I traveled to Lumbini Nepal on the 28th because it is the historical birthplace of the Buddha. Lumbini itself is literally a village but right next to it is an enormous work in progress where governments and organizations from all over the world are building temples and monasteries. I spent the 29th walking in and out of one temple/monastery after the other. I ended up arriving in the middle of a 10 day pilgrimage of thousands of monks from all over the world but primarily India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Throughout the two days there I was able to talk with several and spent a lot of time with one particular monk named Tenzin Choepol. I gave him this address so hopefully he is reading. Tenzin and I got to converse quite a bit over the two days and I got to have dinner with him at one of the monastery restaurants on the night of the 29th. Overall Lumbini was a very interesting place to visit and I am still in awe when I think about how much time/effort/money is being invested to build the temples and monasteries there.

After Lumbini was Agra and the Taj Mahal. My plan had been to skip Agra and get up to Dharamsala earlier but I ended up jumping off my train early and stopping in Agra. I arrived in the afternoon, got a hotel near the Taj Mahal and was offered a multitude of “cheap and best agra tours,” “real marble replica taj mahal” and of course the ever present hash. Anyway, I went in the next morning before the sun came up and it was downright impressive. It is certainly toward the top of my “most incredible buildings I have ever seen” list. I spent about 4 hours walking around and taking pictures (which are on facebook if you wish to indulge). Throughout this trip I have had something of a strategy for avoiding touristy places. Overall it has pretty much worked in an excellent manner but I am very happy I ended up going to the Taj Mahal. I had heard so many people talk about how amazing it was and I think they were right. There are also several hilarious stories a bit long to put on here but I will tell them to anyone who asks me in any verbal manner.

Sidenote: I am pretty sure the keyboard I am using is vintage 1974 so any misspelled words/uncapitalized letters are hopefully because of that.

After Agra came Amritsar where the Sikh Golden Temple is. In keeping with the name, the temple is actually gold. In fact it is very very gold. It is also in the middle of an enormous building complex and a massive lake-swimming pool. It was very impressive to look at but the most interesting part for me was the walk across the bridge that leads to the temple itself. It was only about 100m but took 20 minutes to cross because there were so many people. The experience of walking across the bridge was pretty powerful because it was the type of place where a person could just feel the energy from the people around. As far as I could tell, I was the only non-sikh anywhere near me and it was very apparent I was surrounded by people absolutely full of anticipation. I remember standing there in total awe at how much one place could mean to a person and realizing there is nothing in my life that even comes close to helping me relate to that. The lady behind me (and many others) was physically shaking and pushing me forward to get to the temple as soon as possible. It was very apparent that the people around me were about to enter wha they considered one of, if not the, holiest places in the entire world. I have been to a lot of Hindu, Jain and Buddhist temples along with Muslim Mosques and the experience of walking across that bridge was significantly more interesting and powerful than any event or ritual I have seen before or since in India. Well that is that for now.

The 3rd day there was amazing and began with tea at about 6:30 before I left my room to walk toward the World Peace Pagoda. The beginning of the walk took me through the south side of town and along the lake to a little lookout point over the lake. It was here that I met Carmen from Spain and we ended up walking the rest of the day and having adventures. She is currently a few months into a year long journey that it literally around the world. She had been working in marketing for all of her professional life and had worked at several companies/jobs before becoming the marketing director for 20th century fox in Spain. She also shared how stressful/time consuming it was to be in that line of work. A few months ago she was physically ill from all of it and decided to leave and start traveling. Since then she has been to several countries and did the trek to Everest base camp in eastern Nepal. So that is something of an introduction to Carmen. The walk to the Pagoda was wonderful (there are lots of pictures on facebook). The trail went up and down through the hills as the views of the mountains got successively better. The pagoda was interesting to see but certainly not the highlight. My favorite part was the walk down the other side of the hills. There was a direct path down to a dock where you can hire a boat to go back to town. We decided to take a path that in theory goes down the backside of the hills and to a cool market. We ended up kind of lost and it worked out very well. This path went through several small village farms and ended up at a dry riverbed. We followed the river bed as the only option and ended up on the opposite side of the very large lake from Pokhara. There were hardly any people around and it was a great place to just sit and look at the mountains over the lake.

