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Kill Your Status Quo
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4 February 1998subject: howdy from the good oh’ us of a
hello everyone, here i am on the little computer again. i can’t seem to sell it but it is still useful (like a rusty knife). sandra and i came to THE STATES i week ago via amsterdam. the flight was good and we managed to get thru the last barrier at customs (we were “separate” but i ended up with sandra’s bag and she managed to convince the customs guy, who was in a good mood, that her carry-on was enough for 2 months... we went to my dad’s and then i left the world for 4 days to stuff photos in albums. i had abt 5.000 to go thru and made it 75% of the way b4 we had to leave and find somewhere else to stay. while i wasn’t doing albums, sandra and i walked (“you walked? oh my - all that way?”) to the beach for her first sight of the pacific (and she even managed to get nice a wet, trying to put her feet in...). it is nice on the beach with waves that the adriatic doesnt have... other firsts: corndog, celery, diamond lane, parking meters with change, customer service, big supermarkets, traffic passing on the right and blueberry pancakes... i, myself, am very surprise at the way life goes on here. in croatia, everyone is paranoid at the government and trusts strangers (mostly); in the states, everyone is paranoid at strangers and trusts the government (mostly). there is a underclass here of latinos doing manual labor and they are noticeably cowed in the presence of gringos. this is the same as albanians, turks, gypsies in europe. americans are very friendly and helpful in the places they live or work. in the streets, they are not inclined to pay attn b/c they are worried abt being attacked/robbed... it is strange for me to hear everyones conversations nearby. i am used to a blah bhah that i can’t understand and now i can hear all sorts of (mostly silly/useless) talk. americans do talk louder and there is a great deal of polite “im hooking at you but not listening” greetings and small talk (same as big-town europe but worse here…) there is an overwhelming amt information. debate and news here but i fail to see a point or action being taken. lots of talk talk talk. the recent clinton sex-scandal is openly discussed and debated but most people don’t give a shit - perhaps an appropriate response... we bought a truck, an 82 datsun/nissan 4x4. today it’s in the shop — i hate cars. with a clean certificate, we should begin touring around.... the shopping here is great: all sorts of goodies, really cheap. you can’t afford to save so much and we are limited by a rule “if you can’t carry it, you can’t buy it”. good rule... americans aren’t as fat as i imagined, there are lots of people who are “big” or thick but abt i in 20 are “oh wow, s/he’s fat” we will keep a lookout... the rains have left and it’s a sunny day in la. that’s all for now
hugs
all round ********************************************************************************************* 27 February 1998 [TOP]subject: back in the bay area!!
hey everyone!! just in case you were wondering, we made it thru the 4.000 mi/6.500 km drive from LAX thru JOSHUA TREE thru ARIZONA to CARLSBAD NM (caverns and amy — happy baby soon!), up thru SANTA FE (no thanks for the 2.70t)$ sculptures today) to TAOS (thanks for lovely stay hill and susan and paul) and then to ASPEN, CO, home of sandra’s friend maja the tennis pro and lots of skiers and snow and very chic living. car did well in 4wd and snow storms despite fender bender, new tires and brakes... went to arches in utah. MOAB is a nice town if you get the chance and then thru MONUMENT VALLEY (and indian jewelry stands) to the GRAND CANYON. it wasn’t so cool for sandra - too big. ZION was cool, amidst snow storms and other crazed tourists — very beautiful... we went to VEGAS. not a nice place on the strip staffed by fattening bus tour mid west gamblers, all—you can eat and strip malls. glad to leave after 24 hrs and went to SEQUOIA where s was in ecstasy amidst the giant sequoias (beautiful in the falling snow and very big (11. m/35 ft diameter). we went next to YOSEMITE and saw the lovely valley and changes to come (no private cars, roads to remove..) that are a good idea to protect a valley greatly affected by 150 yrs of white habitation and not at all by the indians after 10.000 years (of course, 4 million tourists visit a year - there’s sure to be an impact....). we saved entrance fees with 50$ “golden eagle pass” good at all parks and slept in the truck (making homestays an absolute luxury....) now we are at nick’s house and feel very at-home in NORTHERN CAL/PALO ALTO. the place is very nice and calm, after the horrors of downtown fresno (yes, its as bad as the rumors) and frantic vegas. we are making the rounds to friends and tourist spots and hope to fit into the schedules of all those folks up here. we plan to go back on the partially-washed-away pch to so cal in abt 10 days (12 mar) and see la and sell the car. sandras having a wonderful time in the states. all the bad stuff i told her about has been overstated and overwhelmed by the friendly people and the general “ease of use” for the states... i am also having lots of fun. the outflow of money has slowed as we slow down and seeing my friends gives me great joy. so, yes, after 40 countries (and more to come), i still can entertain the thought of living here. good and bad (clintons hijinks w/iraq and misc women and republicans), there’s lots to attract and keep me - for at least 2 or 3 years (whenever we settle down)... so, for now, that’s the bare bones of what’s happening.
love
to all ********************************************************************************************* 24 March 1998 [TOP]subject: here we go again!
hey everyone!! congrats to jack nicholson, kim basinger, robin williams and ben affleck/matt damon for their wins at the oscars last night. i liked all these films and feel a bit justified (altho, i would probably go with the same conclusion had others won - when it gets to choosing the “best of the best”, you can hardly complain... as for titanic, i guess $$ matters. it was a good love story and had great effects. i still thought la confidential should have won. helen hunt was good, but i guess she won b/c (as someone else said) “who was the competition...” so that wraps our stay in the states... for all of you who we visited: family and family (congrats on the unexpected sex changer, decker- wayne), bill, susan and paul in taos wonderland, maja and the good life in aspen, george (sorry we missed ya) and the BAY AREA folks - my hometown: tanya and kids (had fun in sicilia?), nancy and steve (thanks so much for hosting us!), jay and family (for the great afternoon), the turchins (finally on email!! ;-), chris and bill - thanks for breakie!, adria the soon-to-be-free- spirit, joey our wine host, nick and susan, a port in a storm and the most art/sq ft, bill and gesine, the beast-of-a-tag team (watch the knees!), ajay and sara in their cool casa and connie and kai - great to see all of you and thanks for making time and space for sandra and i to stop in, chat, eat, drink and move on during our crazed schedule. sorry that we missed you, doug and suzie... [can you see why i want to live in the bay area — all of my friends are there. well, riot all, but a large concentration! as statistics go, i have a majority of friends overseas, but then “home” becomes an abstract concept...] on to SO CAL and thanks for patrick and chanda, for being so cool and having lovely plants outside and in the pipes, to annie and jerry and the boys for never-ending (i don’t want to ask for more. youve given so much) help and open-arms, to mickie, victor and ethan, for meeting up and catching up (tho, next time we need a place to re-meet up, ethan!)