Safiri Nasi

Home Soil

2010-02-12T12:13:00.006-05:00

Followers, we have returned home.

Our second to last stop was a delectable beach on the Southern Cambodian coast called Otres Beach. We found a mildly sketchy American retiree who ran an excellent beach bungalow operation and made the most of it. This was the closest we physically stayed to the ocean waves; when morning came and the odd hangover didn't leave Freeman debilitated, we were in the water with 12 steps down. Note there was a bristly palm frond bush that was to be dodged before making the final leap into warm waters.

Of many cool things, one that this beach had in spades was a glassy morning infinity pool effect on the water up until about noon. The nights and mornings were so calm that jumping in the water made bigger waves than any of those rippling on the beach. Picture being only shoulder height in the water and already 75 feet from shore staring across serenely level seas to marooned islands a half mile off. This was the second best beach scene we hit since our first in Zanzibar many months ago; fitting that it was our last.

From there we made a trek north to Phnom Penh by bus, meeting a lovely French couple along the way. The man in the couple was paralyzed from the waist down and had been traveling for three months through Asia and they had three months left ahead of them. Seeing him constantly amiable as he pulled himself from one vehicle into his wheel chair then as he was carried onto the bus put all of our little trifles in perspective. If he can do this kind of trip, we would say you should definite try taking the leap.

Phnom Penh was fun and a bit hectic. Since we only had two days there before our final flight home, we were realistic about how much to try and cover. One lasting image was of 30 leisure suit wearing ladies and men facing an amplified rock star of a dude leading aerobics classes off of a boom box in the wide public park between two boulevards. Even during our rainy second day, they were out there kicking and punching in step with the beat. We also passed a few dusty volleyball courts strung together beside the roads. Men played truly acrobatic hacky-sack style games in parking lots in circles of 6 to 10.

On our second day we went to the cultural genocide museum and had our psyches bruised for a few hours. The museum is housed in the minimally renovated torture and detention center at the epicenter of the Khmer Rouge's seat of power in the city. We felt a lightly palpable haunting in the place. Mix in land mine amputees begging at the front gates and it all makes for a pretty gripping day.

We couldn't sleep much that night anticipating our flight home, so we stayed up late and watched movies on HBO in our hotel room. The next morning we made a hasty dash to the killing fields to bear witness to the mass graves left behind there. As the rain pelted our pink and purple polka-dotted ponchos we strolled past stacks of exhumed skulls and plaques listing the grisly details the place contains. The mild irony of being sold a polka-dotted poncho at the front gate to such an austere place was not lost on us. That said, we were getting close to being late for our flight so we hopped back in our Tuk-Tuk to the hotel, hastily threw on our travel clothes, and made for the airport.

While there was some anxiety about transiting through the Ho Chi Minh airport without Vietnam visas, all went well. With a 12 hour layover in Seoul we cashed out on some reclining chairs and even assembled and hand painted small miniature desks at a Korean cultural exhibit in the airport. The 14 hour flight direct from Seoul to JFK was softened by the collected total of 9 movies we watched along the way.

Landing home was equally cold and hopeful. Since then we have enjoyed seeing friends again and telling our stories. We found an apartment to sublet in Chelsea and Jo has started her new work. Freeman is planning his new business and making a home while Jo is away each day. Jo will try out the daily 3 hour round trip commute to Trenton and determine if its feasible after a couple months and then we'll reassess our living situation. For now, we are pursuing our dreams.

We optimistically sign off from this chapter of the travel blog and wish you all many great adventures, both foreign and domestic.

Riding the New Year

2010-01-09T09:42:00.003-05:00

We are now in Camboda, in the town of Siem Reap, just south of the temples of Angkor Wat. We arrived today after a pretty average border crossing. Though this was a bit more fun than normal, in that we got to walk for about kilometer to and across the border. As borders go, the line was rather thick. Thick enough in fact to hold nine casinos, where the Cambodians work but only the Thai and other tourists can play.

We leave behind one of our favorite places from the trip, Bangkok. In total, through two separate stints, we spent 18 days in Bangkok. It was on just about day fourteen that Freeman realized he is perhaps well into his metamorphosis from a small-town kid to a city boy. Jo always knew she was a city girl.

Our most recent romp in Bangkok saw us resting a bit at the beginning as Jo recovered from eating some too-raw meat at a Korean style barbecue in Laos. She perked up a bit to sing in the New Year at a jam-packed Kaosan road party. After that we watched Batman: Dark Knight on HBO about three times, before taking in the great Stalone face game that is Over the Top. With Jo healthy again in the new year, we soaked up the atmosphere at the enormous downtown Bangkok mall megaplexes. Just imagine eight to nine floors covering a city block and teenagers doing what they do best. Oh, and they serve food on conveyor belts.

