South Tamil Nadu

We just arrived in Kanyakumari at the southern tip of India. HOT and humid but they say summer is an oven here. The Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea meet the Indian Ocean here. Our room has a nice view of the ocean which has a nice turquoise color and a very rocky shoreline.

On the way here we stayed at a fishing village and walked the docks. The fishermen were like most other folks here - loved posing for photos and then looking at the result. A lot of fun because everyone starts laughing and the ever present back and forth head bobbing.

We also detoured way back off the main roads to a bird sanctuary. All the locals told us there were no birds because there had been no rain for a couple of years. The place where a large lake should have been had a pond of water and a small stream. Goats were being grazed on the rest of the lake bottom, but we did get some good photos of about five birds we had not seen before. White Ibis below.

Sikkim Happiness Home

> We were in Gangtok in November visiting the Sikkim Happiness Home SHH and the girls who live there. We were there during Diwali and they had made a huge beautiful Mandala for the holiday on the floor. Made from colored flour. The whole time we were there for several nights individual girls continued to add things to the work of art.
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Some Guest Houses

Lalit has selected some exceptional places for us on this trip!  From pretty cottages in an orchard next to the Lion Reserve where we could hear Lions roar early in the morning and in the evening just over there in the reserve. "look around before you start out of your cabin". 

Then there were the Great Heritage properties like the Orchard Palace in Gondal in Gujarat. We stayed in the Royal family's guest house in Gondal. Their personal palace and collection of antique cars was behind our place which is called the Orchard Palace.  Just 6 or 7 rooms but spread out in a beautiful palace of large sitting rooms and expansive porches.  The staff were in starched Kaki uniforms with red beret style hats.  Perfect english.  A knock on our door at 7:15 pm was to inform us that the king had requested an additional vegetable dish be served tonight and that the Queen says it will take her until 8:00 to have dinner ready.  The staff explained that the Queen liked to cook and that the food served to us was also what they were eating in their private residence.

There was also the old palace in town that was centuries old and the only people allowed to tour the place were the hotel guests or with special permission.  So in touring the old palace, we found a big construction project underway at the old palace - a set being built for a Bollywood movie!  Fun! The double door open up into our room.  The porch goes all the way around the building.

We also stayed at The Bungalow at the Beach in Tranquebar with the same high -- really high ceilings, wonderful woodwork, huge tall doors, wood and marble floors, and few spread out rooms.  This is called a non hotel hotel.  The same owner has a chain of these heritage hotels that all look wonderful.

Impossible to capture the huge room.  The door opens on the outside porch that wraps around the building and looks directly onto the ocean and the old Danish town and fort at Tranquebar. 

> Lalit has selected some exceptional places for us on this trip! From pretty cottages in an orchard next to the Lion Reserve where we could hear Lions roar early in the morning and in the evening just over there in the reserve. "look around before you start out of your cabin".
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> Then there were the Great Heritage properties like the Orchard Palace in Gondal in Gujarat. We stayed in the Royal family's guest house in Gondal. Their personal palace and collection of antique cars was behind our place which is called the Orchard Palace. Just 6 or 7 rooms but spread out in a beautiful palace of large sitting rooms and expansive porches. The staff were in starched Kaki uniforms with red beret style hats. Perfect english. A knock on our door at 7:15 pm was to inform us that the king had requested an additional vegetable dish be served tonight and that the Queen says it will take her until 8:00 to have dinner ready. The staff explained that the Queen liked to cook and that the food served to us was also what they were eating in their private residence.
>
> There was also the old palace in town that was centuries old and the only people allowed to tour the place were the hotel guests or with special permission. So in touring the old palace, we found a big construction project underway at the old palace - a set being built for a Bollywood movie! Fun!
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South India Photos

Some ladies in Tranquebar an east coast fishing village where many hundred people 

Were lost in the 2007 Tsumani.  The damage is still very evident in the village.  These ladies wanted Susan to take their photo and wanted to talk as best we could.

>People saying good bye after a coffee stop on the way to a bird sanctuary in South East 

Tamil Nadu.  The young man in the middle made our coffee.  South Indian Drip Coffee is the way to go. The old man on the right had a great time during our visit, and we thought he was going to just come with us as we drove off waving.  

Fwd: More photos

>One of the ladies wanting Susan to have something gold.
We think the real issue was she didn't have the gold heart 
You see around her neck which means I'm married.  These are strung on
And never taken off.

An Egyptian Vulture hanging out at the royal palace in Mysore.  The king had died

Last week and the ceremonies are today so the palace is closed.  We got in the day before closing.

Some of the old dynasties survived the British by joining them so they were left in place but lost their power after independence in 1947. Their palaces tend to be kept very well since all the property and wealth stayed in the family. 

 The royals that resisted the British were wiped out so no blood line exits now and the palaces belong to the state.

Fwd: Mysore area

A Giant squirrel in Nagarhole National Park

Beautiful cattle we are seeing all along the roads

> We are in Hassan and just a few days from flying out of Delhi. South India has definitely been a very good place to see. It is not at all like north India in many ways. We have a new driver today and the old driver Kumar had to leave. Babu brought a lot of much needed peace, quiet and sane driving to our trip. A really welcome change! I will try to attach several photos below.
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Ooty

The Langur monkeys are hooting early in the morning, other than that there is absolute silence except for the birds. We are on our way to Ooty and will pass through a wildlife refuge on the way. In these Nilgiri mountains our journey has slowed down in a beautiful area. Besides the forests with the large trees there are many acres of beautiful tea plantations with flowering plants along the road. A long section today was lined with large poinsettia bushes. That reminds us of Christmas that we will miss at home this year. At Ooty (an old British hill station) we are staying in a nice guest house with a very attentive staff. Lalit and our driver are staying here also because we are so isolated, which is difficult for India.