... to my father, above all, i am so grateful. i have really felt loved and in the role of son for the first time in a long time. this is such a nice feeling and reality that i guess i will look forward to coming home (and may get home sooner!!) so - that’s the acceptance speech and i need to get to sonic more newsy type-stuff: our trip was 8 weeks. we saw parts of 6 western us states (cal, arizona, new mexico, colorado, utah, and nevada (vegas is a state?)). i drove 5.000mi/8.000km around these places and got one ticket - in la, riot for speeding, but “disregarding a road sign” fine? 104$ ;-( good news - the insurance check from susan’s fender bender meant that the truck was a “break even” project - we were lucky... we were shopping mad for the cheaper stuff and good selection and sandra was ready to spend the rest of our travel $$ for gifts for all her friends and family if i hadnt been an ogre and reminded her that we need some of that $$ to get to asia! ;-) in terms of $$, we ended up far over budget at 70$/day, including purchases, a fact that isn’t so grim when you consider that we were spending half that in croatia, where we were making abt 800$/mo - together (math whizzes will figure that, given net household salaries in the states of 2500$/mo, folks in the us are abt 50%better off ouch!! will tudjman wake up???). the stock market rally has continued to finance this trip, we have enough $ to travel (where we are going) for abt 4 more years - and we don’t want to quit anyway! ;-) overall, i was impressed by the STATES - there are many nice folks here, a surprising ability of races, religions and sexes to mix without too much bitching and violence and a general ease of life that makes other countries look bad (hence the continuing immigrant flow... i stand for unlimited immigration, provided the new folks pay for themselves, let’s see some open doors and the end of xenophobia from all the former immigrants). the economy here is in even better shape. i can complain about some statist policies that are dumb (pot illegal, social security dumbness (thanks tom), bad foreign policy (is it gonna be idealism or pragmatism?) and a strange fascination with clinton’s sex life but, overall, i understand more clearly what it is that separates the states from the rest of the world. i’m glad to be a us citizen (as well as brit!) and this place is in my “top five” (see julie!) sandra, if i may speak for her, had a lovely time here. she had fun plunging into the middle of all my existing friendships and got to know “americans” better than the papers can do. as usual, travel provides the real answers... she is up for living here (sf) someday - good for us... as for sandra “improving, softening, or bettering my manners”, i have to agree, with the slight modification that travel has also worked wonders in terms of my tolerances. sandra has exhibited the most tenacious nature in holding onto me and loving me that i cannot help but notice, appreciate and learn from her what it is to really love someone. there have been a few women (understatement) who have shared my affections, many of whom are good friends, but sandra is the only one who gets “it” now ;-) (my affection! how crude are your minds!!) - a situation of which i am glad... we are doing much better as a couple than we did in egypt and, for those who count, celebrated our 2nd anniversary (with a few boyish “interruptions”) on march 8... now - we go to amsterdam, haarlem and utrecht for i week and then back “kod basic” for a bit b4 leaving for ukraine and moldova .... return for a wedding in may and then on the road for abt 2 yrs (‘?) to asia, via russia, c asia, iran, pakistan and india/tibet/nepal. this is the plan of the moment for the first year. don’t hold us to it too closely! for
those of you who wish to snail mail, my address is the same: [this mail is forwarded to my “last known address” by my friend bill - for which i am always grateful] email is better. i try to check it weekly but occasionally drop off for up to 5 weeks ;-(. thanks to the internet gods! sorry that this was so long - i hope it was interesting ... we fly at 16:15 today - in abt 8 hours! love and hugs to you all. you are why we travel and what keeps us going in the hard times...
david
and sandra ********************************************************************************************* 23 April 1998 [TOP]subject: back in bohemia...
hey everyone... after 2 weeks of silence, i am sure that you wonder what happened... im still here and the ol’ heart refuses to give up (even w/o brown rice and w/ lots of rich pastry...) so, about the pastry.. we were in POLAND for abt 2 wks. saw KRAKOW (easter - shut down everything and no-one around except a few lost tourists. can you say stupid planning??) WARSAW (big and bustling, nothing of interest and hard to get rooms in april!), LUBLIN (quiet town a and friendly people -they thought i to wear shorts tho (it was abt 5 degrees...)) and GDANSK (what a lovely city full of cool buildings and nice folks who were more relaxed than warsaw...). final stop - WROCLAW, was also pretty - hard to get into the great student nightlife when the curfew was 10 pm and the boys and girls had separate dorms (not so elsewhere - whew!). we managed to sneak together since there were 110 girls to embarrass or scandalize... btw - poland has the highest aids rate in east europe - no kidding. the condom thing is hard to bring up (according to lp) the weather was cold and sometimes raining - not a good spring. plans for ukraine have been postponed til may - we shall see how that goes... now in PRAGUE and experiencing the benefits of lots of americans demanding service - good prices as well (coffee, or whatever that stuff was, was abt usd 1 a cup, generally some watery stuff or “cappuccino in a packet” yuch!) to josh and melanie - we still didn’t get into the castle - closed again, the weather in auschwitz (the most important site in poland) was absolute shit - apropos for the place. i was just as dumb as before on the amount of waste that the nazis perpetrated to further their nationalism, got 25,000,000 reichmarks to kill 1.5 million people there (btw, womens hair sold for 0.50 rm per kilo and was made into socks and fabric...) the nazis were really dumb in the end - their 1.000 year reich lasted 12... we met a german lady who said that they were xenophobic and that nazism was in their soul. ironic or wrong considering that germany just voted to scrap the dmark in favor of the euro???\\an everlasting question... so - we will be in prague and czech for abt 3 weeks - the weather is good and people friendly (but getting on with the business of building a country - they just approved membership in nato. how abt throwing the greeks out now??) ok - more later... love
d&s ********************************************************************************************* 8 May 1998 [TOP]subject: back in zag/help with ukraine visa??
hey – this is a stupid thing but perhaps the most useful thing that the internet has to offer – instant “help me” messages… the
scoop: you can reply here - this email service looks about 10x better than compuserve - for free and even has a spell checker (not that i’ll use it!) other
developments: we are here in ZAGREB after a long day yesterday hitchhiking across 3 boarder crossings and 500 km in a 13 hour period. i can tell you that i was glad to see the bed up close and personal... the weather here. in europe is fabulous and hot now. i never had such aim appreciation of sunshine in my life and perhaps (hats because the weather in poland was so shit... in terms of timing, we plan to leave zagreb for ukraine (assuming a visa) and beyond in about 9 days (after 17 may). not that you, the wired, will notice the difference, but perhaps you will have to wait a few days to receive scintillating news and views (ahh - but more exciting to be sure!). get in a few words now if you haven’t lately! btw - sandra and i are both using this account we know everything about each other already but write in croatian if you want to sneak past me
cheers,
hugs and love, may 9, 1998 ********************************************************************************************* 19 May 1998 [TOP]subject: getting the visa
