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Nov 28

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Varkala – where the livin’ is easy

Upon arriving, I got assaulted with requests to stay in various hotels and so it was pretty easy to find a place to stay.  I could have probably even gotten a better deal, but the room is nice enough.  And then I went to walk the strip — basically a long path of restaurants all with their fish out on display.  basically — you can pick out what you want cooked.  There were the usual assortment of crabs, prawns, fish of varying sizes.  One place had a butter fish that was probably 3 feet long and huge!

I tried to find some southern indian food (as I figure I don’t need to have pizza here, since the pizza I can get at home is really good and I can’t get southern indian food at home!) — but I could not find a place that had any.  All of the places have very touristy menus — food from home (Russian, Swedish, Continental, etc.) — which was kind of a bummer for me.  I am going to have to go search out a place — though town (the real town, not the tourist central) is a few km away.

this morning, i got up early and went down to the beach for a run.  There were a few other men running, some swimming and bathing and then some folks playing soccer.  I did my workout (sprints on the beach, barefoot — pretty awesome!) and got schooled by an old guy out there running — he was running back and forth on the short section of beach — and wanted me to join him — i tried to tell him I was doing sprints and then when i sprinted by him, he started to sprint too — and totally kicked my ass.  But, he invited me to come running with him tomorrow morning.  Then I got invited to join in on a pick-up game of soccer — a little 3 on 3.  It was super fun though I actually have no idea how to play soccer…  and i have no aim.  But, I decided that if I can start each day with 45-60 minutes of exercise and playing (preferably on the beach) every day followed by coffee overlooking the ocean….  that would work for me.

Funny enough — when I went for breakfast — the couple next to me asked if I had been trekking up in the everest base camp area.  Turns out Katherine and I spoke to them up there (though, honestly, i have no memory of meeting them!) — but it was fun to talk about our adventures since then.

I went for a walk , got yelled at for taking a picture in a temple (there were no signs and the last temple I was at, I could take pictures!   eek!), and then walked back on the beach — all the euros are wearing super tight and SMALL bathing suits…  including the two girls jogging on the beach in their bikinis….  i guess the whole advice thing to be culturally appropriate in dress doesn’t apply to the euros in their bathing wear….  (though….  i sort of wish it did with some of them! 🙂

My good friend was here for two months and I can see how people would get ‘stuck’ here — the living is easy…  I am sitting at a juice bar,  there is good coffee, i had fresh fruit salad, there is wifi.  All I could think this morning was…. it is a monday morning (sorry to all of you teacher friends — i am not trying to rub it in!)

Ok — i am off — maybe to eat some more, maybe to read, we shall see.

here are a few pictures from kochi (the weather hasn’t been good for photos — lots of rain the past few days!)

coming across on the ferry to Kochi
my watermelon drink!

sunset from Kochi

coming across on the ferry to Kochi

Nov 26

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a few random thoughts and observations

1.  I read a newspaper article about a man yesterday who claims he has the smallest coconut ever (seriously, that is what the article said).   He is trying to get in the guiness book of world records.  The article went on to say that he collects miniature items.  and that he is single. the unintentional (or intentional?!) comedy factor killed me.

2.  Indian men touch – a lot.  They hold hands.  they put their arms around each other (and not just around their shoulders, but around their waists and chests).  But indian men and women?  nope, barely touch.  sometimes they hold hands, if they are feeling really frisky.  still interesting to watch – especially coming from the US culture of touching (which is pretty much the opposite).

3.  i tried to go to the festival today.  I took a few buses – it took an hour + to get there…. and then, I discovered that it will not really start until night time.  but they were putting out the oil lamps on the temple — which will look amazing.  There were suppose to be elephants – 20 of them all dressed up – but I did not see them.  🙁  I decided that I did not want to risk the bus at night, even if I tried to get help.  It seemed too confusing or maybe I am just feeling weary from all the staring and questions about where I am from and if I am traveling alone.

