The End...is only just the beginning....

Bewildered by his inability to win

We are tired. The constant state of awareness and consciousness that makes me feel so alive when travelling has worn me down after five months of being on the road and I think we can both honestly say that we are ready to come home. Our original plans of heading to Indonesia after Thailand have been put on hold to save for another time when we have fresher legs and more nimble enthusiasm (a honeymoon perhaps?!). Travelling for this long and under these conditions is a lot different from “vacationing” as Kaitlyn sometimes forgets and life on the road, in a constant state of movement and ambiguity, has a way of catching up to you. Our experiences have been truly amazing and unforgettable and we would not have done anything differently at all. To have had this opportunity to see so much and actually live out my own personal dream to travel around the world is something we are incredibly grateful for, the memories of which we will have for the rest of our lives together.

Thailand street food

We have spent the past few weeks, in whatever free time we have (ha!) and whenever we are privileged enough to have Wi-Fi, scouring the internet for potential career opportunities, trying to lay what little of a foundation for our future together we can being on the other side of the globe. Our return to the “real world” is officially upon us and we are both excited to get started on our lives together and sad that our once in a lifetime journey together is coming to an end. It’s been a bittersweet finale to the trip, but a welcomed transition back to the familiar nevertheless.
After a few days spent moseying around on the Thai beaches under unfortunately overcast skies (Phuket was quite expensive and touristy and disappointingly not even that nice at all), we took a ferry over to famous Phi Phi Island, the picturesque setting of the movie The Beach starring Leonardo Dicaprio. The island was devastated after the tsunami and is only now starting to get back to its once over-touristy roots. It was much more backpacker friendly and a lot more beautiful and natural a setting to spend a few lazy days.

We hung out on the beach on the one sunny day we had and soaked up the rays and crystal clear waters along Long Beach. We hiked up to the lookout point for a beautiful view of the incredible island. After a couple of days of overcast and one of perfect beach sun, we reluctantly caught the ferry back to the mainland city of Krabi.

It was next time for Malaysia as we began our descent southwards towards our final destination city of Kuala Lumpur. After a stopover in the allegedly nice island city of Georgetown on Penang, we decided to head into the country’s interior to a place called the Cameron Highlands to visit a tea plantation, honeybee farm, and pick some strawberries. Unfortunately, this area is also one of the most visited by Malaysian tourists and the one and a half lane road leading in and around the area made for quite the congestion. We literally sat on our minibus, a mere ten kilometers away from our destination, for two hours in a slow crawl forwards. After taking an enjoyable half-day tour of the aforementioned places, there really wasn’t much else to do so we packed onto a bus and headed to Kuala Lumpur. After a close encounter at a hostel involving some bedbugs (we moved places once they were discovered), we explored Chinatown and the rest of the city, including visiting a 7-story mall complete with roller coaster, bowling alley, and movie theater (and even treated ourselves to a bowl-off and a movie…splurge!).

We next headed south towards Singapore as our last new city on our tour of the globe. It was without a doubt my favorite city on the entire trip, an amazing blending of cultures set amongst a background of complete modernity. I’m a sucker for all things Southeast Asian and this island/city/country was just indescribably amazing. We stayed in Little India, the backpacker area though still extremely quite expensive, but managed to cover the entire city mostly on foot, also taking advantage of the incredibly clean and efficient subway system.

We checked out Orchard Road, a very posh and happening area complete with purple Christmas lights and tons of high-end shopping, walked along the water at Clarke Quay another posh area complete with upscale shopping and tons of bars, visited the Raffles Hotel, home of the infamous Singapore Sling (unfortunately it was early in the morning so we didn’t partake) and ventured along the Esplanade, complete with the highest observational ferris wheel in the world. Needless to say, Singapore was beautiful, modern and expensive, but definitely a place we plan on returning to when we can afford it!

We then headed back to Kuala Lumpur on an overnight bus to avoid having to shell out a bunch of cash for a place to stay in expensive Singapore. We arrived at our luxurious 5-star hotel for a much needed day of comfort spent at an actual nice place, an incredibly thoughtful and generous engagement gift from my Godmother Aunt Pat and Uncle Rick, for our final evening abroad before catching our flight back home at 2:00 a.m. Saturday morning. Needless to say, we napped on the pool chairs, enjoyed the delicious breakfast and soaked up the luxury for the complete 24 hours! After checking out we explored Kuala Lumpur a little more and went to see the Petronas Towers, the tallest twin towers in the world. (allegedly...they don't look very tall!)

