To Uncertainty & Beyond!

Tilt-shift is pretty cool.

It’s my new favorite post-processing trick, in fact. The photo is manipulated so that a life-sized location looks like a miniature-scale model. I had seen these fake miniatures before, but I never knew why it looked miniature. I have a bit of free time on my hands, so I learned the technique. These photos are actual locations from our world travels….now in mini form through the magic of computers.

For the miniature effect to be credible, shoot subjects from a high angle. It looks best if the photo is taken from above and far away, like a landscape with lots of rooftops or street activity. It creates the illusion of looking down at a model.

I found several good tutorials for creating Miniatures using Photoshop. First, choose the area of the photo for your focal point. I like choosing an area where there are lots of people, cars, or activity happening.

Make sure scale is maintained. See the little people and cars in Porto and the boy with his mule in Petra?

Some miniature holy cows would have been cool in this shot.

Don’t over do it. It is easy to lose detail with strong bokeh. You want a shallow depth of field, but not too shallow. Aim for somewhere between kiddie pool and tabloid magazines.

If you want to try the effect for yourself, a little googling will give you several great tutorials, but here is the one I like:

• Tilt-Shift Photography Photoshop Tutorial

Have you experimented with tilt-shift? Post a link to your mini-photos below.

Dearest Kim,

It’s been nearly a week since I last saw you. I should have known something was wrong between us. We used to carry everything together. You used to never take your eyes off me, but these past few weeks have been different. You left me completely empty in a cold, dark corner with nothing but my hydration port.

I was so excited when you put me on last Tuesday. “Yay! We are finally together again!”, I thought. As it turns out, it was all a lie.

I had such high hopes when we got to REI. I thought you might buy me some accessories or wanted to brag to the clerk how pretty I look after all these months. But nooooo, you abandoned me! You tossed me aside to be thrown in the storage room with the Christmas rejects.

You didn’t even say goodbye.

When the cashier asked you what was wrong, you said, “It just isn’t right for me.” I still can barely write the words.  Just isn’t right for you?! You hurt me to the zippers, sweet Kim.

How could you after all we’ve been through? Why did you leave me, when we fit so well together? Sure, I might get a little pudgy when fully stuffed. I’m a little heavy sometimes, I admit, but no pack is perfect!

On your way out, I saw you from the returns bin. I nearly broke my internal bladder when I saw the bitter truth. You exchanged me for a newer model! And, what’s worse, you exchanged me for a Ridgeline 65?! A Gregory Baltoro 75, I could understand at least, but a puny, little Ridgeline?

Does that blue floozy have the capacity that I have? Does it have the convenient and spacious outer pocket? Is it fully front-loading? Can it snap around you as tight as I can?  I don’t think so.  What does it have that I don’t, huh?!

To think of all those times I unzipped for you. All those times you reached deep in my compartment.  The thought makes me sick now.

Just so you know, I am done crying for you. My Coating Finish™ shell with individual fibers resulting in reduced water absorption and stronger durability was nearly soaked to the internal frame. The REI Garage Sale is on the 23rd, and I am looking forward to meeting someone who will truly appreciate this sexy, green machine.

I wish you and your J-zipper, strap-deprived sack all the best.  You deserve each other.

Sincerely,

REI Venus 70

P.S. You left a pair of socks in my main compartment. I’m keeping them.

We never had a strict plan for our trip. That was, sort of, the whole point. We promised each other to keep traveling as long as we both felt like it. This is the ideal itinerary, in my opinion. You do what you want, when you want, for as along as you want.

After the six month mark, many travelers feel desensitized and road weary. The UNESCO sights just don’t blow you away like they did at the beginning. Another ancient temple? Eh. One more perfect beach? Ho hum. There is so much to see and do in Southeast Asia, but Kim had days where she had no practically zero motivation to do much besides order Pad Thai across the street. After 200 days on the road, very little was new, different, or surprising to us anymore. We were still having fun, but the constant small battles really wear you down. Can you show me one taxi driver that knows where he is going in Bangkok? Do the tuk-tuk drivers really think I need a ride when I just stepped out of a cab?