From the guest house we took a jeep at 6:30 A.M. for a few kilometer and then started walking along an area on the edge of a Tiger's Territory, but we do not enter the cat's territory proper, but watch for the Tiger. We walk through the grass covered by heavy dew or slippery frost and climb a small ridge with a fantastic view of the surroundings. No tiger and just one Samber deer but the birds, Langur monkey calls, sun rise, big rock walls all around, and big trees work together to bring a peace to the start of our day. The local guide shows us some damaged plants ... The result of the elephant herd that ranges the area also and we are also alert to the possible Leopard.

Then regretfully back to the daily issues and the tourist things. First breakfast. " lemon tea please, a pot please.". "Tea?" Yes Tea .. A pot.. Lemon tea..... A Pot? Yes and we start the hand signs. The young man flees to the kitchen and another comes to see what strange thing we want. This may go through several interactions but finally .. A pot of lemon tea arrives. We should have learned more of the local language but that is impractical since even our guide who is from Delhi has to speak English here because the folks down south speak Tamil, but are mostly pretty good with English. By the time we get back to Delhi on the 26th we will have gone through areas speaking a total of 10 different languages and Lalit says Totally Different. No or few shared words etc. Amazing!

But I made a small effort to learn some small words in Tamil starting with buttermilk because I order it often..... Something like Mor. So you see the problem. I ask for Mor .. They are expecting English and all manner of problems start so I go back to English but it is southern US accented and I ask for "buttermilk please". The panic look and the trip to find someone else to take the order starts again .. Ditto when I stick with Mor but much more can go wrong with that one. Ha! I would hate to be a waiter here!

The tourist things ... We rode the Toy train built here in the 1800s for transport to the cooler hill stations and tea plantations. Narrow gauge track and small cars and engines. A fun ride through the countryside not following the roads and without the drama of driving on these roads. Very relaxing and scenic. Then we toured a tea plantation and saw the processing of teas, bought some and moved on. Then stopped to get some oils from a local producer and back to the nest. Oh one side trip to a beautiful Catholic church where Lalit's mom was born. The family had sought shelter in the church during the partition when the Hindus and Muslims were killing each other. We took photos and enjoyed the beautiful surroundings.

Southern India has been great .. A real surprise to us and the central mountains are very nice and out of the heat and humidity.

Update from Kerala

We have been in Kerala for about a week and really miss the availability of good coffee in Tamil Nadu. But Kerala has beautiful jungle backwaters and is very tropical with beautiful birds etc. We are now in the central hill country of Kerala going to Ooty today in search of seeing a Bengal Tiger in the wild. The hills are around 4,000 - 5,000 ft so it is much cooler. We have seen at least three herds of wild elephants in the grass lands and forests in areas where they are protected. We are surrounded by tea, cardamom, coffee, rubber, and various spice plantations. Most people here speak pretty good English and we can communicate OK.

While in the backwaters area we took a 'canoe' out for about 5 hours with the guy that goes with the boat to help paddle. Well we stopped at a small village back in the rice paddies where there is no road and went into a small establishment where they were very anxious for us to try coconut beer -- a white substance in a large maybe rinsed out kingfisher beer bottle. Well it wasn't too bad and I drank about half. Susan declined. The next day right before we arrived in Thekkady - the big bad bug set off the alarm that everyone in the building was to evacuate Now! Just miserable along with fever and sweats and chills and all that goes along with that stuff. About 11 pm Lalit took me to the hospital -- I was out of it and he refused to let them do any injections because of the possibility of used needles, so we got pills and we already had tried to start with the right drug, thanks to last years list that Johnny E. had put together for us. We spent an extra night there and then resumed the schedule. All is better now but I am wondering about my judgment in drinking that "beer"! Just say No!

We are in a really nice home stay called the rose garden. The couple that own it are great.

We have stayed in some really unusual and beautiful places on this southern trip. On a future post we will update you on some of those interesting places.

South Tamil Nadu

We just arrived in Kanyakumari at the southern tip of India. HOT and humid but they say summer is an oven here. The Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea meet the Indian Ocean here. Our room has a nice view of the ocean which has a nice turquoise color and a very rocky shoreline.

On the way here we stayed at a fishing village and walked the docks. The fishermen were like most other folks here - loved posing for photos and then looking at the result. A lot of fun because everyone starts laughing and the ever present back and forth head bobbing.

We also detoured way back off the main roads to a bird sanctuary. All the locals told us there were no birds because there had been no rain for a couple of years. The place where a large lake should have been had a pond of water and a small stream. Goats were being grazed on the rest of the lake bottom, but we did get some good photos of about five birds we had not seen before. White Ibis below.

Catch Up

We have flown from Gujarat to Chennai on the east coast and driven down to several small towns along the coast. The first town was a fishing village, Mahabalipuram, where we had some really good grilled fresh red snapper and prawns. Then we visited Pondicherry, an old French colony that had an old town with French Colonial buildings. Some good food and welcoming atmosphere. We have visited some very interesting temples and historic sites along the way and stopped in a small village with mud hut/thatched roofed homes and visited some people who offered us some fresh green coconuts full of coconut water and good coconut meat.

