Getting to Stonehenge isn’t a problem, it’s only once you’re there that you have the problem. Don’t be fooled by all those wonderful pictures you see of Stonehenge in books, travel brochures and magazines. You know those pictures that make the place look like something out of Lord of the Rings, yeah those pictures that manage to catch the stones bathed in a splash of sunshine and framed by puffy white clouds. England is rainy and cloudy … that’s what it looks like in real life.

The brutal part is that while Stonehenge can be seen from two roads, unless it’s late in the day and the traffic is terrible. To me, unless your some type of energy healer or something, then Stonehenge is just a pile of very old stones. And while the experience would be worth it if you could at least get close to the stones, touch them and stand right beneath their bulk, you’ll have to make do with looking at them from afar if you visit during normal hours and be prepared for this view.

In the past thetourists used to chip off bits of the rock to take home as souvenirs, the authorities don’t really want to take any chances. If you happen to be in Exeter or close  by Southern England, then you should take the chance to see it, but definitely do not plan a trip to Stonehenge that’s out of your way. The only mystery for me was how 800,000 people a year paid the C$12 cost of admission to look at this pile of crap from a distance.

BTW It is also not an attraction to view during bad weather, as there is currently very little shelter on the premises nor is there any kind of museum explaining possible Stonehenge theories for your $12

© rishiray for Rishi Sankar: Ah Trini Travelogue / Ah Trini Traveller, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: overrated tourist traps, overrrated, Stonehenge, stonehenge disappointng, stonehenge tourist trap

There is nothing that makes you feel old, like watching snapshots of your website from the last 10 years. For any site developer, blogger or just random bored web junkie, the Wayback Machine, is an awesome repository to track your own web journey.

Here is the first version of my site on a Geocities page …with transcribed lecture notes from Human Motivation (PSYC 471) and all the notes are still online 14 years later … I’m sure the Richard Koestner still teaches the exact same lecture. It’s kinda crazy seeing things I wrote 13 years ago, along with my liquor page.

Then having that site evolve into the first version of the self hosted version in 2003 … with image splash page and javascript icons.

Then the next version was moving to more information oriented layout in 2005, with tons of links and icons, while still trying to maintain a tighter structure to the page. The best thing I remember was the Doctor Gos column by my friend in Scotland – it is some funny shit!

Then finally moving to the wordpress platform and thereby changing the site into a blog and moving all the photo galleries to the photoblog in 2009.

For those of you who are bloggers, how has your journey in writing and the interweb changed over the last couple years? The fact that I can track my journey over the last 13 years, is a bit creepy but cool at the same time. – especially since I know I’ll never have a career in politics!!

© rishiray for Rishi Sankar: Ah Trini Travelogue / Ah Trini Traveller, 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: rishi over the years, tracking your website, wayback machine, your blog over the years

See the map above, I’ve never known about Mystic, CT. If I weren’t here for work, then there would be almost a 0% possibility of me visiting or even knowing about this nook in the Northeast US.

The funny thing is that there are two of the largest casinos in North America located within 20 mins of Mystic

• Foxwoods Casino
• Mohegan Sun Casino

Foxwoods is the largest casino in North America, with 340.000 square feet of gaming spaces in a complex that covers 4.7 million square feet. Foxwoods is so big that the Bingo hall can hold up to 4,000 players. Think about that … you’re playing Bingo with 4000 players, like 4000 old women playing Bingo? OMG! They also have the world record for having the most slot machines (7,200) of any casino in the world. Did I mention the Bingo?

I asked one of the ladies here at the client and she gave me the whole rundown.

For around $20, you can have over 4 hours of fun! You can bring your own snacks (they have a snack bar too), and all you can drink soda…sign me up! Do not try to talk during games. The older Bingo regulars will shush you, then glare at you as though you just told them their troll collection was not impressive. And if you win, yell it loud and proud! The casino itself is MASSIVE. It can be confusing at times,  but so fun! There are tons of card tables and slot machines as far as the eye can see. The restaurants are generally good and usually not super packed. Oh, and bring food. Lots of food. The fact that they allow you to bring your own food just adds to the amazing, cheap experience. Plus, BINGO starts at 6pm (which, for those of us under 75, is dinner time), and doesn’t end until 10 or 11, so you should be prepared.

