From the desert to the mountains- what a long, strange trip.

It’s been a little while since I last posted here, because we've been on the move, and deep in the desert where internet connections were hard to come by. We got as far as Jaisalmer, a mere 100 km from the Pakistan border, deep in the Thar desert. And now, we are finished with our trip through the desert, finished with our planned tour through Rajasthan, land of kings, and are now back on our own. The tour was nice, it was a good way to see the desert, but it was a little rushed, with more or less fixed departure times, and only a day or 2 in each place. Now we’re on our own itinerary and schedule, and I’m much happier that way.
By the way, thanks to all my readers, I don’t know how many of you there are but I appreciate your interest, and I hope you’re enjoying these little stories. You can respond to any post at the bottom of each one, so feel free to comment, even if it’s just to let me know you’re out there.

Our journey to Dharamsala was incredible; one of those India horror stories (like the dog bite/rabies shots) that becomes an amazing story later. We booked a bus from Delhi, which was supposed to be a nice, air-conditioned overnight bus, leaving at 5pm and arriving in Dharamsala at 7 the next morning. The bus turned out to be awful, with windows that wouldn’t close, A/C that barely worked, and stains on all the seats from previous difficult journeys. And the worst part was that we were in the back, over the tires (I think our seats were attached directly to the tires), so we were bounced around ridiculously. We literally were bounced into the air every few seconds with the bumps. Sleeping was impossible. And just when we thought it could not get any worse, sure enough, the bus broke down at 3 in the morning. The driver left, or climbed on the roof to sleep, or something, but was nowhere to be found. He left the engine running until it ran out of gas about about 8 in the morning. Most of us slept through it, some people didn’t even notice we were stopped. I got off the bus at one point (stepping over a couple people sleeping on the aisle, I guess they could lie down flat, but yuck, that floor), but we were in the middle of nowhere with no one around. Slowly, as the sun rose, we realized our predicament. Apparently the driver took off to find a mechanic, and one arrived at 8:30 or 9 am, took out a very important-looking part of the engine (the starter motor? the distributor? the solonoid?), got on a passing local bus, and left us again. We had no idea what was going on and no way to reach anyone with the bus.
Pretty early on, a group of Israelis (the demographics on the bus were about 1/3rd Israeli travelers (Dharamsala is a favorite destination of theirs), 1/3rd Tibetans, and 1/3rd other Western travelers) decided to bail. They took an auto-rickshaw to a supposed taxi-stand in town, to grab a taxi the rest of the way. The rest of us stayed behind. But when the mechanic showed up, took that part and left again, more of us had reached our limit. I had gotten the phone number of a taxi driver earlier, when the first group left, so I called him back, we negotiated a price, and 6 of us started the drive to Dharamsala. The other 4 were Israeli, and were happy to learn that I’m Jewish and could speak a little bit of Hebrew. I told them if my Hindi doesn’t improve in Dharamsala, at least my Hebrew would. A few hours later, after some crazy winding mountain roads with steep drops and no guard rails, we arrived. That made it about a 24 journey, with very little sleep and much physical discomfort. Heather and I hauled on our backpacks and looked around the main square. It had changed considerably, but I found the road we needed, used the Chocolate Log as a landmark, and sure enough, the Ladies Venture guest house was right where it was supposed to be. Amazingly, they had one room left, so we took it, showered, and crashed. What a journey! But we made it to our destination with a happy ending, so all ended well.
here are some camel pix:

Shave & a Haircut, a Few Rupee

got another shave today (in Udaipur, a beautiful city of lakes in Rajasthan), it’s one of the true indulgent pleasures of traveling in India, something for the most part lost to the modern western world, which brings you back to an earlier time. It’s something you can do for yourself, of course, but it’s such a treat to have it done, something i suppose like women going to get a manicure or pedicure. Here’s what happens.
you find a barbershop, identifiable by chairs facing a mirrored wall, with shaving products on display on shelves all around. you tell them what you want, mostly by just saying “shaving”. you tell them you want a new blade, and you point out any facial hair that you want to keep. then you lean back.
he starts by gently massaging your face, to wake up the skin, and to get the lay of the land. then he takes a dab or two of shaving cream from a tube and puts in on your face. he uses an old fashioned bristle brush (probably camel hair) to spread it around vigorously, which also wakes up the skin.
the shaving-wallah (wallah just means anyone who does something; shaving wallah, laundry wallah, etc.) then pulls out his straight edge razor, takes out the old blade, washes the razor with a bit of alcohol, pulls out a new razor blade from a small box of them, and puts it into the razor. he begins the shave, pulling your skin when necessary to make a tight, flat surface. they are so good at what they do, it’s the best shaves i’ve ever had, and it can’t compare to a safety razor like we have back home. he carefully shaves everything, around the chin, the neck, the wispy hairs at the back of the neck, the sideburns, and around any mustache or beard. sometimes he will lather you up and do it all again.
after the shave comes a variety of soothing applications. first he uses a spray bottle of water to remove the rest of the shaving cream, and wipes your face expertly with a towel. he wipes the water from your eyes perfectly, just as you would yourself, with enough pressure but not too much. then he applies some kind of alcohol based after-shave liquid, slapping it on your face, giving a bit of a tingle that you can feel is so good for you, followed by an anti-septic astringent, to close any small cuts (there usually are none) and prevent infection. after that comes liquid aloe vera, which he massages into your skin, even into places not shaved, like your forehead.
after that, if you don’t stop him (and why would you?), you get a face massage. he slathers on an absurd amount of oil, but it doesn’t drip, and he rubs rubs rubs. the oil sounds gross but it’s really wonderful, and he rubs your cheeks, forehead, neck, chin, sides of your nose, ears, and temples. sometimes he will use one of those electric massagers that go on the back of your hand with a strap, and makes your fingers vibrate. sometimes he will apply the electric massager directly and before to long it turns into a full on head massage, including these kind of punctuated slaps or thrusts with the palm onto the head, which are harder to do than they seem (i tried).
finally, there comes another spritz of water from the spray bottle, and a solid but not too hard wiping of the face with a towel. all the oil is gone and your face feels healthy, glowing and alive. it’s both fantastically relaxing and invigorating, an experienced not to be missed.

why did the mongoose cross the road?

to get to the snake on the other side!
saw a mongoose running across the road today, we had no idea what it was at first, until our driver said "enemy of snake". it was long and tubular, kind of like a ferret.
We spent a couple lovely days in Pushkar, a holy city around a lake, very small, very chill. the travelling has been a little rough. on the way to Pushkar we had about 7 flat tires. On one delay we stopped in a small village and had a great time hanging out with the village children for a couple hours while waiting for our driver to return with a tire, or bolts, or something. took a bunch of great photos, will upload when we can.
i have a bit of a head cold, and heather has an upset stomach, so that's been a little rough too, but it's no big deal, don't worry everyone!! i'd make a joke about it not being malaria, but you at home might not think it very funny. really, it's fine. and we just checked into the Hotel Natural in Udaipur in deep Rajasthan. It overlooks a lake in the mountains; it's quite lovely, so this is a perfect place for a couple days of recovery!

Living like a Maharaja in Jaipur

We're in Jaipur now, the pink city, in the desert state of Rajasthan. even though it's still a big city, it has a decidedly mellower feel, prices are lower, touts are less pushy, and the people are friendly and colorful.
We just had dinner at our hotel, maybe the best meal we've had here so far, so yummy, AND there was live music and dance, traditional rajasthani performers. the musicians and dancers were all fabulous and we had a wonderful time.
On the way into town, we stopped at Fatehpur Sikri, an abandoned Mughul city built by Akbar the Great. (they abandoned it because it ran out of water.) At it, I had my first ever Muslim spiritual experience. There is a tomb for an old Sufi master; Akbar had no children and needed one for succession, so he went to this Master, and he said he would have a son if he built a city at Fatehpur Sikri. He did, and he did, so he gave the Master a resting place of honor. Because his prediction of Akbar's son came true, you can go there and make a wish. We offered a piece of fabric (which they subsequently use to make clothing for the poor of the village), placed rose petals on the fabric, and then tied a string around part of a carved marble screens (love those carved screens). Then we made 3 wishes. It was very nice. I wished everyone "salaam aleheim" on the way out, and got back "aleheim salaam" from the people. it was very nice to have such a positive experience of the Muslim religion, which gets such a bad rap in some circles. Muslims in India are generally as loving, friendly and peaceful as the Hindus or Jains or Sikhs are.
Tomorrow we tour Jaipur, including the Jantar Mantar, an early 17th century astronomical observatory built by Jai Singh, the founder of Jaipur. They have a 30 meter sundial, and a little room that allows a beam of light in exactly at noon every day (adjusted for latitude and time of year), just like that scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark. I don't know if we'll get in there, but the whole place is great, with dozens of stone instruments that measure the equinox, eclipses, appearances of venus and mars and the other planets, etc.
ALSO tomorrow i think we go on an elephant ride!!!!!!!!!