Eventually three guys from katHmandu came by on a boat and let us ride with them back to town. The next phase of the day consisted of eating one of the most delicious dishes ever created with a deceptively simple and misleading name. The dish answered the calling of vegetable curry and brown rice.  It was basically a gigantic pile of brown rice and a gigantic pile of vegetables in a curry sauce that descended from heaven.  The brown rice was the luxury because everything seems to come with unlimited white rice. After basking in the glory of the dish, I narrowly avoided passing out on the way to my lodge and went to sleep at an obscenely early hour.

Most of the time in Pokhara was spent on other explorations I will share later and hanging out with a local kid named Sakhti and lots of foreigners from mostly Europe. Pokhara, especially the area I stayed in, is quite touristy but also super wonderful.

After Pokhara was Lumbini because it is on the way to India and the historical birthplace of Buddha. Those stories will come soon.

That paragraph has been bumbling around in my head for a few days so I felt the need to expel it. I have also been reading Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens and there is not a whole lot I like more than satire,  so that may also explain part of it.

Anyway. . . KatHmandu. It is an interesting place that takes a long time to get to. The journey there started in Darjeeling when I took a jeep back down the mountain to a city that doesnt matter (It is called Siliguiri if you must know) and from there took a bus to the Nepal border.  The India-Nepal border is unguarded and unpatrolled in every way. I had walked about 300m into Nepal and across a bridge before I  even realized I had crossed the border. The most difficult part of the endeavor was finding the immigration office where I was to get my seemingy arbitrary visa stamped. From there I meandered around the town of Kakkarbita until a guy ran up asked me if I wanted to go to Kathmandu. I informed him that I thought that would be a fabulous prospect and did not mind the rip off that would surely ensue. We went to a travel agent and booked my 10 dollar 18 hour bus ride. Turns out he only charged like 75 cents extra so I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of rip off.  The bus ride was short, very comfortable and I got lots of wonderful sleep. That is completely false but it was fine and I got to Kathmandu Wednesday the 18th at about noon (not 6:30am like the original plan said but I am not bitter).

One thing I have learned for sure so far is that every city has an enormous and mostly terrible tourist ghetto where an incredibly large majority of the foreigners stay. In Kolkata this is Sudder Street and in Kathmandu it is an area called Thamel. I met a guy in Darjeeling that warned me of this so I was fortunate enough to end up on Freak Street. That is the real name and it was significantly more laid back and lacking in people selling trinkets, “100% pashmina shawls” and “genuine tibetan artifacts.” I also scored a hotel for just under 3 dollars and it was right on an area called durbar square, which has massive quantities of old palace temple action. After completing about 7 hours of sleep over the previous 2 nights, I slept quite well.

Overall Kathmandu was very enjoyable. There are pictures on facebook if that strikes your fancy. The city itself has a lot of awesome temples and palaces to check out so that was cool.

I feel moderately unitelligent for not realizing picture mode was possible before. . . oh well.

So this was some sort of Siamese cow and easily the weirdest experience of Kathmandu. At first all I noticed was a huge crowd of people yelling and playing loud music. This is what I saw when I went up to check it out. There were people bowing and praying and leaving money. I have other pictures but they are further along on the uncomfortable scale.

After Kathmandu was a town called Ghorka about half way to my current location of Pokhara. Not very many people stop in Ghorka and that is unfortunate. I stopped because I read about a hilltop palace with great views and that is exactly what I found.  Here I am:

There are lots more pictures on facebook. This hill was on top of lots of stairs and I got to watch the sunset up there. It was quite enjoyable.

