Back in the USA!

It feels good to be back. Meal orders so far have been, in order: bacon, egg and cheese sandwich, Chipotle (Mexican), cheeseburger, and then another cheeseburger for lunch - plus loads of coffee, trying to get back to a regular sleep pattern. 

I'm sorry for not updating sooner. There's still some things that I want to say about this experience but I just haven't had the energy to get on this thing. Avi and I got back at JFK at 5:30 am on Wednesday and that day was a complete blur of trying to unpack, visiting with Mel and Megha, and actually beginning to prepare to move, which is happening next week. Plus yesterday I took a train up to Albany to visit my parents before they take off on a long vacation of their own. Still fighting jet lag. Passed out at 8 PM last night but slept 10 hours. Hopefully this won't last much longer.

So, how do I sum up India? I am going to try to stay away from painting everything in broad brush strokes, so I think the best way is to do this topically.

Ladakh, North India

I still feel as if this was one of the, if not the most, beautiful places I've ever seen. Of course the memory of the landscape is still quite fresh in my mind, but I've also looked back and read my slightly emotional/ philosophical post while I was there, mostly with the intention of trying to decipher exactly what made me write all of that. I've been reading Into the Wild, and a quote I found inside has helped me understand how and why the stark mountains so affected me.

The desert is the environment of revelation, genetically and physiologically alien, sensorily austere, esthetically abstract, historically inimical... Its forms are bold and suggestive. The mind is beset by light and space, the kinesthetic novelty of aridity, high temperature, and wind. The desert sky is encircling, majestic, terrible. In other habitats, the rim of the sky above the horizon is broken or obscured; here, together with the countryside and forest lands... In an unobstructed sky the clouds seem more massive, sometimes grandly reflecting the earth's curvature on their concave undersides. The angularity of desert landforms imparts a monumental architecture to the clouds as well as the land. 

Paul Shepard, Man in the Landscape: A Historic View of the Esthetics of Nature

This passage fits the Himalayas too, though not completely. I wrote before that the land up there makes you feel small and alive at the same time and I still think it's accurate. I wish I had more of a lyrical inclination but I'll cheat and use this guy Shepard's style. 

The angularity of the jagged faces of the majestic mountains imparts a monumental architecture to the clouds as well as the land, the peaks often clear in their affections in the movement of the wispy white tendril of clouds in the bright blue sky. It makes one wonder about this same power when the rains come, and what effects these solemn stewards have once winter fully strikes. The obstructed skyline broken by the massive mountains makes you feel small; a piece of the world and the processes of the earth but only a small, temporary and all so fragile part. The monumental architecture of rock and sand will be there, imperceptibly changing forever, for your purposes and for mine, and the inpregnigble land won't let you forget that fact for a second.

Chris Kibler, Holy Cow! Chris' Adventures in India

The People of India
I tried to leave for this trip with an open mind and as little mental pre-sets as possible. I couldn't be a completely blank page - brainwashed as it were by repeated Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom viewings on TBS as a kid, and already affected by the many Indian-American friends and cultural cross-exposure from college and going forward.

With that being said, the number one thing that this nearly month long trip has shown me is the vast diversity there is within the country of India; appearance-wise from dark skin to very fair, with every eye-shape and feature combination imaginable. But beyond the superficialiaty of looks, this diversity extends to an astonishing amount of differences between the many states in language and food and more. I went to three distinct regions - Bangalore and Mysore in Karnataka State (central-south India), Goa on the west coast and Ladakh in the far north.

• Karnataka - Hindu religion, Muslim second, with some Christian; either northern or southern Indian cuisine (all delicious).
• Goa - Lots of Christian/Portuguese influence; seafood but other choices available. Interesting for me to see swastikas (a religious symbol which Hitler stole from India) in several different places, from decorations on houses to jewelery in the markets.
• Ladakh - Mostly Buddhist but also a very apparent Muslim influence. The food was a fusion of what we Americans would consider distinctly Indian and Chinese. Because of the amount of travelers, many places offered a very eclectic mix of cuisine - from the standard Indian stuff to Israeli, Italian, pizza and even German baked goods. 

The one thing that united all of these differences was that whomever I encountered in any of these different places was convivial, generous and generally happy people, specifically thinking about the woman who owned the guest house, our travel agent guy, the people who helped us in the Air India office, hotel workers, etc. Avi's friends - all of which I now consider my friends as well - were all super generous, driving us everywhere and feeding us, not to mention running whatever errands we needed to have run without question. These friends and Avi's family took us in without question and made me feel perfectly at home. This put the trip over the top for me. 

India Tips
I wanted to revisit the tips I first posted.

Before I get to that though, there's a quick tip that Avi and I took advantage of on the way back. The flight to and from India can be arduous to say the least - depending on which direction you're heading, 14-16 hours sitting on a plane. On the way there, via Air India, the two of us got stuck in a row with another guy, meaning fitfully napping in our (reclined two inches) seats and the resulting stiff necks, cramped legs and lack of sleep and travel induced grogginess that persisted for days. To make things worse, it was very frustrating to see that the flight was not even close to full, which means that quite a few people had the luxury of a full plane row to themselves, which they took full advantage of by laying out. We were jealous to say the least.

