India

I might have mentioned that prior to coming to India I was a pretty scared that I was going to be one of those people who just hated it. I met dozens of travelers who just could not stand it. And anyone who has traveled to India (lovely Karen and Jill) can certainly see why the reaction could be so strong. The cows and their excrement alone is enough to push some over the edge. Flies everywhere. Intense smells. The touts (beggars) who don't ever seem to tire. I've never seen so many physical deformities in my life. When I walked over the juhle (bridge) in Rishikesh there was this happy Indian painting the bridge silver. He had one small leg that dangled and this silver pain all over him, he smiled at me showing the few teeth he had. But he had a little glow inside him that was pretty descriptive of many off the people I met in India. People who have hard lives. They are living an existent that we couldn´t begin to comprehend. But the twist is that they are happier than a lot of the westerners who appear to have it all. I guess I just moved into the part about why India is amazing. The people. I think of the nice Indian family from Delhi who I met on the train and wanted me to come and stay in their home rather than the sleazy Parharganj. The 10 year old girl who giggled and circled me around the Taj Mahal, finally mustering up the courage to tell me I was very pretty then laughing and running away. Beautiful woman with the greatest colors and jewelry I've ever seen. Cows in the street sitting like dogs looking content. A vibe like I've never experienced. I suppose the most special things are the hardest to describe. But what I can say is that this has by far been the highlight of my trip thus far and that I think, in no uncertain terms, that I had not lived prior to this experience. So many times on this trip I've wondered if leaving was really worth it - and India, for sure, proved my choice of leaving to be the right one. Those who have travelled there and love it (Karen and Jill) know exactly how I feel and are smiling now.


When I arrived to Rishikesh it was dark and scary, even though I had a driver (provided by the loving and worried Father, thanks Dad!) it was still a bit intimidating. It was late and we finally found a guesthouse which was perched aside a hill. Although my room lacked running water and a real floor, it did have doors on both sides creating a nice cross breeze. As I laid down to sleep I AGAIN thought fondly of Toni for suggesting and letting me borrow her sleeping sheet for those not so clean spots.


The next day I ventured with my backpack to find a new guesthouse. I'll always remember my first few days spent alone wandering the streets. So much to see and take in, the days passed so quickly. I was mezmorized by the people, the street food, the ashrams, the Ganga River and the nightly spiritual rituals with singing and clapping that took place there. Everything. I started doing yoga and meditation twice daily. Some at one of the Ashrams where many other travellers were staying. I chose not to stay there, not because of the "strict" ashram rules, but more because the room was worse than any prison room I'd seen depicted in a movie. I took yoga from about 5 different instructors during my week in Rishikesh but my VERY favorite was this talented Indian yogi with a long thin beard that took the time to correct me on each pose. While I was feeling strong I was also learning a great deal about the spiritual side of yoga, especially when I wasn't sleeping during the meditation. Ok, so I still have a million miles to go in the world of meditation, but it was a start for sure.



Besides the yoga I should mention the massive illness during my first week in India. Not good. Not good at all. But again Nurse Close (friend Lorraine from Scotland) was there to make sure I didn't die. Lorraine lived in India for 7 months prior to coming to South East Asia where we met. As I mentioned, India is quite amazing and it didn't take much to convince her to travel back and head up North. Good thing because there were a few times in the hotel room where I wished my end would come near. Luckily we had a TV, unluckily nothing was in English except for the National Geographic channel that was SIMULTANEOUSLY broadcasting Hindi and English. In my delirium I remember Lorraine coming in the room and asking me what the heck was going on and me replying to her not to worry I could understand.


Suddenly Rishikesh became hot. We quickly fled north to McLeod Ganj. Lorraine writes in her blog about this being the worst journey of her life. Hmmmm. It wasn't that bad for me, but I know what she means. I insisted that we not take the 22 hour government bus through the Himalayan foothills but rather split a car. This was good, but kept us a bit more intimate with the travel experience. Maybe it was the fact that the driver was flying around corners on a one way road while beeping the horn to warn any oncoming traffic? I think she felt a bit car sick. I had a classic broken English conversation with the driver in which I found out that he'd been doing this for 14 years with no crashes. To find this out I mimed a car crash, I'm becoming really good at charades I must say. At this point I think Lorraine mumbled something unfriendly to me with her thick accent and put in her ipod headphones. I just stared out the window at the dozens of monkeys who lined the road.