Honestly, we weren’t getting the most from travel anymore. We needed a break. We needed to regain our motivation to see and do the things we quit our jobs for. “Different” became so routine that almost nothing felt different. Again, we were still enjoying ourselves, but we needed a change of pace.

As fate would have it, a few opportunities sprang up for both of us back home. A visit home started to make a lot of sense. We acknowledged we would have to see Cambodia and Vietnam another time, and we booked our return flight to the States. Soon after, we hit Bangkok’s many stores and loaded up on inexpensive goodies.

We even gave ourselves a bunch of tailored suits for Christmas, but that’s for a later post.

We let my family know of our plans (so we wouldn’t be out in the cold, literally) but decided to make it a surprise for Kim’s. We pulled it off pretty well. Her parents were definitely surprised.

We’ve been back for three weeks now, and we are still quite mobile and very homeless. Kim will be traveling solo to Guatemala to study Spanish, and I will…do something, I guess. She has a Master’s in Urban Education Leadership and will need to brush up on Español to boost her career as a school administrator.

I might travel. I might work. I am waiting on a few job opportunities, and depending on how things go, I am seriously thinking of spending some time in Costa Rica or Mexico to escape the unbearable Chicago winter. Maybe one of the drug cartels could use another henchman. I’ve heard Colombia is nice. I’ve also looked into backpacking the United States, but that is a difficult proposition. Unlike the rest of the world, our public transportation system is quite lame.

In the mean time, we are having fun in Chicago. It was great to be back for New Year’s Eve and catch up with our old friends. We rang in 2011 at a house party and sampled some ’68 Champagne. Not too bad.

Our decision to come back was made at the last minute, but it was the right decision. We are well rested and looking forward to more adventures. Kim flies to Guatemala City on January 19, and I’m sure I’ll find something of interest– career or travel wise.

There are more posts to come, so don’t un-bookmark us quite yet. We have covered “uncertainty”, but haven’t even touched on “beyond” yet.

You can’t go wrong with fried carbohydrates covered with carbohydrate glaze. We discovered this local bakery while shopping one afternoon. I can only assume it is some kind of local delicacy. After taking this photo, I had to understand the reason for these insane crowds.

Krispy Kreme has fallen on hard times in the States and other Western countries, but the donut biz-nass is booming over here! They are selling like hot cakes.

Bangkok’s Siam Square is home to the first Krispy Kreme franchise in Thailand. On the ground level of the Paragon shopping mall you’ll see a bright, shiny store with a line that twists and turns out the door and around the block. Pre-diabetic Thais wait for as long as three hours to max out their 2.5 dozen per person limit. You see people carrying big plastic bags filled with Krispy Kreme boxes everywhere, even posing for photos with their boxes. The funny thing is that I’ve never seen someone actually eating a Krispy Kreme. Is this just some sort of bizarre fashion trend? Like purse dogs? Are you not cool unless you have 30 donuts on you at all times?

We’ve walked by several times now, and there are always about 100 people in line. You can even get them on the black market. Just like Omega watches and Armani suits sold on every corner, I’m skeptical of the authenticity. I asked one guy, “Are these actual Krispy Kremes or imitation Kripsy Kremes? I’m not paying 200 baht for knockoff donuts.”

The last thing I want is a box of Mr. Donut or, heaven forbid, Dunkin’ Donuts.

Things to do in Singapore: Eat. Shop. Get fined.

That’s about it.

We knew Singapore was going to be the polar opposite of India. To be honest, it felt pretty nice, and it is a lot like home…except cleaner, shinier, hotter (outside), and much colder (inside). I don’t know what the deal is with these guys, but they keep the A/C on full blast at all times.

Everything in Singapore is modern and bright: huge skyscrapers, flashy casinos, colorful restaurants, and massive shopping malls. The brand new Marina Bay Sands Hotel & Casino is an amazing scam. Locals are charged S$100 just to walk in the door of this place! You don’t get that back in chips either. It costs 77USD just for the opportunity to play S$25 min., 5-deck blackjack and ultra-lame electronic craps. You don’t even get to roll the dice. Lucky for us, foreigners on tourist visas are admitted free of charge.