we came back to zagreb after 5 weeks on the road and found that the fax had arrived from russia. in order to get a russian visa, you have to have an invitation letter. a hostel in st petersburg has very kindly set up a service to deliver these letters, for a fee of 35$ plus paid-up one night in the hostel - 50$ all told. friday: we go to the russian embassy and meekly submit to the gaze of the obviously superior man behind the bulletproof glass who is sorting thru the mess that the masses “outside” have presented him, he takes our application — whew! next friday: after a week of waiting for the russians and working on the ukranians, we go to the embassies again. the ukranians also require a letter but there is no hostel so well set-up (post via finland, visa credit card charge via uk), so we have to beg all our friends for a “connection”. the one that came thru was the one we thought of first - a ukranian airline with ties to ivan-air, an american-owned airline in croatia that i had done some work for (and a hot of socializing ;-). so - there it was, an invite letter, in ukranian; we could recognize our names and the places we wanted to visit. the russians: there is a small problem. no problem for sandra. she is croatian and doesn’t need a visa (he had said she didn’t with a package tour. now she didn’t at all. we wanted one anyway to use to transit the central asian ex-ussr countries, but it was too late and he didn’t feel like typing (or ordering someone to type) one up. try in moscow). the problem is that you want to stay 2 months. can you wait 2 weeks for moscow to approve this request? arrrrrrrrggggggggggg!!! i argue that he said i was going to get the visa in i week with papers submitted. why didn’t he tell me that before. “ahh , yes - sorry about that” (worthy of a quote, yes?) got ya.. I have a theory that arose in the realm of male-female relations: if a guy asks a girl to have sex tomorrow, she will probably say yes. they need time to make that decision and will generally approve. i won a bet on this theory. so - wait until monday. he says he will try to get an exception from waiting for an exception from moscow (got it??) the ukranians: your paperwork is not complete. this letter is from ukranian firm, but we must have their letter of registration proving that they are a ukranians firm. arrrrrrrrggggggggggg!!! heads hung how, we go back to work... we get another fax very fast (surprise) for the ukranians via a fax-daisy chain. monday (yesterday) : we go to the bank to deposit i 5odem for the ukranian visas, they don’t take cash. to make the deposit in their account, we (sandra) have to open an account. i (big american penis act) yell and fret to no avail, the dem go into a foreign currency account and are then transferred (intrabank) into the ukranians account. ok - that takes 30 minutes. we had called the russians and they said “i will issue you the visa” even tho they don’t work monday, they will issue the visa but we have to be there before noon. it’s now 10 am and we still have to see the ukranians. we go there, they like the paperwork and new fax and issue the visa on the spot 5 minutes! wow so - it’s now 11:45 and we are 20 minutes walk from the russians. we call “wall, i can’t wait 30 minutes. you could come and get the visa wednesday...” arrrrrrrrggggggggggggg! we hop a tram for 2 stops and then i run (ouch - not a sprinter): burning legs and lungs, i get into the russian embassy at noon exactly. he has the visa and i have the 30$. done, out the door and let’s go done!! can’t believe it, even today. i have a theory that these ex-ussr folks love to make you scream for mercy before they give in... more stories to come from the road: we are going thru hungary and romania and moldova to ukraine. then thru belarus and the baltics to russia. that’s the plan at least. so - write us but don’t count on fast reply. we will be off and on for the next month and will give you an idea of what’s to come later. personal messages will always be answered. this “quote of the week” is just to catch everyone up at once... to all the folks in zagreb: i will miss you and the laughs and thanks for talking english to me. sandra misses you a lot more. mohim, da-ona puno pismi, hivala (oprustite moj lose hirvatski)
d
& s (she’s sleeping) ********************************************************************************************* 4 June 1998 [TOP]subj: hey everyone
well - we made it on the ‘first leg’ ZAGREB TO BUDAPEST TO ROMANIA (first night in the train station - how romantic; the shape of things to come). we crossed romania without too much trouble (in fact no hassles - weird...) and went to MOLDAVIA. the train didn’t issue transit visas so we took the bus to the boarder and hitched over, our driver, the maestro vasile, was returning from paris with a car for his sister (the price of the car, including taxes, bribes and a return air ticket, was cheaper than buying it in moldavia). after negotiating the various “use fees” and environmental taxes (none of which went to the badly damaged road), we made it to chisneau - not a very inspired city - reminded me of tiblisi in georgia... and stayed the night. the next day, we went to odessa. those without proper documents or train tickets (cost about 3 usd) were thrown off the train literally, this first impression of ukraine was strong but not typical (nor exceptional!). ODESSA was a pretty port town. the major was just thrown outa office by the presidential guard b/c he was guilty of election fraud. this is a dubious claim, since the president’s man didn’t win the election. it seemed to be a fight among rival mafias and the citizens of odessa shrugged: “the turks, germans, russians, english et al have all taken odessa over at some time - they deceive themselves to think they will be here for long” said a resident in the local english paper ;-) we stayed at the rail station hotel, got kicked out after a night (crew change meant the nazi team was working) and then accepted in again (of course, after we bought our tickets to leave!), that was a real pisser! we met a great turkish man-tatar woman husband/wife on the train, got drunk and swapped multi lingual jokes about sex, meat and vodka - they decided to get intimate, so we retreated to the top bunk ;-) YALTA was a beach resort and ok - we had a nutso land lady and the room just 5 meters from the sea was 75 and the 5$/night price went to 10$. this, on top of a rip off tourist meal and postal regulations (for sending a birthday packet to my dad) from hell meant that yalta was a bitter sweet place... we took the next few overnight trains to get to KIEV - a city of energy and parks and people who reply (to “do you speak english?”) with “of course” what a shock! it was kiev days and the girls were out in force with outfits that cher wouldnt dare wear - quite a sight and i was busy collecting photos in the name of “travel research” (this is where sandra hit me on the head ;-) so - we were lucky to run into an ex-peace corps dude who gave us a map and directory of embassies. we got 3 visas in i morning - a record - and even got a place to stay with oleg (what a guy, a saint, with hot water to boot!) thru a friend of a friend of a guy on the street connection. weird... we went to LVOV (lviv in ukranian) and saw a little different architecture as well as buying some souvenirs (now on their way to zagreb - prey for delivery), due to the 2 day transit visa for belarus and a fierce reputation of their boarder guards, we planned to cross the boarder in the early morning - 3 am to be exact - and set off without a really good connection (the train we wanted probably started running (summer schedule) the next day). we got to the boarder without trouble, the only tourists in a crowd of about 300-400 folks bringing all sorts of goods - toilet paper being one important one, we found. we were upset to find that the belarus guards weren’t even on the boarder - no one cared how long we were in belarus (we decided that 2 days was plenty) and we cruised to minsk. BELARUS
is the ex-soviet union, so many say, and this seems to mean: this isn’t so bad for independent tourists, we didn’t even hear the feared words “intourist” as we had in ukraine (which cost us 4$ more/c we had to deal with the mafia). in terms of economics, the ruble was 47.500 = 1$, not so hot and i’m sure it is still inflationary. no-one even bothers to say politics... so - we left MINSK after a night on the train with natasha and sergei, a mother and son, both dead-drunk from a party. sandra wasn’t pleased since she was sat on by natasha and i kept to myself on the top bunk ;-). they were going to see her husband, in the hospital for cancer, not a pretty place, would imagine.., they finished our bottle of vodka (80% full) in the morning, to kick start the day. we did get a proper cappuccino in minsk - one sign of opening up (dare we say perestroika?) cost? 30 cents. 2 days ago, we got to VILNIUS - what a contrast!! we had hot water, english speaking tourist information and decent meals at a restaurant. it was unfortunate that we only had time to stay overnight, but we did our laundry and saw the kgb museum. the baltics had a tough time with the russians and the germans and whenever they did, they went to the same address - death cells know no politics... so - we came here today on the cleanest train yet (but 15$/ticket, vs 4$ in belarus) and RIGA is even nicer - much more hustle bustle. it’s too bad that sandra has to get visas (a rule which will end in 6 months, according to the embassy) since the estonians are now making big problems. they wont give a 3 day transit visa (only 2) and the tourist visa, while costing the same, requires vouchers from a tourism company - another 50$at least... the councilor is not going to make an exception. heartless swine! besides this small problem, we are doing well and are glad to have received the emails that yall sent us...