Malaysia and Singapore are very unique countries. For one, with their close proximity to Thailand and large Indian population, you would think that the food would be somewhat spicy. Erroneous. In fact, Malaysia is actually turning out to be one the more difficult places to eat for the both of us. They seem to have an infatuation with seafood and even use it as an unfortunate garnish on seemingly every dish. Worse still, there seems to lack a consistency in what each dish actually consists of. Kaitlyn, with her love for culinary adventures, was even turned off after ordering a noodle dish that of course included mashed up fish…including the bones.

As we sit on one of our three plane rides today, the big 14-hour jaunt from Shanghai to New York, it is hard to believe that we really are headed home. Kaitlyn is giddy with excitement to see her “baby” as she continues reminding me (her dog, Elvis) and I’m sure all of you as well! We have both missed being able to see and talk to our friends and family regularly over the past few months. We appreciate everyone following along with us on our grand adventures and look forward to catching up with everyone soon…although we may need a few days to recover from the jet lag which I’m sure we are going to experience!

A store at a mall in Kuala Lumpur...a sign?!?!

Musings…

The Kuala Lumpur airport is located 70 kilometers outside the city. That seems pretty dumb to me…

My beard is pretty puffy nowadays and it affects my sleep. It often becomes itchy for no reason and gives the side of my head a bizarre elevation when asleep.

The Chinese airline offers wine and beer for free…who knew the Chinese were such lovers of the booze!

Night Markets and Samoan Children



Slurpees!

 One of my chores growing up was to mow our sprawling lawn once a week using a push lawnmower. The task would take me four to five hours in the agonizing humidity of the Florida summers, going both up and down the hill in our backyard leading into the lake. Having finally completed my weekend duty, I would return inside my house, drenched from sweat and hating my wretched teenaged life more than ever, dying of thirst. I’ll never forget how refreshing the lemonades were that my mother always seemed to have waiting for me at the end of those days. They were amazingly delicious, made even the more enjoyable from my previous hours of physical anguish and exertion.

We got to Thailand on November 23. Our exodus from India and entry into the wonderland that is Thailand was, to say the least, just like one of those tall lemonades after our month-long of Indian chaos. Before entry however, India was reluctant to let us leave from its filthy grips. One late flight led to another and then after a horrendous two hours spent sitting in the stagnant air of the plane, not having left the gate due to the incompetence of some Indian airline employee having forgotten to get “some papers” that were apparently critical to our departure, we missed our connecting flight to Chiang Mai. I diligently recorded the whole debacle, ready to go all YouTube on their ass, fully expecting to wage a battle to fight for our money back. Somehow, miraculously, the Thai Indian Air employee who met us in Bangkok, even despite his limited English, swiftly took care of the situation, booked us a flight out for the next morning, gave us meal vouchers and even put us up at a luxurious hotel for the evening. This was our first taste of Thailand, a literal and figurative breath of fresh air from everything that is India.

We arrived in Chiang Mai the next day (after seeing what appeared to be Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen at the Bangkok airport- swoon!) and headed off to explore the city. On my previous visit to Thailand five years ago, I was unable to get to Chiang Mai, the former capital in the north of the country of which everyone has just seemed to rave about. After checking out a market and a few temples, we headed into a tourist office to inquire about some activities. Five hundred dollars later, we were booked up for the next couple of weeks.

We spent Thanksgiving in the middle of a jungle in northern Thailand during our trek into a Karen hill tribe village. We rode bareback on elephants and spent the evening drinking some beers with a couple of fellow Americans and a German guy hiking along with us and our Karen guide, the self-proclaimed “Michael Jackson” who had an affinity for John Denver’s hit song “Country Roads,” singing it over and over again. We had a great time, and I even recall eating a bit of frog Michael Jackson speared along the river’s edge. It was definitely a memorable Thanksgiving…at least what I can remember of it!

After two days and a night spent in the jungle (and a dozen beers later), we emerged back in Chiang Mai ready to embark upon our next activity, a one-day Thai cooking class, aka Kaitlyn’s most favorite day ever. I must admit, it actually was quite an enjoyable experience getting a hands-on lesson in the art of Thai cooking, a cuisine that I could finally throw my support behind. Along with two other couples, we each made our own portions of such dishes as spring rolls, chicken satay, pad thai, two soups, desserts, and thai curries. It was a deliciously filling afternoon.

