finally posted the pictures

I finally posted my photos from the trip.

view them Here

August 4 (continued)
After our ferry ride to Magnetic Island, we drove to Horseshoe Bay and got a nice hostel for the night. After, we had plenty of time to do some hikes around the forts there. We saw excellent views and a few koalas.

August 5
An early rise and we are off on the ferry back and driving south towards Airlie Beach. On the way we stop at the Billabong Wildlife Sanctuary, which has just about every animal unique too Australia, including a fair number of crocodiles. The day begins with some basic touring of area, which includes cages with snakes and lizards and pens with koalas. In addition, the area is home to free roaming kangaroos, giant bats, and various odd birds. After some time there is a small presentation where they let everyone hold a small crocodile, a quaint tourist attraction. The real action comes later though, when the salt water crocodile feeding starts. After watching a few demonstrations with massive crocodiles as old as 80 years where the crocodiles seemed more lazy and disinterested, we move to a pen with a smaller croc bearing the name of Psycho. Though smaller and younger than Snappy Tom (who is known for snapping the head clean off one of his former mates), Psycho seems to offer a but more action than the others. The rangers seem to enjoy toying with the crocs, dangling pieces of meat from sticks just out of reach, forcing the crocodile to jump straight up out of the water in a violent thrash. Fortunately the crocodiles generally seem more interested in the meat than the rangers. After our visit, we drive the rest of the way to Airlie Beach and get a place to stay. The rest of the day is spent relaxing around the town.

August 6
Our first day of sailing doesn't actually start until 4:00 pm, but we spend most of our day returning our car and preparing for the sailing trip and checking in, which is about 2 hours ahead of time. Our boat is The Samurai, an old racing boat from the early 80's. Its bright red hull and racing history seem to have overshadowed some of the areas of the ship that were lacking a bit more in condition. Nineteen passengers cram onto this 65 foot boat with an old skipper named Dave, two crew members both named Johno, and a dishy from France named Vanessa. After motoring out of the marina it becomes apparent that the operation here is a bit substandard, based on the bent railings and the smell of the engine burning oil in the hold. With both sails raised, we set off for our first destination for the night where we will stop for dinner and to sleep. Everything is smooth sailing, and all the passengers are fairly social. Of the 19 passengers, only 4 are girls. There is a group from France, a group from England, a couple kids from Canada, and a few other loners from Italy and Switzerland. The Johnos manage the sails and basic tasks as ordered by the skipper. Big Johno is from Australia and is the experienced crew member and the cook. Little Johno is from New Zealand and is the dive master for the trip and has apparently never sailed before taking a job on board this boat, which he has only been on for 6 weeks. There are some oddities about how the boat is managed, such as having only one jib sheet, but I suppose if you never tack, you don't really need the other rope cluttering the deck. We anchor around dusk and everyone enjoys an evening out on the water and under the stars, eating steaks off the barbecue and drinking whatever they brought before going to bed very early.

August 7
An early rise and some breakfast and we set out for Whitehaven beach. Today the seas are rough and the 30 knot winds give the skipper reason enough to only run with the jib. We are run to the beach via a small inflatable dingy. Another boat, the Tallarook, seems to be following the same route and is part of eh same company, and their dingy also runs people to and from the beach. The crew member that drives the dingy from the Tallarook is not quite as friendly and outgoing as our crew, but he really seems to love motoring around in his little yellow raft. With an odd skull/skeleton tatty on his right shoulder and a thick metal necklace and metal studded belt, he certainly displays the attitude he delivers. Perhaps he just enjoys the opportunity to be captain of his own ship. We hike over the back side of the beach we are ferried too to get to a lookout that overlooks Whitehaven beach on the other side. Its windy and the floating cumulus clouds offer enough occasional shade to pretty much rule out any desire to swim, but just walking on the fine white sand is a unique experience. After some time enjoying the area, we return to the other side and back to our boat and set sail for out next destination. Once again, we are running on only the jib, which is again rigged with only one sheet. The winds seem stronger and the boat seems to barely roll over the ocean swells, which are definitely taller than the height of the deck, but cruising in this kind of conditions makes for a bit more excitement. After a while, big Johno shouts from his post at the bow and points at the water next to the boat. A large pod of dolphins race with the bow, occasionally darting one way or another and jumping out of the water. Most of the passengers flock towards the bow, and so do some of the crew. After a while the skipper apparently was upset over the number of people huddled next to the jib and had trouble communicating with his crew, since little Johno abandoned his post midway on the ship to also go to the bow. The skipper solved this problem by turning the boat perpendicular to the wave, plunging the bow and everyone on it into each on coming swell. It certainly succeeded in dispersing the passengers and getting the attention of the crew. The skipper scolded little Johno and sailing resumed as normal. After a while it came time to turn the boat. The wind was coming from the rear starboard and a left turn was needed. The crew tied on the second jib sheet, now that it was finally needed, and the skipper opted to do a 270 degree tack instead of a jibe. As the boat spun, the crew let out the jib and began cranking in the other jib sheet, only to find that it had come untied. Now the boat is dead in the water with 30 knot winds sending the jib in all different directions. The crew scramble back to the other jib sheet to try and crank it in to begin to fix the situation. They fumble with the sheet, at first wrapping it around the winch the wrong way. When they finally got it on the right way and began cranking it back, the sail and sheet were flailing wildly. The boat is rigged with a front stay between the jib and mast, and a boat hook is attached to the stay in a PVC pipe. The jib sheet wraps itself around the boat hook, bends it in half, yanks it out of its PVC holder, and tosses it overboard like a tentacle on a straw. The Johnos are still winding the winch furiously, with the sheet winding slowly around a horribly disfigured tangle of rope. It was a pretty funny site. Finally the force of the sail beating on the front stay snaps it at the base and cracks the PVC pipe, sending half of the pipe launching off the boat. Now that the crew have thoroughly lost control of the boat, the skipper orders the passengers into the hold below for our safety while they deal with their mess. The 19 of us sit down in the hold, which is full of fumes from the diesel engine that has been running, and sit patiently waiting. Eventually they fix the problem and we are allowed back up. Its lunch time, but after spending 20 minutes in the hold in heavy seas, most people had lost their appetite. Me and Colin from Canada are the only two that go into the hold and begin chowing down on the hot dogs, pasta, and salad without hesitance as the boat continues to rock over the swells. Eventually we get to our next destination in a cove where we get to do our first dive (which turns out to be the only dive). I am in with the certified diver group with Ryan, the two Canadians, one of the French kids, and a dive master and two passengers from the Tallarook. The rest of the passengers get filed along to do introductory dives after us. We suit up, but most of our equipment seems heavily used. Some people have difficulty with their gauges, but eventually we find seemingly functioning rigs. For the first time, I am covered head to tow, with a hood, gloves, and full body stinger suit. Unfortunately, for the first time, I don't have a wet suit. The stinger suit offers protection from jellyfish, but little protection from the cold. We begin our dive and begin cruising through a complex topography of canyons and walls. My primary second stage regulator starts letting in water right away and I'm forced to use the secondary regulator, which is fine, but shouldn't happen. Apart from the faulty equipment and lack of insulation in cold water, the dive is great. We surface after 35 minutes and go to a beach nearby where the passengers are either relaxing and sun bathing or are being filed into their groups for their intro dives. The skull tattooed dingy driver from the Tallarook seems to be ordering people around into their groups. His primary job is transporting people in his little yellow dingy, and damned if he is going to let a couple of tourists slow him down. We wait on the beach warming up from the cold dive while they go through the groups of intro divers and eventually transport us back to our boats. The original plan is to sail to another place before dinner, but because of the wind and waves, plans are changed and we stay here for the night. At sunset big Johno spots an eagle circling above. He seems to have some experience with the birds, and begins waving a peace of raw meat in the air and whistling to his best efforts. He tosses the meat out into the water as the eagle nears. A few attempts yield a hesitant response, but the last toss sends the eagle diving towards the water and swooping up the slab of meat. The rest of the night is another nice night of socializing and eating pot roast, though the wind sends most of us into the hold.

