South Africa!

Hey all,

Sorry for the long absence. I actually left Whiff Tour for a week to go to Jordan with my family and Meghan (my girlfriend). It was really wonderful, but, as it doesn't pertain to Whiff Tour and this is, indeed, the Whiff Tour Blog, I'll put down my thoughts of Jordan elsewhere.

As for India, which is where the Whiffs were in my absence, I hear that many people had mixed feelings. As I wasn't there, I won't discuss them as anything I could type here would be hearsay.

But, South Africa! We're in Cape Town, and it's beautiful. We found an internet cafe, which keeps Brian (E) and me happy, as that is our primary concern is life. Sad, I know. Apparently, they also have an ethernet connection for laptops, so I'm going to bring mine tomorrow or the next day to upload a bunch of photos from Phuket -> Jordan.

So, last night here was interesting. Half the group went to a great steakhouse on the waterfront called "City Grill"...or something. Although it wasn't cheap, it was great. I ate an ostrich steak and people ate things as exotic as spring bok and crocodile. Upon returning, we found out that Brian (M), who was in the other group,w hich went to a traditional African restaurant in town, was mugged, lost the equivalent of USD 40, and had to cancel all of his credit cards, etc. It was pretty upsetting and apparently happened at knife-point. So...I guess it was a reminder that we're not in Kansas anymore.

Today, our plan is to go see the Cape of Good Hope. Tomorrow, we have our first concert, and in the few days, many of us have grand plans, including, at least for myself and Joel, shark cage diving. Updates to follow.

Taj Mahal photos!

Hi again,

I just posted some photos of our visit to the Taj Mahal.

Best,
Elliot

Mt. Everest and Thailand wats photos!

Hi all,

I just added photos from Casey, Jesse and my visit to Mt. Everest. I also put up pictures of the wats in Bangkok.

Cheers,
Elliot

Massive tour blog update!

Hey folks,

Today, I updated my blog with posts about our travels in Japan, China and Thailand. Check it out!

-Elliot

Phuket

So, Phuket, as imagined, is incredible. It's beautiful, warm, a little humid, surprisingly sunny, despite the fact that it's "rainy season", and fun. Yesterday and today, we rented scooters and scooted around town. Don't worry, parents, everyone's fine. We had a couple small falls, but, minor scrapes and bruises aside, nobody was injured. Yesterday, Joel, Jay F. and I scooted up to a place called "sunset point", a beautiful point of the island from which you can see for miles in every direction. Today, we first went to a place called Wat Chalong, a small collection of temples, some of which were absolutely beautiful, and some of them that, as Jamie put it, look like a Disney Temple. After that, we went to go see Phuket's "Big Buddha", a gigantic white Buddha that you can see from pretty much anywhere on the island.

Sadly, we leave tomorrow, but next stop is Kathmandu, a place that has been a favorite for the Whiffs of recent years. And after that, I leave the Whiffs for a week to go to Jordan. But, fear not, I'll be back with the group in South Africa. Someone else is gonna have to post in India, but I'll put up at least one in Kathmandu. Until then.

phuket

is amazing. this place is beautiful. we had a wonderful night in town, and then on the beach, sitting on the beach, drinking whiskey, looking at starts, and making friends with the random dog that sat next to us while we were discussing the stars, philosophy, the Whiffs, our situation, and many other topics of conversation. Tonight was a night in which the nights became closer. Additionally, i played connect 4 with a bartender. What?

After a long break, back and in Bangkok

So, after a long sojourn into the land of censorship (i.e. china), i'm once again able to use blogspot. God forbid I express myself publicly while in China.

Anyway, I would rant, but I feel as if it might not go over that well. Regardless, we had a great time in China, despite the lack of youtube, (temporarily) google, and, of course, our blog. Our 4 days in Beijing and 3 days in Shanghai were action-packed, so much so that many of us are exhausted.

However, we weren't too exhausted to go out last night here in Bangkok. The cab coordinator misunderstood us and, instead of telling us the name of the bar district, he told us the name of a bar district that was...special...We were asked to go to many bars that we did not want to go to, and finally found a street stand at which to eat while we drank some beers we bought at a 7-11. it was, as i said...special...

Anyway, today, we went to the weekend market and all picked up a ton of souvenirs. i even have to ship some things home tomorrow to free up space in my bag.

Gotta go get ready for the concert tonight.

Still in Japan

Hey,

So we're still in Japan, where we have already been for 4 or 5 days. But I certainly haven't gotten tired of it. It's amazing here. Last night, after playing whales tales (a drinking game) on the train from Kyoto (where we had been just for a night) with sake sweat (see here: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%9D%E3%82%AB%E3%83%AA%E3%82%B9%E3%82%A8%E3%83%83%E3%83%88 mixed with sake). It's actually quite delicious. When we arrived back in Tokyo, we proceeded to go out to a traditional japanese bar/restaurant, where, not only were we given unlimited drinks for 2 hours, but we were also fed. it was great. We ended up doing a tang wave and singing for the tables next to us. we didn't sound very good (see above about sake...we were all pretty well drunk), but it sure was fun.

Today, I'm hung over, but I'm excited because I get to go see Kabuki theater with my host family. It should be a ton of fun. After that, we are apparently going to a beer party in our honor, and going out for karaoke afterwards. Unfortunately, i'm in the lucky group that gets to wake up at 7 to sing for an elementary school tomorrow morning, but hey, small price to pay to be here.

Just posted 9 days worth of material!

I have finally updated my blog with recent photos and notes. Check it out!

So far, Japan has been spectacular, mainly because of our tremendous host families. I'm excited for our remaining days in Tokyo and Kyoto!

Cheers,

Elliot

Japan

Hey all,

So, we're in Japan now. Our night in Sydney, as Joel described below, was pretty wild. I don't have much time because I have to get ready before brunch with my homestay family, but I'll put in a quick entry.

We're in the land of cultural traditions I don't understand. Yesterday, we sang a concert while people talked in front of us for about 20 minutes. It was confusing, and I didn't understand a word of it, but it seemed interesting and important.

Having said that, I love it here. Last night, we had an incredible night where they kept encouraging us to drink beer and whiskey after the concert, to the point where the majority of the Whiffenpoofs was comfortably drunk. It was a great night.

In general, this is the first stop of tour where I've felt like I'm on World Tour. I don't speak the language and there are a lot of things that happen here that make me say, "WHAT THE *#@%!?" Our homestays are incredibly hospitable and nice, and, even though Tokyo is a very difficult city to navigate (just try looking up how addresses work...oh and there are no street names...), they have made it as easy as possible for us.

Gotta run, longer update to follow.