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2009 - Kenny Baldridge - "No Reservations"

a travel blog by Kennyboy12

This trip is pretty much one month, 4 countries, no plans.
I'll be visiting: Thailand, India, Egypt & Japan.

---
Trip turned out to be ~

THAILAND
--------
Bangkok
Damnoen Saduak

INDIA
------
Kolkata
Varanasi
New Delhi
Agra

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
--------------------
Dubai (Overnight stop. 25 hours in the airport...)

QATAR
-----
Doha (another 7 hours in this airport after leaving Dubai.)

EGYPT
-----
Cairo
Baharyia Oasis
Luxor

UZBEKISTAN
----------
Tashkent (60 min in this country!)

SOUTH KOREA
-----------
Seoul (3 hours in this airport.)

JAPAN
------
Misawa
Tokyo
view all 12 photos for this trip

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Day 9 (6/26/2009)

New Delhi, India

So today I arrive in NEW DELHI! And all I can say is... Arriving in New Delhi at 3 in the afternoon beats the hell out of arriving in Kolkata at 1 in the morning... By far. Also, New Delhi would have been a WAY better starting point for my adventures in India because it's such a nice step up to what I've been through. The people here don't beg to you as much, and the main bazaar is waaay easier to handle than any in Varanasi or Kolkata. But then again they did toughin me up so now this place is a walk in the park. I also have a very nice room for only Rs300. man I'm getting spoiled here!
Too bad I leave tomorrow morning for Agra but I have reservations for a nice place there right next to the Taj Mahal. I'll be back in Delhi the day after tomorrow, so I Think I will call it a night. It's about 6:30 am back home so it only makes sence that I would want to go to bed now haha, good times. Oh, while I was at the airport leaving Varansi, during the second security I had some sort of mystery metal hidden in my backpack... i put my back through the scanner, i walked through the metal detector then the security lady pulled me off to the side and asked if this was my bag and if i had any coins in it... i said yes, and we pulled out my canadian, thai and US coins... then she emptied out the larger sipper and the medium zipper and the two on the sides... now all my shits in a bucket and my bags getting scanned again, for a second time, then a third time, then i finally ask to see the monitor and they show me, and by they i mean the rest of the security crew is now with us... and i look at what they see and it hits me I had two metal bookmarks in my pen holder in the smaller zipper which we already emptied (minus the bookmarks....) sigh, we all laugh and im let free... retarded. alrighty, not much happened today, just checking out of Varanasi, getting over frisked at the airport and now arriving in Delhi. Mmmm such a nice easy much needed day.
K im taking my two litre water bottle and heading to my room.
Tomorrow at 5:00am my train to Agra leaves.
byee.

permalink written by  Kennyboy12 on June 26, 2009 from New Delhi, India
from the travel blog: 2009 - Kenny Baldridge - "No Reservations"
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Idk

New Delhi, India

My pillow is lumpy and my ceiling fan is wabbly... Hmmm.

permalink written by  Kennyboy12 on June 26, 2009 from New Delhi, India
from the travel blog: 2009 - Kenny Baldridge - "No Reservations"
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Day 10 -The Taj Ma-Holy crap!- (6/27/2009)

Agra, India

Oh.My.God.
What a frickin awesome day. So I wake up in Delhi this morning around 4:00am shower and head to the train station to catch my 5:30am train to Agra. While on this short 3 hour journy I got kicked out of sitting on the two lower berths by an old Pakistani mother.... Retarded because those two seats are for everyone to sit on during the day I believe... But I wasn't about to protest going to the top berth where I have to lay down when her three grown kids were with her... Wouldn't want a huge chunk of northern India getting blown up.... (I'm still a little bitter about it haha) anyways I also meet Dr. M. Ramalingeswara Reddy and his assistant who is a dentist who does speciality dental work, along with other things. Ok so this man is prolly the only real honest and helpful Indian I've encountered so far. He is from southern India and was helping his sister out with her work in India while he was gone and so he was heading to see the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort for the day before heading back to Delhi to relax then flying back south on Tuesday for work. He brought his assistant along to show him the Taj Mahal (he alway goes to see it when in Delhi). So I spent the day with those two before they took the 5:00pm train backnto Delhi. Not only did this guy help me with what stop Agra was, but we all shared a cab to my hotel so that I could check in and drop off my bag then to the Taj Mahal and he covered the fare. He offered to cover my entry fee but I told him I had it. Then he showed me the Taj Mahal.

That place is indescribable.... It's just breath taking, amazing, beautiful. Your eyes can't begin to see the whole thing when at the front door. The whole place is just... Wow.