After offices opened again in the New Year we buckled down on a surprising Visa quandary. Vietnam has all but closed its borders to Africans after a few Nigerian footballers and visitors were indicted on a slew of crimes. Why exactly this applies to Kenyan tourists is the subject of some speculation, but the bottom line is Jo wasn't going to get a visa to Vietnam any time this year. As our flight back to NYC leaves from Sai Gon/Ho Chi Minh, we were in a bit of a pickle. After repeated trips to the Vietnam and Kenyan embassies, and 4 different airline offices over about 3 days, we managed to nail down that so long as we don't leave the airport, it sounds like we can transit safely through Ho Chi Minh and onward to NYC. We remain a bit wary as we head into the final leg of our trip, but are well armed with folders of paper and flight printouts to verify our good intentions. When traveling on your honeymoon, always carry a copy of your marriage certificate.

After a couple more days of enjoying the nightlife and daily one hour massages for five dollars a pop we made plans to get to Cambodia. After Freeman's order of some custom tailored clothes came through, we were on our way.

The downside of the Vietnam quandary is we will not get to really see Vietnam on this trip. All told we will have spent time in six countries and transited through airports in five more before we get back home. Not bad for seven months on the road, but a bit shy of "seven countries in seven months" goal. Oh well, we'll just have to do another trip around the world some other time...

In the next couple days we'll visit the temple complexes of Angkor and then head south to Phnom Penh and perhaps the southern beaches of Cambodia. On the 20th we fly from Phnom Penh to Sai Gon and then we follow the moon home.

We are looking forward to all the things that lie ahead, but still enjoying the last stretch of our enduring honeymoon.

Just a Zip, Skip, and a Jump through Lao

2009-12-29T03:17:00.004-05:00

We are back in Bangkok after an amazing time in Lao. We crossed the border late on the 17th and then looked back at Thailand and mused, "Was that a border??". If it hadn't been for the stamp in our passport, the simple checkpoint, and a new way to say "hello" we almost could have missed it by blinking.

We spent a day in the small border town where our Zipline/Treehouse adventure called the Gibbon Experience departed from before setting off for the jungle. That gave us just enough time to buy our slow-boat tickets down the Mekong and get sweet talked out of about $8 by a cheeky novice monk. Suffice it to say we were taken in by an amiable 'blessings for cash' scheme on the top of a small hill overlooking the river and have the bracelet to prove it.

The Mojitos were strong on the banks of the Mekong the night before the Jungle adventure. Also, Beer Lao is a loveable lager with a minimal hangover factor. It is not to be confused with the beer/mild-laxative-cum-headache-in-a-bottle that is Thailand's Chang.

We set off for the Bokeo National Park (read: "Jungle") in the back of a pick-up on December 19th and were already feeling the trek setting in as we careened around dusty turns and sped by naked kids playing along the road as we mad. "Feeling the trek setting in" is improvised slang for "trying to keep breakfast down amidst back road motion sickness". That abated as we started our hike into the Jungle and began to hear the birds heralding our arrival. We were in a group of 8 total, with 2 guides from local refugee villages.

After a brief lunch, we found ourselves strapping on climbing harnesses and clipping onto 300 foot long zip lines across lush gaping valleys dropping away hundreds of feet below. I'm envious that birds are lighter and more self-determined in their flight patterns, but we have now tasted what they must feel. Seeing trees from just above their top boggles the mind.

We spent the next couple days zipping from tree house to treehouse and across valleys that took the breath away. We even capped the experience off in our own private honeymoon treehouse above a small waterfall some 250 feet below. As we can now attest, sunsets are best enjoyed just above the canopy. We even snuck out that night to dangle from the middle of a zip cable to watch the stars. There's not much background light in the middle of Northern Lao.

Soon after the Gibbon experience we found ourselves on a long boat with about 50 other people, cruising down the Mekong. We stuck together with the friends we made at the Gibbon Experience and had an excellent two days puttering down the Mekong. The river is mostly brown with soil run-off and boasts amazing rock formations and swirling currents the whole way.

After the two day journey we arrived in Luang Prabang just before Christmas. We splurged a bit on a nice hotel room in a converted colonial villa for Christmas and celebrated with our new friends from Belgium, Germany, and England. It was tough for both of us in different ways to be apart from our shared families on Christmas. We look forward to many more in the years ahead nestled in close with those we love.

We explored Bhuddist temples (of which Luang Prabang has more than its fair share, and duly got World Heritage Site status for) for a few days. One of our favorites was at the top of a snaking set of 500 or so stairs on top of the town's highest hill. Freeman also had one of his best short runs in ages.

Opting not to take another vehicle through the Lao hills, we flew back to Thailand via Vientiane. We had a Korean Barbecue/Japanese DIY Soup dinner that was quite a site to behold in Vientiane. This consisted of a basket of hot coals being placed under the center of the table, and the moated grill being placed over it. Then meats, broth, and veggies were brought and we dunked and grilled to our hearts content.

