Last days in India

So Sky got released from the hospital on his third day. We were so happy to be out of there and we went directly to the train station. We got a ticket to Patna which was all we could get at the last minute that was on the way to Darjeeling. We got general tickets for the first time and ended up sitting in the luggage racks of third class. It wasn't that bad at all. All the locals were looking at us like we were crazy. Westerners don't usually take third class. We arrived in Patna at about 9pm and planned on catching a 10:45 train to NJP (the closest train station to Darjeeling). I will never forget a poor little boy, that must have been about 10 to 12 years old, laying on the floor in a corner, shaking just like Sky had been doing right before we went to the hospital, with flys all over him. This was a very populated and poor area that doesn't see tourists very often. We got third class tickets again to NJP, thinking that the last trip wasn't so bad. The train station was very interesting. First we had some guy following us around for about 30 minutes. He would follow us everywhere we went and then when we stopped he would just stand a short distance away staring at us. We told him to leave us alone but it didn't faze him. As we were waiting for our train, we eventually ended up with a crowd of indian men standing around us just staring. They didn't try to talk to us, they just stood there and stared. I felt like a monkey in a cage. It was very uncomfortable. We talked to one man that explained to us that we were just very strange, and that they were curious. We tried to tell them to leave, but they just stood there. So I eventually took my camera out and started taking pictures of them, hoping that they would get the point. Nope. Finally our train came and it was mad dash to get on. We found our car and it was jam packed with people. It didn't even look like we could fit in there with our huge packs on, and even if we could there was no way we could ride all night like that. We turned around and left the station. The next day we got sleeper class tickets for that night and ended up with a day to spend in Patna. We went to see a Bollywood movie which was hilarious. It was long and goofy and full of singing and dancing. It was interesting how they use random english words and phrases. We met a man that spoke really good english, who worked at the theatre, and had a nice talk with him. He told us about growing up with servants in his house and how his family has quite a bit of influence over the government. We also talked about India and it's problems and how the US is having a hard time. He let us see the movie for free.

