We are home, kind of... well in our home town type area.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
Hampi 1
Finally, time for the next update.
We left Goa Jan 5, after Christmas and New Years celebrations. Mostly hanging out with our new friends from our guest house. 2 of them in fact we're hoping to meet up again with later! New Years wasn't too exciting as Ben was sick pre New Year and I was sick after. But none the less we're looking forward to the next year of continuing travels.
We took a 12 hr bus ride to Hampi, this went much better than the train adventure, but not so good for the story telling. This was a overnight bus so we could sleep, actually that mattress was the most comfortable we've had since we got to India. Hampi is just east of Goa, centrally located closer to the southern area. It's beautiful! Lots of large boulders, popular with climbers, as well as palm trees and rice fields. The people are great! We hadn't realized how grouchy we had gotten after Goa, having people shout at you repeatedly to buy things all day. It's great to actually like the locals! It's less touristy here, but stilll lots of tourists. We're in a small village here with our own little hut overlooking rice paddies... the down side is I seem to be populating all the mosquitos off my blood. See, one good thing with cold weather, no itchy sores! There's also lots of ruins and temples here in Hampi, most of which we are still to explore. Our most exciting news is our picking up of yoga. We finished our first week and it's really helped Ben and his poor very well used body. So we're planning on sticking with this, maybe even for our whole time in India, why not while we're here right. So we now have something we must do every day. It's a very weird process slowing down from life in Calgary. Now our only "chore" is our laundry. No house cleaning, no cooking, maybe emailing... We play lots of cards though, and read, and now the yoga. We're being taught yoga by this Isreali couple who are passionate about their work and are very enthusiastic. It's a class with just us and them so there's lots of attention and teaching which has been great. The four of us certainly wouldn't be accepted for any lululemon brochure though for sure!! The teachers are here for a couple more weeks before moving on so our plan is also to stay, then we're not sure we're looking into going further east.
this might sound a bit boring yet now that we're used to it it's quite nice. All our time is our own. I did see women sitting around peeling garlic while watching Bollywood the other day though and I found myself a bit envious, that feeling of I'm doing something useful and productive that you can measure. "finding ourselves" and all that we are doing isn't so tangible.
Thanks for all the birthday greetings. I loved all the emails. It was of course a fabulous day, not much different than all the rest of the fabulous days except for a nice massage, a birthday in India, with the one I love, doesn't get much better than that.
So I guess that brings you up to speed hence the lack of blogs, not too much exciting to relay. We're having a great time, living life, learning so much and very thankful for this opportunity.
We left Goa Jan 5, after Christmas and New Years celebrations. Mostly hanging out with our new friends from our guest house. 2 of them in fact we're hoping to meet up again with later! New Years wasn't too exciting as Ben was sick pre New Year and I was sick after. But none the less we're looking forward to the next year of continuing travels.
We took a 12 hr bus ride to Hampi, this went much better than the train adventure, but not so good for the story telling. This was a overnight bus so we could sleep, actually that mattress was the most comfortable we've had since we got to India. Hampi is just east of Goa, centrally located closer to the southern area. It's beautiful! Lots of large boulders, popular with climbers, as well as palm trees and rice fields. The people are great! We hadn't realized how grouchy we had gotten after Goa, having people shout at you repeatedly to buy things all day. It's great to actually like the locals! It's less touristy here, but stilll lots of tourists. We're in a small village here with our own little hut overlooking rice paddies... the down side is I seem to be populating all the mosquitos off my blood. See, one good thing with cold weather, no itchy sores! There's also lots of ruins and temples here in Hampi, most of which we are still to explore. Our most exciting news is our picking up of yoga. We finished our first week and it's really helped Ben and his poor very well used body. So we're planning on sticking with this, maybe even for our whole time in India, why not while we're here right. So we now have something we must do every day. It's a very weird process slowing down from life in Calgary. Now our only "chore" is our laundry. No house cleaning, no cooking, maybe emailing... We play lots of cards though, and read, and now the yoga. We're being taught yoga by this Isreali couple who are passionate about their work and are very enthusiastic. It's a class with just us and them so there's lots of attention and teaching which has been great. The four of us certainly wouldn't be accepted for any lululemon brochure though for sure!! The teachers are here for a couple more weeks before moving on so our plan is also to stay, then we're not sure we're looking into going further east.
