India 2.0... the prodigal son returns

Some of you might remember that I spent a few months living and working in India back in 2004 (mostly in New Delhi, with short side trips to Agra, Jaipur, and Katmandu). So while this trip would bring me back to a few of my favorite places (eg. Taj Mahal, and Amber Fort), I was also looking forward to sharing new experiences with Teresa, and I was intrigued to see how I would feel being back.

Because Teresa and I arrived at Delhi International airport at about 3am the roads on the way to our first hotel were pretty quite, and the temperature was pretty bearable, certainly not how I remember mega-metropolis that is New Delhi. The taxi driver, however, wasn't very pleased that we had had the commonsense to pre-pay the cab fare to the hotel (something we'd read about online), so he wasn't going to be able to charge us his normal 'tourist rate'... that was a little more like the India I remember.

Once we eventually ventured out in to the city during the day (after a couple of days relaxing at the Hyatt, by the pool and enjoying the free happy hours) the more familiar stories began to emerge.


The traffic and energy was just how I remembered it... a crazed combination of every type of vehicle imaginable (buses, cars, pedicabs, motor bikes, horses, camels, cows, tuktuks), combined with constant horn honking and an endless stream of humanity spilling out on to the streets from every direction.


I LOVED IT!!... Teresa not so much.

I'm not sure what it is about the Indian chaos that I seem to enjoy so much, but I think it has something to do with old fascination I have for self-organizing systems. That is, the concept that a sometimes individuals who act within a basic set of rules, and with no central control, can appear to be very well organized... like an ant colony for example. Anyone who has stood in Grand Central Station during peak hour and watched all the people seamlessly move past each other from every direction (with almost no missteps), will have a sense of what I mean. Or like a dance floor filled with ballroom dancers, that spin and twirl past each other, and rarely collide.

In any case the traffic in India (and the country in general) is a lot like that... both mad and chaotic, and yet oddly organized. I guess it just fascinates me.


Having said that, I must admit the noise and full-on energy gets to me after a few days. And eventually the constant sound of car horns, and hawkers relentlessly trying to sell you stuff, can wear even the most ardent admirer down.

Another thing which I found just as fascinating the second time around, is the alternative history that exists in India. While most of us learn a certain amount of world history at school, it usually tends to be focused on European history, and storyline dictated mostly by a pre- and post-christian timeline.


India, however, seems to have a completely different storyline. A storyline that seems to focus on hundreds of years of trying to reconcile Hindu, Muslim, and Christian faiths... with varying degrees of success. The various kings of India (or Maharaja) have a rich history, just like the European kings, and built palaces, forts, and various temples of worship, that rival any of those I have seem in Europe (at around the same time)... but you virtually never hear about them in the western school system (except perhaps where the British were involved).

I guess a notable exception is Mahatma Gandhi, but even he deserves a much greater place in history than the typical foot note that he usually gets.

So... as with everything in India my feeling about returning are a mixture of delight and anxiety. The bottom-line is I'm glad I got a second chance to experience this great country, but I'm not sure I need return again.. although if we do return again Teresa and I both agree we would like to see more of the countryside and less of the cities.

Turkey: Observations, Raves and Rants

We've been able to relax for a few days at the Delhi Hyatt (thanks to Paul's many stays at the Hyatt up in Cambridge!), so we've had some time to take a deep breath and revisit our experiences and observations from the Turkey trip.  

The overall experience was unexpectedly wonderful.  

Unexpected, because we had no idea that Turkey's countryside would be so beautiful.  I highly recommend a road trip through Turkey.  It's much like the little towns and villages that you would see in Switzerland, with the snow capped mountains in the background and each town dotted with a mosque instead of a chapel.  Then there were the gorgeous and abundant wild flowers in the fields and the sides of the highway.  And, the people in the country side are friendly and sweet and offer to sit and have tea with you often. 

Cappadocia was a contrast of green, lush countryside and other-worldly fairy chimneys for which they are famous.  Add to that the amazing story of the Christians who lived there as they fled from the Romans and built churches and homes in the rocks and it's all just that much more amazing.

  

Our hotel was a family run business (father and son), open for about a year and doing very well.  When we were there, they were full and getting very good reviews on Trip Advisor.  One of the interesting things about Turkey is that it is 98% Muslim, which means calls to prayer throughout the day and night.  We barely noticed it in Istanbul, but in Cappadocia, the mosque was a block away from our hotel.  The first call to prayer was at 4am...ouch!  We all agreed (me, Paul, and our friend Bill) that it added to the authenticity of our experience.  

