A new trip and a new web address

To my readers,
Thank you so much for keeping me company through my travels across Asia and Europe. I'll be heading to South America soon and I gave this blog a much needed makeover as part of the trip. Please visit me on the new site and subscribe for updates if you want to keep getting new posts.

And my apologies for asking you to sign up again. I promise it will only be temporarily irritating and then you'll forget all about it as you go about the rest of your day.

Visit the updated blog here: kelontheroad.blogspot.com

My whole trip in 5 minutes

I decided to compile my trip photos into a 5 minute video. Enjoy!

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Song is called Comptine d'Un Autre Été from the Amelie soundtrack. Played by and used with permission from TheChiefEmperor.
See the original music video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2-1u8xvk54

Most photos are my own (shot with an Olympus PEN E-PL5).
A few were provided by: Alex Iliev (0:17), Kiyoung Paik (0:40), Nueng Panad (0:49), Daniel Buxton (1:32), and Marijana Bulatovic (2:08).

Travel sketches (and one painting)

As I mentioned in prior blog entries, I joined a group tour in Provence organized by an art professor. Everyday, we went site-seeing in the morning and painting in the afternoon - though I spent several of those afternoons taking a long nap to recover from the gargantuan French lunches.

In the few non-sleeping hours I had, I managed to get one painting mostly done by the end of the course. I also got a few sketches done on-site at the places we visited. I'm sharing them here along with other travel sketches I've accumulated along the way. As per my usual caveat when I show my drawings, just remember that I'm only a student. This stuff is more personal than my comfort level would normally permit me to share and I do it now because it was such an integral part of the whole travel experience.

On a side note, I highly recommend any traveler interested in art to take the time to sketch on-site. Just find a nice place to sit, take a look around you, and get a few jots down on paper. It'll give you a visceral connection to your surrounding space in a way taking a photo never can.

My painting assignment: Monk under prayer flags. The original inspiration for this piece comes from this picture I took in Nepal .

Checking in from Spain

I have less than a week left before the end of my trip and I've started seriously winding down in anticipation. It's causing me to reach all new levels of lethargy and inertia. Is it possible for a person to mentally check out of their own vacation? Cause that's surely how I feel right now.

Here's a quick recap of what's happened since my last post on Slovenia. If I find the energy later, I'll post more details on some of these events.

May 29: Trained into Venice where I stayed in a rented apartment.

June 1: Flew to Marseille in France and spent the night in a town called Avignon.

June 2: Bused to Saint-Remy-de-Provence where I spent the next week-and-a-half in a luxury hotel and joined a group tour organized by my art professor. The days were split in half between site-seeing and painting.

June 11: Trained to San Sebastian, Spain - yeah I know, Spain wasn't part of the original itinerary. Call it a detour.

June 16: Bused to Bilbao, Spain. Here are a couple pictures from this cute little town:

Giant flower puppy by Jeff Koons

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

What's up next for this week: Train to Barcelona for a couple days' stay. Fly to Prague for another few days' stay. Fly home. Weep for the end of my journey.

How I fell in love with Slovenia in a week

First off, I have two recommendations for anyone planning to travel to Slovenia.

• When you want to move between cities, see if anyone is driving that route on prevoz.org. It's a car sharing website (similar to Sidecar in San Francisco). You'll end up paying much less and getting there way faster than if you take public transit. And it's the most liberating feeling in the world to be able to secure a ride to just about anywhere you want in a matter of minutes with a cool person you can chat with along the way.
• If you make your way to Ljubljana and are interested in a good night out, definitely see Metelkova. It's more than just a bar scene. I'd describe it as a microcosm of Communist utopia. But I'm just a naive American who is easily impressed by any amount of anti-corporate behavior. Make the judgement for yourself and have some good drinks and conversations while you're at it.

Slovenia turned out to be a different kind of place for me for many reasons. The people were exceptionally nice and the stops were beautiful. Everyone and everything was laid back in a way I could understand. It's an unexpected treat to be so enamored with a country and it gave me a much needed second wind for the rest of the trip.