So, travel tip one: On any long term, especially long term Air India flight, board the plane with your radar on full tilt and be fully prepared to make a move if and when you see an opening. IE, within five minutes of boarding our return flight Delhi-JFK, we successfully located and appropriated two empty rows in the back of the plane. I cannot stress enough the difference in comfort levels between the two flights. Being able to stretch out was worth its weight in gold. And even though it was slightly fetal-positioned sleeping, it's so much better than getting a stiff neck and cramped legs. So, when boarding a long international flight be ready to pounce on an empty row with the quickness of a Bengal tiger. Specific to India trips, if you're flying Air India, which is losing money and not the greatest experience to begin with (so maybe more likely to have empty seats/rows), this is an imperative.

Now, lets evaluate the initial (KL's) India travel tips that I posted:

1. Don't drink mixed drinks - they water down bottles just like some bars here in the states do - but you don't want that water.
I made this a non-issue. Only beers while out. But generally the water situation was fine. Even my Indian friends generally ordered bottled water at any of the restaurants we ate at. 

2. When you get bottles of beer make sure they open it in front of you. Same with bottles of water - in fact if you can have them give you the bottle, seal in tact, the better.
Also a non-issue.

3. Do NOT use your left hand for anything. Do not expect to find toilet paper in city bathrooms. In the airports you will find Eastern (squat toilets) and western (US style) so pay attention where you go in. If you use an Eastern toilet your left hand IS the paper (yeah its disgusting to us, but they think we're nasty for using paper). I brought toilet paper but only experienced the squat toilets once - at Pangong Lake, pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Some mid to lower end restaurants had squat toilets, so maybe there is something to be said about being prepared - sometimes when you have to go, you have to go.

This is the place I speak of, bathroom tent around the side. As you can see, not exactly a fine dining establishment.

4. Brush your teeth in bottled water - don't even run the brush under the tap. I did this as a precaution. Who knows if it was truly necessary or not. Avi brushed with the tap water wherever we went and had no problems.

5. EAT EVERYTHING YOU CAN FIND - the food there is ridiculously good. If you've had Indian food in America you have not had anything. Oh and you make sure you eat everything on your plate or you'll upset your host family. And they most likely will not give you utensils - use your right hand only and learn to eat with your fingers. This one is spot on. The food there IS ridiculously good, as I've already written about. And as much as I've been writing about my cravings for certain American foods, please don't allow this to obfuscate this point. I've learned that Indian food in America is only a shell of what it's supposed to represent - a combination of sweet, savory and only sometimes spicy deliciousness. Not everything is spicy either, which may be a misconception (beware of chili chicken though, it's as advertised). But I had the best mutton I've ever had in India and some of the best chicken to boot.


6. Always put your hands together as if in prayer and bow to all parents. Elders are the leaders in a family and house and bowing is a sign of respect. It is customary to bring a gift so before you leave the U.S. pick some things up - souvenirs at the airport, etc. Bring a gift. Desserts/Cookies are a good gift. Bring some American style treats for them. The bowing stuff wasn't necessary but in hindsight I wish I had gotten gifts (remember, Avi very casually and profusely said not to worry about this). The reason I say this is because I'm now totally convinced that Indians are some of the most generous people on this planet. If I had known the extent that people would be going out of their way to not only feed us, but picking us up/ driving us around, helping us with any number of tasks, and generally showing us their homes and cities and a good time, I would have made gifts a priority. Now, the only thing I can hope is that my friends can get to New York so that I can do my best to return the favor.

7. Don't expect anything safe in vehicles. The traffic lights are just pretty colors and the stripes on the road are just for design. Yes it is normal to have 6 people on a motorcycle. I only saw 5 people on a motorcycle but this is dead on. I tried to describe it before but here's another lick at it. First, the roads are generally congested during the day, to the extent of what we'd call a traffic jam, with the caveat that it usually moves (unless of course you're trying to get to the airport). This congestion consists, in highest to lowest numerical order, of motorcycles, autos (a three wheeled somewhat flimsy, 30 mph tops diesel vehicle that's their equivalent of a taxi), then cars, then trucks, most spewing purple diesel exhaust, with the random oxen or horse drawn cart thrown in once in awhile. Add to this the chaos of cows in the road, people trying to cross the road wherever they feel like it, plus random goodies like donkeys or camels, plus the ubiquitous stray dogs dodging traffic too. I think I have the honking protocol down too - honk to warn, either people on the road or other cars as you pass them, honk to force your way to a turn (because mostly there aren't traffic lights) and/or honk for a get the hell out of my way you're pissing me off.   

 

8. If you get sick drink chilled coconut water with electrol (Indian Gatorade powder) in it and eat curd rice (white rice with yogurt basically) and you'll get better right away. I didn't really get sick all that much. A few bouts of diarrhea, but nothing debilitating. In terms of source, I don't think it was water related, likely more because of a general lack of roughage.