As for Mohegan Sun, most people looked like they were going to the mall. The place is also HUGE, in fact this place is bigger than all the malls in Trinidad for sure. The layout was very easy to navigate, and there are a lot of fine dining options, but I think also a few that won’t wreck your wallet as much as Bobby Flay or Todd English might. Even Michael Jordan has a restaurant here. In fact, I think I’ve seen more MJ restaurants outside of Chicago than in Chicago!

Outside of the Casinos … there isn’t much to do at all … during the weekdays, everything closes by 9pm. Downtown Mystic will be open till about 11pm … yep! Seriously!

© rishiray for Rishi Sankar: Ah Trini Travelogue / Ah Trini Traveller, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: connecticut, CT, foxwoods casino travel blog, mystic top 10, what to do in mystic

This morning while in the line to head to the US, I met a Trini and we chatted and followed the typical Trini social script, then he invited me to his house for a drink … no problem, right? He mentioned that he had a 1.75L bottle of Johnny Walker Black, we could polish off with Coconut Water. So this got me to thinking about Trinis and Scotch!

Trinis have an affectation for scotch, you’ll note I don’t use the word affection. This is because the unofficial drink of the Trini masses is Johnny Walker Black and coconut water. I do love a freshly chopped Coconut from the cooler, I really cannot stand the taste of coconut in anything else … and if the coconut water isn’t fresh, it immediately starts oxidizing. I don’t put much stock in the “moldiness” of it, however I do put stock in the fact that the older the coconut water, the more rancid it tastes.

In Trinidad, the official drink of Trinidadian men as long as I’ve been able to remember, is Johnny Walker Black and coconut water. I don’t know how people can stomach this shitty drink … for example in Trinidad, you will actually see people going to a fete to drink Johnny Walker Blue Label with coconut water. Anyone with a taste for decent scotch will pass on a Black and Coconut water … but this goes back to Trinis and their affectation for scotch.

We make great rum back home … Angostura 1919 or 1824 are very good rums that go well with cola or even coconut water, yet the desire to seem “uppity” or “bourge” (short for bourgeouise) has driven the middle class non-intelligensia to scotch because of that class connotation. There are even songs about Johnny Walker and coconut water, of course by Rikki Jai.

Even worse, is the drinking of Johnny Walker Red Label … it is akin to drinking paint thinner, but the review is basically that you always mix this and not sip it. I’m ok with Johnny Red … because no one ever claims it to be good, but the painting of Black to be good is also quite insane to a Single Malt drinker.

Then again, I’m not really the greatest fan of Johnny Walker Blue Label either

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQDFSLn9eQU

I’ve endured many a marathon drinking session watching people drink Johnny Walker Black and Coconut water … in fact, I even offered my younger brother samples of two very good peaty Single Malts : Lagavulin 16 and Oban 14, which are quite decent by anyone’s palate, but he pronounced it undrinkable … in fact, his words were “this tastes like shit!!” … proving yet again a Trini Proverb …

“You can take an ass to water, but you can’t make him drink!

Here is an awesome Trinidadian rationale about why we love Johnny Walker Black by a Disgruntled Trini (Note the Trini lingo in here)

Reason being is because Trinis are a set of waggonist

most if not everyone break out with rum and coke
but somebody tell yuh that Johhny is the real thing and convince you that Johnny is the real scene
you didn’t find out for yourself it was not a natural progression it was just waggonist behavior

In the big scheme of things Johnie Walker is cheap scotch that is not world ranked and in truth and in fact Johnie Walker Red is more popular but is hardly seen in Trinidad. Secondly Trinis is the only people that does drink Johnie and Coconut and Johnie and _______.

My folks recently went to Scotland and they said they did not even see Johnie Walker. When they went out to drink Scotch the glass was warmed and you drank it neat.

