Russia / Moscow / Feb 2007

The fam and I just got back from Moscow, and I must admit to being pleasantly surprised with the trip. We experienced a few hickups, but altogether it was an amazing experience!

To start with our flight into Domodedevo airport was uneventful; the children were angels and everything went very well. That is, until we actually departed the airplane! Instead of directing the passengers toward customs and immigration, we were all let out into the departure terminal! No one spoke a word of english, and everyone of us spent an hour or so searching for a way out. Finally we ran into a passenger who spoke English and Russian and figured out what had happened and directed us back through the gate and down to customs and immigration. The Russian police had to then round up everyone else and bring them through as well. I can only imagine the work it must have been for them to compare the flight manifest to passport control and figure out if they had not signed anyone into the country!!!

Our hotel (Marriot Tverskaya) was in the center of the city, and it took us about 1.5 hours to reach it from the airport. We had previously arranged for pickup and dropoff to the airport, so we didn't have to worry about catching a taxi or barganing for prices, etc once we got there. The hotel was ok....pretty typical Marriott, although be aware that the gift shop in the hotel is insanely expensive even compared to the tourist market. If you can book your tour guides beforehand, DO IT! The internet prices for moscow tour guides, although not including transportation or entrance fees, were $15.00. The hotel charged us $50.00 (not including the above stated fares). It was rediculous! Every time we got into a taxi cost us R1000 (R meaning Rubles; the Russian currency). The exchange rate was about to 25R to $1 or 55R to 1 British Pound. Everywhere on the web i read before said to be aware of this, and HAGGLE your pants off, but in the end, we couldn't find a way around it, even by using the non-official taxi's. So good luck to you if you try it! If your a tourist only, I would suggest a hotel much closer to the Kremlin, so that you can avoid the taxi's as much as possible.

We did a very short trip, only 2 days for tourist things, but we saw quite a bit. Our first day out we hit Arbat walking tourist street, and then went to Izmalovsky tourist market. Arbat is famous, but it's just a street with souvenir shops on both sides and a few kiosks in the middle. There is a McDonalds (which we did not try) and the Moscow Hard Rock Cafe there as well. Izmalovsky market though, was amazing! The entire market is outdoor stalls, the architecture of the whole building was breathtaking. It was worth going there even if you didn't want to buy anything at all! Some stalls even sold food. If it wasn't for the -10C temp and the cold noses of the children, I could have stayed there all day! I found it very interesting that Moscow still has a very 'military' feel to it. Right next to the matryoshka dolls you can buy a gas mask, hand painted gun shells, or other military regalia. The police in the streets (and definately in the Kremlin) appear more military than American or British police personnel. They reminded me of the German Politzei.

I had planned to try to make it to Novodevichy Convent and Monastery -but due to the cold and the children's schedules, we didn't make it there.... maybe next time.

Our second day we packed in quite a lot. We started with a guided tour of the Kremlin, the armory and the Diamond Fund. Inside the Kremlin, we saw all the cathedrals, the worlds largest bell and the worlds largest cannon. We were dissapointed to learn that under no circumstances could you take pictures inside any buildings in the Kremlin. So we have no pictures of anything but the outside of these buildings, which are quite amazing in themselves.
We bought a book that shows a bunch of pictures of the insides of the Cathedrals, Armory, Diamond Fund, etc, and I will scan those pictures in and post them to the moscow set of my Flickr account. Check it out if you want to see some great photos.

Aparently, the worlds largest canon and the worlds largest bell, have never actually worked. They were built by Tzar's who wanted to be remembered by something. Most others built Cathedrals, these two built huge objects! Be careful of the Moscow 'police'. They blow their whistles if you step off of the sidewalk onto the street inside the kremlin.

We left the Kremlin and walked along it's outer walls, past the tomb of the unknown soldier and the huge underground shopping center, in search of G.U.M department store. It was cold, and we decided to stop in the cafe and get a hot chocolate. Our guide told us that the building was built in 1893 and except for a brief stint as an office building, has always been a shopping mall. Today it is filled with high end shops for the rich and famous. It was impressive to say the least. Our hot chocolate was exactly that.... it came in a glass, but should have come in a bowl with a spoon, as it was like thick warm chocolate pudding. It was delicious though!

G.U.M. forms nearly 1 part of the entire Red Square . Other sightseeing interests in Red square, include Lenin's mausoleum, Kazan cathedral, The State historical museum, Resurrection gate, Lobnoye Mesto, and my favorite, St. Basil's cathedral.

