Blissful in the Himalayas

Just wanted to check in and say hello! Mcleod Ganj has been treating me wonderfully...getting away from the bustle and pollution of cities, eating lots of vegetables, going to bed early, hiking through some mountains...I'm feeling wonderful! Back to Delhi tomorrow on a night-bus, though.
Megan and I have seen the Dalai Lama TWICE so far, once yesterday evening and once this morning, though he was only passing in a car along with his large entourage. Although it wasn't a talk or anything, it was still thrilling and surreal seeing such a well-known face in real life! The energy was palpable as people would line up alongside the road, burning incense, excitedly looking for a sign of his arrival. We just happened to be in the right place in the right time twice. Also, I found out later that the man we saw going into a school that I posted about previously was His Holiness the Karmapa, second in status to the Dalai Lama. Such an exciting place! I'm a little sad to be leaving this little mountain-side town...we've been taking it pretty easy. Breakfast at the same place every morning, shopping (perhaps a little too much), hiking, then lunch on a rooftop or terrace overlooking the mountains, reading on the roof of our hotel, then a visit to the temple, dinner, then more reading snuggled up in the big comforters on our beds and the yak wool shawls we've bought. But tomorrow, back to the real India, the chaotic, rushed, crazy India that I've come to see as home. It will be strange to go back to the comforts of Virginia...but I'm looking forward to it nonetheless. Although this place is amazing, if nothing else it has made me realize how much I love my home.

From Big to Little

Greetings from beautiful Mcleod Ganj, home to the Dalai Lama, who is HERE! But I doubt I'll get to see him. There is a certain excitement hanging in the air, though, brought only through his presence in this beautiful place.

Ok, so I last left you in wonderful Goa. Anne and I hopped on a plane to Mumbai to meet up with her best friend's parents, who asked to be called Auntie and Doctor Uncle. They graciously invited me to stay during my time in Mumbai, which I was SO grateful for because I would have been terrified to set foot in the city otherwise. Upon arrival, Auntie immediately quizzed us about what we wanted to eat, pizza?, and asked a lot of questions about why we haven't been eating meat. She was very confused, shaking her head and saying, "So sad." She ended up ordering tons of food, including chicken biryani, which was all very good. Anne and I were exhausted from another long day of traveling, though, so we were grateful when Auntie laid out some mattresses for us to sleep on. The next day, Anne's friend's boyfriend, Adi, took us out to see some highlights of Mumbai. The family has a car and a driver, so we rode in the comfortable air-conditioning to the southern part of the city, visiting the Queen's Necklace, which are buildings surrounding a water inlet that look like a shimmering necklace when lit up at night, as well as the Gateway of India, the Taj Mahal hotel (where last year's terrorist attacks occured), a museum (Anne's favorite), and the Hanging Gardens, which was a beautiful park on the other side of the Queen's Necklace. It was great to see such a beautiful side of Mumbai, because what is usually projected on television is the slums. Of course, they make up a huge percentage of Mumbai, but I'm glad I got to see more of the city than just that. Adi was a wonderful tour guide...I wouldn't have found better on my own. It was so hot, though, we were exhausted by the time we got back to Auntie and Doctor Uncle's apartment, and I ended up taking a long nap. When I woke up, Auntie took Anne and me out to dinner, where I tried pani puri, the first thing that has made my eyes water here. Pani puri is just a little tiny puri (basically puffed, fried bread) with a little hole poked in the top so it is like a little bowl that holds this tamirind/chickpea liquid. You are supposed to put the whole thing in your mouth at once, but that causes some of the spicy liquid to go down your throat before it hits your tongue. It was DELICIOUS though, and I have wanted more ever since.
VERY early the next morning, Auntie drove me to the airport so I could hop a plane to Delhi, where my friend Megan was waiting. She'd had a very bad experience with the taxi her hotel provided her with to get to the airport (he pulled over on a deserted road and demanded money from her, although her taxi was supposed to be included in her room fee, and then ditched her at the airport) and we headed back to the hotel and complained. So we got free breakfast and got to stay way past check-out time. We de-stressed by watching TV, munching on some great eggs, and sipping tea. We left late in the afternoon to find an invisible bus stop for our ride to McLeod Ganj. It took us FOREVER to figure out where the bus would stop because, as I said, it was not marked. So we found a guy with a suitcase in the general vicinity we thought it was in, bought a grapefruit bigger than my head, and waited for the bus. Eventually, more people started showing up and we realized we were in the right place. They FINALLY got us on a bus at around 5pm, but we literally drove aimlessly around Delhi for about 2 more hours. It was confusing and frustrating, but we eventually got on the road. No one vomited on this ride, but it was way bumpier: I think I have bruises on my elbows from them hitting the armrests. After about 12 hours, and maybe 2 hours of sleep, I woke up suddenly, freezing, and found myself in the mountains. Hotels here do not take reservations in advance, so Megan and I set off to search for a few hotels that had been recommended to us. (This place is tiny, so it is not as bad as it sounds.) We wandered aimlessly for awhile, and eventually passed the chorten (kind of a Buddhist temple), which is in the middle of the town, and a little, old Tibetan woman saw us and said, "Come." So, we followed her, to a hotel, and she gave us chai. It is a wonderful little room with a balcony and a view, but we are going to search for something a little bit cheaper for tomorrow. This place is SOOOOOOO beautiful, I could easily see myself staying for a while. Unfortunately, we only have a few days then it is back to dirty, mean Delhi to meet up with Anne again. Hopefully, before I leave, I'll post again about McLeod Ganj. So far, it is great. We got breakfast, banana honey porridge and ginger tea with real, huge pieces of ginger in it, met a few people from Australia with recommendations for hikes around the area, and saw someone really important get out of a car and ushered into a Tibetan school by a bunch of guards. I'm not sure who it was, but he shook a girl's hand and she started sobbing (with joy). I'm excited for what the next few days will bring!

