Indie Travelers.com Travelogue http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/ The travelogue for Nelle and Aaron's year long journey from here to there and back again. en Copyright 2010 Tue, 02 Jan 2007 02:40:54 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.2 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Kathmandu, Nepal The sights, the sounds, and oh my goodness the smells. We posted some pictures of in and around Kathmandu, Nepal. Enjoy!

]]> http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2007/01/kathmandu_nepal.php http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2007/01/kathmandu_nepal.php Kathmandu Tue, 02 Jan 2007 02:40:54 -0500 Authentic Chinese Sweet and Sour Pork Ingredients:

A) 200 grams (~1/2 lb) pork fillet
B) Marinade: 1/3 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon oil, 1/2 teaspoon rice wine, 1 teaspoon custard powder (or 1 egg yolk)
C) Pork batter: 5 teaspoons cornstarch, 1 egg yolk, 2 teaspoons water
D) 20 grams (~1/2 slice) pineapple, 20 grams cucumber, 1 tomato
E) Sweet and Sour sauce: 5 teaspoons sugar, 4 tablespoons rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons ketchup
F) 500 gram cooking oil (enough to fill wok/pan with 1" oil)

Note: Portions listed are for 1 person.

]]> http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2006/12/authentic_chinese_sweet_and_so.php http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2006/12/authentic_chinese_sweet_and_so.php China Fri, 29 Dec 2006 13:04:48 -0500 Chinese Encounters, Pt. 1 Spending nearly a total of 3 months in China and its various territories, you'd have to be pretty anti-social or otherwise lazy not to (gasp) talk to some locals. Luckily, my misanthropic tendencies were no match for the crushing mass of 1.2 billion locals. What's more, the surprising gregariousness of our Chinese counterpart generation did a lot to foster some interesting conversations. This is not to say that conversations including one or more of the phrases "Lookee, lookee", "Best price for you", or "Laowai! [old foreigner]" aren't interesting in their own right, but on the whole I think I most prefer the ones where I am treated as something other than an exotic walking changepurse.

]]> http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2006/12/chinese_encounters.php http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2006/12/chinese_encounters.php China Fri, 22 Dec 2006 10:23:27 -0500 Website additions! Check out our TEN new photo albums of P.R.China! We also have new blog entries, and we now have google ads!

]]> http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2006/11/website_additions.php http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2006/11/website_additions.php Mon, 13 Nov 2006 10:01:11 -0500 Hong Kong and Kowloon Hong Kong boasts a skyline more impressive than NYC, which is difficult for a proud New Yorker to admit. After long walks through the streets of Hong Kong and Kowloon for days on end, I think we got a feel for the ultra-modern urban mecca that is still culturally rich in tradition.

]]> http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2006/11/hong_kong_and_kowloon.php http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2006/11/hong_kong_and_kowloon.php China Thu, 09 Nov 2006 04:56:34 -0500 Jungle Safari in Chitwan National Park Wasting no time after our trek, we signed up for a 2 night 3 day excursion to Chitwan National Park. Famous for tigers, elephants, and rhinos, visiting the jungle is one of the must-do activities during a trip to Nepal. We opted to go through an organized tour rather than going independently because we wanted to go during one of Nepal's many festivals. It would have been a bit like trying to fly to Florida on Christmas Eve by showing up at the airport without a ticket. Not worth the hassle!

]]> http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2006/10/jungle_safari_in_chitwan_natio.php http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2006/10/jungle_safari_in_chitwan_natio.php Nepal Sat, 28 Oct 2006 07:56:53 -0500 Trekking in Nepal Trekking in Nepal is one of those adventures that captured my imagination from an early age. It was always the fun, slightly askew destination for people of all ages. In books and TV shows, characters that found themselves disenchanted with life and wanting to get away might end up in the exotic sounding "Kathmandu." It turns out, trekking wasn't all what I expected. It was better.