Random trip photos from Asia Pacific and Eastern Europe

I figured it was time to do something about the 5 months' worth of random trip photos I never got around to sharing broadly but always kind of liked. You could call them the left-over batch. They're either stand alone shots that never seemed to fit into previous blog/facebook storylines or little gems I originally overlooked and fell in love with later. They cover my trip up to Croatia and are presented in chronological order.

Milford Sound, Southern Island of New Zealand

Jan 2013 

Just checking in

A view of the temple of Augustus in the city of Pula. Construction work is being done in the background as the city remodels its harbor

I'm in Croatia right now in a city called Split. In three hours, I'll catch an overnight bus to Trieste, Italy and then head into Slovenia. I can't believe I've spent almost two weeks in Croatia. I had an okay time here with okay weather and pleasant beaches. But there hasn't been much about this place that really stood out as something amazing or special. I'm sure Croatia would be a great place to visit for many travelers but it just wasn't for me. I've concluded the amount of fun I'll have in any given place is inversely correlated to the number of American tourists I'll find there.

Also, this is the first country I've been to where most people will turn away and ignore me when I try to say hi to them on the street. WTF Croatia?! Even people in China don't do that. How is it possible your manners are worse than the Chinese?

Since I didn't have anything good to say, I decided to stay silent and forgo any new posts here. It was a little painful to do since I've come to rely on my maintenance of this blog as a source of comfort. It keeps me sane to write entries.

And what can I say about how I've been spending my time lately? I don't do nearly as much site-seeing as I used to. Many days, I'll stay home and either doodle in my sketchbook or work on draft blog entries I never got around to publishing (none of them are about Croatia). I also met a handful of fucking amazing people I had the pleasure of sharing just a tiny slice of time with. That about sums it up.

So this is just a quick check-in letting people know where I am. I'll be hanging out along the West coast of Slovenia for the next week. If nothing else, I am succeeding at working on my tan (lines).

Day 2 in Dubrovnik, Croatia

View of the Dubrovnik coastline; a view being enjoyed by many couples cuddling on benches as I walked past alone

I'm sitting at a restaurant in Dubrovnik mooching it up on the free wifi because my hostel's internet is down. It turns out this place serves all-you-can-eat salad and bread for $4 USD. For Dubrovnik, where vegetarian meals typically cost $15 or more, this is absolutely a STEAL. My stomach hurts from all the servings I've helped myself to. I'm going to sit here for hours. I'm probably going to come back tomorrow as well.

There's a group of French men at a table nearby. They're drinking wine and talking loudly. One of them has twice attempted to toss a smile in my direction and both times I've pretended not to notice. He looks like he's of an age where it would be inappropriate for him to be smiling at me. This pisses me off.

There was a time when I was intrigued by the mystery associated with meeting new people. But after travelling this long, the romance has worn off. I like to sleep in instead.

Tonight, I'm indulging myself to a concert put on by the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra. I don't have the right attire for such an event but prices are too high here for me to buy a new outfit. I foresee the impending awkwardness as the solo female attendee walks into the building in relative rags. In any case, I hope it's a nice symphony. I think some good music is just what my tired old soul needs right now.

20 years later and the bullet holes are still there

The first set of photos below were taken in and around a street in Sarajevo nicknamed Sniper Alley. This major thoroughfare was located on the front lines of a siege on the city which began in 1992 and lasted almost 4 years as part of the Bosnian War. It's been about 20 years since that war but many buildings in this area continue to stand damaged.

Walking this street was a major goal of mine during my short stay in Sarajevo - a goal which seemed to perplex my tour guide, who was keen on rushing me past this area. But as a visitor who didn't live through these years personally, seeing this place was one of the only ways I could find my connection to the events. And there were plenty buildings to find bearing the scars of the war. Bullet holes often share the wall space with ritzy retail stores and other new developments as the city tries to find its way forward.

I hope these pictures serve to give interested readers just a small window into the city of Sarajevo and the ways in which it has changed or stayed the same since the war.

In and around Sniper Alley (Officially Zmaja od Bosne)

Photos from Istanbul and Safranbolu

A warning to any travellers who spend an extended amount of time in 3rd world Asia and then go to a Western city like Istanbul. The first thing you may find yourself doing is stuffing your face full of all the delicious Western food you hadn't had access to in several months. But try to hold back lest you suffer massive stomach cramps and constipation as your body can no longer digest the heavy carbs, fats, and fibers you once called your staple diet. 

