Ken Curtis' blog Travel «

Sat 09/03/13 04:28

I don’t’ know how to actually start this entry… do I just recount what I’ve done the last day? Maybe I should start with how I’m feeling? Right now I think a little of both may be the way to go… Starting with my bout of narcolepsy that I had yesterday. I guess all the traveling as well as just not getting enough sleep kind of caught up with me. At about 2 I fell asleep until about 6, got up and ate and watched some videos. It wasn’t long until I was asleep again, and didn’t wake up until about 9 in the morning. All good, this is a vacation so what ever happens, happens.

The week is all about just taking it easy, so this morning I headed to the beach for a walk around, but that got boring pretty quickly. I headed back to the hotel, changed and was in the water in no time. The water is perfect here, warm with big waves. I can’t stress the big waves enough, some of them are huge maybe 10 feet. Even through the terror of seeing a huge wave coming towards me, it still has a sort of “siren call” that draws me in. In fact, if it wasn’t for the sun and inevitable sunburn I’d probably be out right now. I’ve been taking videos of me in the surf, and I don’t’ know how, but I hope that I’ll be able to stitch it into an interesting video for youtube. If not, it will serve to remind me of the fun that I’m having, and I am having fun.

I left the hotel about 12 to go do some snorkeling. I’m a little bit disappointed in the choices that I seem to have. I’ve been told there are two places, one way off the beach that I have to hire a boat, and one right on the beach. I opted for the beach one today. Although I had a blast the spot was right on the beach and the waves kept pushing me around. There was surprisingly a lot of fish to see, and the whole time I was videoing myself and the fish. Again, I hope that I can think of some way to put it into a fun video.

A funny thing happened after I finished the first round of snorkeling. Usually I like being under water only to see the fish, and to see what I can’t from the shore, but today I finished my first dive and was sitting in the sand thinking about calling it a day and to my surprise I wanted to be under the water again. I wanted to hear the sound of my breathing; the view from beneath the water, the things that up until today was just a byproduct of being able to see under water was now something that I wanted.

I’m sitting in the restaurant of the hotel drinking beer and enjoying life… it really is a good life. The only thing that would make it better was to have someone here with me. I usually don’t care whether I’m by my self or with someone, but usually I’m constantly moving from one city or spot to another, this vacation I’m not doing that. I’m in one spot and not planning on traveling at all, that kind of leaves me wishing there was someone else here.

Thu 07/03/13 23:12

After a harrowing process of getting to the airport, getting checked in, and the aircraft actually taking off, I am here. I arrived at Colombo, Sri Lanka about an hour late, about 5:30 in the morning. No worries I knew that I couldn’t check into my hotel until later and I still had a 130 km drive to get to the hotel. Getting through passport control and customs was a breeze and as I stepped out of the airport the sun was just starting to rise.

Hot and muggy was my first reaction, and I have to say that I liked it. The temperature along with the taxi touts and people everywhere made for the kind of experience that I have come to look forward to. There seems to be a lack of rules or maybe it’s a sense of lawlessness, but whatever it is it feels kind of old school not the way that many of the more “developed” countries are.

I got to the hotel about 10 or so and checked in. The hotel is in the shape of a horseshoe and the center is filled with sand and trees. The room is bare, but it is right on the beach, and what a beach it is. Perfect. Large waves crashing not more than 50 meters from the shore, warm soft sand, and not crowded. Right now I’m feeling that this is going to be a great week.

I already went down to the water and walked around, but I feel like I need to go swimming. So after lunch I think I’ll hit the beach again, but this time with my camera and a swim suit. Later I’ll head out to see who offers snorkeling and diving trips.

Wed 06/03/13 22:37

Well, I leave for my Spring Break in about 10 hours. It’s morning right now and I’m trying to mentally get a picture of all the things that I need to do before I actually board the plane. I’ve been kind of lazy in my preparations and putting off some of the things that I usually do like cleaning the house or picking up things that I’ll need when I’m away. I think that it’s a short holiday has lulled me into a sense of security that I’ll get everything done today, it may prove to be a false sense of security though.

I am posting this entry to double-check my blog is working as it should. A few months ago, in Australia, I found out when I was actually there, that the blog wouldn’t allow me to add images to my posts… I don’t think that that will be a problem now, but I just wanted to make sure.

My flight leaves at 11pm and I arrive at Colombo, Sri Lanka at 4am.

