Countries

Jamaica Off The Beaten Track – Kingston

The following is not a coherent story about a funny situation or a thought-provoking episode. It’s a mish-mash of experiences during the second day of our random and strange stumble through this city. We learned something new about Jamaica’s music and history, we got close and personal with the locals, we were startled by an unsafe situation, we were laughed at by a taxi driver and a cop within one hour. In the end, it was quite a lot of fun.

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The Holy River of Ganges – Food Poisoning, Death, and Scams

Varanasi remains to this day one of the most surreal experiences of my life. Grief and poverty, hope of reincarnation and casual indifference to burning human corpses, all blended within a rigid structure of strict funeral customs makes for a stunning picture to an unindoctrinated Westerner. It is a city unlike any I have ever been to – a place where both live and dead are looking for their next reincarnation.
It is not a place I am likely to forget.

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India – Lost Passport and Opium on Christmas Eve

Heading to India both Victor and I were completely paranoid about getting food poisoning which could ruin our entire vacation.  We inspected every plate, fork, and spoon and cleaned it with napkins.  We ate only cooked vegetables, didn’t order any drinks with ice, drank only bottled water, and were very careful not to ingest anything that wasn’t fresh or freshly cooked.  We carried on like this for four full days.   And it was this unparalleled state of paranoia and obsession with cleanliness that made the events of the fifth day so damn funny.

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