Travel Location: Copenhagen,Denmark

Travel About: architecture,cultural-immersion

Well as you might have guessed, I did head to Scandinavia after Iceland — Copenhagen, to be exact. And Copenhagen is a delightful city!! For one thing, it was WARM and sunny. I was able to wander around without a jacket and still be warm at 10pm. Ah, a lovely change.

have i mentioned how light it stays over here? The light-til-late was most extreme in Iceland. At one point I asked Betsey what time it was. She said “it’s only 11:30 — can’t you tell? it’s still light out.” And we laughed because it was so true! same thing here in Scandinavia. In Norway I thought nothing of starting a hike at 9pm. Plenty of daylight left! It’s really quite an amazing difference. It makes it hard to go to bed at an early hour when there’s still plenty of daylight to do stuff outside!

Luckily, the hippies have lawyers.

So in Copenhagen I made fast friends with various folks including a woman a couple of years older than me from Australia named Priscilla. She was definitely full of interesting contrasts and quirks and was fun to hang around with. Priscilla had invited me on a walking tour the first day. That was a lot of fun, stolling the long pedestrian streets, along the docks on the waterfront, and all over for that matter.

The second day we found some free Copenhagen bikes on a rack and proceeded to ride about the town for a while. Well it’s actually free USE of the bikes, as you insert a 20 kroner coin and get it back when you return the bike to a rack. You have to watch out for people taking your bike, though –either to use it or to get the 20 kroner coin. Priscilla and I might have used a few covert methods to keep someone from stealing our free bikes, though I deny everything. hehehe

Copenhagen is well set up for bikeriding with bike lanes and signals, and is a delight to ride around in! Another good thing about bikeriding is that it not only uses different muscles than walking, but it saves feet from another day of pounding. Anyway, lots of amazing and cool buildings and parks and water and nature to see in Copenhagen. In fact, it was gorgeous and different pretty much everywhere we looked. We checked out the national museum and lots of other stuff. Sorry, readers of my online journal have to get the edited, less-interesting version of my time in Copenhagen.

So let me quote you a few lines from my guidebook on Copenhagen. Ya think it might be of interest to me? “Denmark is one of the most environmentally-conscious European contries.” Then it goes on to describe one section of Copenhagen, Christiania, as “an ultra-human mishmash of idealists, hippies, potheads, non-materialists, and happy people (600 adults, 200 kids, 200 cats, 200 dogs, 2 parrots, and 17 horses)….a fascinating, ramshackle world of moats and earthen ramparts, alterntive housing, cozy tea houses, carpeter shos, hipie vills, children’s playgrounds, peaceful lanes, and people who believe that ‘to be normal is to be in a straight-jacket.’” hmmmmm….whaddya think? I had possibly found my new home and had to go check it out!!

And indeed, Christiania was very interesting to visit. It had started as a squatters community and many of the buildings were painted with interesting graffiti. They used to have pot/hash stands on the main drag but disbanded them a couple of years ago in an effort to keep their community safe from overzealous officials. Of course it’s said that you can still easily find some here, or so the guidebooks tell me and confirmed by Priscilla’s experience. Just follow the wafts of smoke. It’s also easy to find gangs of police officers marching through town, too, which seems a bit ridiculous to me. But hey, I guess they need something to do.

The community is only pot/hash smokers — the hard drug users were kicked out years ago. Despite this, the conservative Danish government is hoping to “normalize” Christiania, and maybe build luxury condos. Luckily, the hippies have lawyers.

All and all, it was a very interesting place. And again, you will have to see photos to understand how the residents have managed to recycle everything into building their community. Reminds me of the Netherlands trash house, my workcamp in August. None of the people own the land or the houses, though, as it’s an old military base. In order for a new person to get in, they have to wait until someone leaves and then the community decides who should move in. So whaddya think? I could go for an idealistic community like this. Walking/riding through it, though, it didn’t grab me immediately as the perfect place for me. I’d have to get to know the residents better, though, to understand the community philosophy and some of their personal philosophies. There’s more to a home than the freedoms, you know! Ah, Christiania…a place to consider…

So anyway, before I took the overnight train to Oslo, I checked out Tivoli, Copenhagen’s amusement park. That was fun! I guess I have fun wandering and taking pictures and enjoying the sites, whereas others would think “an amusement park by yourself…how boring!” So lots of adventures in Copenhagen….made friends, rode our bikes around, gorgeous, interesting city, checked stuff out…

And lucky me, I was taking the train to Malmo, Sweden from Copenhagen to catch my overnight train. And so this drunk guy (smelled like beer, slurred) sat across from me and tried to carry on a conversation through the trainride (which did stop for a delay and seemed soooooo long). I wouldn’t tell him exactly where I was going, though, “somewhere near Malmo.” And of course, once I get onto the overnight train, I find he is in the sleeping car next to mine! and of course he sees me! argh! oh well, maybe he got the hint. But I didn’t actually let him see which car was mine — good thing since I was in the 6-compartment car all by myself. (so you see, all the people who find it necessary to always warn me to be careful, I AM careful! rest assured you can find something else to worry about, or even better, don’t worry, be happy:)

So that’s enough of an update for now. I decided against calling Bill because the more I considered it, the more I became suspicious of his intentions, despite the fact that I’d met him on the airport bus and he seemed like a nice guy who just wanted to show off his city and buy me a cup of coffee (he actually was born in America but fled when he was young). Yet, there’s something about the way he asked and acted…this despite the fact that he’s quite the older gentleman, with white hair and a beard, reminds me of the rugged skinny Kenny Rogers type.

Men….hmmmmmm….they are a mystery. Why can’t we just be friends? Why must there be secret hopes and intentions that us women have to think and worry about? I have plenty of guy friends in the States…is there something about foreign men that think that American women are easy, or desperate, or something? Do they think we need a mate to be happy? I can only wonder.

I could wear a fake wedding band, but even mention of my fictitious boyfriend or husband doesn’t stop some guys from continuing to try. I am not a cure for all the lonely men in the world, though I do seem to attract them in droves. And there are sooo many (mind goes off onto Beatles song…) And yes, there’s more fuel and stories behind this line of thinking of mine, but you will have to wait for my Norweigan update… But for now, enjoy!