Now we have landed back in Bangkok to gear up for New Year's Eve and enjoy all that this excellent city has to offer, yet again.

A belated Merry Christmas to all and to all a good New Year,
From Jo and Free

Live Nude Elephants

2009-12-14T01:10:00.003-05:00

After getting our fill of white sand and island beach parties in the South of Thailand, we took 24 hours of trains and made it to the North. Now, we have just finished volunteering at the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai. We were there for a week with twenty other volunteers who had come from around the world to help out. Our daily work included hacking apart bamboo rafts to use the bamboo for building construction at the park, shoveling elephant poop into compost bins, tending elephant wounds, bathing the elephants in a river, hand feeding the elephants, hiking into the mountains with elephants leading the way, and hand harvesting corn stalks with machetes for feed.

We had a moving experience learning about the brutality that elephants suffer in the name of training them for tourist shows and painting exhibitions. The park rescues elephants that have been churned through the tourist and illegal logging industries and gives them a new and peaceful home. The elephants at the park are expected to do nothing more than enjoy themselves on the open fields. In trekking camps throughout Southeast Asia they are expected to perform in circuses and carry tourists through the jungle.

The training for this type of work is torture and leaves the elephant broken and psychologically hollow. Many of the elephants at the park have clear psychological and physical ailments and are in various stages of recovery. If you ever come to Asia, please do not ride an elephant or give out food to begging elephants on the street or buy a painting made by an elephant. These noble and intelligent creatures deserve so much better from us.

It was incredibly rewarding to spend time so close to the elephants and support them as they healed. If you ever come to Thailand, we strongly recommend you spend time at the Nature Park, it is a great way to see the elephants and know that they are being treated respectfully. Book ahead, it gets filled to capacity quite often. If you can't make it, but believe in animal rights, it is a fine place to send to your donation dollars.

From Chiang Mai we are off to sky high zip lines in the tropical forests Northern Laos (the 's' is not pronounced and the country's name rhymes with "how". The 's' was added by French colonialists and stuck. In French the 's' would be silent, but Anglophones read it and pronounce the 's', thus making a prepetual mistake.) We will spend a few days in the tree tops then float south on Mekong river to Luang Prabang and make our way back to Bangkok one way or another after that.

The plan is still to party for New Years in Bangkok and then make our way through Cambodia and Vietnam in the first three weeks of the new year. After that we'll be back in NYC by the 22nd of January.

For now, we wish everyone joyous holidays and please know that we are missing being with close friends and family right now. Enjoy the festivities for us and we'll enjoy Thailand and Laos for you! We'll be seeing you in the cold corner of the world afore long.

Much love,
Jo and Free

More Small Islands, White Sands, Motorcycles, and Pad Thai

2009-11-27T04:10:00.006-05:00

After being out of the loop for a while, it's time for a recap.

We left Mysore, India, where we were dancing and doing yoga in early November. From there we partied it up in Goa at a few of their all-night clubs. We survived a tropical cyclone along the West coast of India on our last night there, complete with flooding, dripping cabana roof and bamboo thatch flying every which way. In the middle of all that rain and wind, we found out that Free's best friend Tik and his wife Kate are now proud parents of a new little girl. Kate pulled through a 24 hour labor to bring Lila into the world. We found out about the good news amidst many sobs and laughter in a small phone booth in a dirt parking lot. We hope to celebrate with the new parents amidst more appropriate conditions as soon as possible.

From Goa we flew to Chennai on the East coast of India and caught a rather harrowing express bus ride to Pondicherri. "Pondi" was colonized by the French back in the day and has some lingering vestiges of French architecture and gravity fed sewer systems. Outside Pondi we visited with a friend at Auroville, an intentional community started by a Guru and his chief disciple back in the 60's. We saw a modern temple in the shape of a golden orb called matrimandir. It was one of the most splendid locations either of us have ever explored, we found tranquility defined. After a couple more days staying just off the breakwater in an old French villa, we headed back to Chennai to visit with some family friends.

We only had a quick visit in Chennai, but had a chance to pick up some artifacts to remember India by and make ready for our flight to Thailand. It was wonderful to stay with Kartik's family and continue to add to the litany of inside information I'm collecting on the boy.

Our flight to Thailand went smoothly. We arrived in the early morning in Bangkok and almost immediately considered retiring there down the line. What a fun and spectacular city. We stayed in a hip touristy area near the main river and partied the nights away, enjoying Pad Thai and friendly folks wherever we turned. One highlight was visiting the best rooftop bar in the world and having a few drinks at elevation overlooking the cityscape. We were pretty relaxed about any plans to get to the beaches and finally got our act together whence Free had some down time with his 3rd ingrown toenail of the trip??!

We caught the train to southern Thailand from Bangkok and were almost caught unaware by the calm and cleanliness following our trains in India. Imagine free food and reclining chairs after scams and benches, it was a bit of a switch. We took a bus to the West coast of Thailand and caught a quick sleep before the ferry in the morning to Ko Lanta Island.