Aside from trekking into the hilltribe villages and its famous cuisine, Chiang Mai is also renowned for its night market, an experience that I hate to admit, got the best of me. I was like a fat kid in a bakery, voraciously buying up everything I could, much to Kaitlyn’s delight that my reluctance to spend money was abating. Why the sudden change of sentiment? Prior to our night market splurge, we sat down and took a long look at our finances so far on the trip to better ascertain our current monetary status. After totaling everything up, including our return ticket home, we are on track to be far under budget for our trip, a cause worthy of finally being able to overindulge in some spending. We have taken 13 flights (including leaving and returning to the U.S., just prior to Christmas mind you!) totaling a mere $3,600 each. Not bad at all! That in conjunction with our daily budget puts us far under the $15,000 we budgeted for this five-month endeavor, which is a good thing by all accounts considering we have no place to live and no jobs once we get back! (So if you know of anybody in need of an awesome lawyer or handsome writer, let us know!)

With bad decisions made at the night market and subsequent Sunday street market, we now have an extra bag to tote around, about the size and girth of a Samoan child, which is just awesome. We haphazardly packed it all in, said good bye to Chiang Mai (one of our favorite places so far), and headed to Bangkok on a long bus ride. The net day we were heading to Cambodia to visit the ruins of Angkor Wat, a sprawling temple complex surrounded by lush jungle. After getting bamboozled by the dubious people in charge of our transportation from Bangkok to Siem Reap, Cambodia, we finally settled in.

Siem Reap, the town on the outskirts of the Angkor Wat ruins, was quite a bizarre little place. It had its own night market (curses!) and numerous massage/fish spas, where fish nibble at the dead skin on your feet while you are given a beer and sit atop said fish tank like a wading moron. ATMs in Cambodia also only distribute U.S. dollars, which is somehow their currency of choice and they use their own currency strictly as change from the dollars (4,000 riel = $1). Things were dirt cheap here, almost humorously so, as menu items were listed between less than a dollar to a whopping $2, yet still with the understanding that we were somehow getting ripped off because these were the tourist prices! Our glorious hotel room, complete with fridge, tv and air conditioning cost us a staggering $12 and our return bus trip back to Bangkok a dumbfounding $8 (especially considering we paid $40 each for the exact route there!)

After enjoying a much needed meal after our ten hour ordeal of a bus ride into the city (and eating it beside an older gentleman that appeared to be purchasing a Cambodian girl from two questionable males seated in front of him), we headed off to explore the Cambodian night market (so what…I like night markets, there, I said it!). Some $20 later (an exorbitant amount by Cambodian standards), our Samoan travel companion grew in size. The next morning, we rented bicycles and went off in exploration of the temples of Angkor Wat.

Riding bicycles all day for 30 kilometers or so didn’t at first appeal to me. However, thanks to Kaitlyn’s urging to do so, it turned out to be one of the most unforgettable experiences of this trip. It was absolutely amazing to first off, ride a bicycle through an Asian city with all the surrounding chaos. It was exhilarating to almost get run off the road at every traffic signal and watch your life flash before your eyes! Once we got to the temples however, nothing can really describe how incredible it was to ride through the peaceful pathways leading in between each ancient temple. It was surreal and tranquil to see these magnificent sights in such a natural way. Aside from being the second most extraordinary ruins we have ever seen (nothing can compare to the Pyramids), the cycling experience (for only $2!) was definitely one of those things we will always remember.

The next day we headed back to Bangkok and spent the following day exploring the city. This morning, we caught a plane to Phuket to begin our final descent southward towards Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and our return to America on December 18. It has been a long journey and I think we are both ready to get back home and embark on the next phase of our lives together. It’s been an experience we wouldn’t trade for anything in the world especially getting to share it all with one another and we have been happy to share it with you all. We really appreciate you following along on our (mis)adventures. We are both exhausted so I apologize for the lapse in posts. I will definitely post again before our final departure and probably again once more to sum everything up. We hope you had a great Thanksgiving and look forward to seeing you soon!
 

When the Goan gets tough, the tough gets Goan…to the bathroom!