4.  I get stared at a lot.  And by a lot, I mean constantly.  All the time.  Indian seems to have 18x more men than women.  And they all stare, all the time.  And it seems that me being alone is particularly interesting.  And I dress way more conservatively then some of the other tourists.  The last two days it has gotten old.  Oh, and they love to ask me if I am traveling alone.  which just feels sketch to me.  sure, maybe they are just being friendly but….  i have had a few interactions that have felt less than savory (one was from a 15 year old boy – made me want to bring some of my favorite students here to have a little conversation with him).

5.  Indians with their children are pretty much adorable.  The kids tend to be very dressed up (kohl around the eyes and eyebrows is fairly common) and fancy dresses are de rigeur.  They are so cute.  And they seem to be very well taken care of and adored by their parents.  I love watching the little kids – which gets me lots of appreciative looks from adoring parents (which is a nice alternative to the staring!)

6.  I love southern indian food.  I have gone to the same place for lunch the last 3 days – i have gotten a thali which is just a lunch dish with a potpourri of samples.  With a chai, it costs me 85 rupees — that is a little less than a $1.50.  And the place I have gone for dinner — I get a masala dosa and the guy says all sorts of things to me and i just say yes and get pleasantly surprised when a chai shows up or some fried banana thing.  And that dinner?  it costs me less than a dollar.  love it.  I have yet to go to a tourist place for dinner (where I would pay 6x as much – and the food would not be as good).  My breakfast costs a whole lot more (more than lunch and dinner combined!) – but I love the fresh fruit assortment and the press coffee.

7.  tomorrow i will either head inland to mysore or south to allepey.  I cannot decide.  Kerala is a place where I could spend a LOT of time.  I see why people come just here.  In fact, I already know I want to come back and splurge on getting a houseboat in the backwaters — which definitely does not fit my 30$/day budget, but would be pretty amazing to do some day.

8.  Today it rained again.  which only made the temperature and the humidity pretty much insane.  I went for a run this morning and I think i spent the next 3 hours dripping sweat trying to cool off.  Oh, and I cannot remember the last time I had hot water for a shower.  Which is fine – given these temps.  but i just don’t get how come other people don’t sweat in this heat.

9.  i am staying in a homestay – basically a house that is a restaurant/hotel/home.  I am downstairs so i am pretty much in with the famly.  And I cannot figure out the family dynamics (i.e. who is married to whom and who’s kids is who’s….) – but last night i had an interesting conservation with the woman who is probably a few years younger than me.  We talked about arranged marriage (India) versus marrying for love (western).  She told me that by the time a woman is 22-24, if she hasn’t found anyone (meaning, a love relationship) then her parents will step in and arrange something (with her ok, of course).  I said that it was different in the US and told her that many of my friends are not married into their 30s, even late 30s.  But she remarked that there is a higher divorce rate here.  It was interesting to talk about the differences in culture.

10.  cricket is very popular here.  I cannot figure it out.  but then again, i have not stayed to watch much of a game (and there are playing fields everywhere — i see men out playing when I go running early in the morning) – as… well, see #4.  I think that would only encourage more staring.  you should see when i run by.  the game just about stops.  Seriously.  I cannot imagine what it would be like if I was blond.

Ok — that is enough from me tonight.  I am headed out tomorrow – not sure where I will end up.  Maybe I will just see where the next bus is headed to!  I just got a recommendation to head to Varkala so maybe that will be it.  Who knows….  I just know that southern india is definitely pretty amazing.  I maybe setting myself up for one hell of a train ride north, but it seems worth it….

take care, keep emailing and posting comments.

much love — aurora

Nov 25

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Rainy days

Every once in awhile, I have a crisis of faith, of wondering what am I doing, being on permanent vacation (is that really what I am doing — being on vacation for 9 months?!)?  What am I doing – but going from coffee shop to restaurant to reading my books to eating food?  To not having a purpose?  To just sight-seeing day after day?

Today is one of those days…

It is raining today.  which makes it harder to figure out what to do.  Do I sit in my room and read?  Do I try and go to a festival that is at a temple somewhere near-ish?  Do I just keep eating and spending money as I wander from place to place?

I like having purpose (for evidence, see the past five years of my life) — and sometimes I just am not sure what my purpose is right now…  as you might imagine, I am not one of those people who are really good at just sitting on the beach!  So, maybe that is my purpose – to learn to just sit.  To be here, without a purpose and wait for that purpose to come to me.  Or for me to find it.  Or to figure out that purpose can mean lots of different things — that it is not all about goals and checkpoints.