The Immortal Love

Almost 400 years ago, a young king named Shah Jahan was the ruler of the vast Moghul Empire in northern India. In those days, there existed a market place in which only women were allowed, in which courtly women could shop and socialize free from the company of men- with one exception: the King, of course. One day, the King was visiting the marketplace, and his eyes met those of a remarkable young woman. She was well-educated (rare in those days), beautiful and quite intelligent, and the two fell in Love at first sight. He was only 21; she 19, but their Love was timeless, and they soon married, and from then on she was called Mumtaz Mahal. The King had other wives, would have more later, but these were all political marriages; this was his only marriage of Love. Mumtaz Mahal was a great Queen. She participated in many political decisions (her name and seal can be found on many documents), she was an advocate for the poor, she traveled with the King even on his military conquests. In 20 years together, they had 14 children, and lived a charmed, royal life; alas she died giving birth to their 14th child.
As she lay dying, the King wanted to go with her, but she told him that such matters were in the hands of the gods, not their own. But she did ask the King for one promise- to make their Love immortal. The King, heartbroken, brought her body to a new site in Agra, buried her in a tomb, and proceeded to build around her the greatest monument to Love in the world, the most beautiful and perfect building ever built, the Taj Mahal.
We went there today, and it is stunningly moving. 20,000 workers took 22 years to build it. Specialists were brought in from all over the known world; calligraphers, marble workers, semi-precious stone carvers, architects, artists and engineers from India, Persia, Afghanistan, Turkey and elsewhere. Semi-precious stones like lapis lazuli, malachite, black onyx, mother of pearl, agate, abalone, jasper and turquoise were brought in from everywhere (turquoise is from Turkey, i never put that together before). Huge slabs of white marble were brought in from the Indian desert over 300 kilometers away on the backs of a thousand elephants. The craftsmen lived on site during the construction, and contrary to rumor, they were not hurt or killed after it was built, they only had to promise never to build such a design again.
The attention to detail and degree of planning are amazing. The 4 minarets are angled ever so slightly outward so that in the case of earthquake, they would fall outward, and not damage the main building. The arabic letters on the building that were made of single pieces of black onyx got larger as they went up, so that to the eye at ground level they would all appear to be the same size. Negative space domes carved out of the side match exactly the main dome, as if they were neatly scooped out and placed at the top. Marble was inlaid with tiny pieces of semiprecious stones depicting flowers, made of dozens of tiny, intricately carved pieces glued into placed and rubbed with sandstone until the walls were smooth and shiny.

In person, it still looks like a postcard. Word cannot express the incredible beauty and majesty of it. I never thought a building could move me so, and surely it's the story too, but the building itself is gorgeous. And today i saw it with my Love, my Mumtaz. 14 years ago I saw the Taj and dreamed of returning with my True Love, and to-day I did just that.
In the end, Shah Jahan was deposed by his son, who imprisoned his father in a fort across the river for the remainder of his days. But at least he had a clear view of the Taj and the tomb of his Mumtaz Mahal, to forever contemplate their immortal Love.

more pictures can be seen on my facebook page...

An Indian Joke

Heard this joke today. Let me know if it works without the heavy accent, cultural context, and curious syntax.


An Indian man, a British man, and a Chinese man were working in construction, and every day they took their lunch together on the roof of the building on which they were working. Every day, they ate the same thing. After a while it became too much, they couldn't take the monotony of their lunches any more, and all 3 jumped off the roof to their deaths. Their wives were grieving together, and the Indian wife said, "if only he would have told me he wanted something different, I would have prepared something new each day!" The British wife said similarly "I too would have made a different lunch for my husband if he had only told me!". The Chinese wife then said, "I don't understand, my husband prepared his own lunches!"

the good, the bad and the stinky

We've been here a week, and it seems like forever. California seems like another lifetime. India is an assault on the senses, true sensory overload, so much to see and smell and hear.