Well after visiting the Taj, he took me out to lunch and so we ate at the hotel since it was right outside the east gate of the Taj (he covered the bill for that too) then we went to see Agra fort which is just amazing and the architecture was gorgeous. After an hour or so there we went back to my hotel and we said our goodbyes and I went up to my room to nap since I didn't really sleep the night before. The Dr. And assistant chilled at the hotel for couple hours until they had to leave for Delhi. This guy covered all the taxi fares, protected me from the Indians annoying me trying to sell me stuff and rip me off (he actually told this one kid that I was his brother and to leave me alone haha) all around great day. The guy said I was a guest in his country.
Well that was my day in Agra! I'm staying at the Sheela Inn and this place ia really great, the staff is awesome, the rooftop has a nice view, and the room comes with toilet paper! Well I have an auto-rickshaw coming tomorrow at 5:00am to take me to the train station and right now I finished drinking some water on the rooftop and am back in my room about to call it a night.
K byee.

permalink written by  Kennyboy12 on June 27, 2009 from Agra, India
from the travel blog: 2009 - Kenny Baldridge - "No Reservations"
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Day 11 (6/28/2009)

New Delhi, India

So today was very basic; woke up at the crack of dawn, caught my auto-rickshaw to the Agra train station I was on a tran back to New Delhi. Heh, during this journey some yound child started biting my shoe... In Delhi I found another place to sleep (The Hotel White Empire {a really sucky place}) and then made my way up and down the main bazar and eventually to see the Red Fort oh on the way back from the fort I saw a man make a cobra dance, he walked up to my rickshaw sat down and opened a basket and a frickin cobra jumped out. The old man then said "picture!" but I knew I would have to pay for that picture but i had no small bills on me at the time so I said no no, no picture but he continued to tame the cobra and make it dance and do stuff as he kept tappin it's head, hella badass, then my driver took off as the old man was asking for money again... After that I walked some more, bought a shirt uh forgot what its called but its like a super thin bandana and a little larger and several litres of juice and water and now im heading back to my room to call it a night. Tomorrow I check out and find a nicer place to stay for my last night in India to take a real shower, get some laundry done, sleep in a real bed and maybe get my jacket dry cleaned haha.
well adiós!
PS: The ladie working for Qatar Airways call center was a bitch. No help and was being very mean. >:o

byee.

permalink written by  Kennyboy12 on June 28, 2009 from New Delhi, India
from the travel blog: 2009 - Kenny Baldridge - "No Reservations"
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Day 12 -haha- (6/29/2009)

New Delhi, India

You know that scene from Quantum of Solace where James Bond and the really really hot bond chick crash the plane in the desert, walk through the caves and the tiny village then arrive at the 5 star hotel completely filthy and shoeless and everyones looking at them as they pick up their room key? Well today I felt like James Bond (minus the really really hot bond chick). So this morning I woke up around 8:00am at the Hotel White Empire, hella shitty place, found a bed bug, killed another bug, packed my bags ad decided to spend my last night in India, hopefully, in a nicer hotel. So I checked in to the Le Meridian New Delhi 5 star business hotel. Haha. I'm Crazy. Don't ask why I did this, it was pretty random. Anyways, I hadn't showered in a few days and have been sweating nonstop during that time. I was wearing my dress pants and shirt both of which were filthy with sweat stains, mud stains, spit, juice stains and all kinds of crap. I walked through the security and up to the counter and paid for a single room with breakfast. I think the total came out to around 160USD for the night after taxes, the man said Rs7500 including taxes but well see when I check out and pay. The room is so badass, best hotel I've been to so far. So moving on, ive been relaxing in a very sweetass room took a shower in a waterfall and ate a delicious Chinese dinner on the top floor which was another Rs1600. Then I sent my clothes out to get washed and my jacket drycleaned then walked around the hotel, and now I'm just watching Air Force One drinking Cordon Negro.
This is the life.
K, well I'm gonna finish watching the movie and head to bed.
I'm listed for a fligt to Dubai and it looks as if I'll make it but not the flight to Cairo.
I check out at 11:30. And fly out hopefully at 4:15pm.
Kk well that's all, today was a chill day from hectic India.
Byee!

permalink written by  Kennyboy12 on June 29, 2009 from New Delhi, India
from the travel blog: 2009 - Kenny Baldridge - "No Reservations"
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Day 13 - haha pt 2 - (6/30/2009)