August 8
Since the change in plans, our last day of sailing has to make up for lost ground. We spend part of the morning at a Butterfly Bay, but the rest of it is sailing back to Airlie Beach. The wind is still ferocious and the seas are still heavy. Most of those on deck are consistently soaked by waves washing over the port, but I manage to get a shielded position on the starboard side of the mast where I can remain dry and laugh as Ryan and Rory and Jon get more wet with each wave. We arrive in Airlie Beach about an hour late, but still have plenty of time to gather our things and meet back up with Scott (who didn't do much of anything over the past two days, and loved every minute of it) before our flight back to Sydney. We arrive in Sydney and ride to the Pink House, our hostile in Kingscross and get an early night.

August 9
Our day begins walking in towards the city center. We walk along the bays edge towards the opera house. The opera house and the harbor bridge really are the focal point of the city. I'd say more than half of my photos in Sydney were taken of the opera house and the bridge. The guys plan to spend the afternoon at the aquarium, but after all the diving I've done, I'd rather spend my time in Sydney seeing other things. I read of an architecture walk in our Lonely Planet guide, but I just barely missed the one for that day and there were no more scheduled for my time in Sydney. Fortunately I had arrived in Sydney during a design festival, and went to the Powerhouse Museum to see their temporary exhibits on architecture, furniture, industrial design, and graphic art. I spent the remainder of the day touring various areas of the city and eventually wandered back to the opera house and back along the harbor's edge towards the hostile, catching the opera house and bridge in all their glory at sunset. I purchased some potatoes, broccoli, a bottle of cheap pinot noir, and a hunk of kangaroo steak to grill back at the hostile. A fine tasting kangaroo it was.

August 10
Scott and Rory are miserably useless in the morning, so Jon and Ryan and I leave them and catch a subway ride to Bondi beach. Spending the morning walking the cliffs along the ocean was an excellent way to begin our last day. The wind was even more fierce here than it was in the Whitsundays, and the waves slammed against the rocks below with such force, we could feel the sea spray hundreds of feet away. We walked all over the Bondi area and eventually headed back into the city to meet back with Rory and Scott. We toured The Rocks for a while, stopped for a drink at the Fortune of War, reputed as Sydney's oldest pub, and continued up past the bridge. Jon and I stopped for a photo op of the bridge, and managed to lose Ryan, Rory and Scott in the process. Jon and I looked around and decided to make the best of our day and meet up with the other guys later. We walked the harbor bridge, got some nice photos, and made our way back to Kingscross. We spent the evening out with the other hostile members at The World Bar, which offered such deals as free pitchers with our large group, buy one get one free drinks before ten, and $7.50 jugs of Victoria Bitter before midnight. We met some local and not-so-local aussies and reminisced about the trip.

August 11
The longest day of my life. We wake up at 6:30 am on the 11 of august to go to the airport. Our flight is slightly complicated by the recent terrorist attempt in Britain, but its no problem to shove our liquids into our checked baggage. Our travel time is close to 24 hours between our first 6 our flight into Tahiti and our second 12 hours flight fall behind schedule. We go through night and day again before arriving in New York on the same day, only 7 hours after we took off. Pretty strange. The trip is over, now its time to deal with the jet lag and get back to the boring reality of home. I think this is it for the blog, not enough happens around here to make for particularly interesting reading. Later.

Down Under

July 27 continued
The guys didn't catch any fish, and Scott got sea sick, I guess I didn't miss anything.

July 28
Today we tour some other areas of Bali. The other guys set up a tour with a driver to take us to some areas where there are better views and snorkeling areas. At first I don't think I want to bother with snorkeling after scuba diving, but it was cheap enough. We were taken from shore on the north side of the island on two tiny boats with outriggers and taken to a shallow reef. It was a relaxing afternoon. Afterwards we went to a large waterfall and took the opportunity to do a little swimming and found a couple spots to climb up and dive into the falls. Next stop was a temple on the coast that is supposed to be beautiful at sunset. Unfortunately our driver failed to get us there in time and the sun was pretty much gone by the time we arrived. It was nice to have a relaxing day and just enjoy the island.

July 29
Today we fly to Sydney, but not until 11:35 pm, so we still have most of the day to enjoy the beaches and take advantage of the cheap shops. We get to our flight in plenty of time and fly to Sydney.

July 30
We arrive at about 6:30 am in Sydney with a vague plan that we want to go to Cairns. It takes us several hours to figure out how to get a flight and eventually book a not-so-cheap flight that leaves in the afternoon. We arrive in Cairns that evening and since we don't know where to go, we book a hostel from the airport. We arrive at Gilligan's, which seems to be on the upper end of hostels, complete with its own tourist office, pool, bar, and pizza cafe, and none of it is cheap for what I would consider backpacker accommodations, but since we failed to do enough research to plan things ahead of time and we are carrying around large amounts of luggage, we have top take what we get.

July 31
Today we get a tour of the Great Barrier Reef. This boat tour out to the reef offers snorkeling and scuba diving. At first I think I might skip diving to save money, but since I have already paid for the boat ride, and I already have my scuba divers license, its hard to justify saving $20 to not see the reef up close, especially since some of the other guys are actually interested in trying the dive this time. Ryan and Jon could not dive, unfortunately, because they were still taking their Malarone medication to prevent malaria, which I had stopped taking in India when I discovered there were no mosquitoes. I do get to dive with Scott and Rory though. The sea life here seems similar to that of Bali and Thailand, but there are many new things to discover. The giant clams are new to me, and I saw many diving here. When you touch the mouth of the shell they clamp part way shut. The day was full, when I wasn't diving, I was snorkeling or eating the all-you-can-eat food on board. That night we made special effort to plan the rest of the trip in Australia to make life easier. We booked a sailing trip in the Whitsundays and a flight back to Sydney and decided that tomorrow we'd find a camper to rent and see the tablelands for a few days before we hit Airlie Beach for our sailing trip.

August 1
Even after a night of planning, we still suffer another day for our lack of planning. We wondered the sprawl of Cairns for about 6 hours, from our hostel all the way to the airport and back only to discover that literally every single camper in Cairns had already been rented out. Even just renting a car was difficult, but we eventually succeeded in finding a nice Mitsubishi sedan that was just big enough for all of us and our stuff that we could drive to Airlie Beach. We packed the car up tight, and headed inland over the mountains. Its very nice to have the freedom of a car to stop when and where you want. Our first stop is Mareeba, a small town on the edge of the table lands. We stop at a small gorge with some nice views and rock formations. The main attraction seems to be the rock wallabies, which seem to have been virtually tamed as pets as the owners of the property seem to encourage feeding the animals. We made the rest of the way to Atherton, a bit further south, where we were able to find a cheap room above a bar and get some cheap pizza and beer after our day.

August 2
We get up early and head south. We stop at some waterfalls near the mountains before continuing southwest further into the outback towards Undara National Park to see their lava tubes. After Ravenshoe, the traces of civilization begin to disappear. The road turns into one lane of pavement with soft shoulders for passing. Upon arrival, we find that the tour of the lava tubes that day is booked (they don't allow people into the tubes without a guide), but we get one of the next day, and spend the afternoon doing some sort hikes in the park. We spend the night in the tent village.

August 3
Our tour starts at 8:00 am, but I wake at 6:30 and hike up to the bluff to see the sunrise over the bush before the tour. Our tour is very strictly guided under tunnels of volcanic rock, but its educational and interesting. After our tour, we hit the road and head a little deeper into the bush to Porcupine Gorge. Shortly after leaving the National park, our quarter of a tank of gas falls dramatically to "E." The next gas station isn't for a good 90 km. After studying the car's computer and driving conservatively and checking maps, we decide there is a very real possibility we won't make it to the next station. The computer shows that our range on our remaining fuel is 40 km. The one lane road is smooth sailing on the flat table lands, but as soon as I have to go off the road for a passing 50 meter long road train, the range drops to 20 km. We see signs for the next gas station, 35 km. Eventually the range indicator changes to three blinking lines, it doesn't even go to zero, and we are on fumes. The car lasts surprisingly long on three dashes, and we make it to the station, which is the last station for the next 275 km. We fill up and hit the road again. Now the road turns to pure gravel, which changes in consistency as we pass through different areas. Some areas are soft dirt, others are loose gravel, and others are more hard pack, which is great until the occasional rock or pothole comes into the view at the last second and you either just swerve to miss it or nail it and bottom out. The trucks on this road have no problem, but this car wasn't quite designed to carry 5 full grown males and all of their luggage off road. Another slight issue, the car insurance doesn't cover anything off of paved roads. After a few hours of tense driving and the occasional wince after a thud or pothole, we arrive at porcupine gorge. We do a little hiking, we see some beautiful vistas, we see some interesting rock formations in the gorge, and we get back on the road. We head back towards the shore and spend the night in another tiny town.

