Our next day began bright and early, with a stroll along the River Liffey until we reached Trinity College

Trinity College is home to the Book of Kells, one of the oldest surviving illuminated manuscripts dating to the 8th or 9th century

The above is not it, but no photos of the Book are allowed, so you will just have to see it for yourself.

The above sculpture is entitled "The World", but the local students refer to it as "The Death Star". Told you Dublin has lots of Balls

But judging by the clock tower, CMON MARTY, WE GOT TO GET BACK!

 

So we hurried over to the train station with our trip mascot, Mr Potato Head, and set off for Bunratty Castle

The Mess, where the officers and infantry would have stayed. Although all the furniture is historically accurate to the period, nothing remained in the castle when it was found but the walls. 

The Great Hall, where the king would pronounce judgement

yes, he is.

King Brian and Mr P receive heads of state

While Vizier Dr J and Mr P deliberate on matters most grave

There's a shortage of WHAT???

Quick! Hide me before some starving irishmen throws me into a stew!

Irish countryside from the ramparts of the castle

The great hall from above

Once again, the wind blows the door of this wonderful little virtual space open...Hi all, I'm home and back from yet another gallivant around the world, this time to Ireland and Scotland with my brother. He recently took the bar exam, and we figured we would celebrate the occasion by going on a brotherly binge to the land of a thousand welcomes, and the home of the highlanders.

So Raise your glass, toast Slainte!, and lets follow the Brothers through a thousand shades of green, beginning with the City of Dublin

We quartered ourselves in this converted wine cellar, Isaacs, now hostel to travelers from such exotic locales as germany, and northern california! A great hostel, cheap for the price, very clean and with a number of activities organized that we never quite found the time to make it too, but well worth your time should you need a place to stay

The first thing we learned? Dublin Has a lot of balls. It's a recurring theme, though we are not quite sure why

Our first day was pretty much spent wandering the streets, taking the sites, and acclimating ourselves to a new continent, culture, and time zone. 

Temple Bar, in the the Temple Bar district was constantly packed with tourists, street performers (buskers, in the vernacular), and more bars than you could shake a stick at

 After walking the streets, we stopped in to visit St Patricks Cathedral

Yes, of THAT guiness family. 

 

 

 

Exiting the Cathedral, we explored the local park next door

I found a group of people playing capoeira, my former martial art before I got super lazy. Surprised how much I actually remembered

Brian with Molly Malone, the statue referred to as the Tart with the Cart. Miss Malone, a well known fishmongerer of her day, was believed to have supplemented her income with harlotry in the evening. Prostitution and fish-selling apparently have a long and storied history, and the ladies of the night would wear their fishnets from the day over their legs at night to accentuate their wares, emphasizing the catch of the day, as it were.

I cant even begin to tell you how happy this makes me

That happy, I guess

All over Dublin, brightly colored doors like those above are seen jumping out from otherwise plain buildings. We heard many stories as to the reasons for this, and my favorite is as follows: After the death of Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria, which put her into such a state of mourning, she ordered all doors in the entire British Empire to be painted black. The Irish, being opposed to caving to such orders, immediately painted their doors as colorfully as was possible at the time. True or not, it's a fascinating story, and one only too many tour guides and locals were happy to confirm

 

Dublin is built straddling the river Liffey, and supposedly hundres of hidden tunnels and catacombs cross underneath its banks as well as the city streets, just waiting to be explored, excavated, and perhaps even liberated of hidden treasure

As A final activity to our first day, Brian and I climbed onto the pictured bus for one of many haunted tours of Dublin. The company responsible for all of them was Hidden Dublin Walks, and puts on an excellent tour. Their guides are knowledgable, clearly enjoy their jobs, and are all super accomodating to requests. On this tour we visited and learned the haunted history of kilmainham gaol, trinity college, the viking church, and had a pint at a local pub, Gravediggers, where the undertakers used to request their guiness by tossing shovelfuls of dirt up against the back wall of the pub

Told you the guides were enthusiastic!