St. Basil's.............I could have taken 1000 photos of you, and stayed by your side for days at a time. It's obvious that I revel in your colors, spirals and domes. In my opinion,you pale the Taj Mahal. (gulp...to admit that and be married to an Indian... I'd better sleep with one eye open!) And Kazan Cathedral! You just look like a giant gingerbread house. I wanted to touch you just to see if you were made of candy and icing!

As we drove around Moscow on our way to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior; we passed hundreds of amazing architechtural wonders. Every where you look in Moscow, there are amazing domed buildings, immense statues and arctitectural feats. We took as many pictures as we could through the taxi window; but there are so many that we couldn't get. Someday, maybe we will be able to go back (during the warm season!) and spend more than two days in this magnificent city!

Moscow I loved you! I'll practice my Russian for the next time I can step foot in your beautiful city.

Egypt / Luxor, Valleys of Kings and Queens & more/ Dec 2002

The 2nd half of our Egypt trip was magical. We took an overnight train from Cairo to Luxor, whre we stayed at the Luxor Hilton.

The hotel was nice, they had a neat jewelry shop, and the ability to take a Falluca boat ride; which we did. Our Captain (Captain Hook we called him) had a faithful companion, whom we nicknamed Mohammad Ali. He was very interested in all things American, and he coined the phrase "Share me" which we still joke about today. They took us to Banana Island, where we were able to have tea with the locals and eat sugar cane from the fields. Watching the sun set over the Nile from the boat was amazing. It was such a wonderful day.

The next morning, we got up oh so early to take a Hot Air balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings and Queens. The sun rise was phenomenal! We went over a few villages, some buildings with thatched roofs of sorts, some with no roofs at all. The village children running and waving at us; all with big smiles on their faces. It was amazing to see the Nile from above. I thought it was interesting to see the stark difference between the greenery on one side of the Nile and the desert on the other. We learned the word "Baksheesh" very well. All those village children ran to the balloon when we landed and expected gifts and tips for smiling and waving at us! :) They want your ballooning gifts(t-shirts,etc), money, and anything else they can part you with. Careful though, some will attempt to reach into your purse/wallet and help themselves!

If touching a pyramid, or riding a camel to get to one, didn't satisfy all my girlhood dreams about Egypt, stepping foot into Tutankaman's tomb in the Valley of the Kings sure did. We were told that for as many tombs as have been found in the valleys, there are many more still hidden beneath the sand and in the mountains. It's so very easy to believe. I wanted to drop everthing and go digging in the dirt! We ventured from tomb to tomb in both valleys...awestruck at the magnificence and splendor that used to be. Each tomb had lots of rooms, each with specific purposes and were decked out in "lootables"! I was so amazed at the hieroglyphics that when we got home, I bought a book, went through all our photos and tried to decipher them! (I didn't get very far...it's harder than it looks!) Some of the more fragile pictures or carvings are behind glass, which is understandable, but most of the tombs had walls that were not protected by glass. They did however have walkways in them that you had to stay on, and I remember seeing guards about in a few of them.

For a few $$ , you could bribe the local workers to show you 'something special'. We were taken to a recently unearthed, but not yet open to tourists, tomb. We were told that it contained the mummies of the workers who had built one/some? of the tombs. This is one of the pictures of mummies we took. The experience was very cool, but a little creepy. We beat it out of there fairly quickly.

After we left the Valley of the Kings and Queens, we visited what we called the "Ketchup place". It was our pet name as none of us could properly pronouce Queen Hatshepsut, which sounded a little like ketchup to us! It's real name is The Temple of Deir el Bahari. It's an amazing place, nestles in the foothills of the mountains. I remember that we able to see it from the balloon. From the main road, you had to walk through souvenir alley to get to the temple. On both sides of the long walkway, people shouting at you constantly were souvenirs of every shape, size and color. This type of thing was everywhere we went, and there was just no getting away from it.

Next we visited the step pyramid at Sakkara. It's an amazing pyramid that is surrounding by very interesting walls. It is still unclear to me as to what they were built for, but if anyone knows, please feel free to fill me in. We stood by the pyramid and if your facing away from it, you can see nothing but sand. It was here that we finally earned a healthy respect for the desert. The pyramid is the oldest of all the pyramids in Egypt, and was built for a pharoh in the 3rd dynasty by Imhotep (yes, Imhotep, like in the mummy movies!)