Istanbul, like most great cities is a great combination of modern and old.   The Hagia Sophia was built in 360AD!  The highways, buses and trains are quite modern and new.  For our daily breakfasts we were offered cereal, yogurt and omelettes as well as the traditional Turkish breakfast which consists of tomatoes, cucumbers, white cheese, olives and a spam-like meat product.  Istanbul is also full of hustlers - hawkers that are trying to sell you what they have - be it a rug, a meal, a hotel room, a partnership in a future business - it's all a part of the Istanbul experience.  Everyone is your friend, sometimes for real, and sometimes if they think they can sell you something.

So, all of this (and more!) make Turkey unique.  And we expect to go back in the future to see more of what we missed this time around and to revisit some of our fond memories.  

Other observations:

1. Cats!  In Turkey they seem to be largely favoured over dogs.  They're everywhere.

2. The faces of the children.  They have such great character - most of them having the facial characteristics of an older person.

3.  Call to prayer occurs five times a day.  Because of this, there are wash stations along the highway so everyone can wash up before prayer.  We called them "Park n Pray" stations.  Offering free car washes at the “Park n Pray” could be a profitable business!

Cappadocia or Ephesus...

In order to stay within our travel budget when we arrived in Turkey, Teresa and I needed to make a decision about whether would travel to Cappadocia or Ephesus.

In a perfect world we would have done both, by self-driving a triangle from Istanbul to Ephesus (along the coast), then on to the heart land of Turkey (where Cappadocia is located), and back to Istanbul... however for this trip we needed to make a decision.

Both destinations offered different features... we were told Cappadocia offered a strange landscape with underground cities and hot air balloon rides, while Ephesus offered beautiful coastal vistas, and magnificent roman ruins.

After much consideration we decided to head to Cappadocia, and as Teresa has mentioned in another blog entry we're glad we did... it was a wonderful adventure.

Bill Fuchs (a close friend from New York) asked if he could fly over to Turkey and join us for an impromptu vacation, so the three of us headed off to the local Avis office and hired a car for our fun road trip. PS. The Avis office has moved in the past 3 mths, so don't trust the google maps location for Avis near Tuskin square.





Once on the road we very pleased with the quality of the roads, which made the 900km (560 miles) trip a relative pleasure. Once we had worked out how the electronic toll system worked (after running a couple of red lights we realized we were using the wrong lanes) the journey went without incident.





Once on the road, the chaos of the Instanbul city streets gave way to smooth highways and beautiful green country sides, even the road side cafes offered pretty reasonable food. But the highways, roaming green fields, and distant blue mountains couldn't prepare us for the Cappadocian vista.





We stayed in a small tourist town called Goreme, at a little hotel that Teresa found online called Caravanserai Cave Hotel, which had great reviews and didn't disappoint.





We had a great time driving around the area, it was great to have a rental car so that we could set our own agenda, and felt like kids again scrabbling over rocks, exploring caves, eating grilled fish straight from a stream (at least we think it was freshly caught), and taking a hot air balloon flight.























The bottom-line was that the Cappidocian people were wonderfully friendly, the landscape was amazing, and the food and adventures were more fun than we could have predicted.





We still don't really know what Ephesus really has to offer, but we are very glad we decided on Cappidocia for this trip.

The ghost of Hemingway

One of my favorite things about being on vacation is the opportunity it gives me to enjoy a good book.

And when I'm traveling I especially like to try and find a novel (either fiction or non) that has some theme connected to the place I'm visiting... for example: Max Dangers Adventures as an Expat in Tokyo when traveling to Japan, City of Djinns for journeys to India, and In a sunburned country for wonderful insights in to Australia.

So it was that I began the wonderful Ernest Hemingway novel, A moveable feast.

For those who might not be acquainted with this wonderful classic, the book is a series of short stories written about Hemingway's experiences in Paris in the 1920's... loosely based on reality, but like most great writers I suspect Hemingway doesn't let reality get in the way of a good story.

Ironically there is also connective theme with the recently released Woody Allen movie, called Midnight in Paris, which has some very fun references to both the 1920's and Mr. Hemingway. PS. Teresa and I took a little time off from our "hectic vacation schedule" to go and see this wonderful movie at a theater on the Champs Elysees. We both loved the movie, and would have loved to watch it for another 2 hrs.

In any case 'A movable feast' was the perfect book for our stay in Paris. The book has a great way of capturing the energy and sprit of the city, and the feelings have somehow managed to transcend time.

I recommend it for anyone visiting the city of lights... :-)