India

Hello again, here comes some more trip coverage. Since I was in a new city pretty much every other day I'll do a brief day to day description, but I have to warn you - it's still super long, and you will encounter some history and fun facts along the way because I just can't help myself. It's an epic blog post, but I'll forgive you if you only scroll through and look at the pictures. Here we go.

The first city I arrived at was Varanasi. Due to a mishap of getting to my hostel from the airport (turned out it was in such an old part of the city that taxis don’t go there…) I missed the sunset or time to walk around the city, so instead I spent a pleasant evening on the rooftop balcony of my hostel looking out over the river Ganges and the city. It was dark, but the view was still spectacular – I was so thrilled to finally be in India! I enjoyed a delicious rice and curry meal and did some writing and picture taking. I found out that my hostel offered free boat trips at sunrise and sunset, so I headed to bed early.

Bear with me: a little background info. Varanasi is the holiest Hindu city in India– the Ganges River, or mother Ganga, is supposed to be the physical manifestation of the goddess Ganga, from which the Hindu human life cycle begins and ends. Every Hindu tries to make a pilgrimage to Varanasi at least once in their lives to bathe in the Ganges River. As a result, the heart of Varanasi is centered on the western banks of the Ganges, where there are dozens of ghats, or steps, leading into the water. Varanasi is also the most auspicious place to die, so when Hindus pass away, ideally their families will take them to Varanasi to be cremated on the riverbanks, and the ash thrown in the water for good luck in their next life. My hostel was near the cremation ghat, and when we were out walking around in the streets we were passed by about five funeral processions, with four men carrying wrapped dead bodies on little cot like things on their shoulders while chanting on their way down to the riverbank.

The next morning I was up bright and early for my boat trip, with three other guests. Our boat guy doubled as a guide, so he taught us quite a bit about Varanasi and its importance for Hindus, as well as explained what it was we were seeing in front of us. Even at 5 AM in the darkness there were people on the ghats bathing, praying, and giving offerings – either setting little floating candles or flowers in the water. The boat trip was awesome – I had never seen anything like it. Luckily, I happened to be there on a festival day, so the ghats were packed with people of all ages dressed in their bright clothing, dunking themselves up and down in the river, eating, and praying. After the boat trip I walked around with another hostel guest, and tried to absorb the sights, sounds, and colors – it was so interesting to see how powerful the Hindu faith and religion was to the hundreds of people who made the trip that day, and to think about the millions of Hindus who have been making the trip for the past two thousand years. I spent a wonderful morning walking around and observing, taking pictures, and getting introduced to India – it was even better than I imagined, once you sidestepped (quite literally) all the cows in the street, the pollution, the noise, the beggars, and the poverty. Again, you have to take the good with the bad. The old streets of Varanasi, the ones too narrow for cars, right along the ghats, were fascinating to walk around as well.

Next stop: Agra. Home to the famous Taj Mahal, built in 1632 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. The Taj Mahal is actually a tomb, built for his wife Mumtaz after she died in childbirth, so the legend goes. I was due in Delhi that evening, so I had most of the day to spend in Agra after arriving from Varanasi on my first night train. I had a bit of a cold from Nepal, and though I was able to sleep on the train it wasn't what you would call a sound sleep, so I wasn’t feeling the greatest. Of course, I wasn’t going to let that stop me. When I got off the train I ran into a Lithuanian couple that I had been chatting to at the train station – I ended up spending most of the day with them, since we shared a taxi ride to the Taj Mahal from the train station and then made plans to meet up for lunch later.

What can I say about the Taj Mahal? It was magnificent – the pictures honestly don’t do it justice. I couldn’t stop staring – to actually see it in person was unbelievable. It is located on top of a high platform, for which you have to remove your shoes or wear shoe covers before stepping on, if you want to go up close or inside the Taj Mahal. After paying the 15 dollar foreigner fee (locals pay about 40 cents) we were led through security, and then entered through the West Gate. We arrived nice and early, just after sunrise, so it was still relatively quiet and not too busy, though we all waited here and there for people to get out of the way for pictures – at least everyone understands the importance of having a really good picture in front of the Taj Mahal, even if it takes a couple of tries on the digital. Unfortunately, I was on my third day of not showering due to my hostel’s questionable bathroom and the night train – please forgive my pictures...
We (the Lithuanians and I) actually had a guide with us for the first hour or so, since after refusing about ten times he dropped his price for us by about four times and we figured having him around would fend off other hopeful guides (plus there were three of us – I think we paid him the equivalent of four dollars total.) He walked us in through the gardens, taking pictures for us and explaining a bit about the history and architecture. Fun facts time: 1. The tombs are false, and the bodies are actually kept in a vault underneath the building. 2. The Taj Mahal is identical on all four sides, with the backside facing the Yamuna River. Of course, the front is the most impressive as the gardens, reflecting pond, and walkways are all in front of it. 3. There was originally one mosque built to the west of the Taj Mahal, and Shah Jahan ended up building another identical building to the east for symmetry’s sake. After our guide left us in peace, we split up and I was on my own, free to wander at will before meeting up later for lunch with the Lithuanians.

One of my favorite parts of the Taj visit was getting up close to look at the beautiful inlays of semiprecious stones in the white marble – nothing is painted, it is all done by hand carving and inlay technique – absolutely beautiful. The Arabic script is also inlay work, with quotes from the Koran, the holy book of Islam, inscribed on the walls. (The Koran inscriptions are to the far left of the flower inlay picture.) I walked all around the outside, the inside, the mosques (my first mosque) and the gardens, enjoying the view from all angles. We did some photo shoots out in the gardens, and then I spent some time just sitting on a bench watching everyone take pictures. It was great because just about every kind of person was there – the rich and fabulous, the classic American tourists with fanny packs and tennis shoes (the southern accent was a dead giveaway too), the cute elderly couples, the families with kids, the hordes of European and Asian tourist groups that looked like their necks were about to break from their heavy cameras, and the Indian tourists. However, it was busy with all of the people, so I went back up to the platform to sit in a quieter location while I waited to meet up for lunch and ended up finding a secluded bench behind the Taj Mahal looking over the river. The sun was nice and hot, I was tired, my cold was kicking in, and my marble bench was so inviting that I ended up laying back and taking a nap for about 15 minutes. What a sight to wake up to.

