Nit Noi Dinner......

We drove downtown tonight, to meet our friends K and B at the Nit Noi Thai restaurant for dinner. This is the first time we've seen them since mid-December, when they left for one of their yearly adventures.... to India and Bhutan. They surely do take exotic trips, all with a tour group (Overseas Adventures Travel Group).

K had eMailed us with just a few photos of their trip... she took over two thousand pictures while they were in India and Bhutan, but she's been too tired to get them all together for "show and tell." That will have to wait till the next time we see them. It just might take more than a couple of visits to get through all of those photos.

They both said that sanitary conditions in both India and Bhutan were horrendous. K said to think of the worst filth you can imagine, then multiply it by 7,000..... and it wouldn't come close to what they'd seen there. They both said that every piece of clothing that they wore every day was just covered in dust, dirt, and filth by the end of each day. They just put all their clothes into plastic bags at the end of the day before taking a hot bath or shower--- and sometimes there just wasn't enough hot water at all.

Most of the hotels they stayed in were American, but judging by American standards here in the states, the hotels they were taken to by the tour group over there were two-star, not five-star hotels. Still, they were clean, with clean sheets and towels, but they didn't come close to what we're used to having here at home. They both said that the bathroom facilities over there were primitive at best, filthy at worst (not counting the hotels).

Still, they both said it was the trip of a lifetime and they didn't regret going. We saw a photo of them in front of the Taj Mahal and except for not having a blue-sky behind them (it was cloudy and overcast) the photo is just wonderful.

Their next adventure? They're thinking of Egypt. That trip will be done via a ship, going along the Nile. The plus side of that is they will only have to unpack once, leaving everything in their cabins on the ship. If they're sure about doing that, they will have to "commit" to the trip pretty soon. They were going to go there two years ago, but waited too long to make the reservations and the Egypt group was all filled up-- they take just 16 people per trip. So that year, they went to VietNam and Cambodia instead.

They're still thinking, though. K said that she's seen enough filth and germs for a while, and maybe they ought to take a "clean" trip for the next one. From what they've heard, Egypt will not be clean. Personally, I don't think that will stop them. They've got adventure in their souls, and they're determined to see as much of the world as they can before they "get old."

I'd like to see as much as we can also, but there are places on this planet that just aren't on my must-see list. Like India, Bhutan, Egypt... and any other countries where western-style bathroom facilities aren't standard equipment in hotel rooms.