this might sound a bit boring yet now that we're used to it it's quite nice. All our time is our own. I did see women sitting around peeling garlic while watching Bollywood the other day though and I found myself a bit envious, that feeling of I'm doing something useful and productive that you can measure. "finding ourselves" and all that we are doing isn't so tangible.
Thanks for all the birthday greetings. I loved all the emails. It was of course a fabulous day, not much different than all the rest of the fabulous days except for a nice massage, a birthday in India, with the one I love, doesn't get much better than that.
So I guess that brings you up to speed hence the lack of blogs, not too much exciting to relay. We're having a great time, living life, learning so much and very thankful for this opportunity.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
more from the beach
Hey Everyone, just writing a quick update here.
We were able to find a nice, fairly quiet beach around, with not too many annoying tourists! The added bonus is seeing dolphins jumping off in the distance. Then the tourist boats go to see them and they disappear. It's a nice little addition to the ocean view though. Today was my first attempt at scooter driving. I didn't hit any cows or people, came close to some walls (David you can probably still remember my attempt at your scooter...) so a good day all in all. It's a bit difficult since they drive on the other side of the road, so I'm still a bit worried about my instinct reaction while driving. I'll get it though. Our treat today was a real coffee shop. With real coffee. What a treat! While yes we're able to miss the deep freeze, we're also missing our Timmy's and not so excited about that.
We've been hanging out with our 4 other neighbours at the place we're staying. We've formed "The Blue Nest Gang" named after where we're staying. maybe we'll get some T-shirts! Ben is loving all the people walking by our terrace that he can chit chat with!
Merry Christmas to everyone, enjoy being loved!
We were able to find a nice, fairly quiet beach around, with not too many annoying tourists! The added bonus is seeing dolphins jumping off in the distance. Then the tourist boats go to see them and they disappear. It's a nice little addition to the ocean view though. Today was my first attempt at scooter driving. I didn't hit any cows or people, came close to some walls (David you can probably still remember my attempt at your scooter...) so a good day all in all. It's a bit difficult since they drive on the other side of the road, so I'm still a bit worried about my instinct reaction while driving. I'll get it though. Our treat today was a real coffee shop. With real coffee. What a treat! While yes we're able to miss the deep freeze, we're also missing our Timmy's and not so excited about that.
We've been hanging out with our 4 other neighbours at the place we're staying. We've formed "The Blue Nest Gang" named after where we're staying. maybe we'll get some T-shirts! Ben is loving all the people walking by our terrace that he can chit chat with!
Merry Christmas to everyone, enjoy being loved!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Don't hate us!
sorry for those of you in freezer like conditions that might be reading this...we had a fabulous beach day today, hot and not a cloud in the sky, other than overall pollution haze of course. now with Goa (we're actually in the area Anjuna) being touristy sometimes it feels like you're in Mexico/Cuba or any other great beach spot. Although when the cow comes by to share your shade with you, that's when you know you're in India. At least the cow only shared shade with us, one person it licked, the other it almost pooped on. We faired well! It's getting busier now with tourists for christmas, we're going to head for dinner here soon with another couple travelling the world for a year and a british hippie/yoggie. should be great!
stay warm and don't get the frost bite. when we think it's too hot, we think of home.
stay warm and don't get the frost bite. when we think it's too hot, we think of home.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Oh India...
So time to catch up...
we left Kenya Dec 9 after a great month with great friends. a definite highlight would be a fabulous safari with great traditions of sundowners which you enjoy the sunset and wine with good people. Hard to top. It was hard to leave at this point as up to now it's been a really fun vacation hanging out with friends, not too scary at all. Thanks to Kari, Marty, Angie and Bryan for being great hosts, for great memories, and lots of laughs!
