In Jaisalemer at last!

Well, it's been awhile since I posted, so I will try to add a few highlights that Jeremiah may have missed. I have also added a few pictures to previous posts, so make sure to take a look!

From Darjeeling we headed back to Kolkata to catch a train to Varanasi. I enjoyed Varanasi, however the huge amount of pollution there is upsetting. Besides the ritualistic burning of bodies into the Ganges, according to our Lonely Plant the river is heavily polluted with E. coli and other nasty bugs. During our boat ride we were all very careful not to touch the water. Our boatmen, two young 10 year old boys, happily informed us that their grandfather had caught a Ganges Dolphin, and was proud because the dolphins "have very good oil!" We were all horrified because there are only about 4,000 of those dolphins left in the Ganges! But, how can you compete with the lure of "good oil"?

One highlight of Varnasi was the holy cow man we encountered while wanderling lost in the streets. We were taking pictures of a particularly large cow when an old man approached us and told us that he was a caretaker for the cows, and showed us a tiny stable where a 13 day olf calf was resting. He didn't even ask us for money (which totally surprised us), all he wanted was that we mail him a copy of the picture.

Varanasi is somewhat of a tourist attraction not only for foreign travelers, but also for people from all over India. We were able to watch a nightly ceremony performed near the river, and while it was interesting we didn't understand anything that was going on, and had to leave after 2 hours (it kept going for several hours after that!).

After Varanasi was Agra, where we spent the minimum amount of time. The Taj was gorgeous but due to a train delay we didn't have enough time to see the fort. We did, however, have enough time to store our stuff in a cheap hotel for a couple of hours while we visited the Taj, and and discovered to my dismay that ants had totally infiltrated my bad while we were gone.

After Agra was a horrific train ride to Jaipur. Traveling second class to save money (which actually equated to about $10) was a terrible idea. The train was late, was filled to the brim because they didn't check any tickets, there was a hole in the ceiling about a fot wide above my bunk that I was sure was full of cockroaches, and even though it was a night train there were so many people hanging around talking that none of the lights were ever turned off. I wanted to take pictures but I was afraid to take out my camera!

Jaipur turned out to be a lifesaver because we found a clean, cheap hotel and were able to catch up on laundry and sleep. We saw a Bollywood movie called Drona, which was in Hindi so we couldn't understand most of it. Basically it was a story about a guy who found out he had a magical destiny to defeat a strange puppet loving man. It was pretty funny to us, although I don't think it was meant to be. :) The whole moviegoing crowd got into it though, cheering and yelling throughout the whole 3 hour long debacle. Hilarious.

We are now in Jaisalemer and are having a terrific time. The city is in the desert and the main attraction is a beautiful fort. It's beginning to sink into the ground due to an overtaxed plumbing system, so I am glad that we have had the chance to see it. It's VERY hot here. I have a nifty digital cloclk/calculator/thermometer that I have been carrying everywhere, and it read 102 in the shade! I put it in the sun to see just how hot it really was, and after a couple of minutes the whole screen turned black! I cooled it down on my water bottle and it started working again, everything except the thermometer function. I permanantly burned it out!

Anyway, we are going to get an early start tomorrow for our camel ride in the desert- I hope everyone is donig well!

The Ganges and the Taj Mahal

Right now Kat and I are in Jaipur, but we arrived here from Agra and before that Varanasi, so I have some catching up to do!

We spent 3 days and 2 nights in the wonderful city of Varanasi. We ended up staying at the same hotel as Mark and Monica, a couple we've been running into since our first day in India, so we ended up spending some time with them. Varanasi is a very old city. I've never been to Italy but I've heard some of the old cities are made of narrow passages - Varanasi was just that way. This makes for an interesting layout but it poses two problems: it's easy to get lost (but you can always pay a boy 10 rupees to take you to your hotel), and sometimes it's difficult to bypass the larger holy cows. Yes indeed, even Varanasi has free-roaming cows - maybe more so than the other cities we've visited.

The real magic of Varanasi is the spirituality. Varanasi is one of the holiest spots in the world for Hindus. As a result there are priests and worshippers throughout the ghats along the Ganges. In the morning many people come down to the Ghats to bath. The first day I was there I let Kat sleep in and I wandered down to the main Ghat myself. It really was an amazing place. It also helped that the 'Chai Wallahs' were out that early in the morning - Kat and I have found that few people rise early in India!