But, please, don’t get me wrong — in the grand scheme of things – i feel tremendously blessed and lucky to be here — to witness the world and expand my horizons.  But, sometimes when I get caught up in the details of every day life and miss the comfort of home and friends – it is those moments that i wonder what i am doing out here.

Or maybe it was just all the pictures and stories of turkey and thanksgiving food all over facebook that did me in….

I am trying to figure out if I should head out of Kochi, or if I should stay another day and go to the festival, or if I should go elsewhere in Kerala, or if I should go to Hampi, or if I should….  you see the problem?  There are so many options… how do I pick the best one?  or to not be paralyzed by the multitude of options and just do nothing?

I guess I will go drink a cup of chai and try and figure it all out.  or maybe just read my book.

be well friends.  thanks for being part of my pupose — to be able to share my thoughts and observations with you all.

hope you can avoid black friday!  🙂  i am doing my part and just shopping locally.

Nov 24

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Thanksgiving on the Arabian Coast

I took an overnight train from Chennai to Kochi two days ago — the train ride itself was fairly uneventful – although I made myself laugh.  When I bought the ticket, I asked for the lower berth so I could see out the window – forgetting that it was a NIGHT time train – so obviously I could not see anything.

Once I arrived here on the west coast, I had to take a ferry over to Fort Kochi – which was pretty cool.  A 7am ferry across the bay to the peninsula tip.  I could see at the southern end, there were massive tankers and tugboats, but Fort Kochi itself is way mellow!  Besides being harrassed by two super friendly men who wanted me to stay at their homestay (and they were really friendly, just annoying), everyone said hi, good morning and lots of smiles.  It was almost eery how friendlyand laidback everyone was!

Kochi is beautiful — buildings are all painted different colors, men are selling their catch on the waterfront, the iconic Chinese fishing nets are on display.  It is very chill and very beautiful.  It is definitely set up for tourists – of which there are two types – the westerners (the euros, the israelis, and then the assorted american, kiwis, etc.) and then the Indian tourists – of which there are plenty.  We all walk along the boardwalk at sunset and take pictures.  There are also great cafes in town with good coffee – you almost forget where you are (seriously, this morning I could have been in Northampton, the cafe was so hip and cool and the coffee so good – though the difference might be in the fresh fruit platter!)

It is thanksgiving, so though I am not celebrating it with anyone (though I met a couple of American girls this morning who are from Martha’s Vineyard who invited me to dinner tonight!), I am doing my part to overeat and overindulge!  🙂  I won’t embarrass myself going into detail on all I have had today – but suffice it to say, I am joining all of you in gluttony today!  🙂

houses in Kochi

fish stands

baby hammerhead

Chinese fishing nets

sunset over the Arabian Sea

Kerala, the state Kochi is in, is pretty different from the rest of India.  For one thing, as many people have proudly told me, there is a 95-99% literacy rate and it is a democratic-socialist state.  People are proud that they speak english so well (and as someone told me, even the government schools teach english!) and that it is a well-educated place.  Teachers here are revered (and they seem to be in most places I have been, so I can only imagine how much more so here!).

It is fairly diverse — having had Portuguese, Dutch, and Jewish ‘residents’  over the years.  I have seen a number of people with green eyes (as opposed to the traditional black hair and dark eyes of much of the rest of the country).  There is a Jewish community here in Kochi with a synagogue.

besides making me laugh, this sign denotes where jew town is in Kochi

In any case — happy thanksgiving to you all!

I am so thankful that you all are part of my world and ‘with’ me on this journey.

much love — aurora

Nov 21

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Pictures!

Bay of Bengal

I arrived in Pondicherry yesterday – which is a totally different scene than Mamallapuram.  For one thing, it is French.  Well, it was once a french colony, and I am staying in the french area, so the streets are wide, the signs are in French (Rue de…) and the houses are all very beautiful and quaint.  But – on the streets are auto-rickshaws, multiple lanes, motos, street-carts — in other words, it is still India! Another difference is there are no ruins here.  In fact, there might be more churches than Hindu temples.  Also, it is the location of a very well known ashram, the Sri Aurobindo Ashram – so people come from all over.  In fact, the guest house i am staying at is run by the ashram, which is wonderful — set close to the rocky beach, a beautiful garden, clean and simple rooms.