Once on the island we rented a motor scooter and started to check out the island. This required Free to get over his long held belief that motorcycles are the devil, he is still wrestling with this while topping 70 kph on the downhills. On a recommendation from a friend who had visited here before, we went to the southern tip of the island to find out about staying in a tree house overlooking the water. We found our treehouse and booked for a couple nights. Then the drama began.

We were awakened by a tree shrew digging through our trash in the middle of the night. This led Jo to start squawking and imagining the various pains of being eaten alive by rats. The morning was a vast improvement with 5am wakeup from a gaggle of roosters competing for loudest crowing. Throw in some husband and wife navigational bickering in a tandem kayak, and you've got a beach front vacation on no sleep. In truth there was a secluded beach and midnight swims along with fun roller coaster type scooter rides through the hills.

We are now well slept and in the more settled Northern part of the island and loving our little beach front cabana with accompanying bar and restaurant on the white sands. Our shack must have been built illegally close to the beach, as we can't see any other structure as close to the waves as ours. It's amazing. The Cognac, Chivas, and Gin drinks are flowing nicely and the running, Thai massage and yoga on the beach are providing the antidotes to our nightly libations.

Next we are off to more deserted islands and then the potential of a raucous full moon part in a few days. From there we head North to the Thai jungles to start our volunteering at an elephant sanctuary.

We have begun to anticipate our return to America and are both excited and anxious. The future will hold for now while we burn the present at both ends.

Thai Love

2009-11-19T08:19:00.000-05:00

Just a quick update here. We have arrived in Bangkok and we are loving it. We're getting massages daily and partying late into the night. We'll be heading to the beaches in a couple days.

If anyone wants to come join us for New Years, we'll be in Bangkok again then!

Of Organic Farms, Festivals, and Visas

2009-10-25T23:55:00.003-04:00

Sorry to be out of touch for so long, we've been making some great stories here and its worth telling them.

We were starved for salads a couple weeks back, so we made it to a new friend's organic farm outside Mysore and saw all the good work they are doing. Freeman went swimming in an Indian river and has not yet developed any infections from it. To the contrary, it was a beautiful day for a dip. Jo climbed a tree to get us coconuts. Mind you, she only got about 4 feet up the tree (Jo is about 5' 8" or 9"). Thus, the farm owner's son came to the rescue and showed us how it was done, by scampering the full 18 feet up the tree and hacking down a few choice coconuts for all of us to enjoy. Fresh coconut water hath no fellow.

We also saw a very effective and simple agricultural waste to fuel generator that really got Freeman's gears going on an stellar business idea. This last sentence is intentionally vague so that my entrepreneurial friends don't capitalize on the idea before I get home. Suffice it to say I spend hours every day researching specifics related to my concept and can't sleep much at night, due to nervous excitement. Oh, and we had an amazing organic salad with the farm owners with greens picked straight from their fields. You would be surprised how difficult it has been to find trustworthy salads along our journey.

BAM! CRACK! KA-BOOM!! Diwali kicked up last weekend as knowledge once again proved victorious over ignorance and we struggled mightily to keep all our fingers firmly connected to our hands for many nights. Forget going to New Hampshire to get baby fireworks, go to India and get the big ones that are highly illegal in America. Last Friday the 16th, we walked into a converted garage-made-arsenal and walked out packing some real firepower. We had some basic sparklers, along with stacks of firecrackers, roman candles, and what can only be described as small grenades sans shrapnel. For some of the highlights check out our faces on facebook, where we posted some of the videos that our host, Papu, made on her new video camera. What was not captured on the video is Freeman repeatedly muttering, "this is soooo illegal." Driveway explosions aside, we were very happy to hear that Obama celebrated Diwali as well. As Papu put it well, "he just won the hearts of a billion people."

For those who have yet to put their lives in the hands of an autorickshaw or taxi driver in India, I may not be able to accurately convey the full scope of the next experience, but I'll try. It starts with the visas. Jo and I need our visas for Thailand, as we'll be uprooting from Mysore around the end of the month to meander around Southern India and then head off by Mid-November. This need for visas points us to the local Thai consulate in Bangalore. (At this point we feel obliged to warn you that there is no Thai embassy or consulate in Bangalore.)

That didn't stop us though. Armed with Internet information, we came to Bangalore anyway, hoping to fine a Thai embassy in Bangalore. The fact it was also the Great Indian October Fest and an excellent opportunity to drink too much beer, factored in a bit too. We arrived by train on Friday with an hour to get passport photos for Free and get to the "embassy" and submit our applications for visas. We meet a friendly taxi driver at the station and by drawing a few frames around our heads we make it clear that we are in the market for passport photos. We negotiate a taxi fare and head off into the afternoon. We get to a photo shop and point to the size photos we need and get Freeman's photo taken. The photos get developed in the wrong size. We haggle to get them developed in the right size. We get them in the right size, with Free's "Middlebury" softball shirt featuring front and center and Free's head taking up about a quarter of the upper frame. Freeman is now on edge about whether these photos will pass muster.