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Hmmmm so today I wake up around 9am call the service counter and have then send up my clothes and jacket. I then take a nice long shower and eventually head down to the lobby for breakfast. After a nice slow breakfast I head back to my awesome room and gather my stuff to check out. Turns out the whole bill came out to around 281 dollars that's or the room/laundry/drycleaning/dinner.
I arrive at the airport at 1 like the man on the phone from Emirates told me to do and as far as I knew everything was taken care of and all I had to do was tell the Emirates ticket agents that I was there. But noooo it wasn't that simple. Ok first of all I had one ticket that I could use for both Qatar and Emirates airlines. I just happened to have the Qatar routing on my tickets which doesn't really mean anything since they are both in the same ZED Zone. Anyways, to cut to the point the Emirates people said I could not use my ticket with them cause it had Qatar on it... After an hour of me yelling at them telling them how it all works and explaining in detail the workings of a staff ticket and that I've done this 5 times the past two weeks and kept having them call people higher and higher in command... They finally let me on the flight... Omg hella retarded... Anyways that was the first issue, I also spent anoter 30 minutes protesting paying the airport tax of $22 because it was included in the ticket I had. Implicitly... anyways... I said fuck it and paid the stupid tax twice.... I'm calling in on this when I return.
So now I'm in Dubai!
Big mistake... Well sorta. This place is not the place a backpacker with no reservations should stop at. First off it's a pricey city to begin with, nd secondly, well I have no connections for cheap places to stay and all the hostels online had no open rooms for tonight... So now I'm at a 4 star hotel, the Metropolitan hotel Deira. Haha. $83 gets me a room and transportation to/from the airport. Sigh...
Well I'm off to bed, gotta leave here at 4:00am. :(
K byee!

permalink written by  Kennyboy12 on June 30, 2009 from Dubai, United Arab Emirates
from the travel blog: 2009 - Kenny Baldridge - "No Reservations"
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Day 14 - Egypt has been nerfed - update 1: Did I hear Iran??? - update 2: scratch Iran it's now Qatar - (7/1/2009)

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

This country will not let me leave!
I've been at this airport since 4:20 am and it is now 6:00pm. I've looked at all flights to Cairo for today and tomorrow and all flights to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Ethiopia, Sudan and Bahrain.... All overbooked. Man using zed tickets was a baaad idea haha. Well now I know how it all works for the most part. Well I still have half a zed ticket for the distance between Cairo and Dubai so I'm still looking for a place to fly to. Egypt is a no go at all and would take some sort of miracle for me, or some tragedy to others to get there this summer. So my trip will be cut short quite some time and I'll be turning 21 where ever the hell I can get myself. I have a good chance of making a wide open flight to Osaka tomorrow morning at 3:10am so that will at least get me in Japan. So this means I'll be at the airport till then... Heh. I've been up since 3:00am. Stupid rich country not letting me leave....and I haven't even had a chance to do anythin here like head to the beach or see the sites. I know the airport quite well and the shuttle driver between the terminals haha. Well we'll see where I end up in the next 24 hours. I'm kinda wanting to ape d a day in Syria haha. Nah I'm too scared to even hang out in their airport.
Well I'll update this throughout the rest of today or this morning or people back home.
Byee.

::Update::
So a flight to Iran is open enough for the ticket agent to say there's a 100% chance of me getting a seat! So I checked prices from Tehran, Iran to Cairo, Egypt and they are only $370. Looks as though I'll be visiting Iran! ... I hope :).

:::Final Update (7/02/2009):::
So emirates airlines are fuckers. omg fuck them. Anyways they suck major balls and pretty much screwed everything up and costed me $375 cause they're fucktards. So yea, well now I'm flying to Doha, Qatar to try and use my zed ticket from there to Cairo. So egypt is hopefully still a go. Oh, btw. STARBUCKS! that's right, as I'm walking down the huuuge center of the Dubai international airport, coming up to my gate, at the very end of the.... Yellow brick road... or whatever... I slowly begin to recognize those giant green letters. Haha. Best part was... They knew how to make my drink. This makes being at the fucking airport for 24 hours a little better. Oh I also got a spoon from here too. (I think only my parents will know what that means). Anyways, it's now 4:00am the next day and my flight departs at 5:55am :( omg I'm going to explode...
K byee

permalink written by  Kennyboy12 on July 1, 2009 from Dubai, United Arab Emirates
from the travel blog: 2009 - Kenny Baldridge - "No Reservations"
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Doha, Qatar



permalink written by  Kennyboy12 on July 2, 2009 from Doha, Qatar
from the travel blog: 2009 - Kenny Baldridge - "No Reservations"
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Day 15 - EGYPT - (7/2/2009)