Now I am in Pokhara in west centralish nepal. It is hailed as the best city to visit in all of Nepal so I feel pretty good about the prospects. I have only been here long enough to check in and get some tea so I will update about it in a day or two. I will say that the internet cafe I am currently in is by far the best I have encountered on the journey. I can actually watch videos without delay. Usually a 5 min video takes at least 15 minutes to load. Well that is that. This one was long but I did not update in Kathmandu because I could only find crappy internet places with power cuts.

This morning’s activities involved riding in a jeep up a big hill to watch some sunrise action over some Himalayan mountain action. It was delightful.

A main topic of conversation here is just the culture and the way the people tend to approach life. Something they always mention is how little materialism there is in the area. For the most part people seem very content and there is a surprisingly small presence of the inequality that seems to dominate the rest of India. A few nights ago I was talking to the guy who managed the hotel I was in about this exactly and he said “Darjeeling is not like Kolkata or other places. There people focus so much on money. Here no one really cares if you have money or dont have money. People don’t go hungry either. If you need something there is always someone looking out who will help you.”  All I can attest to is the minuscule glimpse I have received in being here a week, but there does seem to be a very strong egalitarian atmosphere that encompasses a lot of friendly people.

The first 4ish days here were a very interesting experience because all I knew was that I loved being in darjeeling but did not really know why. It is definitely the type of place that just has a certain positive atmosphere.

Here is a story from here that i like. Hopefully you will too.

So as I mentioned before my camera got jacked on the train to Kolkata. I did not want to get a new one so I had been looking around for a second hand one to replace it with. After a few days of unmotivated searching that was more wandering than anything, I found a guy who literally sells everything. He has a big sticker on his window that says “We buy everything. . .” His main business is organizing treks into the mountains though. Anyway, I poked my head into his shop and asked about a camera. Long story short one of his guys (I later found out he has many of these “guys”) was coming in to town and had some cameras with him I could check out. I ended up getting one from him that is quite nice and quite reasonably priced so that was a success. The greater success was getting to know him and hearing about his endeavors in the world. The skinny on his situation is that his business is very successful and he is extremely nice and generous. He conveys a very likeable humility and it is immediately obvious that he a very intelligent person. He grew up in Darjeeling and was gone for school/work for a few years before living in Thailand for 2 years and then moved back to Darjeeling. I have thoroughly enjoyed talking with him and learning about Darjeeling and life in general.

The continuation of the story is that he took me to a hotel near his shop that was cheaper and nicer than the one I was staying in. The manager of the new hotel is named Risad and also splendidly awesome. He has lived in the Darjeeling area his whole life and knows english very well so hanging out with him has been one of the major highlights thus far. Last night he made a Nepali or me and three guys from Sweden.  After the dinner he told me he was happy we are friends and I realized all the good things that would not have happened if I had not lost my camera.

I would have spent 3 or 4 days max in Darjeeling because I could have gotten all the pictures I wanted. That would be bad because Darjeeling is awesome. I would not have meandered nearly as much because a good part of my meandering here was in search of the ever elusive second hand camera. I would not have met my friend who organizes treks and sells things. That would have been bad because he, like Darjeeling, is awesome. Had I not met him, I would not have stayed at my current hotel and met my newest friend or shared in the dinner last night. Oh how the journey of life progresses. “Wherever you are is where you are supposed to be.” I have had to relearn that very true lesson almost daily in the month I have been in India.

This month has been one of the most productive and amazing months of my life thus far. It has been an experience in continually trying, failing and succeeding in the art of progressing through life. India presents lots of opportunities to grow as an individual. I am very thankful for the growth I have seen as a result of the experience of being here. Traveling solo for the last 2 weeks has been especially eventful in this department. I strive to take the journey as it comes and be truly present in each experience. I am very blessed to be here and extremely excited to see what the second month will entail.