We get back in the taxi and begin to head to the "embassy". We have an address from the Thai Embassy website. Aside from the street name, this is useless. Few streets here use addresses and the one we had was mighty vague. Thus we are reduced to repeating our request for "Visas" for "Thailand" as often as possible. Fortunately our taxi driver is on his game and calls around and asks all the other taxi drivers he can find as we are stopped at intersections about where we might get some passport related services. We make it to the embassy. This is confirmed by the fact we drove past Embassy Point, Embassy Square, and Embassy Somearuther buildings and turned into a guarded complex. Before entering we confirm with all the guards present that we are indeed at the Thailand Embassy where we can get our Thai Tourist Visas. This is confirmed again by repeatedly asking the information desk out front as well. It occurs to us at this point that there are quite a lot of Indians and no one resembling a stereotypical Thai national working at the Thai Embassy. We are not dissuaded by this fact.

We get to the person we were told is handling Thai tourist visas and are told that we need to go to a different desk around the other side of the building (5 minutes are left to submit our application.) We race around to the other desk. We wait in line. We rehearse our sob-story. Upon reaching the desk, we are told, after a thorough examination of our Indian Tourist Visas, "I can't extend your visa, leave by the date marked on the visa." WHAT!!!!?????

Yeah, we were at the office for registering our status as travelers in India. We were not at the Thai Embassy. (We feel like reminding you at this point that there is no Thai Embassy in Bangalore.) We then begin asking all the police officers we can find on the street that is supposed to have the embassy on it where we can find Thailand's embassy. We are first directed to Embassy Square. There aren't any embassies in Embassy Square. There are corporate offices there. Next we are pointed to Embassy Somearuther building, nope, no embassies there either, just more some bio-tech firms. Last we are directed to Embassy Point. There is more security there, this is promising. We get a big nod from a few different security officers and are waved up to the 1st floor. We arrive at the corporate offices of "Embassy Group". They may sell soap or vaccines, we didn't get the full story. That said, the receptionist is beyond nice and fluent in English. We explain the depth of our confusion and she points us back to the Bangalore travelers registration office across the street where we started, but said that there was a different section that we missed.

We go to that section, they point us to the door with the desk where it was made quite clear to us that we were expected to leave India before our Indian visas expire. We refrain from asking to be told that again and walk to the information desk again. Free explains that we undoubtedly know we are in the wrong place, but need to get to the Thai embassy. The informationist points to desk where we get told to go to the desk that will tell us we have to leave before or Indian visas expire. Jo is sweaty, Freeman is sweatier, the time to submit our visas is now 40 minutes overdue, Freeman refrains from screaming. The informationist walks away. A bystander in line at the information desk asks what we're trying to do. Freeman explains. The bystander/angel points out that there is no Thai Embassy in Bangalore. (Don't say we didn't tell you, at least you were warned.) The bystander/angel does however say that there IS a "Thai Visa Processing Center" down the street we have traversed repeatedly in the last hour. Freeman almost kisses this man, but instead shakes his hand with the vigor of a man hanging by a thread and we proceed down the road.

We arrive at the "Visa Processing Center". It doesn't matter how many buildings there are on the street with prominent names containing the term "Embassy". This office is not located in one of those buildings. We are pointed to the 1st floor. We rehearse our sob story. We flow into the room with all the grace of seemingly injured drunks and begin to gasp out our need to submit-our-forms-even-though-we're-late-sorry-sorry-sorry. "The office is closed." (Internally, we both scream, "WHAT!!!!!??????") Audibly we both stammer, "huh?"

The guard walks us back out of the office door to observe a sign together. The sign reads that the office is closed all day in observance of the Thai king's birthday. Free and Jo begin laughing hysterically, photograph the sign repeatedly and vow to return on Monday when the office opens again...

Then we had one of the best meals of our lives and polished it off with a bottle of Argentinian Malbec. The next day was capped by our win in 10 cup beer pong against an opposing Indian couple who couldn't have been nicer (they didn't have a chance, didn't they know we went to college to learn this sport). After we won we were interviewed by a local tabloid to expound on the finer points of the game and its origins bother in America and India. After a few beers, the interview was nothing but first-class, though we were misquoted (http://www.mid-day.com/news/2009/oct/261009-City-Pubs-10-Pong-drinking-culture-Banglore.htm). Freeman won a solo chugging contest against 4 other guys. Jo nearly won a cricket bowling competition with the wickets made of stacks of beer cans. She was sooo close!

We have submitted our visa applications finally. The photos were accepted. We're in Bangalore for a couple more days. It's been great to catch up with StartingBloc fellows and chill out.