Our guide, Lalit has to communicate with our local driver in English because the language down here is so different. We are in Tamil Nadu and it is very different. Different language, customs, dress, food and most of the people speak really good english.

We stayed in a wonderful hotel in Tranquebar. The hotel was in a beautiful old restored colonial building on the ocean next to a Danish Fort built in the 1600s. Bungalow on the Beach - "a non- hotel hotel" Beautiful place, good people, quiet place. Many Christian churches around us and a small traditional fishing village that still shows the devastation of the Tsunami in 2004(?). That left 400 dead in this small village.

http://bungalow-on-the-beach.neemranahotels.com/

We are leaving Maduri today on our way back to the ocean and further south. We visited a huge temple here and an old palace. The men wear long or short wrap arounds. As we were taken through the old market areas, where vegetables, fish and meat were being sold, men would wave and hold their child up telling me to take their photo. Or just wave with big grins. The women were almost as friendly with me and the camera but what they really want is to say hello to Susan and ask questions or just stare and smile at her.

South India has been a really wonderful relaxed place to visit!

D & S

Rann of Kutch Area

Gypsy working grain.

Going into a village on a camel cart causes a lot of interaction with the locals.  We purchased some embroidery from the lady in orange walking toward us.  Notice the necklace on the water buffalo.  Many cows and Buffalos are wearing jewelry!

Walking toward Pakistan on the salt flats.

We were in the desert area of southwest Gujariat doing some wildlife tours and some shopping for local crafts from the villages and gypsies in the area.

The Rann is a fascinating place and the sight of salt flats disappearing into the distance and salt lakes with flamingoes and sea birds was fascinating.

Gir National Park

We are currently in Gujarot. This area is full of gypsies and tribal art, you can go to individual homes and buy directly from the artists. We have goodies to bring home.

Gir National is one of the last places to see the Asiatic Lion in the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asiatic_lion

We stayed in a lodge that had small cabins spread through an orchard just a hundred yards from the park boundary. So they cautioned us about watching when we walk around. We only saw some jackals out there in the morning and they shied away.

We climbed into a small jeep at about 3 in the afternoon and went into the park for the ride around to find lions. The first indication of lions was a young herder with cows, water buffalo and a camel hurrying them through the jungle. He told our guide that a group of lions -- two males and nine females were trying to get one of the animals so he was hu trying them back to his village. His village was a Maladharis village. Surrounded by the brush and stick fence with gates. They live in thatch roof buildings. The information in the park said that they loose about 30 percent of their livestock to lions each year.

Wildlife sanctuary Rathenbore

> Getting up early and going by open jeep to look for tigers in wildlife sanctuaries is always exciting. Full of hopes and expectations to see a Royal Bengal Tiger in the wild. We stop at the park office for the proper registration - access is limited so Lalit had to reserve in advance - then the park does a random draw to assign the area of the park each party will be allowed into. Our area was not known for really good Tiger sightings and it lived up to it's reputation. But we saw some beautiful wildlife. Several kinds of deer and antelope, a mongoose, a brown fish owl which was a fantastic sighting for us and of course peacocks roaming around in the wild. We had a special wildlife guide that we picked up at the park entrance, Lalit ( who used to be a wildlife guide), another guide that came with the jeep Lalit hired and the driver and Susan and me. All looking, looking for a tiger without any luck. I think we have two more Tiger preserves to tour before we start home. We also have a wildlife park known as one of the last areas for the Asian Lion. Lalit says these are much easier to see than Tigers.
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Rajastan - One

Photo taken In the open courtyard at the Chobdar Haveli in Mandawa. Our dining room is behind 0us but very much like the sitting rooms in the photo.  Our first night in Rajastan and it just got better from here.  There were musicians playing traditional drums called Tabla and a hand pump keyboard called a Harmonium.  Some Havelis added a dancer or marionette show to the music.  Our room which was one floor up was beautiful and comfortable and opened onto the open courtyard.  