I got in yesterday afternoon (nov 12) in time to find a hotel and spend most of the afternoon/evening walking around. I found out pretty quickly that Darjeeling’s location on the side of a mountain makes for an especially interesting road situation. There is an abundance of curvy roads that zig zag back and forth and up and down the mountain. Long story short I got real lost for about 4 hours and ended up meandering through most of the city. Eventually I found a tea shop and hit some of this supposedly world famous tea. It was a delightful experience.

It is pitch black night here by about 5 in the evening so I ended up going to sleep at the obscene hour of around 7:45. It had been a long train ride and lots of walking. Or I am weak. Or some combination.

Most of the 13th consisted of walking out to  a Tibetan refugee community officially called the Tibetan Self Help Refugee Centre. The community is built on a hill and should have been a brisk mornings walk away from Darjeeling. The process of arriving at this fine establishment can can be accomplished by one of two very different options. Option one is a nice direct route that is less than a mile. Option 2 is a rather large hour and 15 minute long loop. I unknowingly selected option 2. It was an excellent decision because I got to walk through the hillside and pass through a mountaineering institute. The Centre itself is very interesting little community. It is essentially a big open area surrounded by older metal and wood buildings that house trhe different operation of the centre. The people of the centre maintain their livelihoods  by producing and selling all kinds of cultural Tibetan handicrafts and wool items. Walking through the area where they hand spin the wool and then seeing the process of making it into clothing and carpets was very interesting experience.

Upon leaving, I was still unaware of the more efficient route so I again chose option 2 and made it back to town an hourish later. It was just as delightful as before and I would definitely label it superior to the one that makes more sense. Ok well that is that for now. I am writing this on the 14th but all i have done today is skype and walk around. I was separated from my camera on the way to Kolkata so I am in search of a replacement.

Another interesting aspect of Kolkata and West Bengal (the state it is in) is that it has been continously controlled by the Communist Party of India since the late 70′s. I have been trying to find people to talk to about all that but no success unfortunately. Yesterday I got lost and ended up near what I think was one of their party offices. They had all kinds of pamphlets, signs, posters, hammers, sickles etc.

I leave tonight to head up toward a city called Darjeeling and Nepal so I am pumped about that. The tentative plan is to hang out up there for maybe 4 days and then start going through Nepal. I was going to hit up some Bangladesh action but I decided to spend more time in Nepal slash the Dharmasala area in Northern India. Kolkata is interesting but the main draw is the incredible number of toursity british related activities. Long story short I like most of the other places in India a lot more. Plus I got sick yesterday. . . no more street food i guess. I feel better now and I am excited to be in the Himalayas soon.

The 4th and 5th I was in a city called Nasik and saw some interesting temples and people participating in these rituals in the river that goes through there. Friday I went east to a city called Aurangabad. I met a guy on the bus who was on this pilgrimage to visit all 12 temples of Shiva in India. He was a super awesome guy to talk to and I ended up going with him to the temple near Aurangabad to watch him do his rituals. The temple is a pretty big deal so there were a lot of people in there performing ceremonies and different things. It was a very interesting slash weird slash powerful thing to watch. I am now in a city called Jalagaon because it is the nearest place I can catch a train to Kolkata, which leaves at 4:15 tomorrow morning.  I was going to go to a few places before Kolkata but decided to cut them out because I am tired of temples and tourist things. I am extremely pumped to be in Kolkata and hit up some Bangladesh action. Alright. That is all for now.

After we left that village we rode through a few more until we got to a road that goes directly north toward Pakistan. We rode for about an hour on that rode and it was one of the most desolate places I have ever been through. There was a stretch of 45 km where the only life we saw off the road was the occasional herd of water buffalo with a few people near by. It was kind of weird and the landscape is very very dry with a lot of short thorny greenish bushes.