Before heading back to our hotel, we took a brief stop at a factory. We were shown how rugs are made, you know all those beautiful silk, or wool rugs that one sees everywhere. We sometimes kick ourselves for not buying one, but all we saw were children doing the work, and that disturbed us. We were told that the children were there learning how to make rugs, as a skill for later use in life and that none of the rugs that we saw for sale were made by a child's hands. We didn't believe any of it. Later we found out that some of the more complicated designs are to difficult for an adults big hands to make, and children are regularly used to make these, and paid very little, in the guise of "schools".

We stopped by the Ramessuem and took a few photos, but it was the Temple of Amun at Karnak that I was enthralled with. The pillars were amazing, and my jaw was dropped to my knees through the entire tour. The temple is filled with statues, pillars, obelisks, and ruins still in their places. It's an outdoor temple,open to the elements; but is still amazingly intact. You cannot miss seeing this temple if you make it to Luxor.

Our trip to Egypt was amazingly memorable. I would not necessarily suggest doing it with very small children, as there is a ton of walking involved, and most of it's not stroller accessible in any way. If you want to bring the kids, my suggestion is to wait until they are quite a bit older, say at least 6 or 7.

India / North - Rajasthan / Nov 2004

Our itenarary was packed into 4 days. I don't think this can be accomplished if you do not have an inside view to India and some help. Our secret was my brother who is based in Delhi. He organized an amazing journey for us.

We started from Delhi by taking the late night train to Ranthambore National Forest. Now, we also in parallel, dispatched our driver and car from Delhi to meet us at Ranthambore (this is because you don't want to burn out in the drive trip right from the start .. the train is a lot more comfortable and quicker).

Ranthambore is known for its tiger sanctuary. Unfortunately, didn't get to see any. We did see a variety of wildlife including a fox who had made a fresh kill (unfortunate baby deer). You will be out in jeeps .. this is the real wild !! You can sense the tension in the air when there is a tiger in the area. BTW> Was just reviewing older pics and noticed that I had a hat on .. this could only have happened if I had underestimated how cold it would have been. At 4.00 am in Nov, it appears I was freezing .. so learn from my mistake.

I normally don't chance anything buy the 'lap of luxury' when staying in India. This time, however, we stayed in a hotel that was a palace that was converted into a hotel / government resort. This is the only hotel within the national forest itself. There is a group of hotels called Neemrana hotels that operate a set of heritage hotels. Check them out. This will for sure, give you a very unique experience of india. Even being Indian, I thought this was unique. These hotels are not 5 star hotels. The palaces have been preserved as much as possible so that you get an authentic experience of our culture. Imagine staying in the 'kings room ..'. These hotels won't break the bank either.

We stayed at the Hill Fort Hotel in Kesroli. I will tell you an amazing experience here. This hotel overlooks a village .. wake up before dawn and watch from the top the entire population around you slowly come alive. First the cocks, then a few people getting started farming activities, then the sunrise .... just truly amazing.

From Kesroli, we drove to Jaipur. Enjoyed a couple of amazing palaces there as well as some ethnic food / shows. Drive from there, back to Delhi .. again, the things you see ... ;-)

Left : Inter village bus. People learn to survive .. dont they ? And what's bizarre, this was not the worst loaded one that we saw.

Right: Fill 'er up !! I did a double take when I walked into this sight. From the angle I first saw this, I could not see the tank, rather, the guy was fueling the camel's back-side.

The things some kings do for love .. of course, the Taj Mahal is cliche.. but take a look at this. This is a place near Jaipur. This is the ceiling of one of the Queen's rooms. It is a set of mirrors that are all angled so that a candle lit in a specific corner (the reflections of which) would make the ceiling appear like the night sky.

Marble inlay (were gemstones embedded).

These dudes invented air-conditioning through natural methods.

UK / Canal Boating / May 2006

I believe I have found the equivalent of the US RV culture here in the UK. Its called canal boating.

You see, the UK has a intricate network of over 2000 miles of artificial canals that were used for transportation / commerce. These have been restored / converted for recreational use.

The point / experience of this is as follows :

- You coast down these canalways at 5 miles per hour

- The canal network is through the country side, often through areas that don't have roads / rails. Sights are pristine.

- You dock / stop whenever you want. All through the canal network, there are annotations on where you can pull up and tie up your boat. If you find a pretty sight, hop out anytime .. you ain't going to miss your boat as you can walk faster than these things

- Locks, locks and more locks - never operated a lock ? Well here is your chance to get your fill of an amazing piece of engineering. When you start out, I guarantee you all of you will jump out and run to operate the lock and then realize, everybody did .. so, nobody is left steering the boat (no worry .. it cant go very far). By the end of your journey, you will be pushing each other out to do the deed.