Related Travel Entry

• The Seventh Day: The Cairo Museum
  We flew from Aswan to Cairo. One of the fascinating sights were the streets of Aswan and Cairo and in Cairo all the activity on the street of a major world city. (See The New York Times, March 1, 200...
• Barcelona, Day 2
  We woke up and had free breakfast in the hotel, and then hit the streets.We headed first for the Palau de la Musica Catalana, the music theater with beautiful mosaic tiles covering the facade.From th...
• Angkor Wat: Tourists Do, Travelers Pass Through
  I love Cambodia and it is, undoubtedly, the best country I have ever traveled in. But I don't love it because of it's claim to fame - the astounding temples of Angkor, the site of the Khmer ancient ca...
• The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, Peru
  When Jan and I decided to go to South America each of us had a destination in mind that stood out from the rest. For me it was the Amazon. For Jan it was Machu Picchu. I reminded him of this the day b...
• san cristobal, gateway to adventures
  the first thing i noticed about san cristobol was the women. no, not that they are beautiful, because i´ve found mexican women everywhere to be beautiful. rather, i found them strong. just walking dow...

Travel Location: Severobaikalsk,Russia

Travel About: natural-wonder,cultural-immersion,market

Thursday 17th August

As mentioned already, everything in our time capsule called the Trans Siberian train, operates in MT. At 02h00am [7am actually], we were all woken up to the loud strains of Russian pop songs! In 1hr we arrive in Severobaikalsk at the far northern end of Lake Baikal. The scenery has changed dramatically during the night and we are surrounded now by wonderful bubbling rivers and mountains!! Something we haven’t seen much of since Zakopane and Tatras in Poland. The vast, endless flat plains of Siberia end here and the “Blue Eye of Siberia”, the world’s oldest and deepest lake, takes it’s place. Lake Baikal is 1637m deep, is 636km long, up to 60km wide and contains roughly 20% of the planets fresh water. Severbaikalsk town isn’t too much to rave about, being a very rundown and poor place. The old concrete soviet blocks of flats abound in addition to entire shanty towns of ugly, crooked wooden houses. We heard that a few years back this lakeside town was a thriving and happening place, with the pavement cafe culture and everything that goes with it. Today, and what we are seeing, is a place where a handful of rich businesses have all but squeezed the “little guys” out, leaving in it’s wake a depressed, sad town filled with drunken bums and bored kids. Very sad indeed.

The Northern End of Lake Baikal

We discovered a small hotel, a former youth centre, and checked in for a couple of nights. The Russian ladies who welcomed us are fantastic. No word of English of course but somehow we managed to understand each other. They just giggle with amusement as we all try to get our messages across! For the first time in over a week we had a SHOWER!! but…. it was cold!! No hot water here! Desparate to get clean we had no choice.. can’t be choosy. It was a numbing but refreshing experience tho’!!

Friday 18th August

Our main mission today was to seek out a man called Rashit Yakhin, somebody who had been recommended to us, to help us sort out our intended hydrofoil trip down Lake Baikal – from top to bottom. We had his address and discovered that he lives about 10 minutes from where we are staying. Off we went and saw that we had to negotiate the highly confusing rabbit warren streets of one of the higgeldy-piggeldy wooden villages. The entire morning turned into an adventure all of it’s own. We traipsed up and down, in and around, lengthwise, horizontal-wise, vertical-wise and every which way, but couldn’t find the house we wanted. The house numbering system defies logic [at least to us] and if you find a legible street name, you score an extra point! Instead of getting all frustrated we made the outing into a sort of selfmade tour! It was fascinating to observe life here. Every single home has an extensive backyard filled to capacity with home grown fruit and vegetables and piles of wood. Being a country that reaches minus 45 or more in winter, everybody has to prepare for that, so therefore cultivates and stocks up on reserves to get them through the bitterly cold winter months. With the Siberian winter only a few months away the village was a hive of activity. These wooden villages, we think, also disguise the apparent wealth of some folk who maybe don’t wish to be seen as more affluent than other. Anyway, after at least 3hrs of not finding Rashit, we went back to our hotel and organised to use their phone. We arranged to meet him at 3pm, but called a taxi to take us there! When even the taxi couldn’t find the place properly, we felt a lot better!! We eventually saw a lady, who happened to be Rashit’s wife, waving and beckoning to us from down the muddy street. We were warmly welcomed into their home and met the man we’d heard a lot about from a fellow traveller, Scott Simon. I need to explain here that Rashit suffered from an immobilizing stroke about 15 years ago so his actions, responses and speech are quite slow. This however has not taken away the very tangible spirit and passion for life of this remarkable man. He led us into his cosy office and immediately wanted to know all about us, the first people from South Africa he’s met. We then explained why we’d sought him out and for 4hours he offered endless help, informatin and suggestions for our stay in Russia and the Baikal area specifically. He also shared some the wildly exciting ideas he has for planning Siberian winter excursions for tourists. Stuff like 10-day “trails” which would include some snow walking, sledging across the frozen lake Baikal, sleeping in big 12-man tents and generally introducing the whole concept of mid-Siberian winter adventure treks. The enthusiasm for life that this man exudes is awesome. He may be 90% immobile but his mind most definately works at a fast pace. We were so inspired by the tales he told that the 4hrs slipped by in the blink of an eye. An incredible man who touches your heart in the warmest way. It was such a pleasure to meet a man like this and his unforgetable personality has made a lasting impression on both of us.

Saturday 19th August

As a result of our visit to Rashit yesterday, we have now arranged our hydrofoil trip down the lake, starting next Wed, 4 days time. Hence we’ll be in Severobaikalsk for a further few days. There isn’t too much to do around here except lakeside hikes or boat trips. The latter being on the pricey side, left us with the walking option – BUT the weather here is changing very quickly. The rain is setting in, it’s rather cold, even icy at night, so walking isn’t too pleasant. However, walk we did!! We came across some very colourful wooden houses close to the lake and found some other wooden homes with the most intricately carved designs. A rain downpour appeared from nowhere, so we found shelter in an upturned rusty container! Then to the little beach situated on a tiny spit next to Lake Baikal. The views across the lake towards the mountains on the other side are like looking out into the vast seas of the Atlantic or Indian oceans. this lake is enormous…!Once again the rain appeared, we sheltered beneath the wrought iron umbrellas and watched as the grey misty rain swept it’s way across the lake. Back in the relative warmth of the hostel, David cooked up a storm in the kitchen and produced a wonderfully welcome, wholesome and healthy curry!

