When Zhou and I first started blogging prior to our trip, we assumed the alias “Kevin and Zhou.” I like to think of the name as a bit of creative genius on my part, but Zhou wasn’t satisfied (most likely because her name came second). After a few months she came up with the “no hurry curry” moniker, a cheesy, desperate grab for attention that I didn’t think we needed. If people don’t like us as Kevin and Zhou, they’re not going to like these slow-moving spices. But eventually the name grew on me to the point where now, almost three years later, I look at my life as part Kevin, part no hurry curry.
Sadly though, life beckoned and no hurry curry got left behind. The blog, once attracting millions of viewers each day, now sits in the attic collecting cobwebs. Occasionally we check out the stats and see that one or two people accidentally stumble on the site before hurriedly clicking away in fear of becoming infected by old news. The only thing keeping it from being taken to the junkyard to join obsolete friends Myspace, Macaulay Culkin and Denny’s is its ranking on the google search engine. Have any of you googled “no hurry curry” recently? We’re still number one!
But I digress from the purpose of this post. For the past several months I’ve been a bit embarrassed that those visiting the blog for the first time land on a post that wasn’t even part of our original trip, and then below that are a bunch of wrap-up posts. I have these grand delusions of a fun interactive map welcoming everyone to the blog, with links to our favorite spots and pictures. I have no idea how to make that work though, so instead I want this post to introduce Zhou and me whoever is willing to listen, and then talk about our trip a little. So here goes…
:: ahem ::
I have no idea exactly when we first came up with the idea of a round-the-world trip, and even less of an idea where it switched from fantasy to reality. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if the decision was made while I was watching Survivor and only half-listening to what Zhou was asking. Once the decision was made, we spent nearly a year planning and researching more about travel than I ever thought existed. How do we avoid all cold winters, hot summers and rainy seasons? Can we really live for that long on three pairs of socks and four shirts and no cell phone? Where will we watch American football? What visas do we need? Shots? Diarrhea medicine? Zhou wrote all about it here.
Although at the time it felt like the trip would never come, in retrospect I wish we had more of a build up. The trip itself could only last so long – at some point the money will run out as will your ability to live out of a backpack while hopping from hostel dorm to hostel dorm. But the lead-up to the trip can be as long as you want. In an ideal world, we would have figured out our plan as soon as we graduated from college, then lived our frugal banking lifestyle for two full years knowing that at the end of it was this fantastic pot of (anti)gold. (That is, the dream of spending $50,000.) I wouldn’t have wanted to push it the other way (ie accepting third year offers at the bank and then traveling) because we really don’t want to be the 40 year-olds who are just earning PhDs and have nothing tangible to show for it.
Anyway, September 10, 2009 eventually did come. Five days earlier we threw a massive party where we invited our friends and family from all over the world to come celebrate with us (Zhou sometimes refers to this as our “wedding” but I’m pretty sure it was a send-off party). It was great to get sick of all these people before leaving, because then we felt like we weren’t leaving anything behind. (Ok just kidding, and here’s my proof.)
There’s no great way to sum up the next ten months, but we have about 800 – 1,000 pages of blog posts that I invite you to peruse – they cover the trip in pretty good detail. This was our route:
296 days, 31 countries, 6 continents
It felt like we covered so much of the world, but as the trip went on we realized how much there was out there that we were never going to get to see. Upon our return we put together a tentative itinerary for “no hurry curry part 2: bigger, longer and uncut,” but even if I shaded those countries in the above map the white would far outweigh the gray. It still amazes me how the more you see and learn and do, the smaller you realize you are.
If you’ve stumbled upon this blog while planning a trip of your own, you probably don’t want to hear about what we didn’t cover. You probably want to know what we thought about what we did experience. And that’s good, because that’s what I want to talk about.
So country-by-country (defining the term “country” quite loosely), here’s what we did. And to make my wife-who-didn’t-change-her-last-name-from-Zhang-to-Curry happy, I’ll run the list backward alphabetically, starting with Z.
Jump to: Zambia, Vietnam, Uganda, Thailand, Tanzania, Zambia, Taiwan, Spain, South Africa, Singapore, Portugal, Peru, Patagonia, New Zealand, Nepal, Malaysia, Malawi, Kenya, Japan, Hong Kong, England, Egypt, Easter Island, China, Chile, Cambodia, Botswana, Bolivia, Australia, Argentina
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Cities covered: Chipata, Lusaka, Livingstone
Must do: Devil’s Pool in Victoria Falls
(Click here for a more detailed breakdown, or here for the list of posts)
Top pictures:
The Devil's Pool
Victoria Falls
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Places covered: Ho Chi Minh City, Dalat, Lak Lake, Buonmathuot, Nha Trang, Hoi An, Hue, Hanoi, Halong Bay
Must do(s): Easy Riders Dalat and Halong Bay
(Click here for the list of posts)
Top pictures:
Dalat, from our hostel
Nha Trang
Halong Bay
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Places covered: Jinja, Kampala, Lake Bunyonyi, Nkuringo, Bwindi Forest
Must do: Gorilla trek, white-water raft the Nile
(Click here for a more detailed breakdown, or here for the list of posts)
Top pictures:
Jumping into Lake Bunyonyi
Children at work
Gorilla trekking
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Cities covered: Phuket, Ko Phi Phi, Bangkok, Chiang Mai,
Must do: Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School, drink the fruit shakes
(Click here for the list of posts)
Top pictures:
A beach in Phuket
Gold statues
Flight of the Gibbons
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Places covered: Arusha, Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, Korogwe, Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar, Iringa
Must do: Serengeti, hang with Masai warriors
(Click here for a more detailed breakdown, or here for the list of posts)
Top pictures:
Lion in the Serengeti
OHIO with Masai warriors
Zanzibar
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Cities covered: Taipei
Must do: Eat at La Zhong Jian, Kanpai and The Diner
(Click here for a more detailed breakdown, or here for the list of posts)
Top pictures:
Biking with Tina
Sun Yat-sen Memorial
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Cities covered: Madrid
Must do: Madrid is just a cool city in general
(Click here for the list of posts)
Top pictures:
Some plaza
Bar Melos sandwich
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Places covered: Thorny Bush National Park, Kruger National Park, Johannesburg
Must do: Thorny Bush
(Click here for a more detailed breakdown, or here for the list of posts)
Top pictures:
Wild animal
Hippos in Kruger Park
Elephants crossing road
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Cities covered: Singapore
Must do: Singapore Zoo, (probably Pool in the Sky too, but we couldn’t afford it)
(Click here for a more detailed breakdown, or here for the list of posts)
Top pictures:
Singapore Zoo
Street luging Sentosa
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Cities covered: Lisbon
Must do: stay in one of the many amazing Lisbon hostels
(Click here for the list of posts)
Top pictures:
Tower of Belem
Thieves' Market
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Places covered: Puno, Arequipa, Cabanaconde, Cusco, Inca Trail, Ica, Huacachina, Lima, Iquitos
Must do: where to begin? Everything was amazing! The Amazon, Arequipa, the Inca Trail, Machu Picchu, sandboarding Huacachina
(Click here for the list of posts)
Top pictures:
Machu Picchu
Floating Islands of Puno
Amazonian child
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Cities covered: Rio Gallegos (A), Ushuaia (A), Puerto Natales (C), El Calafate (A), El Chalten (A), Perito Moreno (A), Bariloche (A), Osorno (C)
Must do: Big Ice on Perito Moreno glacier, cruise to Antarctica…
(Click here for a review)
Top pictures:
Torres del Paine
Big Ice on Perito Moreno
Bariloche
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Places covered: Rotorua, Taupo, Waitomo Caves, Auckland, Queenstown, Milford Sound, Te Anau, Routeburn, Wanaka, Paihia
Must do: skydive Lake Taupo, the Routeburn Track, visit Queenstown
(Click here for the list of posts)
Top pictures:
Skydiving over Lake Taupo
Lord of the Rings country
Routeburn Track
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Places covered: Kathmandu, Annapurna Circuit, Pokhara, Chitwan National Park
Must do: Annapurna Circuit! Annapurna Circuit! Annapurna Circuit!
(Click here for a more detailed breakdown, or here for a review, or here for the list of posts)
Top pictures:
Beautiful Annapurna
Thorong La Pass
Chitwan National Park
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Places covered: Kuala Lumpur, Penang
Must do: scooter around Penang
(Click here for a more detailed breakdown, or here for the list of posts)
Top pictures:
Temple on Penang
Petronas Towers at night
Featured on The Amazing Race
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Cities covered: Chitimba Beach, Kande Beach, Senga Bay
Must do: barter off pencils and your old socks
(Click here for a more detailed breakdown, or here for the list of posts)
Top pictures:
Boarding the bus at a market
The Wheelhouse campsite
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Places covered: Nairobi, Lake Nakuru National Park, Eldoret, Masai Mara National Reserve
Must do: fend off baboons in Lake Nakuru, Masai Mara
(Click here for a more detailed breakdown, or here for the list of posts)
Top pictures:
Eldoret campsite
Cheetah loses gazelle
The Masai Mara
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Cities covered: Tokyo
Must do: Japanese baths
(Click here for the list of posts)
Top pictures:
The famous shopping intersection in Tokyo
Tsukiji fish market
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Cities covered: Hong Kong
Must do: eat
(Click here for a more detailed breakdown, or here for the list of posts)
Top pictures:
Hong Kong nightlife
Giant Buddha on Diamond Hill
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Cities covered: London, Bath
Must do: Wimbledon, wander the city
(Click here for the list of posts)
Top pictures:
The Queen at Wimbledon
Buckingham Palace
Bath
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Places covered: Cairo, Luxor, Nile River cruise, Aswan
Must do: the ancient, ancient history of Cairo
(Click here for the list of posts)
Top pictures:
The Great Pyramid
Karnak temple in the morning
Luxor Temple at night
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Cities covered: Hanga Roa
Must do: just go there, it’s beyond amazing
(Click here for the list of posts)
Top pictures:
My favorite picture from the trip
Ahu Tongariki
Moai sunset
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Cities covered: Beijing, Xi’an
Must do: pandas, splurge on the sleeper train
(Click here for the list of posts)
Top pictures:
Pandas in Xi'an
We took this ourselves!
Forbidden City
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Cities covered: Santiago, Valparaiso, (see Patagonia)
Must do: get lost in colorful Valparaiso
(Click here for the list of posts)
Top pictures:
Santiago street music
Streets of Santiago
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Cities covered: Siem Reap, Phnom Penh
Must do: fish foot massage, learn about Khmer Rouge, the temples
(Click here for the list of posts)
Top pictures:
Angkor Wat
Contemplative monk
Temples
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Cities covered: Kasane, Elephant Sands, Kwa Nokeng
Must do: get close with angry elephants
(Click here for a more detailed breakdown, or here for the list of posts)
Top pictures:
Elephant Sands campsite
Chobe River
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Places covered: Tupiza, San Antonio de Lipez, Laguna Colorada, Puerto de Salar, Uyuni, Sucre, La Paz, Copacabana
Must do: Southwest Circuit and Salar de Uyuni
(Click here for the list of posts)
Top pictures:
Salar de Uyuni
Zhou in the Salar
Copacabana
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Cities covered: Sydney, Byron Bay
Must do: I want to live in Sydney
(Click here for the list of posts)
Top pictures:
Sydney harbor
Byron Bay
Darling Harbour Bridge
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Cities covered: Buenos Aires, Mendoza, Salta, La Quiaca, (see Patagonia)
Must do: Patagonia
(Click here for the list of posts)
Top pictures:
Mothers of the Disappeared
Mendoza winery
no hurry curry 