After lunch we walked the short distance down the river to Agra Fort, the emperor’s old palace. Agra was actually the capital of the Mughal Empire a few hundred years ago, in between Delhi – I wished I had had some more time to explore some more of the earlier architecture. Next time. Anyway, Agra Fort was a wonderful leisurely location – huge, green, very impressive grounds, not too many tourists, and fun to explore. An interesting story about Agra Fort is that in 1659, Emperor Shah Jahan's son Aurangzeb ended up revolting against his father for control of the empire – Shah Jahan barricaded the fort from his son and his army – he held Aurangzeb off for three days, but his son had sneakily cut off the water supply to the fort, so Shah Jahan was forced to surrender. As a result, Aurangzeb imprisoned him in Agra Fort, where he remained for the last six years of his life. Rumor has it that he died in one of the tower balconies that overlooks the Yamuna River and the view of the Taj, where he longed to join his beloved wife for six long years. Poor guy!

Agra was a short but necessary stop – my next destination was to India's capital city, New Delhi. I took a short three hour train to the capital city, where I was greeted by my host for three days, Immanuel. Immanuel is cousins with a friend of my mom’s back home, who I am still so grateful to for helping me out on my India plans. He drove me back to the apartment to meet his family and settle in – I was pretty tired out. After meeting his family (his wife Anu, daughter Tabitha - 15, and son Silas - 8) I was fed a delicious curry meal, while we discussed the next day’s plans. Anu was kind enough to take the day off of work to be my unofficial tour guide. I went to bed exhausted, but well fed, clean, and excited to explore New Delhi the following day.

New Delhi was fantastic – there are so so many sights to see. Anu was a trooper and took me to see Qutb Minar, (below) which is one of the first Mughal structures in India, built in the 13th century to commemorate the Afghan victory, the Red Fort, (pictured below, also built by Shah Jahan, the Taj Mahal guy Jama Masjid, (India’s largest mosque) Humayun’s Tomb, (recently made famous by Obama’s visit) and even a cute little market area with goods and foods from all over India (vastly different depending on the region.) The next day we hit up some of the more recent structures of the city – the British constructed tons of Neoclassical architectural structures for their official government buildings – today used as embassies, meeting halls, and the President’s House. We also saw India Gate, which was built by the British in the 20th century to honor all the Indians who had died fighting overseas in British regiments, Connaught Place, a shopping area where I happily purchased some souvenirs, the National Museum, (we actually only made it to the steps – by that point I was so tired of paying jacked up tourist entrance fees I decided to pass, as we were also tired and running out of time) and even the Baha’i Lotus Temple – very impressive and indeed, lotus shaped. Luckily, New Delhi just recently installed a metro system throughout most of the city, so all of our traveling around was greatly aided by the subway, which interestingly has separate male and female compartments. I loved scoping out all of the beautiful saris, while also noting the contrast between the more modern dress (jeans and t shirts) of the younger generation of girls. Last, Anu took me to one of Asia’s largest shopping malls – I was blown away by how modern it was (actually a series of three malls put together – I only saw one small part of it.) It was fun to be in a shopping mall again.

As interesting and fascinating as all of these sights were to me, one of the things I enjoyed most about Delhi was having a family to stay with, a family who knew the city, knew the country, and were happy to answer my endless questions. As a tourist, it’s easy to just see the bad parts of India: the poverty, the dirtiness, the smells, the tourist hagglers, the noise, while missing out on all of the good parts. India actually has one of the fastest growing economies in the world, and more master’s degrees holders than the entire country of France. The Indian people especially value the importance of education, something many of us Westerners have always taken for granted, and when given the opportunity to access this education, they take it and run with it. I learned a lot about India’s education system from my family and some of their neighbors – it is quite similar to Korea’s actually, with many children going to extra tutoring sessions in subjects like math and science in order to do well in certain entrance exams. I learned that in the majority of schools the subjects are taught in English, as it’s one of India’s national languages, which goes to show how Indians have used their time of oppression by England to their advantage – the combination of being forced to learn English and tendency to excel in math and sciences has led to their extremely successful call center businesses.

Of course, staying with a family meant I received amazing hospitality and was treated with wonderful generosity. I ate so much delicious homemade Indian food and drank many cups of chai tea – a sweet, milky, cinnamon and ginger tea – I was spoiled. Anu taught me a lot about the difference between South Indian food and North Indian food – in the North it is more typical to eat the flat, pancake like bread with curry, while in the South it is primarily eaten with rice. India has twenty eight different states and seven territories, but I now tend to think of India like Europe, with many different small countries stuck together – each state has its own regional food, languages, dialects, customs, and even differences in clothing. It would take many many weeks of traveling, as in Europe, to visit and learn about each state and its traditions!

Delhi was a wonderful learning experience, but of course, I had to move on. My next stop was Jaipur, capital of Rajasthan, the land of kings. Rajasthan is in west India, on the edge of the Thar desert, so the landscape is flat and well, desertlike. I left Delhi early on a morning train to make the five hour journey, where I was to spend the day in Jaipur before departing on a night train that evening to Jodhpur, another Rajasthani city to the south. That suited me just fine, and after storing my huge backpack at the left luggage room in the train station, I set off to explore.

Jaipur is a fairly large city, but after taking an autorickshaw to the Old City, I ended up just hanging out in that area, as it was the most interesting and manageable on foot. The Old City is still surrounded by the old walls, so after entering through the beautiful pink gates, I walked around and observed the sights – tons of little shops lined the roads – not all tourist shops. It actually reminded me of being in an old downtown area in some of the cities in the States – except all the signs were in Hindi and there were quite a few more cows hanging out on the road. I entered my first tourist destination after walking around the Old City – the Hawa Mahal, or Women’s Palace, also known as the Palace of the Winds (I learned from my audioguide that it is called the Palace of the Winds due to all of the open holes in the windows and walls to let the air breeze through the palace grounds, for relief from the hot desert sun.) In Rajasthan there was a strict traditional custom called purdah, which basically means segregation – the palace women and royalty had to live separately from the men, and were kept in confinement in the palace – special windows were built with screens so that the women were able to look outside at the streets below…but no one could look in and see them. The palace was very pretty inside – the picture by the windows is another example of Rajasthani tradition – due to the desert landscape Rajasthan typically used bright colors such as greens, reds, and blues, for decoration. The outside façade, pictured above, though it is actually the backside of the palace, was impressive as well.
After viewing the palace, I got some help from the audioguide guy, who told me about visiting Amber Fort. I could see one fort from the streets that I planned to visit, but then I found out there was actually a bigger, more impressive fort just beyond the hills, out of view from the city center. I took the local bus (my first in India!) and paid about twenty cents to ride about 5 km north out of the city and up a hill to Amber Fort.