Sunday 20th August

The rain is still pouring down today and it’s a nasty icy rain! It’s hard for us to believe that winter weather starts so early here….brrr… and this hostel has no hot water at all. In fact we’ve never experienced such freezing cold water coming out of the tap. The hands actually ache from it!! We didn’t do much at all except some internet [on highly frustrating PC's which were slow and kept dropping the line].

Monday 21st August

Walking around the markets today we bumped into our new friend, Rashit, who was searching out a new tyre for his wheelchair. We chatted for a bit before continuing on our way but not without promising that we would email him from Irkutsk with feedback on our hydrofoil trip. As colder weather is definately on the way, David wanted to buy a real good Siberian winter jacket. I have cold weather stuff so am OK, but really wouldn’t mind finding a nice pair of thick, woolly Siberian boots! Wonder if I’ll ever wear them in SA tho?? We returned to the hostel to find it filled with Russian army guys who kind of just took over the place!! A rather hectic bunch of beer/vodka drinkers!

Related Travel Entry

• Otavalo Market and Festival
  After an uneventful boarder crossing, I took a bus for about 3 hours to a town called Otavalo, famous for it Saturday market.One big shock now being in Ecuador is that you have to pay for everything ...
• Perth to Darwin
  Hi Everyone,Hope you are all well at home, well I made it to sunny Oz in one peace thankfully! Landed in Perth, and had 6 nights there. The hostel was really nice, but have to get used to this hostel...
• The Sundanese
  This final day under the wing of Dr. Ko was spent learning more about traditional Sundanese culture.Almost 30km to the North of Bandung, the third biggest city in Java, stands Tangkuban Prahu, a still...
• Rotorua
  This place absolutely whiffs of rotten eggs - you could fart to your heart's content here and no one would know (of course I don't do things like that).  People come here to visit areas of therma...
• KABUL
  I was awakened from a deep sleep by a knocking on the door, it was our little man and it was 5:50am.  We had ten minutes to get up, pack our few bits and pieces and get outside for the bus to Kabul.  ...

Travel Location: Maasai-Mara,Kenya

Travel About: cultural-immersion

Sopa. Kaaji encarna Alex. Ainguaa Canada. Kayie etii choo? (How are you? My name is Alex. I am from Canada. Where is the latrine?- is probably the most important combination of phrases to know.) On our last day in the Mara, we combined lectures with game drives, but the day had a surprise in store. After one of the game drives, we were taken to a “typical Maasai village” where we were exposed to the lives of REAL Maasai. We were treated to a series of beautiful dances accompanied with song and thoroughly encouraged to participate. We were taken into the mud and cow-dung homes of these Maasai, who were decked out in full regalia, giving the impression of having been transported into a whole different, isolated world. This was followed by a lesson in Rungu (a powerful wooden club) and spear throwing. And finally we were taken to a “Maasai market” where all of the women had laid out their “traditional” –touristy wares for us to purchase.

The experience as a whole was an intellectually challenging one as I (and many other people in our group) was uncomfortable with this commoditization of culture. These traditional dances were preformed out of context to entertain us, removing their religious and spiritual significance. All of the village members were dressed in full Maasai gear, which is not uncommon among the Maasai, who maintain their traditional garb most of the time. But usually their dress is a combination of traditional and contemporary, with digital watches, cell phones, and Adidas sneakers adorning them along with their shookas, bangles, necklaces, and lobed ears. However, none of these adornments were visible here, as all signs of outside influence were hidden away, as if they feared that these were not part of the authenticity that Western “cultural tourists” were seeking. And in fact it is true. There has been this intense desire since the 1930s (Margaret Mead) by western academics –now replaced by tourists- to find “primitive” societies untainted by the influences of globalization and to gawk at them in wonder. I don’t deny that some part of me wishes that the big evil monster of globalization would just bypass certain peoples, fearing that it would corrupt “innocent” societies, free from the burdens of wanton materialism that comes associated with Western contributions to the world. But the reality of the world, of the Maasai world, is that we are now interconnected. It is part of the Maasai social reality now that a cell phone or a nice watch is a status symbol like it is at home. I think my unease at this artificial setup and portrayal of culture stems from this knowledge that this is a mere Potemkin village. It doesn’t reflect the reality of the contemporary Maasai world, but rather sells a false ideal of cultural purity (which is impossible in ANY context), which is what is expected of them. The whole time I was there, I kept bursting into a smile thinking of a Gary Larson cartoon (Far side) which portrayed a group of indigenous peoples (with grass huts and bones through their noses) running around wildly with TVs and toasters in their arms, trying to stash them out of view, while yelling “the anthropologists are coming!!!!” I felt like I was stuck in that cartoon. Some people in our school group were so uncomfortable with the artificiality of it that they returned to the bus immediately.

The whole time I was there, I kept bursting into a smile thinking of a Gary Larson cartoon (Far side) which portrayed a group of indigenous peoples (with grass huts and bones through their noses) running around wildly with TVs and toasters in their arms, trying to stash them out of view, while yelling “the anthropologists are coming!!!!” I felt like I was stuck in that cartoon.