Cairo, Egypt

So I FINALLY make it to Cairo... Only 36 hours, three airports and $375 later. Man it has been quite the... um Day? So to recap a little. I woke up at 3:00am ish July 1st, and got to the Dubai international airport around 4:15/4:20 ish. After not making the 6:00am or 3:00pm flights to cairo I start trying to figure out where else I could fly to so to spend as little as possible on a real ticket from there to Cairo. I looked at flying into three different cities in Saudi Arabia, two in Pakistan, one in Sudan/Ethiopia/Jordan/Israel/Omen/Iran/Yeman. I tried all over the place, and the cheapest I found was from Tehran, Iran but that price quickly jumped an extra $100 within 30 min. So now it's around 8:00pm and I've been in the staff ticketing section for 16 hours checking loads and calling my mom and trying to figure out the best route to take which was starting to look like skipping Egypt and just taking the wide open flight to Osaka, Japan at 3:10am July 2. After hours of more planning and failing, i decided to call it all off and just head to Japan right then and end my trip early. So now I'm talking with the ticket agents for Emirates airlines and they say they can't issue me a ticket based off the ticket I had because it was a ticket under Qatar Airways and had the city Doha to Cairo... Anyways thats whole arguement is complicated to explain to people who dont already know about this stuff so lets just say Emirates let me enter their country using the first half of my ticket but now wont let me leave using the second half which is now inflicting me costs of probbably having to pay for another hotel... So now im flippin out on the ladies, and just want to go home but my mom says how about I get myself to Doha so that I can use my ticket without any questions or problems... This is where the 376 dollars comes in. I end up buying a ticket from Dubai to Doha which is only a 40 min flight JUST so I can try to standby out of that country. yay... It was 1:50am July 2nd when i bought that ticket... I've been at the airport for 22 hours. At 5:55am I depart to Doha, Qatar and get a nice 30 min nap in. The sun is out by now. Now in Doha there is a flight to Cairo at 1:oopm. I am now chilling out at the Doha International Airport for another seven and a half hours. Oh by the way, we left Dubai at 5:55am and arrived in Doha at 5:30 am lol. After much standing, napping, walking, and more napping the Qatar transfer guys got me on the flight to CAIRO! They were such a huge help and it was a really good change from the damn Emirates.
I land in Cair at 4:05pm.
I need a visa to vist Cairo which I am able to pay for on arrival at the airport but I soon find out I need cash to do so... so security at the passport check hold on to my passport and let me out to access an ATM. On my way back in, I guess you aren't allowed back in the airport once you leave, I get bombarded by security asking me why im walking back in, or at least I think thats what they were saying since it was in arab... So anyways i pull out my notebook, which has all my info and receipts and phone numbers and maps and well stuff I need, to show the men my atm receipt and that i had to get cash to pay for my Egypt visa. THEN THEY SNATCH MY NOTEBOOT OUT OF MY HAND and wouldn't give it back and were like trying to treat it as my passport and walking around talking to the other security men and im like "hey give that back, that's not my passport I need that, the other guy has my passport, i was just getting money to pay for my visa" and im kinda freakin out. they start askin me where my passport is... omg I just told them... anyways i tell them again and say to follow me and i will show them. so the guy still has my notebook and were walking and i finally get my passport back and show him, he gives back my notebook then im off to get my visa and go through the customs check.
ok past the airport and out in the real world. great now come the flock of tourist helpers and all that fun stuff.
hmm anyways, after telling people to back off and leave me alone, i sit and figure things out. i catch a taxi and start checking if any hostels have any rooms, all the ones i wanted didn't and all i wanted was one room for one night so i could relax and figure out my next plan in peace. so now im in the Hotel Indiana. Its $55 but I really dont care, its a nice huge room with AC and so tonight i rest, eat and make reservations for a cheaper place for the rest of my time here in egypt. Man still can't believe I made it. If you could have gone through all the shit i went through the past day and half... man.
ok well im out.
I plan on being in egypt through the 12th, and then go through all this again on my way to Japan. bah can't wait to get home, kinda.
byee

permalink written by  Kennyboy12 on July 2, 2009 from Cairo, Egypt
from the travel blog: 2009 - Kenny Baldridge - "No Reservations"
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Saqqarah, Egypt



permalink written by  Kennyboy12 on July 4, 2009 from Saqqarah, Egypt
from the travel blog: 2009 - Kenny Baldridge - "No Reservations"
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