The Life And Times Of Kimberly

After a few days in Kolkata we decided to head out to Varanasi which is a 14 hour train ride west. The town is laid out with the core being a maze of small streets and alleys running along the Ganges River. All along the river are Ghats, which are basically steps into the river where people can bathe, wash clothes, and burn bodies (I will explain that one further in a minute).

Varanasi is a very spiritual place for Hindu’s here in India. My basic understanding of the significance of Varanasi is that because Hindu’s believe in reincarnation, Varanasi offers them a way to skip ahead in the cycle to the end where they no longer have to reincarnate. The key to this though is that you have to die in Varanasi for this to happen.

Another aspect of Varanasi is those people who have died either here in Varanasi or elsewhere are brought here to have their bodies burned and then the ashes spread in the Ganges River.

After taking the overnight train from Kolkata we arrived this morning to a different kind of craziness than we had seen in Kolkata.

I am a bit overwhelmed and will try and fill you in on our first day here tomorrow.

Filed under: Uncategorized on September 3rd, 2008 | No Comments »

Sean and I knew that it was going to be hot here so it is no surprise that we are sweating most of the day.

I have figured out why the hair style of women here is basically a ponytail with no hair hanging down. I unfortunately have the hairstyle of someone who doesnt live in a super hot climate…bangs. I spend most of the day peeling my wet bangs off my forehead which as you imagine looks beautiful

Another funny thing about me being hot and sweaty is that it doesnt deter the staring. As we are walking down the street all sweaty I am still getting the men and boys watching me and occassionally making comments. It doesnt both me much and I pretty much just ignore it.

Sean’s reaction to the staring was really funny. He said not to anyone in particular “She is hot… She is sweaty. When hot and sweaty she can be crabby… This isn’t a Warnes girl at her best.”

For all of you who know one of us Warnes girls you can laugh at it because you know it is true

Despite the heat we manage to find outselves in restaurants, coffee shops and internet cafe’s that have air-conditioning. It is a nice break from the heat.

Filed under: Uncategorized on September 2nd, 2008 | 1 Comment »

For those of you that have been checking out our pictures on my treemo page I thought I would let you know that there might not be any additional ones for awhile.

The internet cafe we are currently at doesnt let me access the treemo website and I am pretty sure the connection isnt fast enough to get them uploaded.

I am hoping that some other cities we are in will let me upload them but if not it might be New York City in 2 1/2 weeks before there is anything new.

Thankfully I have two memories cards for my camera so there should be enough room for all the pictures.

Filed under: Uncategorized on September 2nd, 2008 | No Comments »

I know very little about India so it should be a a interesting couple of days as we navigate our way through Kolkata (originally Calcutta).

As we leave the airport after sucessfully locating an ATM we now have to try and find the prepaid taxi office. The easiest way to go the 45 minutes to our hotel is using this service but as we are looking for it there are many taxi drivers trying to get us to go in their taxi.

We eventually find the office but all there was is a hole in the wall. The proper counter is inside the airport but we arent able to go in there so Sean has to do the whole thing through the hole. Sean is successful and we are on our way to our hotel.

Kolkata is a crazy city with people and cars everywhere. It sounds a bit silly but I really kind of like it. I think the reason I feel comfortable here is that it reminds me somewhat of Cairo. I imagine though within a few days I will be happy to head somewhere a little less chaotic.

The people here are so friendly, which you never can be sure of when you are in a city with so many people regardless of what country it is in. It seems that whenever we are in need of directions or help with a taxi there has always been someone there ready to help us.

Other than our overpriced hotel that like to offer us drinks which seem a nice thing than charge us later we are having a great first experience in Kolkata

Filed under: Uncategorized on September 2nd, 2008 | No Comments »

After leaving Laos we had a day in Bangkok before flying out to India. Originally we tried to get the flights so that we got into Bangkok and then left immediately for Calcutta but the flights were too close and we were worried we would miss our connection. So the soonest flight out was the next morning.

Since we had already spent a few days in Bangkok there wasn’t much we wanted to go see so we spent the afternoon doing a few odds and ends. Not too exciting but sometimes you have to do it.