We discovered one major similarity, however. As we exited the Little India metro station, Kim joked that we would find a bovine paradise of crumbling buildings, trash clogged streets, and completely ignored queues. She was right all counts except the cows, but I think we could have even found a cow or two if we had tried harder. Little India is shockingly similar to Big India, except prices are quadrupled and we could drink the water here. We ate some great thali for dinner, and it made us wish our train problems hadn’t kept us from Mumbai. If you want all the perks of India without the inconvenience of actually being in India, you’ll love this neighborhood.

Many people find Singapore sterile and boring. I can’t argue with that assessment, but sometimes a little boredom and sterility is just what you need after six months of travel.

We threw together a video so you can share in our reverse culture shock:

Which do you prefer? Cast your vote by commenting below.

Of the handful of Indian cities we visited, Jodhpur was our favorite. It bears all the usual hallmarks of India– deafening rickshaws, cows roaming (and shitting) everywhere, garbage to your ankles, and dogs in varying stages of deadness.

However, the decaying architecture and friendly locals make the Blue City our new favorite vacation spot in Rajasthan.

As you walk around town, blue is definitely the predominate shade, but you’ll also see a variety of bright colors.

The city is full of crumbling Havelis (Indian mansions).  These 19th century buildings have archways leading into open-air courtyards, thick stone walls that keep out the heat, intricate wooden doors, stained glass windows, and lots of carved, painted woodwork. Many of the hotels and guesthouses are converted Havelis.  Kim renewed her interest in doors during our three days in town.

The clock tower is in the center of the old town, and it is surrounded by the gritty bazaar. Spices, silk scarves, and jewelry were all very tempting, but I found myself too busy dodging scooters, cows, and tuk tuks to look at much merchandise.  I wasn’t too busy for great makhania lassis though. Hotel Shri Mishrilal on the far side of the square had the best lassi in town.

Jodhpurians are nothing if not colorful and friendly.  Every man, woman, and child were willing to pose for a photo, and many even approached me to ask for a picture. Children especially love talking to Westerners, and I found myself swarmed by screaming kids on several occasions. Kids and adults alike would often ask to shake my hand or get a photo with us.

One asked Kim if her eyes were real. She told him they were implants.

We couldn’t walk a few feet without kids shouting “Hello! Hello! Hello!” to us from doorways and windows.

The Meherangarh Fort towers 125 meters above town, and it is quite a sight to see.  The imposing gates, beautifully decorated rooms, and intricate courtyards are very well preserved. There are tons of tourists, but the flow of traffic is well organized. The informative audio guide included interviews from the last Maharaja, his wife, mother, as well as several members of the court who actually lived in Meherangarh.

Jodhpur wasn’t all cow shit and open sewers.  There were also a few downsides– one of which was the quality of food. Our neighborhood was filled with rooftop restaurants serving up a plates of Chef Boyardee-quality Indian food. Seriously, we’ve had better canned curry from Costco.

Also, Jodhpur brought our Indian adventure to a screeching halt. As we planned our next stop, we realized we were stranded. There were absolutely no train tickets available to Mumbai or any other intermediate stops for the next 10 days.

Okay, that leaves more of Rajasthan then.  There were no tickets available to the North or Delhi either.  What about buses, you ask?  Sure, we probably could have found something, and they are comfortable enough as long as the goat next to you keeps to himself.

However, if you take a long-haul bus in India, you are putting your life into the hands of a crazed maniac. On our two 6-hour bus trips in Rajasthan, we decided our driver must be suicidal and wanted to take us down with him in a blaze of glory.

We had to find a flight if we didn’t want to become permanent residents. No luck here either. A ticket from Jodhpur to Mumbai was an insane $350 each, but we found Jodhpur to Singapore was only $300.  With very few alternatives, we reluctantly agreed India had beaten us, and we booked the flight to Singapore.

Only slightly reluctantly.

We don’t dislike India, but this country is exhausting. It is a constant battle to get across town let alone from one city to another. Hotel reservations are impossible to secure ahead of time, so we resorted to finding lodging on arrival. This being the beginning of the high season, our strategy had mixed results. Plus, you have to find a tuk tuk to chauffeur you around, and the driver automatically gets commission whether the hotel was his idea or not.