I guess it is the power of advertising that makes people feel that Johnie Walker is the epitome of Scotch. What does real piss me off is the Corbeaux and sponge cake attitude of Trinis. The people who does go party and rum shop and drink rum and beers and will never buy Johnie Walker for themselves weather it be for monetary or some other reason. Those same people as they reach in a wedding or buy a padna house the fuss thing they reaching for is the Johnie Walker and will drink it till they vomit.

I do love the phrase Corbeaux and Sponge Cake … since it means that it does not matter how well intentioned the act, the individual is incapable of appreciating something for what it is.

Anyway … here’s hoping that your next drink will be a good one …. and here is my Shameless plug for Glenfiddich Explorers for 24 hours in Barcelona or Palau

© rishiray for Rishi Sankar: Ah Trini Travelogue / Ah Trini Traveller, 2012. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Corbeau doh eat sponge cake, Corbeau dont eat sponge cake!, Corbeaux doh eat sponge cake!, Glenfiddich Explorers, johnny black and coconut, johnny walker and coconut water, johnny walker and coconut water trinidad, One day Rishi will ...

© rishiray for Rishi Sankar: Ah Trini Travelogue / Ah Trini Traveller, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2012, borobudur, pictures

Disclaimer : I was browsing other travel blogs and one in particular … my friend Alan and his adventures and I found an article idea that I’m straight up going to copy into my blog – but that being said … his blog is way funnier than my blog, so I highly recommend checking it out.

I’m a man of simple whims … simply good scotch and good food … everything else is a bonus! That being said, because of the one or two places I’ve been … I’m always asked about where someone should go on vacation. Here is a thoroughly incomplete analysis ….

1. Food

• Central America - If you’re wandering through Central America, you’re going to encounter almost every sort of fried fuckery … you want fried dough, they have that in Churros.  You want fried pig skin, you can eat Chicharrón. You want fried ants, why not try the Escamoles. You can also get anything with 6lbs of carbs to go with your 5lbs of fried fuckery – burritos, enchiladas, etc. Cheap and plentiful … did I mention that you can get fresh juice anywhere for a $1. Markets and street kiosks are hugely popular and a great place to pick up cheap meals for only a few dollars. A casual meal in a restaurant will cost from $6-15 USD. If you want to shop, the food markets will be your best deal. You can usually buy a week’s worth of food for around $30 USD.Why do you think every latina’s ass in a 3rd world country is the size of that 3rd country? Ponder that question for now …

• South East Asia - Pho, Tom Yum, Congees, Banh Mi with tons of lemongrass and coriander, 5 gazillion types of dumplings with 5000 types of assorted random animals and insects. Did I mention that you can also get fresh juice anywhere for less than $1. Food is very cheap in  SEAsia. If you eat the local food, you can live on only a few dollars a day. Southeast Asia is filled with delicious street stalls where meals cost less than a dollar.

• Result – SE Asia WINS because of super cheap, super fast food!

2. Culture

• Central America- Telenovelas breed drama … like crazy drama! I don’t think that the people could live without some type of domestic violence, alcoholism, cock or bullfighting, supremely awful music everywhere you go. With the drama comes the passion and they are quite over excited and overexcitable, but they are also very straight up. No grin fucking here … the people aren’t smiling to your face while robbing you here, they pull out a gun instead and shoot you in the face.
• South East Asia- Who doesn’t love buddhist ladyboys who offer massages. SE Asia is safe for the most part and you don’t have to feel like a prisoner in your hotel or your hostel, no matter how much you might like the peace and quiet. If I want to feel like a prisoner in my home, I’ll go back to Trinidad and open anything of reasonable success. After a couple times in Asia, I’ve yet to experience any dangers that couldn’t be solved by flexing, bleching or flipping a tuk tuk at someone. A chatty ladyboy is different type of danger you might have to navigate and if you piss them off, they might cut your balls off, but only if you really offend them. I’m all for cheap food, cheap massages and safety without my own personal army.
• Result – SE Asia WIN … just for the safety for a new traveller.

