Chapter Two: Zurich and the Gateway to India

Throughout this journey, I’ve found that I usually am given a decision between bad and worse layovers in order to take the cheapest flight possible.

After looking into flights to begin leg 2, I decided to skip another long layover in Saudia Arabia.  One was enough for me.   However, for only a few dollars more I was able to have a 22hr layover in Switzerland.  Since it fit the bill of being somewhere I had never been before, I snatched that sucker up.

Zurich was a quaint little town.  Cold and snowy this time of year, as you can imagine, but after having spent a few weeks back home one more day of cold wasn’t going to kill me. I found a friend at the hostel and we set out about the city in the hours that I had there.   It was quaint, European, and expensive - aka - not terribly exciting.  But the taste was enough to want to go back at a warmer time of year and it was nice to meet a new friend. 

Early the next day, it was back on the plane again bound for Mumbai and the "real" start of Chapter 2.

The Gateway to India

I didn’t get in until quite late in the evening, but it didn’t stop the hour plus cab ride from the airport from being an early introduction to the largest city in India and the world’s 4^th largest.  People, cars, rubbish, honking horns, insane driving (seriously, I don't understand how these people do it) .  Anyway, you get the picture.

This sign might as well not be there because no one abides by the rule.  I guess it is true that there is horns being honked everywhere, but I will say the chorus of them in India have been incredible!

I got to my hotel, in the neighborhood of Colaba, ate one of the apples my Mommy packed up for me and swiftly passed out.

Having learned on the first go around that staying in a city while jetlagged doesn’t make Parker a happy boy, I had only planned on staying in Mumbai for a day and a half before heading south.   So, I tried to make the most of it.

As I woke the next morning, the haze and humidity of India set it.  I walked out of my hotel and around the corner to find the Gateway to India (See above).  A fitting beginning to my stay here.   But, of course, it was also the scene of the first India-swindle.  I guess there are worse things to have been swindled on than a Hindu "blessing", but needless to say I should’ve known better.

(Note: this has been quite common for me.  It takes about a day or two get my sea legs under me in any given country from the exchange rate (yeah, I mistakenly gave the taxi driver from the airport a tip that was more than the taxi ride) to the touts, it never fails.  Maybe I’ll get better at it as the trip goes on?  This is the 9^th country on this tour, so not sure if I’ll be so lucky.)

I walked from the Gateway to Marine Drive and all the way up to Chowpatty Beach and back, realizing at some point early on the return that my few weeks at home hadn’t done much to keep my legs and foot callouses in proper shape.

I strolled through a few of Mumbai’s museums on the way back and avoided eating from any of the delicious smelling street food vendors.  (I know I’m going to break down on this point sooner or later, and have started praying to the travel gods that when I do, I’ll come out on the other side in one piece).  

It is a beautiful city.  In and amongst the mildew and mold stained buildings here (it's humid and rains nonstop for 2+ months of the year here, so it is understandable), I also saw some amazing colonial architecture, great open spaces with loads of people playing cricket, the Taj Mahal Hotel (Mumbai's most famous Hotel) and Haji Ali which sits on an islet in Mumbai's Bay and can only be accessed at low tide. 

Now a couple of days removed from Mumbai, I have to say it was a much more pleasant experience than I had braced myself for.  Easy, in fact.  But, of course, I was only there for a short period too..

That said, for me, it is a city very much like Mexico City.  The temperatures and languages may be different, but they are both cities with great wealth and great poverty living in close (enough) quarters.  A city of huge sprawl and masses of people everywhere.  And they both have a lot of colonial influence and street food that smells delicious that I'm not supposed to eat...

It was a good day and a half, and an easy start to India.   As I headed off to the airport I had wished I stayed longer, but as I write from Varkala (in the State of Kerala) I know I needed some downtime to collect myself, and overcome my jet lag, before some of the promised intensity of India that awaits me in the next few weeks.

PS - It is about 85 Degrees here.  Sorry East Coasters! 

A travel story I keep forgetting to mention

When I left Tanzania, I posted a picture of our “night on the town” and got two responses within a couple of days. 

One was from Hilly whom I met at RVCV and the other was from Luca whom I met on the way to Cappadocia and spent a few days with there. (Note: They are both in the middle of the above pictures) They had seen each other via the blog and were reaching out to me.

It turns out that they knew each other and had met randomly when travelling through Morocco together several years back.

At the time I thought it was pretty damn cool and was blown away by the reality of just how small a world this is.  I'm not sure why I didn't share it at the time, but I still take it as a sign that the travel gods are shining down on this adventure.

Oddly enough, it wasn’t the only overlap of lives.  As it happened again when I was still in Cape Town and I randomly bumped into a former colleague when heading into our favorite restaurant, The Codfather.

Here’s to much more randomness ahead!

The Unpublished "Out of Africa" Post

“I never knew of a morning in Africa when I woke up that I was not happy”

- Hemingway

Sunset from Camps Bay over the Twelve Apostles.  The picture only begins to do justice to easily the most beautiful sunset I've witnessed.

The statement above is true with the exception of the last day.  But we're hopefully on to happier things in this space now.