We went back to the train station and got on our train later that night. It was fine, until some military boys got on the train and decided to set up camp in our area. They didn't have tickets. They were loud and very rude to everyone. I went to sleep on the top birth and one of them climbed up and tried to sit at the end of my bed. I asked him to get down and he said, "No, you move your feet." A nice man across from us said something to him in Hindi and he got down. Poor Sky on the bottom birth got the worst of it. They messed with him for a while and tried to intimidate him with their military badges, but Sky got them to leave him alone.
The next morning we were eating breakfast on the train and it was about time for us to be at our stop. We were stopped at a station and asked the guy across from us if it was NJP. He said no, next one, so we didn't get off. Sky still wasn't sure so as we were taking off again he looked for a sign. Sure enough, we were at NJP. If we didn't get off we would be taken a long way in the wrong direction and could have possibly gotten stuck in some random place for a night. So we grabbed all of our stuff and we jumped off. The train wasn't going full speed but it was going fast enough for us both to fall flat on the platform, first Sky, and then me. Everyone at the station thought we were crazy sitting there on the ground with our stuff all over the place, laughing hysterically.
Next it was a bicycle rickshaw to the bus station and a beautiful, and long, bus ride to Darjeeling. Darjeeling is a beautiful small town built into a side of a mountain. We got there after dark and got a taxi with a Japanese guy that we met on the bus. All the roads are very steep and we ended up pushing our taxi up a couple of hills, and yes we still had to pay. We tried about four hotels before we found one with a vacancy. The next day we walked around and went to the zoo, which is small but has some good projects going on. They are breeding and releasing endangered species like the Red Panda and the Tibetan Wolf. We also ran into a girl named Alina that we knew from Varanasi and the three of us planned a trek for the next four days.
The trek was awesome. We originally wanted to go on our own and camp, but that is no longer allowed. I guess last year there were some tourists caught stealing bugs from the national park. So now you have to go with a guide and you are also not allowed to pitch a tent. There are small hostels along the way that you stay at. It was nice not having to carry a lot. We got to hike by some temples and we spent a night in Nepal. Yeah! We made it to Nepal! The weather was not the best. We were in the clouds half the time so you couldn't really see anything and we never got to see Everest. It was still a nice hike and we met some students from Philly that were there teaching english. We had a great time hanging out with them. I loved the forest and got to see a wild Yak. There were tiny little villages all over the steep hills. It must be crazy to live on such a steep slope. I also got to see some Himalayan Ginger, which I spent two days chopping down in Kauai last summer.
After the trek we went back to Darjeeling for one last night in the mountains and all of us had a hard time walking around town. I was almost falling down stairs I was so stiff. Out of shape, fire here I come! It was then a jeep ride down the mountains to a bus stop. There we got on a first class AC sleeper bus to Calcutta. A few hours into the ride the bus broke down. We got moved from our nice beds to a crowded sitting bus for a few hours and we had to get on a government bus (stop and go, people filling the isle and hanging off the side). It took us much longer to get to Calcutta and when we arrived we only had two hours for last minute shopping before we had to go to the airport. That went surprisingly smooth.
Our plane was delayed. Of course. We flew to Mumbai and missed our connecting flight. So we had to spend a night in Mumbai. The airlines gave us the nicest hotel that we had been in yet and we layed around and slept for hours. We felt a little guilty for not using the day as an opportunity to explore the city but we were over the traffic, honking, hasles, staring, pollution, and just all of the craziness of the Incredible India cities. We watched the election news, about how one of the candidates was found hanging from a tree, and 19 people dying at the polls, and the bombing in Assam. We also watched Pulp Fiction and the Simpsons Movie.
Our new flights were all on time and the trip was long but not to uncomfortable. India is over. :( Now we are in Kentucky. We went straight from the airport to the Kentucky Fried Music Festival and Bone Pony rocked! What a trip in itself, just being back. Manicured grass, clean water from the tap, toilet paper in bathrooms that aren't covered in mysterious liquids, sidewalks, sane driving, being respected by men, being able to understand people talking around me, solid food, huge people (tall and wide), clean air, and clean streets. It is better to be back than I thought it would be. India was a great experience and changed the way that I think abouta few things. I recommend that anyone should go there as long as they have an open mind and a lot of patience.
Great trip, can't wait for the next one.