The End?
I'm not ready to let this blog go, mainly because there are some things I still want to talk about. Expect one or two more posts. Thanks for all the people who have been coming here and checking this blog out, by the way. I especially appreciate the comments (mostly on Facebook). Stick around!

Screw it

Avi and I leave in two full days. There has been a festival going on in Bangalore this whole time and today we went to a street fair and went crazy with the food. Screw it. If my a$$ explodes, it explodes. I ate five plates of stuff. Everything as usual was very good, not to mention 30-40 cents each - we completely stuffed ourselves for two dollars. Fried lentil dishes, puris (fried ball things that they stuff), other fried things. The only thing that wasn't good was the masala Pepsi....just not my thing.  Think savory, salty soda pop.

Here' some more videos, courtesy of Avinash:

I am starting to get antsy to get back. Tomorrow is shopping for gifts and then dinner plans. Tuesday is a full day with Avi's family, including a full homemade lunch. But yeah, I'm totally getting antsy to get back. Avi and I already have a man-date, medium-rare steak night planned immediately upon getting back. And despite the fact that I've become a fat bastard, eating everything in sight and drinking too much without any exercise besides the physical activities in Ladakh, I am already compiling a mental list of foods that I am going to need to attack once I get back. Pizza, and some good cheese. Ruffage! A bacon egg and cheese sandwich. A Chipolte burrito. Broccoli.

Don't get me wrong - the food here has been super good. Indians have it right. Combine salty, sweet and spicy with texture, usually a crunch, and it's a home run most of the time. I can't stress how flavorful things are here. But I guess, predominantly as a spoiled New Yorker, I am really in need of some different flavor profiles at this point.

So, two more days until we start the long journey back. I certainly have a lot more to say in terms of cultural perspective and maybe even some India travel tips but I wanted to get this out... I want bacon!!! I want my own bed and I want to snuggle with Melissa. This has been a great trip but I think we gave it just the right amount of time, mainly since I am starting to get the itch to head back home.

Pictures and videos of Ladakh, as promised

We're back in Bangalore, breathing and sleeping easy. As promised, here is all of the content I've currently got on my camera - pictures and videos. Here we go.

Videos
Check out the rides up the mountain. They videos get progressively better, as we get higher. Try to check them out full screen if you can.

This is way up there.

Merging of the Indus and Zanskar rivers

Close encounters of the Yak kind.

5 minutes into the "baby hike" trial. 7 days in, we still weren't used to the altitude (while our guide was running up and down the mountain like a chipmunk).

Our plane over the Himalayas. I was sleeping when Avi woke me up to this. Mind you, we're still at cruising altitude at this point, not descending or anything.

Pictures
Two full albums are now on Facebook, set I here and set II here. They're also available on Picassa (they may make you sign up to view plus you may have to add me as your google+ friend, not sure). Here are some of my favorites:

Best pee ever

Thiksey Monastery

Bird's eye view of a Leh polo match from a monastery on the cliffs

 Pangong Lake

 A view of Leh I took while on a hike the last day

 Another great pee

 Check out the road we had to take to get to this point. You can even make it out in the distance.

 Nubra Valley

 What look like scratches in the mountain are actually the road

Summing up Ladakh
This leg of my India trip really made this the trip of a lifetime, for quite a number of reasons. First, obviously getting all the way to India for a big enough chunk of time is certainly easier said than done these days. But how about this? Lodging for eight days, transportation everywhere, hiking guides, mountain bike rentals, and probably more things that I've forgotten came out to about 9,000 rupees. Remembering the conversion rate of 45 rupees to 1 dollar, that's an astonishing $200 folks! All told, including the $1,200 spent on flights back and forth to the US, I am looking at a $2,000 month long vacation. You can't beat that.

The highlight of the Ladakh trip for me was the mountain bike ride down 5,000 feet from the 3rd highest navigable pass in the world to downtown Leh. I've talked about this already - the view almost literally to die for. Rafting would have been another highlight. The last day we got up very early to start the day with a hike up and around the Leh Valley rim and then down to a nearby village, which was very cool, then took our minibus to go rafting. Long story short, we were where we needed to be, watching an amazingly fast, turbid Zanskar River. I've only rafted on the very tame Delaware River, a much different story. But somewhere between our tour manager and the rafting company, something got screwed up and they never sent the boat. Sucks! No one took responsibility either, which drew the complete wrath of some of my Indian friends. The worst part is that we were there and got to see how cool it would be, on our last day. Oh well.

One thing I found very interesting is the complete and utter lack of legal oversight throughout. IE, we rented bikes and were racing down a single lane, only partially paved road with no railings. One would've thought that there'd be some sort of waiver involved, but no. We didn't even get any instructions. The bikes were sitting there when we got to the pass and the bike guys helped us put our helmets on. That's it. To add to this, I've noticed that there are very few traffic rules to speak of and the only time I saw traffic cops was on the way to the airport in Bangalore, running speed traps. And to be honest, I found this refreshing as hell. America has gone over the deep end when it comes to both legal liability and law enforcement. As I've mentioned, I've rafted in the very tame Delaware, which requires a full length waiver and release before doing so. And traffic cops in America? More and more it seems like they aren't adding so much value to society, just money into their departments coffers and pissing people off. A dorky-lawyer observation, maybe.

