our delhi day tour

after enjoying a few days of urban life in new delhi, alina and i took a day tour of the city, organized through the indian department of tourism. it was a low maintenance way for us to see all of the sites, without haggling with auto rickshaw drivers, tour guides and souvenir touts. we got a chance to see a couple unesco world heritage sites, including the imposing minaret at qutub minar and the old city's red fort. the bahai house of worship, an enormous white marble lotus flower shaped temple, and the rajghat, where mahatma gandhi was cremated, were also standouts for the day. here are a few photos of the sites. david.

in the clouds

himalayan views, darjeeling tea and hospitable nepali and tibetian culture made darjeeling a perfect escape from the oppressive pre-monsoon heat of the north indian plains. we spent 10 days enjoying the views of mt everest and the himalayian mountain range from our rustic corner suite at the bellevue hotel at the top of darjeeling. at about 6000 ft elevation, the daytime temperature rarely exceeded 65 degrees - a nice change from the 105 degrees of varanasi only days before… here are a few pics from our room. david

tea anyone?

we're in darjeeling - it’s a surprise to us too, and a complete last-minute change to our itinerary. trying to beat the heat, we left varanasi and took a northbound 12 hour overnight train that somehow turned into a 24 hour whole-day train!? following that, a three hour jeep ride up the mountains deposited us at the beautiful hill station of darjeeling. at over 6,000 feet elevation and nestled in between nepal, tibet, and bhutan, we're enjoying the 65 degree temperature (a 40 degree drop), and our lungs appreciate the fresh air. surrounded by mountains, tea estates (yes…darjeeling tea), and smiling tibetan people, its really the perfect place to recover. unfortunately, we're on the mend from the dysentery we both acquired while in varanasi. there's nothing like a good food borne illness to shave off those few unwanted pounds…luckily, we are armed with antibiotics from the travel doctor in hawaii and hopefully the nasty critter is dead. we're both feeling much better…and looking rather trim…

for (only) the second time in india, we actually have access to wifi and are able to upload photos and bring the blog up to date. check out flickr for new india pics. i've really only spent time in the room for the last three days - so i don't have much to say about darjeeling, nor do we have any photos yet… i can say that the view from our corner suite at the rustic bellevue hotel is absolutely magnificent. we're here for a few more days and do plan to get out to see some sights…so we'll keep you posted!

alina

the ghats at varanasi

from bodhgaya we easily made our way to varanasi, or the city of shiva, one of the holiest cities in india. the old city of varanasi is situated along the western bank of the ganges river and is lined with many bathing ghats, or "stairs" that lead down to the river. hindu pilgrims come to varanasi to wash away a lifetime of sins or to cremate their loved ones. many priests and spiritual leaders line the ghats as well, offering their services to those in need. our private 5am boat ride allowed us to take some shots of the action…

alina

let's sit under the bodhi tree

i dreamt i was sleeping on dirt…perhaps i was? we bolt out of the shit-hole-hotel as if it were on fire. after booking our next onward train leg, we make our way via rickshaw to bodhgaya, only 13km away. one of the 4 most important buddhist pilgrimage sights in the area, bodhgaya is where siddhartha guatama attained enlightenment beneath a bodhi tree and so became buddha. the highlight and spiritual center of the city is the magnificent world heritage listed mahabodi temple, located adjacent to the famous bodhi tree. the small city of 30,000 is also peppered with monasteries and temples of international buddhist communities and attract pilgrims and monks from all over the world who visit to study and meditate. we enjoyed some peaceful moments as we soaked up the ambience while sitting under the bodhi tree.