So after flying for part of the night we land in Mumbai on a not much sleep at all. our plan was to get our of there as soon as possible, which was a good plan. There was a lot to take in just from the view of the taxi. People sleep on the pavement next to the roads as we drive by them. And oh the smell, wow! not sure how to describe that, but you can use your imagination. the worst bathroom smell X100-not all the time though,but definitely in spots. So we got to the train station. We have 2-3year old children looking up with the big eyes asking for money, we have women holding their children asking for money, everywhere, people asking something from us. Definitely overwhelming with new things that we just don't see in Calgary nor would it be acceptable. Unfortunately it's acceptable and common here. Still not really sure how to make sense of all that...
so after a 4 hour wait in a train station we board a train for the next 10 hours. It's hot! we share this space with six people. It's noisy, there's people selling things and yelling down the aisle the entire time as well as people still asking for money from you, your skin sticks to the plastic and we're trying to sleep with our bags under our heads...10 hours! Definitely a experience, I think the next time we train I'll have to supress my Thompson cheap gene and spring for the less crowded ac part! We did have some interesting conversation with our train mates though, we got advice on our life, we should be responsible, own a house and have children already...we're already old! Maybe one day! So on this train the one thing that doesn't get yelled down the aisle is what stop it is. there are signs but these you don't see until you're pulling out of a station in the day light. So we took the advice of our train mates with our stop. it had already been 10 hours which was the time we were expecting it to take. Yeah, well we got off at the wrong stop, probabably and hour early. Good thing though we didn't have any place we had to be. It just meant a little delay before we hit the beach. We're currently in Goa, sort of SW India. we got to our destination yesterday, all the hostels are X3 upping their rent for the Christmas season so we spent yesterday trying to find a place that isn't going to rip us off, and we did. So we're here until Jan 3. We'll use this place here as our base. we rented a scooter for the time we're here so we can go and explore India with the wind in our hair! Well more my hair then Ben's! I'm getting the look from Ben here!
So now that we're here, it's 34C, humid and we, well more me, smell! Good thing is everything else smells too, good I guess... Food is great yet a bit spicy for this Calgary girl but I'm sure I'll get used to it. We are about 1 km to a rocky beach, we enjoyed a sundowner yesterday watching the sun through a haze of pollution, still beautiful in its own way though.
I guess that brings us up to date. Time to go scoot!
we left Kenya Dec 9 after a great month with great friends. a definite highlight would be a fabulous safari with great traditions of sundowners which you enjoy the sunset and wine with good people. Hard to top. It was hard to leave at this point as up to now it's been a really fun vacation hanging out with friends, not too scary at all. Thanks to Kari, Marty, Angie and Bryan for being great hosts, for great memories, and lots of laughs!
So after flying for part of the night we land in Mumbai on a not much sleep at all. our plan was to get our of there as soon as possible, which was a good plan. There was a lot to take in just from the view of the taxi. People sleep on the pavement next to the roads as we drive by them. And oh the smell, wow! not sure how to describe that, but you can use your imagination. the worst bathroom smell X100-not all the time though,but definitely in spots. So we got to the train station. We have 2-3year old children looking up with the big eyes asking for money, we have women holding their children asking for money, everywhere, people asking something from us. Definitely overwhelming with new things that we just don't see in Calgary nor would it be acceptable. Unfortunately it's acceptable and common here. Still not really sure how to make sense of all that...