> We have driven from Delhi to Rajastan. On the first day we stopped at Mr. Omprakash's ( our driver) home in a small village south of Delhi. His family was very nice - his wife, a son and two daughters, and his parents. We were served chai, then fresh buttermilk with roasted cumin seeds floating on it (I thought it was really good!). And a wheat, butter, and raw sugar cane sugar. It was good and filling. Then we drove to Mandawa. The landscape became more desert like and groups of small round huts began to appear. Mostly made of grasses - thatched and bound, but then becoming mud or mud brick and we started seeing groups of mud huts connected by walls making small walled compounds.
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> We stayed in a small old Haveli in Mandawa that was beautiful with modern rooms in a very old building. The rooms surrounded the central courtyard on three sides. There was an entrance room and wall closing the courtyard completely. The weather is mild and dry so tables are set in the open courtyard and in open arched rooms to the side. The walls were beautifully painted with frescos.
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> Driving on to Bikaner the land got drier and more sandy. We were getting into the edge of the Thar desert that goes into Pakistan. We are seeing many older weathered men with big gray mustaches wearing colorful turbans. We learned that the turban is worn by the head of the Hindu families in Rajastan. In this region there are so many different head covers that can be used to identify the individual's religion and position. There are the Hindu turbans, the Muslim turbans tied differently than the Hindu, and the Sikh turban also tied differently.
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> In the evenings and mornings there is always the Muslim call to prayer echoing through the towns. There is also the sounds of singing and music from the Hindu community. Very exotic to us hearing all this at sunset and sunrise everyday. Also everyday we see lots of camels pulling wagons, plowing, carrying loads, and just grazing along the highways. Elephants are being used mostly for carrying tourists.
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> The days in Rajastan have been very warm and the nights cool. Also very dry desert climate which is nice after all the time in wet jungle areas in the past month. The clothes we wash at night will actually dry here!
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> We rode camels into the Thar desert one evening to some high sand dunes for sunset. Very touristy thing but was fun and being in the large dunes at sunset was beautiful. These desert forts up on the rocky ridges above the towns are really beautiful and very old with great histories.
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> Our itenery for those days is below along with whatever photos I can get into the blog from the iPad.
> 16th Nov: DELHI - MANDAWA.
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> MANDAWA The land of Shekha (Rao Shekhaji 1433-1488) is known for its human and artistic enterprises. This region has been the home of the Marwari community, known for their commercial success. Hundreds of havelis, temples, cenotaphs, walls and forts in this region have intricate wall paintings or frescoes.
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> 17th Nov: MANDAWA – DESHNOK - BIKANER.
> BIKANER is the royal fortified city with a timeless appeal. Lying to the north of Rajasthan, the city is dotted with many sand dunes. Bikaner retains the medieval splendour that pervades the city's lifestyle. More popularly called the camel country, the city is renowned for the best riding camels in the world. The splendour of the desert is all around -specially in the camels. It has forts, palaces and beautiful temples, signifying the rich heritage. The annual camel festival is one of the many highlights of the city.
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> Junagarh Fort. This imposing fort was built between 1589 and 1594 by Raja Rai Singh, one of the trusted Rajput generals of Akbar. The fort defied every attack that was made on it and today, stands proud and unconquered. The perimeter wall is nearly a kilometer long, with 37 bastions and two gates. The Suraj Pol (Sun Gate) is the main access to the inside. Within are a profusion of palaces (37 of them), pavilions and temples. Each palace is, in turn, a picturesque ensemble of courtyards, balconies, towers and kiosks. The palaces, exquisitely built in red sandstone and marble are ornate with mirror work, carvings and paintings. A museum with valuable miniature paintings and rare antiques is also located in the Junagarh Fort.

> 18th Nov: BIKANER – PHALODI - JAISALMER.
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> JAISALMER The Golden city, is a town in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is located 575 kilometres (357 mi) west from the state capital Jaipur. It was once known as Jaisalmer state. The town stands on a ridge of yellowish sandstone, crowned by a fort, which contains the palace and several ornate Jain temples. Many of the houses and temples are finely sculptured. It lies in the heart of the Thar Desert (great Indian desert) and has a population of about 78,000. It is the administrative headquarters of Jaisalmer Distric
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> The havelis are also known as the 'mansion of brocade merchants'. This name has been given probably because the family dealt in threads of gold and silver used in embroidering dresses. However, there are theories, which claim that these traders made considerable amount of money in Opium smuggling and Money-lending.
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Rajasthan

View from our room in Udaipur.  Parts of the Bond movie Octopussy 

Were filmed here.  It is very picturesque and our room is wonderful

Thanks Lalit!

Another view from our bay window

We have been in Udaipur for two nights staying in the Aashiya Haveli with a bay window overlooking the beautiful lake. In town we stopped and Lalit asked a man on the street for directions to our guest house and the man told us. Then as we drove on we all looked at each other laughing. Lalit had asked in Hindi and the answer was in clear English! Lalit said that had never happened to him before. He had to verify with us that we had heard English - Ha - a real tourist area. Some of the James Bond movie Octopussy was filmed in Udaipur so there are resturants that show the movie during dinner. We didn't go to any of these but we will watch the movie when we get home. The city is in fact romantic especially in the area we were staying with the lake views of the water palace and the lights reflecting at night not to mention sunset over the lake. We had tea last night sitting in a large opening at the end of the outdoor hall just outside our room door (which we left open) watching the sunset and listening to the chants, prayers, bells, fireworks and all the sounds of the city and lake.

Two nights before we were in Jaipur and had several strange experiences while shopping on our own in a market area. We had purchased some things and while Susan was in a shop I sat outside talking with some other shop keepers when a tall guy came down the street and sat down. Once finding out that I was from the US he wanted to talk about drones and Bin Laden etc. He was Muslim. So I kept telling him that no way Obama is a Muslim. As he got more upset trying to get me to talk about his subject and maybe wanting to escalate, Susan came out and we left while the shopkeeper kept assuring me that the guy was not a terrorist. Then we went with a seemingly nice older gentleman to his silver shop, but his prices seemed high and we weren't really shopping for silver anyway but I made the mistake of asking prices and seeing how much lower he would accept .. Not much so we just left as the man and his two sons ran after us reducing prices all the way but the frantic nature of the scene got the other shopkeepers down the street excited and they began to actively try to block us from going any further and one reached to block Susan and she ran into his arm. I turned and put a hand on his shoulder and yelled No to him and she passed through. As we left and crossed the street we could hear the older mad from the silver shop yelling at the guy "never touch the woman!" over and over. We made our escape across the busy street and we thought that we will not slow down and visit that much again.

