Life on the Lake

Kashmir, the "Crown of India, is a place filled with proud culture and natural wonders. Unfortunately, it has been the stage for many military conflicts between India and Pakistan since partition separated her in half in 1947. Her beauty and her strategic position remind us of a tragic heroine.

Looking over the map of India, our eyes would travel northwards, and our hearts would dream of visiting this much talked about land. It seemed like an impossible journey, as all the resources we consulted said it was too dangerous to risk traveling so close to the Line of Control with Pakistan. We surprised even ourselves when we jumped on the opportunity to visit Kashmir, and began the two-day drive shortly after arriving in India.

Srinagar is the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, and we arrived on a sun filled crisp autumn afternoon. Our final destination was a houseboat on Dal Lake. There are about 2,500 houseboats on Dal Lake and many offer accommodations to travelers. Each houseboat for rent is rated by the local Houseboat Association for to its facilities and services and is priced accordingly. The houseboat we booked, the H.B. Mantana, is a well kept fully appointed property featuring formal dining and living rooms, three large bedrooms each with their own bathroom, and a service kitchen for the butler.

All of the houseboats on the lake have their own unique name. Some of them are nicely descriptive, while others are rather standard, and a handful are just plain silly. "Crown of India" and "Heaven of Kashmir" are examples of descriptive names, while "Sunflower" and "Morning Glory" are rather standard. There are also many named after famous places around the world, such as "Buckingham Palace", "New Australia" and "New Sydney". There are names that seem out of place, like, "Hollywood", "Chicago", "Bangkok" and "Manila". There is even one called "Texas". Some owners with multiple boats located next to each other have names that can be pretty funny. There is "Mona Lisa" and "Young Mona Lisa", and "Dawn", "New Dawn", "Happy Dawn" and "Lucky Dawn". How about "Apollo Eight" and "Neil Armstrong"? The naming reminds me of love hotels in Japan.

Dal Lake is fairly shallow with a surface smooth as a mirror in many places. The Himalayas reflect their high peaks down onto the glassy waters, interrupted only by tracts of lotus and water lily leaves that float on the surface. Crops of tomato, melon, eggplant, radish, turnip and cucumbers grow on small floating gardens scattered around the lake.

The lake is a magical place with soft light bouncing off the water. When the sun rises after a cold night, a wispy mist rises from the surface of the lake and frosty grass along its bank, creating a mysterious atmosphere. While summer is the high season, we loved the quiet of autumn on Dal Lake. Our experience living on the houseboat was indeed a unique and rare occasion. With the recent stability of the Srinagar valley we can't help but recommend a visit to this jewel in Northwest India. The people of Kashmir are waiting for you with open arms.

To India

"Delhi is a horrible place." That's what many travelers have told us. Our date of departure was approaching and we were getting nervous. However, after arriving in Delhi, and seeing the city first hand, it's not as horrible as our minds imagined. While it is definitely true that this city is different from any places we have been to, the differences are not completely negative.

From an Internet café in Bangkok we booked a guesthouse in Connaught Place for the first few days in Delhi. The guesthouse arranged transportation from the airport, making our early morning arrival as smooth as possible. The guesthouse itself was another not-so-great guidebook recommendation. It was located in a building occupied by several other businesses. The room was like a prison cell, a tiny 8' x 12' space completely tiled in white from floor to ceiling, and without a window. The attached bathroom was hardly functioning. We checked out the next morning to better accommodations.

The first day was spent exploring the area called Connaught Place, a well-known shopping district, laid out around several ring roads. Many people approach us on the streets, mostly vendors selling Rajistani crafts, sweets and other items for sale. To our surprise, a simple but polite "no thanks" was all that was needed to escape these hustlers. Panhandlers were the same, and so were the stylish young men who wanted to introduce us to "reliable travel agencies." The hassle of fending off touts seemed surprisingly less than in Mongolia or China, where an arm might be grabbed to keep us from leaving.

As far as food goes, we continue to stick by our tried and true standards used in China. That is, to find relatively clean, brightly lit places that fit our budget and where many other people are enjoying a meal. It was not difficult to find places that fit these criteria in both Connaught Place, and Paharganj, where our second hotel was located. The many Indian restaurants and Chat Cafés located in Silicon Valley prepared us well for diving into the real deal here in Delhi.

We had to ask ourselves, "Had we arrived directly from Northern California, without first experiencing Mongolia or China, would Delhi be totally overwhelming, would our first impression be different?" Perhaps.

India has much to offer and deeper experiences to explore. We expect that our eyes will pop and our jaws will drop in the coming months. Just walking around the old town markets around Red Fort has set the stage for what's to come. Delhi is the starting point for a three-month adventure in India.

Lanta's Low Season

Ko Lanta is preparing for the start of tourist season, though the island is still getting a lot of rain. It's located south of Phuket and east of Ko Phi Phi, both famous resort areas in southern Thailand. The beaches of Ko Lanta are concentrated along the west side of the island, with formal hotels and more casual bungalows lining the shore. There are only a few tourists now, as this is still the low season.

The high season is from November to May. Some of the accommodation businesses on the west side are doing renewal and repairs right now. While it's not sunny all the time, it is not always raining either, and this is probably the best time to be working on such tasks, before the tourists start coming in droves in a few weeks time.

There are no beaches to speak of on the east side. Instead, mangrove forests face the ocean and small fishing villages dot the coastline. The biggest of the fishing communities on the east side is Old Town Lanta. For fishermen on the east side, there is no tourism high season, but they too renew and fix their boats and houses. The weather pattern is hazy sun in the morning, with a high possibility of showers or thunderstorms from the afternoon into the night. Winds shift their directions, so rain and storms can come from any direction.