4 june, riga, latvia ********************************************************************************************* 17 June 1998 [TOP]subject: live in moscow
dear everyone: we are in moscow - we have passed thru ST PETES (nice and european - they all say that, but it was a bit boring after another 15 central euro cities.. .there were some big things (hermitage, st ivans, petrodvorets) but the overall new wasn’t there... we had a good time in TALLINN (outa order here) b/c of a street festival - there was a finnish guy who did a great tom jones/stevie wonder cover - he really rocked - overall estonia is definitely going for the euro union - prices are up there (“but still 10% less than helsinki” the tourist lit, gushes...) we are now in MOSCOW. managed to find a room w/ babushka (she runs a boarding house, abt 2 people/room, we are the only foreigners) for only 16$/nite - cheap here... moscow is full of interesting places and people “this is where the action is” and we are going to have a time here while we struggle~ thru the visa process - send us luck for iran... we decided to not go to the caucasus (home of chechnya and other unsavory republicettes) b/c the risk of kidnap (!) is too high. my dad would not be pleased. so - send us a note if you like, we will be here abt 10 days (or less, we hope) but remember that met costs 10$/hr (but includes a free drink ;-) btw - russia is quite sad outside the big 2 - the stalinist mentality and history has resulted in soulless cities, smileless people and lifeless nature - we went to murmansk (24 hr sun - weird) and it was tough to arrive and be depressed immediately (the other reason is that 2 tier pricing doubles the price of tickets on the train - we got places for 250 rubles (40$) each by sleeping in the conductors cabin - she kept the $ and we pd only 25 rub over the russian price, the system makes me crazed b/c is so discriminatory on no basis (ef. racism - ok - this makes me understand)... so - we screwed them back ;-) so - if you want to come to russia - come to meet friends - the people are really great if you get to meet them. the street is hopeless, many westerners here love the russians - behind the doors, they are wonderful. is that confusing enough? “a mystery inside a riddle wrapped in an enigma” - winston churchill was right
l7
june, moscow (i month into 2 years...) ********************************************************************************************* 17 August 1998 [TOP]subject: here we are.. in pakistan (6 countries later)
well - it’s been a long time since we last wrote, but we are still alive! [and this is long, so take a deeeeeep breath...] bok skvadro ....slijedi jedan detaljan opis dogadjaja i ja se nadam da cete imati dovoljno vremena i strpljenja (jer je poprilieno dug) ali ima “par detalja” gdje se covjek moze fino nasmijati stoga “stay tuned”;)...: since moscow (about 3 worlds away from here), we went down the VOLGA on a cruiseboat (with hot water in the cabin!!) from VOLGOGRAD (aka stalingrad, now rebuilt with a 60m large, sword-wielding mother-russia) to ASTRAKHAN, the first place we noticed the influence of asia. since we were nervous about the problems (ongoing kidnapping and misc murders, mostly of opponents of the kingpins in the area), we didn’t stay long in the north caucasus and took a train to BAKU, AZERBAIJAN. i (the american kidnapped) was very nervous abt crossing thru dagestan, neighbor of chechnya, and said that i was a croatian to the train crew. lo and behold, our seatmates were 2 women from chechnya!! aieee!! it seems to be a good policy, as a man came by and asked where we were from. we croatians didn’t interest him, lucky for us.. these women turned out to be quite a pair and i would bet that they were indeed lesbians (chechnyan lesbians??). they invited us to visit and promised no problems (“you can telegraph your parents - no problem..”) but we decided to press on.... sto ijudi. sto cudi”, rekli bi u slavoniji;) ali moram priznati da in nije bib svejedno od same pomisli da bi grupa naoruzanih uletila u vlak odvela nas u nepoznato! !:( azerbaijan/baku we found to be very dirty, male oriented and very money-conscious. everyone thought that we were there to work and that seems to be the only reason to visit - it was not a pretty city, and, armenians will be pleased to know, yerevan is nicer. i had a bit of a problem getting scammed on money exchange and we had one of the worst hotels on the trip (so bad, we slept on the balcony!). we left in 1 day, after a large hassle: tu sam se prvi puta i “skopala” grimasu tipu koji se doslovno nije mogao kontrolirati da ne bulji u moje noge (ili ono malo sto se naziralo ispod suknje do gleznja). leaving azerbaijan there is a boat ACROSS THE CASPIAN but the schedule is irregular. we wanted tickets when we saw the boat arrive but the ticket office wouldnt sell the cheap ones (45$) only the 75$ ones. they told us to come back in the morning, as the boat was having mechanical problems. we decided that we wouldnt take that advice and went to the port, 5 km away. there, we waited until people started moving (2am) and then turned down offers of 120$ (for 2) from the policeman to “escort” us past the officials all-in-a-row, we turned that down and waved around dollars and said that we wanted to buy tickets. this caused confusion, since the guards are used to bribes not tickets. in the end, we won and watched the various vermin argue over the spoils (100$ for 2). we were onboard and swapped stories with the others about how much they had to pay (usually lots more than us!). prvi puta u mom zivotu “toilet lady” kako ih zovu nam je doslovno iznajmila komad ogradjenog cementa da tu “ubijemo oko” par sati prije nego brod krene, a onaje ujedno i vrlo jedinstven slueaj jazz pilanistice koja je eto “zavrsila” kao “toilet lady”!:( we crossed the sea in 14 hours and i got a prime sunburn (smart - just like 1 yr ago in yemen...). we arrived in TURKMENBASHI, TURMENISTAN without visas and waited 2 hours to get one from the absent official. nobody even bothered to think about a bribe, refreshing!. kakvo olaksanje!!! nitko ne trazi “bakshish” i ijudi su apsolutno divni! turmenistan is like the best totalitarian place - clean, friendly, and with pictures of turkmenbashi (“father of the turkmen” the leader has renamed himself) everywhere, we wanted to buy one of their famous carpets (bukhara rugs come from here) but there is a restriction on exports that is sufficiently vague that we didn’t bother (we saw these rugs in every subsequent country, at multiple mark-ups, obviously not going to the turkmen people). the people were very nice and we just lingered to have that treatment (after russia - aieee!). i did manage to “smuggle” a turkmen flag out of the country after searching for 2 days (they perhaps aren’t so patriotic or are these flags state secrets which mere citizens 6annot possess?) the first economic craziness: bus ride: $0.01 sto reci no jadni ijudi! jos jedan tipa staljina, na svakoj fotografiji na kojoj je obucen jc li drugo “fancy” odijelo. a pecatniak je obavezno li “grc)planu”;)! prvi puta ovdije na bazaru in je zena ,vrlo konzervativno obucena, dok sam ja hodala u majici bez rukava uz smijesak rekla daje to danasn~ja “moda” da se sve vise djevojaka u turkmenistanu oblaci tako!! ja sam joj iskrena srea rekla, kada me je pitala sta radimo u ruznom gradu asgabatu -sama pustinja, rekla da su ijudi divni, a na sto je ona uz smijeh skromno pokrila lice. we went to UZBEKISTAN overland and had a terrible reception: our kyrgyz visa, which entitled us to transit uz for 3 days, was not valid for 2 more days. thus, we had to wait at the boarder. the argument that the visa was for kyr didn’t go for the guards. for them, the kyrgyz visa had to be valid when entering uz. this made both of us upset and even more so when the customs people agreed with us: “the immigration people are wrong and you are right, they want money from you. no - there is nothing we can do” oh, great sandra saved the day, saying they would get in trouble b/c they were lying and we would call the us embassy (before it blows up). they let us go with the warning that we would have to leave kyr 2 days early (yeah. sure, ok...) nemres bulivit sta si u stan.ju reci kada ti “prekipi”;)! so - here we are in uz and we went to BUKHARA AND SAMARKAND, the heart and soul of central asia. the architecture and tile-work is indeed amazingly beautiful, but the old cities suffer greatly from