Can you believe it? Although I was away for six and a half months during Phase I, by month number five I had a plane ticket home. Now that I’ve finally made it to India mainly by land, I don’t even know which town I’m going to next, let alone which continent. I’m badly in need of a haircut, teeth cleaning, new wardrobe and a good scrub down. The other day I told someone I had been traveling six months when someone corrected me—it will be seven months the first week of 2007.
Below are a few fun statistics from the first six months for those of you following my trip. If you have any good questions to add please post them in the comments:
Flights taken: 7
Borders crossed: 10
Shipments home: 4
Postcards sent: 53
Disposable cameras for cartwheels: 3
Broken UV filters: 1
Countries vomited in: 2
Courses of antibiotics: 2
Days waiting for visas: 27.5
Online travelers met in person: 4
Books read: 5
Indian men in Santa suits spotted: 1
Average times per day I’m asked where I’m from: 20
Longest time in one place: Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (10 days)
Hardest visa to get: Uzbekistan
Least touristy: The Pamirs, Tajikistan
Surprisingly touristy: Bukhara, Uzbekistan
Most bureaucratic: Tajikistan
Most corrupt police: Uzbekistan
Favorite temples: Sygaste, Tibet & Lotus Temple Delhi, India
Favorite building: Palace of the Friendships of Peoples—Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Most awe-inspiring sites: Potala Palace—Lhasa, Tibet; Taj Mahal—Agra, India; Mt. Everest, Registan—Samarkand, Uzbekistan
Most overrated site: Ship graveyard—Moynaq, Uzbekistan
Most expensive site entrance: Taj Mahal—Agra, India
Most fun: Baseball game in Seoul, Korea
Best tour: USO DMZ tour, Korea
Best-signed metro: Seoul, Korea
Most beautiful metro: Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Most stylish nomads: Eastern Kyrgyzstan
Most drunks: Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Meanest taxi drivers: Northern Kyrgyzstan
Laziest drivers: Khorog, Tajikistan
Hardest working drivers: Mongolia
Best bread: Kyrgyzstan
Biggest character: Valentine in Karakol, Kyrgyzstan
Most hospitable host: Gulnara in Khorog, Tajikistan
Least Americans met: Central Asia
Most Americans met: Nepal, Mongolia
5 responses to “Six Months Later”
how long more to go? 5 more mth?
chup, you see, my mom reads these comments and she will be upset with just about any answer I give. Right now I’m considering what I’m going to see in Africa and what routes are possible.
I’m torn between more flying and my typical overland ways. Africa is a different place and I’m not sure I can manage overland in any reasonable amount of time. I also have to take a look at my bank account. I have enough money to go for quite a while but I don’t want to spend it all! And I’m a little tired too so we’ll see how much I recharge on the beaches in Goa and Kerela…
Aha, my sister’s inlaws are from Kerela. If you want I can grill the sis on things to see when she visits this Thursday. There were a few temples that as a woman she wasn’t allowed to enter. Huh.
ps…haaaaaaaappy post-xmas!
good to see Uzbekistan in some of the good parts of your list. 🙂 Samarkand is a great place… and now I’m okay with having not made it out to Moynaq. I do love Tashkent’s metro… but the corrupt police in the metro is what made me stop using it altogether. I much prefer the bus system there. Hope you’re having a great holiday season! Happy New Year! Stay safe.
I have always wanted to see the Akan peoples in Ghana, west africa…I have read a lot about their cloth wand weaving traditions. Since you are into clothes I thought you might look into this. Just a thought! Happy New Year!
Nancy