We have spent the past five days here in beautiful Palolem, Goa, India. The crescent beach, surrounded by swaying palm trees, is blessed with unforgettable sunsets and utter relaxation. The beach is gorgeous, yet undeniably purely Indian, as cows saunter along the sand, dogs and children chase each other into the waves, and locals hawk their cheap wares to you (seemingly every two minutes until you learn to either completely ignore them, pretend you’re deeply involved in some marvelous novel, or look at them with such complete and utter contempt and scorn that they are afraid to approach you  once more) after finding their own nice little spot in the sand to go ahead and sneak a quick little urination in before getting back to work harassing you. Ahh India….


rickshaw ride in the rain

After a seemingly endless 24-hour period of transporting ourselves by every means available (like seriously, we took a  rickshaw through the pouring rain to the airport, then an airplane from Udaipur to Mumbai, a rickshaw from the airport, a train to another spot in town, walking for miles, a 16 hour overnight bus ride to Goa, then another two hour bus ride to Palolem), tensions were understandably high. We headed to the beach with all our stuff and found a seemingly nice little place to get some needed food and relax for a minute (and get Kaitlyn a drink…or two). We then found a decent little place to stay for the next four nights, unpacked our stuff, and headed back out to the beach to watch the sunset and enjoy a “sunset drink” as Kaitlyn has dubbed it. Everything was just fine and couldn’t be better! After drinks, we headed out to the “town” (a dirt road with shops and restaurants) to try some of the famous Goan cuisine.
With my taste buds having not matured since the sixth grade (I’ll take some chicken nuggets please), I was proud of myself for deciding that I once had chicken vindaloo while in Tallahassee and I liked it so I was actually looking forward to trying some authentic Indian chicken vindaloo, one of the most authentically Goan meals available. “Good for me,” I thought, “I am growing up!” One of the restaurants we passed along the way just happened to be called “Casa Fiesta,” specializing in Mexican food, which is something that Kaitlyn just loves. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity for some “Mexican food” while in India after eating curry after curry (and noodle after noodle for me!) so we decided to have dinner there. Plus, being the schemer that I am, I figured that Kaitlyn would order something Mexican and that I could dazzle her with my new found courage in trying an Indian dish. I could, for once in the past month, be the one to rub it in HER face that I ate Indian and she, in fact, did not.

The waiter came and we placed our orders. “I’ll have some guacamole and chips and quesadillas,” she said, as I held back my elation at what was about to follow. “I’ll take the chicken vindaloo my good sir,” I proudly declared, “Take that Bagnato!”

Our dishes came and at once, I knew something was awry. Call it buyer’s remorse over not selecting the chicken fajitas or call it a sixth sense about what was going to happen over the next three days, there just wasn’t something right about my chicken vindaloo. I ate it all anyway (mostly because I just couldn’t bear to eat the alternative of crow!). 

I woke up in the middle of the night several times. I will spare you the details of my life over the next few days. Needless to say, it was not pretty and my “vomit streak,” as Jerry Seinfeld would say, came to a very unfortunate demise that evening (and I can’t even blame it on a black and white cookie!).

Kaitlyn was the absolute best nurse I could have ever asked for, which makes me wonder just how amazingly good her sister Brittany must be since she actually is a nurse! Her dad was also a life saver in helping us determine what  prescriptions we needed to help piece me back together again. After two days of taking care of me, unfortunately, Kaitlyn then started feeling ill herself. We spent Sunday cooped up on our bed inside our little beachside shack underneath the fan, too lazy and sick to move, playing games of Phase Ten in between drifting off to sleep.

Now, Monday, we are both feeling great again though my appetite, and the weight I could already barely afford to lose, is far from back. After two trips into town to the pharmacy to get some drugs as prescribed by Dr. Bagnato (I don’t really understand the concept of a pharmacy anymore. It seems that overseas, anyone can just walk in and get whatever medication they want, no questions asked, and for really cheap. Kinda makes you wonder about what sort of pharmaceutical cabal goes on in America), I think we’re back on track to continue our journey into the world, and just in time too as tomorrow morning we are off to Chiang Mai, Thailand!

Jaisalmer

Before we got to Goa, we of course hit up several other Indian cities along the way. We tried to see as much as possible in a short amount of time. Unfortunately, we were both also getting very sick of India and Indians in general so my descriptions and recollections of each place may seem like a blur. Nevertheless, I will try to briefly recount each place for you below:

Jodhpur, “the blue city” – Pretty crappy, overrated, don’t waste your time in ever going, and, to top it all off, not even very blue at all!

Jaisalmer, “the golden city” – Very cool, especially for India. It’s a desert fort with a living city still inside of it. We were less than impressed however after being to the Middle East and inside countless medinas, all older and more enchanting. A very cool place for a change of pace of India though.

Pushkar, a visit to the infamous “Camel Festival” – India in a nutshell. A crazy swath of humanity intermingling with animals, walking around barefoot, pushing and praying to countless gods. For us, it was a bearable eight hours before getting the hell out of there!