We met a couple of Dubliners on the tour, lovely ladies who joined us for a drink at a nearby whisky bar, where we made plans to meet up again later in the week for drinks and Dublins best fried chicken. All in All, the trip was off to a good start

Next stop in Malaysia was Bukit Malawati, or monkey hill, so named for the numerous silverleaf monkeys that live there

as you can see, the babies are bright gold/orange, and only darken with age

We spent a lot of time feeding the monkeys string beans before heading down to a chinese restaurant on the river and then onward to watch the fireflies at kuala selangor. No pics of that as my camera is not fancy enough to have that fast a shutter speed, but definetly worth it, and romantic...if you dont mind your romance being on a boat with 10 other people

The following day it was off to the elephant orphanage at Kuala Ganda

Michelle had found the best tour guide for this trip ever, the elephant man, who will take you to the sanctuary on the condition that you help care for the elephants while there including

preparing their food,

and cleaning their mighty poops. I got to play zookeeper for a day, and help some of these adorably majestic creatures

Michelle also got in on the action preparing and serving formula to the baby elephants

https://picasaweb.google.com/108873713548763236015/KualaGandah#5754807324525694626

click for associated video, having problems uploading. 

From Kuala Gandah

And thus ended the malaysia portion of our trip. Next and final post will be the best zoo in the world, the singapore zoo!

Another Stop on the weeklong excursion of Malaysia with my (now ex :-/) gf was Batu Caves

Rising almost 100 m above the ground, the Batu Caves temple complex consists of three main caves and a few smaller ones. The biggest, referred to as Cathedral Cave or Temple Cave, has a very high ceiling and features ornate Hindu shrines. To reach it, visitors must climb a steep flight of 272 steps.

At the base of the hill are two more cave temples, Art Gallery Cave and Museum Cave, both of which are full of Hindu statues and paintings. This complex was renovated and opened as the Cave Villa in 2008. Many of the shrines relate the story of Lord Murugans victory over the demon Soorapadam

you will note how that statue appears ginourmous no matter what distance you are from it

during the entire 272 step trip up these macaque monkeys chased us asking for food!

The entrance to temple cave

Temple cave is so called due the large number of Hindu Shrines inside.

Then after a very long walk down...

We walked along this small lake to the remaining caves

Next post...an elephant sanctuary?

With things finally calming down a bit around here, I figured it was time for me to post about the second trip of the year. On my return from India, I worked for about a month, then said eff this place and set out again for parts unknown with the gf. Due to funds and timing, we needed somewhere we could accomplish a lot in a short time for cheap...hence, MALAYSIA! Now as this is my first international trip without my usual companions, and my first international trip with a gf, not to mention the abbreviated time period, the style of travelogue and wacky photos may be a bit different than you are accustomed to. But lets welcome back Michelle, my gf, who has not been seen in a xanga travel post since June 2003, when we first went to Japan as friends. Yep, this xanga has been going for almost a decade! But on to the post

The lovely michelle, thinking about who knows what on the train into the city

Our hotel room at the sheraton kuala lumpur. (fun fact: Malaysia has 9 sultans among its 13 territories, with each of them taking turns ruling the country every so many years. Fun fact #2: the day before we left malaysia, one of the sultans was staying in our hotel! how is that for high class?)

Malaysia is predominantly a Muslim country, but just because you follow Allah doesnt mean you cant have STYLE

Central Market, a 1920's art decon indoor mall that has mostly handicrafts that can be found cheaper elsewhere throughout the city. That said, we spend a lot of time just wandering

I <3 my mini tripod

Malaysia central market at night

Jalan Petaling street in chinatown, kuala lumpur. Time to get my street food on!

Koon Kee wantan mee is chinese/malaysian? for greasy pork on oily noodles for dirt cheap and it is ungodly delicious. This was consistently rated as the number one place for char siew wantan mee by not only anthony bourdain but every old man we stopped on the street to ask for the best street food. Its in a little food court in petaling jaya

Under the baobab tree

And up to the top of petronas towers, the tallest building in the world until dubai built their sailboat hotel building thing. Be warned, they allow limited people up to the top per day, so you need to get there early to secure a ticket for an amazing view of the city

Next stop was the aquarium, where I did one of the more terrifying things of my life-cage diving with sharks. Now, yes we were in an aquarium and I was in no real danger, but I have a pretty substantian hydrophobia due to numerous attacks on my person by sea creatures as a child. So for me, the very first time to go scuba diving, this was as controlled an environment as I could get-i was 2 feet from the surface, surrounded by steel bars, and when i was not busy having panic attacks, could enjoy the sensation of seeing sea life in an almost natural habitat without what i can only assume are their usual murderous rages.

Or you could be like Michelle, and pay an extra fee to be on the same side of the cage as all the deadly sea life and swim around with it. Yes, the wo of us were on opposite sides of the cage in the same tank and both had an excellent time. Michelle was so busy following the shark that she was nearly scared out of her wits when she turned around to find this friendly fellow attempting to eat her hair.

