tid bits

indian men's underwear brands include

• macho
• macro-man
• hunk

the streets / laneways / alleys in varanasi are covered with litter and cow and goat dung at the day's end. the next morning, though, it's all gone. so i saw this dude sweeping the street this morning, and i asked him 'you speak english?'
him: yes
me: where does the trash go?
him: (staring blankly)
me: trash goes where? ganga river?
him: ganga river no! just ah, gutt-gutt-gutt-gutt. going.

and there you have it folks, the magical receptical to all of india's trash is, well, down to the alley into someone else's space i suppose.

haze of smog and smoke from cremation hangs over the city but it's somehow beautiful.

amy's in the hotel resting after a steam bath - getting the olfactory senses back in order mehopes.

namaskar!

bohod aacha moosh

pronounced (buh-Hode Ah-cha Moosh), translation: very good mustache

we learned this little nugget from some irish guys at our guesthouse and heather tried it out the other day on a guy we met while eating lunch. the look on his face was one of surprise, consternation, and amusement. we were both cackling like hyenas, of course.

we left bodh gaya and the beloved bodhi tree in the middle of holi, india's biggest holiday which involves throwing color/paint at anyone and everyone. heather and i were able to get in on the action by asking a few young boys if we could use their water cannons. we nailed quite a few guys on motorbikes and bicycles and whoo lawdy was it a rootin' tootin' time! we both got a bit of color, but managed to avoid the sewage that was being hurled about by using our stern looks and saying "NO!" very firmly.

our exodus from bodh gaya was quite an undertaking. we had booked an autotaxi and an auto rickshaw the night before and both of them failed to show up. a friend of ours tried calling several taxi companies only to be told that all of the drivers were drunk. we were finally able to get a ride at the exorbitant rate of 300 rupees each on the back of motorbikes.

we took the short train ride to varanasi and fully expected to be assaulted and ripped off as soon as we arrived, but were pleasantly surprised when the rickshaw undercharged us (when compared to the lp's rates) and a sweet guy led us to our guesthouse, which likely would have been impossible to find otherwise. he led us through these narrow alleys and literally shoved cows and buffaloes out of the way for us.

varanasi is another charged place, but much more intense than peaceful bodh gaya. there are at least 300 cremations on the river daily and loads of spiritual festivals everywhere. the various ghats here are like a maze and i am certain that we will get lost many times before we leave. we are easing ourselves into the scene by resting a lot and getting ayurvedic treatments. we treated ourselves to southern indian food for lunch and organic western food for dinner yesterday. we are laying low and fighting off colds today, but i reckon we will do lots more exploring before shoving off to rishikesh.

lots of love and namaste!

bodh gaya

this place is, of course, a trip. i thought it would have a nepalese or tibetan feeling to it because it's the place where the buddha attained enlightenment. there's actually a tree (or a vestige of the tree) where the buddha sat when he entered samadhi/nirvana/whathaveyou. but make no mistake - we are, in fact, in india. land of abundant cows, squat toilets, touts, dust, horns, temples, saris...

cute little town though, for sure. there's a tailor who made us salwar kameezes (the tunic / pants outfits that ladies wear) for $2. top notch as well. he also doctored up a defected shirt that i had bought for $0.25 - it's my 4th of july shirt - it's very much red white and blue, but seemingly mexican and indian at the same time. it was once a simple white shirt but now it's rocking some flair for sure.

holi festival starts tomorrow night - should be interesting 3 days in which to travel for sure. it starts with lighting stacks of hay in the streets, or the dried up riverbed in this town. next day they throw mud or dirt or water, and chemical paint powder (this is a spin off of the olden days of course)...we might get holi'ed to kingdom come before we make it to the train station - we shall see.

time to shove off - want the tailor to make me more clothes before we go!

lotsa love and happy vibes from the bodhi tree <3

we've covered a lot of ground, a lot

i do believe we were coming at you from pondicherry, which is in the southeast part of india, in our last post. now we are in a little town called bodh gaya, which is sort of in the northern middle of india. it took us one 3 hour bus ride, a 27 hour train ride, followed by another 8 hour train ride to get here from pondy.

pondy was a great little city. it was clean (by india's standards), pretty small, and easy to get around. the people were also lovely. we ate dinner almost every night at a little street tent and the guys there started to recognize us. we spent most of our days meandering on our bikes through town. we met a very friendly indian fella who wanted nothing more than to show us around and take care of us, both which he did quite well. we also found a place that made fresh french pastries and got some decadent chocolate croissants. i think we ate a total of four croissants in two visits (me eating three of the four . . . what?! what?!).

