Jaisalmer and our encounter with a prince

After Katy's program ended in Ahmedabad, a group of 6 of us (Katy, Nick, Sylvia, Jake, Katy, Alisa, and Tessa) headed off to explore the state of Rajasthan. The state has a lot of desert, forts, and palaces. And since we're still not caught up, these next few posts are going to be done rapid style.

photo by Jake Stout

Just before leaving Ahmedabad and getting on our first Indian sleeper bus. The sleeper cabins are above the seats. It kind of constantly feels like you are about to roll out of the bus. And, although, we would not necessarily say that India wins for the most honking, we will definitely say that it has the loudest and most obnoxious honking. The buses in India have these multiple toned honking systems so that they can play a mix of horn sounds like "doodleloo doodleloo doo" or "wooroo wooroo wooroo" or the good ol' "HAARRRNNKKK." I don't know how to express how terrible these horn systems are. Just imagine the 6 most annoying sounds in the world intermixed sporadically, yet repeatedly, for 14 hours straight.

Tessa and Sylvia in their sleeper.

photo by Sylvia

Alisa and Jake in an auto rickshaw.

photo by Jake Stout

For Jake's birthday we all rented scooters. I trusted Alisa with my life . . . but was terrified.

photo by Jake and Katy

Off-roading.

photo by Jake and Katy

Driving into the sunset.

photo by Jake

We didn't quite have this family's style.

The Jaisalmer Fort. There is still a living city within the fort walls. It's nicknamed "The Golden City."

Katy and Tessa met a really nice lady in a doorstep inside the Jaisalmer Fort and asked if she would give us henna fingerstaches. She didn't even charge us!

"Sharing the Love" or "Making a Young Indian Girl Feel Really Uncomfortable"

And then our new friend threaded our eyebrows.

Nick and Jake getting a shave. For all you Bollywood fans out there, the man shaving Jake has also shaved Abishek Bachchan.

We spent a lot of our time in Jaisalmer hanging out with Shakti. He happens to be one of the princes of Jaisalmer (Rajasthan is made up of many kingdoms) and he now runs a beautiful hotel that feels like you're stepping back in time to the good ol' maharaja days. He took us to his uncle's (aka the king's) pleasure palace where he grew up and learned how to swim. It is a magical place of green grass and crumbling ruins set next to a lovely lake.

Shakti is also one of the number one storytellers we have met on our trip. Just to give you a taste . . . When he was a 15 year old high school student he cut off the headmistress' microphone while she was giving a speech to the entire school and blared "We Don't Need No Education" before running out, jumping on his horse, and making three laps around the school. He then rode off to get to know his people and never went back. Yet he's probably one of the smartest people you'll meet.

Cow entering Jasialmer Fort.

photo by Jake
This is India. Enough said.

Reunited with Katy Lackey in Ahmedabad, Gujarat of all places

We arrived in Delhi and immediately took a 17 hour train to Ahmedabad so that we could see our beloved friend, Katy Lackey, who has spent the last 2 months coordinating a program in which volunteers teach local children about HIV/AIDS.

Upon arrival, we were invited to join in on the program's events of the day. We were presented with three options: piercing shop, salon (pedicures and facials), and/or the dentist's office.

Tessa opted for the piercing. She had never wanted a nose piercing before, but upon being presented with the option, thought "why not?." As you can see, he blunt forced a needle through. Alisa was considering getting her nose pierced but, after watching this spectacle, she decided to pass.

The final product.

Alisa settled with a teeth cleaning.



Katy's neighbors decided to throw their house of volunteers a going-away party - and who are we to refuse a party? Here we are dawning a bit of our Indian garb.



A plateful or two of Indian food and this is what you get: a night filled with lively dance. While there were a few bhangra moves practiced, we spent most of the night learning a few other, more traditional, dance forms that the house mother generously offered to teach us.

What an amazing welcome to India!

Cappadocia, where we cheated the DEATH

Our tour guide (who also served as a guide for Hillary and Chelsea Clinton as well as Supreme Court Justice Scalia and his wife) took us all around the wonder-filled Cappadocia region: camel rides, mimicking rock structures, tours through ancient underground housing complexes, nights on the town, hot air balloon rides, stunning hikes...this is an area that we could spend a long time in!