Pirahanas. Yeah, you want adventure and excitement, head to malaysia.

Gateway to the Petronas Towers

After terrifying me to within an inch of my life, off we went to the history museum where we learned about all sorts of stuff, like how much I love trains!

Then it was back to central market for a fish massage, where tiny little pirhana (okay goldfish) nibble all the dead skin off your feet with their toothless gums, like a quick footed army of dentureless old people. People pay big bucks to go to these fish spas all around malaysia, but in cheap central market its only $7 for 10 minutes, which you will last approximately 30 seconds before breaking down into unctrollable laughter

We ended our night watching a martial arts demonstration where, yes, 6 and seven year old children were jumping through a ring of fire for our amusement.

Not bad for the first couple of days, right?

And so we come to the end of the India/Nepal Adventure. Fret Not, however, for like any good Indian tale, I leave you with a musical number

 Music courtesy of that Benny Lava video by Buffalax. 

See you soon for the next trip!

After several days in Kathmandu, we hopped back on Buddha Air to head out to Pokhara our final destination of this year's fantastic foursome trip, fearlessly flying free into the face of fate

Accomodations were somewhat more spartan than they had been for the remainder of the trip, and we spent a large portion of our time just wandering about town, chatting with locals and watching children play the nepalese version of "kick the can"

Short Round was thrilled to be staying in another 5 star third world hotel

Pollution: Made by Women.

Haha...Poon hill trek.

We spent several days reading, relaxing, and resorting about, for the main reason we had come to Pokhara at all was for one specific activity. So early the morning after our arrival, we got up and caught a ride to the very top of the mountain to view the obligatory vacation sunrise

Hard to Beat that view.

Crystal caught some rays, while I converted to wildnerness man! Mountain man of the fancy hats and unshaven beards!

Short Round opted for a hearty breakfast of mountains and then it was off to pick up some supplies and see the sights of Pokhara

Shop Smart. Shop S-Mart. YOU GOT THAT?

This sad little cave and waterfall are the sum total of things to see in Pokhara, which is known mainly as a starting point for treks around Nepal. However, Pokhara does have one major activity going for it

Paragliding

lots and lots of paragliding

But Paragliding in Nepal is special because they add on one feature which you cant do anywhere else in the world.

Meet Kevin. Kevin and Bob are egyptian vultures who are also big fans of paragliding. Or should we say, PARAHAWKING

I love being up above the eart. Whether skydiving, bungee jumping, moutain climbing, learning to pilot a plane, and now parahawking, I feel truly free when I can see all of creation spread out below me. The ability to defy the laws of gravity is what makes mankind so remarkable. Other creatures have language, use tools, may even be capable of social connections and abstract thought. But only man looked at the birds soaring high above him, and thought-I will do that. I will conquer the very fabric of creation to elevate myself up to the wild blue yonder

While lazily drifting about on the air currents, Kevin would soar in between Short Round, Crystal, and Myself, summoned by a piercing whistle from my tandem companion. He would land on my glove, snatch a piece of rabbit meat from my hand, and fly away with his snack, guiding us to the next air current to glide even higher. A Once in a lifetime experience, to actually soar with the birds.

Worth noting is that these birds are endangered. In addition to being one of the most awesome things ever, Parahawking helps to raise awareness and funds to keep Egyptian Vultures breeding and reproducing before they are all gone. And you dont want them to disappear, because then how will you learn to fly with them? So go visit this site, and donate, or at least learn more about it. And if you do, tell Scott that Dr J and Koh sent you

After feeling the wind beneath our wings arms, it was time to head home. At the end of our cash and energy, we sat down at the corner to wait for the cab that would return us to the airport and the slightly more confining flights that would take us back to New Delhi and then home.