As I stopped for a minute to take in the view, I was asked to be in a picture with two girls - I asked them to return the favor...not realizing that I would end up posing for about ten minutes with other groups of people...and that was just at the entrance. Because it was late afternoon I didn’t have time to see both the palace and the fort, so I elected for the palace – bigger and more impressive than the city center palace, which was used for city municipality – Amber Fort was for defending the entire state of Rajasthan a few hundred years ago, which explained its prime location along the top of the hills. The palace was my favorite in India – beautiful carvings, architecture, gardens, and halls, including my personal favorite, the Mirror Hall. In Indian palaces I noticed that typically everything is open and accessible just by walking up the steps into the open rooms – no doors or closed areas like in European palaces, most likely due to the lack of chilly weather. I especially enjoyed the predominant elephant motif of the Jaipur palace, as elephants used to be a main mode of transportation and preferred animal to take for battle – I’d probably rather have an elephant too if I were heading off to fight…I’d let him do all the work and just stomp on people. There was supposed to be an elephant viewing session or something at the base of the fort, but when I reached the area I found out I missed the viewing time – I was disappointed, as I hadn’t seen any elephants in India yet.

Lo and behold, what do I see tromping down the street as I rode the bus back to the city center not even twenty minutes later? Yes, an elephant, with some dude riding on top of it like it was a Sunday stroll. I was thrilled, and wanted to get up close to take a picture. I hopped off the bus at the next stop – I was maybe 100 yards from the elephant and figured I could catch up.

So now I have to ask, have you ever tried to catch an elephant? Let me warn you for future knowledge: those guys are faster than they look. I stopped to take a quick picture as I entered through a pretty gate into the city walls, and when I looked up I thought, uh oh – how did he get that far so fast? I power walked nearly a mile to catch up to him. However, I was greatly rewarded when I finally did because the guy riding him stopped him for me (it could have been a girl elephant, as he or she was painted with pretty flowers…but I chose to believe it was a boy elephan) and some of the kids on the side of the street – I got to pet him and take some pictures. We bonded instantly. It was a sad goodbye.

After my wild elephant chase it was nearly dinnertime, so I spent the remaining daylight walking back through the old city (luckily the elephant didn’t get me too lost) and heading back to the train station area, where I had a delicious meal, wrote in my journal, and did some reading – the perfect end to a fun and busy day. I had been traveling for about two weeks at that point, and I was looking forward to my next destination, Jodhpur, a small city to the southwest, where I would have two full days to explore yet relax a bit.

Relax? Me? Yes. That's exactly what I did in Jodhpur. After some hassling by some overfriendly guys at the coffee shop I was hanging out at before my night train in Jaipur, I was really in a nonsocial mood, and didn’t really want to work up the energy to walk through the streets and fend off all of the tourist hawkers or answer “what country from you madam?” a million times, so when I arrived in Jodhpur the next morning and saw that it was cloudy, which meant my pictures wouldn’t be as nice, I decided to designate a ‘chill’ day and hope for a cloudless sky the next day. I checked into my hostel, walked around a bit to orient myself, (it was nice and small – no autorickshaws needed) found the city center, and then plopped myself down on the second floor of a cute little coffee shop/restaurant attached to a guest house. I chose the seat by the window so I could at least do some people watching and still get part of the Jodhpur experience, so I would feel a little less guilty. On my way there I also found a great bookstore that I was able to do an exchange with the next day, so I had an extra incentive to read and finish up a couple books that I brought along from Nepal - the more I finished the more new ones I could get! So, I spent the majority of the afternoon reading, writing, and sampling some Indian snacks with my coffee. On my way back to the hostel I detoured a bit and wandered into the old part of the city, where I was rewarded with my first spectacular view of the exact reason I had come to Jodhpur: the houses were painted blue. Yes, blue. And not just any blue - all varieties of bright, beautiful blue. I had read about the famous 'blue city,' when I was researching for my trip, and I knew, though it was pretty far out of the way, that I had to go see this city for myself. More information on this to come, don't you worry.

It turned out that my reasoning regarding the cloud cover was a good decision - the next day was sunny and bright - perfect for heading up to the fort for the afternoon. I spent the morning on the rooftop restaurant of my guesthouse, finishing up my book while enjoying a pot of tea and fresh fruit, then walked the short 20 minutes up to the fort, enjoying the peace and quiet outside of the city. As soon as I walked through the gate I was able to get a much better view of the city below, in all its blue glory. The most accepted theory I read about for why the city is blue is that when people first settled here (Jodhpur is only about six centuries old) the Brahmin priests, the highest caste in the caste system, wanted to have a distinction between their houses and the lower castes, so they used indigo to paint their houses, then some time later others followed suit. By the way, the caste system, which is technically not in place anymore but still a traditional mindset for many Hindus, is composed of four social castes that can't intermarry or sometimes can't even associate with others. The highest caste is called Brahmin, the priests, (associated with the head of Brahma, the creator god) then there is the warrior caste, (they came from the heart of Brahma) the merchant caste, (the hands) and finally the artisan caste at the bottom (though sometimes untouchables are included at the bottom - it is such a complex system it's common to hear or read about different explanations. The untouchables are below the artisan caste and were restricted to work in polluting, dirty, or unhealthy jobs, like the bottom of the feet. In Varanasi, I learned that the man responsible for burning the bodies at the cremation ghat is one of the richest men in the city and has a huge house, but as he is an untouchable (since his job deals with dead bodies,) traditionally he has had social limitations.

Anyway, whatever the reason was for the blue city, I'm a fan. Another idea is that the people wanted to use the cool blue color of the houses to simulate the ocean in the middle of the desert - both are valid, but I think I read the Brahmin theory to be the most commonly accepted. Lonely Planet had recommended the free audioguide tour, so I strapped on my headset, got my notebook ready to take notes (yes...I'm one of those people) and set off to explore. Mehrangarh Fort was built in 1459 by Rao Jodha, a Rajput king (Rajput is a state to the south of Rajasthan.) The first thing I learned when I walked inside the fort gates was that the handprints on the wall were actually sati handprints of all of the widows who had last walked through the gate walls. Sati is a custom that wasn't outlawed in India until the 19th century - when a husband died and was cremated, the widow was required to burn alive with him on the funeral pyre. Slightly disturbing, no? Anyways, inside the fort was the palace museum which had an impressive collection of royal regalia such as elephant saddles, cradles, jewelry, and weapons. The Rajputs were famous for their vicious and fierce fighting skills - after seeing some of their elaborate swords and weapons, I'm not surprised. It was a beautiful afternoon - after the museum I walked along the fort walls, taking in the view of the seemingly endless stretch of little blue houses. It made me so happy. But as always, I had a train to catch much too soon, so I had to say goodbye, pick up my bags, and head to the train station in the early evening for my night train to Mumbai.