Another thing that was very apparent, and quite annoying when you were either waiting for the individual-room hot water heater for a shower, playing poker after dinner, or, once for me, sitting on the toilet, is the rolling blackouts that the city experienced every day or so. As I've mentioned before, the place must be brutal in the winter. I can't imagine trying to survive there without electricity.

This is getting a little long winded, so how about this, some quick hitters.

Things I can cross off the bucket list:
1. I've drank Yak milk tea and coffee, which is very nice. Sweet and light.

2. Seeing Ladakhi child care (2 year-olds chilling on the side of the highway while their parents work) and Ladakhi home security (broken glass embedded on the top of walls).

3. Trying to keep it PG (hi, mom!), I've err used a traditional Indian toilet in a time of need. It's a small hole in the floor and personally I've never had to aim my poop before. Not easy. Thank Lord Vishnu I brought my own TP.

4. I've lowed the bar in terms of restaurant hygienic-ity. Punjabi Breakfast was in some random village we stopped at on the way to PangongNubra Valley. I abstained, but really only because I was still sick from the minibus. "The restaurant" at Pangong Lake was a dirt floor tent.
 * Congrats to Pepe (of Binghamton) - his (original) meatball sub hole-in-the-wall shithole just got knocked up a few pegs.*

5. I was the cream in an oreo cookie motorcycle threesome. Avi and I ordered a taxi to go shopping in Leh and our tour manager shows up with his motorcycle. Um, okay. Avi held me tight.

Ladakh, day five

The computers here are very frustrating. Yeah, at least they have them, but the one I'm sitting at right now may be my old one from college, recycled from the Binghamton landfill. The connection is terrible to boot (pun intended). But loads of pictures and videos are coming when I have time back in Bangalore. We're leaving to go back on Friday. 


Today was the highlight of the trip so far. Yesterday we took a bus through yet another ridiculously windy mountain road to the Nubra Valley. Again I have plenty of pics but frustratingly no way to show them to you. It was so beautiful though, and the same description applies from before: literally riding around high mountains in the clouds then down into this gorgeous valley, passing waterfalls and rivers running throughout. Add wild horses, donkeys and marmots (essentially ground hogs) to the list of fauna seen, plus way more yaks. [Incidentally the locals cross-breed yaks and cows which I've dubbed Yows and which has now officially caught on with my Indian crew. Trademark application pending...]


Unfortunately the trip was my undoing however. As I described last post, the dust and the altitude here are both relentless. The trip to the valley was a five hour ordeal, at least half on unpaved, rocky roads in a minibus with no shocks to speak of. I felt nauseous for the last two hours. At least that got me the best seat in the house, right next to the driver. Anyways, when we finally got to the hotel I crashed. Slept for 4 hours while the rest of the crew went to (another) monastery (our fifth, so okay with me). Apparently I missed some hilarity via double-humped camel rides, but that's Avi's story to tell. I feel better now though, thanks to some much needed rest (and a new mattress in a new hotel).


Back to the highlight of the trip. Check out this link, which describes the Khardung La pass. We went through there yesterday to get to Nubra Valley. Today we took the same (ugh shitty bouncy non shock having) minibus back up there. Waiting for us? MOUNTAIN BIKES! Yup, we road 50 kms downhill from Leh. 


Avi almost died. No exaggeration. The fist third or so was unpaved rock slash dirt and, of course trying to be Mr. Cool leading the pack, he was flying down this rocky road at I would say 30 mph. I didn't see it happen but when I rounded the corner he was on the ground. Apparently he flipped his bike on a rock and very luckily landed on his hip... disaster averted. I won't lie either - I had a mini accident myself. This road had some crazy hair-pin turns, and on one of the first ones I cut it the wrong way and had to hit the ejector seat at a very reasonable 2 miles an hour, lest crash into a boulder. No damage. Another guy did the same thing, bloodying his knee. 


It felt like the Tour De France though. Great turns, and once the pavement started we really could let go of the breaks a little - I would say at times a very safe 30-40 mphs, on the straight drops. And of course the views were astounding throughout, funneling right into downtown Leh.


We only have one full day left here, a three hour hike and then three hours of rafting planned. I like how the last two days have turned into physical affairs - the last two weeks seemed to be all eating and then driving around and then eating some more. Friday we're back in Bangalore where hopefully you will be inundated with more pictures and videos than you can handle in one sitting. Doing my best to keep you occupied : )  

Ladakh, day three

Spinning prayer wheels at a 1,000 year old temple on the Indus River. 

So now that I have time (it's 9:30 pm here) and loads of pictures to download of course this Internet cafe is running at turtle speed. Plan foiled. I will try to squeeze some in, patience provided, but this really sucks because I have 4-5 insane videos and hundreds of pictures. Words may have to do.