Once the knawing pain in my abdomen subsided, I ended up having a nice time in Turkey. There was only enough time to see two cities in the one week I spent here but it was a great start reacclimating myself to the 1st (technically 2nd?) world.

Istanbul

View of Istanbul from the Bosphorus Strait 

Nobody stays in Agra for 6 days...

...except for me, apparently. Agra is not known for much more than the Taj Mahal. A visitor could see all the major sites in 1-2 days. And here I was staying in the city for 6 days straight as a favor to a friend who lives there. I don't know a single tourist who's stayed in Agra this long. When I asked my friend if he knew anyone, he said yes, they were all crazy people.

I didn't mind it so much, though. I recently entered a point in the trip where my energy for site-seeing has waned and I'm slowing down the pace to fit my new temperament. Here are some photos of things other than the Taj Mahal from the interesting places I went to during my second visit in Agra and Delhi. 

To start, here's a shot of a cool looking sky over Delhi. 

At the point my spirits were down and I started questioning why I was even travelling, I saw this sky and remembered how great it feels to get these random glimpses of grandeur. I've learned travelling is just a way to create opportunities for serendipity and my responsibility is to keep my eyes open.

My experiences dealing with Indian men in the tourism industry

Good bargaining skills are a necessity in Asian markets and it's definitely grown into a favorite pasttime for me. I love to wear down those unsuspecting merchants who initially size me up as an ignorant tourist. Sometimes I don't win them over, but when I do, it's an intoxicating victory. So I'm going to start this entry off with a story about the best bargain I've gotten so far on this trip.

I was in Jaipur and needed a new pair of white leggings to go with a dress I bought in Delhi. I walked down the market street one evening looking into each clothing shop, mostly ignoring the men attempting to entice me into their store. Then I saw one young man with thick rimmed glasses who, like every other man, invited me to enter into his shop. This time I did. It's superficial but I stopped only because I thought his glasses were cute.

He didn't have white leggings but he had tan ones I was willing to buy. So we started negotiations. And his initial price? 400 Indian rupees (about $8 USD). I laughed. He clearly didn't have a very high opinion of me. "How much you willing to pay?" he asked to get my baseline. "30 rupees." This time he laughed. At 60 US cents, this was a ridiculous price, even for India.

A small change to the itinerary

Today, I will fly from Kathmandu to Delhi. Yes, I'm going back to India. Maybe I'll be there a week. Maybe longer. I canceled my flight to Istanbul. Europe will have to wait.

Once I land, the first thing I'll do is take a bus to Agra to meet an Indian boy I met the first time I was there. I promised I would see him again and have dinner with his family. This is all I have planned so far. I'm trying to dive in with no expectations, just a whole lot of trust.

5 days trekking around the Annapurna mountain range

Snow drifting off the peak of Annapurna South during sunrise

My apologies for the extended silence. Access to electricity and internet is a bit unstable in Nepal. I recently finished up a trek through the Annapurna mountain range, something I had booked back in December when I found claims online saying the treks here were the most beautiful in the world. It's a tall claim but I think it could be true. They definitely didn't disappoint.

My route went up to Poon Hill to catch a panoramic view of the mountains and then through a rhododendron forest where flowers are in full bloom this time of year. Along the way, I got to meet some of the nicest, warmest people in the world.

The villages themselves were a bit surreal to me. Modern technologies intermingled with antiquated ones in a strange utilitarian hodgepodge. For example, I'd occasionally see simple wooden huts outfitted with solar powered water heaters. I think a visitor will find many imprints left by Western NGOs and volunteers here.


On the way up to Poon Hill

A brief introduction to Nepal

Varanasi was my last stop before driving into Nepal. After spending so much time in India, I got used to a certain level of weariness which turned out not to be necessary at all in Nepal. I got a great introduction to this country while talking to a Buddhist monk at Lumbini, Buddha's birthplace.

"Would you like to burn some incense?" asked the monk while showing me three incense sticks.