I arrived in Mumbai two hours late...(this tends to happen when you take night trains) and there ended up being a miscommunication with the family I was staying with - when I called her for directions she said she would come pick me up, but I told her I would wait at the booking office...turned out I was at the wrong part of the station, and there was a much bigger area just down the tracks that I wasn't aware of, where my host was waiting for me. By the time I called her again we both tried to locate each other, and after about two hours of waiting and searching through the hundreds of people and calling at random pay phones it turned out she had to leave to attend a meeting, and she would have me stay with a friend of hers who lived near the station until she could come pick me up. It wasn't really either of our faults - just bad luck - but it happened to be when I had my heavy bags, I was hot, tired, hadn't eaten all day, and really really needed a shower. All part of the experience!

However, as soon as I walked into her friend Rosie's apartment (about a five minute walk from the station - she sent her son to come pick me up once I finally figured out where I was) my anxieties were relieved as she welcomed me, the very unexpected and probably very smelly houseguest into her home with a big smile, a tray of food, and a hot mug of tea. Rosie's husband, who I actually didn't get to meet, is a pastor, which is how she knew my host Jasmine, whose husband is also a pastor. She and her three boys were great fun - we had a good time chatting and getting to know each other - and after my glorious shower we went out for a walk and delicious dinner in the nearby shopping district. I didn't know too much about Mumbai, but I noticed the difference between the north Indian cities right away due to the many palm trees lining the sidewalks. There was also a hint of sea breeze in the air - I could tell I was going to like Mumbai.

Jasmine and her family ended up getting back from their out of town event quite late, so she and Rosie arranged to have me picked up in the morning, after I was fed a delicious breakfast and, of course, more tea. I had a nice chat with her oldest son, who was beginning junior college - this starts a little before the end of our high school, and it is sort of like taking generals in college - the students take a variety of courses for three years, and then when they attend senior college they focus on just one particular major. He had worked in a call center for a brief time, and I found it extremely interesting that during his training, he was taught to 'dumb down' his English to make it easier for American customers to understand. For example, when his mom asked me "so, you are from Minnesota?" he said at work they would be trained to pronounce it like "Minn-uh-so-da," with more of a slur and less annunciation. Try it - say Minnesota like you would normally say it, then with an emphasis on the 't!' I also found out one of the only reasons North American English still has a good reputation, even though it is viewed as more of a 'dirty English' by other countries is because of pop culture and American movies...at least we have that going for us.

The next day I was picked up by Jasmine, and after she finished up some work at the house, we walked a short way to Victoria Gardens, now a zoo, and then we went down to the city center to see the port, the Gateway of India, (pictured above) the Taj Hotel, the former Victoria station, (two of the scenes of the recent terrorist bombings in 2008) and all of the other fantastic examples of British architecture - I have to admit they looked slightly out of place surrounded by palm trees, however. The next day we went to the other side of the coast (Mumbai is actually made up of a series of islands, but it is basically like a mini peninsula) and saw Chowpatty Beach, walked along the beach boardwalk, and rode the intercity train, which was fun to see the city from. I was fed so much delicious rice and curry that I thought I was going to explode. My hosts were wonderful - I had fun chatting with their two adorable daughters, who were busy studying and going to tuition classes, and Jasmine even taught me how to make chapatis, which are thin, crepe like breads that you eat curry with. Again, I was so lucky to have the opportunity to talk with and learn from them - I also met a friend of hers who was an English and history teacher, so we compared our experiences teaching English. It turns out students are the same all around the world.

I'll spare you some of the history here, as I'm sure you're eyes are bugging out if you've read this far. If you think you can make it three more paragraphs, I'll finish up my India experience with my final destination, Goa.
Goa was, in a word, awesome. I was really really looking forward to it, and I felt that by leaving it until the end I would really deserve to have a beach day to end my India trip with - I was correct. I also realized when I got there that it was good I didn't start there and plan to go north, because otherwise I probably wouldn't have left. After my night bus to Goa (I much much prefer trains, I decided) I had to catch a couple other buses to get to the southern part of Goa (which is a state, not just a city name,) where there was a small, beautiful beach with my name on it. The trip down there, however, was one of the most scenic trips in India, as the landscape was bright, fresh green populated with thousands of coconut palm trees - absolutely beautiful.

I arrived in Palolem, a tiny one street 'town,' and with the help of a woman who had been staying there for the past five months (again, I had really good luck asking fellow foreigners for directions) I found a cheap and reasonable guesthouse just a couple of minutes from the beach. I dropped my stuff, changed my clothes, and nearly bolted through the trees to catch the last few hours of afternoon sunshine - and then I saw the beach. My jaw almost dropped - it was perfect. Crescent shaped, palm trees lining the sand, white sand, little beach hut restaurants and shacks all along the edge, and beautiful sparkling blue water. It was all there - I was so happy! I began by staking out a spot on the beach - there were quite a few foreigners there, but with Goa's recent fame in the past few decades this didn't surprise me - and taking a nap in the sun. The beach was the perfect reward after nearly three weeks on the road. After my little beach nap I went back to my room to take a quick shower, then I walked down the beach perusing menus in search of the perfect beach dinner: seafood curry. I wasn't disappointed - it was probably the best meal of India - and I ate it watching the sunset over the beach, listening to the waves, (all the restaurants were open air - you just walk right up to them in the sand and sit yourself down) and smelling the ocean breeze.

I spent the majority of my last day in India on the beach: I woke up early for a sunrise beach walk, which was lovely, and then after fresh fruit, fruit juice, and a coconut pancake (a spicy coconut pancake! Goan specialty) for breakfast I set out to finish my last India book: The Mahabarata, kind of like the Iliad of Indian culture - about an epic war between two clans, with gods intervening and random stories here and there meant to illustrate good behavior and how people should live their lives. They say you can't understand India until you've read the Mahabarata and the Ramayana, so I read them both on my trip - I learned a lot about the Hindu pantheon of gods and their roles in mortal lives, as well as learned about the importance that is stressed on karma, good behavior, the Hindu life cycle of being reborn into different lives, and especially Dharma, which is kind of the underlying yin and yang-like philosophy of how life should be lived, in accordance with good character and morality. It was really interesting - I had to take notes to keep all the names and terms straight - and I was determined to finish it while still in India, so I spent the morning and early afternoon reading on the beach, with little naps and even a swim in between reading. After I was thoroughly toasted and finished the book, I stopped at a little bookstall on the way back to my guesthouse and successfully traded a few more books for the rest of my trip. I had a morning flight out of Bangalore the next day (the cheapest place to fly to Sri Lanka,) so sadly I had to say goodbye to Goa that evening and hit up my last night bus of the trip to get me to Bangalore by 7 AM - I was terribly nervous the bus would be late or something would happen so I would miss the plane, but I lucked out and made it to the airport by 8 AM. I said my goodbyes to India quickly from the airplane, as I passed out even before we took off. I was proud of myself for making it through the past three weeks - it had been a pretty demanding trip, but I don't think I would have liked to do it any other way - I kept saying a short time in one place is better than no time at all. As the plane took me south to the tiny little teardrop shaped island, my next destination, I turned my thoughts to what lay before me: my next to last stop, Sri Lanka.

