Jayda:
Man, I miss Athens like crazy already! It is like my favorite city ever! Everyone is so friendly, its clean and the food is good and cheap. There was so much to see! The Parthenon, acropolis, ancient agoras, and the list goes on and on.. you name it, it is there. We took over 200 pictures our first day. Even the subways are like museums. Each stop has all kinds of ancient artifacts. My favorite one was a stop with all this amazing pottery. They were doing some work on the subway and hit an ancient well. Thousands of pieces of pottery fell out into the subway and many of the pieces were still intact. They now have many of these artifacts on display as you enter the subway. One would never get bored in Athens with all there is to do!
United Arab Emirates
The UAE was our first major culture shock on our trip. I really felt sorry for the people there. It was so hot and they were walking around fully clothed in the outfits they wear(not sure how to spell it). They had to be so hot! There are mosques everywhere. We read that it was a law that there had to be one within 1/2km from everyone so that they could pray. They pray 5 times a day and its really loud when they do this. A priest like man comes over this speaker and says something in Arabic. They are all so faithful to their religion. Perhaps this is why their crime rate is so low. I could leave my backpack(including my passport and all) sitting anywhere and no one would even think of taking it. The first few days we stayed in Ajman, which was about 30 minutes from Dubai. We stayed with an Indian guy there named, Gautam. He showed us all kinds of neat places. One night we went to the beach and one night we went to Irish Village which was an Irish pub and restaurant. Dubai really is something to see! We paid our cab driver to show us all the sites one day. We saw the hotel that looks like a huge sail, Atlantis hotel, the palm island, the tallest building in the world, the largest mall and much more. Everyone drives big cars and wears fancy clothes. You see all the name brands there. Its a lot like a big city in America.
India
Last night was our first night in Mumbai. It is so hot here! And most places do not have AC. Our hotel last night didn't have AC but it wasn't too bad with the fan going and window open. I just couldn't sleep with all the noise. After being in a taxi for hours(driving is crazy here) we finally got to another hotel this afternoon. This hotel has AC and a free computer for almost the same price. We ate lunch at this really nice restaurant. It had AC and had fountains and such inside. We had an appetizer, each ordered a plate and naan and 2 waters for under $10! Exciting! It was delicious too! We wanted to go north today but all the trains were booked so we are going to work on that. We will keep you updated and post pictures when we can :)
Chris:
Athens was absolutely amazing. There is so much history there. We saw buildings from ancient Greece as well as ancient Rome. Some of them have been preserved almost to perfection. However, many are now ruins. The subway was the cleanest we have seen and each station is like a museum. Every time they dig a new tunnel they hit archaeological sites. It is an awesome place and we met some great people.
The UAE was different than any place we have been. It was strange for a while being in an Arab country. They dress so much different and there are mosques everywhere. In Dubai they live by the quote " Go big or go home ". Their architecture is nothing short of amazing and they have so many luxurious stores and expensive cars. We had a great couchsurfer who showed us the areas around Dubai and was a great host. He had only lived in Dubai for 3 months himself.
We are now in India. We arrived last night and I have already determined they are the craziest drivers in the world. They follow no traffic laws other than maybe stopping at stop lights. They drive on the lines in the road and sometimes stack as many cars as they can between the the road borders. There is a lot of poverty here and massive amounts of people. You have to keep your mouth shut and carry everything at all times. Otherwise if you speak to someone or they grab your bag to carry it your not walking away without paying them something. However, we are having an amazing time and are going to try and reach the Taj Mahal in the next few days.
Man, I miss Athens like crazy already! It is like my favorite city ever! Everyone is so friendly, its clean and the food is good and cheap. There was so much to see! The Parthenon, acropolis, ancient agoras, and the list goes on and on.. you name it, it is there. We took over 200 pictures our first day. Even the subways are like museums. Each stop has all kinds of ancient artifacts. My favorite one was a stop with all this amazing pottery. They were doing some work on the subway and hit an ancient well. Thousands of pieces of pottery fell out into the subway and many of the pieces were still intact. They now have many of these artifacts on display as you enter the subway. One would never get bored in Athens with all there is to do!
United Arab Emirates
The UAE was our first major culture shock on our trip. I really felt sorry for the people there. It was so hot and they were walking around fully clothed in the outfits they wear(not sure how to spell it). They had to be so hot! There are mosques everywhere. We read that it was a law that there had to be one within 1/2km from everyone so that they could pray. They pray 5 times a day and its really loud when they do this. A priest like man comes over this speaker and says something in Arabic. They are all so faithful to their religion. Perhaps this is why their crime rate is so low. I could leave my backpack(including my passport and all) sitting anywhere and no one would even think of taking it. The first few days we stayed in Ajman, which was about 30 minutes from Dubai. We stayed with an Indian guy there named, Gautam. He showed us all kinds of neat places. One night we went to the beach and one night we went to Irish Village which was an Irish pub and restaurant. Dubai really is something to see! We paid our cab driver to show us all the sites one day. We saw the hotel that looks like a huge sail, Atlantis hotel, the palm island, the tallest building in the world, the largest mall and much more. Everyone drives big cars and wears fancy clothes. You see all the name brands there. Its a lot like a big city in America.
India
Last night was our first night in Mumbai. It is so hot here! And most places do not have AC. Our hotel last night didn't have AC but it wasn't too bad with the fan going and window open. I just couldn't sleep with all the noise. After being in a taxi for hours(driving is crazy here) we finally got to another hotel this afternoon. This hotel has AC and a free computer for almost the same price. We ate lunch at this really nice restaurant. It had AC and had fountains and such inside. We had an appetizer, each ordered a plate and naan and 2 waters for under $10! Exciting! It was delicious too! We wanted to go north today but all the trains were booked so we are going to work on that. We will keep you updated and post pictures when we can :)
Chris:
Athens was absolutely amazing. There is so much history there. We saw buildings from ancient Greece as well as ancient Rome. Some of them have been preserved almost to perfection. However, many are now ruins. The subway was the cleanest we have seen and each station is like a museum. Every time they dig a new tunnel they hit archaeological sites. It is an awesome place and we met some great people.
The UAE was different than any place we have been. It was strange for a while being in an Arab country. They dress so much different and there are mosques everywhere. In Dubai they live by the quote " Go big or go home ". Their architecture is nothing short of amazing and they have so many luxurious stores and expensive cars. We had a great couchsurfer who showed us the areas around Dubai and was a great host. He had only lived in Dubai for 3 months himself.
We are now in India. We arrived last night and I have already determined they are the craziest drivers in the world. They follow no traffic laws other than maybe stopping at stop lights. They drive on the lines in the road and sometimes stack as many cars as they can between the the road borders. There is a lot of poverty here and massive amounts of people. You have to keep your mouth shut and carry everything at all times. Otherwise if you speak to someone or they grab your bag to carry it your not walking away without paying them something. However, we are having an amazing time and are going to try and reach the Taj Mahal in the next few days.
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