I've already written how beautiful it is here and I am constantly saying how crazy things are. Well, the crazy bar was raised yesterday. The trip to Pangong Lake was insane. It was a five hour trip, mainly because we had to scale two mountains on the twisty-turny, none rail having road ever made, then through this wintery pass before going back down through several picturesque valleys. Scaling the first mountain took over an hour, as the road doubled-back on itself four or five times. On the way up we saw a herd of wild yaks (got pictures) and far-off mountain goats (no pics). The changes in climate was extreme - shorts and t-shirt weather when we started but after a few hours we were even with the snow caps, the road obscured by the clouds. We had a snowball fight when we stopped for tea at the (purportedly) highest cafeteria in the world. Going down the pass we saw huge herds of sheep and pristine mountain rivers, all amid the most stunning, rugged landscape you can imagine. Pictures can only tell part of the story. I only wish I could get videos on here, but I will save that for another time. But how about this:

Here's the road doubling back three times, with some wild yaks thrown in for good measure. 

Stunning views throughout. And yes, this is my camera. I could make a calender, easy.

If you look closely you can make out the road. Yeah, no rails. 

Pangong Lake. Again I have loads of pictures but the five minute load time for each pic is killing me right now. 30% of the lake belongs to India, the rest to China via Tibet. There must have been 10 military bases along the road, though I must say the military here is still very primitive - aluminum huts, a lot of trucks, and campfires. 

Other Thoughts
Since I have been thoroughly thwarted in getting more pictures up my humble thoughts will have to do for now.

As I explained in another post, Ladakh is known as a crossroad for the world, and you can really see it in the people. They are very beautiful; a homogenization running from full-on chinese/tibet to dark, southern indian, with every feature combination in between. They are rugged like the land, but the women especially continue the Indian trend I've seen, toiling fields and hauling wheat (I think) on their heads in the most colorful garb imaginable. The men? Not so much. Another trend I've noticed is that most of the men - both here, way up north, and in the south - wear western clothes, mostly jeans and t-shirts. This is something to ponder. I don't know if the woman stay traditional by choice or by necessity. I will ask our tour guide, a very affable chain smoker who is always shaking my hand and holding it way more than is comfortable.

There's an interesting crowd here. Adding to the local mix are mostly young travelers, for the most part a hippy-ish backpacker set. I've heard russian, hebrew, german, and french, and many of the restaurants advertise all of the above cuisines in the window. The local food is only okay, as opposed to everything else I've tasted in India. I'm actually been trying to take a break from the Indian food. Tibetan food seems to be bad chinese. Today I had the absolute worst version of french onion soup I've ever had, but seriously - this white man can only do so much roti (flat bread), paneer, and curry.

We are staying at a guest house, which is basically Ladachi for bed and breakfast. It's quite comfortable, including the woman who runs it here who's made us great homemade dinners and breakfast, twice each. I have a picture of the maybe 9 year old girl who's mother owns the place, but again not worth the five minutes right now to post. But she's a great example of the mix-feature thing I was talking about above.

I've got two problems in the world right now
The first is the bed at this place. Its a double piece of ply wood with a flimsy-ass, maybe 1 inch, mattress. Avi and I both complained after the first night and all the indians responded with "a hard bed was good for you." Now they're starting to complain, imagine that. Each day I wake up with a neck sorer than the day before, and it's really starting to affect my overall mood, mostly from the neck thing but also from the tossing and turning and general lack of a good nights sleep. The first thing I did this morning was pop an Advil. Last night I did yoga at 3 am because my lower back was killing me. Tonight I think I'll be dreaming about my memory foam mattress back home.

My second problem is the dust. It's everywhere, I'm guessing because we're so high and water isn't so abundant, plus some of the roads aren't paved. So what that means is that each morning I have to do some calculus - contacts and sunglasses (pretty necessary) and guaranteed irritated eyes, or squinting in glasses with only slightly irritated eyes. I am also getting dried out, with the back of the throat inner nose irritation that won't go away. Just venting.

Perspective Piece
I said I would be doing this but frankly I've been done a poor job so far - meaning that I was/am going to try to put into words how and why this experience affects me in different ways.

The mountains here are awe-inspiring. I compared the oceans to the mountains at the bottom of another post, and I'd like to flush that thought out a little. The ocean at Goa was great. I think everyone can appreciate the ocean, beach person or not. It's got a way of putting you at ease. Something between the sound of the waves and the vast expanse of blue makes you forget about your troubles. Personally I think the constancy, size and scope makes you feel like a small speck while at the same time, and in contrast, like one with the universe.

These huge mountains are having the same affect on me. I freely admit to being a science dork, so I appreciate the millions of years of geology and the natural processes that have sculpted the behemoths that totally surround us in this little valley. But I don't think one needs the background to appreciate what I'm trying to explain. These mountains make you feel very, very small. I've already spent hours staring out the window in our three separate excursions, completely mesmerized by them - from picking out interesting stratification or outcroppings of granite to watching how the tops of the tallest peaks change the clouds.

