As most of you know, I spent the last month in "Incredible India"! and an incredible experience it was, but not in the amazing, marvelous, take your breath away sense, rather, it was astonishing, dizzying, and unbelievable. How it is all held together, I still don't know and I wonder if anyone does. India is a place full of color, diversity, men, scents, tastes, men, motorbikes, cows, men, buses, pigs, cars, women, children, and huuuge extremes. It keeps you on your toes, holds your attention, and demands all the energy you have. If you slack off, you risk losing your place, space, direction, money, or anything else... as the locals say, "It's India, anything can happen."; and that can be bad or very very good. It was the most challenging trip I've ever been on, chalked full of lessons, opportunities, and experiences I will ponder and hold onto for a lifetime. There is far more than can be said in this little blog, but I'll give you a brief recap and leave the rest to the photos (follow the link on the right).
I arrived on July 23 and was met at the airport by my good friend Kishan (met in the CZ) and his friend Mayank. Within an hour or so we were at a posh party in the center of Delhi (it was Kishan's last night in Delhi before he moved to his new university). In the early hours of the morning we got some food, a brief nap, and then headed out to the foothills of the Himalayas to meet up with Jacqui (my good friend from time in CZ and SK) and her sister Angela in a city called Rishakesh (where the Beatles went to meditate). It would have been a great place, but there was a pilgrimage in full swing and the pilgrims were rudely mesmerized by foreign women. After two days of harassment we fled to the mountains, where Kishan and Mayank left us. After a few days of chilling in the rain clouds we headed back to Delhi where Esther (a friend from SK) joined me and Jacqui and Angela departed for home after several months of travel.
When Esther arrived, I was fairly useless to her and hating India. I had been sick with one thing or another for about the first two weeks...passing out, throwing up, and everything in between. She was patient though and as my health improved, so did my attitude. We first headed east to the holy Hindu city of Varanasi and then on to Bodh Gaya, the place where Buddha obtained enlightenment. Our original plan was to head to the Himalayas, but on our return to Delhi we found that the monsoon was in full swing and the lower mountains were flooding and having landslides. Rather than risk it, we visited the government tourist office (I'm fairly sure it was the real one and not one of the many fakes...) and made a plan to head west into Rajasthan.
Rajasthan is an amazing and impressive place bordered by Pakistan, full of ancient sites, mountains, parks where tigers still live, holy sites, and the Thar desert. We spent our time in the Thar desert, visiting Jaipur (the capital), Jodhpur (with a beautiful fort), and the pleasant town Jaisalemer, known to tourists for the opportunity to camel trek. We spent about seven days between these cities and did do some camel riding for one evening. The highlight of it all, and possibly the whole trip, was sleeping in the desert under the stars. It was truly stunning...after this we took two overnight trains to get to Mumbai, whose major center seemed a world away from everywhere else we'd been. For better or worse, we didn't see much, but spent most of the four days just walking around and enjoying all of the good restaurants and cafes. A long way from the pollution, mud, begging children, and nagging touts of our introduction to India near New Delhi railway station, we finished our trip with a celebratory (and expensive) coffee at the famous Taj Mahal hotel (where the Queen, celebrities, Presidents, etc. stay), in a 19th century British tea room; the two economic ends of India have absolutely nothing in common except their nationality and that they reside in the same location.
At times it seemed like the month would never end and I have to be honest, tainted by the sickness, I seriously contemplated going home early, but I'm glad I stayed. Though I barely scratched the surface of all that India holds, I got a grasp of the diversity, immensity, and incredible atmosphere of the place and learned more than I have in a very long time. Though there are so many places I haven't been, I feel very confident saying, there's no where that's quite like India and in the end, I would go back again. Enjoy the photos, they say much more than I could ever.
dobry!!! :-))
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