In the evenings in Old Town Lanta the clouds increase as the sun begins its downward decent into the ocean. Everything takes on a magical rose-orange hue. The clouds, ocean, off-shore islands, the villagers' faces, the leaves of the coconut, banana, papaya trees, the houses, and even the tropical air itself, all seem to glow with red, pink and orange light. Frogs and insects begin singing in the coconut forest nearby.

Sunsets on the west side of Ko Lanta are absolutely breathtaking. The cloud formations offer gorgeous effects, creating the illusion of the sky on fire. Our eyes follow the clouds that reflect the sun, and we loose our words watching this golden drama acted out on the horizon. It's around this time when the fishermen in Old Lanta town launch their boats for an evening of squid fishing, casting their silhouettes off in red and orange before night falls on the island and the dark sky begins to twinkle with starlight.

The locals seem to be welcoming the weather, saying "this is a cooler time of year. " For us, the beautiful sky filled with a changing palette of color each day was a pleasant surprise and we felt that the rainy season on a tropical island isn't so bad after all.

Kaosan Now

Kaosan Road. Any traveler who visits Bangkok has been there at least once. Those who have not visited may know the street from Alex Garland's novel "The Beach" or the Hollywood flick by the same name staring Leonardo DeCaprio.

The bustling two-lane road stretches for just a few blocks in the heart of the Banglamphu district. At night its lanes are blocked from traffic, making it into a pedestrian-only open-air club of sorts. The travelers are mostly Westerners and Japanese, walking, shopping, eating, and just hanging out.

Hotels, guesthouses, restaurants, clubs, convenient stores, travel agencies, internet cafés, bookstores, clothing shops, photo processing and any businesses that cater to travelers pack both sides of the road. More vendors selling souvenirs, street food, and drinks, fake hair implants and instant dreads line the sidewalks and overflow into the street itself. So many are vying for the all mighty tourist dollar that they have even began setting up shop on the neighboring roads around Kaosan.

Once upon a time, the street was a restful and relaxing spot to come before or after traveling around Thailand or other parts of Southeast Asia. It was a well-known backpackers' haven, an excellent place to trade information and to replenish necessary travel items. In recent years it has become a major tourist spot where vacationers visiting Thailand come to enjoy the hip shopping and partying while staying in Bangkok for a few days. Fortunately, the group bus tours haven't glommed on to Kaosan yet.

There isn't much difference between the average tourist and the backpacker. They all walk Kaosan dressed in their Thai, Indian or Nepalese style clothing and accessories. The standard uniform, especially for men, is the Fisherman's Pant, the traditional wrap-around pants that were made famous by, you guessed it, Thai fishermen. It seems as if everyone on Kaosan are wearing the fisherman's pants in various colors. Of course, the vacationers always look neat and clean, no matter how they try to look like experienced backpackers.

Some backpackers may lament these recent changes, but I, personally, have no attachments to the past history of Kaosan Road. These days, even the local young Thais come here with friends and lovers to enjoy the party atmosphere. Now, the standard formula of Thai serving the Western or Japanese traveler is breaking down and a genuine cultural exchange between people of all kinds is taking place.

Bangkok Smiles

Thailand is not only one of the most popular travel destinations in the world, but also a place that provides a resting space for travelers who visit nearby nations. It shares borders with several Southeast Asian countries and offers a mature tourist industry for all the necessary arrangements. It's easy to travel inside Thailand, and is still comparatively inexpensive. The culture and atmosphere are relaxed and puts the traveler at ease. It took only a few hours after arriving from China for our shoulders to relax and for us to feel at home again in Bangkok.

It wasn't our original plan to come to Thailand in October. Instead, we expected to be entering Nepal overland from Tibet crossing the Himalayas, and then traveling south into India. We adore Nepal, and were looking forward to a return visit. However, the current political situation is unstable, with nightly curfews, closed borders and random Maoist strikes. We decided not to ruin the fabulous memories of our 1999 trip.

This is our forth visit to Bangkok. Our first experience was in 1996, and our last was five years ago when we stayed in the city for a week on our way home from Nepal. Then, we could feel the makings of a world-class city, and so much had changed in this direction since our first visit.

Cars, trucks and Tuk Tuk (Thailand's trademark three-wheeled taxi) used to spit black smoke, choking pedestrians in their tracks. Since our last visit, a requirement for new mufflers has been imposed, and breathing is much easier. The taxis are mostly new with air conditioning. There is still thick pollution that hangs in the air at rush hour, but it seems much lighter than before.

In the past, we didn't see many stores selling genuine brand name goods, instead, most were knock-offs of designer names. To our surprise, we are now seeing major shopping centers offering the "real deal", with Thai customers being the primary shoppers. (This does not mean bootlegged brand name products have disappeared.)

Modernization and high-rise constructions are also progressing. The sanitary situation is much improved, and I would even say it's superior to that of many of the cities we visited in China. The bad traffic congestion is still the same all around the city, but the overhead surface trains called BTS are now operational and a new subway system began running in August this year. We still see evidence of a developing country, such as shanty neighborhood markets and street food venders, but somehow, they now seem charming.

The progress in this city is not one of overnight development, compared to the worldwide global face-lift taking place in many cities we've visited. Bangkok has been slowly remaking its image, has staggered during the Asian crisis, and is now back on track. My impression is that the changes in Bangkok have been over several years.

In any case, modernization and the associated stress level apparently have not translated to nervous expressions on its citizens. Thais who live in this cosmopolitan city still show their large, white-toothed smiles today just like we saw back in 1996. The warmth of the Thai smile is a big reason we continue coming back.