3. Things to do

• Central America -  Temples, beaches, volcanoes, snorkelling. Tons of things to do here. And face it, although there is a high murder rate, you won’t find some fucked up hick from Nebraska telling you how cool they are, because they’re an American who escaped the hellish life in the midwest. (As if .. eh?)
• South East Asia - I generally love Australians … anywhere but in South East Asian. They’re the Americans of Asia … seriously. They have beaches and massages on the beach and food on the beach … did I mention that virtual slave labour from the poor fuckers fucking themselves has led to Indian like conditions without the attitude. I’m getting old … anything that is a poor backpacker thing is not for me … not that I wouldn’t do it … I just wouldn’t be making friends as readily as I did in the past. I don’t need to find myself while snorting coke and pretending to find the meaning of life at the end of a rum bottle … I’ve found it at the bottom of a scotch bottle.
• Result – Central America WIN … because the new travellers were murdered, it’s led to less backpackers

4. Women

• Central America -
  
• South East Asia
• Result – Tie … need I say more? I couldn’t possibly decide.
  

Overall … South East Asia is the gentler, safer journey. There are great little spots in SE Asia – you can find them yourself. Head for the danger zones. The “Lonely Planet” junkies won’t go near there.

So if you want to live long and prosper, SE Asia won’t get you killed. Its the U2 of subcontinents – Safe, tastes pretty good but everyone’s into it. If its more AC/DC you’re looking for… well you know the rest

© rishiray for Rishi Sankar: Ah Trini Travelogue / Ah Trini Traveller, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: central america, central america vs south east asia, south east asia, where to go on vacation

I’m copying and pasting from another blog: Someday I’ll be there. Our fearless blogger definitely makes sense here and sometimes I do forget how entitled I’ve become in my ability to travel as I please; regardless of the circumstances that led to me travelling.

I have read lots of posts about how everyone can travel, how each one of us can save up and travel, and that it’s not impossible to live the travel dream.

Actually I sometimes feel there’s a rivalry going on between the travel bloggers about who’s traveling on a tighter budget than the other one.

On each travel blog there’s an 80% chance you’ll find at least one post – if not more – talking about how much that blogger spends per day, per month, and how much they started traveling with in the first place, which of course wasn’t much, but they somehow were able to keep going.

Let’s get back to this last sentence: “…Which of course wasn’t much…” I should have added … “according to American standards”.

How many of you make less than US$ 7 per hour?

That’s right, none.

And that is why, money wise, I don’t get how some of you still complain about money and budgeting! You can afford it all, yes you do.

The following text should really hit me harder than it does, since I know how tough it is to be travelling and backpacking. We cry about trying to budget and travel on a couple buck a day, but I like the following perspective on things. In Trinidad, 7USD is nothing … in fact, you can’t even buy a 3 piece and fries at KFC. Seriously!!!

I guess even in Trinidad, if you made $43 an hour ($7USD), that would be $344TT a day, which is about $6800TT a month. That would be enough to live in a small apartment, go liming and travelling down the islands. It’s funny how far that money could go in Trinidad. Anyway back to our Egyptian hero …

Well, at least I know if I worked for US$ 7 per hour, I know I’d be making a fortune in no time – and before you disagree, one friend of mine worked for 3 months in the States at US$ 7 per hour, he came home with US$ 7,000, approximately EGP 42,000, an amount that I would do working 2 years straight and spending literally nothing.

He’s not the only example, I know many people who work during summer vacations in the States and UK, and the least they do is cover their flying costs, approximately US$ 1,000.

Then how much do I make?

I’m a pharmacist, a graduate of pharmacy school, and I’m working for my father which gives me the privilege of getting paid even more than if I worked in any other pharmacy; I make less than US$ 2 per hour. I work for 12 hours per day, to make US$ 500 per month.

PS I’m middle class Egyptian, and I’m considered one of the very lucky Egyptians as well.

Now consider someone who isn’t working in the fancy industry of pharmacy, someone let’s say, working in a supermarket, or in a restaurant, I can tell you they make a maximum of half what I make per month, working the same hours as me or slightly more.

