Final thoughts

Jenn and I have had quite the eye opening past 3 days. While we’ve been in India for one month and have been deeply moved and changed by many of the things we saw here, I believe that our visit to the Golden Temple will change who we are for good. We’ve spent two nights now trying to figure out how to describe what we saw, but we can’t. This temple is to the Sikh’s what Mecca is to Muslims. You walk in and see a gorgeous but small golden temple floating effortlessly in the middle of water. Hymns are being sung loudly and clearly from inside this temple and the people are slowly drifting by. Walking around this spiritual place gave me a crazy feeling (and I’m not just talking about the gross squishy feeling of being barefoot on wet marble which by the way took a lot considering my foot phobia). This was the first place on the trip where Jenn and I have really felt like we belonged, we were one of them, we were accepted. What hit us the most was the dinner. All Sikh temples provide a place to stay and a free meal. We debated for awhile about going in for the meal fearing that by eating we’d be taking food away from someone who really needed it. After a long debate we went. You walk into this huge hall, sit on the ground with your plate, bowl and cup as volunteers walk around and serve you never-ending Dahl and roti. Two things about this blew my mind. The first was that even though we clearly weren’t Sikh, we weren’t glanced at twice. We were met with only kind smiles and delicious food. The second thing was the sheer simplicity of it. People that had money donated money and people that had time donated time. The whole operation was run purely by donations. It was such a simple concept and helped so many.

When I first arrived someone told me that Indians will always cram as many people as possible on a bus. No matter how full it is, you can always fit more. Someone will always lean out and grab you if you’re trying to jump onto that moving bus. When I first arrived I didn’t really understand it but took the idea in stride and braced for smelly, squishy bus rides. On the way to the Golden Temple, I was that person desperately trying to get on the moving bus with my heavy bag and all. Two people grabbed me and another gave me a seat. Again, so simple. It’s that sense of community, humanity and compassion that sets India apart from everywhere else.

India has taught me more than any other place I’ve traveled to. It didn’t teach me about who I am but rather about who I want to be. It opened my eyes to a simpler, but I think more fulfilling, way of life. And above all, it taught me that there is always room and time for one more.

Good-bye India, we’ll meet again soon.

HELLO THAILAND!

Divali in India

Just when I thought India couldn’t get any more colorful (some might say tacky) and crazier, it does. Divali came last Saturday and boy was it nutty. The people here have said that it is similar to Christmas in Canada; except that we celebrate in our homes with family and they let loose on the street with cows. All the towns were decorated with pictures of different Gods, many men were half naked painted orange with tails (we learnt later on that they were dressed up as Hanuman the monkey God), flowers were strung everywhere (there were so many on some autorickshaws that I swear they couldn’t see a thing), and fireworks were going off at every street corner. The four of us just so happened to be on an overnight bus that night so we got to see celebrations in every town as we went along. We saw little 5 year old Billie up on the roof lighting off his first fire cracker as his parents proudly watched from below. Older kids were playing a more sophisticated game trying to get their firework to explode under our bus which meant a delightful but constant hue of green, yellow and red shooting up from every corner of the bus. And the bus driver himself was bobbing along to loud Hindi music sung in the key of “off” rolling the bus around the firecrackers like he was in a video game. I’m honestly not being sarcastic when I say that I love this place. Jenn and I are starting to get really sad about leaving in just two days. This place has taught me so much and I have much more to learn.

While we were planning on heading back to Delhi, in a split second decision, we got on a bus and are now a little further North in Amristar sleeping in the Sikh Golden Temple. I had my first random scooter ride (no worries, I side saddled like all the other Indian women) and just returned from seeing the closing of the Pakistan-India border which was quite the spectacle. Tonight will be the second last night in India which will be spent enjoying the people, tasting the food and discovering the secrets that makes this incredible country what it is.

Himalayan trekking pics

Success!

Showing off our muddy attire after getting out of the dump truck





Give Jenn some snow and a horse and she is the happiest camper alive

A sweet cup of Chai

The brilliant chef at work.

The group- Four trekers, four trekking/cooking/fire making guru's and a couple of ponies

Slip slidding in the Himilayans

We’re back safe and sound from a 5 day wilderness trek in the Himilayans. We had every kind of weather imaginable from sun, rain, a hail/snow storm and cloudy days. This trek was not any normal trek though. Apparently when you get a guide for a trek in India he comes with a cook, a helper, a pony guy and 5 ponies to carry all your gear, a full kitchen and a bbq size propane tank. It was a weird lazy feeling to get used to but arriving to a set up camp site with tea waiting every night was beautiful.