alina

kochi to kolkata and onward...barely

after a 5 hour bus ride, a 25 hour train ride, and 6 cups of chai each, we finally make it to calcutta. crowded, polluted, poor, and squalid…the poverty is definitely in-your-face and very saddening. locally regarded as the cultural and intellectual capital of the nation, we did enjoy several days touring the city sights and eating delicious bengali cuisine. first we visited the magnificent victoria memorial, which so reminds us of our own u.s. capitol building. another highlight was the kali temple - calcutta's holiest spot. hundreds of worshippers swarmed the temple making flower offerings and sacrificing goats to the three-eyed kali, goddess of the temple. we found the visit to be very enjoyable, even though the touts and beggars were in full force and always seemed to be trailing us close behind. on our final day we visited mother teresa's mission to visit her tomb and see the room she slept in. she was such a tiny, remarkable woman with a huge heart. we said a prayer, made a donation to the mission, and signed the guestbook as we made our exit. we had a great time in calcutta, until the day we left…

we figured 3 hours would be enough time to get a cab to the station, buy a couple of train tickets (for a future journey), and grab some breakfast and snacks prior to our 11:45am departure to gaya. after paying the inflated 100 rupee cab fare to howrah station, we quickly learn that the tourist ticket office is located back in town, and not at the train station (where it should be). yes - it is possible to trip plan for over a year and still overlook important facts such as this. we make our way past the taxi wallahs and drivers and lug our packs to the pre-paid cab line. Our 2nd hired cab deposits us at the tourist train ticketing office, which we learn has just opened in the last few minutes. the single working ticket seller calls out "number one". we are number 21. we wait for 15 minutes…he is on number 3. we accept the fact that we do not have enough time to wait and leave the office to hire our 3rd cab. this time we are quoted the fair rate of 50 rupees - we must have a look of defeat in our eyes, or simply look pathetic. we reach back to howrah station and learn even more bad (very bad) news. we are at the WRONG station all together. our train to gaya departs from kolkata station…45 minutes away!!! we head back through the taxi wallahs and drivers - back to the pre paid cab line - we appear to be complete lunatics at this point. our 4th hired cab driver of the day is the most passive, calm, safe, and SLOWEST driver in all of calcutta. he respects pedestrians and animals in the streets and barely even honks his horn. he doesn't pull out in front of buses, nor does he cut anyone off. what is this? did he just start driving yesterday? he stops 4 times to pop the hood and pour water somewhere in the motor. he stops 4 more times to ask for directions. unreal. we tell him our train leaves in 10 minutes and that we are in a rush…he obviously speaks no english as he bobbles his head and smiles. we arrive to the station at 11:41 and think that we may just have a chance to make the train. we blast our way, running through the station like we are crazy westerners. we reach our platform and amazingly, our compartment is directly in front of us at the base of the stairs. out of breath and ready to pass out from heat exhaustion (a common feeling in india), we take our seats. the train begins to pull away less than 45 seconds later…

we are happy to have made the train and say to each other, "how much worse can the day get?" well... a lot worse. the first six hours of the journey are fine. we both settle into our individual berths for napping, reading, and chai. out of nowhere, i begin to feel really nauseous and hot. david feels my forehead and says i'm burning up with fever. i go to the toilet and puke milk tea. i go back to my berth and feel like crap. the train reaches a station then doesn't pull away for over an hour as several armed guards with huge assault rifles patrol the compartments of the train. after an hour and a half delay, the train finally continues on. i continue puking for the remainder of the journey - seems i got a hold of some spoiled milk? at one point, david comes to me and says, "i don't want to worry you, but the conductor just told me that there are bandits in the area." i think, oh great - just what i need…some bandits to complete my day. after yet more delays, we finally reach gaya almost 3 hours late. tired and without much energy, we decide to stay in gaya for the night and make the short journey to bodhgaya (our destination) on the following morning. we stay at a hotel located directly across from the train station that turns out to be a real shit hole of a hotel - the worst we've stayed in as of yet. at least the sheets are clean…enough. i hit the bed still fully clothed and begin to immediately fall asleep. i can hear the bbc news in the background of david saying that he's hungry but there are only sweet shops open this late. the day definitely got worse. this traveling business…it's not always fun and games. sometimes it's about stressful mornings, delayed trains, crappy hotels, bandits, and puking. you just can't cry over spoiled milk…

alina