August 4
Today we drive to Townsville, a city on the coast a little more than halfway between Cairns and Airlie Beach. We get stop for groceries and stop in the city for a little while. Now we are waiting for the ferry to take us to Magnetic Island where we will spend the night. The ferry Terminal has free internet here, so I'm taking advantage while we wait to update the weblog. The ferry leaves in about 20 minutes, so I should give this a brief spell check and get moving. Only one week left before we fly home.

Bali: volcano treks and wreck dives

July 21
Today turned out to be a lost day. I spent the morning vomiting and the rest of the day in bed with a fever and missed my day to see some more things and take advantage of the shopping.

July 22
Feeling better, just in time for the plane to Bali. We arrive in Bali around 8:00. The hotel is nice, not too far from the beach.

July 23
We get a late start, take the day easy. We wander around Kuta and Legian for most of the day and figure out what to do for the rest of the week. After much discussion, we decide we want to conquer Mount Agung, the largest mountain on Bali, which is also an active volcano, and we decide we want to do it tomorrow. After some research, we decide it might be a good idea to do a guided tour. Mount Agung is a holy mountain, and many believe superstitions about its dangers. After discovering the price for a guide, we decide to rent a car, and drive and hike it ourselves. We also learn that the best time to hike it is to plan to get to the summit for sunrise, which means we have to leave our hotel around 1:00 am, and to be safe since we barely know where we are going, we make it midnight. We go to the grocery store to get food for the hike, and take our newly rented car, which also needs gas. I take the driver seat and find driving to be very similar to India. Getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road, while not knowing where you are going, on roads that are barely big enough to fit two way traffic, while passing and being passed by motor bikes and other vehicles, makes for some nervous passengers. We get through it all, get some dinner, and try to get a few hours sleep.

July 24
After about 3 hours of sleep, I get up at 11:40 and suit up. We are on the road a little after midnight, crammed in a car that is way too small. Most of us had agreed to getting a larger car that can actually fit 5 people and their bags, but Rory took it upon himself to find the cheapest car possible. He succeeded in saving us each about $2, while forcing three people into a two person seat in the back of a tiny Suzuki POS. The ride takes several hours, and is quite uncomfortable. Ryan, who has had more experience driving on the wrong side of the road and who has looked at his Lonely Planet maps for better directions takes the wheel, and Rory ends up navigator, taking the front seat, while me, Scott, and Jon struggle in the back. As we near the base of the trail, the road becomes extremely steep with sharp switchbacks, and the car can only make it in first gear. Eventually we are passed by a larger car, and just after it is out of sight, our car stalls. The only way to get the car up now is for all of us to get out. Ryan only makes it about 100 meters around a corner before it dies again. We ditch the car on the side of the road, and as we prepare to start our hike early, the car that passed us comes back down the road. The man stops and gives us a ride the rest of the way for a small price. Its about 3:00 am or so now, and there is no moon. Its dark and the stars are clear. We begin our hike in the dark with flashlights and headlamps. Everyone makes fun of me when I carry around 3 flashlights, but tonight we needed all of them. The start of the hike is just stairs, which lead up to a large temple. Our ascent begins behind the temple up a trail, which starts right off fairly steep, and never really lets up. Along the way there is a dog ahead of us, it seems to be guiding us, as it runs ahead, we always find it waiting patiently over the next hill, and continues when we get there. The trail never traverses, it just climbs straight up the side of the volcano, whose pitch only increases with altitude. The stars are incredible here. Its been a long time since I've seen the milky way. The trail turns from woods and a dirt floor, to smaller trees and loose gravel, then to smaller undergrowth and more solid rock. Eventually we pass the tree line. As we near the top, the rock becomes darker. In some places its still gravel or fragmented, in others its solid, but in fluid shape. This is the first hike where I have been in the back of the pack, but 6 years out of high school spending days in studio and calling an occasional intramural game of dodgeball "exercise," doesn't really keep you in shape. Jon is a fairly avid weight lifter, which doesn't put him in front of anyone else, but in front of me, at least. Ryan is the most athletic, and he and Rory lead up the front, and Scott is somewhere in the middle. We are on the South face of the volcano, and as we reach the summit we can see the sky start to light up. The horizon to the east is a deep Orange, and we can now see the island below in clear view. The next rock seems to be another false summit, I expect to see at least a little more distance as I near the top, but as I get closer and closer, I see nothing. There is no plateau or even a rounding at the top. The pitch of the rock I'm on continues at its steep pitch straight to a point, which as I peer over, drops straight down several hundred feet into a gigantic crater. Looking at the sharp black pointed and jagged rim of the crater, one can tell that the last eruption was clearly a violent one. Our dog is still with us, and patiently waits as we eat lunch. I tip him for his services in lunch meat and fill my camera with pictures before our decent, which the dog also stays with us for until the base. The view and the trail looks totally different in daylight, starting at night is definitely a cool way to do a hike. The drive back is even more uncomfortable, and upon our return, everyone but me hits their beds for sleep. I want to sleep, but I have to go book my Open Water Scuba Diving course, if I want to start it tomorrow. No one is interested in diving again, so I get a few days from the group. I return for some sleep after several hours of figuring out the diving situation for a few hours of sleep before everyone wakes and we go for dinner. I get to bed early for some much needed rest.

July 25
I wake up at 6:00 am to go to class. Good way to spend a day in Bali. The first day of the Open water course is just time in the pool and waiting a video and taking some quizzes. There is only one other person in my class, and German girl named Julia. Both of us have dived recently, so a lot of the class is redundant. The next two days we dive in Tulamben, on the northern coast of Bali. After the course is over, I relax for the rest of the day with the guys. We get some dinner, and I have a couple beers with Scott and Jon before another early night. I have to wake up at 6:00 am again to go to Tulamben.

July 26
After a 3 hour van ride, we arrive in a much less inhabited area, which seems to have some hotels and dive shops, but not much of anything else. This part of the island really doesn't have anything besides this dive site. There is a clear view of Mount Agung from here. We have two dives today. Our first dive is right off the shore into a reef garden. The diversity of the sea life here is more intense than Koh Phi Phi. On our first dive we see all kinds of fish. The highlights being a moray eel and and a stingray. Oddly enough, the fish that catches my closest attention is a tiny sea slug. Its semi-amorphous form is lead my a hammer shaped head, but what is impressive its jet black coloring with tiny bright blue stripes. Our second dive is a wall dive, more to the east of the reef garden. At this point I have become much better at swimming with all my equipment and controlling my buoyancy with my breathing, and can get much closer to the reefs to see the hidden lion fish and stone fish. The most spectacular thing is a giant school of trevallies, which just spiral at the top of the wall. They aren't bothered when we swim through their school, they just continue in their circular motion, surrounding us as we swim through. After our dives are complete, we take our exam, which is a sure pass. I try to look around the town, which is really just a street, and as soon as you get passed the coastal hotels and dive shops, there is nothing, but I got a few good views of Mount Agung. I eat dinner and hang out with the rest of the divers for the night. On of the instructors, Jason, is from Australia originally, but has lived in Bali for years, and speaks fluent Balinese and Indonesian. My instructor, Su, is Balinese and has been a scuba instructor long before Jason. There is another student here, Victor, from South Africa. Its nice spend time with some new people.

July 27
Our first dive today is a wreck dive. 60 years ago, there was a US cargo boat that was shot by a Japanese sub. They managed t tow it as far as Tulamben, but the boat that was towing it was called away, and it stayed there beached at Tulamben. 20 years later, Mount Agung erupted, and the earthquake caused the ship to move just off shore and sink. Diving around a ship wreck is amazing. Every single piece of metal is totally coated in some form of coral or undersea creature. Now we can dive down to 18 meters. Some of the fish down here are huge. We have a choice of where we want to dive for our last dive, and we choose to do the wreck again. This time we explore a bit more thoroughly, going under the bow a through the cargo bay. We see a huge barracuda, parrot fish, and an octopus briefly before it slid back into a cavity. There are a lot of divers here now, this is a popular dive spot. Now our training is complete, and I am a licensed open water diver. Maybe I can dive cheaper now when I go to Australia to the Great Barrier Reef. I have finally returned to Kuta. The guys don't seem to be back yet, they went deep sea fishing today, we'll see if they have any interesting catches for dinner tonight.