we left pondy in the wee hours of the morning (waking at 2:30 to catch a 4 am bus) and arrived in chennai at 8. we found ourselves a real indian hotel and stayed there. allow me to describe some of the amenities this hotel had:
-a window which opened to not one, but three brick walls
-exposed wiring all over the place
-and the crowning jewel . . . a room off the stairwell that was filled entirely with hay
pretty authentic stuff. i had a bit of a stomach bug so heather did some exploring on her own and upon her return we grabbed some food outside of our hotel. we were the only women to be seen on the street and the men were all looking at us with a great deal of curiosity.

we left chennai the following day and boarded our sleeper class train for our 27 hour journey(sleeper class is the most economical class, with 6 people to a compartment and no a/c). the sleeper seats are not meant to be sat upon for more than, oh, let's say 45 minutes at a time so we often shifted or got up to stand in the doorway, we also thought about requesting new buttcheeks upon which to sit, but for some reason the vendors who came through the train weren't selling those. the train vendors were quite the characters and since we were the only westerners on the train a few of them went out of their way to entertain us with various facial expressions and english phrases. each vendor has their own little, ummm, phrase and tune they use to tell you what they are saying. often they chirp these out in voices that are high and squeaky like munchkins from the wizard of oz . . . . "chai-yuh, chai-yuh, chaiiiiiiii" was a common one, another remarkable one was "cold, cold, cold, cold, wutar"=water and our personal favorite was a guy who was hawking ice cream and whose catchphrase we will be happy to imitate for you in person, for putting it on the blog would not do it justice.

i spent a good deal of time looking out the window in the hopes of spotting someone defecating along the tracks, but alas, heather saw at least five and i missed them all . . . next time gadget, next time.

we made friends with our neighbors and they offered us food whenever they had snacks. we also befriended a fellow who was quite knowledgable in pranayama (breathing exercises) and hinduism. he was very eager to share his knowledge with us and introduced us to his family. we discovered in the morning that someone had stolen our new friend's suitcase and later found that someone also stole my camera and memory cards while i was asleep. this caused me quite a bit of distress. i cried, but was comforted by heather and our neighbors.

after traveling through about a dozen cars to find the conductor to attempt to report the loss we met a japanese guy named hiro who was traveling with no guidebook. we took him under our wing and explored kolkata together and this is where heather picks up.

from kolkata....and beyond!!

here's a pic from vatakanal, where we were staying in the south...

rest of the post picks up from after amy's...



i will be honest in saying that i wasn't excited for calcutta. big cities just aren't my thing. we met the only other tourist on our train, a nice young japaneser named hiro, who joined us for a post-train adventure. after the rough ride, we decided to go to a swanky hotel. "swanky hotel, in india?" you say. to which i reply "$300 per night". tha'st USD. place was top-notch. we managed to find the pool - had to pay 600rs / $12 to use it...we usually spend less than 500rs in a day, to put it in perspective. we swam, we frolicked, we played, we considered stealing the lounge chairs and taking them on the train, and wondered if we could do the same with the pool...but alas, we had to go.

we did pamper ourselves in their bathroom for a while though...oh my goodness, the bathroom. we walked on the floors without shoes. there was a woman there who followed us around, taking trash from our hands, and giving us extra towels, and wiping down the sinks right after we used them. hot showers. hot showers. did i mention the hot showers? and clean, big, fluffy, towels...mmm...(to be read in the same voice as 'rich, moist, gooey, chocolate')

speaking of vittles, we also got some yummy kati rolls on the street, a calcutta specialty of parotha with fried egg, onion, and veggies in a piece of paper. i bet the paper even tasted good. i should have tried it.

the volunteer traffic police helped us hail a cab after a hasty good bye to our new friend hiro, and off we went, to another sleeper train. i think this ride was only 8 hours, and it was in an a/c train which is more comfortable, and safer for one's belongings.

this morning in gaya we spent merely 3 hours booking tix for the next leg of our adventure aftera computer failure. (they gave amy and me chai during the wait, which was really nice.) then on to bodh gaya, where the buddha attained enlightenment. the ride here was 12 km in a share rickshaw. shared with 11 other people. the driver was sitting on people's laps. only in india.

we found a good, peaceful, clean, inexpensive place to stay here: a monastery with a mix of monks and travelers. one of the monks was smoking a cigarette, which i found...interesting. they also have tofu here, a joyous occasion for mankind, if you consider me and amy mankind. it'll be nice to stay here for a few days and relax, clean our clothes, maybe get some clothes tailored, maybe volunteer...we shall see what she holds in store for us.

i didn't feel so good last night

yesterday we went for a long bike ride to auroville, the community just outside of pondicherry where they do experiments in organic gardening, wind and solar power, etc. it's an interesting place for sure, but their aim is to build a community, not to be a tourist attraction. so a lot of the things that you might want to do or see require getting a pass and finding your way to the place, and then it will be closed, etc. such is india.

we opted to help the indian economy by shopping our buns off at their boutiques - really well-made things like purses and handmade paper, essential oils...and their cafe was amazing! we got salad. salad. oh man, what a treat, as all the veggies here are cooked for a good 40 minutes. good yummy food!