But when we got to Udaipur there were some good shops but we were reluctant to do any shopping but the merchants were much lower key and were really pleasant to deal with. So our shopping is continuing. Just wondering how can we tell the difference before we are in such a situation again??

Out walking after dinner last night we came on a wedding procession with the groom on the traditional white horse and the hand pushed band wagon with loud speakers and the generator wagon along behind with the wire running between them powering the party, blocking the street, so horns honking everywhere and the wedding party dancing in the street (some of these girls can really wiggle around in their saris). The groom went into a temple for a blessing before proceeding to ride away to get his bride, with a sword on his shoulder. There was also a brass and drums band marching behind the music wagon (band wagon?) Of course we had left our cameras in the room. From now on we must carry a camera everywhere!

We are in the car heading into Gujarat driving on a really nice four lane divided highway but this is still India and it is not unusual to encounter another vehicle coming toward us on this side of the highway and other things also. First it was a lady herding six huge water buffaloes toward us in the middle of our lane. Then there are the cows and the last thing was something like thirty camels coming toward us on the highway. Being a passenger here can be interesting and a certain trust must be placed in the driver or we might develop a nervous twitch! (still might happen.. Ha!)

Haridwar and Rishikesh

As an unplanned diversion Lalit arraigned for Mr. Omprikash to drive us to these two cities about 5 hours north of Delhi. Lalit sent another guide Veeru with us also.

Haridwar is an ancient city and important Hindu pilgrimage site on the upper Ganges. We toured some temples there and were rather uncomfortable with the attention we were getting. We saw no other tourists from outside India in the two nights and day we spent there which is OK, but some people stared at us so openly with wide eyes and mouth open. Our guide said they were from very far in the country and on pilgrimage and probably had never seen a westerner in their lives. We liked the ghats and the evening puja along the river, but Haridwar is a city for Hindus.

Rishikesh of course famous for the Beatles visit in the 60s has many Yoga and Meditation Ashrams and the tourist uniform in the city looks like a Yoga class has just let out down the street at whatever hour we were out. The place was more comfortable for us and there was some really good food, chocolate, and banana lassis. If we go back we should stay longer in an ashram program.

We were really happy to get back to Delhi for a few days, we know the neighborhood well enough and have found some really good restaurants. The best South Indian drip coffee and great Thali,
Pam, you would love it! We took the girls at the Guest House a dark chocolate cake and I think it was devoured within 10 minutes of delivery!!

Likir House Delhi

We have moved to the Likir House in the Lajpat Nagar area of south Delhi close to the Defense Colony. We really like this guest house a lot. The rooms are roomy and very clean. The staff are wonderful Tibetan people. Some of the help are what they call 'fresh' - newly arrived after escaping Tibet. There was a young man staying in the Buddhist Temple who had recently escaped Tibet but his parents had not made it out. It is a subject they don't want to talk about.

This guest house has a better feel to us than the Temple and is more comfortable. The attached bathroom at the temple had a very bad sewer gas odor when water was run down drains. Likir House has never had that problem when we've stayed here. We have noticed that problem in a lot of places in India and Nepal but usually in the more rustic rural guest houses. The rooms at the Likir House are also larger than at the Buddhist Temple in East of Kailash.

Although the big deal difference is that the Defense Colony market is just a short walk away from Likir House. Crossing the big road,on the way is easy because just across the road from the Likir driveway are steps that go up to the raised metro train. Just take those steps up and then down the other side and turn right and then left on the next street. Three blocks down and there is the circle of Defense Colony Market and the great variety of Restaurants and shops. The neighborhood is also more upscale than East of Kailash or Kailash Colony making it a cleaner more relaxing walk.
We ate at Sagar late this afternoon, and it was wonderful! We had the Thali which was very good with plenty of refills by a very attentive wait staff. (if you order Thali it usually includes free refills until you cry uncle). Thali is the same as Dahl Bhatt - spicy Dal or beans and rice with curried veges, curd, a green vege and several other small dishes of delicious things to eat with the rice and bread. I had a masala buttermilk to drink for the first time -- wonderful if you like the taste of curd (yogurt) with some mild spices and I did. It really helped with the hot spices in the Thali. Then we had south Indian drip coffee -- two cups each. Really good with a small desert. We did not get the Dosas, a south Indian standard that can be a meal in itself. But we will be getting plenty of that in South India next month. We were so full we couldn't even look at the beautiful chocolates in the desert shops around the colony. That is serious full.

We leave for Rishikesh and Hairdwar in the morning for four or five days, with Mr Omprakash driving and Veeru as our guide. It is about a 5 hour drive from here. It will be cooler there and beautiful with a many meditation and yoga ashrams around the area. We will return and eat more at Sagar before leaving for Rajastan and Gujariat with Mr. Omprakash and Lalit on the 16th.

We purchased our flight tickets this morning for the Grand Canyon hiking, and Whitefish skiing trips. So that piece of administrative planning is out of the way and I can quit checking the fares and trying to make sure I have good wifi available.

Also, a load of trekking gear and unnecessary clothing was packed up and sent via UPS back home with great help from Lalit. The shipping agent came to our guest house where we loaded the box and did the weight and payment. Another thing done! Getting lighter! I wish it was that easy with body weight - just ship it off! Ha!

We are having mixed drinks (mango juice and soda water) with nuts and snacks in the room tonight. Yummm.

Hope everyone Is doing well and staying Happy.