Back to Bangkok

July 16
The sun is out, its a beautiful day. Our ferry ride to Koh Phi Phi is relaxed, everyone sun-bathing on the top deck. The islands in this area are incredible. All of them are giant rock cliffs, eroded at the base from the ocean with dense vegetation huddled at the tops. The Island itself finds habitable area with relatively flat ground and protection from the seas on an isthmus between two larger land masses. The town on the island still shows signs fro the Tsunami, with a lot of reconstruction going on. Thin pedestrian ways are lined by shops, restaurants, bars, hotels, and dive centers. Not a full width road exists, and save fro a couple of motorbikes with side carts, there isn't a powered motorvehicle on the island. Transportation to other places on the island, such as long beach, can only be done by either navigating backwoods paths, rocky beaches at low tide, or by a long-boat taxi ride. We spend the remainder of the day exploring the main town a little and relaxing.

July 17
Today we have scheduled a tour on a long boat of Koh Phi Phi Leh, an uninhabited neighboring island. The long boat is essentially a sampan. A long wooden boat, probably of a traditional fishing boat design, the boat's engine must compensate for the boat's length and turning radius by putting the prop at the end of a long shaft that stretches from a giant engine block on a swivel at the back of the boat. Our tour consists of swimming in an inlet on the island. The fish are everywhere and brightly colored and the water is more clear than pool water. Our next stop is a little back door passage onto the main part of the island. The main beach area is a popular place and boasts the location for the filming of "The Beach," and for one reason or another, they charge 200 baht just to visit the beach. By taking this back entrance, we avoid the fee, and at the same time, have an excellent time navigating under a cliff and through a tiny cave entrance, as waves threaten to slam us against the underside of the stone faces. Fortunately, a series of ropes provide something to hang onto when a wave that could potentially knock you violently into a wall rolls through. Once through the tiny hole, the violence of the waves gives way to a peaceful forested area, protected from the ocean by giant rock walls. We explore the area a bit before returning to our longboat, via the hole of erupting ocean water. Next we go back to Koh Phi Phi Don, the main island, and before we end our trip, we go to Monkey Beach, which is a tiny little strip of sand next to some dense forest where lots of monkeys go, probably more because of the frequent visits from tourists throwing bananas to them than anything else. Upon our return to the main island, we begin searching again for lodging, because Ryan and Rory have fallen in love with Long Beach, which is a larger more serene beach up the coast. Unfortunately, if you don't want to walk for 25 minutes on backwoods paths, up and down steep muddy hills, or along a beach of slippery rocks at low tide, the only way to get there is via longboat. For this reason, I felt it was better to stay and just visit long beach for the beach, since everything else was here in the main town. After wasting the afternoon trying to figure it all out, we ended up back at the same exact hotel we started with. Fortunately we were able to enjoy our evening. We had dinner off the beaten path in a back alley at a quaint little place. We sat at two of the three tables they had, on plastic stools. We shared the tarp sheltered space with the kitchen area, next to a pile of wood. It ended up being one of the best and cheapest meals we had. After some relaxing time, we went to a few of the bars. Hippy's bar was right on the beach, and from our beach side seats we watched with clear view a very impressive fire show. It started with a girl awkwardly moving small torches around, but it soon erupted into a full acrobatic and choreographed show, with flaming staves and fireballs. A good way to end the day.

July 18
Today I started nice and early, to get to my Discover Scuba Diving course. The rest of the guys decided they would rather save their money, but for $75, I had to take the opportunity to spend my day underwater. After a couple hours of training video and basic instruction and a boat ride out to Koh Phi Phi Leh, I was 12 meters down, staring fish right in the face. At first it seemed communication was a bit difficult, with the instructor making wild hand gestures to two of the girls in the group, as if yelling with his hands, but eventually everyone got the hang of swimming and dealing with the regulator and following the hand gestures. Our first dive was in a more gradual sloping environment, with small intermittent reefs. The second dive took us along a sea wall full of life and all kinds of odd creatures. There are far too many fish to name, but among them were barracuda, clown fish, flute fish, and a leopard shark. After returning and getting my nice little piece of paper that says I went scuba diving for a day, I started walking to Long Beach, where the rest of the group was sure to have successfully booked a place this time. We spent the rest of the day relaxing by the beach and eventually went to bed early, as everyone by this time was suffering from their own ailments. By this point on the trip, Jon's fair complexion has turned a lovely deep red, Scott's ear has become mildly infected, Ryan has managed to sprain his ankle, Rory is keeping himself well occupied in the bathroom after putting to much spice on his dinner, and I have received a number of minor physical injuries over the past week, including two bumps on my head, two skinned elbows, a skinned shoulder, and numerous cuts on my feet from both wearing, and not wearing my crappy flip-flops that I bought in Bangkok, which broke four days after I bought them. Fortunately, we all had a great time documenting Ryan shoving Scott's Katadyn water purifying bottle into his ear to try and flush out earwax.

July 19
Today we relax in the morning, before heading to the ferry to Krabi, and then take an overnight bus to Bangkok. Fortunately this trip actually goes quite smoothly, and we arrive early in the morning in time to get a few hours of sleep before we start the day.

July 20
After a few hours of sleep, eventually everyone crawls out of bed and we set out to see the city. We spend about as much time getting screwed by tuk tuk drivers as we do actually seeing things, but ultimately it was a successful day. After our first tuk tuk driver takes us to the wring place, we are fortunate enough to find we are where still in a good area. One man tells us where there are things to see, and then follows up by telling us we should take a tuk tuk to see everything. We all knew he was just trying to sell us another tuk tuk that would take us to who knows where. We start to walk to one place, and eventually another man tells us what to see, but is much better at telling us what is going on and selling us on the tuk tuk. He explains today is a Buddhist holiday, and all the sights are free, and the government is paying for the gas for the tuk tuks, so we can get a tuk tuk to take us around for 2 hours for only 10 baht! What a deal. We don't know where we are going anyways, so we go for it. Fortunately, our two tuk tuks actually take us to places we want to go. We see a giant Buddha statue, and a couple of temples, one of which has the Black Buddha, which is a very old statue. We go back to our nice tuk tuk drivers, and they insist on taking us to a tailor. Crap. They plead to us and say that if we only go and look, they get free gas, and then they will take us to the next place. At this point, we don't really have too much of a choice, unless we want to negotiate a whole new price or ditch the tuk tuk to walk. We agree, but apparently we didn't stay at the tailors for long enough for them to get their free gas, so we reluctantly agree to go to one more tailor, where we spend 15 minutes looking at fabrics and stuff we have no intention of buying. Finally, they take us to the Marble Temple, which was partially under renovation, and mostly closed off to the public because it is actively used for prayer by Buddhist monks. Next, the tuk tuk driver insists we go to one more place, a souvenir shop, before we go to the rest of the places, and after a but of yelling they assure us it would be the last place they would take us and would then take us to all the other places we want to see. We agree, we stop pin for a few minutes, and leave. They next take us to the Golden Mount. On the way, we pass through an intersection where a police officer points at both our tuk tuks and yells. Our driver seems to ignore him and continues down the road. We are now clearly being chased by the police on motorcycles. The tuk tuk that Scott and Rory are in pulls over at a gate, but our driver continues for a while longer, before attempting a U-turn. Our driver is instructed to go back to where the other tuk tuk stopped. We exit and go on our mary way to see the Golden Mount, which offered great views of the city and its own temple at the top of a large artificial hill. Upon our return, our tuk tuks were gone, probably arrested for something, but I have no idea. We were taken to a number of places we didn't want to go, but we saw a lot that we did, and we didn't have to give the tuk tuk drivers a single baht, so we're happy. Tomorrow we hope to see more, but we ended the day a little early to see the shops. Ryan and Rory wanted to see the tailors, to take the opportunity to buy cheap suits here. Scott also wanted a suit and was looking for more solutions to his ear problem. I needed a new pair of sandals before Bali. Now we are back at the hotel for a quick rest before we hit the town again for the evening. Tomorrow we'll have to see the palace and whatever else we can see. The day after we fly to Bali. We seem to be just missing disasters in the news here and there. The bombing in Mumbai happened just a few days after our arrival in Thailand. The King of Thailand is currently going through spinal surgery, and we are now going to Bali only days after the recent tsunami hit Java. I haven't been able to find out if it affected Bali at all, but it doesn't seem to be listed in the areas hit. The thought occurred to me we might be close enough to the disaster to help, but without speaking the language or really knowing anything, I think we'd more likely just be in the way and labeled "tsunami tourists." I guess we'll find out more when we get there.