Having spent the last month in Southeast Asia it is exciting to be moving onto another region. India has been a place I have wanted to go to for awhile. I am a little nervous since it is so packed with people but it should be a great 20 days.

Filed under: Uncategorized on September 2nd, 2008 | No Comments »

The bus from Vang Vien to Vientiene left later than we had originally planned so it left us with only an afternoon in Vientiene (the capital of Laos).

After we got there and settled into our hotel I was still a bit nervous about my foot. I just felt like it would be better to have a doctor tell me it was okay.

We headed to the Australian embassy to have the doctor at their clinic check it out. Unfortunately the doctor wasnt in so they sent us to the French Embassy who also had a clinic.

After waiting for 30 minutes or so I got in to see the doctor. He was a nice french man who didnt even laugh at me when I told him how I had cut my foot. I was actually the 3rd person that day who had injured themselves tubing. See I told you it was dangerous

The doctor had a look at it and said “oh yeah that isnt very good”, so reassuring. He said that it was just deep enough to get infected if it wasnt kept clean. He sent me with some betadine, bandages, and instructions to start taking antibiotics if it started looking infected.

Eventhough it is on the side of my foot it still hurts to walk which is not good considering we have 20 days in India and walking is a big part of traveling.

After getting all the clinic stuff done we had used up the whole afternoon which left us time for Indian food for dinner and then to bed.

It wasnt a very exciting time in Vientiene but it let me head to our stopover in Bangkok reassured about my foot.

Filed under: Uncategorized on August 31st, 2008 | No Comments »

After a couple relaxing days in Luang Probang we decided to head south to the main attraction of our time in Laos. That event was floating down a river in inner tubes.

We didnt know what to expect and lets just say it was much crazier than I could have imagined.

What I thought would take us a couple hours ended up being 6 hours. We started around 12:30 where we were taken by tuk tuk to the drop off point with our tubes. Ahead of you is just a long line a bars for you to stop off at and have a drink.

There are people on the edge of the water with sticks for you to grab onto so they can pull you into the bar. The first bar was almost immediately after you got into the water. The best feature to this bar was a really high swing that you would swing out over the water and then drop in. Sean and I both did it, I was scared out of my mind though. We have a video of Sean doing it, but something happened and it didnt record when I jumped, and there was no way I would do it again.

Sean was very funny at this first bar. I had mentioned in an early post about his obsession with bug spray, continually putting it on even if there wasnt a bug on him. Well at this bar he is applying and reapplying his sunscreen like he might be burning within the 5 minutes since the last time he put it on. The best part of it was that he was sitting in the shade, so it wasnt even like the sun was on him. It was prety funny watching him do it.

I planned to take it easy on the beer especially since we were going to be going to quite a few bars on our way down the river. Unfortunately you dont account for the free shots of homemade whisky the bartenders all give you.

Dont worry I wasnt drunk, just a bit tipsy.

The first few bars were tame compaired with the 4th bar which was called mud bar. At this point you probably all have an image of what that could mean. It was basically one big muddy dangerous mess.

Going back a moment to the start of our adventure down the river. When I first saw all the craziness going on I thought to myself how dangerous it was. I was surprised that more people didnt get hurt considering all the alcohol that was being consumed. Little did I know what was to come at mud bar.

So back to my story…when first getting to mud bar you climb up the bank and in front of you is a bit area for volleyball but you are basically just playing in a mud pit. Looks fun until you actually get into it. Sean got in and was playing around, which looked like a lot of fun to me. I had a few beers in me so I was more apt to try it. When I got in the mud I stepped on something that felt like a tree root, it hurt my foot but I figured it was nothing. It was at this point I realized that the whole pit, atleast on my side had stuff all over in it waiting to cut you. After having some fun in the mud I decided to get out.

It was at this point I saw that my foot was bleeding a little bit. With all the mud I couldn’t quite figure out if it was bad or not.

I was not the only one who was injured especially at this bar. We saw a girl right after she had broken her arm, another guy slip and fall on the mud knocking the wind out of him and loads of people with bruises and cuts on their legs. It was definetly a dangerous place to be.