Udaipur, “the city of lakes” and dubbed India’s most romantic city – Definitely worth checking out! It was still real India, but at a far more relaxed and manageable pace. It was pretty, definitely, but I’m not so sure about anything in India being “romantic”….other than proposing at the Taj Mahal, of course!

Mumbai – We literally walked through it en route to Goa. It was definitely much more bearable than Delhi and shows promise of a future, i.e. there weren’t many cows wandering around aimlessly.

Joe had been grooming himself as the next winner of the moustache competition at the Pushkar Camel festival, but...

after seeing his competition, he kinda chickened out!

After more than a month of being here in India and finally being able to visit the places I have wanted to the most for all my life, I can honestly say that I’m spent and I’ve had quite enough. I really can’t describe this place whatsoever. It’s chaos incarnate, a flurry of flamboyance, and the safest place in the world to be a cow. You’ve personally kicked my ass India, albeit the chicken vindaloo or of sheer exhaustion. You’re a sweltering place in November and I can’t even imagine what you’re like in the “hot” months. You’ve taken our pictures for God knows what reason, told us “good price” one too many times, spit incessantly, stared at us, touched us, and made us sleep atop what were surely filthy sheets all too often. You’ve bobbled your head in an ambiguous manner for the last time. You’ve made me hate my life at times but then gave me the capacity to understand just how lucky I am to be alive and to be American. You’ve shown me the power of faith in something bigger than myself, something greater than the here and now. You’ve made me appreciate cleanliness, expectations, manners, courtesy, good service, safe food and potent water.

You’ve taught us the same lesson Ralphie's kid brother learns in “A Christmas Story” when he decides to lick the frozen pole outside his school. We were always curious about doing it, were told what to expect, but wanted to try it out anyway, the consequences of which we will still feel for months long after we’re freed from your grip…

You’ve been an incredible experience of which neither of us will ever forget!

Take this upcoming holiday to think about just how much we really do have to be thankful for and how lucky we are to have been born as Americans. We definitely will be! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

 

Head Bobbles and Marriage Proposals

What an incredibly eventful past two weeks we have had here in India. After spending a few days in Rishikesh, the "yoga capital of the world" where Kaitlyn was able to get her stretch on twice a day while I  made friends with the resident monkeys surrounding the ashram we stayed in, we next stopped off in Haridwar, one of the holiest cities for Hindus located on the Ganges River. Aside from the indescribable chaos that is India, we have recently been joined (at last!) by Kaitlyn's parents. Their arrival has come at an opportune time as well since both Kaitlyn and I were nearing our wits end in dealing with the Indians. Our patience (mine especially!) was wearing thin with the endless honking of mopeds and rickshaws and harrassment by storekeepers. In fact, my frustration toppled over one day as I "accidentally" kicked a guy on a moped and Kaitlyn "inadvertantly" pushed a bicycle rickshaw out of her way. This whole country is truly a crazy ass place where nothing makes any sense whatsoever. So needless to say, the arrival of the Bagnatos was impeccable timing. Aside from the incredible hotels they were treating us to and finally being able to sleep in a comfortable bed without having to wonder if the sheets were clean or not (or even present at all), it was definitely refreshing to get a taste of home and family life once again, not to mention being able to share in all the squalor and craziness of India together...and if that meant having to see it from plush hotels and resorts while being served tea, well dammit, it's a sacrifice we were both willing to make!

We spent our first day together touring the sights of New Delhi, all of us still in a slumbered state from our middle of the night awakening upon their arrival. Early that morning Kaitlyn and I headed to the U.S. Embassy where she completed the final steps of paperwork to officially become a lawyer and was sworn in by a notary at the embassy, something I'm sure not too many lawyers can brag about! The next day we boarded a flight to Varanasi, one of the oldest living cities in the world and the holiest place for Hindus. Our guide was fantastic, taking us to Sarnath, a nearby town where the Buddha first began his teachings, and to the Ganges River where we were able to watch a Hindu ceremony taking place along the river's edge.

The next day we were brought back to the river for a boat ride offering amazing views of the bathing Hindus just in time to see the sunrise and see two bodies being burned in the crematory pyres along the banks. It was definitely an unforgettable experience! From there, it was back to Delhi and then onwards to Agra to see the Taj Mahal...Oh, and also to ask Kaitlyn to marry me!
 