Namaste, Jullay, Peace, Darryl and Susan

In Delhi

We will be leaving in two days for Rishikesh and Haridwar for about 4 or 5 days, then starting on the whirlwind tour of Rajastan and Gujarat.  We met a bicycle rider from Nashville in the Bagdogra airport two days ago and we found that we had mutual friends!  The world is getting smaller.  

We just came in from walking to dinner, dodging all the forms of transport all around us.  Funny that the cars and motorbikes honk constantly, but each kind of honk means something.  So we have gotten good at knowing when to move out of the way fast.  Bicycle riders give a varying pitch whistle to let you know they are coming up from behind and rickshaws have the little bells that we used to have on our first bikes, but some have the Clarabell the clown squeeze horns.  One had a soda bottle rigged to replace the horn's rubber ball that had evidently worn out.  So that sound was the crinkle of the bottle blended with the honk.  What a hoot!  Walking in the US is never like this!  

We are staying in a Buddhist Monastery/Temple in South Delhi in the area called East of Kailash.   Our walk was into the Kailash Colony shopping and eating area.  A festive bright area around a small park.  The Temple where we are staying has meditation at 6 and 6 and through out the meditation a monk keeps a steady slow rhythm on a large drum and chants softly.  We have not gone to meditation yet.  Shoes are off at the front door so everyone is barefoot or with socks only.    One of the guest house rates includes all meals, so we have been eating most meals with the head monk (Bhikshu Gyomyo Nakamura), two other monks, and any guests that are here.  Bhikshu Gyomyo Nakamura is responsible for the construction of the Shanti Stupa in Leh ( a beautiful place) and he is an accomplished musician.  Take a look at Bhikshu Gyomyo Nakamura's Facebook music links.

 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gyomyo-Nakamura-MUSIC/192561927473737

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanti_Stupa

This has been a quiet and peaceful place to take a break from traveling.

Love and Peace to you all.  

In Gangtok

We are happy to be in Gangtok having been greeted at the Bagdogra Airport by our guide Tenzin and driver Sachin. Tenzin presented us with the traditional Buddhist silk scarves placed around our necks. Gangtok is a great place for us for several reasons. They have turned a main downtown street into a walking mall which is so nice without the cars and motorcycles whizzing past and all the horns honking and exhaust and dust. There are some very good coffee shops and some really good pizza and chocolate. No tourist touts trying to sell us tourist stuff and the people are very nice.

Calcutta seemed to be poverty and filth in our face all the time. We had to wade in some flooded streets in water that was not so appealing. The city spreads what they call bleach - a white powder all down the gutters so that it will prevent mosquitoes from multiplying and hopefully hold down the spread of malaria so when it rains and the water washes the poison down the drains it becomes very wide spread. Calcutta is built in and surrounded by wet lands and swamps so rainwater drainage is a problem and many streets flood. It is very hot and humid this time of year. A hard place for us to be even for the short time we were there, but we were able to visit with a friend we made in Ladakh last year. He has been living in Calcutta for some months now and is studying the sitar with a really good teacher. Catching up and comparing experiences with a fellow American was very good for us.

For some reason tomorrow morning we are leaving our very comfortable guest house in Gangtok for a trek. It is cold here at night, but we will drive to Yuksom where it is below freezing at night and barely 40 in the day. It is raining here daily and snowing up there. From Yuksom we climb for two days up to around 14280ft and then in several more days up to a 16,350 ft pass. It has been snowing up there all this week. We are not at all sure exactly what to expect. We will let you all know when we get back to Gangtok in 10 days from now.

We have now spent two evening with the girls at the Happiness Home here in Gangtok. What a great group of girls and what a good time we have had! We have laughed and had a great time. We are all relaxing with each other now and enjoying each others company. We are so happy to have the opportunity to be a small part of the Happiness Home.

I have to go .. Need to get some sleep and be ready to go in the morning. We will write in about 10 days with an update.

Nepal Trek Photos

Trekkers enjoying the view from the trail.

Sites visited today in Kathmandu

We had a good day going to several old and important Buddhist and Hindu religious sites in Kathmandu.  We hired a taxi driver with good English and set the agenda for the day.  We went to what the Internet references list as the top two holy pilgramage sites in Buddhism.  To save some stress in writing about the history etc of these places -- below are Internet links.

Wade through as much as you want. 

Bodinath 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boudhanath

The Monkey Temple

http://www.google.com/search?q=monkey+temple+kathmandu&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari

We then visited an important Hindu temple.  Wikipedia: Pashupatinath Temple is one of the most significantHindu temples of Shiva in the world, located on the banks of the Bagmati River in the eastern part of Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. 

This is where Hindu cremations take place with the ashes being put in the holy Bagmati river which runs into the Ganges -- Ganga -- in India.  There were three cremations in progress when we were there. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pashupatinath_Temple

An area of Kathmandu known as Patan has an historic square -Durbar Square full of temples.  It was much less hectic than the Kathmandu Durbar Square, which we plan to visit tomorrow.  So I just included that link.  Kathmandu Durbar Sq is interesting because a young girl is selected to be a living goddess and lives in the square until puberty.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patan_Durbar_Square

A couple of blocks from the Patan Durbar Sq is a Buddhist temple -- the Golden Temple.  Beautiful place. 