Day 1 we set out around 9am and climbed for about 6 hours and gained 1200 m in elevation to a beautiful campsite at 3300m. The coolest part about being up here is that instead of lying down and looking at the stars, they seemed to just flow all around you. We buddled up in our long johns, pants, wool toe socks, t-shirt, long sleeve shirt, fleece sweater, wool sweater, gortex jacket, wool gloves and lumberjack hats and enjoyed the view. Yes, it really was that cold when the sun went down.

Day 2 started off with a gorgeous sunrise and a tough morning climb up to about 4000m. We were a little faster today and managed to keep up to the ponies (those things are fast and incredibly sure footed) The climb didn’t last past the afternoon and we spent the last few hours winding down into a valley. We learnt how to make Dal, breadpudding and pakora’s at night with our incredibly talented chef. Affer filling our bellies, we watched our piro pony guy make a fire. He speaks no English but is quite entertaining to watch as he builds his typical 6ft fire and casually walks or jumps through it for fun. We learnt how to say "Stop, drop and roll" in Hindi just incase he ever went up in flames.

Day 3 was the middle day and a little more relaxing. We walked to a glacier at the foot of Deoteba peak. Our guide who had been doing the route for 14 years showed us where the glacier used to be and where it stands now, about 1 km shorter and less than half he height. This tiny,used to be glacier was a sad sight to see. We then clambered our way to the next campsite where we spent another relaxing night learning how to cook and keeping warm while is slowly snowed outside. Thank goodness for our woolen sweaters.

Day 4 was fantastic!!! It was an incredibly technical route simply because the guide got a little lost and took us bushwhacking up and down the mountain side. We did a little bouldering to get around some corners and lots of slippery side stepping. I took a wipe out into the river (third one of the trip) and we got to the final campsite just as a huge hail storm started. We desperately tried to put up the tents before it got too bad and then huddled in the mess tent while watching all the sad poorly dressed people hike past. I never would have thought that I’d come to India and sit through a hail storm! The night was cold enough that the four of us curled up in one tent to keep warm.

Day 5 was even more interesting than the fourth. With another early morning spill into a river it was a real mental challenge for me to keep warm and non-grumpy as we crossed the next 7 streams to get out of the hills. About 2 hours into a hike the rain started coming. If you’ve ever been hiking you know that rain sucks unless you’re on the way out. The rain made the route that much more fun as we were jumping over puddles and slipping in mud. We were finally out of the hills at 1pm but being cold and numb decided to hitch hike the final 12 km back to the starting point. The four of us climbed into a dump truck and hurled down the muddy gravel roads bumping along with the a random group of locals who also didn’t want to walk down the road. I didn't know if I should laugh about the ridiculousness of being in India in the back of a dump trunk or cry about my numb toes and fingers.

We’ve finally warmed up after 12 hours of drinking hot teas and getting our clothes cleaned and dried from the mud and rain. It was 5 days that I won't soon forget. First trip in the Himilayans = a flying success.

Next stop is Chandigar as we slowly make our way back to Delhi :o(

Note

You can zip over to Jenn's blog by clicking on the tab in the "Links" section on the left...

Green with envy- literally

Well, Jenn and I had another typical car ride. Jenn was staring out at the beautiful scenery all wide eyed and bushy tailed, pointing out all the amazing sights to make sure I was seeing what she was. Meanwhile, I was ignoring her jubillant cries while keeping my eyes fixed on the horizon and frantically clasping my "roadside regurgitaion" bag. Either way, we're both glad to have made it safe and sound to our new exploration sight- Manali and the mountains.

It's been hard to give a good description of travel in India. Whether you're winding through hair pin sheer cliff mountain turns or attempting to pass through the mayhem of the towns, it's always an adventure. Here's a little paragraph we found from our new favorite author describing the roads and drivers in India.

"Which ever driver you have, he always seems to be the Tarzan of the traffic jungle. He knows the strict species pecking order: pedestrians are on the bottom and run out of the way of everything, bicycles make way for cycle-rickshaws which give way to autorickshaws, which stop for cars which are subservient to trucks. Buses stop for one thing and one thing only. Not customers- they jump on while the buses are still moving. The ony thing that can stop a bus is the king of the road, the lord of the jungle and the top dog. The Holy Cow."

Here's Jenn to give you a little description of where we've been and what we've done.
Howdy! Sorry, time is at a premium, but for now if you are longing for some more stories and descriptions, check them out at my blog - http://auspiciousadventuresbyjenn.blogspot.com. I promise to provide you with a much better entry when we return from our trek! 'til then....