I am not a religious person. Carl Sagan put, and clarified, my feelings about our place in the universe with this:

We are all star dust processing star light. 

I don't need someone else's surely made-up interpretation of how or why we came to be, where we go after we die, or any of the other mumbo jumbo. But an utter abhorrence of organized religion does not mean that we non-believers don't feel some semblance of spirituality. To me, this is it. These mountains and this landscape are beautiful. They make me feel both alive but also very small and fragile. These feelings, though perhaps contradictory, make me thankful and humble. 

I hope this post finds you well. CHRIS 

Ladakh, Day Two

I don't like to deal in absolutes and I know that what I've been saying the last two has a very proximate place in my mind, but I think I am safe in saying that this is the most beautiful place I've ever seen. 

I woke up during the third leg of our trip (Bangalore to Bombay to Delhi to Leh) to Avi's elbow. I guess it was about 6 in the morning, still cruising altitude in our plane. The view from the window was incredible, like nothing I'd ever seen before. As high as we were, the land below us was all towering mountains. 

We landed in this little airfield surrounded by the tallest mountains I'd ever seen. I've been to the Rockies, driving to Yellowstone with my family when I was a kid (Yellowstone still ranks high, without a doubt). On that drive, I remember how the Rockies kept getting bigger and bigger until hours and hours later we were at their base looking up. 

It's different here. The city we're in, Leh, is in a valley surrounded on all sides by mountains the size of the Rockies. It's hot during the day, at least when the sun is out, but I can't stop staring at the tallest of the peaks in the distance, still snow-capped and clearly affecting the clouds.

Yesterday we just hung out. It's very hard to catch you breath here - I can only bang out about 50% of the push ups I usually do in the morning. Today we visited three Buddhist monasteries, and saw the mouth of the Indus river - not much to look at here but it grows to become one of the major rivers in this area of the world.   I could go on and on about this place but I will limit it to this post and a few pictures. There are Internet cafes all over the place here, so I should be able to get back on here soon. Suffice to say we're all loving it here. It's amazing in more ways than one. 

It took us about 45 minutes, maybe 5 stops, to make it to the top of this. Felt like my heart was going to explode (because of the lack of oxygen at this altitude). 

This is the temple at the top.  

The next three pictures are all of different monasteries. 

Notice the drop and no railings.  The guy below is my friend Manoj.

Thiksey Monastery.

Code name: SEX PANTHER

Mel and I are back from Goa. It rained the whole time we were there but we still had fun. Glad we upgraded. All inclusive food and activities, not to mention the luxury room, made it more than bearable. I am turning into a fat bastard though. Everything there was buffet. Being the typical American meant two to three plates, breakfast, lunch and dinner. We didn't get the beach and sun that we wanted, but at least the resort was right on the cliffs above the (shitty) beach. The ocean was always in the background, which was quite nice. But moral of the story is don't go to Goa during monsoon season, even at the very end when you think it's safe. It's not worth taking the chance. Everyone says its nice in December, their summer. Last word - I guarantee it rained more there in two days than it did for y'all with Hurricane Irene.

This is likely my last dispatch for awhile. Mel is headed back to the states tomorrow (boo) and 10 of us are headed way up north. We're going to Leh, essentially as far north as you can go in India. I'm not entirely sure about the full itinerary but I know that we're going to lay low the first day - it's 11,000+ feet above sea level, much higher than I've even been. Get acclimatized and all. By all accounts this place is unbelievable though... at the base of the Himalayas and with a very mixed culture - Tibetan, Mongolian, Chinese and Buddhist influences. I know that we're going rafting one day plus visiting Pangong lake, the highest salt water lake in the world at 13,000 feet up, straddling the border of India and Tibet.

Here are some pics (cheating, from the Internet):

Leh, in Ladakh, Northern India

Another view. Apparently this place is impossible to get to once winter hits.

This is the road to Pangong Lake.

Pangong Lake.

Sex Panther

I'm chucking the kitchen sink into this post, since as I said I'm not sure when I'll be able to get back in front of a computer. 

Sex Panther is a code word that Mel and I have been using. I'd been warned about the smells of India. In fact, a friend went as far as suggesting botox injections into my nose to dull the smell receptors. Turns out that this was as ridiculous as it sounds. It's not bad at all. However once in a while you do find a guy who STINKS. Today I thought I was going to vomit in airport security. I was praying to Lord Vishnu to be at least 10 rows from this one malodorous fellow in front of us. Turns out we were safe. Sex Panther!

We need this in the states!

First time I'd ever seen something like this. 70 Rupees ($1.50) into a vending machine gets you an ice cold 22 ounces of beer. Score!