The ‘beach’ side is a walkway set over a rocky coast.  Last night it was amazing to walk up anddown it — it seems as if all of Pondicherry is out walking, eating, talking, flirting, visiting.  It was GREAT!  I loved just people watching (and people love watching me!)  I had two little girls in beautiful dresses come up to me and shyly ask me my name.  They were followed by two little boys who giggled over my name and then they all wanted to shake my hand goodbye.

Then, this morning, the rising sun woke me – so I went to walk out by the water — where, again, people were jogging, doing yoga, walking and getting all sorts of exercise.  I cannot wait to go for a run tomorrow morning!

In any case, i found wifi — so here are some pictures from my travels — starting with Kolkata!

awesome self-portrait

flower ghat, Kolkata

marigolds

huge strands of marigolds

And here are pictures from Mamallapuram:

beachside rock carvings

sunrise over the Bay of Bengal

shiva, in front of a temple

all my new friends

ruins, 8th-6th century AD

shore temple

rock carvings

sign in Mamallapuram

And a few from Pondicherry — mostly from the Ashram guesthouse:

view from my room in Pondicherry

sign at the Ashram guest house! love it….

Spent a while this morning, sitting at a cafe eating a delicious chocolate croissant and drinking great coffee (in the french quarter of town) — planning out the rest of my trip.  I have less than a month to go in India and there are so many places I want to go — but do not want to spend all my time (and money) on trains and buses — so trying to be strategic about where I am going…..

But tomorrow afternoon, I will head back to Chennai by bus (3.5 hours) and then take an overnight train to Kochi – which is on the other side of the country — the west coast.  It will be good to spend a couple of days over there — and then…. we shall see.  Hampi?  Goa?  Mumbai?  I don’t know yet….  My only goal is to get to Delhi on the 14th or 15th to visit a schoolthere  that is affiliated with Expeditionary Learning before I fly out on the 18th.  We shall see…..

I am guessing that I will have internet over in Kochi, but if not — have an amazing thanksgiving!  I know i have much to be grateful for — but mostly the support and love of my friends and family who are very much in my heart and mind while I travel!  much love to you all!

Nov 21

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Varanasi, part deux

good morning mother ganga

It has been a great couple of days in Varanasi.  My favorite parts (and pretty alI did) was walking along the ghats, people watching and going to the festival in the evening.  But, I did take a morning boat ride on the Ghanges.  Here are some pictures from that:

morning boat ride

morning boat ride

For those of you who have never been to India, it is hard to describe.  But I made a some observations that capture a little of what India, or Varanasi, is. Varanasi is…..

  • Straight razor shaves on the street
  • Boys flying kites
  • Dips in the ghanges
  • Shared fear (and laughter) of being trampled by a cow
  • Holiness everywhere
  • Marigold strands
  • Boys diving into the river
  • Women smiling back at me (after I catch them staring – and return the stare with a smile)
  • Cobras in baskets (oh hell no!  how do you know it won’t come towards me???)
  • Grinning sadhus in orange
  • The stench of piss and cow shit
  • Skinny little dogs everywhere
  • Shrines and little temples tucked into every street
  • People, strangers, who genuinely look out for me in crowds
  • Beautiful, bedazzling, colorful saris
  • Pollution and trash everywhere
  • People sleeping just about anywhere

The last night I was there was the big festival.  There were 24 Brahmins (priests) performing the puja on the water front – though every ghat had their own ceremony.  During the afternoon each ghat was preparing with laying out the oil lamps and mandelas on the pavement.

oil lamps for the festival

even though the river is polluted….

pouring oil in to prepare

I found a spot in front of the main stage but that was definitely one of the most crowded areas.  It was so busy and crazy!  Thousands of people started to fill the ghats two hours before anything even started.

