October 27-29, 2009 – Day 306-308 – Jaipur, India

Passed 2 days in Jaipur readjusting to the real India after our pleasant sojourn in little Tibet. Funny how being out of India (let’s be honest, Mcleod really isn’t India at all) for a week can really throw you for a loop when you come back. It’s loud, dirty, irritating and overly complicated, the food is too spicy and can be difficult to find and everyone is yelling at you for something. But on the 29th we had a very lovely day exploring the beautiful Amber Fort and the Jaighur Fort.

The world according to Bootsy

Read the rest of this entry »

October 24-26, 2009 – Day 303-305 – Mcleod ganj, India

Mcleod is a small village in upper Dharamsala that is the seat of the Tibetan government in exile. The Dalai Lama’s permanent home is here as well as the homes of many Tibetans living here in asylum. There are very few Indians (if there are 300 Tibetans, it looks as if there are only about 20 Indians) and everywhere you look there are Tibetan restaurants, Buddhist symbols, and plenty of smiling faces.

Easy life in Mcleod Ganj

Read the rest of this entry »

October 21-23, 2009 – Day 300-302 – Mcleod Ganj, India

Today seems like a worthy milestone: our 300th day on the road! The 8 hour bus ride from Amitsar to Dharamsala proved to be less than celebratory but hey, what can you do? We passed the night in a true roach-hotel and fought for our various appendages and luggage throughout the night. By morning we were searching for another place to sleep and did not find one until well into the afternoon. We were saved by a delicious, if expensive, lunch of dal fry and chapati—yum! Spent rest of afternoon and next day enjoying laundry service, fantastic bakeries, and the twilight zone of Mcleod ganj that is neither India nor Tibet.

Saben at the fantastic Shangri La resturant

October 20, 2009 – Day 299 – Amritsar, India

The white marble was cool on our bare feet as we walked into the Golden Temple complex. We shielded our eyes from the bright sun and found a shady place to sit and watch life go by. Looking across the water surrounding the Golden Temple, we had an amazing view of the glistening building.

The Golden Temple

Read the rest of this entry »

October 18-19, 2009 – Day 297-298 – Rishikesh, India

Although we didn’t take any yoga courses like the Beatles did when they came to Rishikesh, we enjoyed the days we were outside walking around he little town.

Just hanging out

Read the rest of this entry »

October 17, 2009 – Day 296 – Rishikesh, India

Happy Diwali! We both woke up today and after 3 days of fear, it seems that we will be able to get better. Thanks to Cipro from pulling us from the foot-in-the-grave (we’re not even joking, we were both concerned about dying from dehydration and not sure if we would even be able to wake up the next morning; neither of us has never been this sick in our entire lives).

Happy Diwali!

October 13-16, 2009 – Day 292-295 – Delhi-Rishikesh, India

Well, we were just counting ourselves lucky in thus far not having any dreaded travelers’ illnesses from India and wouldn’t you know, Lin woke up to yak her guts out? Saben was feeling pretty weird too and Lin was going downhill fast. As it always seems to happen, if we are going to get sick, it is always on a travel day. No refunding tickets or sleeping it off in the hotel room. No, we were destined to spend the day wandering around Delhi until our night train to Rishikesh. The day was terribly unpleasant, the train was unpleasant but we made it to Hardiwar…

Besides our room this is all we saw

October 12, 2009 – Day 291 – Agra, India

Up at the hour at which no one looks good, we headed out to the train station at 4:30AM. It was still dark and the streets were not as deserted as you might imagine.

Stunning

October 10-11, 2009 – Day 289-290 – Delhi, India

A truly uneventful day (lie: we purchased train tickets) followed by a surprise celebration at India Gate the next!

India Gate

October 9, 2009 – Day 288 – Delhi, India

Ah, India. You are such a complicated, hypocritical, flamboyant, intense place and people. A walk through the streets will give you the real flavor of India. Outside your hotel lies a furiously whirling dance of bicycle and auto-rickshaws, beggars, touts, vendors with carts of fruit, clothes, watches, or sugar cane presses for fresh juice, enlightened westerners decked out in full Indian garb, budget backpackers pushing past dirty street kids and trashing-munching cows, and of course the locals who are just passing by that are too busy to try to sell you something at that moment. Everyone has an agenda no matter how friendly and sincere they seem. It can be difficult to weed out the scammers and the curious chatters.

In the streets

Read the rest of this entry »