 

Colors

One of the great things about India is the colors. Even the poorest women are donned in the most beautifully colored clothes you've ever seen and even the worst parts of town are spotted with colorful homes - purples and oranges and blues in a sea of aluminum and concrete. This place is across the street from Avi's cousin:

Air India

There could be a happy ending to this story. If you remember, Mel's flight was all messed up, necessitating a 5-hour ordeal at the Air India offices just to prevent her from a ridiculous 12 hour layover in Bombay. BUT, it turns out that I can get her upgraded to first class Delhi- JFK if we go back to the offices tomorrow. I hope it works. I'll be honest - I'll be pissed if it doesn't, this going to be my third damn time in their office. I'm also going to try to scheme the same for Avi and me. We DID spend 5 hours in their offices because they canceled our original flights and rerouted us with half-day layovers.

See Ya!

So, signing off. I'm sad that Mel is leaving, especially as we're all set to embark on a true adventure. This place Leh is going to be amazing. As much as the rain did put a little bit of a damper on Goa, I did appreciate staring into the stormy sea. It's a bit humbling seeing the power and vastness of the water. I think the Himalayas will have the same effect. More adventure to come. CHRIS

Goa Time!

I am writing this from our hotel in Goa. Weather is pretty miserable, been pouring all day. It IS the end of monsoon season, but I thought we'd be safe, especially since it hasn't rained much in my 10 days in India. What makes this okay is this:

UPGRADED! (this comp won't let me watch the video, so a little blind faith that this is what I think it is)

We upgraded hotels faster than a speeding bullet. We checked into the original place yesterday and it was okay - right on the beach, but just okay. This was the plan anyway knowing that Ms. Wu loves to just lay on the beach all day, everyday, and I wanted to give her exactly that. The problem is that this beach (Candolin Beach, Goa, India) SUCKS! For some reason I guess I thought this would be a tropical beach paradise, which its surely not. Tropical, yes, and a beach, yeah, but totally not what I expected at all. Similar to what I have found traveling through India so far (except for the Temple grounds and of course my friends places), there is garbage everywhere. For example, you can tell where the high tide mark is because of the swath of garbage - plastic bottles and plastic toys, flip flop bottoms and glass. Also, again something I've been seeing throughout India, there are wooden shacks right on the beach-edge... people here seem to park down wherever there is room. I've seen tent cities situated right in fields and a mini-city of aluminum shanties next to the basketball courts in a public park. So, in sum, this beach is dirty, not really scenic and populated by some very poor people (asking for money and/or for us to buy their trinkets) and the omnipotent Indian stray dogs.

So, I upgraded with the quickness (which Melissa found very sexy - as she should with a baller boyfriend). We walked right to the beach after freshening up at our original place (which incidentally looks good from its website and got great reviews on ClearTrip, a travel website). We went down to the water, felt the disappointment pretty quickly, and walked left. Luckily as hell a little while down the beach was this fantastic looking resort, the Taj Village Resort. Night and day! I am going to sign off and go enjoy but real quick we went from maybe 2 star to straight 5 star. This place is awesome, and all inclusive - important since it's rained all damn day. They have, I think, 4 restaurants, fitness center, activities, fabulous pool with a swim-up bar. The 19,000 rupees sounds steep but the exchange rate is 45 rupees to 1 dollar = $435 for two nights, including all of our meals, the aforementioned activities and free transport to wherever we want to go, including the airport (the taxi cost 900 rupees to get here). Pretty much all that we could ask for. It just needs to stop raining, but even if it doesn't at least we're not stuck watching Anderson Cooper hurricane Irene coverage on CNN in a dumpy room. 

Time for me to get back to some pampering. I hope everyone is well, given some of the flooding Anderson showed us this morning. Long Beach looks like it took some damage, plus some towns in Long Island. City looks fine. Send me some messages, lets us know what happened.

 

Air India sucks!

I don't want to get into that much detail but both Avi and mine AND Mel's flights got screwed up. Both were booked for one way JFK - Bangalore and both of these were canceled, for some reason wanting to reroute us to Dehli then to Bombay then to Bangalore (therefore from a direct flight to two transfers). Thankfully Avi and I were able to reorder things but Mel didn't catch it in time... therefore adding something like 12 hours to her trip (plus Gautam and I had to pick her up at 430 am).To add insult to injury, we spent a whopping 4 hours at the Air India office trying to reroute her (which did save her from a 12 hour layover in Bombay airport but wasted a whole day for us).

Of course we picked the airline because it was the cheapest direct flight. Never again, f$&*ers! I will give them a little credit though - all the people who helped us (in person) really went out of their way.

I'm thinking about all of my friends and family back in the states. Be safe for Hurricane Irene!!!

Train from Mysore to Bangalore

We took the train back from Avi's parents. Awesome, awesome experience! We rode average-person-class, mostly because we almost missed the train - the original plan being to spend the $1 more for the privacy (and possible safety) of first class. Avi's parents tried to warn us off of this a couple of times because of pick-pocket potential and I had been told by a couple of people (all of which seem to read my blog!) that I was going to minimally get stared at the whole time to wholly harassed by people wanting money. I'm not going to lie - I was apprehensive but with the 2 hours between trains we had no choice, literally running to the train. Of course in the end there weren't any problems whatsoever.