(So far, I've covered almost the whole length of India. Ah!)

Hello from paradise!

Greetings from Anjuna beach, Goa! aka heaven on earth. Getting here was a bit miserable, however: three hour train ride, a fourteen-hour night bus ride (something like the knight bus in Harry Potter, but accompanied by vomiting Indians), and two more bus rides to get to the beach, the last one bedecked in shimmering tinsel and  blaring Hindi rap as Anne and I were literally shoved on by the door slamming behind us, it was so packed full. But once I reached the beach, that was all behind me. It is easy to forget the real world here in Goa. Ever since my arrival on Sunday, I have just been lounging around on the beach, eating when I want to, swimming when I want to, reading, journaling, napping...it is almost too luxurious to handle. I actually had second thoughts about continuing on to other places in India. Yesterday, we rented mopeds and scooted around Goa a little bit, which was a blast.

It was so freeing, flying down back country roads, lined with palm trees, the ocean in the distance. It is beautiful here. The beach I'm at has tons of other tourists, but that just means the food is better (but also more expensive). Since arriving, I've had pizza, a REAL cheese, lettace, tomato sandwich, fish and the BEST calamari last night, and french toast for breakfast this morning! After we finish this internet time, Anne and I are heading to the beach for some shell-searching and, of course, lounging in the sun (insert happy sigh here). Tomorrow is our last day in Goa; we're going to the famous Anjuna market in the morning, then hopping on a plane for Mumbai in the evening. One of Anne's best friends is from Mumbai, and her parents have invited us to stay for a bit. I was a bit nervous at first about visiting such a large metropolis, but a friend from this program has spent the past few days in Mumbai, and told me today over the phone that it is a great city, so I'm really looking forward to it. Hopefully I'll be able to post from there as well, so stay tuned!

North Karnataka continued and my computer!

Yes! It's true! My laptop has finally made it home to me, after hours of travel. Of course, it couldn't be that easy...I think I blew up my charger. I'm not really sure how, because it was plugged into a converter which was plugged into surge protector...but it is no longer working. I don't know. Perhaps I am magnetic or radioactive or I'm actually a X-man and my power is destroyer of electronics. Anyhow, the professor here from Iowa has a few extra Mac chargers, and he has let me borrow one of his for the time being. (I'm praying to the laptop gods that I don't destroy his as well.)