Imagine all these frustrations plus not bathing for days, sleeping in dirty beds, rotting garbage all around you, intermittent electricity, haggling for everything, and always being covered in human and/or cow shit. If you can picture this, you’ve grasped the essence of travel in India.

So, now you see why we had mixed feeling about the train situation. We were sad to be missing out on so much, but at the same time, I want to flip out on the next schmohawk on a scooter that runs me down.

We enjoyed our weeks here, and I think we will come back.  We’ll just remember to pack our rain boots, rubber pants, earplugs, and nose plugs next time.

Taken right after his al-Qaida job interview.

Most don’t put the Mideast at the top of their travel to-do lists. Other than Gilbert, our enthusiastic Taliban-poser friend pictured here, many have a negative association with the area. He just came from Iraqi Kurdistan and had nothing but good things to say. I was sold, but Kim would not have it.

I guess we aren’t ready for Iraq after all, but we are sad to have missed Syria, Lebanon, and Israel.  We’ll just have to get them on the next world trip.

I had a much different draft of this post, but I decided to scrap my 3,000-word essay on Egyptian and Jordanian culture. Seriously, who was going to read that? Instead, let’s keep it simple.

Egypt

Cairo is awful.  It’s incredibly polluted, overcrowded, segregated (tourists from locals), and frustrating.  Not to mention the men look at women “like they want to ravage them”, as someone in our hostel put it. What begins as a friendly conversation with a local ends with being asked to come to his shop to see his papyrus or take his bogus tour. Very annoying. Before you write us off as wusses, know that we usually enjoy gritty cities. Naples, Mexico City, and Izmir aren’t exactly tourists’ paradises, and we had a great time in each of them.

They were starstruck to meet the writers of the 1,276,574th most popular website on Earth (according to Alexa.com).

In Cairo, I had no problem walking the streets alone.  However, it was a different story when Kim and I were together. Everyone stopped and stared…and not in a friendly or curious way.  We never felt unsafe, but Kim would certainly have been harassed if I had left her alone.  Except for a group of teenagers, we didn’t have many friendly interactions with the natives. We didn’t hate Cairo, but it easily tops our least favorite cities list.

This begs the question, are the pyramids really worth all this?

Some say Giza is overrated, but I disagree. If you can avoid the corrupt tourist police, t-shirt hawkers, and camel pushers, it is a pretty amazing site. The two other pyramid sites near Memphis are much less crowded and touristy and are well worth a visit.  There is very little transportation for independent travelers, so we had to hire a taxi for seven hours to see all the sites.

I’m sure India and Southeast Asia will make Cairo seem like a breeze, but those regions have a great deal of culture to balance the chaos. Besides the pyramids, the only other redeeming quality was the cost.  Egypt is damn cheap. We spent a grand total of $180 over four days which included $60 for lodging and $15 for food.  That’s right, we only spent $15 for four days of food. When falafel sandwiches are under $1 per person, you don’t need a big budget.  And that 7-hour cab ride?  Only $35.  For me, the prices almost made up for all of Cairo’s negative qualities.

But, not quite. Cairo sucked.

We had an ambitious two-week itinerary planned, but we scraped it due to the high cost, low reliability of the Egypt-Jordan ferry and our tight schedule.  We only had a few weeks scheduled for the Mideast and less of Egypt meant more of Jordan.

Jordan

“Welcome to Jordan!”

Jordanians are very friendly people, and we heard this greeting about ten times each day. The people seemed excited to show off their English skills and often wanted to chat without wanting anything from us.  Just like at home, this is election season for Jordanians.  We fell asleep most nights to campaign messages blaring, honking horns, and the sweet sound of AK-47s firing in the air. Don’t be alarmed though. Jordan is a  very safe country, and besides a bed bug incident in Amman, our visit was trouble free.

Egypt still wins in one department– cost. Jordan is damn expensive. Public transportation is almost nonexistent, and we had to rely on private taxis more than we preferred.  Our three hour ride from Petra to Madaba set us back nearly $125. We were kicking ourselves later on when we found a minibus to Amman where we could have transferred to Madaba. The sights are also very pricey. Petra cost $50 per person while Jerash was much more reasonable $11 per ticket. We arrived two days before prices increased to an insane $77/person, so we were thankful for that at least.  The individuals themselves, however, aren’t out to scam you as they were in Cairo.