Besides seats below, general class has another bunk bed-type seat above, so you have 10 people in a place where maybe 3 people would be in an American train. Every two minutes or so someone walks by trying to sell you something, from chai (tea) and coffee, to fruit (we ate Guava), peanuts, savory cookies, spicy puffed rice (had that too), and other stuff I couldn't place. At one point two fruit ladies coming from opposite directions, with the same wares, started screaming at each other. Even I knew what was up with that. They both went back the direction they came in. Apparently these merchants hop on and off of the train all day.

Another interesting aspect were the she-men; cross-dressing men (wearing saris) who, because they can't get jobs, make do by begging for money. I saw one slap some guys ass, which made him give he/her money with the quickness. Avi got completely saved by an older guy sitting across from him. The two had been talking for quite some time before a she-man came by. To set it up somewhat, the first thing the he/shes does is clap once loudly when they come into the car; a little here I come, what you going to do 'bout it. Then this she-man proceeded to poke Avi with his finger and stood there (saying something I couldn't understand) for maybe 20 seconds before the nice old guy gave he/she some money, causing he/her to move along. Saw at least 3 he/shes on the ride, all lovelier than the last (sarcasm).

[Avi wants me to add that I was harassed as well (by another he/she while Avi pretended to be asleep - way to look out for a friend who doesn't speak the native language, buddy). I simply said no and shook my head. The man across from me said something to he/she, shooing him away.]

Besides all of this, the ride was amazing just because of the view itself. We had taken the bus on the way to Mysore and rode through the countryside by car, but the view from the train was phenomenal. Roadsides here are pretty populated - from food/produce stands to people walking (sometimes barefoot, sometimes herding sheep or goats or cows) but the train cut right through the countryside. It was straight out of National Geographic - woman balancing large items on their heads (and amazingly able to bend over while doing so), farmers plowing rice paddies with buffalo, hand-washing in rivers. The poverty was a little mind-boggling too. There were grass huts to aluminum boxes the size of my bathroom at home, to clusters of 10 or so blue tarp-like tents in the fields, clearly a make-shift village. There were also animals everywhere - roaming herds of sheep or goats, to cows being tied up right outside the entrance to the huts. It's crazy to think that these animals are some of these people's only possessions, their livelihood and maybe their life-savings.

It was quiet too - a nice reprieve from the constant honking on the roads.

I found the rice paddies, something I had never seen in person before, to be exceedingly beautiful. The tall grass is sugar cane, apparently all of which is infested with cobras.

Here are some stills:

This is the end of the ride, pulling into Bangalore Station. I recommend full screen or going to Youtube itself to check it out (just click on the link, it should get you right to the video). You can really see the poverty here, from the garbage along the tracks (pretty much the whole ride by the way) to the insane amount of people living in such close proximity, both on top of each other but also in every available piece of land. Many of the buildings are very brightly colored, which adds quite a lot to the atmosphere.

NOTE: As I proof read this I am realizing how often I say crazy and insane. I am not really trying to judge. These things are crazy to me, a lucky-to-be-spoiled American.

What's next
It's Thursday here. We're hitting the gym today, much needed as we seem to be eating every two hours (and again there hasn't been one thing that hasn't been delicious). May do a little shopping too.

I am very excited about my girlfriend Melissa's arrival tomorrow. I'm not sure what we're doing during the day but the plan is for me to make dinner tomorrow night. Avi has been telling everyone how great a cook I am - not exactly managing expectations - and they want me to make spaghetti and meatballs. Easy enough on paper, right? But there's a couple of problems... First, I don't think marinara is going to cut it - quite a lot of food here is tomato/ onion based sauces, but all kicked up the flavor chain with various spices. I think our regular stuff is going to be way too bland. Second, there's no ground beef (aka Holy Cow!) or turkey meat around, probably only lamb. So it sounds like some Italian-American-Indian fusion of some sort. Wish me luck!

Anyway, Mel comes in at 3am Friday night/ Saturday morning, so we'll be getting a car to drive us to the airport to pick her up. Baby doll has one whole day to get over jet lag before we head to Goa on the southwest coast for some beach time on the Arabian Sea.

I will try to make one more post before Goa. Any requests as to what you want to hear about? I still plan on posting a driving video. Ciao. 

First sightseeing pictures

Yesterday Avi and I went to two temples (in Belur and Halebeedu) and Mysore Palace. All were insanely awesome. The temples, circa 1100's, were entirely covered with hand-carved figures, every carving completely different. The bases of both started with elephants all around the bottom (I guess indicating the use of elephants in either the building of the temples or in the rule of the people who made it, but just a guess). Further up was Kannada writing telling the story of the ruler, then higher up were all idols depicting different aspects of Hindu mythology. Note the sexual freedoms here 900 years ago - hair pulling, threesomes and all. I have way more pictures but it's kind of annoying uploading them one by one onto this site - I'll use Facebook for the whole album.

Mysore palace was also very cool, though they wouldn't let us take pictures inside. The highlights for me were the 80 kilogram gold seat the Maharajah used to ride on top of elephants, plus the generally decadent trappings inside - stained glassed peacocks, silver doors and more.