We continued to hang out for a little while but then my foot started hurting a bit more and it was getting late. It had already been about 4 hours and we still had to float back before it got dark. We parted with a british couple that we had spent the day with and decided to head back.

To make a long story short, by the time we got back to the hotel about an hour later my foot was really hurting. I had cut the side of my foot right near my big toe. It didnt seem too deep but there was still mud in it, which concerned me. We poured quite a bit of hydrogen peroxide on it and some neosporin type stuff and hoped it would just clean itself out.

We were heading out the next day to Vientiene and we had a long day in the sun so after a dinner that took forever we headed to bed.

The foot story does continue in Vientiene…

Filed under: Uncategorized on August 31st, 2008 | No Comments »

Since we decided to try and spend more time in India it meant cutting back a little in India and Laos. The benefit to that was it meant taking a plane from Hanoi to Luang Probang (Northern Laos) instead of a 24 bus ride. I am glad we did the plane because it was just so much easier than dealing with the border.

As with most countries in SE Asia you can get the visa when you arrive at the border. We just had to fill out the card and wait in a line to give our passport to one person and then move to another line to pick it up. The only problem was that they only accept Laos Kip, USD, or Thai Baht and we only had Vietnamese Dong. As this is a common occurance they let Sean go through customs without his passport to the ATM outside and then come back with money. I cant imagine the US officials would let you do the same. It is definetly a bit more relaxed here.

With little hassle we had made it through customs and were on our short drive to the town. The hotel we picked to stay at had a nice room with air conditioning which is always good. When we first asked about the room the guy at the desk said it would be 150,000 kip ($15) but the guy who showed it to us said it was only 100,000 kip ($10). It was great we didnt have to do an bargaining, they did it for us.

After settling in we decided to just have a walk around the town. My first impressions of Laos was just a suprise at how lush it is. There are hills everywhere just covered with trees. Everything seems so laid back and relaxing which was a nice change from the craziness of Hanoi.

Sean wasnt feeling great so the next day we decided to try and take it easy. Although that turned into a bike ride which was originally going to be 30 km to a waterfall until we changed the plan and went to a much closer waterfall. It still ended up being further than we thought because we continued up a hill past the sign for the waterfall because I didnt quite believe that the waterfall would be so low in the hills. After riding for quite awhile with multiple people telling us the waterfall was up ahead we finally gave up and turned around. When we got to the bottom of the hill we decided to just have a look where the sign was and loe and behold there was a waterfall. It would have saved us a lot if we had looked there originally when Sean saw it but in the end we got to see some people who we imagine dont normally get foreigners up their road. So in the end it was a good detour.

Since I am always a sucker for handicrafts and supporting the locals I had to do a bit of shopping in the night market. I didnt buy anything for myself which is the best because then I have some fun things to give people when I get home. I did see many things I would like but resisted the urge, mainly because I dont want to carry them for the next month.

Our time was short here but it was a great start to Laos.

Filed under: Uncategorized on August 30th, 2008 | No Comments »

Halong Bay was never really on our itinerary but after meeting an australian couple in Cambodia who raved about it we thought we would check it out. Halong Bay is a bay full of limestone islands of various sizes and shapes.

Halong Bay is a 3 1/2 hour drive east of Hanoi. We booked a 2 day 1 night trip to go and spend some time on a boat in the bay as well as do some kayaking and biking.

After a rather slow ride to the bay, due to the roads and traffic, we were ready to head out and enjoy the sights. The weather unfortuanely was a bit cloudy and we hoped there wouldnt be rain. Although sometimes it is nice to have a cloudy day every once in awhile especially with all the sun we have been having.

The boat ride was nice, giving us a chance to see the beauty of Halong Bay. We enjoy a lunch of a whole lot of seafood, and just relaxed before doing our kayaking. The kayaking was nice, although it is amazing how tired your arms get after awhile. Originally Sean wanted to do 2 days of kayaking, but I think the hour was enough for me.

After kayaking 6 of us headed to the island with the bungalows we would be sleeping in. The ride was a bit rough but thankfully all the talking we were doing distracted me from getting seasick.

After settling in to our bungalow and going for a quick swim it was time for dinner, when the real excitement began.