The Proposal
Back in Istanbul, I had snuck out of our room one night when Kaitlyn was fast asleep (aka snoring) to Skype with her parents. They just happened to be online and thankfully, both happened to be sitting there together,  naturally expecting Kaitlyn to be on the other end of the call. Instead, they got me...shaking and awkward. I asked for permission, they granted it (thank god!), and then I told them my plan. Kaitlyn's sister, Brittany, had already been in on it and helped me out by being the caretaker of the ring since our departure. I asked if they could bring it with them to India where I planned on popping the question in front of the Taj. I had no idea what to expect once we got to Agra, nor how it would happen or when it would happen. I just knew I wanted it to happen and that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Kaitlyn. I was freaking out for the better part of two days prior to our arrival in Agra, gradually becoming shakier (and gassier!) as we got closer and closer to the evening. We were only in town for one night and one morning so it had to be done sometime in there. I knew that she would kill me if I did it in a public forum so I knew it wasn't a smart move to do it in front of the thousands of people visiting the Taj the next morning. I only had that evening, Friday November 5.

After a visit to the Red Fort and an introduction by our tour guide as to the history of the Taj Mahal and its founder Shah Jahan (as our tour guide repeatedly pointed out), imprisoned by his son in a tower, forced to live out the rest of his days overlooking the memorial he built for his beloved second wife, we headed back to our rooms to shower and get ready for dinner that evening. I took the shakiest shower in my life and put on some of the nice clothes the Bagnatos brought us for all the fancy times we'd need them for, and then headed out to our gorgeous balcony that overlooked the Taj Mahal to wrap my head around the logistics of what was about to happen. Fireworks were going off all around the land below as this was Diwali, the Hindu new year, the festival of lights, and the absoultely unplanned perfect and memorable evening for an engagement. Kaitlyn finally finished getting ready and joined me outside to watch the fireworks and try to capture one going off behind the sillhouette of the Taj. I jokingly handed her a grotesque black leather bracelet, complete with dangling skulls and crossbones and asked her to wear it that evening since it matched her dress. [The bracelet itself was given to me by a woman at a store in Cappadocia, Turkey, who wanted to give me a souvenir after seeing my armful of bracelets from around the world. I, in turn, gave it to Kaitlyn, since it was obviously more her style than mine. She hasn't worn it at all really, because "it's just too special" she says, so it's been an ongoing joke between us since we acquired it.]

She laughed at the notion but indulged me in putting it on since it was black and did, in fact, match her dress. Upon strapping it on, she noticed something peculiar dangling from the silver skulls and brought it closer to her face for inspection. At that moment, I dropped to my knee, with trembles in full force and tears in my eyes, and managed to piece together a few coherent phrases of which I assume added up to be something good enough to have her say yes, but only after I had asked if she had "given any thought to my proposal."

The ring itself has tremendous meaning behind it as well. The setting is from the first ring my dad ever gave to my mom some fifty years ago combined with the diamond from her engagement ring. She told me that he would have loved Kaitlyn and wanted me to have it. I'm sure that he's smiling down from heaven right now, along with us on every step of our travels, happy to welcome such an amazing girl into the Statile family. Now, here we are...engaged!....and with a pretty cool story to remember it all by!

We next headed to the most incredible tent ever on the outskirts of Ranthambore National Park. We went on tiger hunting safaris and on our second morning there were one of the fortunate few jeeps to actually spot a tiger roaming the forest, yet another amazing experience we had and were treated to by the Bagnatos. There is no way to describe just how lucky and grateful we are to them for everything they have done for us and allowed us to share in alongside them over this past week. We got to see the luxurious side of India, something I never in my life thought I would ever have the privilege to see. We are going to miss our fancy dinners and comfortable beds of course, but we will mostly miss just being with them and all the laughs we shared in and chaos we endured together, memories we'll have forever.

After a final stop in Jaipur, the “pink city” at the heart of the Indian state of Rajasthan with all its palaces of maharajas and a visit to the breathtaking hillside Amber Fort aboard an elephant, we said our final good byes and we were once again off on our own to explore the rest of India.

We now have about two more weeks left in India to tour the rest of Rajasthan with stops in Jodhpur (the blue city), Jaisalmer (the golden city), Pushkar (to see the famous Camel Festival!), Udaipur (the city of lakes), Mumbai and Goa before heading to Thailand. Internet here is atrocious so please bear with us and we will try to post whenever we can. It will be a hectic couple of weeks as we try to see everything we can. Plus, we just love overnight bus rides, especially aboard the glorious Indian buses. Thanks for still following along with us....We'll be arriving home on December 18 just in time for Brittany to pick us up from the airport and all head to Albany for Christmas!