Off to another great meal!

Riding High

2009-10-05T01:09:00.003-04:00

We arrived in Mysore, India just before Freeman's birthday and have gotten settled in quite comfortably here. We are staying at one of Freeman's best friend's mom's house outside of Mysore. The house was designed by Freeman's friend, Kartik's Aunt and Uncle and has some very cool environmental features. The house refreshes all its gray water for secondary use in flushing the toilets. The house also collects and filters the roof runoff for use as water in all the taps for cooking, hand washing, and etcetera. The hot water is heated using a solar water heater on the roof, which gets piping hot. It's been fun to feel a bit more integrated with the local landscape.

The rains have come to this part of India finally and are causing a fair amount of flooding. The weather is a bit cooler on average during the days and there have been some excellent rain showers in the evenings and sporadically throughout the days. We just picked up a couple bikes for each of us for commuting into town, and so far only got caught in a mild shower once, we've been lucky.

In town we are both keeping ourselves busy. Jo is taking traditional Indian dance classes for and Free is taking private and group yoga lessons. We usually wake up late and spend the rest of the morning reading, then ride 8.5 miles into town for our afternoon lessons. We're on our way back by the evening in time for dinner a bit after 7:30. Add in some more reading and internet puttering and that's a good day.

We've befriended a retired couple around the corner who are voracious readers and have amassed quite a library. We now have a small stack of borrowed literature and environmental non-fiction to keep us busy for a few weeks. On the book front, don't bother reading Dan Brown's newest "The Lost Symbol". A Dr. Bronner's soap bottle is more engrossing and thematically very similar.

We are both feeling very relaxed and enjoying getting to know one place well, as opposed to bouncing around we were doing for a while. We think about home often and hope you all are well.

Cheers,
Jo and Free

India by Train

2009-09-21T04:59:00.002-04:00

We are now in Pune, a small city near the mountains Southeast of Mumbai (formerly Bombay). Tomorrow we will be visiting Jo's United World College so Freeman can see where Jo finished up her studies before Middlebury.

So far, our travels have taken us from Delhi through Agra, Jaipur, and Mumbai. wWe landed in Delhi after our flight from Nairobi and saw some of the cultural sights including the Red Fort, Gandhi's Memorial, and the India Gate. We were ushered around a Sikh temple on a holy day and got a small introduction to that religion from an outgoing sikh at the temple. The food was extraordinary and a welcome return to vegetarianism for Free after tasty meat, meat, and more meat in East Africa.

In Agra we spent a day visiting old temples and seeing the "Baby Taj Mahal" (an earlier mausoleum in a similar though less grand architectural style) on the first day. Then in the late morning on the second day we went to see the big daddy Taj Mahal. It is epic. It's the size of an enormous graveyard and it holds two people. The mausoleum itself defies description. We also got a chance to visit a modern palace at the Oberoi Hotel there in Agra. We had a chance to have a few drinks there and walk the opulent grounds.

In Jaipur we toured more old forts and saw the sunset from a hilltop fort overlooking the pink city. That night we even got a chance to watch a fun Bollywood movie in a huge local cinema. Suffice it to say that Freeman's uncle Chris would have gone nuts and Free's dad would have loved it. Everyone was talking to the actors and screaming at the characters to do or not do different things. It was much more like a rowdy live theater scene than what Americans or Europeans are used to in a cinema. We loved it. Freeman's "hardy guffaws" fit right in, indeed he felt meek in comparison to the outbursts all around us.

Then we took the overnight sleeper train from Jaipur to Mumbai for 19 hours. It's a bit like falling asleep in a massage chair set to "shake". We were in Mumbai long enough to buy a copy of Dan Brown's newest book and catch our train to Pune. This was probably the first real stereotypical Indian train adventure for Free. Much of the trip was along a high ridge between two mountain ranges with breathtaking views. Add in ample and worthy beggars interrupted by snack vendors and chaiwallas galore along with a few pushy gentlemen trying to find their seats and you've got a good time. Did we mention the sweat or the staring?

The staring is worth a moment. We often joke that the horns on our forehead are coming in quite nicely, as we attract ample staring wherever we go. By 'staring' we don't mean prolonged glances, mind you. By staring, we mean walking close enough to really get a good look and then investigating every visual aspect of your person, then moving on to regard you at a distance. Luckily we have always felt safe and honored in a way, it's just a new thing to enjoy.

We're off to do some more walking around and see Pune a bit. We miss our friends and family and wish each of you all the best. Stay in touch.

Cheers!

India!

2009-09-12T05:03:00.001-04:00

We have safely touched down in India. We are exploring Delhi for a few days before making our way south. We'll give more information on our time in Delhi before long, but for now we need to get out there and live it.