It's a quickie

Well, it's official. Jenn and I have cancelled our flights and are spending the next 2 weeks in the North. We should have known that once we got into the mountains we would never be able to leave. We’ve spent the past week in McLeod Ganj doing Tibetan cooking classes, Buddhist lectures, way too much eating and talking to as many people as we can. We’ve been trying to learn about Tibet and Buddhism but have had trouble finding someone who speaks English well enough to teach us. We finally found someone and are meeting with him for tea for a Buddhism 101 lesson. Ironically enough, of all the people we talked to, we’re meeting with a guy from Vancouver who converted to Buddhism at the age of 14 and has been teaching in Canada ever since. Never thought we’d leave Canada to learn about another country through a Canadian.

We’ve also managed to meet up with Leslie (good friend from Queen’s) and her friend Faysa, which has turned our twosome into an awesome foursome. Tomorrow we leave bright and early in a jeep for what I’m sure will be another shell shocking trip on the mountain roads. We’re going to cram our bodies into a little car to get to Manali where we will start our 5-day trek in the wilderness. We've been starring at the mountains from a distance and can hardly wait to be walking (or crawling) up them. Starting with the hats, we've continued on our warm clothing trend and have now bought some weird two pronged socks and soon gloves and sweaters to go along with the somewhat "halloweenish" attire. It better be as cold up there as we think it will be! It's been a pretty intense week analyzing some serious subjects so I think we're both ready to work our legs and give our brains a rest.

That's all for now. Sorry it was so short and boring. I’ll make the next one a little more exciting when I get to regail you of our mountain adventures.

Our new trend is on the rise- stay tuned for pictures

Shaina and I have quickly come to the realization that we have one very obvious problem with travelling together, which ineveitably always results in us taking much longer walks and explorations than intially expected - we both have a compulsion to find out what is "around the next bend" and will not turn around until we figure it otu. I guess this isn't really a problem, unless discovering amazing new views and interesting situations is a bad thing.....

We posted our last entry from Shimla, where after spending 2 nights we took a bus to Tattapani, a small town Northwest of Shimla, which we picked randomly off the map as it was on our way. After having experienced the chaos of our earlier mountain bus ride,the hairpin turns, sheer cliffs and constant contemplation of hurtling over the edge felt more normal this time. To our surprise, we arrived to a small town with only a couple of hotels that was set right on the banks of a river - beautiful! The laid back atmosphere, delicious food, cheap room ($1 CDN each per night) and beautiful environment got us - we quickly decided to prolong our stay by one night and spent an entire day hiking to a cave on the river, where we splashed in the water, let the current carry us downstream, let the sun warm our skin, and practiced our rock climbing skills while checking out the great scenery.

After spending 16 hours travelling (the out of control mountain bus rides almost feel quite normal now...) which invovled a 3 hour delay to change the bus tire while being entertained by the antics of monkeys, a ride that rattled every bone in our bodies and shook up our blood, stopping at a random and seemingly out-of-nowhere rest point in the middle of the mountains with all you can eat chapati, dal and chana for less than 25 cents CDN each, we arrived in Palampur. Although we only had one night here, it was definitely short and sweet as we spent the next morning walking through the tea plantations with women working amongst the squat dark green plants in their vibrantly colored punjabi suits, along a road that was accompanied by a small canal of water on either side, yielding a relaxing gurgle of flowing water. We watched women minding their cows while knitting warm woolens, and tailors in their small shops concocting beautiful garments on hand operated Singer sewing machines.

On another note, wow, I have to say I just love the Indian hospitality! I was just offered milky Chai (tea) by the man who runs this internet cafe. This is so typical, as in most shops and stores you go into, they will offer you tea whether you make a purchase or not! To think, internet cafes back home likely wouldn't even let you bring water into their establishment, let alone even consider offering you a drink...... what a life.

We are now in Mcleod Ganj and are loving it so much that we are contemplating completely changing our entire plan and spending the rest of our time here in the North. (This would involve cancelling the flights we already have booked down south) To living in the moment...

Another notable point that I cannot leave unmentioned - today Shaina and I bought the most incredible matching hats. They are like fur-trader hats with big ear flaps and sheep skinned lined giving neverending possibilities for ridiculousness. But they are SO warm and you should all watch out when we start up a contagious new trend when we get home....

Shaina here- Just for the record, we ARE great bargainners and your comments made us giggle, laugh and snort all at once. Thanks.