turns out we won't be able to stay in auroville for at least another couple of days, but that has helped us to change our course: we're going to head north from here and skip nepal, go to dharamsala for a retreat at the end of march, and spend a month in dharamsala. it'll be good to chill in one place for a month, if our plans don't change again between now and then, always a distinct possibility.

on the way home yesterday i started to feel feverish and get chills. when we got home i passed out instead of getting dinner, and felt much better this morning, although still weak. cooz and i rode to get bfast this morning and i had said to her that i was completely surrendering today, whatever mother india wanted for me i was going to do. at that moment, a really cute older lady who waddled like a penguin and had 2 nose rings the size of pennies, walked by and smiled hugely at me.

later, we found a bfast spot and two little kids started waving and smiling so i looked up, smiled, and waved back - just as i put my kickstand and my foot in a fresh pile of cow dung. when i say fresh, you may imagine it seeping into the holes of my crocs. score one for india. but then this nice lady (the girls' mama) asked if i needed water, which of course i did. she led me to a pump and pumped water over my foot and shoe, helping to clean me off. this woman apparently lived on the street, as i saw her washing her dishes on the side of the road. but she smiled so genuinely, and it was so touching to see a woman with no home, so concerned that i had just stepped in cow crap. inspiring, really...the things she could have been worried about and she just wanted to help. so the next time i ruin a t-shirt, or all of my t-shirts, i can recall this woman's smile and remember that if she can smile at life, then shiiiihhh, so can i!

vatta-vatta-vattakanal

note to our dear readers: this post is chronologically before heather's post below, but heather finished her post just before i did.

the title of this post is to be said in a rappish sort of way, but a swedish rapper. during one of our several dinner parties, our upstairs neighbor, tony the swede came up w/ that little number much to the delight of everyone sitting around him.

vattakanal was the name of the little mountainous village that we called home for the last week. it was a 30 minute walk to "town" (kodaikanal). we had a 2 bedroom cottage with a little kitchen and fireplace and it was quite cozy. kodaikanal had lots to offer . . . breathtaking views of the mountains and villages below, homemade chocolates, and of course, local characters whom you would not find in any place other than india.

one said character we deemed santa clause b/c he was bearded, wore a red hooded sweatshirt and a red beanie, he would walk around town offering/mumbling his goods to the tourists. another fella was a french ex-pat who brought joy to travelers in the form of pastries. he wakes up every morning at 2 am to make fresh french pastries and then walks from cottage to cottage selling these treats. it is sort of like the ice cream man when you are a kid. you see his huge cap (to hold in his abundance of dreadlocks) bobbing up and down outside your window and yours eyes widen with glee and you go running for your money to buy up the goodies. he had delightful little almond paste croissant thingers, raisin buns, something like pain au chocolat, and honeybread. mmmmm, hmmmmmmmm. these things would have been delicious anywhere, but b/c they are virtually unheard of in india they were an exceptional treat.

to be honest, the days in vattakanal are a bit of a blur. we spent a good deal of time lounging about the cottage, reading, and eating. on occasion we would muster the energy to do a little hike to dolphin's nose or a waterfall. we also hosted several many dinner parties (as i mentioned above), where we would pick up random travelers and invite them back to our cottage for some homemade grub. the highlight of one of these dinners was the chocolate fondue dessert. we had an assortment of fruit and nuts for dipping and melted down some of the homemade chocolate we had purchased in town.

heather and i treated ourselves to a spa day our last full day in kodaikanal. we got amazing facials, some waxing, and some threading done. 'twas an excellent way to pass an afternoon without electricity.

vattakanal was swarming with israelis and we happened to find ourselves a group of really solid israeli guys to hang out with. pretty funny fellas and there was one who gives superb massages, really, superb. we spent a quite a few hours chillaxin' with them. and when it was time to go they spent a good hour or so trying to convince us to stay in vattakanal another day to attend a little shindig, but alas, our train ticket had been booked and we had to depart. we are hoping to meet up w/ them again in varanasi or nepal though.

we jumped on a bus from kodaikanal to kodai road (85 km=three hour busride), where we had dinner at a little hole in the wall. the men at the restaurant took excellent care of us and even made us a special thin crispy parotha. we boarded our first overnight train (first for me, first for this trip for heather) at 11:45 and set ourselves up in our sleeper car. the sleeper car was quite cold due to the a/c and we were surrounded by snoring indian men. in spite of this, it was quite easy to be lulled to sleep and we both got decent snoozes until we arrived at vallapuram at 5:30 am. vallapuram's train station was immaculate. we slept on the benches next to the tracks for several hours and woke to people hosing down the platform and the train tracks! they were cleaning the train tracks!!! vallapuram also had a ladies waiting room where we could (and did) have a shower and change into clean clothes. and then . . . .