Escape from Surat Thani

July 14
Our trip to Phuket is scheduled through the hotel, which includes transportation to the ferry, the ferry ride, transportation from the ferry to the bus, and the bus ride to Phuket. We meet a van at noon to take us to the ferry and it proceeds to pour. We waited for the ferry for couple hours, and on its arrival, began to realize that taking this travel package was probably not in our best interest. Our ferry is not like the giant Seatran ferry we took over, but a small boat with about half as many seats as passengers. After a 3 hour ferry ride, we are met by tuk-tuk, and crammed in with about 4 other people. We assume this takes us to a bus station, but because the ferry was late, we are now late for the bus, so we are taken to some travel agency. At this point we really don't know what is going on, but are assured that we will be picked up at 6:00 pm. We are then crammed into another tuk-tuk, which makes several stops to pick up other people. Eventually we finally arrive at our "bus station," which is a little dirt clearing with a small shelter and a garage. We now discover that our bus is not a coach bus, but a mini bus, with about 10 passenger seats. This would have been fine if there weren't 12 of us scheduled to go to Phuket. We sit around for a long time, trying to communicate with the bus driver and the other people that seem to be in charge of things there, but with no progress. In our group of 12 we meet 2 guys from Austin Texas, 2 Israelis, and 3 Frenchmen. Communication amongst ourselves is simple, but we are unable to arrive at our own solution, since none of us know what is going on here or who to complain to. Our bus driver basically just stands there with a dumb look on his face. We consider trying to call a second taxi or something to take care of the extra passengers, and then split the extra cost between all 12 of us, but at this point, everyone is very unhappy with how this has turned out. Just when we thought we might actually be able to cram 12 full grown males into 10 seats for several hours, things go even worse. Ryan, who was sitting in the front seat, decides to get out to climb in back to cram in with me and Scott and then next smallest guy in a three seat row. As he exits the van, the bus driver starts yelling at him, accusing him of breaking some piece of the door, which was clear to all of us was just plan false. The altercation becomes violent immediately as the bus driver pulls Ryan out of the van and starts pushing him. What this little man was thinking, I don't know, because he was smaller than me, and the only person smaller than me in our group of 12 discouraged tourists was Scott. The scramble is thought to be broken up almost immediately, but the driver starts to stomp off and asks Ryan to follow him. Ryan follows, but this doesn't look good, and I follow too with the other 10 behind. The bus driver takes us into a garage where he begins searching through junk on a table. When he fails to find a knife, he picks up a claw hammer off of the wall and approaches me and Ryan with it raised back behind his head. The man never actually used it (who knows what would have happened to him if he did), and there was no physical contact after this, but at this point, our only ride to Phuket is now at the mercy of a man with a claw hammer, which he carries around with him for the rest of the night. After a couple hours of pleading with the man to take us and attempting to talk to another man that seems to be in charge of things (who was no help before all this) 7 of us agree to spend the night in Surat Thani and take a bus in the morning, but we have to eat the cost of the hotel for the night. The other 5 guys are left to try and get a taxi to take them to Phuket that night, because they have a flight in the morning. We make the best of our night, have some dinner, and go out for a few much needed drinks with our new friends, Chris and Derek from Texas, and also run into another guy who we had seen periodically that day in our tuk tuk and at the "bus station" from Denmark. This is easily the worst day of the entire trip, but at least we made some friends and had a good time that night.

July 15
After a very long bus ride, we arrive in Phuket early afternoon. We get a nice place next to the beach and enjoy a long awaited swim. Phuket is beautiful, but its so overrun with tourists and beach culture, it might as well be Florida. It was a very good day to relax and enjoy the sun and the water (especially after yesterday), but tomorrow we are going to take a boat to Phi Phi, a smaller island off the coast, which should have some more interesting things to offer.

July 8
We arrive in Bangkok n the afternoon. The contrast with India is immediately apparent. Even before we get away fro the airport, we can tell this will be a much different experience. The city is more like a western city than anything in India. The streets are clean, drivers follow traffic laws, and the woman are a bit less shy than those in India. We spent the remainder of the afternoon shopping, taking advantage of the cheap prices. I bought myself a pair of sandals to prepare for our trips shift into beach mode. That night we toured one of the main areas for night-life. It was actually quite difficult to a find a place that didn't involve essentially paying women to be with you (In one way or another). Every time we would try to ask someone, we found we were just lead to another place with women waiting at the entrance for our money. We eventually did find a little nightclub and enjoyed a late night. Perhaps the strangest experience of the night was getting a full chiropractic treatment while I was at the urinal. I received an upper back massage and a complete spinal realignment, all while midstream.

July 9
Everyone sleeps late today, most of us have slept very little since Shimla, so its a much needed break. We basically just go straight to the train station for our overnight trip down to Surat Thani. The train ride isn't particularly comfortable, but we all get through it ok.

July 10
We arrive in Surat Thani at about 5:00 am. We go to our hotel and are fortunate enough to be able to check into our rooms right away so we can get a couple hours of sleep before starting the day. Our hotel is a palace. The places we stay here in Thailand are so much nicer than anything in India. The power stays on, there is toilet paper, the sheets are clean, and the heat is far more tolerable. We begin the day by getting a bus to Khao Sok National Park. We don't arrive until close to noon. We probably could have made it there earlier if we didn't take a few hours to sleep, but we didn't sleep much on the train. We quickly realize that we don't have much time to see things. The last bus leaves around 5:30 pm, and we'd need to get back earlier than that, so it made doing any significant treks or tours near impossible with the time we had. We opted to just do a hike from the visitor center into the forest that supposedly takes us to some waterfalls. It starts raining almost immediately. Trekking in the rain forest in monsoon season makes for quite an interesting experience. The forest is alive with strange calls and buzzing noises. down-pours are intermittent, with spots of sunshine in between. We were warned about ground leeches, which we did not encounter until we got deeper into the forest, but when they appeared, they seemed to be everywhere. First hit was Scott, which I suppose anyone could have guessed. They sort of stand up from the ground like an inchworm, searching for something to grab onto, and somehow manage to get on your shoes as you walk buy, and then slowly inch their way up to your leg. You never feel them, either, you just periodically look down, and hopefully see them on your shoe or sock before they get to the skin, but everyone had to pull at least one or two suckers off their legs before we made it back. We never really found any particularly interesting waterfalls, but just the experience of hiking through a forest like that was enough. As we arrived back at the visitor center, we met a group of older women carrying all kinds of fruit. After meeting us and discovering that we had not yet had the privilege of tasting the many varieties of fruit here in Thailand, they started giving us pieces of their fruit. There were all kinds of interesting fruits, and they were all delicious, especially after leech filed hike. On the bus ride back to Surat Thani, we met some people from Spain that were also going around the world to similar places we were, except they were going fro 5 months, and going the other direction. It worked out nicely, I got to fill them in on what to expect from India, and they told me about Bali and Australia. We also met a Buddhist monk. His English wasn't so good, but he was very friendly and talked about everything. He was 47 and had been a monk for only three months. He told us he played folk music and would occasionally throw out a line like "rock and roll will never die." He then showed us a giant tattoo on his right arm of Jimmy Hendrix. Nothing goes together quite like Jimmy Hendrix tattoos and Buddhism.

