Train Ride from Mumbai to Udiapur, India

After leaving Mumbai, we boarded an overnight train north to Udiapur - besides being yet another mode of transportation on our trip, the overnight train ride allowed us to cover more distance over a shorter period of time. As you can see from the pic "Frank really enjoyed the train ride".

Mani Bhayan - Gandhi’s House – Mumbai, India

During our city tour of Mumbai (Bombay), we visited the building where Mahatma Gandhi stayed during his visits to Mumbai (Bombay) from 1917 to 1934. The building now houses a small museum, which contains a replica of his simple bedroom and a wonderful photographic record of his life.

Gandhi’s Simple Bedroom – Mumbai, India

Gandhi's Simple Bedroom - Mumbai, India

Hindu Temple – Mumbai, India

After spending two months touring the Middle East, visiting mostly Muslim mosques and Christian churches and monasteries, we have now landed in the land of Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. Pictured is a Hindu Temple.

Municipal Laundry - Mahalaxmi Dhobi Ghat – Mumbai, India

Each day at Mumbai's municipal laundry, some 5000 men use rows of open-air troughs to beat out the dirt out of the thousands of kilograms of soiled clothes brought from all over the city each day. The picture doesn't really capture the chaos of the wash area, but it give you a flavor of the chaos. Hopefully.

New Group Members - Mumbai, India

Two of the Middle East group members, Jussi and Chris, finished their leg of the trip and left the group in Tehran. Once arriving in Mumbai, India we acquired six additional group members. Five of the six new members are pictured: Brendan, Anne, Malcolm, Nicole, and Jayne (l to r). The sixth member, Richard, is missing from the picture.

The new members are only participating in the India-Nepal leg of the trip and will be departing in Katmandu, where we will be picking up different "new" people for the China-Southeast Asia leg of the trip.

U.S. Den of Espionage (a.k.a. Former U.S. Embassy) – Tehran, Iran

We spent the last two days in Iran, in the capital city of Tehran, visiting palaces, mosques, museums and the Former U.S Embassy, now referred to as the U.S. Den of Espionage. Yumi tried to sweet talk the guard into allow us on the grounds of the Former U.S. Embassy, but the guard clearly stated the building was off limits to visitors, unless special permission from the government was granted. Our visit was limited to walking around the compound. The compound walls displayed some anti-American slogans, but most of them where starting to fade. Iran refers to the compound as the U.S. Den of Espionage, because of the secret documents found in the Embassy during the siege in 1979. The Iranian government was being spied on by the American government.

Overall, visiting Iran was very enlightening. From a western eye, I'd say Iran is awaiting some major cultural and governmental reforms, especially with two-thirds of the population under the age of 30. On the other hand, the current, conservative government has a huge financial arsenal from oil revenue. The financial arsenal may be able to keep the masses happy and content for a number of years to come, protracting such reforms.

Holy Shrine of Ayatollah Khomeini - Tehran, Iran

As evident from the grandeur of this shrine, you can ascertain the country's (and the government) enormous esteem for the late Ayatollah, the Revolutionary Leader, who died in 1989.

Tea Room, Esfahan, Iran

Our visit to Iran is ending. If asked what I thought of Iran in a word, I'd say very homogenous. The cities look similar to each other. They all have similar, streets, roundabouts, parks, infrastructure, housing, etc. The people are basically from the same ethic background (at least when compared to America) and are Muslim. I would also describe the country as prosperous and extremely clean, and the people very friendly and happy. The stores are well stocked with food and consumer goods. Every city has numerous, manicured parks. Education is free, including at the University level. Not knowing for sure, I'd guess most of the country's prosperity is financed by the government's oil revenues. All of Iran's oil reserves are owned by the government and the profits are given back to the country and its people.

On the other hand, the dress code, especially for women, is very restrictive. And there is no alcohol severed in the country. Yes, that is right; it's been almost two weeks since I've had a beer! There seems to be an air of conservatism about the country which limits personal freedoms and diversification. Whether the limitation on personal freedom outweighs the benefits provided by the government, I don't know. The development of science and technology also seems to be absent from the society. While Iranians seem to adopt the product of scientific and technological discoveries, there seems to be little effort to develop new discoveries. We visited a number of museums mostly related ancient civilizations and anthropology, but none related to science or technology.

Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque – Esfahan, Iran

A camera can not capture the incredible beauty of the mosques in Esfahan. Pictured is just a small example of the tile work in the mosque.

Main Mosque – Esfahan, Iran

Blue is the dominate color of the mosques, but the color tones tend to change with the change in light.

Artists – Esfahan, Iran

Iran has a long tradition of calligraphy and drawling miniature pictures on camel bones. These girls are art students receiving lessons from a master artist and owner of the gallery located in Esfahan. As you can see from the picture all women in Iran must were a hejab, which covers most of their body, including their hair and arms.

Cemetery - Esfahan, Iran

These are grave markers of the men (and civilians) killed in the Iran and Iraq war from 1980 to 1988.

Tile Shop – Yazd, Iran

Iran is full of artisans and craftsmen such as medalist, potters, handicraft makers, tile artists, "miniature" artist, carpet makers, clothe printers, etc. Pictured is an example of the work produced by a tile craftsman.

Wind Towers - Yazd, Iran

The towers you see are used to capture the wind and send it to the rooms below. These wind towers are precursors of air conditioning. Not surprising, I'm sure, as you can also see there is some anti-American sediment within Iran. Many of the Iranians are fearful that George W. Bush will wage war on Iran under false pretenses as he did on Iraq. While this is the general sentiment, one Iranian did say he liked George W. Bush because President Bush eliminated two of Iran's enemies, the Taliban and Saddam Hussein.

Nevertheless, in spite of the U.S.-Iraq war, many of the Iranians that I spoke with were intrigued with western world. Then again, most of the Iranian's that I've spoke with, spoke English (because I don't speak Farsi), therefore it was probably a biased sample. My guess is that most Iranians that studied the English language already have a pro-western view of the world. Their opinion of the western world is probably not that of an average Iranian. Nevertheless, the underlining consensuses of the Iranians that I spoke with say that they like American people but don't necessarily agree with the government.

Overall, the Iranian people have gone out of their way to be hospitable and made us feel welcome in their country. People would randomly approach us on the street to ask if we needed help finding some place or just to chat. Besides being very friendly, they are also very courious about what foreigners think about Iran and Iranians. OK, enough, but I have to ask, anyone thinking about changing there summer vacation plans?

Stone Carving - Naghsh-e Rostam, Iran

Xerxes, Gateway - Persepolis, Iran

Reza and Group – Persepolis, Iran

While in Iran we had an Iranian tour guide. He was assigned to us by the Department of Tourism. His knowledge of Iran and ability to translate from Farsi to English was of great value as we traveled through out Iran. Pictured here, Reza, our tour guide, is explaining the history of Persepolis to our group. Yes, the females in our group had to wear "hejabs" to cover their hair and arms while in Iran. The males had it much easier are only requirement was to wear long pants.

I even had to wear long pants while jogging. If you recall back in Turkey, I was in need of exercise. Well, since, I've been able squeeze in number of morning jogs. Some of them in very memorable places like along the banks of the Nile in Egypt, amongst the wheat fields in Syria, and along side the mountains streams in Eastern Turkey with the snow capped mountains in the back ground. However, there have also been some less than spectacular jogging places, like the service road along side a highway in Damascus.

The only "difficulty", I've encounter so far when jogging, other than finding suitable places to jog, occurred during my first jog in Iran. When jogging past a small village, two very large, growling dogs with huge teeth stopped me in my tracks. I picked up a large rock and screamed at the top of my lungs for them either them to get away or the owner to appear. After about a few minute stand off, they started to back away. And needless to say, I did the same, in the opposite direction, of course.

Wall Carvings - Persepolis, Iran

Just some more cool stone carving in Iran. I liked the picture so I thought I'd post it.

English Cowboy – Persepolis, Iran

Frank brushing up on his riding skills

James - Dogubayazit, Eastern Turkey

James' mom emailed him. In the email, said she was glad he was on the trip and not sitting at home drinking beer and smoking cigarettes, waiting to enroll in university this autumn. Well part of his' mom's statement is true... he's not sitting at home. Behind James, through the window of the restaurant, is the town of Dogubayazit in Eastern Turkey. We overnighted in the town before crossing the Iranian border.