I chose to stick around, as it was still fun and incredibly enlightening, if taken into context. I have been wondering about the context of it all, and I wonder if rather than this being a bastardization of culture (as many were seeing it) it was rather a new strategy of cultural preservation within a 21^st century paradigm. While the dances WERE preformed out of their traditional context, I wonder if there wasn’t this audience, would the younger generations, who are actively encouraged to abandon their tribe-specific traditions in school, actually participate in such rites? The Maasai in this region live next to one of the world’s most famous (and most visited) game parks. Despite the millions of dollars that come in every year through tourism, very little gets to the communities, as control of the tourist market is cornered by tour operators and corrupt politicians. The only way for the Maasai to truly tap into this market is to sell a product they know tourists will buy: their traditional culture. This is especially crucial since the other aspects of their tradition are being eroded as the pastoralist lifestyle is becoming more vulnerable. Perhaps these “villages” provides people with the incentive to preserve their traditions. What I lament is the fake artisanship in the market, the selling of wood carvings (not made by Maasai) or miniature spears, with the merchants selling what they know sells, rather than representing Maasai art alone and not misleading people to believe that mask-making is a part of Maasai culture. As I thought more about it, my visits to Mexico and Hawaii exposed me to similar (even Bigger) commoditization of culture where entire “live action” museums were designated as cultural centers, where tourists could come admire the spectrum of Latin American or Polynesian (respectively) cultures. I think those disturbed me less because there was no pretending. It WAS a tourist attraction without giving pretense to being a reflection of reality. The village here was a tourist attraction disguised as an accurate portrayal of reality.

On the other end of the spectrum, we visited a powerful local advocate for cultural change, the medical clinic. Clinics provide both basic statistical information which is critical to understanding the development issues facing this community and the clinic’s role among the people also reflects some unique socio-environmental conditions. Like all of the other clinics we have visited in Uganda and Kenya, malaria is a perennial issue, more or less undiminished by the drier climate here. However, the current extended drought conditions have caused an increase in child upper-respiratory tract infections and increased malnutrition, which Doctor Jackson Njapit assured us was rare among the Maasai. The scarcity of running water also has created unsanitary conditions resulting in a dysentery outbreak. The discussions with the doctor turned to culturally-specific gender health issues. Maasai girls are considered to be sexually mature at the beginning of puberty and thus must be married off. Many of these girls fall between the ages of 12-14 and bear their first child in that age range. Pregnancy at such an immature age is dangerous and generally involves complication during childbirth. As an attempt to induce low-birth weight to minimize childbirth pains, the doctor explained that tradition required pregnant girls to be starved during their first pregnancy. Tragically, this inevitably leads to anemia and excessive bleeding for mother and deformities, or deficiencies in infants. The specific data on how this affects Infant mortality rates is unavailable, however, I strongly suspect that a larger proportion of first-born children die in their first year compared to children of later pregnancies. While maternal mortality rates are exceedingly high by international standards, 20 per thousand, the proportion seems low considering the obstacles women face. Women who face complications in childbirth must take a matatu or hire a car to take them to the closest hospital in Narok (100 Km away on unpaved roads.)

Another social condition women face is genital circumcision (controversially known as genital mutilation, but I will maintain the culturally neutral term as mutilation is an ideologically-loaded term). Girls are not thought to be “full women” or “ready to give birth” until she is circumcised. Many men are reported to refuse marrying an uncircumcised girl. Traditional circumcisions include the removal of the clitoris and most of the labia, causing a great deal of scarification in the genital area. Women’s rights groups state that this is misogynistic practice of sexual domination and control over women, as the surgical removal of this anatomy is thought to prevent the enjoyment of sex and causes excessive bleeding during childbirth. Thus a woman having sex becomes a duty rather than for pleasure. However, many women state their status as a circumcised woman with pride, and are shocked to know that none of the women on this trip have been circumcised (or are unmarried and in their 20s). In an attempt to curtail this practice, the clinic holds education sessions for traditional birthing attendants whose duty also includes the performance of this rite. These seminars inform them of the dangers and disadvantages of female circumcision and provided with alternatives (piercing or light scarring, but no removal). The doctor emphasized that these seminars were not indoctrination session where the TBAs were TOLD this was wrong, but rather given information and allowed to make decisions for them based on their own deductions. This strategy is widely believed to work better in stopping female circumcision than more didactic approaches.

While the community has been slow to change their beliefs on female circumcision, it has showed a great deal of acceptance for change in male circumcisions. The clinic offers to circumcise the boy in a sterile environment with an accompanying tetanus shot. There are still witnesses to ensure that the boy shows no pain (maintaining the ceremony and symbolism), but the clean medical implements diminish the risks of infection and HIV/AIDS transmission. As many as 70% of male circumcisions in the area are now preformed by the clinic. The difference in the acceptance remains a mystery for me.

-Amani my friends.

Related Travel Entry

• Coping with quirks and delights in Copenhagen
  Well as you might have guessed, I did head to Scandinavia after Iceland -- Copenhagen, to be exact. And Copenhagen is a delightful city!! For one thing, it was WARM and sunny. I was able to wander ar...
• Russia: Severobaikalsk
  Thursday 17th AugustAs mentioned already, everything in our time capsule called the Trans Siberian train, operates in MT. At 02h00am [7am actually], we were all woken up to the loud strains of Russia...
• yo estoy muy lleno…y infermo! ay chihuahua!
  Prayer request: our health! I can feel the lack of vitamins! This country has obviously never heard of the Atkins diet! Would you like some potatoes with your rice and yuchno....or whatever you call ...
• Conference superstar, Ghandi’s nature cure, Brazilian for a week
  Again, it has been way too long since I have written and I have a million stories I would like to share. First of all, the international yoga conference was great. About half of the participants were...
• Otavalo Market and Festival
  After an uneventful boarder crossing, I took a bus for about 3 hours to a town called Otavalo, famous for it Saturday market.One big shock now being in Ecuador is that you have to pay for everything ...

Travel Location: Cochabamba,Bolivia

Travel About: cultural-immersion

Prayer request: our health! I can feel the lack of vitamins! This country has obviously never heard of the Atkins diet! Would you like some potatoes with your rice and yuchno….or whatever you call that root thing?

Eddie was really sick yesterday, that’s why we’re still here at the Gray’s house that we were only gonna be at for a day. It was pretty scary but now he’s just really weak, not in pain and with only a little temperature. We suspect the food or water though we’ve been so careful! If you want to bond with my soul, try doing everything out of water bottles…washing face, brushing teeth….it gets old fast.

But I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining cuz I’m really glad to be here, I mean, I’ve only wanted to come here my whole life! And here I am! Thank you God! We’re meeting all my mom’s half brothers and sisters that she never knew well, cuz they’re so old their kids are her age or older! I’ve got a cousin over 60! And because both her parents were widowed multiple times each, I’m related to half of Cochabamba! Hole tia! Hola primo! Como estas?