Mon 6/01/2014 05:28

It’s about 11 in the morning of my last day on vacation and I have to say that I am feeling lonely. About 2 days ago the group I’d been traveling with said good-bye to four members as they went their own way. Yesterday two more left for their next journey, and today after breakfast, I said good-bye to almost all the rest. I’m leaving for the airport in about 30 minutes, but I’m sharing the taxi with a member of the group. I know, a lot of numbers, so to summarize, I’ll just say that the group has been breaking apart for the last three days and it’s kind of sad. Of course there are some members that I really am going to miss, and it was toughest to say goodbye to them, but all of the group have been fantastic. I don’t think I could have asked for a better bunch of people to travel with. Even now while I’m sitting at the airport waiting to board my plane to Delhi, I’m missing a couple of the group right now. It is kind of funny that my job requires that I am in control of a classroom and speak in front of dozens of students every day and in my personal life I am very quiet, almost an introvert. This tour I really didn’t talk that much and just followed along like a member of the group mentioned, “like a gold fish.”

I made it home in one piece but I don’t think I can say that I’m glad to have all the comforts of home right now. I will say that I am glad to be out of the cold. I have to remember that I don’t do cold very well, and in fact if I were to say anything negative about the trip it would have to be the cold. Otherwise this was a great tour with some of the best people to share it with.

What will I be doing next? I’ve already been checking into a small vacation back to India sometime in the next couple of months, and I’ve volunteered for a trekking/kayaking adventure along the Amazon so who knows.

Mon 6/01/2014 04:38

The tour officially ended this morning, but there is still the majority of the group still together. About five of us decided to take a flight to see Mt. Everest. I normally would not have done a flight like this, but I really wanted a reference in my mind of what the mountain looked like. You know that it is the highest point in the world, and that many people have died trying to climb it, but do you have a mental image of what it looks like? I didn’t. We took off right at sunrise in a turboprop that fit about 20 passengers. Each of us had our own window and when we got close enough to see Everest the pilot let up come up and take some photos from the cockpit. A nice touch, but to be honest I’m still not completely sure what Everest looks like. I mean I saw what the flight attendant was pointing at, and I know I saw Everest, but we stayed far enough away that there were always other mountains almost at high in the view. You know what I’m talking about if you’ve ever had someone point out something in the distance,

“See that tree out there? Look to the left of it.”

“The one with the branch sticking out?”

“No. Not that one, the one that’s further back…”

You get the idea? Oh well, it was fun anyway.

Flight to Everest, Kathmandu, Nepal kenneth curtis travel blog

After the flight ended, two of the group had to catch a flight to Thailand, and the remaining three of us headed back to the hotel to meet up with the remaining group. The rest of the day we just walked around the city checking out temples and taking photos of nearly everything around us. We even headed about 10 km outside of Kathmandu to see a medieval city. Not a huge amount of things to take photos of but still very interesting.

Flight to Everest, Kathmandu, Nepal kenneth curtis travel blog

Kathmandu, Nepal kenneth curtis travel blog

Kathmandu is really nice city. It’s got kind of the dirty feel of India, but without the hustle and bustle that can really tax a person after a few hours. There is a strong western presence here as well. The shops seem to fall into about three categories, souvenirs, trekking gear, and restaurants/coffee shops all of which has bee fun to see. About the only thing that I have to say that I don’t like here is weather, or maybe not the weather, but the cold. In the day it’s been sunny and warm, but at night it is really uncomfortably cold. Coming from Dubai it has been tough on my to get used to it, and honestly I don’t think that I could ever get used to it.

Mon 6/01/2014 04:28
We got into Kathmandu in the early afternoon and got our rooms after a short wait. The rooms weren’t anything special but it was nice to stop moving after the 6 or 7-hour ride through the mountains. It wasn’t long afterwards that we all joined up again to go to a coffee shop for some internet and light lunch. I can’t speak for anyone else on the tour but it was really nice at the shop. It was open on one side, the sun was warm, and the Internet was free, which always makes things better.

Kathmandu, Nepal Kenneth Curtis blog

We decided to head to a temple on the far side of the city which has a great view of Kathmandu. I’m not that interested in temples as anyone who has read some of the blogs from my other trips would know, but I do appreciate both the age and significance of them to their followers. The temples on this trip have an added benefit of having monkeys wandering around, and if you’ve ever been around monkeys you’ll know how photogenic they are. Always a great photo opportunity when monkeys are playing.

Kathmandu, Nepal Kenneth Curtis blog

From the temple we all kind of split up some went to do some shopping others went back to the hotel. I went back to the hotel with two others. For dinner we all met and went to a Western style pizza place. Nice place and good pizza.

My name is Ken

Category Archives: Travel

It’s the second day

I’m here

Today’s the day I leave

Getting Back Home

Kathmandu, Day Two

On to Kathmandu