Varanasi Hospital

So, as usual plans change. We planned on staying in Varanasi for one night max. We are still here. Skyler got sick our second day here with a fever. We thought that he might feel better the next day but instead he woke up the next morning shaking uncontrollably with a fever still. It was almost like he was spasming. So we decided to go to the hospital. You never know what you might have when you are in India. What an experience. We showed up at 7am and we were immediately taken to the emergency room. There was a man laying on a bed next to skyler, moaning in pain with a gas mask on. He didn't look like he knew where he was and was shifting and rolling around. At one point his blanket fell and a got accidental peak at him. His wife was crying by his bed and she looked terrified. There was a mouse hanging out in one corner of the room, mosquitoes flying all around and the room was not clean. It was not exactly reassuring.
Sky was in bad shape and they asked us some questions and then immediately hooked him up to an IV. Sky asked them what it was and they said it was an IV. "Yes, of course, but what is it?" They could not tell him. I looked at the label and it was just sodium, potassium and calcium water for dehydration. Then they started giving him shots and every time he asked what it was, they gave very vague answers, and when he asked what was wrong with him they said they didn't know. If they didn't know, why where they treating him. Then they said that he would be put in a private room. They took blood, urine and stool samples and put him in the room, which was nice, and just left him there for 6 hours. Sky asked so many questions about when we would get results, and how long he would be there and how much the room was costing us and no one would answer us. It was always, "yes sir, 10 minutes" and then never came back. Finally a doctor came in and Sky was very frustrated by then. The doctor kind of told him what his results were but not what he would be taking. At this point Sky's fever was gone and he was no longer shaking, but still sick. Our thinking was, why do we have to stay in this room if we are not doing anything but waiting. We knew that we were paying just to be in there and didn't think that we needed it. The doctor was very rude and unhelpful and it turned into an argument. Skyler said he wanted to leave and asked them to take the needle out of his arm and they refused. It was like they were holding him against his will and they had his passport and insurance card. It wasn't until there was a huge fus, that a man that spoke good english and was willing to listen to us, that it got sorted out. A new doctor came in and told us exactly what was going on and we found out that they wanted Sky to stay for 3 days. He has a urinary track infection and some kind of stomach infection. They still could not tell us how much all this was costing us. We asked if they could just prescribe him meds and send us on our way. Surely there are other patients that need a room more than Sky does. We were told that because Sky is a foreigner that they must take special care of him. If he were Indian, they would do just that and send him away, but he is american so they have to make sure that he leaves well. It is because most Indian's can't afford the private room. All I could think of was that poor old man in that dirty room downstairs. He should have a private room. We didn't find out until today that the private room is 20,000 rupees per day. That is 400 dollars. What?! It wouldn't matter if we didn't have to pay up front. We will get our money back but if we stay to long we would not have the money to pay. We were upset. Why was this not told to us earlier? Now we owe them 800 dollars for Sky to get medicine twice a day. We simply tried to explain our situation to our new doctor and he got mad at us. He was being very defensive and accusing us of being racist almost. What a nightmare. Now we had the hospital administration in the room. They calmed the doctor and Sky down and they said that after tomorrow the billing would stop no matter how long Sky had to stay. So now we are both staying at the hospital. Sky is better but still not feeling 100%. They gave him a shot in is ass and told him it was a pain killer. Now his head, stomach AND ass hurts. We hope we will be able to get out of this town soon. I figure that if they aren't going to get any money out of us they won't keep him there. I just hope that he will be okay and that he won't get another sickness just from being in the hospital with people sticking needles in his arm all the time. There is another girl from Boston there that we spoke with that was having the same problems. She plans on leaving tomorrow no matter what they say. Oh India.