Cows and goats, elephants and monkeys, dogs and donkeys, pigs and chickens, all share the roads with pedestrians, bicyclists, cycle rickshaws, auto-rickshaws, motorcycles, ox carts, cars and buses, all making their own noise, announcing their presence, cajoling others to get out of their way. In general, the bigger you are, the more you have the right of way, but there are ways of doing things, and you get there eventually. In touristed cities like Delhi and Varanasi, they are somewhat used to seeing foreigners, but in small towns, like the one we trekked to for the eclipse, they rarely see non-indians, and they crowd and stare. Heather and I felt like Brad and Angelina driving through town. They stare like mad, but they are just curious, and quick to smile or wave hello. The ones that speak a little English, and there are many, even in small towns, will quickly say Hi, How are You, What is your Country, or any other phrase they know. I, in turn, am trying to pick up a little hindi (tori tori hindi), and so I reply asking What is your Name, or How are you, the only Hindi phrases i've got down so far.

Other useful Hindi is Namaste, of course used for Hello and Goodbye, and meaning "I honor the god(dess) inside you, and chalo chalo! which means hurry up, or let's go, or you go away. That one is very useful. and when i say ask Aapke naam kya hai, (what is your name), and they ask me excitedly You speak Hindi?, all i can reply (so far) is "tori tori hindi", meaning a very little hindi.

Now the bad, to be perfectly honest, we didn't see much of the eclipse, what can i say, we road tripped to Taregana, which was filled with scientists and declared by NASA to be the best place to watch, but when the time came, the clouds were thick and angry. Don't get me wrong, it was still a fantastic, spectacular experience. It got very dark, suddenly so at the end, and the energy and spirit of the moment was certainly with us, we just didn't get a clear view. There are many lessons for me in this. Opening my throat chakra, which makes comparisons to others and is the seat of jealousy when closed. when open, one realizes that we are each unique with our own path and experiences, which frees us to experience our own Godhood. Also, I must remember to not be so active; when one is doing doing doing, there is less room for the Universe to offer its bounties. But the experience was still amazingly wonderful. We got a car and driver for the day, and drove a long way to the small town of Taregana, which, as i mentioned, does not see many tourists. Every so often our driver would stop and ask for directions, it was such a small town. When we arrived, we were directed to a small school which was ready for eclipse visitors. We slept in a dorm with a few other people, and while the night was fitful for us, the mosquitoes had a good time. the next morning we climbed up to the roof to watch, and were joined by a couple other westerners and lots of Indian tourists. We talked while waiting, and when the time came, we were all awestruck by the majesty of darkness an hour after dawn, and the second dawn that day. The road took us through a lot of beautiful countryside, rice paddies, small villages with straw huts, open air marketplaces, and so much beauty and scenery that we had not seen until then. so the trip was very much worth it, despite the clouds.

Varanasi is a crazy city, a holy city on the Ganges river (Ganga in Hindi, with both hard g's), but very busy and very touristed. it seems that everyone wants to sell us something. boat rides, silk, jewelry, massages, everything. i'm getting back into the feel of turning them down with a smile and a Namaste. even the silk dealers let us off the hook eventually when i explain that to us, money in India means time in India. they soften up after that.

Tonight, in just a couple hours actually, we get back on a train and head for Agra. it's an overnight train, and we've got 2nd class tickets, which means A/C, and 2 bunks on each side of the train, one upper and lower. a higher class gives you your own car, overkill for us, and lower classes give 3 bunks per side, or just a chair in the lowest class. it's actually pretty cozy, and we end up talking to any traincar-mates that we have. We are heading west, to see the Taj Mahal in Agra, with a side trip to Krishna's hometown of Vrindavin along the way. That's another holy town, where not many tourists go, where spiritual pilgrimages by westerners are respected. The Taj is not open on Fridays, because it has a working mosque, so we will see it on Saturday, at sunrise hopefully. Then we head deeper into the desert, for camel rides, an elephant ride to a temple on top of a hill, and ancient astronomical observatories.

vids and new pics are posted on my facebook page.