Most of the posts I’ve read about how anyone can travel claim that on long term traveling you tend to spend less than you spend at home. The lowest number I’ve read so far was US$ 23/day.

Only US$ 23/day? In Egypt, 60% of the population lives on less than $2 per day! $23/day per person that adds up to $25,000 per year, which is a fortune for a high class Egyptian family!

My question here is, when the travel blogosphere mentions that anyone can travel, do they mean only North Americans and Western Europeans? Well I’m sorry but that is not exactly ‘anyone’, that is hardly 15%* of the world’s population.

In Trinidad, 25K USD would be a small fortune also, since most people I know back home in village or around make substantially less than that, and they all make do with things.

Our intrepid hero even goes on to chat about the true difficulty of travelling as a Trini … I’ve never personally lined up outside the American embassy in Port of Spain, but I do know people who have had to wait the entire day in the hot sun for the hope of the visa. Maybe they’ve gotten better over the years, but I wouldn’t really believe that. To that fact, we even have to deal with local idiot ministers who think they’re known or something. The USA can choose to let anyone or deny anyone entry into the country – it’s their country. If the process is unfair, that is their issue not anyone else’s  … not matter how perceptually unfair it is to outsiders.

So our hero continues …

To the rest of the world, however, you need a visa to travel to almost anywhere on planet earth. And no, you don’t just send your passport to the embassy, they stamp the visa and send it back over to you. It’s far more complicated than this. You actually have to apply for an interview first, visit the embassy in person, fill in a 3+ page application, and make the interview; which is basically composed of a couple of main questions:

• Where do you work?
• How much money is in your bank account?
• Where will you stay in your destination?
• How long do you plan on staying?

All these questions have only one main point behind them, “How do I know you will actually come back to Egypt?!”

I’ve really never EVER had to deal with crappy immigration officials … EXCEPT when I travel to the US. That being said, I travel to the US on a weekly basis for work from Toronto, so I can’t really fault them … I can fault the attitude and arrogance of the American border patrol though … they truly do suck!!!

That being said, it does seem to apply to travelling within Europe also …

But can I backpack around Europe?

Again, given the assumption that an Egyptian has enough money to travel around Europe for two or three months, can they actually do it?

A short answer is No.

One of the main papers you have to have with you for your visa interview is a booked flight to and from your destination, and the other very important document is hotel reservations for your whole stay!

That summer we applied for a Spanish visa, we planned 4 days stay in Madrid and 2 in Palma de Mallorca, and we had hotel reservations for both places, flights to and from Madrid and the internal flight as well. We were granted a visa for the exact 6 days included in our reservations, no room for error!

So it is actually doable, I can travel around Europe, but I’ll have to pre-plan exactly on which dates I’ll be in which cities, and have reservations for those cities, and have pre-booked transportation as well.

If one replaces the Egyptian with Trinidadian … this would be the same type of situation that Trinis face when travelling abroard … so it’s not even about the money, but the fact that Western countries don’t even want you coming into their country unless you can prove that you are spawned from Satan’s rich butt crack.

So in the end, for those that have the desire to see the world and travel to your heart’s content, but are denied because of adminstrative nonsense from external governments … I feel for you.

As for saving money … I have to concede that unless you’re living in the Western world with a Western income or Third world country with a drug lord as your daddy …. then you’re going to have a tough time making your travel dreams come true.

© rishiray for Rishi Sankar: Ah Trini Travelogue / Ah Trini Traveller, 2012. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bubble burt, burst, bursting the travel bubble, getting an american visa in trinidad, travel

© rishiray for Rishi Sankar: Ah Trini Travelogue / Ah Trini Traveller, 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Kinkakuji, Kiyomizudera, Kyoto, pictures

© rishiray for Rishi Sankar: Ah Trini Travelogue / Ah Trini Traveller, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: temple of the moon, temple of the sun, teotihuacan

Have I mentioned that I like zip lines? I’m going to put my affinity for them along with waterfalls and sky cars. Here is the list of the top 4 lines in the world and so far I’ve done #1, 3,4.