Nepal

Hello all,

I can’t believe it’s already Sunday – my ‘recovery week’ has absolutely flown by…and I have zero lessons prepared. Oops. This week I have another day of deskwarming on Monday, then a holiday (day off – Independence Day from the Japanese occupation when they surrendered to America in 1945) on Tuesday before starting the new semester on Wednesday. I can’t really conceive teaching proper lessons again at the moment, that’s one of those ‘save for later’ thoughts. This weekend I hosted some of my teacher friends from out of town who I hadn’t seen since Christmas – since then we’ve all dispersed and explored quite a bit of Asia all put together, so it was be fun to see everyone again, catch up, and exchange stories.

As promised, I’ll post about my Nepal experience today and show you some pictures! By the way, I have no control over the picture formatting - it always looks fine when I put everything together, but then when I 'publish' the post there are all sorts of funky spaces and blank spots - I apologize. I don't know how to fix it - anyone who uses blogspot is welcome to give me some advice. Just to warn you: it’s long. Read with caution. Take a break here and there. Space it out. Read some and come back to it later if you want. Breathe. Here we go.

Technically, I had seven days in Nepal – not nearly enough time, but I certainly packed a lot in. I had no idea what to expect, but I don’t think much could have prepared me for the crazy country that is Nepal. As a side note, I actually had my first introduction to South Asian culture on the plane from Guangzhou, China, (where I had a two hour layover - we had to walk outside to board the plane, so I'm going to officially say I’ve set foot in China) thanks to my seat neighbor. He was my first observance of the common South Asian pastime of incessantly picking one’s nose in public - at times I was so disturbed that I held my Sudoku puzzle up so that it blocked my peripheral view. You can imagine my delight when he asked to borrow my pen to fill out the immigration card. I mentally forgave him a bit the next day when I was out walking around and realized it wasn’t just him – it was eighty percent of the male population. I was quick to judge, as he turned out to be a very nice guy, but then when I chatted to him just before landing, I picked up on another cultural tendency – the head waggle. It’s really hard to describe, but basically by nodding one’s head from side to side, (like moving your ear towards your shoulder, then switching sides) in South Asia this means yes, yes I agree, or sure. Go ahead, try it. It was so strange because I interpreted moving the head from side to side to mean no, yet usually the person was saying yes. At first I thought my neighbor had an endearing little head twitch problem, but when I landed at the airport and started speaking to some of the airport guys at immigration, I quickly realized that again, it wasn’t just him. It’s kind of cute, but kind of confusing at the same time.

I woke up early in Kathmandu after my flight from Seoul, and was ready to begin exploring the city! I stayed in the area called Thamel, which is known as the ‘tourist location,’ packed full of guesthouses, cafes, restaurants, shops advertising trekking expeditions and trips to Tibet, money exchangers, bookstores, trekking stores, and shops. My very first morning I decided to change guesthouses, as my hostel people weren’t very friendly and I quickly realized that despite my research, the location I chose wasn’t the most convenient. So, I packed up and set off to explore. I ended up getting extremely lucky by asking a foreigner for some directions…it turned out that was his eighth trip to Nepal and he had lived in Kathmandu for a short period of time. He helped me with directions, a guesthouse, and even showed me the way up to my first sightseeing destination: Swayambunath, also known as the Monkey Temple, for obvious reasons. Swayambunath is an important Buddhist and Hindu temple area – in Nepal these two religions are so intermixed that they typically use the same places for worship. Notice the two eyes (the all seeing eyes of the Buddha) on each side of the stupa, and the funny looking question mark symbol for a nose – this is the Nepali symbol for one, to signify unity. The entire area was busy with worshippers and pilgrims, with Nepali music and religious chanting music in the background. It was a nice sunny day out, and the brightly colored prayer flags were strung up all over the place – in Buddhism, it is believed that when the wind blows and ripples the prayer flags, it sends the prayers up to heaven – one of my favorite concepts of the religion.

My next destination for the afternoon was Kathmandu’s Durbar Square. Durbar Square basically means palace complex, and it was made up of dozens of impressive looking temples, shrines, statues, and of course, the king’s palace. Unfortunately, my experience was a bit distorted, as the area was full of people – Nepali and tourists alike, and whenever I tried to stand still or sit somewhere for even a few minutes to read through my notes about what I was looking at, some little guy would come up to me and start yapping at me about what I was looking at, hoping to get me interested enough to pay him to be my guide. No thank you. I ended up wandering around quickly and sneaking into little quiet corners where I could read and research in peace, without much luck. As a result, I don’t really know the names or significance of some of these temples offhand, but the area was definitely impressive. The white building is the former king's palace - called Hanuman Dhoka. Most of the temples are Hindu, and have played significant roles in Kathmandu’s history for many centuries. Nepal is still quite traditional, and it was only a decade ago that Nepal still had a ruling king – since then there has been a Maoist government takeover, and in 2006 Nepal was first announced as a secular state, thus ending its status as a Hindu kingdom.

The next day I spent exploring more of Kathmandu – I walked around Thamel and the old city for a while, getting used to hearing the constant beeping of taxi and motorbike horns, saying ‘no thank you’ automatically to anyone who spoke to me, as they were always street sellers, and experiencing a stinging in my nose due to the extreme pollution. Most of the city was low to the ground – only three or four stories at the most, with small little shops lining the streets, and open marketplaces in the central intersections known as chowks (pictured below.) There were also little temples and shrines along the road everywhere I turned, many with offerings of flowers, candles, and fruits. Every morning the Hindu women leave the house to make offerings at a certain shrine, then return home with blessings for the family and give them all the tika, the red mark on the forehead, which gives them blessings for the day. In Nepal I also began what I like to call ‘sari spotting,’ which was fun – it basically involved observing and looking at all of the women’s saris, all brightly colored, many sparkling, and all beautiful – to find my favorite one. If the women weren’t wearing saris, the other typical dress was a kurta, or a long shirt with slits in the side over matching pants, and usually accompanied by a matching scarf. The men typically wore pants and button down shirts.