India Imaged

Ooops.... seems as if the delicous Indian food and spectacular mountian views are getting to me. I just posted some pics from our first week here, but put them on my blog by accident - http://auspiciousadventuresbyjenn.blogspot.com/

Next time I will focus more on the blogging and less on the distracting views outside....riiiight

Enjoy!

The (2nd) Indian adventure begins..

As we were packing up our bags ready to take off to India someone said to me “I hope you have a lot of travelers luck.” She went on to explain that travelers luck is the family you meet who teaches you how to cook their specialty dinner all because you missed your bus. It’s the little side street you stumble upon while simply looking for a bathroom. And it’s the beautiful sunrise you catch because you couldn’t sleep due to a ridiculously hard bed. This trip is only 8 days old and we are already counting our lucky stars for the amazing and hilarious experiences we’ve had thus far.

We had a relatively easy introduction to the bustling city of Delhi as the friend’s house that we were staying at turned out to be a gorgeous palace off the beaten track. We spent three days there getting accustomed to the somehow organized chaos of Delhi, the touts, food and mayhem with our own driver and history teacher. We spent each night sitting up late with Mr. Sahgal learning how to cook India food, about the history of India, the religions, the culture and why selling cigarettes makes sense. (Yes, we really did cover a lot of topics in a very short time!) On day two we took a rickshaw into Old Delhi and from what we saw there knew that we would definitely love exploring this country.

By day four we took off on our own for Agra, Fatehpur Sikri and Jaipur. This was when we realized the wall we’d been hiding behind in Delhi. Being on our own introduced a whole new challenge but was twenty times more exciting. The slow introduction in Delhi left us excited and prepared but cautious for the time on our own. We feel that we could each write a novel about how spectacular and surreal the Taj Mahal is, the friendly rickshaw driver that saved us in Agra, the bus ride that was more like off roading through incoming traffic, learning how semi-precious stones are inlaid by hand into marble, the bus stop that was no more than a pile of dirt and random carts selling even more random things beside a camel and some wandering cows in Fatehpur Sikri and the even more ridiculous “bus ride of death” with hairpin turns at every bend and no guard rail between the narrow road and the sheer cliff up to monkey-governed Shimla. As we really can’t go into detail on all of these things, we will tell you about our day in Jaipur. We never had plans to go to Jaipur but were encouraged to go because it is nothing like the north or south but rather its own little place, and is part of the “Golden Triangle” that is made up of Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur. We arrived late at night and knowing it was a high “tourist” town (which means you don’t see any other tourists) knew we’d get hassled more than any other place. We spent the day walking through the many bazaars buying amazingly cool and comfortable Indian cotton skirts and shirts. We have to say that we have become masters at bartering. Although our first few tries were embarrassing and awkward to say the least, we have progressed so much that one of the shop keepers even said to us “You girls are very intelligent in barterting” – now that is a real compliment coming from someone who does this for his life! This is also one area in which being a female is super useful. Now we know that everyone probably thinks that they are great at bartering, but trust us, we have a darn good system and got deals that we didn’t even know existed! Before we knew it, the sun was setting and we had yet to see a single site in Jaipur. We’d only seen the many stores and random side streets that we constantly went exploring down. Making the firm decision to stop shopping and see the town’s wind tunnel we started heading towards the Wind Palace. For some unknown reason, without shouts or calls to come to their store and utterly bored of shopping, we stepped into one last store just to look for a shirt. Before we knew it we were sitting in the back covered in colorful clothes chatting with the sales man. Usually we’d be in an out of a store in 20 min because you know right away if they have what you want or are just pulling you around. Somehow we stayed in that last store for almost two hours drinking tea and merely chatting with the many Indians around. We drank tea with them and started dressing up in their Sari’s and Punjabi suits. Next thing we knew we were in a mini-photo shoot with the Rajakstani newspaper photographer, striking different poses in our peacock blue and golden Punjabi’s. We left the store with a free bag, tea and two shirts just to come out to a parade with elephants, camels, weird naked monkey men, bullocks and people dressed in celebrational Indian wear. What a day, oh what a day.

We had a few more run ins with “travelers luck” last night where we somehow ended up a some government building drinking tea and eating sandwiches before being given a free room to stay in all because we were led astray by our travel agent and missed the overnight bus to Shimla. Funny how things works out that way…

Besides Jenn’s fascinating inability to be able to walk in anything remotely close to a straight line, she is an incredible travel buddy and I know we’re going to have a blast for the next four weeks in India. No sunburns or illnesses yet. Keep your fingers crossed for us.