so after a 4 hour wait in a train station we board a train for the next 10 hours. It's hot! we share this space with six people. It's noisy, there's people selling things and yelling down the aisle the entire time as well as people still asking for money from you, your skin sticks to the plastic and we're trying to sleep with our bags under our heads...10 hours! Definitely a experience, I think the next time we train I'll have to supress my Thompson cheap gene and spring for the less crowded ac part! We did have some interesting conversation with our train mates though, we got advice on our life, we should be responsible, own a house and have children already...we're already old! Maybe one day! So on this train the one thing that doesn't get yelled down the aisle is what stop it is. there are signs but these you don't see until you're pulling out of a station in the day light. So we took the advice of our train mates with our stop. it had already been 10 hours which was the time we were expecting it to take. Yeah, well we got off at the wrong stop, probabably and hour early. Good thing though we didn't have any place we had to be. It just meant a little delay before we hit the beach. We're currently in Goa, sort of SW India. we got to our destination yesterday, all the hostels are X3 upping their rent for the Christmas season so we spent yesterday trying to find a place that isn't going to rip us off, and we did. So we're here until Jan 3. We'll use this place here as our base. we rented a scooter for the time we're here so we can go and explore India with the wind in our hair! Well more my hair then Ben's! I'm getting the look from Ben here!
So now that we're here, it's 34C, humid and we, well more me, smell! Good thing is everything else smells too, good I guess... Food is great yet a bit spicy for this Calgary girl but I'm sure I'll get used to it. We are about 1 km to a rocky beach, we enjoyed a sundowner yesterday watching the sun through a haze of pollution, still beautiful in its own way though.
I guess that brings us up to date. Time to go scoot!
India the next adventure
We are now in India.Unfortunately we can not download any pics at this time since the internet here does not support my system of camera. We arrived here on December 10th and got lost in Thivm 100km north of Madgoan where we were trying to get too. Even with this we have found a beach in Anjuna which considering how much we have gone through with the 12 hour bus ride, 3 hrs of taxis and getting off at the wrong train stop is quite nice. The adventure of getting here and being bombarded with beggars,taxi drivers,anyone trying to sell something and the heat was actually really stimulating. We have only been here for a few hours in Anjuna and I have a feeling that it might just be fun.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Rome and Kenya
our view from the porch in Kenya
Angie and Bryan's place
Definitely not the honeymoon suite!!
granite bathtub in the vatican museum
Colleseumwe left Malta for Rome, Nov 3. after a great time in Malta we were a little sad to leave but ready for the next adventure and anniversary fun in Rome. Well, let's just say we'll always remember this anniversary. pics will have to come at a later time. we had a half trailer/mobile home with immovable bunk beds! Good times. we spent the day looking at the vatican museums. The history is amazing, really you could spend months looking at everything. this part was fun. then we managed to have perfect timing to hit a down pour and get totally soaked. then we headed back to the trailer a little defeated, although Ben still had a good attitude and we had a nice take out dinner from our hostel restaurant in our trailer. Next day we got lost on a bus which took up too much time, and saw the Colleseum which was a wonder to see. that was our time in Rome and off to Kenya.
So we've now been in Kenya for a week. I have had a bad cold for 6 of those days. Ben has stayed healthy though, so that's good. We're staying with our friends Angie and Bryan on a piece of land in the Rift Valley. We sit on their porch and watch the monkies and baboons play, it's truly beautiful and amazing. It's about 45 min drive to Nairobi where we get groceries and do errands so the rest of the time it's very quiet. We're going to really be in shock when we hit India now! Our friends are still trying to find work or coming home to Calgary in Dec so our expected time here might be a bit shorter than expected. Possibly we'll be in India by mid Dec. We'll see though, still a bit early to tell. Our friends Kari and Marty that we had lots of fun with in Malta are coming to Kenya the end of Nov so more fun is to be had still. We'll hopefully be doing a camping safari and hiking and some more outings. Although just driving around yesterday we saw wild zebras, giraffes and other interesting wild life. Bryan and Angie are into bird watching, so i think of you often dad, you would love them here!
so not too much to report as it's been pretty quiet here. internet connection isn't very accessible where we're staying but we'll keep trying to keep in touch as much as possible.
we love you very much and miss you all, and often think of you!
Love
Leah and Ben
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