We also visited the 'burning-man' ghat. Basically it's a cremation process where the bodies ashes are put into the Ganges. Hindus pay huge amounts of money for this rite. The wood is carried downriver to the ghat, and the flames used to ignite the pyre are from an eternal flame that is said to have been continuously burning for 3,000 years. After the fire the 'little body' that is left (basically the charred remains of the chest cavity) is thrown into the river along with the ashes. There is a LOT more to the ceremony but it is very fascinating. I'm sure there's better descriptions on the internet.

From Varanasi we took the train to Agra for the day. We only wanted one day because our only destination was the Taj Mahal. As I'm sure everyone's heard, the Taj Mahal is supposed to be the most wonderful architectural achievement of mankind. And I really have to say that is doesn't disappoint! It's large, but not huge, but it's position makes you have to constantly look up to it. And especially after having been in India for a while the perfect green gardens contrasted with the white marble and the blue sky is beautiful. Inside the mausoleum is the sarcophagus' of the rulers. Surrounding them on the white marble walls are inlays from floor to ceiling. The detail of the marble work is astounding. The Taj is the must see sight in India and Kat and I were both very impressed.

Right now, as I said previously, we're in Jaipur. It's really just a between point on the train for Jaisalmer, but it's been a blessing in disguise. We thought it would be a boring town, and it is, but that's just what we needed! Since we left we're been constantly on the go, around the clock, and it's nice to be somewhere that we don't have an agenda of sights to see or touts to barter with. And after the worst train ride yet - I'll have to tell about this later - we found a great hotel to catch up on sleep in. So far the highlight of this town for us has been the McDonalds. I don't normally eat at McD's at home, but this was the first one we've seen in India so we had to try! I knew something was wrong with the menu but it took me a minute to figure out why I couldn't find the Big Mac - there's no beef! This should have been obvious to be sooner. So I had the Chicken Maharaja Mac. It's not really the same thing at all. For starters it's thin chicken patties and second the sauce is curry flavored! So I didn't really get a taste of home but at least it was entertaining.

Next up.....Jaisalmer and camel rides!!!

PS - pictures are still difficult to load on most computers but I'll keep trying!

Bombs and possible flooding?

Just in case people are wondering, Kat and I have decided to skip visiting Delhi. There have been multiple bombings recently and there's been a flood warning as well (thanks Elizabeth!). Plus we're kind of tired of big Indian cities already. So don't worry!

Finally some mountains!

Kat and I spent the last few days in the wonderful city of Darjeeling. The climate and scenery is similar to Washington so we were very comfortable, but the culture was mostly Nepalese with some Tibetans and Indians thrown in. The people here were extremely nice. The last day we woke up early and took a share-jeep up to the top of Tiger hill to watch the sunrise over the Himilayas. We were particularly lucky because the clouds parted for us to see not only Kanchenjunga, but also Everest! In the picture at left it's the peak in the middle that's just poking out. The sunrise was gorgous! I have lots of pictures but these computers are too slow to load many.

On the way out of Darjeeling we took the Toy Train. It's a small train that runs from Darjeeling to New Jalpaiguri. We shared the car with a large Indian family that was very nice. I had actually met the man the day before and he was very happy to see that myself and Kat would be riding with them. They were great! They sang songs and shared lots of snacks with us. One of the girls even begged Kat to sing her a song. After much reluctance I convinced Kat to sing "we are the champions." Kat sang like a nightingale but the little girl was not impressed (sorry Kat!). I think she wanted Britanny Spears or something.

We also ran into a couple that trekked for 15 days up in Sikkim. They managed their way up to the 5,000m pass of Kanchenjunga! That's higher than any mountain in Washington and it's just a pass! Anyways, we had dinner and breakfast with them before and after the train. They were from Vancouver and are into the typical northwest outdoors stuff so we had plenty to talk about.

Kat and I heading out for Varanasi on the train tonight. We plan to spend 2 days there and then head to Agra for a day. From there we'll go to Jaipur for a couple of days before going to Jaisalmer for a camel ride in the desert! We don't have plans past that. But lucky for us we've been able to upgrade out tickets from the 'sleeper' class the the 'AC3' class. Kat is VERY happy about this and I suppose I am too. But I sure will miss the calls for "Chai!" at 3am and the harassment from the singing eunuchs for rupees...wait, sleeping sounds nice too.