In an effort to maximize our price-to-comfort ratio and with the understanding that showering while standing above a squat toilet is so 2011, we have graduated from staying at cheap youth hostels to staying at cheap hotels. It appears that we haven’t moved very far up the ladder… Yes, it seems that in our search
There is a saying in Egypt that if you drink the water from the Nile, you’re sure to return. God knows what we drank in Singapore – it certainly wasn’t a delicious Basil Gin Gimlet or a refreshing pint of beer – but nary three months after returning to the US, we’re heading back. Does
The fastest way to gain a few pounds is to tell a Malaysian that you enjoyed the food in Singapore. Immediately you will be forcibly carted off to a century old noodle restaurant to discover just how much beef and broth you can possibly fit in your stomach. And while your trying in vain to
When I was 20 years old I spent the summer in Spain. One week a friend and I took the ferry across Gibraltar to the port town of Tangiers in Morocco. When we disembarked there was a hoard of men waiting to descend upon the fresh faced backpackers on board. They screamed at us, “You’re not
Jerusalem is a heavy destination. For Jews it’s the cornerstone of the world, the location of the Holy of the Holies and where your prayers go straight to heaven. For Christians these are the streets where Christ walked, where he healed the blind, ate his last supper and eventually died for the sins of the
Heading to an Arab country for the first time is a little intimidating, particularly for a single, American woman. “They don’t like modern women!” people warned, “be careful and don’t walk around alone.” Among other impractical advice I was told to: Cover your head! Don’t talk to men! Say you’re from Canada! I arrived prepared.
The first month in India we drove through several towns in the southwest of the country, each very similar in their (lack of) general infrastructure. On poorly repaired streets cows competed for dominance with tractors, over-sized trucks and sedans that were packed with families. In the downtown areas tiny homes with corrugated roofing leaned against crumbling
It’s appropriate that we finish our trip in the one city that most embodies the beauty, the history and the insanity that is India – Varanasi. Oh my God, Varanasi. It’s impossible to translate the utter shock, dismay and overwhelming fascination that you feel when confronted with this place that’s “older than history, older than
If I were to tell you a tale of a modern day warriors with massive turbans carrying swords who pray at a temple made of gold, you may think that I’ve been overindulging on the pot pakoras. But clearly you’ve never been to Amritsar, home of the Sikh religion and their gorgeous Golden Temple, an
The word Kashmir brings to mind two totally unrelated thoughts, one being the famous song by Led Zepplin and the other being a horrifically dangerous militarized border between India and Pakistan. Neither are wrong, except for the fact that the song ‘Kashmir’ was written about Morocco and this year things are pretty peaceful in the
When we mentioned to a friend that we planned to travel to Leh and he became super animated and excited for us. “Beautiful! Leh is beautiful. But it has one problem.” In all seriousness he said, “Leh lacks oxygen.” Leh is tiny Buddhist city nestled in the Himalaya mountains. The entire city is bathed in
Backpacking is certainly not a high class way to travel and in the past few weeks we’ve been discovering how low can we go. Bus rides. Himalaya Mountains. Days and days of jam packed public buses swerving up and down the steepest, most dangerous roads in the world. Surprisingly we weren’t the only people deranged