Now the best part :

- each evening, after you moor, you should venture out into the countryside and perhaps into the local village (may be a mile or two walk). There, you will find a PUB which will have local beer and in some cases, you will find a local chef (who really belongs in a world class restaurant), however, has retired here due to the peace and beauty. Now you are in for a treat !!! Each village / town, has its own beauty / story. This is really the best part.

A good site is http://www.canalboat-holidays.com/boats.htm . The place we rented from was Chas Hardern Boats. Tel # (+44) 1829732595. Experience was great. Highly recommended

These boats are quite interesting. Also called narrow boats. Top speed is 5 miles per hour. Driving them is a no brainer, however, do understand that these beasts are sloooow and loooooong. You only have to be 11 yrs old to drive them legally. If you miss a turning point, you may have to go 4 hrs to the next turning point. Reversing is impossible as these boats are not designed to do this. The boats are longer than the canal is wide, so, doing a 180 turn is impossible except at a designated turning point (don't try it !). People get very very upset if you do not operate the lock properly. Also, watch your speed at all times as these things do not stop quickly and there are always people moored around the corner or boats on the other side of the narrow underpass that you cannot see.

Alaska / Skagway / 2004

A worthwhile trip that was better than expected. You have likely already formed an opinion on 'cruise ship' experience. We had too, however, the actual experience surprised us pleasantly. This is an environment where you are 'forced' to relax and enjoy yourself. No option here. Good for workaholics like me who are lost and panicked the moment our cellphone/pager loses coverage. This cruise trip was a round trip from Seattle, WA. Ports of calling were Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway and others (will remember and list).

Alaska is pristine. This is an experience if you want to get unadultrated pristine beauty.

This picture is in Skagway. Took a helicopter (excursion) to the top of the glacier. Yep, landed right on it. Still feel bad about it as we should not be doing so. This is destroying the place however careful we are. Glacier is the white stuff.

We were not lucky enough to see any calving. I was surprised to see icebergs. Never quite expected the vibrance and the deep blue. See pic - no filters or tricks here. This is the real stuff. The explanation is that the ice is so heavily compressed that it forces out all micro-air-bubbles etc. and causes the ice to start reflecting the blue spectrum.

Plenty to talk about on this one. Will post more information on Alaska.

India / Kerala / Nov 2004

All right, I am Indian, but I am NOT going back to india in the summer. Better still, avoid India except for what is considered to be peak winter in India (Jan/Feb, Mar you are pushing it .. it reverts back to summer temperatures in March magically skipping spring altogether).

You get two choices on the weather in India .. getting 'boiled' or getting 'baked'. If you are used to Tampa / FL, you will do fine in the boiling weather (humidity) .. you should survive Nov, Dec, Jan. If you are from Dallas, try Feb, Mar, Apr. Avoid all other months at all costs and if you value your life (I am assuming I am speaking to snowbirds, which, I unfortunately now have become given 15 years in the US).

Back to the good stuff .. our trip to south india - Kerala !!. I had heard amazing things about this place, however, it was better than all reviews / expectations. It was the small stuff that fascinated me.

This was our itinerary.
- Cochin (2 days)
- Munnar (2 days) We stayed at the Tea County Resort
- Coconut Lagoon (2 days)
- House boat from Allepey to Cochin (2 days).
- Cochin (1 day, back to Bombay).

Cochin was more or less the least interesting. We stayed at Brunton Boatyard (decent hotel .. although smelt constantly of mosquito repellent). This is more a traditional hotel than a 5 star type luxury hotel. You will see this in the decor and atmosphere right away. One interesting thing are the fishing nets. Saw these in operation .. quite efficient.

Getting around Kerala requires renting a tourist vehicle. This is easy enough from any of the larger hotels. A full time driver comes with the vehicle. Ours was 'Bopi', someone who was awesome !! He took very good care of us and was a great safe driver (did not drink or show a hint of any of the scary driving behaviors I would have expected). Remember, you get what you pay for and this is one area you want the safest and most reliable service. Also, your driver will be on a fixed allowance through your journey (which is quite miserable), so do ensure he is eating and sleeping well. The hotels you will stay at will also have some form of accommodation for the drivers. This is usually sub-par and so most will spend the night in the car. You may want to get your driver to rent a room at a smaller hotel for himself as well as give him some money to get a square meal. Remember, a well slept and fed driver will make a safer journey for you.