Snacking on pappadam,
Jo and Free

From cargo ships to candle-lit dinners on the beach

2009-09-07T11:45:00.004-04:00

Zanzibar here we come! We had imagined this day for months and were looking forward to the six-hour ride under a starry sky and were only too excited to jump onboard at 2.00am. Little problem....the ship was a cargo boat that was ferrying coconuts. Alas, we arrived in Zanzibar after sitting, lying, squating and kneeling on coconuts for a-quarter-of-a-day while moving at 5 miles per hour.

That said, it was an incredible cool night as the boat gently rocked through the deep azur waters and at sunrise Freeman even watched shoals of fish swim around the boat as the captain softly hummed; but don't ask Jo, she spent the entire night barfing into a plastic bag and wondering why bile tastes so bitter. It's official Jo and Free will never take a cruise together! The rest of the commute (1.5 days) consisted of another boat ride and a car ride with 10 people (Four in front, five at the back and 1 in the trunk.)- Ouchhh! By the time we got to the pier we were certain that our trip back to Nairobi will consist of one plane flight.

However, the moment we stepped on Kendwa beach our hearts melted as we have never ever seen a place so beautiful. The powdery white sand seeps between your toes as you walk on the expansive beach littered with shells. The sun gently tingles your skin but not too much; while the ocean consists of alternate azur and cobalt strips and you only need to swim 20 metres to see stunning corals reefs. The locals placed flowers on our bed and made us feel like we were long lost friends coming home and on Saturday night we danced the night away at the Full Moon party then jumped in the ocean for a 2.00am swim. Yes, everyone should visit Kendwa Beach in Zanzibar. It's paradise.

We are now back in Zanzibar's stone town. We will miss Kendwa but we cannot wait for India. T minus 2 days.

Mwah,

Jo and Free

Nairobi Wedding Celebration and Mombasa

2009-08-30T07:35:00.002-04:00

Hello everybody! We are now just North of Mombasa, Kenya on Bamburi Beach, chilling on the fine white sands and dancing the nights away. Picture camel riders haggling with us to take a ride, dugout wooden catamarans ("dhow" in kiswahili) bobbing in the water, crabs scuttling away in their little sand caves on the beach, and Jo and Free sitting on a towel sipping frosty beverages as the waves gurgle in the gloaming. Did we mention we're not working. Life is like a ripe mango.

We arrived in Mombasa by bus after an amazing time in Nairobi with nearly all of Jo's family. With a couple exceptions for those who couldn't make it, we were able to meet or catch up with relatives from both sides of Jo's family and many friends young and old. Free's parents made the journey from Vermont to Nairobi, via London to celebrate on the 22nd as well. There was much dancing, singing, food, speeches, flowers galore, more of the chocolate and cream color scheme than you can shake a cake at, and smiles, smiles, smiles. Frank (Jo's dad), David (Free's dad), and Freeman even did a little booty shakin' in front of the full crowd to get the evening started! Many thanks go out to Florence, Frank, and Jo's brother Ben for all the time they spent making ready for the big day and attending to many details during and after the big day. It was an honor to be treated so well and to have so much love in one place. Jo looked radiant in her dress once again, by the way! We're working on getting pictures to share...

We are off to Zanzibar next. We may dodge pirates by stowing away on a light cargo ship between the tip of Southeastern Kenya to Stone Town in Zanzibar. This is likely to beat the 14 hour bus ride along the coast. That said, it is also a big test as Jo has never travelled by boat before and is still learning how to swim. Ahhh, adventure awaits at sea!

Hakuna shida,
Jo and Free

Happy Honeymoon

2009-08-14T11:16:00.005-04:00

Hakuna Shida! No worries. Freeman and Jo are finally reunited in Kenya and loving it. Shame it is culturally inappropriate to kiss in public, we're still getting used to that. As a result, we've gotten very good at playing footsie under the dinner table.

Jo got a passport that confirms her correct gender, always a plus. Your guess is as good as ours on how she got through all her travels and visa applications for 8 years on a passport that listed her with the wrong first and middle name and the incorrect gender. That's cleared up finally with some expedited processing, read small bribe to ministry official.

Florence (Jo's Mom) and Ben have been making many preparations for the large family's arrival throughout the coming week. Frank (Jo's Dad) arrives tomorrow. Ben, Susan, Baby Flo, Florence, Jo, and Free all went out to Carnivore last night. After drinking goat's blood in Tanzania and last night eating a meal consisting of only meat shaved directly from the bone to the plate, with a side of beer, Freeman has officially gone "whole hog" on indulging his carnivorous instincts. He is looking forward to a ritual cleansing in India and perhaps some vegetarian penance (picture him slapping his face with a wet brick of extra firm tofu or a cat's tail made of celery or something.)

It has been amazing to see where Jo grew up and visit places that defined her childhood. Also great to see how much Jo and her mom are alike in many ways (picture digging for missing phones simultaneously in oversize purses while fussing about directions in the front car seats as they navigate the streets of Nairobi). Florence has been taking very good care of us and is very excited about the imminent celebration. The emcee for the evening just entertained Hillary Clinton and has no qualms reminding us of the fact on occasion.