July 11
We hop on a bus and ferry to Koh Samui, a large island in the gulf. It was nice just to be on the ocean again. We arrived on the island, had some lunch, and grabbed a tuk-tuk to Chaweng beach where our hotel is. On the way I notice a panicked look on Scott's face as he opens his day pack to find that he has left his camera on the ferry. At this point, the ferry is already gone and we'll have to wait till tomorrow to do anything about it. We arrive to find that our hotel booking didn't work and we have to find another, but I think the one we ended up in is better anyways. The Paradise Bungalows are right next to the beach, and its a little closer to the downtown area. We settle in and start off with a nice swim before heading into town for food. The water is clear and warm here. Not like the cold dark water of New England. After dinner, we found a small pub run by and Englishman. After a round of drinks, he begins to close down, but buys us a round and sits down with us to talk about various political and social issues, most of which we all agreed on, except for Rory, who seems to align a bit more with the Republican party and has a bit more of an optimistic take on the corruption in the government.

July 12
I head back to the ferry with Scott to search for the lost camera. The port is on the other side of the island, and the tuk-tuk ride takes a long time. By the time we return to our bungalows, its already afternoon, and we arrive to discover the other three guys still in bed. Jon was suffering a migrane and both Ryan and Rory seemed to be suffering from something, which they figured was from the sangria from the night before, since it was the only thing they both had that no one else did. Fortunately they were up and going before too long and even though most of the day was gone by this time, we were able to enjoy the town and get some dinner before we had to get ready to go to the Full-Moon Party on Koh Pha Ngan. The Full-Moon party happens every full moon, when thousands flock to Koh Pha Ngan just above Koh Samui for the night. We arrived around midnight, and walked through the streets to the beach. The whole town between the ferry port and the beach is alive. restaurants and shops are all open in the middle of the night and vendors sell buckets on the street full of whiskey and mixers. The beach itself is insane, with people dancing everywhere. I lost track of the guys almost immediately in the chaos, but there were plenty of other people to see. It was quite an experience.

July 13
I wake on some steps at about 11:30 am, realizing I didn't manage to stay awake to make it onto our return ferry at 6:00 am. I start walking towards the port, buy a ferry ticket and a pair of sunglasses. The next ferry isn't until 2:30 pm, but as I arrive at the port, I find a group of people that are looking for people to pitch in to go with them on a speedboat. I get a pretty good deal out of it and manage to get on the speed boat for about 200 baht (less than 5 bucks) after returning my 150 baht ferry ticket. The man I talked to from the group was originally from Canada, but had been living on Koh Samui for years. I also met another kid from Vancouver and a kid from New Zealand. The kid from New Zealand had nothing but his underwear. He said the last thing he remembers was walking along the beach last night and woke up this morning in a bungalow with nothing but his boxer shorts. I'm glad nobody managed to strip me clean before I woke up. I made it back to the bungalows to find all the guys there, but no one actually made the 6:00 am return ferry. Everyone seemed to have their own little story. We rested for a few hours and then Ryan and Rory came to the door with big grins. They had just rented mo-peds for about 200 baht. We went into town and I rented a third bike, and started cruising the island. We saw some interesting places, and toured until dinner. We went to bed early, everyone was exhausted.

July 14
Today we go to Phuket on the west coast. We have a long taxi/ferry/bus ride starting at noon, which is in two hours. I need to go get some breakfast and start packing and see if the guys are up. The tone of this trip has certainly changed since India. Its really quite amazing how different these places can be.

July 1 (continued)
After hastily finishing the last entry, our driver, Dev (I only recently figured out how his name is actually spelled) took us to a textile place owned by a friend of his he had been a driver for a few years before. We didn't see the factory itself, but we saw a small workshop where textile patterns were printed by hand, and afterwards we were brought into a shop. At both this place and at the marble place in Agra, there is a similar thing that happens. They show you how their product is made, like its a fun free tour, and then they bring you into a room full of their product and give you free drinks, and then sell you things. A young man from Nepal was our salesman and was mildly entertaining, but as soon as he started offering to show specific items, I took the opportunity to talk to John. jon is the man that started and owns the operation. He started by visiting India and bringing textiles back to sell in his home country, Australia. Eventually he started his own business in Jaipur. He seemed happy with what he'd done, bringing jobs to an impoverished country and he also felt he was making an impact by hiring people regardless of "Caste" or sex at the same wage, which apparently created problems. He wasn't personally interested in selling me anything, and he seemed happy to talk to someone from a more western culture, since he now lived in Jaipur. It was an interesting conversation, which eventually ended with him showing me a puzzle and magic trick on his computer that a friend e-mailed him. Scott and Ryan bought a few items, I was happy to get a free beer and some conversation.

July 2
The day begins with a tour of the fort in Jaipur. We have another guide for this, who gives us most of Jaipur's history on the way. The fort was set on a very large rocky mountainside, and our main destination was a palace towards the top. We were greeted by elephants, our mode of travel to the top of the fort. At first I thought to myself that these animals must not be treated very well, but the elephant rider explained that the elephants only work every other day, and rest the other times. After leaving a meager tip, I learned that the elephant riders only really get paid in tips, and see very little of the 500 rupees we paid for the ride. It seems that these animals may actually be treated better than the people. It just another of many indications of the overwhelming poverty here. The tour of the palace within the fort was very interesting. The marble detailing and sunscreens were impressive. After we were taken to a small park covered with astrological instruments. Several sundials, one of which was claimed to be the largest in the world, were accompanied by a number of other strange tools used for various astrological purposes. There was also a sundial for each sign of the zodiac, which plays a large roll in the Hindu religion, and is the basis for matching couples in arranged marriages. The gigantic stone instruments made for a very interesting place. Next, our guide took us to see another textile place. We watched the block printing process, but knew what was to come next. We were given yet another lecture about the quality of the product and offered drinks, but made a hasty retreat back to the car. The guides clearly get compensated for bringing tourists to these places and we were all a little tired of being carted around. We had a quick lunch and beat it back to the hotel for a nap before heading into the Pink City on foot. The Pink city is essentially the historic center of Jaipur. It is walled in with 7 gates, and everything within is painted a red/pink color. We toured the market place as best we could. This city is much nicer than Agra, but the filth and and the poverty are still rampant. It is common in India for people to just empty their trash cans in the gutter. We walked around for a while but all the shops seemed to begin to close around 8:00 or 9:00. We stumbled across a small liquor stand and each ordered a beer, which we first figured we'd end up taking back to the room. The cashier then opened a door behind him and invited us back. We were lead into a tiny air-conditioned room full of men sitting on plastic stools and drinking beers. This proved to be a very unique discovery, and I would certainly consider it an authentic cultural experience. All this time in India, the guys have been interested in finding a place to go out and meet people at night, and we found it. Unfortunately the women don't go out, just old men. We met many strange men here. One man offered us his whiskey and told us about his two wives and how he alternates 15 days for each. At one point I was summoned by the owner of the liquor store who welcomed us and then warned me to be careful and that he would not be responsible for anything that might happen to us and to tell the rest of the guys. I wasn't worried. We finished a second round and left to get some food before heading back to the hotel. This was certainly a full day.

July 3
We wake early to head back to Delhi. The drive is typical: Dev weaving through traffic, honking his horn at anything that moved. Our first piece of business is to modify the end of our trip. We had previously only allowed for about a day of time in Shimla, and would spend another day in Delhi before the end, but we were tired of the heat and most of us agreed that Shimla might prove to be a nicer experience. I was for it mainly because I wanted to be sure I would have plenty of time to see Chandigarh, which no one else seemed interested in. It was already getting late, but we figured we would have time to tour Delhi some before dark. We thought we might see a bazaar, I figured maybe I could buy a pair of sandals. We walked to the city center and began exploring. This city is far more intense than either Agra or Jaipur. With a population of about 12 million, the trash, the heat, and the number of people yelling at you and harassing you are much worse. We decide not to worry about eh bazaar and head towards some landmarks and ride autorickshaws to the India Gate, but instead get dropped off about a block away and begin walking in the wrong direction. Walking through a large dusty park, we see groups of children all over playing cricket. Some invite us to play. Ryan and Rory both got to take swings and I snapped some photos. The children were very friendly and seemed interested in us and seemed particularly interested in my camera. One reached for my sunglasses, which I reluctantly surrendered. He began posing and other kids started wrestling with him to try and get into the picture I was apparently supposed to take. So, I took some pictures. Next thing I know, they are asking for money. I suppose I should have known. There was no way I would satisfy the greed of this small horde of children, and I didn't know how to space from the situation. I made a quick decision (though probably not the best) and threw a handful of coins from my pocket over their heads, which they obviously all scrambled for. I took the opportunity to escape and walked briskly in the other direction. Unfortunately, the other guys didn't follow suit, and after my escape, they bore the brunt of the small mob. They weren't to happy with me then. We wandered past the red fort, and saw the giant mosque, and then walked back. The whole ordeal was quite stressful. It was impossible to go anywhere without somebody yelling at you to buy their random piece of junk, or to ride their bicycle rickshaw, or to give them rupees because they don't have food. I obviously can't be angry at these people for harassing me. Being as fortunate as I am, I feel I should try to help some of these people, but its impossible to help even one. Would it really change anything? It was easy for me to give one of the 4 beggars I saw in Graz and pear and feel like I might have at least helped her day, but here it all just seems hopeless and pointless. The people here don't just passively sit on the street with their hand opened. They see you have white skin and they know you are a traveler from a country wealthier than theirs, and they harass you to know end. I didn't even try to buy a pair of sandals from one of the people selling things on the street for fear of stopping and being overrun. They say that you can enjoy India if you don't let things like the heat and the poverty get to you, but after an afternoon in Delhi, the heat, the poverty, the garbage, and the harassment, are all starting to get to me.