Just for kicks, while resting against a wall and looking perhaps somewhat less groomed than usual, I began singing some of my favorite american tunes by Journey, Whitesnake, and Bon Jovi. Crystal took one look at my homeless appearance, flipped over my hat, and tossed in some seed money. We then spent the next hour watching as local nepalis and tourists would stroll down the street, every last one doing a double take to see someone so pale performing on a street corner. A number of passerby threw money in the hat, or tried to sneak pictures, perhaps worried that I would charge them to document such a strange occurrence. I just continued my one man karaoke show to the amazement of even the local beggars who were not making a fraction of my take. When the taxi finally arrived, I gather up all my earnings (about $30 nepali or $15 US) and handed it off to the beggar woman whose territory I had usurped for my social experiment. She tried to return it to me with a gesture and look that said, "no, you earned this, I cant take it from you" but for me the fun was in the song and merriment. As the cab pulled away, a young girl and her brother who had been watching the whole performance from the beginning with progressively wider eyes ran up to bang on the window and wave goodbye to what were probably the wackiest foreigners they will ever see. And that is a pretty good way to end this particular vacation, with smiling children, happy beggars, and a song in my heart.

Next Post: The Bollywood Video Edit of the Trip!

The first stop of our 2nd morning in Kathmandu was right back to the airport, this time to take a one way flight to mountain. What mountain, you ask?

Well, it wasnt this one. This is a sacred mountain no one is allowed to climb or go near

Nor was it this one, although you can see we are getting closer, because someone put up a cloud awning for us

Ah, here we go. A flight to Mount Everest

Next stop, the roof of the world

And as Short Rounds T-shirt declaims

I didnt climb Mt Everest, but I touched it with my heart.

Before I go on to regale you with the remainder of our nepal adventures, I will take a moment to say that I would love to go back to Nepal in a heartbeat, and with more time available, would totally be down to at least hike to base camp. I have some doubts about my physical ability to conquer everest, but have not yet crossed it off my bucket list. Nonetheless, even flying around it was something to behold

Next stop,  Swayambhu a large stupa, highly revered in Nepal, and one of the most sacred Buddhist sites in the country. It offers great views over the city, and no lack of monkeys

Monkey swimming pool indeed

This site is sacred and mentioned in a buddhist scripture about the origine of the katmandu Valley, which was once said to be a lake

Atop the mount are multiple small stupas, temples, and vendors of momos (tibetan dumplings filled with awesome)

Atop each of these major stupas you can see the eyes of buddha looking out at the world in all directions. The flags represent the major components of the earth, with earth, fire, wind, water, and heart. Your powers combined! haha no just kidding, there is no flag for heart

Buddha is watching you...

From one Buddhist site to another, our next stop was Boudahanth, one of the holiest sites for Buddhism in Nepal and also home to a large community of tibetan refugees

Home to the largest Stupa in the world, underneath which are said to be interred the remains of a great buddhist saint.

As the legend goes, this whole Stupa was built by an old woman and her four sons alone

And now, for no good reason, a lion with breasts! hee hee!

This way to the former royal palace. Quite a scandal took place here according to our guide. The current King was very popular, and as the legend goes, his son had fallen for a common girl. Of course, this was unacceptable, so when it was forbidden, the crown prince went out and got drunk, later returning to the party where he was said to have massacred his entire family, excepting only his uncle who was out of the country at the time. The orince then turned the gun on himself and was in a coma. His uncle assumed regency, declared the prince king for the three days he was in a coma, and when he died, his uncle assumed the throne. The nepali people have a great deal of suspicion about this however, as both the king and prince were very popular and the uncle much less so. Also, while the prince's entire family was killed, the uncle was out of town, the uncles children were the only survivors of the massacre, and the uncles wife escaped with a couple shot injuries. Mysterious indeed

Short Round is standing in the very spot where the last king of nepal, the uncle, was ever crowned. He looks quite regal. or constipated

Next to Durbar Square, center of Kathmandu, and home to the former royal palaces of the multiple kings who used to rule the Valley. There are more temples in this square than anywhere else in the city, and in a city of temples that is saying a lot. Lets take a closer look at this magnificent architecture, shall we?

Wait a tic...is that?

Oh you naughty monkeys. No wonder the city was so religious

Well after having such holy experiences, we stopped for dinner at our favorite discovered restaurant, a back alley vendor of momos, where we ate every day in Kathmandu and watched triple x with the owners. It was like being at a family dinner. 3 people at a full meal with drinks for roughly us $5. We also purchased a singing bowl, and during the process of haggling, short round asked whether or not he could eat out of it as well. If this does not seem funny to you, look up what a singing bowl is, and then you will know why I love traveling with short round.

Next stop...Pokhara and Parahawking for the final days of the trip!