soviet-style restoration work. we had lots of problems with soviet-style rules, as well (others agreed, others disagreed) and were glad to leave, me with dysentery and a 40 deg fever. the second economic craziness: entry fee for samarkand registan, the most important tourist attraction in c asia: $0.60 baksheesh. i tako zaboravis na sve ono ruzno i uzivas u onome sto donosi sutra....dok se da ...jel’te?! nimalo ugodno iskustvo sa davidom koji kuri, a vani otprilike ista temperatura..huh! no ijudi li busu, jedan rus toenije, ~je nazvao bolnieu na svoj mobilni da poslju ambulantna kola paje david dobio “pikieu li guzu”!;) so, the fever continued as we crossed kazakstan, joining a train from moscow that had traveled 3 days and smelled of sweat, dirty sheets and stinking smoked (rotting?) fish (and shit, from the vile toilets). wow - what glamour! hocu kucmm!!t zezam se! (btw - we met a woman writing for conde nast, a posh travel magazine. she reminded us of the other stories on moscow that recommended the metropol hotel (200$/night) and make it very clear that we travel among the very poor (as far as tourism goes). this is not impressed on some of the locals occasionally. i had the opportunity to lose “face” in bishkek - yelling at a smug chinese who said it was “no problem for you, an american, to pay 600$” to cross the boarder into china. i hate that. we were on 60$/day in russia, 45$/d in c. asia and now 25$/day in pakistan. those books like india on 50$/day ain’t for us... btw2 - we woulda saved 3-400$ in russia if devaluation had come 2 months ago – darn darn darn!!!) dakle, djevojka je bila u savrsenom raspolozenju, tako sarnouvjeremla i onda nakon i 5-ak minuta razgovora (ja sam joj se divila kako moze sama putovati kroz ovaj dio svijeta) onaje odjednom pala u depru i rekla kako joj je “pun kufer” ali mnora jos 3 tjedna izdrzati kako bi “zaradila” ono sto ce joj biti placeno. ah, te zene;)! so - we came to KYRGYZSTAN, the promised land (b/c the visa was so easy to get - 15 minutes). it turned out to be a nice, clean, boring place and we spent a lot of time in the capital, waiting to get the visas to get out. in the meantime: we went to OSH to see the market and the road. the former was dynamic and lively (we had pants made outa the local silk. since this is for women, was laughed at openly and with vigor - better joke than i ever coulda thought of...), the latter was horrible (but set to be renewed by 2003; we seem to find out all the time what will be). the road took 2 days to go 650km. the flight back took 1 hour and was over before we had even tucked into our lunch buns (small but symbolic). we had a tiff at the airport that any lawyer would be proud of. the sign said: “foreigners passing thru the international section will pay 15$ departure tax” we decided to not pass thru the international section and eventually won the argument (the tax woulda doubled the cost of the air ticket, which was local price. this amazing step forward for an ex-ussr country was forced by a lawsuit). kyrgyz air 0, foreigners 1 nemres bulivit ali je sve istina i da bude jos gore ljudi to jednostavno prihvacaju!! to me podsjeca na nas hrvate za koje je jedan amer (koji je ozenjen i zivi u zgbu) rekao da su hrvati cudni ljudi “nabijes i’m porez, maltretiraju se u tramvajima, posti i banci i sve to podnose nevjerovatno dobro ali kada se promjeni ime nogometnog kluba, totalno polui)e!!!! mislim daje tlm negdje doslo do “kratkog spoja”?! jos jedna stvar, da ne zaboravim, ulaz za turiste u avion je odvojerm posebnim hodnikom tako da imas osjeeaj kao da su lokalni ijudi doslovno “gubavi”! then we went into the mountains - to THE JAILOO - and lived with a family and drank kumis - fermented mare’s milk (like thinned kefir) and froze in the low temperatures at 3.ooom. it was an experience. jupmmm, kakvi konji i kakva “voznja” na njimua. kiselo konjsko mlijeko ic bib “imiteresantno” isklmstvo! then we went to LAKE ISSYK KOL, 2nd (deepest alpine lake in the world (behind titicaca) - the soviets were great for ranking things.... it was nice to be in a cooler area. on the way, we met a lady who claimed that our 500 sum (25$) felt carpets could be had for 100 sum. “great, where were you when i was buying??!?!” i hate that - locals telling you you’ve been had.... and, at last, we had our chinese visa - they had me (the american) wait it) days “because the americans make chinese wait 10 days”. i can imagine that in beijing, when there are 10,000 applicants, but not for a chinese applying for a visa in bogota! by the time we had been told no visas were possible without an invitation, no tourists can cross into china over the torugut pass, no you have to wait 3 more days “for us to look at the papers”. we were well sick of the chinese government - and we hadnt even got there!! ja sam ib mabo oraspolozila, iako i’m je trebalo pola sata da nadju cijenu koju ce in naplatiti za visu (ovdije se ime hrvatska se ne euje tako cesto) svako malo se cerekala izmedju zeljeznih sipkli sto su nas djelile. we got there, over the 3.700 m pass, after a nice argument with our slimy (chechnyan machoman) taxi driver over money and the normal stuff, a 3 hour wait for someone to stamp us out of the country and a drive thru hail the size of marbles (we were afraid of the windshield breaking) davidje i mnene uplasio tada vicuci na tipa ali smo ga se nekako rijesili:)! the third economic craziness: the 600km to the boarder cost 65$, the 150 km after the boarder cost 100$. this is b/c the chinese insist that you be met “for your safety” at this level before crossing (special permission required) CHINA wasn’t really... there were plenty of boarder guards (we were served by comrades 460026 and 460008, among others) and a few other han chinese, but the rest of the people were uygurs - the original residents, kyrgyz, tajiks, et al. our guide said that there was resistance to chinese rule in XINGJANG because “it’s our land” - well put. mostly our impressions of china were of some fabulous food (1$/dish), the amazing market (the most photogenic people), and han chinese ready to get money from the “farang” (they call us) at every opportunity. it wasn’t much different from russia except they felt that it was their *right* to rip us off, not a concept that was negotiable. uvijek ista prica, bib gdje da se nalazis u svijetu, uvijek netko nekoga mnrzi! ljudska narav, sta drugo reci?! ja sam u svojih 25 godina zivota naucila da mrznjomn covjek lie postize apsolutno nista ali neki to ne nauce za cijelog svog zivota! in the end, i am very sympathetic to the tibetans and uygur - they are getting buried under the millions of han immigrants sent from beijing and there is little the outside will do. bad
joke: nazalost! hopefully the chinese will dissolve like the russians did. this is a point of argument but i consider that the oppression in the system will break under the strains of “money wants to be free” that deng let loose. so - we crossed over the kunjerab pass (4.700mn) to pakistan. there were a few problems: the bus left late because the passengers (led, proudly, by me) were arguing over a 5 yuen (0.60$) baggage tax, when the tickets said “20kg baggage free”. this turned out to be for typing our names on a customs manifest, some people tried to save money by typing themselves - this didn’t go... a farang from catalan pulled out the window on the bus while climbing in (i had started that as well - the aisles were clogged with people and bags), which took 1 hour to replace (and sandra had a soldier fart (while efforting) in her face - oh, how nice...) covjece, alex, njemac iz dortmunda, ija smo mislili da cemo se ugusiti ali kasnije smo uz smijeh to prepricavali!;) the bus broke for a while. while it was, i walked over the pass (yes - photos!!) the landslide.. we had to walk about 2 km in 1 hour up a cliff and over dangerous, you’ll-die-if-you-slip, pathways and down again, we carried our bags because the porters on the spot wanted 25$/bag (conspiracy theory: they wreck the road on purpose each month to make some cash...) so-we made it to KARIMABAD that night and had some crazed, chinese/uygur/pakistani food (which tasted *really good* after not eating 8 hours). there was considerable goodwill between our suffering group (2 germans, 1 american, 1 croatian, 1 catalan, i andorran, 2 belgians, 1 japanese, italian, and i brit) when we suceeded ;-) decki su in priredihi divno rod jendasko izmienadjenje : 2 njemea, i englez, te 