July 4
We have a very long drive to Shimla today, which is fairly uneventful. I ask Dev how far it is to Chandigarh since the manager in the hotel said we'd be stopping their on the way. Dev then said we weren't going to Chandigarh, it wasn't on the way. "Awesome." It was ok though, I had the contingency of an extra day in Shimla that I could take on my own to see the city, which would actually be better since I would be able to see the whole thing and not worry about carting the other 4 guys around. The drive is long and flat until we hit the foothills of the Himalayas. If I thought the driving was crazy before, I was in for some real fun. Passing large trucks on blind curves next to deep cliffs is as common as using a blinker, except no one uses their blinker, just their horn. It was actually a pretty fun drive, and the views were quite something. The best part of the day is when we stop at some sort of checkpoint, and we watch Dev talk to an official. At first it seem normal, but it becomes clear that Dev is distressed, and he shoves some rupees into the man's hand. I'm not really sure what happened, but Dev lost 600 rupees bribing someone for something and we got through ok. Shimla is a very interesting place. The mountainside is absolutely covered in hotels. Ours wasn't even accessible by car, and had to walk up a ways to get to it. This hotel actually proved to be our nicest yet, the Hotel Honeymoon Inn. A quaint lovers getaway. Perfect for 5 young American men.

July 5
Everyone is exhausted and we take a late start. We wander the Mall, which is a main road that is for pedestrian traffic only with shops and restaurants. I got the tourist information I needed on buses to Chandigarh, so I could take my own trip the following day. This place is much cleaner than other cities, but the laws against spitting seem totally pointless when people still throw trash into the gutters. Looking down the hillside in places, you can see piles of trash. There really is no concept of environmental conservation here. The highlight of the day is the Monkey Temple, at the top of one of the neighboring peaks. Before the walk, Scott, Ryan, and Jon each buy themselves a nice "monkey beating stick," which is apparently necessary to defend oneself on the way up. On the way we met two men from Delhi. They were police officers there and had come to visit Shimla. They were very nice and walked with us to the top. The "monkey beating sticks" actually proved to be necessary. The monkeys are everywhere, and if you look at them in the eye, they become a bit violent. We saw one steal a woman's scarf and run off with it. We were told that the monkeys have a tendency to do this, but will return items if given food. I was impressed that the monkeys had this ability to barter stolen goods. When we arrived at the top, our two new friends invited us into the holy temple and showed us the customs and the ceremony. I didn't really know what I was doing, but it was very interesting to participate in their ritual of praying to the monkey god, and afterwards they showed us paintings inside the temple that told some religious story that I had some difficulty understanding through the broken English. Though at times I feel harassed in this country, there are other times that I meet people with unparalleled hospitality.

July 6
I wake up at 4:20 and head to the buses. On the ride down a kid from Punjab sits next to me and makes conversation. He spoke English fairly well and we talked for a good portion of the trip, which took several hours. There were many interesting topics of conversation, one of which was when he told me he liked George Bush and didn't really like Ghandi. I was pretty confused by this and tried to ask him why, but to get an intelligent answer was pointless. It seemed like he was more appreciative of militant philosophies. At the bottom he was kind to buy me lunch after waiting for me to get passes to visit the capital buildings. I returned the favor by giving him my "Pack of Lies" deck of cards. Perhaps after reading some of the cards he'll have a slightly different perspective on the Bush administration. First place I visited was the city museum, where I educated myself on the city's history and on the planning and design processes of the city and its buildings. Next I walked to the Secretariat building, which proved to be an exhausting task. The city is designed to separate circulation modes, which can be very nice for areas within individual sectors, especially for pedestrians, but at times I find the large round about connecting the larger roads to be very dangerous to navigate on foot. This is certainly the most beautiful city in India. The outskirts and in places near the center and near the bus station, there is still some trash, but for the most part, it is very clean. The organization of the road systems succeeds in many ways to reduce traffic issues, but the Indian culture of horn honking and driving where they wish still bleeds through. Arriving at the Secretariat, I had to go through about 5 different security checkpoints before even getting into the building. There are armed guards everywhere, and each security checkpoint has a man in a booth on a machine gun. There are also tents surrounding the area for the guards. Despite the intimidation of this, the guards are all very nice. After finally getting into the building, I had to wait in an office for a while for some amount f paperwork to be processed. When I was finally through, they took up to the administrator's office, where I again had to wait for more processing. Finally I was released and personally escorted by an officer with an M-16. The roof of the building was interesting to look at. Even up here, there were tents set up and people lying around. It seemed to be the break area. It actually very interesting to see the building in its fully functional state. From the roof I could see the rest of the capital area. The giant sculptural forms from the Assembly, the High Court, and the hand sculpture all have a large scale that makes their forms very clear and distinct from the rooftop. Next I walked to the rest of the buildings, but was not allowed into the Assembly. The plaza between the Assembly and the High Court was fenced off with barbed wire, and had to take a long walk around an odd dirt path in order to get to the High Court. The security for these buildings seems a bit over the top in places, and totally lacking in others. In my exploration I found that if I had wandered in from the High Court, which is a public building, and taken the strange round-about path (which makes the barbed wire fence n the plaza totally pointless) into the Assembly area, one could walk straight up to the Secretariat. The other question, is why this is even a bad thing. I think the governmental buildings in Delhi have less security. The four road-blocks in front of the Secretariat building seem pretty ridiculous. Next stop is the rock garden. This is a very unique place, with tiny canyons and grotto-like spaces. Many of the walls are mosaic, but with garbage instead of tiles. Hundreds of tiny statues litter some of the spaces. Next I went to the Punjab University and looked at Pierre Jeannerret's building. It was getting late and walked back towards the bus station through the Rose Garden, which was the cleanest place I had seen since Graz. I was exhausted and absolutely disgusting from sweating in the Indian heat and took a break next to One of the fountains. Watching the people is always fun, and I always seem to catch plenty of people staring at me. A woman dressed in a traditional Indian outfit, all in light floating pink fabric wanders through the fountain and eventually sits down on the bench near to me, and takes some photos of the area. I was quite startled when she actually spoke to me. The only woman in India that has even said a word to any of us here was from Manchester England. In talking to her it became immediately clear why. She was from Holland and was just here to see the sites like me. Obviously, she isn't quite as conspicuous a tourist as I am. I suppose I should have known she was from a different country when she didn't look me directly in the eye when she walked buy, and then sat down near me. Here in India, it seems like men and women don't even associate with one another before they become bonded in their arranged marriages. When we met the woman from Manchester, it was when we were visiting the Monkey Temple, and the man that had showed us into the temple went from very talkative to totally silent when while we were talking to her. The woman from Holland was named Patricia. She was in Chandigarh alone for the day, and was traveling around India after visiting her aunt in Bombay. I feel like I have had many more opportunities to explore places and to meet people traveling more on my own. Sometimes it gets a bit tiresome trying to figure everything out in a pack of five. Everything has to be discussed and decided, and splitting up is avoided to avoid further complications to plans. The drive back to Shimla was not nearly as fun as the ride down. The man next to me was a bit larger and not as talkative. There was a half-hour stop for dinner or something, but all I wanted to do was get back. After a couple of bus stops, the bus began to empty, and the man next to me moved, only for another fat man to plop is big ass right down next to me. He basically passed out, and made no effort to keep his heavy body from rolling on the curves, and I often found myself crushed by the flab of his thighs and love handles. At one point, his head began to touch my shoulder, at which point I boldly placed my fingers on his temple and shoved it away. He sort of woke up a little, and then resumed dozing and rolling around in his blubber. The air felt nice out the window going up into the mountains, but it wasn't so nice when the man behind me began vomiting out the window. The shower at the end of the day was absolutely amazing after that bus ride. I slept like a rock.