We're going out partying tonight with Jo's best friend from grade school, Nairobi nightlife, Tuskers, and Gin and Stoney Tangawizi...it's really hotting up!

Headed into Nairobi

2009-08-11T09:47:00.003-04:00

Freeman leaves today from NYC to meet back up with Jo in Nairobi. He is rapidly packing a few final things and will be on his way shortly. New York felt like a bustling oasis for these last few days, thanks to everyone who helped make it so. Now to get back into the heart of traveling!

Freeman picked up a copy of The Da Vinci Code finally and looks forward to reading it on the plane. Let's hear it for the reused book sellers on lower 6th avenue!

Goddess Guide Us.

Headed Home

2009-08-10T18:41:00.004-04:00

Freeman brought the 16 volunteer students from the Putney trip back to NYC on August 5th and had a few days to regroup in the city. He got to stay with Eric and saw many close friends in just a few days. Some highlights were getting to bop around to Pete's band and swap wedding stories with Jimbo, Meg, Pete, and Crystal. Since we all got married this summer, it was fun to compare notes. On Saturday the 8th Eric, Tiffany, and Free took a run up and down Park Avenue and through Central park when the avenue was closed to car traffic for pedestrians and cyclers to enjoy. Later in the evening they grabbed dinner at Cafe Mogador and then headed out to Queens to partake in some libations at Dutch Kills. Richie and Josepie took good care of the crew there and time passed amidst good spirits. Imagine a fine wood interior and the intoxicating touches of jazz and bourbon on the tongue. Nights float well on such waters.

Freeman is headed back to his roots in Kenya and is really looking forward to seeing Jo. She went from Arusha to Nairobi around the same time Freeman came back to NYC and has been there spending time with Ben, Susan, and baby Flo. It sounds like Florence has also recently arrived from Darfur to begin finalizing preparations for the Kenyan wedding celebration about to lift off on August 22nd.

It sounds like the weather may be a bit cold, but the atmosphere is bound to be warm. Freeman is really looking forward to meeting Jo's family and seeing the places that defined her childhood. Even after several years together, there is much to be learned.

Wedding and Honeymoon

2009-08-10T18:15:00.008-04:00

The wedding was the happiest day of our lives. We were very focused on all the details right up until the day, then we put ourselves in the hands of our top notch wedding party and really got into the day. It was amazing to have both sides of Freeman's family, most of our closest friends, and Jo's parents and their friends all present and loving the day. Jo took Freeman's breath away with her elegant and electrifying dress. Freeman wore a tux and tried to keep up, though he was quite happy with the touch of panache supplied by the bow ties the guys in the wedding party were sporting.

The pictures from the day, taken by Herve Pelletier, can be found and purchased here. Herve was prolific in his duty to capture the day and we are honored by his diligence and the fine photographs we have to remember the day by.

Jo left for Tanzania the day after the wedding. She got to the Burlington, VT airport in the nick of time and was on her way to New York, then through London, to Nairobi, to Zanzibar, to Dar es Salaam, then finally to Arusha. On arrival she checked into a hotel and after waking up got right to work getting supplies for our impending community service trip. If not for her fluency in Kiswahili and excellent sense of how to get a project rolling, the trip would have been sunk. She managed to procure cement, tools, living quarters, and food all under budget and in time for Freeman's arrival with the 16 students a few days later.

We got to work building two classrooms and engaging in various cultural explorations throughout the month. The trip was then capped off by a one week walking and driving Safari in the Tanzanian national parks and Masai tribal lands. For full details on the trip, check out our Putney Student Travel blog here. There are some good posts from each stage of our work and journey during the month of July and into early August.

The lack of privacy that comes with working and living closely with 16 teenagers led us to postpone some of the more traditional events of a honeymoon. Who said we wanted a traditional honeymoon though?

From Sirens to Wedding Bells

2009-06-23T14:49:00.006-04:00

We left the city on June 17th and made it up to Vermont late that night. We managed to fit everything we needed in a small rented hatchback packed to within an inch of its life. It was amazing to turn the page on the first New York chapter of our lives. Of all the things we intended and thought about, leaving meant that what we actually did was what would go down in the books. We are wrapping up the wedding planning from Middlebury now and the early guests have just started to arrive.

Back on the 11th through the 14th of June we were having a great time at the Putney Student Travel (www.goputney.com) orientation for our Tanzania trip we're leading. The trip promises to be an eye opener for us and the sixteen students. Jo has taken on the bold task of heading out the day after the wedding to begin organizing the trip on the ground in Tanzania. Freeman will come along later, leaving the country on July 4th (?!) with the students.

We look forward to keeping in touch through this weblog and posting photos from the wedding then our trip as we make our way.