Delhi to Sariska

Delhi to Sariska
Originally uploaded by jduche

My friend at Snapshot Adventure keeps giving get the warm fuzzies about traveling to India. Here is an image from a visit there. I can't tell you how much I want to go back. Great country, great people.

Oooo! Found a cool tour!

Some time back I got a message from G.A.P. Adventures about this socially responsible tour. You get to see Angkor Watt AND help folks who have been affected by landmines.

Something to look into the next time we travel. Its not currently being offered anytime soon, but I still have bills from the "India, Bhutan, and Nepal" trip we just took, so that works out for me.

Kathmandu!

Well, we're getting close to wrapping up the trip. Visiting sites in Kathmandu today. Bhutan was an amazing adventure- we hiked up to the Tiger's Nest monastary and I have some awesome pix to include when I return. Out of three hotels in Bhutan we stayed, the one in Paro (actually a cluster of adorable cottages on the hillside looking down into the valley containing Paro) had internet access but you had to have your own computer, the hotel in Thimpu had a "business center" but I didn't have the time, and Phuntsoling was just an overnight stay and we had even less time.

Last night we went to the Boudnath Stupa expecting to see them light it up with butter candles by the buddhist monks. It was disappointing to see that no preparations were being made to light it up. So we decided to circle it a few times like the buddhists and them go sit at the rooftop restaurant we sat at last time. Mid-way through our meal, we hear all this chanting going on in the street outside the stupa and soon there were what seemed like thousands of demonstrators marching around the stupa with candles and yelling something we didn't understand but expected had to do with Tibet. Absolutely amazing!


The next day we came across a group of monks who were taking shifts chanting and they were also fasting for 24 hours periods. They gave us facemasks of our own.

Gotta go!

The best of plans...

So my plans for updating this page regularly have not been achievable. I overestimated the computing connections I would have while over here, but here I am- at l;east until the power goes out again.

The flight to Delhi went without a hitch. I started from Omaha at 10am on the 8th and landed in Delhi just before midnight on the 9th. (To those of you in Omaha, thats about noon on wednesday!) Our hotel there was very nice and we had fun touring there again. Got to see the pro-tibetan folks marching and protesting at one point.

I should point out that I forgot that the images from my camera are to big to upload to my Flickr account, so until I get home of figure out another way, I will not be posting images.

So, after that we flew to Bagdogra airport in the eastern part of India. After landing, our guide and driver picked us up and we started the 3 hour drive up into the mountains to Darjeeling. It started off fine in the lowlands, but as we climbed higher, it was like the road to Hana on steroids! I would like to personally send a thank you note to the guy who invented the transdermal motion sickness patches, because without them I would have died!

Our guide taught us that around here they pronounce Darjeeling as DAR-zelling, not dar-GEE-ling. It comes from the root "dorje" and I think means thunderbolt. Its amazing how these towns just cling to the hillsides. I hope to get some pix of just how steep the mountains are up here for viewing.

After a day there, we hopped in the car and are now at the end of our stay in Gangtok. Same kind of town, just on another mountain. We have visited a number of buddhist monasteries.

Tomorrow we leave for Kalimpong and then head into Bhutan after that.

I'm gonna wrap up as I am afraid the power might go out again (it does that alot over here!) and I want to at least let you know we are having a blast.

Maybe our connections to the internet will be better when we get into Bhutan, but I really think that is unlikely.

India, Bhutan, Nepal...HERE I COME!

Well, tomorrow is the day- we leave for asia! Now I just have to figure out how to cram a steamer trunk's worth of clothes and toiletries into my tiny carry-on. Wish me luck!

Sooo old...

Had to get some new passport sized pictures for visa requirements and emergencies. Its amazing how old I look in the new ones compared to the passport photo taking in 2000. And it's not just all the grey hair. I look pooped!

I'm sure it has nothing to do with the temperatures hovering in the low single digits (complete with mid-minus-twenties wind chill!). When I go home, we'll crest 5°... above zero!

Connie and I

Barefoot in the Sahib Gurudwara
Originally uploaded by jduche
From our trip in January, 2003. Standing inside Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, the sikh temple with the golden dome in New Delhi, India. Too bad really, since it is off the beaten tourist path and the folks there are super-friendly to goofballs like us. (We were goofballs BEFORE they made us cover our heads.)

Every day they make and serve food to any who request it. Their kitchens are huge! They practice the concept of langar and although we didn't partake, anyone who likes is supposedly allowed to sit and eat as equals.

Langar
by Kulwant Budwal

In this life
fuelled by fleshly pleasures
in the pursuit of
materialistic comfort
I sit on the floor and eat
humbly, with rows of my people
For today I am in my Guru's house

I look forward to trying to post in almost real-time from our next trip. Lets pray the "business centres" in our hotels don't make it too difficult!

(PS. This is actually two shots put together. I took a photo of Connie, and she of me at the same spot, and I photoshop'd us together.)