Leaving Varanasi and Dr Han behind, our traveling trio traversed onward to a land of mysticism, monks and mountains. On arriving in Nepal, none of us had the required fee for a visa. Luckily, there was a handy dandy form and functionary located nearby where we could obtain legal entry and avoid me being arrested in yet another country (yes, I am an international criminal-ask me about it sometime ). Of course, as long as we were picking up our papers, it only made sense to obtain some silly snacks and snapshots. And thanks for noticing my new alliteration dictionary!

What could possibly make that tomato so naughty?

Why would you think that slogan would sell ANYTHING?

International graffiti is awesome. But Lets adjourn to the hotel, shall we?

Ah yes, the Hotel Shanker, former palace in Nepal and birthplace of some queen or other. It has many fascinating architectural features

Such as death metal dragons in cafeteria watching you nom

ridiculously large hobbit like rooms (there is more room not pictured in this photo!)

An appropriately palacial entrance with what appears to be a random jewish star off in the corner

And lest we forget, the Kunti Bar. When making a crass an inappropriate remark about things likely to be found in the Kunti Bar, such as whether any cunts were to be found within, a british matron happened to walk by and exclaim in a Mrs Doubtfire voice "Probably not. I've already written home about it" which of course sent us all off into peals of laughter. I still enjoy things in my british matron voice

This store for tobacco and spirits would not survive well in America

But let's take a stroll around town shall we?

The Katmandu Valley is known as the city of Temples

For every intersection or community has its own shrine or temple. The Durbar Square of Kathmandu is located in the old city and has heritage buildings representing four kingdoms (Kantipur, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Kirtipur), built over centuries The complex has 50 temples and is distributed in two quadrangles of the Durbar Square.

When the Katmandu valley was ruled by many different Kings, each one wanted to build a temple of his own to show he was more impressive and or devout than his neighbors

Lions like these guard the entrance to many of the temples

and prayer wheels carry the hopes of the faithful up to heaven

Kumari Ghar is a palace in the center of the Kathmandu city, next to the Durbar square. Kumari is the tradition of worshipping young pre-pubescent girls as manifestations of the divine female energy or devi in South Asian countries. Kumari is believed to be the bodily incarnation of the goddess Taleju until she menstruates, after which it is believed that the goddess vacates her body. No photos are allowed of this divine personage or her residence, so here is a random pigeon temple instead 

After a bit of shopping, it was starting to get late

So we picked up some dinner

Stopped by one last temple

And went home for the night to explore the sights of Kathmandu in more depth the next day 

Apologies for the long delay in posting from India/Nepal, but I have just returned from a Singapore/Malaysia/Miami Trip with my remaining vacation time from the year. So lets get cracking as we have a lot of ground left to cover

When last we left our intrepid adventurers, we had just completed an evening fire aarti in the city of Benares aka Varanasi, on the banks of the holy ganges river. The following morning, we returned to the same river, setting off at sunrise to view one of the more interesting morning commutes

Alongside every part of the riverbank are stone ghats, or docks leading down to the rivers edge for people to conduct their daily ablutions and/or business

Apparently a submarine washed up near this crematorium...when they say six feet under, they arent kidding!

Indiana Josh and the sunken temple?

Quite the busy day, no? And yet, on the other side of the river, the land remains relatively untouched

Of course, once the sun is up, people have things to do, like bathe

Or catch up on the latest gossip

or even do laundry!

After that, our guide informed us that ALL the water in Varanasi comes from the ganges river. The water we drink, bathe in, etc is all (hopefully!) purified from the river in which people are taking their morning dunks, cleaning their clothes, and disposing of their dead bodies. We are all holier and slightly smellier for the experience

Following our morning boat ride, Dr Han decided we should set off through the streets of the city to explore them by day

good thinking, Doc!

Of course, Short Round remained on the lookout for any more dangerous monkeys

At such an early Hour the streets were still mostly deserted, but things picked up as the day progressed, and we visited Indias largest university!

Hahaha, boo-b .com, institute of higher learning!

We also learned about the fine art of weaving, both by hand loom as seen on the right, and machine looms. Sadly due to the time intensive requirements of this job, very few people have the skill or inclination to learn how to make cloths and tapestries from silver thread such as those seen on the right anymore

Next and final stop in India was the Mother India Temple, a 3 dimensional topographical map of the subcontinent

and yet, no you are here locator

Despite That, here we are!

Along with a potential replacement for my longstanding Zoidberg Avatar, Dr Geeko!

With that, we bid adieu to both India and Dr Han, as he had patients to return to, and we had one more country to tackle before returning home.

Next Stop, Nepal, home to Everest, more temples, and Parahawking