"No thanks."

"It's free."

"Okay."

I took the incense, lit them, put them into an ash pot, and made a prayer.

"Would you like some string?" he asked. In his hand, he held a piece of string Buddhist monks will typically tie around a person's wrist as a blessing.

"No thanks."

"We're not in India, these things are free."

"Really? Okay."

I stuck my wrist out toward him with a happy grin.

More pictures will come. Here's one.

Pilgrimage to Varanasi

Two cremation fires burning on the water's edge

Today, I want to share some photos from Varanasi, a famous holy city on the Ganges in Northern India. People from all over the country bring the remains of their loved ones to be cremated and laid to rest in the river here. The way I first learned about this city is the reason why it's special to me. I never knew it by name before planning this trip but I have been wanting to come here for 9 years.

I was hanging out with some college friends at their apartment in 2004 a day before I flew to Korea to study abroad for the next 3 months. As a group, we were trying to finish the entire "Cowboy Bebop" anime series before I left. It was a marathon run on the living room couch.

Alive after four days

Well, I'm still alive and so glad I went on my own for a bit. I can now boast that I took the public bus on my own in India...once at 4am at a station occupied solely with shady looking men. I probably wouldn't have made it through this short trip without the genuinely altruistic help of a few really good guys I met along the way.

In the meantime, it sounds like drama unfolded in my tour group and they're not doing so well together. Sigh...we have one more week to go in each other's company. It may be time to plan another vacation away from them.

Guys hanging out in front of the Monkey Temple in Jaipur

My tourist photo of the Taj Mahal

One duckling temporarily leaves the flock

I'll come clean. I'm not proud of it but I booked a two-week group tour through North India and Nepal because I was afraid of travelling alone. Remember the gang rape in New Delhi that caused nationwide protests and global coverage of the state of womens' safety in India? That happened last December. And what's happened since then? Even more rapes, including this recent one targeting a Swiss tourist. I was scared because of the news I was reading and even more scared because of the first-hand stories from fellow travelers ranging in topics like illness, groping, and aggressive touting. I might have been over-reacting but this was freaking me out at the time.

So I signed my soul away and joined the group on Sunday. I booked with a company called G Adventures because they have a reputation for attracting more independent-minded travelers. I realized this tour was not the right fit for me on the first day. I trudged through it with increasing disappointment for 3 days.

Beautiful Jaipur

Sitting in the Amber Palace outside of Jaipur

Getting ready for Holi with a decoration at the City Palace

A recent conversation I had with my jaded South Indian friend:

Friend: Why do you want to go to Rajasthan so much?

Me: Isn't it where all the old Indian palaces are? I thought it was supposed to represent the picture of India Westerners imagine with all the jewels and royalty.

Friend: Yeah you'll see some palaces. But I think the picture you have in your head is exaggerated. North Indians just know how to market their sites better than South Indians do but some of the temples in South India are just as beautiful.

I'm in Jaipur now and there's a festival going on today called Holi. I'm not kidding when I say this may be one of the most gorgeous places I've ever been to in my life. South India ain't got nothing on this!

Photos from South India

Before coming to India, I used to segment my trip into each country I visited. I thought about them as individual units of culture and modes of travel. Then I entered India on March 11 and every new city I went to seemed to turn into a completely different journey from the last.

I'm travelling with an Indian-born friend currently living in the States and we decided to split the itinerary planning by city. We're spending two weeks together in South India. I booked the first few days, he booked the next four. The differences in our choices of hotel, transportation, and site-seeing agenda were stark. I put us in a hostel that cost $4 a day. To get around, I opted to take the bus which usually cost less than $5 per ride across cities. On the other hand, my friend put us into a 5-star beachfront resort which had three swimming pools on the premises. He claims he only booked such luxury places because he assumed I wanted these things (based on the fact that all Americans are spoiled brats and other such indicators). 

As bipolar as our itinerary has been, I can definitely say with confidence I've now seen people from all walks of life from the extremely rich to the very poor - poor by Indian standards, mind you. It's been a pretty amazing experience.

Pictures from Pondicherry and Mamallapuram (my section of the itinerary)

Goat herding down the street in Pondicherry