really quite peaceful from our perspective. No cars in the streets honking, kids were playing in the middle of the road, because schools were closed, most shops didn't quite close, they just didn't solicit, and they kept their metal gates closed at half mast, so if you really wanted to come in and buy, all you'd have to do is duck a little. On our last night we celebrated our Reiki completion and the night before Josh's birthday with Sunil's family and a feast cooked by everyone altogether and topped off with a bright pink fluffy cake. Josh was thrilled we were in Nepal for his birthday, where they have cake. In India he might have ended up with a stick of incense in a chapatti.
A couple of days in Kathmandu checking out temples and markets and international food festivals, and then it was back to India. Delhi was still hot and polluted, we made plans to get out of there fast. A day in Jaipur, in the regal state of Rajasthan where we admired the pink city from high up in an observation tower. Apparently the city was painted entirely pink a couple of hundred years ago when then Prince Edward visited, pink being a symbol of hospitality. More a faded salmon colour now, the large City Palace and surrounding temples are sights to behold. At night we checked out the very ornate Palace Hotel, more fancy than any hotel that exists in Toronto for sure, marvelling yet again at the land of opposites. Poor and homeless people (pavement dwellers they are called here) on every corner, living in harmony with some of the world's fanciest and most luxurious hotels. India is both rich and poor, kind and cruel, angry and peaceful, spiritual and material, ugly and beautiful, smart and stupid. It simply defies description.
Another example of unparalleled wealth and beauty was awaiting us just down the road in the city of Agra, the romantic world wonder, the Taj Mahal. Built for his wife after she died giving birth to their 14th child, the crazy Shah Jahan spent enormous amounts of money on building this completely symmetrical marble and gem mausoleum. For 11 years 22,000 workers toiled to create this majestic masterpiece and as a reward when they were through he broke and chopped off many of their fingers so that the workmanship could never be duplicated. It definitely makes a statement on the horizon.
Again the 50 degree pollution was getting to us, so we hopped an overnight bus up to Dharamsala, in the foothills of the Himalayas, home of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile. After recovering from pollution poisoning we had a great time in this little hill station area. The nights were cool, the mountains were high, with snow caps visible in the distance. We met some great people, took some amazing yoga classes with an Indian man who could contort his body like no other. We took long, meandering walks with no destination through the lush green hills, sharing the view with the goats and the cows. This was a definite departure from everything we had experienced in the other small parts of India we had explored. For one thing, the strong spirituality evident in this area as opposed to the rest of India is mainly Tibetan Buddhism, a very quiet, calm, understated and pacifist group. Being around that kind of energy, and being able to breathe clean fresh mountain air was exactly what we needed at that point in our trip. People weren't as in your face, although from the many Indians on vacation in the hills we had unbelievable numbers of young girls coming up to us wanting to have our photos taken with them. We are sure we now adorn the mantlepieces of hundreds of nice Indian homes.
It took a good 48 hours to get from the far northwestern corner of India, here to sunny, ancient, modern, Greece, but we have just arrived and so far, we love it. In a couple of hours we are going to pick up Josh's sister Alysa from the airport for 10 days of fun, then she returns and we continue on to our last stop, Italy, before heading home for her wedding. We'll be home in less that 3 weeks!
Any gems you want to tell us about in Greece or Italy, let us know, can't wait to see and speak to everyone, hope you are all enjoying spring and summer,
Lots of Love
Josh and Dori
P.S. I had my first travel story published in an Australian magazine this month. Thanks for all the encouragement, and anyone who has any ideas on how to get more out there I'd be glad to hear it. - d