Cross Country

Manali was beautiful for us. It was the first time in 3 1/2 months that there air was clear enough to see a defined horizon or ridge line. We were some of the few tourists which meant that most restaurants and markets were closed but it was also very peaceful. It was sunny all day and then dropped below zero at night. We walked around the small little towns and got some good views of the mountains, and checked out a small nature reserve full of huge old trees. One day we were just wondering when we found a Tibetan monastery. We went inside and looked around at all of the art and statues of the gods. We bought some incense and prayer flags and one monk invited us into his kitchen for tea. So we went inside and had tea and some food. They put home made flour, chunks of butter and sugar into a bowl and made it into a gritty dough and served to us. They said that it helps with diabetes. It wasn't bad at all. We sat and talked about india and the effect that globalization has had on his religion. He was a very modern monk. He was wearing crocks and had a cell phone and a nice watch. He said that the biggest problem is money. He explained to us that if there was a very poor indian person in his kitchen he would have to leave if some rich people came in and could not join the conversation. We also talked with a man who was half indian and half Canadian. He was a dj who also owned a hotel in Manali. He told us all about how we should go to "upper" because that is "where the freaky people are, doing freaky things, its funny." I guess that is where all the drugs are, and raves, and there have been reports of gurus giving tourists too much LSD. We did not have time to explore upper. Besides, everywhere in Manali the marijuana plants grow like weeds anyway. It is in people's yards and lining all of the roads. People just ignore it.
We realized that we were running out of time and decided that we wanted to spend our last week in Darjeeling. It is better weather over there and we can go trekking without a guide and see mount Everest. So now we are just pushing our way across the country. We took a 15 hour bus from Manali to Deli. This was the scariest ride of my life. It was an over night bus and half of the drive is on a mountain side. This is a narrow road with a drop off on one side and and very tight curves and turns. Also at night the only things on the road are huge trucks and buses. All this, and they still drive like lunies. We were keeping in mind that they do this every night and they know the roads, but I still thought we might be done for a few times. Plus the buses are all painted on the front with bright colors, some have flashing lights, and the windows are always outlined. So it looked like huge metal clown faces flying at each other in the dark. When we got to delhi we were dropped of, with half open eyes, in the middle of no where it seemed, in the middle of a huge crowd of rickshaw and taxi drivers up in your face. We got a ride to the train station, waited a few hours and then got a train to agra. We were in agra for only 7 hours. We saw the taj mahal from a restaurant rooftop and that was good enough for us. Then we got on another train to varanasi. We arrived yesterday and got a room for a couple of nights. Varanasi does not seem as bad as people say it is. The river is dirty, but the area in general is the same as the rest of the country. We have walked along the ghats and there are many people doing laundry, bathing, washing dishes or just cooling off. The sun here will steal all of your motivation and energy if you let it. We also say a ghat where people bring their dead. They burn the bodies with wood and then send them down the river. There is a specific amount of each kind of wood that will burn a human body most efficiently, and different kinds of wood have different prices. Sandalwood is the most expensive. This is the best place in india for the dead to go because it is the town of Shiva. Some believe that if your body is sent down this river when you die you will be released from the wheel of samsara and will not be reborn. So everyday, all day, there are about ten bodies laid out on the steps burning, just down the street from our guest house. Tonight we get to go on a boat ride down the river at sunset and also tomorrow morning at sunrise. We will get to see all of the rituals that are done everyday. Then it will be back to the cool clean air of the mountains. And the toy train!

In the Mountains

We ended up staying in Rishikesh for about 6 days. We didn't really do much but we walked around a lot. That was interesting enough and it is easier to walk around in the streets there. Skyler took a cooking class from a mother of 5 girls, in their small two room house. I took some yoga classes for free. I learned a little about yoga therapy. It was really interesting. We did exercises for back problems and stomach problems. We did breathing exercises for head aches, breathing problems, and meditation. It is all about balancing out your body as well as your mind because most physical problems come from emotional stress. It felt great but you look really funny doing it. It was strange going from a quiet relaxing room, out to blaring horns and cars racing by, with people begging along the street. It rained on us for the first time in three months and that felt great. We walked up to a nature reserve and checked out a couple of waterfalls one day and saw a village up in the hills. It was pretty laid back and easy. We wanted to go rafting but a bug bite that left a hole in my back is still healing and Skyler found out that he has been hosting a parasite. We had the cure for it the whole time and didn't know it. Our malaria pills are antibiotics and help with all kinds of things, we just hadn't been in malaria country so we weren't taking them. Anyway, the ganges river is not the cleanest and after watching open sewer pour directly in it, we said no to rafting. We planned on going trekking but we decided to wait until we got closer to the mountains. Yesterday we left for Manali. We took a local bus and that was interesting. It was 15 hours of curvy roads, crazy driving and stopping and going. We were cramped because of our huge back and sometimes the bus was full with the isle filled. Sky got a lot of ass in the face. When we arrived it was cold and raining. Our room didn't have heat so we had to adjust fast. We found out that this is not a good time to go trekking because there is to much snow and the weather is bad. Bummer. We came just a little to early. The town is really nice and the traffic is low. We saw some temples that look like carved up log cabins. There were yaks to ride, huge rabbits to pet and snakes too. It was sad. We saw our first leper. It is really beautiful and there is a park you can go three wheeling in and tomorrow we are going rock climbing ( I'm going to be so soar) and to a hot springs. We think that we might not stay to long and try to make it to Darjeeling before we have to leave, in 16 DAYS! We only have a few more spots to hit.