These mushroom-looking structures are believed to be straight out of the fairy-tales. When climbing, make sure to duck your head!

Like mother, like daughter.

Feel free to cast a vote: Which mother-daughter duo truly captures the rock structure?

Our hike through the Rose Valley, or a valley nearby, was filled with fruit-eating. We really felt like, if there was any place to be lost (or abandoned)...this was it. The fruit truly abounds in this region!

And we think we have discovered why the fruit abounds: While walking through the valley, we would look up and see many little holes carved into the stone. Apparently the farmers chisel tons of these little holes (one foot by one foot, give or take a little) into the rock formations so that the pigeons in the area will come and rest in the safety and security of the holes. The farmers then gather their excrement and use it for fertilization. How innovative!

Eating in the dining hall of an ancient greek-orthodox monastery, home of devout monks of age old. Walking through the rock-hewn churches and dining halls, we caught a little glimpse of what life would have been like many, many years ago.

We decided to take a day trip to the Greek island of Samos, where we spent the day lounging outside of beautiful restaurants and drinking some of the good wine and the delicious cocktails that they had to offer. After our feasting, we decided to look at the sites: a statue of Pythagoras, an influential mathematician, mystic, and scientist from the 6th century BC.

Greece. (I think Tessa is really perfecting her photography skills!) This is what Pythagoras would wake up to everyday. With inspiration like this, we would expect nothing less than the Pythagorean theorem.

Janet and Alisa overlooking the beautiful island of Samos.

Surprise! The one and only Trisha Hall, as well as her two Turkish friends (which she often refers to as her bodyguards), just happened to be in the exact same city at the exact same time as us. (Thanks to Facebook, and crazy Turkish keyboards, Trisha was able to ascertain that we were both in Turkey. From there it was just a matter of meeting up! Luckily, she was traveling around the country the same time we were!)

This is to a night of wild and crazy dancing, cocktails complete with bursting fireworks, a spirited Iraqi woman who came to Turkey to escape the constant pressure of working for the US military in Baghdad, glamorous dresses, rides in little cars with hotel managers, and Trisha's guitar and singing career. This night was unforgettable.

And yeah, we were ready for the 4:30 am morning that awaited us.


Up, up, and away. Our mother's treated us to an early morning hot air balloon ride, something that Alisa has spent her whole life dreaming about. With cookies and tea in hand, we all anxiously awaited the lift off. Who would have known that hot air balloons really are hot? At some points, it felt like we would burn. We flew up and away, over the Red Valley and rock-hewn churches, over fields, and homes...

When people say that it was a crash landing, they really mean it.

"Brace yourself. Brace yourself." And then we crash, full force ahead. Afterward our hot air balloon pilot wiped the sweat off of his face and pronounced, rather shakenly (which might not be a word, but we like it!), "We cheated the DEATH."

We are always comforted when our guides, pilots, and drivers reflect on how little control they actually had. At least we have a great story for the grandchildren!

A champagne toast to life! To living!

After the rather stress-filled week (just kidding!), we treated ourselves to a Turkish bath. We entered the bathing facility, wrapped ourselves in these sarongs and then proceeded into the bathing room: a huge steam room complete with side rooms housing cool water showers and little benches. In the center of the main room was a huge elevated circular slab, upon which we laid. To the back of the room was another, more intense steam room.

After a thorough steam treatment we waited in line for the Turkish scrub down. Yes, that is the official terminology: scrub (and rub) down. It was the most wonderful, pressure-filled massage/ wash down that we have ever received. One person would be on the rectangular slab lying down receiving the full body massage treatment, complete with a sudsy bath. The other person was receiving an exfoliation treatment from a young Turkish man.

We wish we could receive these daily.

Walking in Famous Footsteps: The Ancient City of Ephesus

Our second stop in Turkey was Ephesus and on our way to the city we stopped by the last home of Mother Mary. St. John reportedly brought Mary to this small house atop a lovely tree-covered hill to safely spend her final days. The setting is very serene and nearby the house there is holy water and a nice wall for leaving prayers. This modern statue greets you on the way up the hill.

Ephesus is an ancient Greco-Roman city that was once an important port city. With such a long history, the streets of this city have been graced by many a famous footstep - including (supposedly) those of Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Marc Antony, Cleopatra, Augustus Caesar, St. Paul, and St. John.

Here we are, learning our history, in front of the Celsus Library.