July 7
We are back in Delhi. The ride back from Shimla was long and uneventful. We have to leave for the airport at 5:00 am tomorrow. Next stop, Bangkok.

India

June 27
Our first experience in Delhi was being whipped between lines of trucks in a small vehicle produced by the car company "Tata." There seemed to be no lane or any oganization to traffic. The back of the trucks, which just sit in the middle of the road, are painted in colorful designs and say in giant letter "HORN PLEASE." Our driver, Happi, explained to us that in India, you must use your horn at all times, as he pounded on his horn and squeezed through the giant trucks. The next day, I would learn this is also how the Indian drivers deal with oncoming traffic.
We arrived at our hotel on a dirty street in the middle of the night. It was hot, but not nearly as bad as I had feared. It became clear that our hotel was under heavy construction as we were lead up through dark stairways and hallways to our rooms; it seemed that we were the only ones there. Fortunately the rooms were air conditioned, which was a first on this trip, and it actually ended up being one of the more comfortable accommodations, despite the building's state of disrepair.

June 28
The next morning we talked to the owner of the hotel and discussed with him our current itinerary and what other things we had hoped to do. One thing we had wanted to do but had not planned was a safari, and our plans quickly changed when we discovered there was a place to do safari between Agra and Jaipur, but the park closed in a few days for the monsoon season. By the end of our conversation, the owner had changed almost all of our hotel accommodations, reserved tour guides, and provided us with a driver for the rest of our time in India to take us to each place. The next thing we new, we were being driven down 2 lane roads, weaving through camels, cows, motorcycles, tractors, buses, trucks, and three wheeled auto-rickshaws going in both directions by our new driver, Daib, and our first day in Delhi became our first day in Agra.
We arrived in Agra in time for dinner. We decided to explore the town and make an attempt to experience the culture, but instead found ourselves targets as we walked down the street. In Agra, people don't want to be your friend, they want to sell you a chess set (and I mean, really want to sell you a chess set) or cart you around on their rickshaw. It was actually quite a task to get to the restaurant. Our meal was delicious and we had another nice air-conditioned night.

June 29
The next morning, we woke up at the ripe hour of 5:00 am to meet our guide who would give us a tour of the Taj Mahal. Needless to say, the Taj Mahal was beyond impressive, and our guide was excellent. One of the most interesting things he showed us was how the translucence of the white marble glowed in certain kind of light, but more specifically, how the different stone inlays would accent this with their own translucence or opaqueness. After, we had lunch and relaxed a bit before the guide took us to see the same craftsmen that currently work to restore the Taj Mahal make the stone inlays in the marble. The skill had been handed down through their family, and all the craftsmen took great pride in their work, which showed in the incredible intricacy and precision of the stone inlays. Soon we were on the road again. Our next stop, Ranthambhore National Park.
We arrived at our hotel in time for dinner. Our hotel was nearly empty, as the next day was the last day before the park closed. The town was tiny and the infrastructure was primitive. We had to drive for a while just to get to an ATM. We began to settle on our hotel's balcony with a few King Fischer's (India's premier and only beer), when we began to see fireworks. Our driver came up to us and asked us if we would like to see an Indian wedding. We walked down the street a ways to see a huge crowd gathered in front of a cart with 6 large megaphones on it, pumping out music from a live band. The music was unlike anything I'd ever heard, and before we knew it, the people were inviting us into their dance circle, which was clearly marked by children holding large fluorescent lights. Rory was armed with his video camera, and got excellent footage, which allowed us to later reflect on the event and firmly establish myself as the best dancer. This place was much different from Agra, we were no longer targets, but guests, and the friendliness of the people this far away from the city was unsurpassed.

June 30
Another early morning, we have two safaris for the day. We ride in an open Suzuki Gypsy through trails. The ultimate goal was to spot a Bengal Tiger, the top of the food chain in this region. Scott asked what animals the tiger ate. Our driver didn't speak much English, but enough to tell us affirmatively "Tiger eat all animals." Our first sighting was a small hoard of monkeys. We has seen some in the city already, but not in such abundance, and this particular species was much larger. We saw peacocks, mule deer, mongooses, monitor lizards, and incredible vistas, but no Tiger. Occasionally our driver would stop the car and stand up on the top of the frame to listen. He was listening for warning calls from the monkeys, which they call out upon spotting the tiger. Other than tiger tracks, this is pretty much the only indication we had of where the tiger might be. Our first safari ended and we went back for a nap to recover. Our second safari took us up some more rocky areas of the park. We drove around for a long time and were basically ready to accept that we would not find the tiger. Our driver told us that their are only about 25 tigers in the park, and they are solitary animals. Their times to wander and feed are early morning and late day, and sleep in the shade during the day. We would frequently pass other jeeps on our tour, and the drivers would always stop to converse. One conversation ended abruptly when our driver turned the car around furiously and tore down a bumpy dirt road. We weren't sure why he was so excited, but we could only hope it was for a tiger. We passed a bus load of people and he stopped to talk. He seemed disappointed, he explained that there was a tiger, but they had just seen it disappear over a hilltop. We continued down the road and came to an area where a jeep and a bus were parked. One of the other drivers motioned to us and we drove over. About 4 yards from the front of our jeep emerged a full grown female Bengal tiger, sauntering passed the vehicles. It was amazing to see one of these animals in the wild. It came to our attention that we had come incredibly close to this beast, and were completely unprotected in our open topped Gypsy, which didn't even have seat belts. Our driver assured us in broken English that the tiger's never attacked humans and they were used to the cars. Our safari was beyond successful and we went home satisfied.

July 1
We spent the morning touring a large fort and some temples in the area of the national park, and have just arrived in Jaipur. The internet here is much cheaper that it was in Europe, 40 rupees for an hour is about 1$, which is much better than 5 euros for an hour in Vienna. I'd take the time to load photo's, but my sandwich is getting cold and we need to start seeing the city. More to come soon.

14 minutes from Heathrow

I'm in Heathrow, and I'm using my last pounds for 15 minutes here. Vienna was never dull. We took a fairly busy night on the town and managed to stay out after the underground closed, and were forced to take teh bus. By the time we arrived at our hostel, the sun was up. I still managed to get up before noon and hit the city. The rest of the guys slept till 2:00 and then sunbathed and did laundry at the Hostel. They seemed to be in need of the down time, but i can't say I regret using my time in Vienna to actually the city. That night we saw a small orchestra play tunes from Mozart and Strauss. Our tickets were only 24 dollars, but for some reason teh guys believed they were going to some huge concert and were disappointed when they discovered it was in a small theater with a 11 person orchestra. I enjoyed it, its what I expected, and its what I paid for. Today after we checked out of our hostel we tried for a hydrofoil boat ride up the Danube to Bratislava, but upon arriving discovered it was sold out. After backtracking throughthe subways to eh bus station, we discovered we had just missed a bus by about 15 minutes, and the next was not until 4:00. So then we took a tram to the train station. Its amazing how many modes of travel you can pack into a day. We finally arrived by train in Bratislava at about 12:30pm. It took us a long time to figure out the buses and things to the airport before we went into see the city, no one spke a word of english. The city was interesting, though of us knew what there was to do or see. We walked around for a the afternoon and had a meal. the heat was insane, by the time we arrived at teh Bratislava airport, I was dripping sweat, and everytime I'd go dry my face off in the bathroom, another bead would form on the tip of my nose within minutes. I don't know how we are going to survive in India. Fortunately the flight was very cool. I think for once I really enjoyed my flight, simply because it was such great relief from teh past few days of unrelenting heat and humidity. Well, I have 1 minute to publish this post, so more will have to come later. Now I have to go find a corner in the airport to pass out for a few hours. Viva India!