Cows, Monkeys, and Feces...Oh My!

India is a tepid cesspool of humanity where absolutely nothing makes any sense whatsoever. There are normal toilets, yet  no toilet paper; cows roaming the streets, eating from dumpsters, yet millions of people go starving; it is not just nine hours ahead of EST back home but an intriguing nine and a half; a place with a fierce hatred for their neighbor Pakistan yet with a fun little choreographed border closing ceremony, complete with handshakes and all. Shit, cow, dog, and/or human, lines the sometimes paved, sometimes pebbled, all the time dirty," sidewalks." In a matter of hours, your nostrils are treated to a cocktail of smog, engine fumes, and curries. Beggars tug at your clothes. Random altars are encountered dedicated to a Ganesha (an elephant-person hybrid), a Hanuman (a monkey-person hybrid) or another of the thousand-plus Hindu gods, with puja (an offering typically of food) set before it. Sadhus (Hindu mystics...aka homeless guys) roam the streets in their brightly orange cloth. Children ask you for money, monkeys jump from electrical poles, and svelte dogs prowl the alleyways, scrounging for whatever scraps they can find, whatever the tens of thousands of homeless people didn't get to. Shopkeepers constantly harass you for their "good price" goods while suspiciously friendly english speaking "students" want to help you along. "Tourist information" kiosks seem to be nothing more than tourist scams, even the most official looking offices. Taxi drivers, auto rickshaws and bicycle rickshaws, the caste system of the transportation world, desperately want to take us somewhere (typically, straight to one of these upstanding "tourist information" offices they happen to know about!). Indians gawk at you as you walk down the road, some sneaking pictures, while the more audacious asking to take a picture with you, then greatly desiring to shake your hand afterwards, leading to the obvious application of yet more hand sanitizer.

Welcome to India, the world's largest democracy, the birthplace of the Buddha, the land of the Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs, the home of the Dalai Lama, and the second most populous country on the planet. In short, it is, for all practical purposes, a cluster f!@#... and we adore it immensely!

After 36 hours of sleeplessness, three plane rides including a layover in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, we finally landed in New Delhi on Wednesday, October 20, at 5:00 a.m. and promptly made our way to the train station, hoping to evade the chaos that is Delhi before sunrise. Unfortunately, we underestimated how truly crazy this place really is! After making our way to the train station, red-eyed and semi-conscious from the overnight flight(s), we amateurly succumbed to the touts outside the train station who were trying to "help" us along, taking us to "official" agencies that were going to book our fare for us northwards to Amritsar.

We were on our own, without a map, without any sleep, and without a clue in the world as to where we were or how to get to where we were going. The sun was now up and soon the streets would be mobbed. We went through the run-around that apparently is the travel system of India and, after three hours of deliberations about our next steps, we finally settled on a flight to Amritsar and train tickets to and from our next two destinations for the next ten days before meeting up with Kaitlyn's parents on November 1st in Delhi. We then walked a few blocks around the area, soon realizing that we were hungry. "Here goes nothing," I thought to myself, bracing for my first Indian meal for the next month. We found a little hole in the wall place with four items on the menu (which in hindsight, probably wasn't the wisest of choices for our first Indian meal!) and buckled down for the adventure ahead. As it turns out, whatever it was, really wasn't that bad and, 24 hours later, really wasn't too bad on our stomachs either!

We headed back to the airport for our 7:00 p.m. flight, exhausted from the unanticipated jaunt into Delhi and subsequent extra hours of forced consciousness.

Amritsar
This is the home of the Sikhs, "those guys with the turbans," and the centerpiece of the Punjab state of India. We decided to start our Indian escapade here, a place where we expected it to be a little more subdued, to ease into our host nation for the next month. What we got was a somewhat mixed bag. The craziness and plight surrounding us, rough to stomach even by our well-traveled standards, was, according to some other travelers we met, actually far more pleasant than other areas of India we will soon be looking forward to visiting! Now, in hindsight, having returned to Delhi, we must agree with that assessment! Amritsar, for whatever reason, seemed to lack a real tourist presence. Despite it being home to one of the most recognizable symbols of India, the Golden Temple, white people were rare to come across.

In between taking part in several photo shoots (though far less than our new paler British friend Laura), and enjoying three meals at what we perceived to be the safest option in town, Kaitlyn and I spent most of our two days in Amritsar inside the beautiful Golden Temple complex, a wondrously peaceful refuge from the world around it.