The area I was started to fill up quickly, but fortunately the people around me were looking out for me- from the sassy teenage girl tapping people on the shoulder who stood in front of us and elbowed me in the side reminding me to pray to the group of twenty-something men who simultaneously made fun of me and offered for me to stand in front of them so I could see (and who immediately stopped their laughter and jokes once the puja started) to the policeman who wad basically hitting people with his baton to get them out of the walkway but exchanged smiles with me and made sure I could see!

and this is before it got crowded!

the masses

Following the ceremony, I attempted to walk down the ghats to see some of the oil lamps but the crowd was intense and I was immediately being knocked around by the crowd.  I heard a voice next to me saying ‘just stay with me, follow me’.  Not wanting to be trampled by the crowd, I put my trust in this guy and he safely pulled us to the side out of the crowd of thousands trying to go in either direction.

This guy introduced himself as babu, but that is the word for little boy [which cracks me up every time I hear someone shout ‘hey, babu!’] so I didn’t really believe him but he invited me to a small Shiva ceremony that he and some friends were going to have soon.

Though it sounded sketch, I thought I would check it out.  The shrine turned out to be right on the ghats but hidden away – I passed it a dozen times but never noticed it before.  When I got there three men were preparing for the ceremony – putting flower strands on all the ‘statues’ [my bad in advance for not knowing the correct terminology].  Babu had me help light oil lamps which lined the shrine and sprinkle marigold petals in the main area.  A family came in at one point and made an offering of rice and prayed.  But Babu and his buddies were waiting for the Brahmin to show up to perform the ceremony and since it was late I bide my farewells (it was about 10 at that point and I felt strange being in the shrine with a bunch of dudes, holy as it might be).  But I wish I had pictures of the shrine to show you as it was so beautiful.

And that my friends was my adventures in Varanasi!

family that befriended me

Nov 19

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i’m going to be famous!

hello — greetings from southern india!

After my 26 hour train ride — in which I was the only foreigner and one of a handful of women in my compartment, I reached Chennai.  The train ride was actually fine – and everyone was really friendly and helpful.  And it was super fun to stand at the end of the compartment and lean out the door to see India speeding by!

I arrived in Chennai and was overwhelmed by being in a city again (and the awful case of bedbugs from the Kolkata hotel) – so I hightailed it out of there to head down to Mamallapuram – which is south of Chennai on the coast – on the Bay of Bengal.  Mamallapuram is known for the rock carvings – old ruins from the 8th-6th century AD.  pretty amazing!  It is a very touristy town — but right on the beach — so that is pretty awesome.  and now that I have confidence, I have headed into town for actual indian food — which is way cheaper.  And Katherine – thank goodness we learned how to eat with our hands – as most meals are eaten that way!

But besides a beautiful beach and amazing rock carving ruins….  i was in a photo shoot!

Ok — here is the story — it is a good one!

The first night I was here, the owner of the hotel asked me if I would join a group of tourists to be in a movie – we would get paid for the day and go to Chennai.  And it turned out that the guy arranging it had been on my bus from Chennai down here – so I said sure!  The next morning, our group met – we were:

  • Polish
  • Spanish
  • Italian
  • Cameroon
  • Kenyan
  • Jamaican
  • Irish
  • English
  • Swiss
  • French
  • and me – the one American!

We arrived at the building where the sets were and were given our costumes — we were all FBI agents – and some of the men were dressed up as FBI SWAT team members (or whatever you would call it with all that gear on).  And then we had breakfast on the rooftop of the building (theme of the day was us sitting around a lot).  We tried to get some information about the movie — turns out that a famous Tamil actor is the main actor, director and producer and it is about terrorists and apparently, the FBI.  There were people running around all over the place – which totally kept me amused since I could not understand them (they were speaking tamil) but it was fun to imagine what they were saying.

Eventually we were called in for our photo shoot (we later learned that we were just there for the advertisements for the movie — so we will not be in it – but on the movie posters…. or something).  They took all sorts of various pictures of us posing — the only picture I was in was a group shot while wearing an FBI jacked and pointing a gun at the camera. oh yes, there was a make-up man.  and a hair man (can you believe it?!  he BRUSHED my hair and then teased it out.  Um, hello?!  what part of curly hair don’t you understand?!).  It was very glamorous (in a very non-glamorous way….)