2 ihunza -lokalni ijudi, a koji meje ujedno obasuo poklonima tako d sam se doslovno rasplakala!!! poslije su se decki nacugali od tzv.”h-ilmmlza water”, koja je mace ilegalna no svaki zakon ima i r~mpu u zakonu. to m mace nesto poput rakije bljak! PAKISTAN is really different. the women are covered up, the men are like boys and the food is really good (with dodgy hygiene but we havent gotten sick). there is easy transport and cheap hotels. internet costs t).60$/hour (down from 8$!!) and people speak english (many do...) wow...says sandra;)! the last economic stupidity (for this letter): the exchange rate for the cash market is 57 rupees for 1$ and 46 at the central bank, which is trying to force the rate to stay in place while the economic sanctions (as well as bad policies, like “self reliance”) erode the economy. the other dumb thing that pak embassies and newspapers ask citizens and expatriates to donate hard currency to help the government in need. if i were outside the country already, i wouldn’t like to suffer as well as those back home. that’s why i left! we wernt to SKARDU to see the polo for pakistan independence day and had an “incident” when some kid, abt 17, grabbed sandra. we shoved him around a bit but it was sad and shocking. in general, and after much reflection, we have decided that islamic societies that separate men and women (as this one does) do harm to both by making mutual understanding difficult. this is great for guys who like to play around all the time but make interactions on an adult level difficult, especially for western women visiting, the southern pakistanis are much more relaxed about this, but you can help but condemn a religion where mutual ignorance of the opposite sex is the basic premise. (and western guys get used to “checking out the women” via the little gate in the poncho where eyes peer out; analogies to a prison are not far off...) jesam ga, jesam ga!!!!!! zao in samo sto ga nisam pljunula, to je navodno jedna od najgorihi uvreda! da, smijesmio je vidjeti zene s~ “stolnjakom” na glavi i mahim prozorcicem kroz koji gledaju lm svijet. dosla samn do zakljucka da me podsjecaju na “peele mnatice” ciji je jedini najvazniji zadatak da “proizvode” nove peele, zemie morajo izradjati sto vise muske djece. mislim da bi pervan smislio neki dobri vie na kont toga?!:( we went to PESHAWAR to fire guns. wow - we did - the ak-47 was 0.50$/bullet and bang - that’s it. it was a bit anti-climactic after playing cat and mouse with the “police” (there are no police since the town, DERA, is in the tribal areas and pakistan isn’t supposed to exist there), trying to see gun smithies on our own. the tribal areas are also concerned with hashish from afghanistan and smuggling as well as manufacturing and running al sorts of weapons. moj prvi “kalasnjikov”, a nadam se i zadnji?!! no interesamitmioje bib samo iskustvo, biti u gradu gdje oruzj~ proizvode kao recimnojogurt! now we are here, RAWALPINDI, the sister town to the purpose-built (with canberra, wash d.c., brazilia, and now, akmola (“white grave”)) capital of pakistan. it’s hot (40+) and sweaty (60-70% humidity) and we are glad to have a shower and fans... da m je sadajedan sjeverac, ne bi se zalila;). we
go to india in about 7 days. if you want to send a letter to sandra or me: we will be there on and off while in india for the next 4-5 months. hope you enjoyed this - telling the story is always more fun sve vas vohi vasa sandra....and kisses to the english speaking group;)!
17 august, ‘pindi, pakistan ********************************************************************************************* 25 September 1998 [TOP]subject: meanwhile - over in pakistan’s enemy country...
hey folks - here's the news: we are in INDIA. its great. we aren't sick and the people are nicer (well - not really, but the men dont stare at sandra like in pak...) we came across the india-pak boarder and saw the guards who compete to be the tallest and best dressed (some kind of penis length rivalry...) before having a curry in the land of curries. there were water buffalo everywhere (well - same as pak, but they're kinda sacred here..) and people as well . the biggest shock was women driving mopeds and even cars !! i took photos ;-) we went to AMRITSAR, the home of sikhs. they are good hosts , with free food and rooming. the golden temple is great, especially with the constant chanting (reading of the holy books...) after that, we went to JAMMU and then to SRINAGAR (that's KASHMIR for all you following the cold war scene) the kashmir vale is polluted beyond belief (reminded me of la) and there are trucks bumper to bumper - yuck!! we saw lots of wrecks but avoided them ;-) stayed in the famous houseboats at DAL LAKE - wow - really beautiful! i had some hash left from pakistan (comedy at the boarder - the customs guy wanted to search everything after he found we were in peshawar (bad move) and i managed to avoid trouble by spilling everything on the floor - lucky he was too lazy to get up and look!!) and smoking it there was a good idea (the owner was a real stoner ;-) we cruised around for a few days, bought carpets from the tricky kashmiris and then got on the bus to leh btw- we paid 'too much' but met people who paid too too much. we were lucky... the bus to leh passes by the pak boarder at KARGIL and the pakis bomb it regularly at night (when the busses try to pass... great). we slept there until 4 am and then passed by, lights out. this is really crazy, guys... a truck was blown up 2 days before and kargil was heavily bombed 1 week later... we made it safe - amazing scenery. its too bad that pak and india have this cold war going. the kashmiris are tired of it but the holy warriors are still coming from pak, sudan, bosnia, saudi, egypt, afghanistan etc to "help their brothers' ... we loved LEH - its a buddhist place (even tho there's a mosque in the center b/c the ladakis lost a war 400 yrs ago against the muslims from the west...) and the people are relaxed and smiling - wow... we saw the festival and the dances and dresses are great... we tried to go to NUBRA VALLEY that's on the way to tibet but go caught in a traffic snarl - the indians are singularly inept at systems sometimes - they always blame the govt (at the post office: why dont you get a generator to supply power?? that's not our problem - power company problem... meanwhile everyone else has generators...)so - i was at the highest motor pass in the world (highest hindu temple and tea house as well) 5.600 meters +/- it wasnt cold, but running around was a challenge. we had to go back b/c there was no traffic.... we went to MANALI in 3 days, hitchhiking. there are deaths on that road as well because the roads are so bad (the govt claims the truckers are drunk...) but we made it, despite being stranded with 20 lorries on the pass (5.300 m) in snow overnight ;-( next was MCLEOD GANJ - home of the dalai lama - lots of backpackers and cappuccinos and a few monks scattered about. we had good food and left for CHAMBA ("we came 2 days to see this temple?") before SIMLA, where my dad was born.... ;-) we saw where he went to school and the town is very little changed - very nice place and the school kids are like english pub. school kids everywhere - excessively polite and being sent about all the time by elders.... ;-) after a side trip to lovely KALPA where i got so stoned with this crazed belgium guy (bavo) who doesnt seem to work at all. he says: "i get tired after 6 months travel; of course, i did go 7 years once..." his tales of escaping khymer rouge in cambodia make us look like kindergartners.... we are now in DELHI, after a long train trip. this place isnt so disgusting, but you have to accept the people shitting, sleeping, eating all over the place, train platforms, streets, rickshaws, etc... after that, the sporadic power, water that smells of sewer and people everywhere, it's great ;-) we developed 40 rolls of film since pakistan and had a good time looking at photos. hope we can show 'em to you some time ... sandra is well, if coping with vague adjustment problems and i am gaining weight on cheap and clean indian food. we go to nepal for 1 month tomorrow so have patience with replies! yes - i did hear about clinton - the indians are fascinated abt the details ;-) and i think that he is too attached to office to resign and that the congress wont impeach - my opinion... love and hugs to all of you and it was great to get your email.