Camel College Without Knowledge

So Pushkar was nice and relaxing but there wasn't much to do there so we moved on to Jailsamer which is close to the Pakistan boarder in the Thar Desert. It is a small town that surrounds a huge old fort. The fort is either 3000, or over 800 years old (we were told both). It is very beautiful and we got a place to stay inside the fort for less than 2$ a night. We went on a three day, two night camel trek into the desert which turned out to be wonderful and disappointing at the same time. When we arrived, we planned on taking Jessika's advise on which agency to book our trek through. We got to our hotel and they showed us their book and I recognized a name that Jessika had given me and the man said, "Oh yes, that is me." We asked if he remembered a guy with dreadlocks and he said yes and the girl had brown hair to her shoulders. We thought sweet, we must be in the right place. I'm pretty sure now that he was lying or confusing our friends with someone else. We went with three people from Argentina and they were awesome. Our guide's name was Tiger and he was the only problem that we had. He seemed ok at first but then he started telling us sob stories about how he gets paid very little and relies on tips from tourists. He said that it hadn't rained in the desert for 10 years and that the village people were struggling because of this. That was a lie because it rained the next day. He told us his very long story twice, but when I asked him to teach me about the desert he could not tell me anything. I asked, "If I was lost in this desert how could I find water?" Tiger said, "Find a village, they are everywhere." This was a true but disappointing answer. The first two days we went through several villages where we got mobbed by children asking for money, or the ring on my finger, or whatever we had. We could always see power lines and hear motor bikes and there were people everywhere we went. It was not what I expected. The last day was much better as far as scenery. Tiger was just weird. He was sitting with Skyler and I and started singing the Barbie Girl song. At first it was funny and we were laughing and then he changed the lyrics to "I'm a bloody barbie girl, I break like plastic, bloody sand in my hair." Creepy!! Then he started telling Sky that he was a bloody barbie girl. I'm glad that it was the last day because that made me feel a little uncomfortable.
Besides our lame tour guide the desert was beautiful. We got to see a couple of snakes and there are only a few species of plants. There is a new species that has been popping up recently and I believe that it is probably invasive. It is very tall, red and white and has three huge hard leaves that spin around in a circle when the wind blows. I think the species is.............. um.......oh yes, windmill. Yes, they were everywhere the first two days. They are used to pump water for the village people. The best part for me was just being around the camels. They are such weird animals. They are huge! Huge gas machines! My camel's name was Victoria. They were all very calm and well behaved. They just eat and fart and when they are told it is time to go they lay down so you can climb on. They eat and swallow and then they bring their food up again and chew it some more and then swallow it again. When they do this the burp travels an amazing distance so if you are ever around camels, beware.
Now Sky and I have moved north to Rishakesh. We are in the foothills of the Himalayas. It is very beautiful and this town is the Yoga center of the world. They also have white water rafting and trekking and camping and waterfalls. I think that we might stay here for a while. It feels great to be in the mountains again.