The weather in the distance looked rainy with lightning. The people at the hotel told us that because of the typhoon in China it was affecting the weather on the island. Within 10 minutes of sitting down the wind started blowing and the rain was just pouring down. They moved us to some new tables out of the way of the elements but it was still getting worse. At this point Sean started talking about Gilligans Island and assigned all of us at the table the characters we were in the show. We had a great time talking to a couple from Italy, a guy from Canada, and his girlfriend orignally from Sao Paulo Brazil. I was so excited to tell her about Kevin (my brother) who was leaving the next day for Brazil. She assured me he would have an amazing time.

After braving the weather we headed to bed since Sean and I were leaving early to do some mountain biking before heading back to Hanoi.

Unfortunatey because it was raining when we woke up we had to skip the biking and just head to the other part of the day. Since the couple of hours that would have been spent biking were free we ended up sitting at a roadside restaurant killing time. Before getting there though we did get a chance to check out Hospital Cave. Hospital Cave was used during the Vietnam War as a makeshift hospital in a cave It was interesting to see how much space they were able to use. I expected it to be crowded.

After another 3 1/2 hours we were back in Hanoi for the night before flying out to Laos.

Filed under: Uncategorized on August 30th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Our first impressions of Hanoi didnt start off on the right foot.

After getting off the train we walked to find a taxi and ended up getting scammed. Something that Lonely Planet warns about is taxi’s with super fast meters. I was watching it move really quickly but didnt say anything at first. When he started going the long way to our hotel I mentioned it to Sean and we made him pull over. What do you do when you dont speak the language and you know that it is wrong? Our response was to tell him it was bad, by pointing to the meter and then pay him less than it said. We still overpaid him quite a bit. Thankfully at that point we were close enough to walk to our hotel.

Once we got to the hotel they had no record of a reservation for us. Sean had emailed them about it a couple days before and we had recieved a reply. Sean showed them the email but they still didnt have us down. Thankfully they had a room for us, unfortunately it was a full bed not a queen. But on the good side it had air conditioning. We were given a queen bed the second night.

Our first day in Hanoi we decided to check out the Ho Chi Minh Museum and Masoleum. First though I had to head to the US Embassy to get more pages put into my passport. They opened at 8 and since I didnt want to deal with lines I headed out early. Sean decided to sleep in. I got there fine and within 5 minutes I was already done, but had to come back in the afternoon to pick it up. The thing I didnt plan on was getting back to my hotel. I didnt bring the address or the lonely planet. Thankfully because I was still at the embassy there were english speakers for me to explain to them about where our hotel was and then they could explain it to the taxi driver. It took about 10 minutes but we were finally on our way.

After getting Sean out of bed and having some breakfast we were on our way. We took a cyclo from our hotel to the museum. A cyclo is a man on a bike with a cart in front, he is the power for the thing. We felt bad because it was so hot out, so we tipped him more.

The people of Vietnam view Ho Chi Minh as a father figure so this museum reflected how much they feel for him. I found it to be a bit strange with some good things mixed in with a lot of unnecessary stuff props. We were also a bit rushed as we got there right before it was suppose to close for lunch. That also meant that the masoleum was closed so we couldnt see Ho Chi Minh’s body either.

Since everything was closed we decided to try and come back later before having to head to the embassy. Problem with that plan ended up being that the masoleum was only open in the morning. Sadly that means that we werent able to see the preserved body of Ho Chi Minh. We did get to see him palace, which wasnt quite as exciting.

After picking up my passport now full of many fresh blank pages, we decided to try and get to the Hoa Lo Prison before it closed. This is the prison where John McCain and other US Pilots were held during the Vietnam War. It was an interesting look at the part of the prison still there but we felt there was a lot of propaganda involved. But still an interesting look at the life prisoners there.

That night we went to a water puppet show which is a Vietnamese tradition. It was fun to see the stories of traditional life in Vietnam played out using water puppets. We had a good time.

Our second day wasnt quite as interesting. We were killing time before heading out on a 2 day 1 night trip to Halong Bay.

Filed under: Uncategorized on August 26th, 2008 | No Comments »