david
and sandra, who's waiting to eat!!) btw
- we are at the following snail mail address until dec 1. after that mail will
be forwarded but not packages... ********************************************************************************************* 13 October 1998 [TOP]subject: kathmandu!!
hey folks! ili : bok skvardo we are back again! this time from 1.300 m and about 400 km to the ne in nepal. KATHMANDU is quite a place. there are amazing historical quarters full of temples and markets and wooden-carved windows on the houses. there are slums and modern horrors as well but the most interesting of all it thamel: the backpacker ghetto. there are few nepalis around except those buying/selling to tourists (carpets, choc croissants, used books and all sorts of "trademark infringed" (northface, etc…) trekking gear). the women appear not to have noticed the change in country since they got on the plane - even sandra was looking at bouncing, barely-held-back israeli/dutch/american chests all over the place ;-). we have email and cappuccinos and, despite the guilt, a good time enjoying the comforts of the west at prices of the east! kao sto vidite evo mene opet i par mojih komentara. j da, kao sto sam vec prijateljici martini rekla , mi uzivamo ovdije u turistickom getu kathmandua i jedemo pizzu i slicne "oblizeke"te se oporavljamo necu reci psihicki iako je i to prisutno ( tu i tamo) no uglavnom fizicki . nepal je uistinu veliko iznenadjenje jer s obzirom da nismo bas puno info imali o samoj zemlji mislili smo kako idemo u zemlju alpske klime?! kad ono ,….iznenadjenje!! dzungla!!! kathmandu je pitomiji, smijesten u dolini okruzenoj uglavnom drvecem i zelenilom …i gdije je klima vrlo podnosljiva. nepalci ( valda ih tako mi zovemoj?) su osvijezenje od napornih indijaca koji ti ne daju mira i nikada nisi sam. ovdije imaju nekog pojma o privatnosti i samodovoljnosti. sve u svemu fenomenalna promjena sredine i osobito miroljubivih ljudi. kultura je totalna zbrka ( prate tradiciju i obicaje ali uglavnom ne znaju zasto….to mi je nekako poznato;). we came to kathmandu via WESTERN NEPAL, a flat, rice-growing tropical region where the life hasn't changed at all. we stopped at a park to see elephants, rhinos and tigers. instead, we saw the footprints of elephants, rhinos and tigers and lots of grass (which cuts like a knife - ouch). after 3 hellish nights sweating in the humidity with lots of mosquitoes trying to give us lovely diseases, we rode the bus 2 days to kathmandu. it's great to be on the top of the bus and watch the world go by - lovely! to je bila nasa prva dzungla….otisci u mokrom blatu i hrpe pijavica gladne krvi…..nismo se bas pripremili.l besides thamel, kathmandu has the original pagodas and many fascinating people going about their business. the nepali religion combines buddhism, hinduism and paganism. the most interesting aspects are phallus worship ("the creative power"), virgin worship (she must be perfect in 13 ways and "serves" until she bleeds. in the meantime, the king depends on her blessing to rule and she never steps on the ground. the "first man", her husband, isn't usually too eager, because her "formerly occupied by durga (death goddess) body" has a reputation for killing off the husband.) and lots eyes watching you (buddha sees all…). don't understand, just burn the incense and move on… nepal is cheap (outside thamel) and the food and souvenirs are great. hygiene is horrid, as well as water and electricity supplies - despite huge amounts of foreign (mis-?) directed aid programs. there are many aid workers we have met here. they are a bit stuck about what to do because they are expected to give money, aid, technical etc etc but who knows if it is helpful? this country is an aid-junkie… moj dojam ( od sinoc) je taj da im nitko nece pomoci ako si sami ne pomognu…..za sto ce im trebati jos puno, puno godina.l……objasnjenje slijedi: the nepalis are wonderfully relaxed people. this is a problem sometimes when you want to get something done. last night, we were on an "overnight bus". it stopped at a teahouse for 2 hours because the driver and his mate wanted naps. i applaud getting a good night's sleep, but we were only 25 km from the destination! it took 2 yelling-foreigners to get them up and we saved another 2 hour wait. arg!! there are all kinds of "i've been hanging out in india 10 years and relaxing, maaaaaaaaannnnnnnnn" types here, but i cannot "get into the vibe" of watching my skin age and fall off… dakle, nikada ( ranije ) nisam nikome rekla da ima mozak poput pileta …sinoc jesam i to totalno hladnokrvno….ustanovila sam da kada bih ovdije zivjela zvali bi me "queen bitch" so - what do you do in nepal? trek!! we took on a physical challenge and went to ANAPURNA SANCTUARY. it was wonderful (now that it is done!). we walked for 3.5 days up and 2.5 down, faster than most people and the guide. it was unfortunate that i had a cold, since this made my first 4 nights into nightmares - yagh! 12 hours of semi-sleep with horror dreams of indian bureaucracy! (i kid you not!). after a bit of this, i was ready to run off that mountain… moja ljubav se iznenada naglo razbolio ali je hodao do zadnjeg dana ….bez gunjdanja…za razliku od menel well, the surprising thing was that the flora/fauna is close to jungle - there are bamboo stands, air-plants and vines everywhere. half the time, we were walking thru mud and water (but no leeches - they were in the park!). it was like indiana jones (no lost temples tho. this is mctrek and there were plenty of holiday warriors with ski poles and designer togs huffing about..) and sandra had a battle with a worm trying to burrow in (yuch!). "it's the developing world, dear…" necu nista reci……samo si mozete zamisliti paniku koja me uhvatila od pomisli da mi nesto ruje po tijelu i radi si hodnike!!!! fuuuuuujjjj!!! ..izvadili smo ga…samo za info… we didn't take porters with us, preferring to "earn" the top with our own sweat (and nutella and peanut butter), but we saw plenty, carrying up water and coke (which went from 25/20 rupees to 130/100 rupees at the top)as well as beds, 40 litre cans of kerosene, packets of ramen noodles (trail food for them (raw!) - wrappers of which were everywhere, and a few tourists… i was glad that we didn't contribute too much to those strained faces (they are happy for the work and work hard, there are only 4 months of "prime season" a year..) divim se ovim malim, zilavim ljudima koji kilometrima i raznim nadmorskim visinama nose na ledjima , ustvari na glavi je najveci teret, krevet, kanu i kilograme tko zna koliko puta teze od njih samih. the trek wasn't magic in terms of images but we did love to see the clouds form from nothing, dance about in mist and play hide and seek with the peeks as the day and night passed. this was the magic. later, we'll see how the photos are ;-) moram priznati da ce mi annapurna sa svojim prijateljima ( macchapuchare i annapurna juzna) ostati "fotografirane" u sjecanju… puse od sandre
that's
all for now! ********************************************************************************************* 12 November 1998 [TOP]subject: more adventures (but without worms)