]]> http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2006/10/trekking_in_nepal.php http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2006/10/trekking_in_nepal.php Nepal Thu, 26 Oct 2006 07:09:31 -0500 Nepali Food Of the 4 countries we've visited, Nepal has the greatest selection of foods. Nearly every restaurant will have a continental food section, and french fries are available everywhere for those culinary cowards - for the first week, I counted myself among them. These days it's rare for me to have any dish with a name I can pronounce.

]]> http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2006/10/nepali_food.php http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2006/10/nepali_food.php Kathmandu Mon, 09 Oct 2006 08:29:13 -0500 The Thamel District of Kathmandu When I first arrived at night in Kathmandu it was all chaos, yet I was still unprepared for the chaos of the next morning. We stepped out of our hotel room, and I was positively beaming. It was complete sensation overload. The bright colors of textiles, the sheen of brass and copper crafts and jewelry, the smell of incense burning in store entrances, and the harsh sound of street "musicians" selling small instruments.

]]> http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2006/10/the_thamel_district_of_kathman.php http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2006/10/the_thamel_district_of_kathman.php Kathmandu Fri, 06 Oct 2006 06:56:28 -0500 Hitchhiking from Tibet To Nepal I always had this notion that hitchhikers were creepy, somewhat psychotic, and very likely to injure my person. I can thank Hollywood for this. Hitchhiking in Tibet is nothing like that. First of all, it's so common. It's standard, if slightly illegal, practice to pick up foreigners and locals alike. Secondly, it's so much cheaper and more convenient for backpackers than hiring a private jeep. We had a series of lucky rides that made our journey from Lhasa to the border town of Zhangmu really easy.

]]> http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2006/09/hitchhiking_from_tibet_to_nepa.php http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2006/09/hitchhiking_from_tibet_to_nepa.php Tibet Sat, 30 Sep 2006 04:22:47 -0500 The Potala Palace What trip to Tibet would be complete without a visit to the legendary Potala Palace? Not ours. I think the best part of the palace was ascending the steep, never ending (so it felt to my thighs), historical steps around the outside of the 13 story, mountainside building.

]]> http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2006/09/the_potala_palace.php http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2006/09/the_potala_palace.php Tibet Sat, 30 Sep 2006 04:00:00 -0500 A few days in Lhasa ]]> http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2006/09/a_few_days_in_lhasa.php http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2006/09/a_few_days_in_lhasa.php Tibet Sat, 30 Sep 2006 03:35:19 -0500 Riding the Qinghai-Tibet Railway For train enthusiasts everywhere, there's a new thrill to be had riding the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. This two day journey runs through desert, snowy mountains, and bucolic greenery of an Asian flavor - speckled with Yaks.

]]> http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2006/09/riding_the_qinghaitibet_railwa.php http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2006/09/riding_the_qinghaitibet_railwa.php Tibet Sat, 30 Sep 2006 03:13:27 -0500 Qinghai-Tibet Railway Tickets Odyessy As a foreigner, arranging a trip on the new Qinghai-Tibet railway is not easy. One Canadian we met had a much easier time getting his ticket by paying someone that sought out and solicited him. Because there is not supposed to be foreigner pricing or mark-ups, this is illegal. However, the legitimate route, which we took, is incredibly difficult and frustrating. It seems like China doesn't want foreigners on the train so they create these Catch22 scenarios to stymie your every attempt.

]]> http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2006/09/qinghaitibet_railway_trip.php http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2006/09/qinghaitibet_railway_trip.php Chengdu Sat, 30 Sep 2006 02:51:48 -0500 Shopping In Chengdu When I think back to the malls of America, one thing sticks out in my mind - PERSONAL SPACE. Except for those infamous times of year like Black Friday or 3 days until Christmas, malls in the suburbs generally provide more space than people. The malls in China, especially now during the back-to-school craze have more people than items of merchandise. So, when I went shopping on Wednesday afternoon at 2:30pm, I couldn't help but wonder why these people weren't at work!

]]> http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2006/08/shopping_in_chengdu.php http://www.indietravelers.com/blog/2006/08/shopping_in_chengdu.php China Thu, 31 Aug 2006 01:36:26 -0500