It was also a highlight to see Sarah, who lived with us for four or five years when Elizabeth was really little.

Right now we’re trying to pull together plans to tour the nation for two weeks. Uncle Carlos is returning from the States in a couple days and he’ll be great to have with us as we try to travel. Don’t know yet what we’re doing or how but I know we’re going to go somewhere!

Please join me in thanking God for Aunt Lucy and her generosity and the Gray family and their hospitality. We’ve got so many people here to help us and it’s such a comfort.

Till later.

-Karissa Juanita

Related Travel Entry

• Confined to my bed with cable TV
  We were in 2 minds when we woke up that Tuesday whether I would be able to make the 7 hour bus journey to Cochabamba: my stomach was just in a world of its own! We only decided to head there after me...
• Bolivia: Crappy Busses, Endless Salt, & Backpack Thieves
  Greetings from the great continent of South America and the not so great country of Bolivia!!! We have had quite an adventure since I talked to you all last. I believe my last entry was typed in Coru...
• Coping with quirks and delights in Copenhagen
  Well as you might have guessed, I did head to Scandinavia after Iceland -- Copenhagen, to be exact. And Copenhagen is a delightful city!! For one thing, it was WARM and sunny. I was able to wander ar...
• Russia: Severobaikalsk
  Thursday 17th AugustAs mentioned already, everything in our time capsule called the Trans Siberian train, operates in MT. At 02h00am [7am actually], we were all woken up to the loud strains of Russia...
• A preservation of Culture within a 21st Century Paradigm
  Sopa. Kaaji encarna Alex. Ainguaa Canada. Kayie etii choo? (How are you? My name is Alex. I am from Canada. Where is the latrine?- is probably the most important combination of phrases to know.) On o...

Travel Location: Chennai,India

Travel About: cultural-immersion,study-abroad

Again, it has been way too long since I have written and I have a million stories I would like to share. First of all, the international yoga conference was great. About half of the participants were Indian, the other half from other places in Europe and Asia. Would you believe I was one of only 2 Americans present!? The other was a professor from Harvard. It felt great to be part of this and I am glad I pushed myself to present a paper as well. I have to say, I was certainly a success at the conference…but not really because of my paper, more because of my light skin and foreign identity! So many Indian people wanted to take photos with me, it sort of got out of control. At first, I was flattered, but after 2 days of being in at least 20 photos a day, I felt a little objectified, especially when sometimes people just wanted a photo and not even really to talk to me! I started to limit my photo appearances, as if I were some sort of celebrity snob. Other than the photos, many people did want to talk to me and know more about me and what brought me halfway across the world all alone. I did meet some great people, including a wonderful group of Brazilians who totally adopted me into their group. I unfortunately also had a couple stalkers; One was an Indian man who proposed marriage to me and followed me around for a few days to discuss our relationship (which was completely nonexistent, but he could not easily accept that!), and the other stalker was one kind young Indian woman, who wanted to protect me from the obsessive man, but in doing so, became obsessive and stalker-like herself. Anyway, they were both pretty harmless and I still enjoyed myself very much. The week-long workshop on pranayama breathing after the conference was also great and I learned a lot. After the workshop, I stayed a few days longer at the yoga hospital. I had an opportunity to meet the master/teacher who taught the breathing workshop. He was very kind to me and I was humbled that he seemed excited to meet me and learn about me. He encouraged me to meet his daughter who is teaching in the Kaivalyadhama tradition in the States. He also encouraged me to return to Kaivalyadhama in the future for their 6-week certificate course, and told me that scholarship opportunities might be possible for me. We will see what the future holds! I also had some time to meet and talk to the swami (holy man) who lives at the ashram part of Kaivalyadhama. I often attended the swami’s nightly puja ceremony, which involves chanting and rituals over a fire. At the end, everyone receives a piece of something sweet, kind of like the Catholic communion ritual. I felt very special when for 2 days, the swami gave me extra sweets! That encouraged me to talk to him, and I discovered that he too was very interested in my ambitions and me. He also knows of a doctor working with yoga, meditation and “om” recitation with people with HIV/AIDS in India. As most of you know, the connection of yoga for people HIV/AIDS has been a significant topic to me for a long time, so it is great that the swami told me about this connection. If I have time while I am here, I definitely intend to follow through and visit this doctor and learn more about his work and volunteer if possible.

It was sad to leave the yoga hospital, but I did not leave alone! I joined the group of Brazilians who were heading to a nature cure center that was founded by Ghandi in the 1940’s. Nature cure is naturopathy, the usage of the elements of water, fire, earth, wind, and space to cure ailments. The yoga hospital I was staying at also had nature cure treatments (I forgot to mention I had my first mud bath there, which was very funny!) Diet is also extremely important in nature cure healing. I previously had no idea that Ghandi was a strong believer in nature cure, enough to the extent that he founded this ashram based on nature cure. He wanted villages and poor people who could not access hospitals and allopathic medicine to be able to stay healthy and use natural treatments to take care of themselves when their bodies developed disease. This is really in line with the mission of CORE/El Centro, so it was interesting to me in many ways. Being part of the Brazilian group was great. Many people at home wondered how I would deal with the Indian languages, but it was actually taking yoga classes in Portuguese from the Brazilian instructors that presented my first yoga class language barrier here! My Spanish skills helped me to get the gist of what was going on, and they very kindly translated as much as they could for me. Oh! And on our way to the nature cure center, we stopped in Pune and had a tour of the Iyengar Institute. We had an opportunity to meet BKS Iyengar during our visit. Those of you who do not know him, he is a very famous yogi, very healthy even in his 80’s. He has systematized a method of yoga which uses props to make postures accessible and maximize the benefits to individuals. It was a great opportunity to meet him.