I had a post more than 50% completed with every intention of finishing it on the flight to Thailand in December.  As you know, there were other plans and I never quite finished or posted it.

Feeling like it needed some closure, I'll share with you what makes sense and some of my favorite photos/stories that I haven't shared from my time in Africa.

It was going to go a little something like this...

Being in Africa for an extended period of time is an experience I won’t ever forget. From my first encounter in the crazy streets of Nairobi to a month in Tanzania and from the majesty of Victoria Falls in both Zimbabwe and Zambia, to an amazing three and a half more weeks in South Africa.   

I found the "Dark Continent" to be nothing but a sea of color. From the White of the Snows of Kili, to the sapphire seas of the Garden Route; from the technicolor Kikoy, Kanga and Shukas, to the purples of the Jacaranda and Bougainvillea.  It just bursting with color and life.

I saw mountains, waterfalls, enough animals to fill a hundred zoos, as well as flowers and birds with colors that aren’t quite believable.  I ate and drank well, never too much and never too little.  And, I left without having contracted food poisoning or a fungus, while having survived a few weeks with 80+ children/tweens and a dip in the world’s largest waterfall. 

Each country was quite different from the last and with more time, I surely would have explored more of this great continent.   

I guess that I'll just have to return.

This shot is terribly out of focus, but I find it to be one of my most favorite shots from Africa. 

And of course there were some lessons learned, some that may only be interesting to me, but I'll share them regardless:

• Don’t put expensive camera equipment in your checked luggage.  A big thanks to Dave Bowers at Liberty Mutual for a painless claims process.   I’m still hoping the airline will come through and cover my deductible at a minimum. 
• A big THANK YOU to my friend Matana for carrying the new one over to Thailand, around Thailand, back from Thailand to San Fran and finally to New York due to my change of plans.  Seriously, I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. 
• I now know that I can go a week with only the clothes on my back if I really have to.  It isn't easy, but I guess a guy needs to do that at least once in his life.
• I will say it helped to have a friend there get me through it.   Jared, sorry for all the “if I only had this” chatter.  I probably would’ve been more of a freakshow if it weren’t for you.
• All that being said, I have since upgraded my day pack.  This one is a little bigger to accommodate bringing a change of clothes and my camera without making excuses.
• Baboons are real jerks.  They are.  They are also real horn-dogs.  I’ll spare you the Discovery Channel worthy shots, but way too much monkey business all around with those guys.
• One of the great rewards of this travel is running into random people and spending a few hours with them.  One of the cooler, and more serendipitous, encounters was with a Conservation Biologist as Jared and I hiked through the forests of Victoria Falls.  The man knew way too much about Dung Beetles to hide his true profession and as we engaged him further, learned a lot more about the Ivory Trade in Southern Africa, Baboons and their behaviors, the aforementioned Dung Beetles and much much more.
•  It’s really fun to say “Super Duper” in fake German/Dutch accents.  (For a taste of what the guys did frequently in the car ride)
• Impalas are the squirrels of safaris.  Boring really quickly.  But when you haven’t seen anything on Safari for +/- 30 mins, they miraculously become interesting and exciting again.
• They call traffic lights in South Africa… wait for it…. ROBOTS!
• South African drivers often pull into the shoulder to allow for cars to pass them.  A thank you is delivered by flashers from the passing driver and acknowledged by the passed driver with a flip of their headlights.  It is really kinda cool. 
• Biltong, American Beef Jerky’s tender cousin, is amazing. 

And now, some photos:

Michelle and I climbed Lion's Head on the second to last day in Cape Town.  Even at 8am it was ridiculously hot.  Needless to say "Sweaty Parker" made an appearance. 

Top of Lion's Head:  Not a bad place to live if you're a lizard. 

Nelson Mandela’s cell on Robben Island, where he was imprisoned for 18 of the 27 years he spent in jail, along with many other political prisoners.  It was a stark and powerful place.  It was easy to be taken by the cruelty and injustice while there, but after some time it revealed itself to be a place of freedom and hope as well. 

Goofin' off with the guys

YIKES!

I miss my beard!

  A story I don't think I shared is when we got to the Royal Livingstone Hotel to go on our Devil's Pool excursion.  As we walked through the gates we saw a gent that worked at the hotel looking into the bush.  He motioned for us to come to him so he could show us something. It was a Dazzle (also can be called a Zeal or a Herd) of Zebra.  He then motioned us to walk into the bush with him to follow them. Of course there is only one right decision in a moment like that, so in we went.  There were about 6 Zebra just roaming around no more than a few feet from us when we ran into a Tower of Giraffes, from the adult male to a 6 month old baby Giraffe.    In 4 days of Safari in Africa, I/we saw almost every animal they have here, but this was the most unique of the encounters.     (Note: this picture is not zoomed in.)

Another fantastic African Sunset

And a Full Moon Evening at RVCV.  I swear it was as close to daylight at 10pm as I've ever seen.

The road leading away from RVCV.  Such a beautiful place!

Ok, I could keep posting shots and telling stories for awhile, but that hopefully gives a little more flavor to the African experience.   In the meantime,  I'm in Mumbai for only a few more hours so, I'm going to make like these elephants: