A Week-In-The-Life of Sherry: Ottsworld

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Sherry has been blogging about her travels on Ottsworld for 3 ½ years.  She quit her corporate job and traveled (primarily solo) around the world to over 23 countries, armed with her camera.  Recently she spent the last year living in Vietnam experiencing the ups and downs of expat life in a very foreign culture.  She then revisited Nepal – this time with her 73 year old father – to hike the Annapurna Circuit. Please enjoy a week-in-the-life of Sherry, starting at the end of her trek with her father.

This post was originally published in 2010. It has since been updated for accuracy of links and content. 

Monday

I’ve just spent the last 23 days hiking the Annapurna circuit with my father and today we are heading back to Kathmandu.  In a constant effort to save money and experience more of the local culture (ok – it’s really to save money), we purchase $6 bus tickets from Pokhara to Kathmandu.  The bus is called a tourist bus – which basically means that there are no locals or livestock on the top of the bus.  We depart at 7AM for the 7 hour journey; 15 minutes later we’re sitting in the Tata garage with the bus being inspected by mechanics.  I settle in with the patience of a world traveler; recline the seat, put on my ipod, and get out my journal to write about the situation as it’s happening.  I’m calm and relaxed until I hear the familiar sound of power tools loosening bolts.  Minutes later I see the transmission and clutch on the ground.  This is going to be a long day; but quite a typical travel day in Nepal.

A few hours later they give up and send a new (not shiny with a new car smell, but new meaning different) bus.  The journey back to Kathmandu is slow, and uncomfortable, but we are at least moving in the right direction and the whole experience has provided me lots to write about.  Lunch break consists of Pringles and Diet Coke – two staples you can find in any country.  Bathroom breaks are few requiring my iron traveling bladder to kick into overdrive.  The journey back is thwarted again by a major traffic jam on the only road leading through the pass and into Kathmandu Valley.  The whole journey takes us 13 hours.

I’m happy to be in Kathmandu, but exhausted from a day of sitting and waiting with nothing to really do but think about everything I had to do in the coming week!  I check my email quickly and try to update Twitter with a few relevant tweets and thank-yous.  I’ve been offline for weeks traveling and have a mountain of catching up to do.  I fall asleep at the keyboard.

Tuesday

Enjoying our splurge of a hotel in Kathmandu.  The Ambaassador Garden Hotel is a gem in the middle of Thamel costing $50 a night for a double; extravagant for Nepal and for my budget.  However, I’m traveling with my father and use this opportunity to splurge a bit when I can split expenses with a travel partner; something that rarely happens.  We plan our day over breakfast; go to our tour agency and have them confirm our flights for Thursday, see Dubar Square, have photos printed for locals and mail them to the villages, pick up remaining souvenirs/gifts for family.  The souvenirs part is something I rarely do, but with my dad here he can carry the gifts back to the US!

At the tour agency we have a problem with the flight confirmations and proceed to sit in the office for the next 3 hours resulting in us finally ‘hiring’ a woman to get my father an Indian Transit visa in a day’s time; normally an impossible task, but money buys speed.  We cross our fingers that she’s legit and hasn’t just walked off with our $60USD.

We replan the day – no Dubar Square – just a bit of souvenir shopping.  I’m feeling a bit guilty for experiencing no culture today.  As my dad falls asleep by 10PM, I stay up until midnight working online going thru emails, and blog comments, trying to organize 21 days of notes and 14Gig of photos onto my laptop for future writing.
See Also: How to Start and Run a Travel Blog

Wednesday

Get up early before dad and hop online.  Do updates for Twitter and Facebook and answer emails. We have breakfast at the hotel and plan our day again.  Dubar Square today for sure; then off to lunch with our local friend Giri (friend of mine from volunteering at his village and living with his family that I’ve come back to visit).

First I photograph the guest house and talk to the manager a bit as I know I want to write a post on this gem of a hotel; it’s too good not to share with my readers.  Our walk to Dubar Square takes 4 times longer than it should because I keep stopping to take photos.   We spend the next two hours looking around at the various buildings and people watching; plus I take about 1 Gig of photos of course.  I am a bit worried at how in the world I will have time to edit and upload all of them, but will worry about that later.  We have no guidebook or guide.  I prefer to simply look and soak up the culture and people around me in such a vibrant town square.