After the nature cure center, I intended to leave the Brazilians and head back to Pune, but ended up traveling back to the beach in Goa with them (Carma and I were there earlier in our trip)! They had an extra ticket on a night train to Goa, and I did not have strong reasons I needed to be in Pune at that time, so I accompanied them. Their whole group was so friendly and welcoming to me. Additionally, they were extremely generous to welcome me into all of their extra yoga classes and lectures. The leaders looked after me and included me as if I truly were one of them it was really nice to be part of a group and have an opportunity to share some travels for awhile. After awhile, traveling alone does get a little sad when one does not have someone to share things with. It also was nice to be with them and just let my brain rest, not having to make decisions for a few extra days. Making my own decisions and being my own company is what I love about traveling alone, but it is also the same thing that is draining after awhile. The Brazilians and I parted in Goa. They headed further south (they had an extra ticket again and welcomed me again, but this time I declined!), and I took a night bus back to Pune. The night bus was pretty hellish. It did stop every couple hours for the driver to get out and light incense and ring a bell at little roadside shrines that I think are there for the very purpose of the driver praying for safe travel. That was slightly comforting, but overall, the roads were scary, the bus was almost all men, and it dropped me off in a strange part of the city at 6 in the morning. I will certainly not be taking those anymore.

I only stayed in Pune a couple more days. By a great coincidence, one of my first yoga teachers, Bob, was in Pune at the same time as me. He is studying with BKS Iyengar there for 2 months. It felt really cool and very full circle to have dinner in India with my first yoga teacher 7 years after I began to study yoga! I also stayed one night at the apartment he and some other students are renting. It was great to see him and I really appreciated being able to rest in a lived in, safe, clean place for the night to prepare for more travel. After Pune, I took 1 night train to Hyderabad, stayed one night there, and then another night train to Chennai, which is where I am now (the night trains were much better than the night bus was). I will travel around this area for a week or so and then return to Chennai where I will take a one-month course at the Krishnamacharya yoga institute. It is also a style and tradition very known for tailoring yoga practice to the needs of each unique individual. I think this training will give me some great knowledge of physical and psychological aspects of yoga that I can use for working with individuals and special populations in particular when I return home.

That’s all for now. I miss you all and send my love.

Related Travel Entry

• Hairy Om’s!
  Rishikesh.   The "Yoga Capitol of the World".  The city of ashrams & the holy Ganges River.  A place where sadhus (the bearded, dreadlocked holy, & some not so holy men com...
• Saris on the beach
  Wow - what a sauna! Chennai is incredibly humid.I took a long walk around the city and came across the worst poverty I've ever seen. I never thought I'd find living conditions worse than I saw in Man...
• Tibet
  Free Tibet: you see the stickers everywhere (especially living in Santa Cruz), I get a newsletter from the Dalai Lama asking for money and support almost every month (someone sold my name) but until ...
• Escape from Delhi
  Hi everyone. Peter and I have been hanging out here in the mountains for 8 days now, a cool relaxing departure from our mad week in Delhi (no offence to our lovely hosts in Delhi, but it is a demandi...
• Fort Kochi and Ernakulum
  We left the deserts of Rajasthan and flew to south India, a very different place. While landing we were struck by the large number of palm trees. It was noticeably more humid and even rained a little ...

Travel Location: Otavalo,Ecuador

Travel About: cultural-immersion,market,festival

After an uneventful boarder crossing, I took a bus for about 3 hours to a town called Otavalo, famous for it Saturday market.

One big shock now being in Ecuador is that you have to pay for everything in dollars. I need to get used to haggling over 50 cents. 1000 Colombian pesos is much easier to fight about even though it is worth less than 50 cents.

I walked around town for a little, and bought some things for hiking. Here, like Venezuela they have Nabisco/Kraft products, which means real Oreos!!!

The town is famous in South America for it’s Saturday morning market. I got home at around 2AM and was woken up by people setting up the stalls for the market at 5AM. Finally at around 8AM, I gave up trying to sleep and checked out the market.

The center of the market is in a main square, but spreads out on all the streets from there. That is why they were setting up right outside my hotel window. The crafts were pretty impressive. If I was only a shopper, I am sure that I would have bought something, but I resisted.

Right now there is a 2 week festival going on in this town. Lots of different events. I got to go to a huge concert with all different types of music. It was in the parking lot of the bus station. I had the pleasure of a little boy trying to pick my pocket, without success.

There was also a really colorful parade with people from different villages in the area in their custom clothing, doing traditional dances. It was a parade I actually liked.

And then they also had a make-shift bull fighting ring. Instead of trying to kill the bull, it was just a bunch of drunk people from the town trying to tease the bull. The bull I saw just stared at the people wondering why they kept running at him. They looked pretty stupid… good job bull!!!

Related Travel Entry

• Russia: Severobaikalsk
  Thursday 17th AugustAs mentioned already, everything in our time capsule called the Trans Siberian train, operates in MT. At 02h00am [7am actually], we were all woken up to the loud strains of Russia...
• Otavalo Markets
  At 8 AM the animal market in Otavalo has been in full swing for almost two hours. As you approach the market, the streets are lined with vendors that sell any kind of household or clothing item imagi...
• Trying to Get Off the Beaten Track in Laos
  Vietnam ended better than it started, although I got taken out by a killer cold that sent me to bed parts of the last few days there and in Vientiane, Laos. We spend one night abord a boat in Halong ...
• What’s that, Dutch?
  Ahh.. a road trip!Eric drove Nicole, Valeria, and I up the Malaysian countryside to Malaka for the weekend. Since I screwed my Vietnam Visa up... sorry guys :(BTW< did I mention that the most sad ...
• Fort Kochi and Ernakulum
  We left the deserts of Rajasthan and flew to south India, a very different place. While landing we were struck by the large number of palm trees. It was noticeably more humid and even rained a little ...

Travel Location: Caracas,Venezuela

Travel About: cultural-immersion,big-city,historic

My partner and I were in Caracas for the World Social Forum of 2006.

Given the left wing press on Venezuela, particularly Chavez’s socialist allegiances, concern for the poor and stance against US oil interests, we had expected something more akin to a socialist utopia. This was perhaps foolish but while aware of the countries poverty we had the impression that social infrastructure had been put in place to render life a little more tolerable than what it actually is.

Least welcoming

In Caracas we found people to be the rudest and least welcoming of all the places we have been to in Central and South America. This is possibly because in Caracas, more than any other place, poverty is so grindingly bad that being kind to white, bleeding heart westerners just isn’t a high priority. Another explanation is that they assumed we were American. That most foreigners were in the city for the World Social Forum, with the intent of in some way working together to improve the state of things, didn’t seem to have any impact.