On to Pushkar

The day after the Holi festival we ended up climbing a mountain, pretty much on accident. The city was much calmer that day the four of us decided that we were going to check out the Pink City area of town. We didn't know where it was except for that it was right next to the huge for on the hill. So we started walking towards the fort. We were tired of the rickshaw drivers ripping us off, and taking us to hotels of their friends instead of where we asked to go. We walked through some neighborhoods and some little boys pulled my pants down. I guess the guys here see us women tourists as there only chance to see or touch a woman or something. If they did that to an indian women they would be punished. Anyway, a crowd of young kids formed in parade like form behind us and showed us to a path that lead up to the fort. They followed us up part way and goofed off and then the rest of the way we were on our own. It was a trail but it was rocky and went along the huge wall of the fort. So basically we walked up and half the way around the fort. It took a couple of hours and we didn't have water the the view was worth it. The city is massive with over 5 million people in it. We finally got to the fort and got some water and food and then explored around inside. Then it started to get dark and we somehow hitched a ride with a local model and her friends back to our neighborhood. She took us to a jewelry shop first, surprise surprise. Then when we were talking back to our hotel some older men that we had tea with during the Holi festival found us and invited us to an Indian gypsy music festival. So we went. We partied from 10pm until 4:30am in a small village outside of Jaipur. There was a temple with flashing lights, live Indian music, kids everywhere, it was crazy. It was actually a small event but it was intense. We felt like we were famous. They all crowded around us everywhere we went. They all wanted to touch us and take pictures with us and dance with us. We got tea all night and they fed us as well. The ladies gave us henna tattoos for free, but then asked for a gift in return, which was rupees of course. It was a good experience and fun but I now just look like I have a diseased hand. It was a really special experience and the hospitality was wonderful but I felt like I was an exhibit almost. Every time they urged me to go up and dance all I could think was (dance monkey dance!!!!)
The older men wanted us to go to their shops the next day and Phil and Carly did but Sky and I went to the hospital. Sky got a bug bite on his knee and it is the gnarliest bite I have ever seen. It got huge and red, then scabbed over, then started to bleed and then he squeezed an amazing amount of puss out of it which left a hole in his leg. I have seen nothing like it before. It could be the most amazing thing I have seen in India. He is fine, we got some drugs and it is getting better now.
Yesterday we got to Pushkar. Phil and Carly are still our travel buddies. It is a small town on a "lake", more like a nasty pond really. There are ghats all along it where you can pay to get blessed in the nasty looking pond but I think I will pass. The surrounding area looks kind of like the foothills of boise. It is really friendly and we got a nice place to stay for 3$ a night. So far we have done a little bit of shopping at the market and climbed up to another fort. I might take a dance or yoga class tomorrow. Who knows, I'm on vacation, I can do whatever I feel like doing tomorrow. Ahhhhhhhhhh. I just found out that I have a job for the summer and I can definitely wait to start working.

Holi Festival in Rajisthan

After about a week of basically doing nothing but sitting on the beach, boogie boarding, and eating and drinking in Goa, we decided it was time to go back to India. Goa was great! It was relaxing and there was good music and we met a few new friends. I can see why people can get stuck there. Sky and I took a 30 hour train to Jaipur Rajasthan, starting on the 9th. The ride was really nice. We met a couple from London going to the same place and we have been exploring the city together. We also met some Indian friends that helped us get a good cheap place to stay. Yesterday, 11th was the Holi Festival. It is the festival of colors and basically the city closes down and everyone runs around throwing colored powder or water all over eachother. Tuesday we were walking around in the street near our hotel and just happened to stumble across a family having a small party. They invited us in and put color all over us and then we danced around to Indian music for a couple of hours. It was so much fun. They gave us snacks and told us to come back the next morning but we all slept in instead. Yesterday was the real Holi Festival and it was quite different. Everywhere we walked people would come up to us and smear our faces with color. Everyone wanted to shake our hands and give us hugs. We started off in a family neighborhood and we got invited into a temple for tea. The people were all so friendly and welcoming. We met a 65 yr old Lady named Kay, from Germany, who we kidnapped into our crew. Then we wanted to see all the real action of Holi and so we jumped into a taxi and found it. We went to a busy street and got more than we asked for. There were a lot of drunk men, little kids and hardly no women in sight. The crowds of people would surround us with there hands all over our faces. Some of the stuff that they had was really nasty and it was very overwhelming. It got old pretty fast, especially when Carli and I kept on getting grabbed by the men. We eventually just jumped into a taxi and went back to our hotel area. Overall Holi was really fun, and we ran into mostly great people. Today we are going to tour the city a little bit and make plans to move on to somewhere else in Rajasthan. So far the desert here reminds me of the desert around Boise. Next we are heading for the Thar Desert for the sand dunes and camel treking. :)