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/nepal/around-the-kathmandu-valley/patan/sights/religious-spiritual/golden-temple

Kathmandu Durbar Square Link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basantapur_Durbar_Square

Wikipedia:  At the southern end of Durbar Square is one of the most curious attractions in Nepal, the Kumari Chowk. This gilded cage contains the Raj Kumari, a girl chosen through an ancient and mystical selection process to become the human incarnation of the Hindu mother goddess, Durga. She is worshiped during religious festivals and makes public appearances at other times for a fee paid to her guards.

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/nepal/kathmandu-kumari-ghar

Nepal Update

We have been relaxing in Pokhara Nepal since returning from an 8 day trek into the the Himalayas but not too high and cold .. Maybe about 12,000 ft. We hiked a loop from Niapol to Ghorapani - Poon Hill to Tatrapani to Gandruk to Landruk and Australian Camp then out. I left off some stops and probably misspelled some. It was a lot of steep ups and downs with some days being all day climbing and some felt like all day steep down hill. Many beautiful panoramas of the Anapurna Range of the Himalayas. The cyclone that caused eastern India so much trouble reached us the last night and day of our trek so we had some hiking in the rain. All in all a very good trek and it was good to get out into the traditional Gurung villages. They are happy friendly people and the villages are clean and prosperous. It is harvest time here also.

Pokhara Lakeside is a tourist town with tropical weather, butterflies, good food and lots of Europeans, Aussies, Chinese, but very few Americans. It is situated on a large beautiful lake with a hindu temple on an island in the lake and boats for rent. We are in the same guest house as last year .. Between 15 and 20 a night. Thanks to Peggy Emberson for introducing us to Nepal and the Nirvana Guest House last year. This guest house seems to have a loyal following with people who come here every year and have been coming here for 15 or 20 years.

We're on our second full moon in Asia and this one marks the end of the Dasain festival in Nepal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasain

On the trek there were nights of traditional music and singing by the guides and porters at the guest houses. People are dressed in their best clothes and wearing large Tikas on their foreheads. Little girls in what look like our princess dresses. Everyone happy and smiling and big bamboo swings erected everywhere with many children using them enthusiastically. We didn't see any of the early festival goat and buffalo sacrifices which was fine with us. We did see many herds of goats being taken to town for festival.


We had Hair cuts this morning .. Both of us in the barber shop ... "Sir head massage too for you and madam? Yes yes. Shoulder and neck massage sir? .. They say I am as good as going to the doctor sir! Yes yes.".

When all was over and Susan had long ago fled to go shopping I owed him a couple thousand rupees! The haircut started as 195 rupees. I am a real sucker sometimes --- a rupee is equal to a US penny, but it adds up fast!

There's a nepalese restaurant down the street with great Dal Bhat and then I saw Chang on the menu and they said yes we make our own Chang ( rice beer). I had a big glass and it was milky white and a little thick but had a pretty good flavor and evidently a lot of alcohol! Good Stuff .. Almost. ( 90 rupees a big glass).

We catch a bus for Kathmandu in a few days. Then fly to Calcutta India from there. We will be going to some other historic cities in Nepal before we leave --- like Bhaktapur.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhaktapur

In the morning we will meet the Nepalese waiter we met here last year and stayed in touch via email -- Himal -- and go take a boat for a paddle in the lake.

I'll add more photos as I can.

The Baba Adventure Bus

We're in Pokhara Nepal in the Lakeside district. In Kathmandu we tried to get tickets on the Green Line Bus but couldn't get tickets for the day we wanted so they recommended the Baba Adventure Bus and held up a brochure of a new looking blue bus. I was skeptical but they assured us that it was the same quality as the green line. So the next morning we took a cab at 6 am in the rain to where the bus leaves. Sure enough there was a line of bright blue busses along the side of a busy street. The cab driver put us out across the street and I paid him and started across with our bags .. Then we saw the barrier in the middle of the road! Ha! Out in a busy street with full bags dodging cars etc looking for a way across. Susan found a section with a rope strung across instead of a solid barrier. It was a big step across the rope and into a lane of also busy traffic. All the cars and motorcycles honking and us trying to get across best we could. Oh yeah, this is the adventure bus! Thank goodness that was the end of the adventure except for the standard road adventure which didn't seem so personal while riding in a big bus. Some things were very different here... There were nice seat belts laid out neatly on each seat which we used and the road that was so bad last year has been repaved and mostly smooth and wider. Still scary steep drops off the sides with no guard rails. But...Wow some infrastructure progress. The roadside food during the 7 hour trip was not so great but the scenery was interesting and the fresh bananas were good. Getting off the bus a man was in the middle of the crowd of cab drivers all yelling taxi sir at the bottom of the steps. He held up a sign with our names on it. I pointed to him and yelled yes and he grabbed our bags and we were off to the guest house. Almost a choreographed exit!

At the guest house the road alongside that was dirt and gravel last year is newly paved also. We wonder how much has been done on the mountain roads that were encroaching on the Annapurna circuit last year. But we won't see that because we are staying lower in the Poon Hill Annapurna Base Camp area this year. We meet with a porter tomorrow and leave the next day for about 10 days of trekking.

We met with the waiter Himal whom we met last year here in Pokhara. We took him to lunch today and he treated us to dinner at the place he works here in town. We had no idea he was going to pay and we probably ordered too expensively. We will make it up before we leave.

It is hot and humid here so we'll be happy to get into the mountains. Also people are saying that it will begin to get cooler soon.