Monastery – Akdamar Island, Eastern Turkey

The view from this island was amazing...the snow covered mountains framed by the blue of the sky and lake. The island from the mainland didn't look like much. Prior to visiting it, I even wondered why the monastery was built on the island. It seemed like a very inconvenient place to build a monastery. Once visiting the island, I understood why they built it there, the views were spectacular. The monastery is not operative, but when it was, I'm guessing it was an remarkable place to worship.

Self-portrait – Akdamar Island, Eastern Turkey

Hazel – Eastern Turkey

Washing clothes by hand has become a frequent chore. At most hotels a laundry service is available, but the variability in workmanship tends to vary from hotel to hotel. Most of the time the clothes come back clean and sometimes ironed. However, at times the laundry has been return either still wet, dirtier then when originally given, a few items short, or ruined. To avoid the gamble, I've also started to wash some of my basic clothing items by hand. Hopefully, we'll have better luck in India with the laundry services.

Group – Akdamar Island, Eastern Turkey

Emma, JoAnna, Yumi, and Roberto (l to r) on the boat to the Akdamar Island

Frank’s Tent Set-up – Eastern Turkey

This is a candid shot of Frank right after setting up his tent. The rain fly (green) provides the tent (blue) added protection from the rain. Albeit, the zipper on the rain fly is supposed to match with the zipper on the tent. As you can see, it's twisted around. Baffled, it took a bit of time, before Frank could figure out what happen. Just another day in the life of Frank...

Mt. Nemrut – Eastern Turkey

Update - Hama, Syria

Today is one of our last days in Syria, we’re spending it in Hama. It’s a small town in the north of the county. There’s not much to see in the town, other than the waterwheel behind Roberto, James and Jussi, (l to r). Neverthless, the small towns like Hama are great to just wall around, checkout the markets, shops and restaurants, and observe Syrian life away for the typical tourist traps. In total, I’ve really enjoyed Syria, much to my surprise. It’s a beautiful county, things are cheap, the people are extremely friendly and helpful, and tourism hasn’t corrupted the country yet. You might want to consider it for your next vacation. :)

In a day or two we head back to Turkey. This time we’ll be visiting the eastern portion of the country. It’s supposed to be a lot different from than western Turkey. After eastern Turkey we’ll be visiting Iran from May 13th – 26th, then flying to Mumbai, India on May 27th.

Hama, Syria

Yesterday was day 50 of the trip, I'm tanner and a bit skinnier as you can see when you compare this picture to the one on the right...It's a very scary picture, I'm sure you willl agree....and yes, I still have the orange hat... anyway, having a great time....here are just two random observations of the trip as far:

1) At the beginning of the trip visiting a new place, city, or country, every couple of days to a little getting used too. Every time we arrive in a new place, we need to figure out the basics…how much does a taxi or a can of coke cost? This can get a little tiresome, but luckily the trip is going at a relaxing pace and I’ve learn to just go with the flow. Each day is a new adventure even with respect to the most of the menial tasks.

2) The other aspect that takes a little getting used too is losing personal items. Almost everyday we are staying at a different campsite or hotel and it’s very easy to loose things. At first I would be annoyed at myself for losing things, but then I discovered that the items that I lost would reappear in a day or two. Generally, what I discovered is that I’ve just misplaced them. Or in the rare case, when I left something behind, I’ve discovered that someone else on the truck would find it and return it to the truck. Now when I loose things now, I generally don’t worry, I just wait a couple of days and the items generally reappear.

Theater - Palmyra, Syria

Palmyra is the last of the “spectacular” Rome ruins we’ll be visiting in the Middle East. While the ruin is quite impressive, most of the group is starting to O.D. on the ruins. There is only so much one can absorb from walking through the ruins, they are not labeled. Books are available to purchase that describe the ruins, but they are heavy and bulky. Our locker space in back of the truck is limited. My locker is already filled with the books I brought on the trip.

Citadel - Palmyra, Syria

This is the Citadel that over looks the town in Palmyra.

Colonnaded Street - Jerash, Jordon

Another Roman ruin… Jerash is primarily known for its colonnaded main street which stretches for 800m. The street is paved with the original stones, in which there are visible ruts worn by chariots that still exist. What’s interesting about the ruins is how each of them has the basic features of a city today… theaters (entertainment), sport area (hippodrome), main street, and temples/churches. While civilization has changed the basis still existed 2000 years ago.