The next AM we awoke to the most amazing view of the Himalayan mountains. Right from our balcony!!! McCloud Ganj was great for hiking, swimming in cold pools near spectacular waterfalls, experiencing the Tibetan culture and most important seeing the Dali Lama. This was pretty once in a lifetime for me - ok so make that twice. We were really lucky, so many people come to McCloud and he's not actually there. After seeing him once from his car (amazing in itself) we were visiting the temple complex and just watching the Tibetans praying when we ran into a woman (retired teacher from San Francisco) who had dedicated her retirement to campaigning and volunteering for the Tibetans. It was great to see her because she showed us around and with great enthusiasm explained that DL was there to bless the new refugees from Tibet (China) and we saw them all in line and then waiting. Crazy to think that they had spend one to two months hiking in harsh conditions to escape Chinese rule, maintain their culture and have the opportunity to see the Dali Lama. I felt privileged to see him with them. And just like we know, enthusiasm is contagious, so it was a great time when he surprisingly walked about the temple and was 5 feet away from Lorraine, Shannon and I.


Oh Shannon! A wonderful addition to this part of my travels was having my long lost college friend Shannon Simon, fly to India for one week and make the treck up north. While she experienced the same hardships (I think I can speak for her when I say that she did NOT like it when our guesthouse turned off the water and we were given a bucket to bath from) I think the special moments out weighed the difficult ones. She loved the monkeys too. :)


This seems like a good part of this post for me to tell, what is perhaps, my favorite India story. One day we were just hanging out at the room and I decided it would be fun if I took a cracker and threw to to a big monkey on the adjacent building. It was fine, he wandered over picked up the cracker ate it and then climbed down the other side of the building. Fine enough. So I did it again to another smaller monkey to the building to the right. Same reaction. Then I go to the room, maybe the internet cafe (keeping up with friends and family is a lot of

work) and then back to the room. Two HOURS later, Lorraine and I are chatting it up on the bed. All of a sudden, out of no where, this big monkey lands in the window sill, opens the cracked window a bot more, reaches his hand in and takes the pack of crackers and LEAVES. We were stunned and then just started laughing hysterically. We went outside to watch this monkey clumsily eat an entire pack of crackers. Cheeky monkey. Cut to a few days later. We're back in the room for an afternoon nap (did I mention my hectic travel schedule) and we didn't lock the door. I start to hear all this noise crackling and rustling around. I'm thinking Lorraine must be awake eating some chips (crisps as she would call them) and think nothing. Apparently she thinks the same until she opens her eyes to see me lying next to her. Odd she thinks before seeing the big monkey sitting at the end of the bed eating our chips. She yells at the monkey proceeds to take the chips put them under his arm, give a smug look and leave the room. I catch the tail end of this. Damn monkeys. Oh, he took our bread and second pack of crackers too.

Next, we take a local bus from McCloud to Panthenok to catch a 12 hour train to Delhi. You gotta love this bus. A hundred Indian men staring at us, being stopped on a bridge for an hour for no known reason, my bag (or what I thought was my bag) flying out the window, the list goes on and on. The highlight was by far Lorraine yelling at the bus conductor because he kept stepping all over her as he moved about. I guess you had to be there, but lets just say I was happy with my window seat.

Then Delhi. We were so smart to save $$$ and not to get air con since it was 113 degrees outside. Not. When I returned from my day trip to Agra we had a new guesthouse with air con. Better not to die of heatstroke in Delhi. Loved the Taj, Fatephur Sikiri and the Agra Fort. Too bad that no one will ever see any of my photos from there since my purse was stolen at a coffee shop in Delhi. We decided to treat ourselves after living like dirty backpackers for so long. Anyways, without going into the painful details, lets just say that I put my persuasion skills to work that afternoon. At 2:00 PM I went to the Police Station, then the US Embassy, then the Foreign Services office (which closed at 3) for a new exit visa. At 6:00 there was a smile on my face, as I had made it happen. I cried to every government worker in Delhi and as you might imagine theres only a bit of corruption and bureaucracy there.


Did I mention that I love India? I LOVED LOVED LOVED it and I dream of returning. Good and bad, India is enchanting nevertheless.