In Kathmandu

We arrived in Kathmandu yesterday afternoon. Getting out of Leh always involves a lot of security checks. We were physically searched three times by the time we boarded. Our bags were checked several times and our carry on bags were taken and checked, which made us over weight for checked bags. So I had to go back to the start of the security checks because that is where they collect the over weight fees. Then back through the searches again. This time the soldier did not like the cough drops in my pocket and told me to eat one of them and watched me. He then asked if he could have one and when I said yes he laughed and sent me on through.

In Delhi we changed planes for Kathmandu but at baggage claim we managed to get a bag of unneeded things out to Lalit ( who was nice enough to drive to the airport to get our bag - very nice) to hold for us for the southern India portion of the trip. A very nice well educated Indian couple we met at the guest house in Leh helped us by taking the bag outside to Lalit. We were sorry to have not been able to visit with him but we would have to go up a floor and through security to get back into the terminal. Air terminals here are not like in the US -- no one without a ticket for that day and time and proper ID ( passport) exactly matching the names on the air ticket can get in the front door of the airport.

The lines to get an entry visa ( $40 USD for a 30 day visa) in the Kathmandu airport were very long. We were in line for a couple of hours. Then out to find the hotel car and to the hotel in Thamel - the tourist district - well maybe the tourist zoo. Seems like it is just bedlam all the time with very narrow streets, hundreds of shops wanting to get us into their shop, 100s of tourists and trekkers, and all kinds of traffic going by seemingly just missing us barely. http://wikitravel.org/en/Thamel

Last night we ate at an Italian place, Dolce Vita -- Very good, as it was last year. Good coffee and desert!

Woke in our large 18 dollar room and had a wonderful hot shower this morning - we had slept in. We walked in Thamel when we got up and found Gaia - a place we ate last year for dinner, but their breakfast was really good too. We will go back there!

Yesterday when we checked into our hotel our room number was in the 100s in a building across the street so naturally I thought - great we are on a lower floor. Nope, after a four floor walk up there was our room! Where we are now after shopping and walking around Thamel.

We will go over to the Bodinath Stupa area tomorrow to find the Monastery where our Ladakh guide's aunt lives. She is a Buddhist nun. Our guide's mom sent a package through us to her and we need to deliver it. Stanzin says that she speaks very good English and will show us around that area.

We have not decided on a trek yet but maybe north of Pokhara around the Annapurna Base Camp trekking area. Also maybe something north of Kathmandu. ?

We are fine, enjoying the sights here and eating well. Also enjoying a lower elevation than Ladakh but we miss being in Ladakh also.

D&S

Leaving Leh

We will be flying out of Leh early in the morning. Tomorrow afternoon we should be in Kathmandu, Nepal. Looking forward to some good Dal Bhat. We are ready to leave Leh even though we have had a really good time and have met some interesting people here. We hope that Bryan and Mary and Bill and Mary - two other US couples have made it safely to their next destination. So as our friends group begins to dissolve it is time to go. Angchok took us to dinner last night as a going away and brought his 12 year old son. We had a good time.

As we discuss the last month we can't believe all the different things we saw and did. We laugh saying that if this were all and we were heading home we would have had a rich trip.

The home stay trek in Sham Valley was great and introduced us to the traditional Ladakhi home life and food.
The Nubra Valley trip was so beautiful and we saw what a traditional Muslim village is like. Being that close to Pakistan and the fighting on the high glacier was sobering and brought the threat of agressive neighbors close to us - we are lucky to not have that in the US.
The Markah Valley trek was challenging for us but was a real highlight to our trip. Remote villages and high passes and our first pony trek. Really nice, happy people. Great time.
Seeing and spending some time with the Nomads above Tsomoriri Lake was very interesting -- we live such a Cush life and are many times unhappy while these people live a hard life and seem to be very happy. A couple who just returned from there told us the Nomads had now moved on to lower grazing areas.

Snow level on the mountains around Leh has moved down a bunch the last few days and it has been raining here and getting colder. New people are showing up daily but are younger and have the look of real outdoor people. They will be trekking in much colder and snowy conditions than we did.

We are working to select a suitable trek in Nepal and have already started talking about what food we want first and what restaurants we will go to first! As John says - Food is an adventure!

We will write from Nepal as soon as we can.

Darryl and Susan

Ladakhi Festival

We were lucky enough to be in Leh for the annual folk festival.  Great time watching the dances, music, polo etc.  The ladies headdresses are fantastic with so many turquoise stones.  All the villages and some tribal areas in Ladakh come in their traditional dress.

We were sitting on the edge of the polo match with balls sometimes flying into our sitting area and then battles over the ball jut a few feet from us with flailing mallets.  A few photos below.

We would ask for permission for a photo and talk to them as much as possible, showing them the photo in the view finder.  They all would giggle and point and get their friends to look.  Fun.

Beautiful jewelry passed down through generations.

Far off village getting ready to do the plate dance.

Backstage a tribal village gets the call that they are next to perform and move out for the field with their drums.

Love these handwoven shoes and the pattern.

Good Hat.  And a good performance.

The lady on the left asked if I could send her a photo and gave an address.  For 30 rupees each a photo shop made four copies of two photos so I could send.  The lady in the post office wanted to see the photos and said this is a friend of mine she is still here in Leh - I will give it to her tonight!  So we left it with her.  She said the village is so remote that it will take weeks for mail to get there,  The village is Skurbuchan.  It felt good to provide the photos.

Ladies from another remote village.