Admittedly, I was very sick during my time in Caracas. This may have effected my perception of things substantially.

Related Travel Entry

• Tibet
  Free Tibet: you see the stickers everywhere (especially living in Santa Cruz), I get a newsletter from the Dalai Lama asking for money and support almost every month (someone sold my name) but until ...
• The Seventh Day: The Cairo Museum
  We flew from Aswan to Cairo. One of the fascinating sights were the streets of Aswan and Cairo and in Cairo all the activity on the street of a major world city. (See The New York Times, March 1, 200...
• So is Vancouver like Melbourne?
  So the question is: "Is Vancouver really like Melbourne?"Well at a first glance "Yes it is" the postcards pictures of the city at night, the nightlife, little suburbs, it almost has the same kind of ...
• A Buried Village, and Mitai Maori Night
  So how did you like all the funky stuff I told you about Rotorua in the last post? Sometimes the city seems like any other city....then you bump into a geothermal area, and it looks like another plane...
• Bangkok, Thailand
  If one night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble, what does two nights make?  We arrived in Bangkok around noon, on the 25 of July. It's really different now. We've been there, done that, we know ...

Travel Location: Taipei,Taiwan

Travel About: cultural-immersion,art-&-museum

After a long 14 hour flight from LA we finally made it to Taiwan. It was a “red-eye” flight, leaving LA at around 2:00 in the morning on Thursday, October 27. Thanks to crossing the International Date Line, we landed at around 7:00 in the morning on Friday, October 28. The airport is around 30 km outside Taipei so we had to catch a bus.

Taipei is a huge city. One thing that really stands out is how densely packed in everything is. There doesn’t seem to be any real single family detached houses, instead there’s a ton of high rise apartment buildings with little to no space between them. Green space seems to be at areal premium. It truly is a concrete city! We were told that Taipei has one of the highest population densities of all the worlds cities. I can believe it!

We’ve done lots since we’ve been here, even though it seems like we’ve been asleep half the time.

Our hostel is right downtown. It’s called the Taiwanmex Guesthouse and it’s about a block away from one of the subway stations. We’re located on the 9th floor which is also the top of this building so we have a rooftop view. I’ve included some pictures of the views that we get.

Another thing that stands out is the number of scooters/motorcycles that are here in the city. They easily outnumberthe cars in the city. There’s even traffic lanes dedicated only to scooters. We’ve been told that Taipei has the most amount of scooters per capita for any city in the world.

Arriving in Taiwan we knew that we’d be fighting jet lag pretty bad. Still are, and we’ve been here 3 days now. In fact it’s now around 3:30 in the morning as I’m writing this. We discovered that Auckland (our next destination) is 5 hours ahead of Taipei, so we figure that we should easily adjust to that time.

We’ve done lots since we’ve been here, even though it seems like we’ve been asleep half the time. We’ve gone to the National Palace Museum which is kind of the national showcase for Taiwan. Lots of ancient Asian artifacts, some dating back to around 6000BC. It was all very impressive, but frankly you can only see so many golden buddha statues before they all start looking alike.

We’ve checked out some of the night markets here although we haven’t bought anything yet. We’re a little hesitant to try much of the food. I know that it’s part of the fun to try new cuisines, but neither of us are big onthe smell of alot of thefoods here. We’ve eaten at McDonalds and 7-11 (they’re everywhere surprisingly) a few times. Hey, we need a little time to adjust alright?!?

Today we’re hoping to go check out the Taipei 101 building, the worlds tallest office building. It should be pretty impressive. You can barely make it out in one of the pictures from our rooftop.

There’s nice people staying at our hostel, including one English teacher from Ohio named Dave. It was Dave who told us that you can’t flush the toilet paper. Good to know. Gross to know too. Dave was a member of the Peace Corps in Honduras and he has lots of interesting stories.

Anyhoo, We’ve been enjoying our stay here in Taipei. Lots to see and do.

See you all in NZ…

Mike and Heather

Related Travel Entry

• The Seventh Day: The Cairo Museum
  We flew from Aswan to Cairo. One of the fascinating sights were the streets of Aswan and Cairo and in Cairo all the activity on the street of a major world city. (See The New York Times, March 1, 200...
• What’s that Smell, Smell, Smell? Rotorua Day 2
  We woke up early, as usual, allowing me time to become once again numbed and appalled by morning TV shows in UK-related countries. During the show, the host spilled coffee on herself and showed us all...
• Angkor Wat: Tourists Do, Travelers Pass Through
  I love Cambodia and it is, undoubtedly, the best country I have ever traveled in. But I don't love it because of it's claim to fame - the astounding temples of Angkor, the site of the Khmer ancient ca...
• Tyger’s tantrum
  We arrived in Newcastle at dusk and proceeded into the city center to scout a good camping spot. As we stood on a busy street corner trying to decide which way would lead us to a safe night's sleep, ...
• Rome, Italy: Day Two.
  Today I woke up at 11:30am! Jeff woke me up in the middle of the night saying that he couldn't sleep. After that I couldn't get back to sleep until almost 4am. I woke up sometime in the early morning...

Travel Location: McLeod-Ganj-(Upper-Dharamsala),India

Travel About: cultural-immersion,historic

Free Tibet: you see the stickers everywhere (especially living in Santa Cruz), I get a newsletter from the Dalai Lama asking for money and support almost every month (someone sold my name) but until now Free Tibet was just one more cause that I didn’t have the time or money for. Now that I am in McCleod Ganj, home of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile, Free Tibet has taken on a new meaning. Before I continue, I just want to say that I am well aware that I am only seeing one side of this conflict and I know very little about the history behind it. But I do know a little bit more than I knew before coming here and I would like to share it with you, so that those Free Tibet stickers may take on some sort of meaning for you. For much more info (or just because you’re not in China and you CAN), go to www.tibet.com

In a nutshell, China invaded Tibet in the 50′s and has occupied ever since. Tibetans aren’t allowed to practice their religion, Tibetans fleeing their country have been massacred, and their children are required to have a Chinese education. (As a side note, there are no Chinese citizens allowed in the International and American schools in China- the government won’t allow it- Chinese must have a Chinese education. Many wealthy Chinese buy foreign passports for their kids to get them into the private schools). Tibetans want to be able to live in Tibet and have basic freedoms and the Chinese are not allowing that.