I estimate we hiked about 20 kilometers including 2,000 stairs over our two-day visit. Petra and Jerash are among our favorite sights on this trip, but you should expect some degree of hassle just like at Giza.  Donkey taxi drivers, jewelry sellers, and postcard kids are the main offenders.  Unlike at Giza, the tourist police quickly boot out misbehaving entrepreneurs. Kim had a hard time with the poverty, animal cruelty, and very poor health of the street kids in both countries.  At Giza, we witnessed an Egyptian whipping a horse and its teenage rider equally mercilessly.

Even with Petra’s ridiculous entrance fee, I feel we got our money’s worth.  I reserved my budget-fueled rage for the Dead Sea.  Apparently, there is only one public beach, and they charge accordingly.  On our ride to Madaba, our driver deposited us at the Amman Beach, and we had to decide between missing out on the second saltiest body of water on Earth or paying $50 for two hours of swimming floating.  We ended up forking over the 35 dinar fee, and we bobbed for about an hour.  I was pissed for the rest of the day, but you really do float effortlessly.  Kim could easily sit on my chest and be almost completely out of the water while I sank just a few inches.

In summary, we can’t recommend Cairo on its own merits, but I think the pyramids are worth the trouble.  Jordan, however, is great destination, but you better have a big budget.  Petra is one of those places you have to see.

Be sure to check out all our photos from Egypt and Jordan on Flickr and watch our hectic Middle East Montage for the highlights:

Tonight, we fly to New Delhi to start our subcontinent adventure. Friday is the first day of Diwali, so we should have a very energetic introduction to India. First priority = Mango lassi.

Thanks to the Schengen Agreement, we didn’t make it to Greece on this trip.   We used 89 days of the 90-day limit, so that doesn’t leave much time for Athens. Now that we are in the Republic of Cypress, we finally get a taste of Greece without worrying about hassles like deportation or overstay fines.

We successfully found a great gyro yesterday, and today’s mission was desserts.  Lucky for us, we found Ζορπασ (which translates to Zorba’s according to Google) right by our hotel in Larnaca.  We picked out three of our old favorites from Chicago’s Greektown and dug in.

1. Γαλακτομπουρεκο (Galaktoboureko)

This was our favorite of the three and is my dessert of choice at The Parthanon. Zorba’s version was much better. This creamy, custard cake was the perfect texture. It has been too gelatinous at some restaurants, but this one was just right.

Galakto…whatever..is topped with phyllo and lightly coated with a sweet syrup. The name is derived from the words gala (meaning milk in Greek) and bourek (Turkish for pastry). I think this is the only instance of something Greek and Turkish in close proximity without the United Nations’ involvement.

2. Μπακλαβας (Baklava)

We do like our baklava, so we had high hopes for our trip to Turkey. Unfortunately, we usually found a phyllo-heavy, nut-deprived square that was soaking in syrup all day. When you bit into it, your mouth was flooded with super sweet syrup, and the texture was mushy. Kim’s favorite baklava remained my mother’s.

Our prospects greatly improved in Cyprus. As you can see, there are plenty of nuts in the inner layers, and it isn’t swimming in a pool of liquid sugar. Topped with ground pistachios, it was crunchy with just the right amount of chewiness. Sorry, Mom, but you ain’t got nothin’ on Ζορπασ’s.

3. Ινδοκαρυδο Ταψιου (Coconut Cake)

This super moist coconut cake jumped out at us, but we still aren’t sure how traditional it is. Luckily, you pay by the slice at this bakery because our piece weighed about a kilo. We were pretty full from the first two desserts (yes, we ate all this in one night), so we only had a few bites. The flavor was good, but the syrup content was a little high for us. We just don’t like syrup, I guess.

By the way, if you were wondering how we are managing with this crazy Greek alphabet, the answer is that we aren’t. Cyprus was a British colony, so most signs are also in English. Our time on the island was short, but we’re glad we made it. We are headed for Cairo tomorrow and look forward to trying some Egyptian sweets. King Tut tortes, maybe? Sand pies? We’ll let you know.