1. Pronutro zip 2000 : 2,000 meters/ 6,561 feet.
   It is located in Sun City South Africa. It descends 918 feet at a speed of 100 mph.
2. Hoonah Icy Straight Point, Alaska: 1,625 meters/ 5,330 feet long.
   The zip line in Hoonah Icy Straight Point, Alaska takes 90 seconds to complete a 1,300 foot vertical drop at 24 degrees.
3. La Bestia : 1,446 meters/4,745 feet.
   Located at at Toro Verde Nature Adventure Park in Orocovis, Puerto Rico.
4. Tu Ru Bari : 1,036 meters/ 3,400 feet.
   Located in Costa Rica in the Central Valley near the Pacific coast in the Tu Ru Bari Tropical Park.

Getting to Toroverde will require some driving or booking a tour, and it is definitely not going to be cheap either way but It is not hard to get to Orocovis from San Juan – the roads are quite good.. However, if you’re going to drive, it will actually cost you more in terms of gas than a non-subsidized tour price.

• Going with a tour will cost about about 150$ and it is a 8-6 tour, since it takes about an hour to get to Orocovis
• Going by car will require that rental or you can do it the way I did it, which would be hiring a driver from San Juan. If you can share the cost with some other people, then it would be somewhat reasonable but expect to pay $150 for a return trip to Orocovis

A couple things about Toro Verde

• It is a bit “industrial scale” versus other places I’ve been
• There is a big parking lot, bathrooms, food, and LINES, everywhere.

• There is a lot to do …you can rappel, go biking or ATVing along with your zip lining tour.
• The zipline tour is clearly more popular and probably you spend a lot of time queuing unless you go during the evening or non cruise ship day
• The guides put all your gear on you and give you a safety demo. They have won several awards for their topnotch safety

• Must be over 110lbs to do the tours….not for younger kids.
• They spoke both English and Spanish.
• The tour can take the entire day (we were there from 0830 until about 3pm).
• It is quite the drive to get their (twisty, winding roads) but the drive is worth the experience.
• The views are amazing.

• The Beast was the highlight of my day – it really does last a long time and it is a very comfortable harness.

  

From the picture above there are 8 different zip lines and The Beast. I could say a lot more and describe La Bestia to you in many words, but if a picture tells 1000 words, then think about what a 4 minute video will tell you about the ride.

Here is the pre prep to get on the Beast …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4oOkk4UtEg

This is the flight … on such a long ride, they don’t want to risk you being stuck, hence you’re paired with one of the guides and you do a little race. This is one ride where the more mass you have, the better you will do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBVhsMobVdM

TIPS:

• Going on any day where there is a cruise ship in town will condemn you to a shitty experience. The review from Trip Advisor is consistent with what I was told by the guides. On weekends and cruise ships days, it is super busy. I would hate waiting this much. On the day that I went, it was a bit rainy as you can tell … but there was literally no one there, so it was awesome.
• “We went on a Saturday. I booked very far in advance. We were told our tour would take 3-4 hours at most.. Honestly, I don’t remember much of the details other than our tour took 8 HOURS because there was literally SO MUCH WAITING. This establishment is poorly run and doesn’t give much thought to customer service. We waited at literally every single platform for at least 20 minutes, and the last three of them (including the superman/la beastia), we waited at for OVER AN HOUR..AT EACH LINE… ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????????????? I literally wanted to tell them to forget it and let me go home but there was no way out..only the zipline. We had special dinner plans that night that we had to cancel because we were literally so exhausted from the long day/being annoyed. Nowhere to sit on certain parts of the course while we waited more than an hour. (We were supposed to get back to our hotel at 1-2pm.. we didn’t get back until after 6pm and our reservations were for 6:30)

© rishiray for Rishi Sankar: Ah Trini Travelogue / Ah Trini Traveller, 2012. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 3rd longest zip line, how to zip line in puerto rico, la bestia, longest zip lines, Toro Verde Nature Adventure Park reviews, ToroVerde Nature Adventure Park, world