Back in the day, when the US was in the height of the anti-communist policy, the US government trained Tibetan forces (there was even a training base in Colorado), and supplied them with weapons. These operations were pretty successful and the Tibetans relied on the American support. However, China eventually opened up to trade and became too important to the US economically to be on its bad side. Support for Tibet was not possible if the US was going to have good relations with China so US support for the Tibetans abruptly stopped. Despite lack of support from governments worldwide the Tibetans continue their fight.

Soon, President Bush will discuss Tibet with Hu Jintao-http://www.tibet.com/NewsRoom/presidentbush2.htm

Today I walked through town to find a sit down demonstration- the Tibetans protesting China President Hu Jintao’s visit to India, happening in the next few days. Apparently the big protests are happening in Delhi but it was very interesting to be right in the middle of a peaceful protest. A beautiful thing, really, and I feel quite lucky to be here- each day learning just a litttle bit more about the world.

Related Travel Entry

• Escape from Delhi
  Hi everyone. Peter and I have been hanging out here in the mountains for 8 days now, a cool relaxing departure from our mad week in Delhi (no offence to our lovely hosts in Delhi, but it is a demandi...
• Home of the Dalai Lama
  Train to Dharamasala: After 5 days in Rishikesh we were ready for a change. We booked an overnight train ticket to Dharamasala--though the train only went as far as Chucky Banks --or at least thats wh...
• Conference superstar, Ghandi’s nature cure, Brazilian for a week
  Again, it has been way too long since I have written and I have a million stories I would like to share. First of all, the international yoga conference was great. About half of the participants were...
• Through the eyes of a sick man
  My partner and I were in Caracas for the World Social Forum of 2006.Given the left wing press on Venezuela, particularly Chavez’s socialist allegiances, concern for the poor and stance against US oil...
• The Seventh Day: The Cairo Museum
  We flew from Aswan to Cairo. One of the fascinating sights were the streets of Aswan and Cairo and in Cairo all the activity on the street of a major world city. (See The New York Times, March 1, 200...

Travel Location: Viti-Levu,Fiji

Travel About: cultural-immersion,beach,island,trek,feejee-experience

We decided to spend our first week touring Fiji’s main island, Viti Levu, with the Feejee Experience (sister company to the good old Kiwi Experience). Aboard the familiar green bus we set about getting to know our fellow travellers and the crew – comprising of our guide Té, the driver Arvin, 5 trainee guides, and the big boss lady. There were more of them than us!

The aim of the tour was to give us a glimpse of ‘the real Fiji’ rather than just the white sandy beaches and turquoise waters shown in the travel brochures – it was raining too. We were taken to a number of villages not regularly frequented by tourists, where the villagers would wave and beam at us as we passed by. Some of the kids would even pinch us to see what our white skin felt like. We took some basic stationery along to one of the village schools where the kids had great fun taking pictures of themselves with our digital cameras.

Getting dirty seemed to be the theme of the week

Getting dirty seemed to be the theme of the week. We got filthy sandboarding down muddy sand dunes – especially Dan when he prematurely parted company with his board and rolly-polied down the hill. We also spent an afternoon wallowing in natural mud pools, caking ourselves in it from head to foot. That’s our swimwear ruined!

Another highlight was a 4 hour trek through the muddy jungle in the torrential rain, which most of the guides did barefoot. We must have looked quite a sight as we eventually emerged from the jungle sopping wet, wearing our leafy camouflage hats and mud war paint, where we jumped into a rubber tyre and floated down the river to the end of our journey. A few days later the stench of a bus-load of mouldy trainers revealed why it was best to do this particular exercise barefoot – more items of clothing fit for the dustbin.

The Fijian people we met were all incredibly friendly and hospitable, although we were a little nervous when we visited the grave of the Fijian chief who holds the record for eating the most humans – but we were assured that the majority of them have now adopted Christianity in favour of cannibalism, and that they prefer beef anyway.

We made some great friends on the bus and partied the nights away crab racing and limbo dancing (I came joint first at the latter- there’s life in the old girl yet!). We also reluctantly took part in the traditional Kava ceremonies, where the root of a pepper plant is crushed up and mixed with water in a large bowl. The result was a liquid closely resembling muddy puddle water (in taste as well as appearance), which was passed around the circle and downed in one while everyone clapped 3 times. We failed to experience the reported narcotic (but perfectly legal) effects of the kava as we were unable to consume sufficient quantities of the foul mixture.

All in all we had a great time on Viti Levu – despite the weather. It had been raining relentlessly for four days causing widespread flooding. We thought we might have to spend our last night on the bus after we became trapped between a section of road that had been washed down the hillside and a river that had burst its banks. Fortunately the water subsided and we were able to pass – crisis averted.

Satisfied that we’d seen the real Fiji, we were off to the islands in search of paradise, and a little sunshine….hopefully.

Related Travel Entry

• Ni Sa Bula !! Greetings from Fiji !
  At the airport this morning, I experienced yet another "first" - I had to be weighed while holding my luggage!You see, only 15kilos (approx 15lbs) of baggage is allowed and the plane's weight has to b...
• The Gulf of Thailand…hit that party!
  Following a gruelling 14hr journey from Phi Phi by ferry to Krabi, minibus to Surat Thani and another much delayed ferry, we have finally arrived in Koh Phan Ngan ahead of the masses to secure accom ...
• surrounded by speedos
  So we left Bangkok on Thursday and we couldn't get out of there fast enough. One night was definetely enough with being bombarded by tuk tuk drivers who didn't speak any english and just wanted to ta...
• New Year on a beautiful island
  I have to admit I was completely spoilt rotten by my lovely boyfriend, taking me to such a gorgeous place. The views over the Indian Ocean were absolutely the best I have ever seen. I really regret n...
• Escape from Delhi
  Hi everyone. Peter and I have been hanging out here in the mountains for 8 days now, a cool relaxing departure from our mad week in Delhi (no offence to our lovely hosts in Delhi, but it is a demandi...