hey folks: bok skvardo: if you are seeing this letter for the first time, then you should know that it's just a summary of the things going on that everyone wants to know (well - now and then) and that if you write a message, we will get back to you personally... kao i uvijek... for those of you who have been reading (or not) but not writing, please do write us every now and then and say what's going on in your lives. we are very interested in events where you are, perhaps because they are different from what we see daily... jutarnji pravi capuccino, croissanti, redovito u kino....i sta se trenutno vrti na velikim ekranima; guzve u tramvaju i ostale svari iz privatnog zivota.. that said, let's recount a bit: after kathmandu, we headed out of EASTERN NEPAL via the hot, humid and mosquito-infested JANAKPUR, where sandra had food poisoning and i had good photos of women wearing traditional dress, ie, a scarf with little else. it's a bit sad to see the local dress giving way to saris or trousers, but you cant stop the selling by cheap clothiers or the buying by "hip" consumers (this "spoiling" from outside cultures is a long debate, but evolution will happen. the only defense seems to be education, which gives people the ability to see their culture in context... end aside) to je bila njihova proslava nove godine iliti diwali, a na neki nacin i nasa...hodanje kroz dim i pucnjavu petardi na sve strane i sudaranje sa kravama, biciklima ali na svu srecu u tom gradu ne vole dobro nam poznate "tuk-tuk" motore-automobile pa ne moras udisati ugljik-monoksid i bojati se ostecenja mozga.mi smo dakle u nepalu zakoracili u novu godinu....ne znam (za sada) kako to funcionira ali cu se raspitati. so - we came back to INDIA and went to DARJEELING, a nice hill town that matches simla in the west for charm (and pastries!). we also went to SIKKIM, but found it a mix of indian traffic and nepalese landscape. the tourist brochures gush a little too much abt "shangri-la". we did have lots of lovely tibetan food and chatted with people for 1 week or so (nothing else to do...) dakle, to je bilo pravo iskustvo; razgovor sa zenom (majkom,bakom) koja vodi hotel o njenom zivotu sa svojim muzem nepalcem koji je zbog svoje "zaigranosti" i lijenosti prokockao par kuca koje su posjedovali, poklanjao njene mukortrpno izradjene rucne radove svojim napusenim prijateljima ali je bio dobra dusa,a najvise je volio svoju citru u koju je gudio danonocno. bilo je tu svakojakih smjesnih prica izmedju kojih je bila jedna gdije je muz tjednima pijancio i jeo sa svojim prijateljima (i kartao) u njihovoj kuci (ona je naravno kuhala), a onda se jedna sluzavka dosjetila da im svima stavi laksativ u caj nakon vecere te su svi masovno dobili...proljev! misleci da je od hrane nisu se vise pojavljivali te je problem bio rjesen, a jadni muz se pitao zasto vise nitko ne zeli doci u posjet. jedan tip je kazu bio jako debel pa su mu stavili 3 laksativa u caj!!!!jooooj!! na njen zahtjev svi smo ju zvali mama!:) we came down to catch our train to rajastan and the camel fest at pushkar which we had booked 6 weeks before, but it was 10 hrs late. this screwed our "blitzkrieg" on delhi plans and we decided to cross the cow-belt first and go to rajastan later. india is an unpredictable place and ive sworn (doubtless, a pledge ill break) not to book ahead again. carpe diem, kazem ja!!;) as it was, this was good. we went to BODGAYA and saw the bodi tree (or descendent) under which buddha was enlightened. a leaf fell on me and that was a "sign" for me to keep it ;-) david se eto "prosvijetlio",a ja pratim svog "ucitelja";)! next, we went to VARANASI. this magical place is the best in downcountry india so far. the people are lovely (stoned??) and the atmosphere over the ganga was amazing. we lucked in to one of the innumerable festivals and saw (extra-big) hordes bathing. such a simple act was incredible to see. after this, we went to KHAJUHARO to see the amazing "erotic" temples. they are carved with lots of figures of maidens and beasts and gods and sex scenes (man and horse, man and 3 woman are the more extreme) but are so fine and well formed that you just look and look...the village had turned into a tourist trap, but we have tried to keep up a banter with the touts, rickshaw drivers and beggars that keeps us sane. anyone getting to india from the "occident" (french, badly translated as "west") would certainly be shocked by the people pulling you, saying "you remember me?" overcharging etc., but we've grown so immune that our day's arguments and fights arnt even remembered in the evening... nemam dovoljno rijeci kojima bih opisala varanasi?! da li bih ponovno isla tamo ne znam jer su uspomene na taj toliko spiritualnoscu prozet grad tako lijepe da ih ne zelim pokvariti. kajuraho hramovi, 1000 godina stari jos uvijek bolje izgledaju od mase gradjevina koje ne mogu izdrzati niti 100 godina starosti, a kamoli 1000. skulpture izrezbarene u kamenu i to ne samo eroticne vec zena su toliko detaljne da mozes vidjeti i najmanji ukras na odjeci ili cak kontrakciju misica ( i to na ledima). vau!! "lesinare" smo prezivjeli .... next was a typical hell bus ride, where there are babies in your lap and people spilling off the roof (these buses routinely crash and dive over cliffs, but there is little you can do besides make sure the driver is awake ;-(. we read the papers everyday with morbid fascination at the latest calamity. a favorite: "a bus hit an electrical pole yesterday, killing perhaps 40 passengers on board. most of the women were charred beyond recognition" or "a man who stood on the roof of a bus was killed, along with 7 others, when he hit a power line. luckily the line broke, sparing others"). india is a place (my first) where you realize that the person next to you could disappear and no-one would notice. among the 1 billion people, 1 or 40 or 5,000 arnt many. there are some with families, but even these are fragmented as people seek work. in the occident, we have numbers, credit cards, pen pals, work mates, car payments. all these tie us into our society and our departure is noticed much more widely... neki dan smo citali kako je jedan jadni otac iz australije, cija je kcer nestala godinu dana ranije u indiji, saznao iz indijskih novina da su nasli skeleton njegove kcerke u kuci tipa koji ju je prvo silovao,a onda i ubio! sta da se kaze?! so - AGRA and the taj. yes - it's beautiful, but there are so many photos of it that you think this is just one more. it isnt amazing close up, but then you realize that you are there and this is it. nice place, worth about 3 hours... nesto tako prekrasno, savrseno i apsolutno simetricno da je u svoj svojoj lijepoti ....dosadno! we went to FATHPUR SIKRI and DEEG next - nice monuments. india is littered with the past, amidst fields and villages and the horrible mid-sized 1 million-person-plus overgrown village that dots all of india... then we saw a bird park at BARATPUR and that was lovely. sandra was kidnapped by a birthday party (?) procession of women. they are very close to each other, women, and this seems to be because men and women are so separate. it is sad that the ignorance in the sub-continent (pak, bangladesh, india and nepal) is such that the men know only to pinch women and then deny it when caught. they actually think that it doesnt matter (tho they are guilty) and they are left to do what they want by the permissions of society and the one sex' ignorance of the other. its really tiring and ive hit/shoved more men here than anywhere else, including turkey, morocco and egypt. too bad... |