That afternoon I headed to Bhaktapur, which is called the ‘medieval city,’ for its phenomenal architecture and city layout on the hills. If you’ve ever heard of or seen the movie Little Buddha, with Keanu Reeves, you might be interested to learn it that the majority of it was filmed in Bhaktapur. It was located about 20 miles outside the city center, and the entire drive there we shared the road with cows, dogs, people on bikes, people carrying things on their heads, schoolchildren in uniform, and women in saris. I liked Bhaktapur immediately, mostly due to the lesser crowds and smaller space of Durbar Square. I ended up negotiating a guide price down to about two dollars for a half hour tour (I didn’t want one originally, but this guy was persistent and I finally gave in, mostly to keep all the other guides from bothering me.) I must admit, I am glad he took me around, however, mostly because he took me beyond the city center to some of the back streets, which provided me with a good internal map of Bhaktapur – as a result, when we parted ways, I was able to wander back through the streets on my own and orient myself accordingly. After my guide departed, I spent a wonderful hour by myself wandering aimlessly, observing people in their daily lives. I saw kids playing with hoops and sticks, moms gossiping as they bought vegetables from the markets, teenage kids still in their uniforms hanging out, cows, dogs, goats, and chickens roaming the streets, people sitting in their doorways just chatting or observing, and people working on handicrafts in the afternoon sunshine. I was struck by a strong sense of community, as many of the people did most of their work outside and chatted together. I really enjoyed smiling at people who stared and was rewarded with some great smiles back, especially from the kids, who usually were bold enough to say hi to me, the women, who never tried to talk to me on the streets, and from the older people with missing teeth – those were some great smiles. I greeted everyone with Namaste, the word for both hello and goodbye, like Aloha. Since not many tourists usually wander the backstreets there weren’t really any tourist shops, so I was pretty much left alone, happy to wander and observe.

The next day I headed to Pokhara on a 7 AM bus – though the bus was freezing cold and I had to wrap many layers around myself to keep warm, (Nepal was really chilly every night and every morning – I developed a cold my first week there because they don’t heat the rooms and kept waking up sniffling) all my discomfort went away as we traveled about 20 miles outside the city (Pokhara is northwest of Kathmandu) and the ground, as I like to say, appeared to drop out from underneath the road, revealing an expansive, beautiful valley with rolling hills, terraced fields, and little houses and villages dotting the landscape. Best seven hour bus trip I’ve ever been on. Not only was the view amazing, but I was also able to see and observe the traditional Nepali valley lifestyle. I saw women and children working in the fields, women collecting water in buckets from the springs, people bathing or washing clothes in the river, makeshift housing, cows and goats roaming around the fields, school kids having class outside, and people going about their daily tasks and chores. I felt like I had been transported back to medieval times, but it was all real and it was all right there in front of me.

Pokhara was a beautiful, lakeside city – unfortunately, there was a marked tourist ‘spot’ that had all of the guesthouses, shops, and restaurants, so I wasn’t able to get to see much of the actual city - but the touristy lakeside was beautiful, (the picture is of the Lakeside strip from around the lake) right in the middle of a mountain valley at the start of the Annapurna Himalaya range – Pokhara is the general ‘launch pad’ to begin the Annapurna circuit trek, which takes a minimum of two or three weeks to complete. It was mostly cloudy so I wasn’t able to see the Himalayas until the very last day when I was leaving on the bus back, but the lower foothills were still really pretty to see. I spent a lot of time walking around the lake, reading or writing while drinking milk tea (hot, milky, sweet flavorful tea - yummm), or eating delicious Nepali food (rice and curry is the typical staple meal) and even did a little bit of hiking on the easily marked trails (I just followed the tourists.) On my hike to the World Peace Pagoda (where I was scared out of my mind while hiking through the forest on the rock path by a cow popping out of the trees right in front of me), I lucked out and met two Danish girls who were taking a ‘tourist day’ break from their time studying Buddhism at the nearby monastery – we ended up getting tea, then heading back to town for lunch, and then they invited me back to the monastery to witness a puja ceremony. How could I turn down such an experience?

And an experience it was. It was a ceremony open to the public, and there were a few other tourists there, watching the amazing 45 minute ceremony – about three dozen Tibetan Buddhist monks (there are six Tibetan refugee camps in Pokhara alone) all sat cross legged at low tables with prayer chants in front of them. There were big loud drums, gongs, cymbals, and trumpet like long horns that were played at certain intervals – it was amazing. Quite the show. A puja ceremony is to give special offerings to ask for protection against obstacles as you continue to seek Enlightenment – it was important for me to keep reminding myself that in Buddhism there is no actual worship of the Buddha, as there is no one all powerful God, but that the true power lies in yourself to reach Enlightenment, or nirvana. The Buddha, as the Great Teacher, serves as a reminder and inspiration for to continue to follow along the path, but you can give offerings and prayers for help along the way. That’s my very basic understanding of Buddhism, thanks to one of the books I picked up in Kathmandu, and it was so interesting to see it in practice. This is a picture of the monastery and temple. Afterwards I was able to meet some of the younger monks and have tea with them and the girls – the monks attend school and study English just like any other subject, so it was fun to talk with them and learn about their life in Nepal. I also had a peek-a-boo session with the most adorable Tibetan baby in the world – he happened to be all decked out in bright blue, my kind of kid.

My time in Pokhara was too short, of course, and two days later I headed back on the morning bus again – this time rewarded with a view of the snow peaked Himalayas peeking out from above the valley ridges. I spent my last afternoon in Nepal at two more important holy sites just outside the Kathmandu city center: first up, the Bodhnath stupa, which is an Buddhist landmark that Tibetans, on their way back to Lhasa on the trading route, would pray at for a safe journey. It was huge and very impressive – the whitewashed dome is supposed to represent the earth, and the yellow paint is supposed to represent lotus flower petals. The thirteen tiers above the Buddha’s face represent the thirteen stages of life a Buddhist must go through to reach Enlightenment. The giant prayer wheels have the same significance as the prayer flags - when you take your hand and spin them they are supposed to send your prayers up to heaven. Also, at stupas you can only walk around them clockwise and you must remove your shoes before entering certain areas. Bodhnath was definitely impressive, and so large that I was able to spot it from the plane as I flew out of Kathmandu the following day.

