Varanasi

We took a 14 hour sleeper train from Delhi.  Tick that box.  Catching trains in India is not as intuitive as one would think.  One would assume the train number and scheduled destination would appear on the departing board.  One would also assume that the cars on the trains would be adequately available to read.  One wouldn't assume that somebody with a print out sheet of paper with your name on it would appear 5 minutes before the train is scheduled to leave indicating that you are indeed supposed to hop that that particular car.  Once that nerve-wracking bit was settled we made ourselves comfy in our little corner of the train.  Me, Glen, our Aussie friends Marcus, Magda, and Drew all shared our tiny little space, our snacks, our dinner, chai (after being asked 30 times throughout the evening), and whiskey.  Then it was off to sleep and wake up at our anticipated destination.  Varanasi in one word?  Intense.  The sounds are louder, the smells much stronger.  Mmmmm methane!  This Holy City does not stop.  In my opinion you either have to understand deep devotion or be really thick skinned to go there.  The Ganga river is known among Hindus for its purity and divinity and it is thought that a bath in her waters cleanses one of all sins.  That is fine and great and all....but did they stop to notice the human cremation going on 20 feet away?  Or how about the litter, bugs, shit, and water buffalo they are also bathing themselves in???  Not to mention they wash their laundry in all this business.  I don't know about you but last I heard...1.5 million fecal coliform bacteria was darn near septic.  Anyways...


The quintessential thing to do in Varanasi is hire a rowboat.  We bargained our boat ride from 200 rupees per person to 50 rupees.  I tell ya...those guys see white skin and they see money.  We took our boat ride at dawn to view most of the 80 ghats.  Most of them are bathing ghats while 2 are burning ghats.  We witnessed several cremations where the deceased is wrapped in white cloth, dunked in the holy river, and placed on a bed of burning timber.  The family stays near the body until it is burned away...it usually takes about 3 hours.  No female family members are allowed at the cremation because it is thought that if tears are shed then the soul of the deceased will not become free.  It was a sobering experience.  So far I think Varanasi is the most charismatic place in India I've visited.  It was overwhelming to take it all in.  It is a place where life and death is in your face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LOVE HIM!!!

      

Doing it

Well, we've passed the 6 month mark and I'm happy to report all is well.  I've been asked a lot how I like it here and for the last 6 months I've said it's been absolutely horrible.  As I've stated before...it's probably easier to visit here versus live here.  I was sick for months when we first arrived...which really shaped my crappy attitude towards this place.  And now Glen is sick.  Unfortunately, it seems the norm here.  We're cleaning and preparing a lot of our own food now so things are much better.  Our goal is to get out of India alive!  Getting a house set up into a home is no easy feat without a Bed Bath & Beyond, Target, and a Safeway.  And for me my home is my sanctuary.  My respite from the hostile outside world.  A place to relax and set my mind at ease.  I finally feel a little more comfortable here.  I'm now calling it 'home' and look forward to being here.  It certainly helps that Glen's mum is coming for a visit which spurred a shopping spree by me to get soft furnishings that we've been wanting.  For all the complaining that I do there are a lot of wonderful advantages I have.  Domestic help for one.  I've traded a little lack of privacy for it but I'm sure I'll survive.  I leave my house a mess and I come home to it sparkling clean.  If I want an Indian dinner, I just request my cook to make something.  Instead of pressing the 'send' button on my computer I send my driver to pay a bill.  I've met many ex-pat families that have children and they actually LIKE living here because of all the domestic help with nannies and cleaners etc.  I'm aware that getting used to this could make me lazy for when we leave.  But for now, I'm taking advantage of the freed up time I have and focusing on personal (and hopefully soon, professional) growth.  I know as soon as we start a family I won't have this precious time.  And I'll be the one scrubbing the toilets...oh joy.


Instead of fighting and resisting India, I'm putting my hands in the air and waiting for its effect on me.  I have surrendered.  Early on we were told that we will not change India (though we try really hard to), India will change us.  And I'm looking forward to the change.  Instead of hoping to be smitten by some elusive cultural revelation, we are taking advantage of the cooler winter weather and traveling to different parts of the country.  I feel like I have countless unstructured hours so there should be no excuse for not experiencing more of India.


Cheers to finally feeling happy again. 

Shimla

What started out as a snowboarding trip turned into a lovely, relaxed weekend with my honeypie.  We, being the so-called experienced travelers that we are, forgot to call the hotel to check about the snow forecast.  And we couldn't find much on-line.  So we figured what the hell....and packed both of our snowboards, snowboarding jackets, pants, gloves, goggles....everything we ended up NOT using.  Well when one door shuts another one opens.  And this past weekend proved to bring us closer together.  We finally got some one on one time away from the stresses of work and life in Delhi.  Glen was able to breathe...really breathe away the mental and physical worries.  I haven't seen him this relaxed in a long time.  So what do I make him do?  I put him on a horse.  Sure-fire way to bring the stress levels right back up!  This was the worst horseback riding trip I've ever done and I've done a few back in the states.  There were hundreds, I mean hundreds of horses....little ones...they felt like donkeys.  And they were unruly.  And the path was a foot deep mud pit.  We ended up at a strange place, high in the mountains where we could ride...what else?...a ferris wheel.  Part of the scene looked like something out of the 1800's wild west and then....a ferris wheel??? 

The rest of the days were spent walking through the town, eating, and playing in the pool.  And just so you know...I don't normally wear a dress to swim but Indians are so conservative this was the only option I had.

Man sharpening knives

Viceregal Lodge

Mall Road

Don't say a word

Yaks!

We managed to find some ice

   

Oh and the monkeys!  The baaaaad monkeys!!! 

Last bit...  As we were descending to land, Glen and I assumed that the landing strip would be in a valley since we were flying through the mountains.  Well as we descended, Glen (sitting in the window seat) saw the mountain immediately below us and thought that was it.  We were crashing.  Instead...and thankfully with abated breath...it was the runway.  Glen's last poetic, eloquent, sweet words from his lips?  "SHIT!  FUCK!"  No life flashing before his eyes, no 'babe I love you'....just a few simple cuss words and a relegation to the inevitable.  Seriously funny once we realized we were ok.  Time to go change our pants at the hotel...

The runway is in the middle.