Munnar is a good 6-8 hrs drive from Cochin. You can stop along the way as you pass through villages etc. Make sure you do as this is the best fun. Along the way, we saw cashew trees, almond trees and several other exotic tropical trees (Bopi turned out to be a horticulturalist) and so stopped to show us some amazing sights such as the protected sandal wood forests.

But, the best thing was .. Rs 20 ($0.40) for 2 pineapples and 2 coconuts. Man .. oh man. Just that makes me want to go right back. Those pineapples cut fresh were to die for. Also, you will be stunned at the color of fresh vegetables that people sell along the roadside. You think carrots are orange ? Wait and see, you will not have seen an orange like that before. It will make you understand what tropical beauty is and the miracles & vibrance of tropical growth. I stopped for roasted peanuts .. these thingys were tiny, microscopic .. not much peanut within each shell. I am used to the American peanuts where the peanut itself was bigger than the entire shell here. Still, when, you eat these Indian peanuts, you will realize that one peanut has got more flavor than an entire bag of American peanuts. Yeah, finally .. size doesn't matter !!

Munar is a tea sanctuary. It is a therapeutic green. You have got to see it to believe it. About 80% of the Indian tea plantations are now owned by Tata. If you know someone at Tata, it may be worthwhile to get permission to visit a plantation. You can however, get your fill by just driving around. The tea plantations are like vineyards in California. Strewn about everywhere. It is however, a much more beautiful sight without the pungent smell of grapes. If you go in the right season, you will be overwhelmed by the smell of tea blossoms.

Do load up on tea when you go to Munnar. The fresh stuff is really better. This is easily bought from the local store in Munnar. There are a number of specialist dealers there, however, you will know which one is the best by just picking the busiest.

Another thing to load up on in Kerala is 'massages'. The place we stayed at was a spa/sanctuary of sorts. This is an ancient art form in kerala and is considered perfectly natural. For me (being a guy), it isnt natural or normal for me at all. Not my sort of thing, however, Jennifer, was in 7th heaven after each session. It was other women giving women a massage ... and other men giving men a massage !

Munnar also has a wild life sanctuary. It is a ride/hike combo. Nothing strenuous at all by American standards. The Indian elephant is a famous sight .. kinda cool, however, the herds are quite a ways away. The bird sanctuary is supposedly amazing, however, we skipped and headed off to Coconut Lagoon.

1/2 day ride and we were there. There was a short ferry ride to take us from the pick-up point to the actual hotel area. This is a very interesting setup. It is basically a set of huts that have water all around them (little islands) trying to emulate the typical kerala backwaters living. It is however, an artificial creation (sound of the pumps). The thing that is amazing here are the sunsets. You can sit in a hammock, drink a beer and watch the sunset. It is peaceful. The food at this place is amazing. All you can do is relax. There is a good bird sanctuary opposite this hotel. Some of the hotel staff also double up as the local ornithologist. I really thought this guy was making it all up.

The house-boat. Aaah. Now this is something worth the entire trip. Includes your own Captain, Chief engineer (who also steers the 50cc engine from behind) and, most importantly, your personal chef !! And what a chef !! This is the guy who can make or break your entire trip. These houseboats are an amazing piece of engineering. 2 bedroom with A/C (make sure this is working else, the mosquitoes will kill you).

This will show you a unique side of India. One that I had never seen either. Kerala backwaters are basically a delicate eco-system of rice paddies separated from the brackish sea water by a system of levees. This has been made into a form of complex canal system. Its weird in that the rice paddies are at a lower level than the water in the canal. I take it that is for irrigation. There is an entire population living in this environment. Accessible only by boat, barely any communication (although, now everyone has a cell-phone), electricity or TV.

The local mode of transportation are 'ferries'. There are no buses or trains here. During your journey, you will find these high-speed boats (no .. not fancy stuff .. just a junk boat travelling at high speed) that will literally come to a screeching halt for exactly 2 seconds, people jump on and off (two classes here - ones that just don't care for their lives and the others that are mortally afraid, however, given up), and the driver then hits the gas almost seamlessly. These are the ferries. It is just amazing that there weren't collisions or people falling off these things.

In the mornings, you will see more of day-to-day life. For example, the headmaster of the school picking up all the little ones from their huts in his row boat.

Back to the food. There is a system here .. these chefs all know each other and know exactly who the good, great and best ones are. You will find yourself an amazing experience if you manage to 'procure' yourself the services of the 'best' cook/chef.

The boats themselves are repetitive although, given nothing much else to do, you will find yourself comparing your own boat in shape / size / complexity with the one just passing you. There are boats and then there are boats. Some of these things are amazing in their engineering.