After all that hard work, we had lunch.  And then sat around a whole bunch.  and then had tea.  Well….  let me correct that — we had chai, milk coffee and lemon tea just about every half hour.  It was awesome!  And for this day of ‘work’?  yep — we got paid!  800 rupees for the day (which works out to be about 16$ or so).  Supposedly the actor and actress, who we saw a few times, are quite famous.  And there were a couple of americans working on some of the props — they were from LA.  I was very curious about how they ended up there, but they had no time to talk while they were painting body parts to look like they had been shredded…..

All is all, it was a pretty amusing day – and fun to talk to the other folks from all over.  The Kenyan lectured me on American politics.  The italian was all fired up over politics in her own country.  The french woman might travel with me this upcoming week.  We all had a beer together afterwards (and for the record, indian beer is just as bad as nepali!).    all in all — it was a pretty fun day and evening!

In other news….  here are some highlights:

  • a large group of 11th grade girls descended on the ruin i was at this morning and swarmed me saying hello (and hello over and over since that was about the extent of their english) – though a few got out that i was a teacher.  lots of smiles — i have a great picture of them all!
  • fun to walk along the beach – dip my toes in the water — though Tamil is fairly conservative so it is frowned upon to wear a bathing suit or wear minimal clothes
  • southern indian food is SO good!  one of my favorite parts is that we eat off of a big coconut leaf (or banana leaf?)
  • bedbugs f’ing suck and they itch like hell….  and they sure don’t look that good either….  hoping i am done with that and not carrying them with me….  but there aren’t really power washers around here…..

hard to believe that i have just a month left in india….  it is such an amazing country….  there are times i hate it and want it just to be easy (um, that would be when my arms are covered in bites and people are honking and staring and trying to rip me off and …..) and then there are times that I just love this place – for the craziness, for the kindness of strangers, for the smiles.  Tomorrow, I will head south to Pondicherry – an old french colony.  I will stay there for a few days and then head back to Chennai for an overnight train to Kochi – on the other side of the country!  I am not going to the absolute south, but I figure I will get enough beach time between here and the west coast.

hope everyone is well.  I of course have tons of great pictures that I look forward to sharing at some point….

much love — aurora

Nov 14

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Kolkata

Instead, I will tell you about Kolkata!

I was a little nervous about taking the train - as it was my first first experience with it -- but when I got to the station, I had a seat and waited - I accidentally got there several hours too early - so I had some time to people watch. Or should I say - I gave people time to watch me?

Read more

Nov 8

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Varanasi

Stepping out of my guesthouse and into the narrow alley ways was …. well, it was a bit of a shock.  Glad I had been to India before!  It took me a few minutes to get my bearings and to remember to ignore or just say no to so many of the requests coming my way (music lessons?  tea?  silk?  hashish?  boat ride?  see the cremations?  see my store, no you don’t need to buy?  where you from, madame?  how are you today?  need a male companion?)

alley leading down to the ganges

I got directions from my guesthouse to head down to the Ganges – and there I headed.  I got turned around in the many alley ways and ended up on the main road – full of stores. It was a pretty insane re-introduction to India, though it got me on my feet pretty quickly.  I was followed for a short distance – though as soon as I stood next to the police (which seem to be at a lot of the intersections) he disappeared.  I guess it pays to not be super friendly sometimes!  🙂

I tried to make my way down to the Ganges – but got stymied by a procession of people (which I later discovered — when I saw the beginning of the procession — was a typical procession of people headed down to the Ganges with a body to be cremated).  But eventually I made it down there — and then spent my time wandering the ghats –there is a total of 80 of these bathing steps that go into the Ganges.   Here is where a lot of the propositioning came about while I walked along the river.

boats for hire

not sure what this is… but one of the many religious icons on the ghats

clothes drying

bathing in the Ganga

mural along one of the ghats

boat ride for pilgrams — they loved waving up to me!