Celsus Library again, artistic style.

This is the theater where Saint Paul gave his last sermon before being executed. This massive theater can seat 25,000!

Obligatory photo of us using ancient Roman toilets.

Then we learned how to make a Turkish carpet. What a piece of cake - it's just knots . . . and more knots . . . and more knots . . . and endless, endless knots. Those things take forever - sometimes years! The patience of those women (apparently Turkish carpets are only made by women and prisoners . . .) is astounding.

And did we forget to mention that this is where we stayed? Our hotel was literally on the Aegean Sea. We ate huge, amazing buffet dinners as we drank wine and watched the sun set over the sea. And then Alisa did interpretive dance to traditional Turkish music and . . . butta bing butta boom, got proposed to (ring and all) 2 days later. Awkward . . . but Mother Bright was so happy to be present at her daughter's first - albeit shortlived - engagement.

Turkey: Our Vacation From Vacation

We have found, at various points on our trip, that our travel feels a lot more like work than it feels like vacation. Like when we get off at the wrong stop in Amman and have to carry our backpacks 2 kilometers along the highway to get to our next bus or when we have to strategize how we can make our last couple shekel (just a few dollars and Israel is pretty expensive) stretch another 48 hours or when we pratically fight our way through touts and rickshaw drivers and then find ourselves walking nearly an hour, with our loaded backpacks, to find the metro. At some point in Israel or Jordan, Turkey became like the beacon of light at the end of the tunnel, a Friday night after an endless string of Mondays. Both our mothers would be flying together to meet us at the Istanbul airport and from then on we would not have to think about a thing - a vacation from our vacation.

Our time in Turkey was unlike any other portion of our trip: beautiful hotels, delicious meals, news clothes, daily showers, and all kinds of luxuries we had not had over the past 6 months. And more than anything else, we got to spend time with our mothers. Time with our mothers would have been enough to re-energize us for our travels even if we had stayed in $2 a night hostels . . . but being spoiled for 2 weeks wasn't bad either :)

The beautiful city of Istanbul. We think this is one of the best cities we have encountered - a fantastic mix of beautiful architecture, lovely waterways, traditional culture, and modern fashion.

A birthday celebration dinner for Tessa. You can't tell but we had a gorgeous view looking out over the Straight of Bosphorus. We are sitting on the European side of Istanbul and we could see the Asian side across the water.

Just a great way to cut an apple.

We spent two days sight-seeing and exploring the city. This is a medusa head used as a base for one of the pillars in the underground cistern.

We spent our last day in Istanbul in between two continents, cruising up and down the Straight of Bosphorus. It was a perfect sunny day and we stopped on the Asian side of the straight for lunch and jewelry shopping. Then on our walk back to our hotel, we couldn't resist stopping for baklava - and then we of course had to sample every different type . . .

Jordan: Desert Dwellin' and King Abdullah Lovin'

We left the Dead Sea bright and early (a little before sunrise) so that we could cross the border into Jordan and make our way down to Petra, a city that is often cited as the eighth wonder of the ancient world. In an effort to save a few pennies (actually, the Israeli shekel is very strong, so we would have been saving dollars!) we decided to take local transportation to the border. This was a difficult endeavor because it was Saturday, and virtually the whole nation of Israel seemed to shut down in observance of Shabbat. We eventually made it to the border, however, and, due to strict Israeli security measures, had to hire a taxi to drive us up into the border crossing station. Oh well! We were on our way to Petra.

Three short bus rides later we arrived in the town of Wadi Musa and were ready to enter Petra. Petra, a wonder-filled city that is fully carved out of stone, was said to be built by the Nabataeans (an Arab people) over 2000 years ago. It served as one of the major trade crossroads, linking China, India and southern Arabia with Egypt, Syria, Greece and even Rome.

We entered the city through the Siq, a narrow gorge surrounded by soaring 260 foot cliffs. Walking through the Siq was a magical experience in itself- the astounding rock formations and beautiful swirls of color made it feel like we were entering a whole new world! We walked slowly, taking in each moment...

This was one of the many different and- should I dare say- THRILLING rock patterns that we witnessed.

The end of the Siq left us with this stunning sight: the Al-Khazneh, also known as the Treasury. This Treasury, at nearly 100 feet wide and 150 feet tall, was carved right out of the sandstone cliff and is praised as one of the most beautiful architectural buildings in all of Jordan (some may even say the world).