Giri picks us up for lunch and drives us to his house (he also delivers the Indian Transit visa…yeah…the ‘bribe’ paid off!).  We meet his extended family and have some of the best food of our trip so far.  We are treated like royalty and sit and talk to the extended family about Nepal, village life, their family history and the future; a terrific stimulating conversation better than any guide book!  Giri surprises us after lunch and takes us to the main sites in Kathmandu:  Bodhnath, Pashupati, and the Monkey Temple.  Pashupati is an eye opening experience since it is the main Hindu temple where bodies are cremated out in the open.  I take a few pictures of the rituals for myself, as I know I probably won’t post them since people are quite touchy about these things in my own culture.

That night we have a last drink with Giri, our last meal in Kathmandu.  I don’t do any online work that night trying to soak up the last bit of time in Nepal and time with my dad.

Thursday

Up early to the airport and fly off.  I say goodbye to my dad at the Delhi airport where we both have layovers in different terminals.  He’s heading to the US, and I’m heading off to Sri Lanka.  For the first time in a month I’m solo again and it feels really weird.   I tell myself not to get in a funk about it and instead use all of this new solo free time to work on note and photo editing.

It will take me weeks to get this trip documented and up on the site and that has me a bit stressed since I’m in countries with poor internet connections if any exist at all.  My layover is 9 hours so I decide to splurge $30 USD for a  lounge pass.  Sure, I want to be comfortable, however the main reason is so I can get internet access and try to make some headway on my mountain of editing for 9 hours.  I sit down to work with a glass of wine, and I quickly get distracted by emails and tweeting.  I’m getting no writing done…crap.

The flight to Sri Lanka leaves on time and I arrive in Colombo at 11PM and now have a 3 hour car ride to the seaside town of Galle.  I arrive at the villa completely exhausted at 2:30 in the morning.  I’m ushered into my massive luxury room and I’m so tired I fall asleep immediately.

Friday

I wake up to the sounds of the ocean waves, and survey my room.  The bed alone is bigger than my whole bedroom in my apartment in Vietnam.  I’ve come to Auraliya, a luxury villa in Sri Lanka, to do some photography for my friends who own the villa.  They want to improve their online marketing and needed photography of the villa.  I was planning on coming to Sri Lanka anyway – so we made a deal where I could stay there and I’d photograph the place in exchange for free lodging.

I leave my room and am greeted by a staff of 5 men wearing colorful blue sarongs and crisp white shirts, plus one beautiful black lab.  The villa is the definition of luxury and I’m dwarfed by its size and beauty.  It sleeps 13 people and has a staff of 5 to wait on your every whim.  I was only 1…I feel so small.  The beach backs up right to the villa property.  This was the site of the horrific tsunami which destroyed this villa and the communities around it.

The property is heaven, until I find out that they rarely have a reliable internet signal.  As a blogger, I live by an internet signal; no signal, no blogging.  I worked on offline tasks of photo editing and writing instead and photographed all of the villa rooms today.

Saturday

Woke up with sore throat and headache.  Raining outside.  Lounged around writing and photo editing all day while the staff brings me a never-ending supply of fresh juice and snacks.  Feeling worse by the hour.  By the end the night I’m drinking herbal remedies from the staff and breathing in steam from under a huge sheet.  I have no proper drugs of my own, so I revert to the local remedies.
See also: Staying Healthy While Traveling – Natural Remedies

Sunday

Body ache, fever; my world globetrotting officially catches up with me.  I am down for the count.  Alone in a big luxurious house and miserable.  No one to talk to, no internet, no drugs, just lots of fresh squeezed juice.

I leave the villa in a rickshaw to go into town and go to a pharmacy.  I feel like I may pass out.  Get to the pharmacy, tell them symptoms and they say I should go to a doctor.  I walk out with some Panadol and Tiger Balm…this will have to do.  Try to do more photo editing and writing, but pass out in bed with a box of Kleenex, smelling of tiger balm, and desperately sick; not just sick, but homesick.  I hate being sick while solo on the road; it’s the only thing that makes me homesick.

I agree! Being sick on the road is no fun, but I’m happy to say that Sherry made it through and is still traveling and sharing her experiences. Sherry also brings up a great point about the constant search for an internet connection as a blogger. I feel that pinch too…tis a bit of a leash!
As with most nomadic travelers, Sherry’s plans are not set in stone, but she is on her way to South America shortly, and waiting to see what calls her next for inspiration. Take a look at Sherry’s photography which spans the globe at SmugMug.

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