Next, I walked about 20 minutes back towards the city center to Pashupatiniath Temple, a very important Hindu holy site. Pashupatinath is Shiva’s holy site, and the temple located there is the oldest in Kathmandu. (unfortunately my camera battery died as I was walking up to the temple…I apologize.) You can Google it! In the Hindu religion, there is a trinity of deities: Brahma, the creator, Vishnu, the preserver, and Shiva, the destroyer. I didn’t have enough daylight left to properly see the whole complex, but all of the small little shrines in the pictures are dedicated to Shiva. Pashupatinath is also the location of a sacred Hindu cremation site on the Bagmati River, so there were cremation ceremonies going on while I was there. Of course, we weren’t allowed to take pictures of the cremation, but you can see the smoke rising from beyond the temples and people looking down at the ceremony below.

I said goodbye to Kathmandu that evening by wandering the streets of Thamel a bit more, stopping by the bookstore, picking up a few little souvenirs, and eating something delicious, I’m sure – everything I tried was delicious. Traditional Nepali food is dhal baat, dhal meaning lentils and baat meaning rice ‘meal.’ Basically rice and curry, with about three or four different kinds of curry to mix and match with, topped off with a serving of curd, which is yogurt – it’s the end part of the meal, a good compliment to the spicy curry.

The next morning was my last morning in Kathmandu…and I have a surprise for you. I ended up being offered a discount deal on an Everest flight – and I agreed to it. I hadn’t even considered doing something like that, due to the cost, but a Nepali man I ended up meeting in Kathmandu had a friend who owns one of the budget airlines that offers mountain flights. He said I would have to pay 70 dollars – I just looked up the price on the Internet and discovered that it’s originally 160 – so I called that a deal, figured I’d never have the chance again for a long time, and spontaneously decided to go for it. Well, my first attempt was Friday morning, and we ended up turning around in the air after seeing only two peaks due to the incoming cloud cover – they said we wouldn’t see a thing. Luckily, they let me try again Tuesday morning, and this time, though it was delayed an hour and a half due to foggy conditions, the flight was a success. The pilot let us come up one by one to look out of the cockpit window at Everest - it's the taller peak on the left. It was also so incredible to see the snow capped Himalaya range – they were absolutely beautiful. It was just like National Geographic episode. After my thrilling mountain flight I walked about 200 meters next door to the international airport with my backpack and settled in to wait until my 2 PM flight to Varanasi, India. As I talked to some other outbound travelers and compared trips, I realized that there was so much more I wish I had time to see – I would love to go back if I had the chance. I learned so much about Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism, Nepali tradition, and I was fascinated by the wide array of colors, sights, sounds, and smells (sometimes I didn’t enjoy the smells though) that was so different than anything I’d ever experienced before. My last glimpse of Nepal was of the impressive Himalaya range through the window of the plane - I said my mental goodbye, then settled back for the hour long plane to Varanasi. Next stop, India!

Trip of a Lifetime

Hey everyone!

Yes, that's right - I made it back home successfully! I didn't get sick ( just a minor cold), nothing got stolen, I didn't get horribly lost (I mean, I always get lost, but nothing too alarming), no injuries, nothing broken, and only one casualty: the loss of my green UWGB workout shorts that I brought to sleep in. I believe they're somewhere in my hostel in Nepal - sad. Oh, and I got a wicked sunburn on my back from my beach day in Goa (yes Mom, I used sunscreen...but I must have missed some spots because I was feeling it for days.) But all in all, my trip was a wonderful experience and I feel so fortunate to have gotten the opportunity to travel there.

I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I took lots of pictures and I have lots of stories. The bad news is that I would have to type for two days straight to post everything, so I'm going to have to do quite a bit of consolidating. I'll write country by country - I'm settling in for my third day of deskwarming (the part of my amazing job where I just have to show up and sit here - I can do whatever I want (under the pretense that I'm 'preparing lessons') and they even let me leave early.) So I'm kind of off the hook for today then - no pictures yet, but if you are on Facebook you can see my albums that I just uploaded.

So, if you'll allow me to prelude my individual country posts, let me tell you a little bit about my overall experience. Do you remember when I quoted my Lonely Planet book to say "Nothing can fully prepare you for India, but perhaps the one thing that best encapsulates this extraordinary country is its ability to inspire, frustrate, thrill and counfound all at once?" This couldn't have been more on the money, and it hold true for Nepal and Sri Lanka as well. I had never seen such abject poverty, insane living conditions, and ways of life before, except on television. I wasn't prepared for the noise, the crazy busy streets, the cows that ruled the road, the people everywhere, or the stares. Ohh the stares. Let me put it this way: remember when I said Koreans are really good at staring? Well, they could take lessons from the majority of the South Asian men. These guys are pros. I was stared at from top to bottom my entire trip, and by the end of it I was so ready to be left alone. I actually embraced Korean staring when I came back on Sunday, because Korean staring is purely out of curiousity. The South Asian staring was much different, and it made me feel much more uncomfortable. When you see my pictures you'll notice I wore a scarf and pants almost everywhere, even when it was hot out. There was a reason. They not only stared (of course, most of it was simply out of curiousity, but the rest of it was definitely not), but most tried to chat me up, and most for the purpose of selling me something, whether it be a shopkeeper, a taxi driver, a restaurant owner, or a 'guide' offering to show me around. Oofda. I quickly learned and mastered what I like to call my 'tough face.' Look straight ahead, walk fast and confidently, avoid eye contact, and say "no thank you" with a polite smile to everyone who called out "yes, hello madam, have a look?" or "where are you going madam, taxi?" or "yes madam, I give you good price, or "Madam, what country from you?" Of course, this was only in extreme cases - in some areas and cities I was able to stroll more casually and act much friendlier, (no one likes looking like Victoria Beckham all the time) but most of the time when I was out on the streets (they never seemed to understand that most travelers prefer walking everywhere - if I want a taxi I'll find one myself, thank you very much) I had to put on my tough face. It was hard, it made me feel like a horrible person, and I hated being marked as a money machine tourist. That was the frustrating part.