My best moment though was when two young girls called me over to talk — we talked about school (their favorite class is english… and science.. and math…. and all of them!  when asked which class they did not like?  none of them!  um…. something tells me they weren’t telling me the truth! 🙂 and we took some pictures.  they were very cute.  And I thought that they were going to be my first interaction that did not have an ulterior motive — but no, one of them called over their dad to see if I wanted a boat ride.  But – none-the-less,  they were pretty great!  I told them I would share their picture and their names with my students!

my new friends!

peace, yo

Varanasi is one of the holiest cities in India for Hindus.  They pilgrimmage here to wash away their sins or cremate their loved ones.  I saw lots of people washing in the water (who knew Indian men liked tiny tighty-whiteys so much?!), doing their laundry and of course – cremations.  Also, you can take a boat ride out on the Ganges – which I hope to do during morning time.

Turns out that I am here during a big festival, the Ganga Mahotsav.  Last night was a large event – a musical concert and then a large puja on the river front.  I was sitting alone on these stairs trying to figure out what was happening – and a family came and sat next to me.  Mom offered me a cookie (though Lonely Planet has me all paranoid about accepting food from people b/c of some folks were drugged on trains and all their stuff was stolen) and the son told me about the festival.  They had traveled 3 days to get here with the goal of bathing once in the Ghanges.  They were perplexed why I would be traveling alone – but were happy enough to sit with me and tell me about the puja that would begin.

The actual ceremony was pretty amazing — full of lights and chanting and bells and incense.  I would say there were thousands of people there — out in boats or up on the stairs.  I found a seat right below where the puja was happening (that was after I was totally ripped off by some lady to put a diya (earthen lamp – candle with marigold in a banana leaf – i think….) in the water. She then proceeded to do the same with every tourist in the area…. but the upside was she lead us to a river front seat).  in a few nights, there is the culminating event – which will have thousands of diyas floating down the river and chants and incense — the program says that it will ‘make you believe that you are in heaven, witnessing a celestial happening’ – definitely something to look forward to.

preparing for the puja

Today was spent taking care of business — found an ATM that worked (well with the help of my new buddy, a security guy at the bank who laughed at me ‘reading’ hindi (which is what happens when you see the same screen in english and in hindi OVER and OVER again!), got a new SIM card for my phone and spent 4 frustrating hours trying to figure out trains and the rest of my trip (so much for doing with the flow!  who knew, in a country of a billion people, you should make your train reservations WELL in advance!  like 3 months in advance…. not quite sure what will happen since i am waitlisted for every possible train I wanted to take….)

I picked up a great book today that i cannot wait to sit on the steps of one of the ghats and read tomorrow – called The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga.  I can already tell it is one of those books I want to read slowly so that it will not end.  But — I will leave you with this image about the Mother Ganga (ghanges):

“No – I urge you not to dip in the Ganga, unless you want your mouth full of feces, straw, soggy parts of human bodies, buffalo carrion, and seven different kinds of industrial acids.”

Oh, India – where else would that be one of the holiest sites?

Nov 8

Namaste Nepal

From mountains to lakes to the jungle – Nepal seems to have it all.  What an amazing country.  I found the people, for the most part, kind and helpful.  They wanted to help – and not just to, you know, ‘help’.  For instance, one morning, while running, I saw a guy hit a dog on his motorcycle — down he went and skidded down the road (the dog ran away).  People ran from all over to help him pick up his bike and his shoe and move to the side of the road to make sure he was ok.

Yes, I solicited stares a lot of the time – but I think that happens anywhere where you are different (amazing to think what a homogenous country it is – especially as compared to the US) and when you travel in a place where women have, for the most part, a very specific role.  And the stares seemed more curious than mean or harsh.

Kathmandu is big and dusty and dirty and polluted, but people helped out when I needed directions – or smiled when I smiled at them.  Children seemed well cared for and I loved seeing them with their parents – both mom and dad seem to have lots of love for them!

But, that is not to say that it is a Shangri-La.  The day before I left, there were police in riot gear everywhere and then that evening there seemed to be a street fight breaking out near where Lisa and I bought our veggies (and right near where Katherine and I stayed when we first arrived in Kathmandu).  There definitely seemed to be an undertone of something more – perhaps as it is a country that is just coming out of civil unrest and still does not have a constitution?

But all told, it was a great two months and I would for sure go back — there are still so many places to climb and trek and areas that were unexplored!  Thanks Nepal — what a great way to start my journey!

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