Well, let me just go through a few highlights of the rest of the Northern Karnataka tour, since I never got around to finishing my tale.

After Badami, we traveled to Bijapur, a city in which the majority religion is Islam. So our first stop was Ibrahim Rouza, a tomb/mosque. The weather was wonderful, and truthfully we all just enjoyed being outside after our bumpy, frantic four hour bus ride. What I'm trying to say is, nobody really learned that much about Ibrahim Rouza...but it was beautiful nonetheless!

Right after Ibrahim Rouza, we went to visit Gol Gumbaz, known for its Whispering Dome, which we would visit the next morning. Our visit that evening was the simply sit in front of it, sipping chai, in awe of its splendor. I think it is either the second or fourth largest dome in the world...and quite a sight to behold. I could even fit it all into the picture, obviously. This is some of us, sipping chai and waiting for the sun go down so we could watch it slowly be illuminated by spot-lighting. (Does that even make since?)

A minaret at Gol Gumbaz, by moonlight.

 

A shot from our van on the streets of Bijapur:

 

In my last post, I mentioned further hotel drama. That night, after visiting Ibrahim Rouza and Gol Gumbaz, the power went out in our hotel room as my roommate and I were brushing our teeth. I spit in the sink and ran to the window to let some light in. As I drew back the curtain, the rod fell right on my face, on my eye, to be exact, and approximately 45 seconds later, the power came back on. My eye turned very red, slightly purple, and swollen. I got some ice for it, and emerged the next morning with only a sore nose. So, it wasn't that bad, just another hotel injury.

The next day we were off the Hampi, land of the boulders. We spent three nights at a lovely hotel in nearby Hospet, whose restaurant had the best garlic naan I've ever had. Hampi, though, was AMAZING. The city built there, Vijayanagar, was built out of slabs cut from the boulders that litter the landscape. Very Universal Studios. My favorite parts of Hampi:

1. Feeding the Virupaksha Temple and feeding Lakshmi, the elephant, some bananas.

 

2. Walking along the old bazaar and along the river, looking at the old temples tucked amongst boulders.

3. Climbing Matanga Hill at 5:30am to watch the sunrise over the mountains. We sat on top of the temple that rests on top of the hill and overlooks all of Hampi.

 

 Other Hampi highlights:

a Lamani tribal woman (about to spit, no less)

 

Narasimha, lion/man incarnation of Vishnu aka supercool

 

So, of course I couldn't leave Hospet without one more hotel saga. On second day in Hampi/Hospet, I wasn't feeling well all day. At dinner, my friend and I ordered Gobi Manchurian (basically fried cauliflower) and I thought I was going to vomit. Which I did...later that evening. Several times. All over the bathroom because the toilet would not flush properly and I had no choice but the aim for the sink, and then a bucket. I was feeling so sick, I couldn't figure out how to clean it up, and promised myself as I crawled back into bed for the final time that I would wake up before my roommate and clean it up. Unfortunately, she beat me to it, and ended up calling someone to assist us clean (aka clean while I suffered in bed and she comforted me). I stayed in bed the next day, still feeling ill, and missed our last morning of site visits in Hampi. Luckily, once we got on the van to head to the train station, I seemed to have rid my body of all fluids and therefore had nothing else to expel. By the time we reached Mysore the next morning, I was feeling much better and grateful to be home. (Home...haha..I guess that is what it is now.)
Overall the trip was wonderful, barring my own personal issues. I'm leaving for my own independent travel on Saturday, and I am hoping to have better luck. More on my travel plans later!

More pictures!

For those of you on Facebook, check out the HUNDREDS of pictures I have put up...seriously, some of them are worth it.
For those who are not on Facebook, don't worry, I know one day, eventually, I'll find a few minutes to get serious and post again.