However, the thrilling part came hand in hand with the frustrations. From the moment I touched down in Nepal, I enjoyed the thrill of simply being in the country and seeing a place I have only ever read about or seen on television. India was an electrifying experience, and Sri Lanka was beautiful everywhere you looked. Singapore was awesome too, and my time in all four countries was heightened by the fact that I was actually there, walking around on the streets, eating the food, sweating in the heat, and taking in the experience. I saw so many beautiful sights, got to know some of the local people in each area, and learned so so much about each place while I was there. One added bonus of my trip that I hadn't counted on was finding a pleasing variety of used bookstores, mostly in English. A lot of them were tourist traded, but there were also a lot of local publications. Add these books to the hours and hours of public transportation that I rode on, and imagine how happy I was :) I bought books about Nepali history and culture in Nepal, traded them for ones about India in India, and about Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. In Singapore I traded some books (that were quite heavy to keep carrying around) for a large book on the history of Singapore. As a result, I was able to read about Tibetan Buddhism while in Nepal the day after I visited a Tibetan monastery, I read the Hindu epics the Ramayana and the Mahabarata while on trains in India, and I read about the recent civil war and ethnic fighting in Sri Lanka while IN Sri Lanka, etc. There's no better way to learn than experience, and by actually being there my reading came alive, and I was able to see firsthand what I was reading and learning about. I actually kept track: I read and traded 13 books on my 3 week trip. I was so distraught at not being able to buy the cheap used books and bring back with me - I just didn't have the room. There's an amazing bookstore in Kathmandu I would consider returning to just for their dirt cheap books that I just can't get in Korea or America.

So that was fun. When I wasn't walking around and exploring, meeting people, or on a train or a bus, I was taking breaks at coffee shops (not very many of them like in American and Korea) or local restaurants, eating amazing Indian food, reading, and taking notes. I called it my educational vacation, and it was nice to have to down time in between my busy travels. I also had an added incentive to read fast - the more books I finished the more I could trade at the next bookstore. I planned my trip so that I alternated night traveling with staying in one spot for the night. It worked out to five nights sleeping on a bus or a train, five nights staying with host families, and three nights at guesthouses in India. Nepal and Sri Lanka were all guesthouses. That was different to me - my prior backpacking experience was in Europe, where I slept many nights in shared hostel rooms. That concept didn't really catch on in South Asia, as there were mostly just hotels or guesthouses - you had to book a room for yourself, so I didn't end up sharing with anyone. That was fine by me, but it made for a more solitary experience that I expected. However, there were always guests around at the breakfast table or dinner table, and I met other travellers quite easily throughout my trip.

I'll save the rest of my details for my country posts. But before I sign off here, I have to talk about the most significant part of my trip and what I took away from it. My prior travel experiences have been limited to Mexico on a beach resort, the Caribbean on a cruise, the US, Western Europe, and South Korea. In other words, I have only traveled in affluent countries, and while there have been instances of poverty here and there, I had never seen or even imagined anything like South Asia. I saw the slums of people living in makeshift houses out of metal or wood or tree branches. I saw women and children working in the fields, carrying water in buckets from the local well or spring, washing clothes in the river, washing themselves in the river or public water spouts. I saw cows and other animals wandering everywhere, on the streets in front of the homes, with no one cleaning up after then. I saw piles upon piles of garbage in rivers, ditches, and the streets. I felt like I had been transported back to the Middle Ages, but then I would turn the corner and find a cell phone store. The contrast between tradition and modernity, between poverty and affluence, between sanitary and unsanitary conditions was overwhelming. What I quickly began to realize, and even more so than ever before, was how lucky I have been in the past to have grown up in a good environment, with so many things I took for granted such as adequate health and dental care, a clean, safe neighborhood, and especially a good education. Of course, people in Nepal and India and Sri Lanka have these things too, especially in the big cities, but these people are harder to find, especially to the average tourist. In South Asia, the poverty is manifest and unavoidable, from the people in the streets trying to sell you endless things, to the children who knock on your car door at a traffic light begging for money, to the slum houses set up along the train tracks, drying their clothes on the empty tracks.

This part was hard to see and take in, and I didn't feel it was right to take pictures of such conditions, so you won't see any of it - you'll just see the impressive sights and splendors of South Asia, which deserve mention and praise as much as the poverty deserves addressing. My trip really put how fortunate I have been and am in life, and how much I have really taken for granted in perspective. In the past few days I have found myself even appreciating Korea much more than I did before, for its clean, quiet streets, its people that leave me alone and don't seem to see me as an ATM when I'm simply walking down the streets, and for its familiar modernity. I still have a lot to learn about life and the world around me, but I think going to South Asia was a beginner's crash course into the reality of the world, and how the western world that I grew up in is absolutely nothing like many other millions of people who share the planet with us. I only hope that my learning and experiencing more about these problems of inadequate health care, education, and overall quality of life in countries such as Nepal (one of the poorest countries in the world) will lead to learning more about what the solutions might be.

One last mention: if you're reading this and thinking, wow, what horrible places to see and visit - you're terribly wrong. I mention the hard parts only because they are too obvious to ignore. Yes, it's hard, and yes, it would be nice to pretend it just doesn't exist, but you just can't. However, my experience as a tourist would probably have been limited to just this - the shock at seeing the povery and the amazement at seeing sights such as the Taj Mahal and the beaches of Goa. However, I was incredibly lucky to have two family stays, thanks to my mom's friend Shanthi, who seems to have relatives and friends all over the world willing to help me out through my travels. When I stayed with these two families (it actually ended up being three due to a train station miscommunication, so I was a last minute guest until my host could come pick me up) I was treated with so much kindness and hospitality, and their families were so welcoming and gracious towards me - what an amazing treat after living on the road for a couple of weeks, being treated purely as a tourist. With these families I was able to talk to them about India's current situation, learn more about why India is the way it is, learn how people feel about India and how they try to help, and, one of the best parts, eat homecooked Indian food. Both of the moms took time out of their days to take me around the cities (New Delhi and Mumbai) and I really felt like I got such an insider's perspective, worth more than a dozen guidebooks. Something has to be said for the resiliance and kindness of the Indian people - they wouldn't be such a strong nation without the power of their hearts, and to meet them and talk with them provided inspiration for me for the future of such a beautiful country.

So, when traveling one has to take in the good with the bad, and hopefully take something valuable away from both. In this regard, my trip was a huge success. Was I inspired? Yes. Frustrated? Oh, yeah. Thrilled? Immensely. Confounded? Every minute! Thanks Lonely Planet - you hit the nail on the head. Fun fact: travelers and Indians alike call Lonely Planet India "The Bible" since so many tourists tote it around. I had Lonely Planet, but since I downloaded the PDFs I just printed off the maps and took notes in my notebook - a 'covert' Lonely Planet, if you will. I hope you are all having a great week! I'll write more about Nepal next and show you some pictures. Love you and miss you all!