Built in the center of an artificial lake, the Golden Temple is at the heart of the Sikh faith. Before entering, our shoes and socks had to be removed and we were each given a head covering to wear while inside the complex. Sikh guardsmen, despite their imposing presence with large turbans, swords, and scowls, actually turned out to be some of the friendliest people we have met, eager to help answer any questions we had and proud to welcome us into their beautiful temple. Having been to several religious holy sites on our trip, I must say that the Golden Temple was by far the most welcoming to outsiders and even to locals, a testament to the Sikh faith.

The doors to the complex remain open 24 hours a day, as homeless people lined the far walkways, given a refuge for the evening. Free food and drink are also provided to any and all visitors to the complex as well as community lodging to both tourists and pilgrims alike. The temple itself was amazing, a sight we will always remember and a place I had always wanted to see. But perhaps more than anything, we will take with us just how amazingly welcoming the Sikhs were, how friendly  and calm and genuine their believers were. We will remember an old man, clutching onto a cheaply framed photo of the Golden Temple, admiring it from every angle. This was his new prized possession, a souvenir he will take back with him to whatever village he was from, as a reminder of his visit to Amritsar, the holiest of holies, and quite possibly, the highlight of his simple and yet long life.

Next, we took a crammed and bumpy ride in the back of a jeep 45 minutes to the border with Pakistan to watch the border closing ceremony, what has become a major tourist draw. I remember how Kaitlyn freaked out having gone through the border of Israel before, justifiably of course, since we hear of so many problems and acts of terrorism in that country. Therefore, I decided to stay mum on how this was possibly an even riskier location for us to be, since the hatred between India and Pakistan is perhaps more intense than any two nations on the planet, not to mention the whole nuclear weapons capabilities they both have. Neglecting to mention any of this to Kaitlyn, we geared up for whatever was going to occur. Our car dropped us off one kilometer before the border where we had to walk with hundreds of Indians to the actual border site. We then had to pass through two Indian security checkpoints before we were fully upon the border. Much to our delight, we were told we were VIPs for the event since we were foreign tourists and were given a front row seat, as close to the actual border as possible. The event itself was unlike anything we had ever experienced before. Take a pep rally, complete with loud speakers blaring your school's fight song and a guy on a microphone trying to get everyone revved up, mix it with a closed off street with two iron-wrought gates, and throw in a bunch of guys with guns running around, goose stepping, taking turns yelling into a microphone while thousands of people cheer on in the stands surrounding the action while the same exact thing is taking place a few meters on the other side of one of the gates, only with far less people in the stands and quite a few more men wearing onesies. It was quite the show, a testament to the nationalism of both countries infused with a bizarrely choreographed bravado. If nothing else, it was definitely worth the trip out there to be able to peer into the other side and get a glimpse into Pakistan.  The sad reality is that the show will likely soon be coming to an end as the tensions between the two nations begin to heat up and the ground that we walked upon will once again be surely off limits.

Mcleod Ganj

Next, we headed to the Indian state of Himichal Pradesh, adjacent to the Himalayas, and the home of the exiled Tibetan government and community, including the Dalai Lama. After taking the local Indian bus, complete with break down, flooded roads, and death defying twists and turns up cliffs, we arrived in one piece around midnight, ready to see a completely different side of India, notably and for the first time, the pleasure of clean air! We awoke the next morning and explored the tiny mountain hamlet around us, crossing paths with the countless saffron-clad Buddhist monks milling about. Every time I saw one wearing round glasses, my heart dropped with the anticipation that it might have just been the Dalai Lama himself, though, of course, it never was. It was our first peak at the Himalayas and Kaitlyn's first delve into the Buddhist world, both beautiful things! We trekked up a hill and saw an amazing waterfall, did some shopping, and explored the temple and Tibetan museum, learning about the plight of the people. It was definitely all a relaxing few days, a breath of fresh air, literally, from the fraction of India we had already come across in our brief stint in the country.
We caught an overnight bus back to Delhi, a really horrific overnight bus (we thought overnight buses were bad in Turkey!), and have now arrived in Rishikesh, the yoga capital of the world, for a few days before meeting with Kaitlyn's parents in one week, a reunion we both are extremely excited about! Neither of us have gotten sick (yet) and are in a constant state of sensory overload. New Delhi lacks one redeemable quality and is definitely not for the faint of heart. It will definitely be a treat to explore the rest of India with the Bagnatos...and in hotel rooms complete with toilet paper!