In the next village we realized our tire was low on air. . . foreshadowing. . . so we found a little stand with a guy who put air in it for us. As we were leaving there a guy came up and asked if we wanted to see some of the handicrafts the villagers made. I thought that sounded like a splendid idea so we agreed and followed him on his motorcyle about a half km into a dusty field. We came up to a little group of about 10 houses and our host showed us around. As we were talking I found out he was the school teacher for the village and also the organizer of their co-op that sells the handicrafts. I asked to see them and he took us into a little house full of embroidered things like bags and blankets and decorations. I bought a few things but they are presents and therefore surprises so I am not at liberty to discuss the exact nature of said items.

We went north after this village with the hope of reaching a village called Kuran because it is just south of the Pakistan border. Everything was proceeding nicely until about 1 km from Kuran when our back tire went flat (remember the foreshadowing?). Scott tried going into Kuran to see if there was anyone there who could fix it but found out Kuran had absolutely nothing in it. We ended up just hanging out by the bike for a little while until a group of men herding goats came up. Long story short they were really awesome and fun.

They borrowed Scott’s phone to call someone to come pick up the bike (at least that is what we thought was going on). We ended up hanging out with them for about 2 and a half hours just walking around and listening to them talk and trying to communicate with sign language. After about an hour I heard them saying one of now favorite words in Hindi. Chai. Chai is tea made with boiled milk and this Chai spice mix and an absurd amount of sugar. It is wonderful. They made  little camp fire and put the pot for the chai on some  rocks. As soon as they were finished, they asked me if I wanted some and I happily agreed.

That was the point when I first realized how extraordinary of a situation I was blessed to be a part of because of a flat tire. I was sitting there drinking chai with some guys herding goats 6 miles from Pakistan. The area was so far from anything and when we all stopped talking it was the most quiet place I have ever been. There was absolutely no  wind and it was just very peaceful and still. I loved it. Just when I thought it could not getany more incredible, this pulls out a flute and starts playing a song. I have it on video and will post it to facebook.

We eventually started pushing the bike to the main road in the hopes of catching a ride back to one of the villages that could fix the tire. After waiting about 30 minutes an Indian Army truck drove by and we flagged it down. They let us put the bike in the back and took us to a tire shop. The inner tube was blown out so they put a new one in for about 3 dollars and we had more chai with the army fellas while we waited. When it was all fixed we thanked the army people and said goodbye. It was almost 7 and pretty much dark by the time we started back to Bhuj.

The trip back took about an hour and a half. It may not have been such a great decision to drive back at night but we did not really have a choice. The whole way back we kept getting hit by these massive bugs that must have been grasshoppers or crickets or maybe tarantulas. I saw a lot of bats too and it creeped me out. Anyway, we made it safely back to Bhuj and drove around the city for a long time just to use up the rest of our gas and motorcycle rental. It was a spectacular day and the most interesting one so far.

The last few days have been relatively uneventful.  We took an overnight bus back to Amedabad the next night (oct 30) and then an overnight train back to Mumbai the night after that (oct 31). Sunday Nov 1 I went to church with Scott again and after some of his friends took us out for lunch. We went to a Chinese restaurant that served beef and pork. It was delicious and I ate more meat in that one meal than I have eaten yet in my first 2 weeks here. That is all for now. I am back at Scott’s until Wednesday morningish when I depart and start my solo meandering east toward Calcutta.

The first day in Bhuj (the 28th) was pretty uneventful and the complete opposite of the second day (the 29th). On the 28th we slept until noon to make up for the bus ride the night before. In the afternoon we rented bicycles and toured around the city getting lost and dodging camels. There were lots of camels and of course the Indian standard of cows everywhere. That was that.

We arrived in a city called Junagadh and caught an overnight state bus up to a city called Bhuj in the far west of Gujarat (the state). It seems to be a trend that in every large group of people here there is a significant number that hilarious and fun to be around. The bus was no exception. No one knew any english but they still insisted on talking to me. I loved it. They would say something in Hindi or Gujarati mixed with sign language and I would respond in english or tell a story. We had a very functional relationship with completely dysfunctional communication. We ended up getting to Bhuj about 7:15 am and checking into a guest house there. It was owned by an awesome guy but he will be introduced in the next post.