From the Treasury, we wandered inward to view the many other sights that Petra had to offer: caves* (where the Bedouin people actually lived until quite recently), rock cut tombs, obelisks, temples, colonnaded streets, water ways, and the Ad-Meir Monastery (which is located atop a mere flight of 800 rock cut steps). The 90 degree Fahrenheit weather had nothing on us!

*The Bedouins are historically a desert-dwelling, nomadic people of Arab origin. Until the mid- 1980's, the Bedouins inhabited the whole of Petra as their own city, making their home in the caves. In the mid- 1980's however, the Jordanian government- in an effort to preserve the monuments- outlawed living in the city of Petra. The Bedouins moved out of the caves and into a nearby village- complete with housing structures, running water and electricity- and thus entered into a completely different lifestyle.

With sunset approaching, we decided to hike up to The High Place of Sacrifice (where we were going to try and spend a few hours, hoping that we would be able to stay in the site until nightfall and catch the candle lit show around 8 pm). We spent the next hour or so basking in the delight of the setting sun (aka re-creating the sacrificial scene). Time magically slipped away, and we found ourselves walking down in the ever-darkening night (perfect!). Tessa whipped out her head-lamp and we quickly reached the main road.

As we started to approach what we believed to be the candle-lit show area, we were greeted by two Bedouin store owners who were throwing away the remains of their dinner. Our love of food, and desire to catch a free show, beckoned us into their shop where we finished their leftovers and joined them for a few (five each!) glasses of tea. We spent the time discussing everything from the tensions between the Bedouin community and the greater Wadi Musa community (apparently people from Wadi Musa try to paint the Bedouins as a group of people who cannot be trusted) to our favorite Jordanian desserts.

By the time we finished our conversation, Tessa and I were sure that we would be able to glimpse the candle-lit show. As we began the long walk back, we started conversing with another Bedouin man and he offered to walk us out, explaining that the candle-lit show was only two nights a week and that we were there on the wrong night...bummer!

We treasured his company, however, and ended up stopping at another little store to share mint tea with another Bedouin. Eventually, we finished our tea and continued our hike out.

As we walked out of the exit gate of Petra, two guys from our hotel walked up and, in a huge commotion, shared how they had been waiting for us (we have no clue why) for the past few hours and that we were in Petra for too long, "the Bedouins cannot be trusted". They then said something to the security guards (we think they were trying to teach us a lesson) and then the security guards motioned us onto the side, where we were supposed to wait for the police. Five or ten minutes later the police- a rather lacksadaisical crew- came and, rather uninterestedly, asked us a few questions. We were free- no big deal.

We've all heard that saying that one should make a big entrance. We, however, feel that it is all in the exit.

The next day we went to a castle and ended up crossing paths with Ellie, a USAID worker who loves adventure. We ended up catching a ride back with her to Amman. On the way back to the city, she pulled her car off the road and we all jumped into the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea. The salt formations here were incredible!

Back in Amman, we were able to meet up with Azalea, Tessa's friend from studying abroad in Thailand. Azalea is currently teaching English to young Jordanians. Tessa and I were the guest speakers for the day!

That last night we settled down for business with our new friend, Haya, and her family. Her family is Palestinian (according to one friend we met in Jordan, 60% of all people living in Jordan are from the neighboring countries, many of whom are refugees). Her mother cooked us a delicious Palestinian dinner, her parents gave up their bed so that we could sleep on it (half of the family said that they prefer to sleep on the floor!), the cousin brought in a huge bag of icecream treats and popsicles (we were each forced to take multiple), and the older brother (a nurse) operated on Tessa's puss-filled and swollen toe. Couchsurfing.com has really come through for us.

Our friend, Zafira, took us out to a few art galleries in Amman. She also took us to see a short and informative little documentary about Palestine and its right to existence.

Amman, the city of crisp and clean white-washed buildings all made of the same local stone. Apparently, for a time, Jordanians were outlawed from painting their houses.

King Abdullah II bin al-Hussein. He (okay, his photo) is everywhere. Literally EVERYWHERE. Smoking hookah, scuba diving, dancing at a ball...we cannot even remember a fraction of the photos we saw. Needless to say, he is loved.