Mumbai and Amsterdam!

So incredibly sad that india is over already, but now i am in amsterdam about to head into the city for the wild and crazy queens day festival.

Mumbai was a wonderful day, Yogeeta's aunt let me keep my bags at her house, and i got to meet yogi's family and see the house she lives in when she comes to india. I spent the day sightseeing which was really good in a city that has a metro system and some sort of map, it was a good precursor to Europe.

Left india at 2 20 in the morning and arrived in brussels last morning at 8AM (withe the time difference), immediately got ona train for amsterdam and spent last afternoon completely lost in the city that on paper seems like it should be really easy to get around in. Last night was "Queen's night" and everyone was decked out in orange and basically just really drunk and messy on the street, a lot like Fell's point in baltimore or times square for new years.

Today i am meeting Mackenzie's past nanny for lunch and spending another day losti n the crowds. Heading back to brussels tomorrow to spend two days there before coming home!

Coming back to a western country after india has its very own culture shocks and i stil am finding things strange, i am not used to being the ethnic majority, and people not staring and trying to speak to me on the street, consequently i keep thinking people are talking to mew hen they are not (you just have to go to india to understand, i feel like i sound really full of myself)

i miss curry

i miss curry

things at the orphanage are not doing great since i left, political situation in nepal has just turned sour (need to read up on it when i get back) and the kisd now have more time off from school than was expected (which trust me is not a good thing lol). Didi is having troubles with Rajendra and things are a little unstable right now, which has made me even more sad about leaving them, but i guess it was best to be out of nepal right now.

Will give another update from Brussels before returning home on May 4th.

europe is expensive, i miss things being the equivalent of 15 US cents . . . those days are gone.

Arambol

Arambol is amazing . . . it's the complete end of the season so the beaches are deserted, prices are low ,and the people here are more "traveler" type and less obnoxious touristy type

Had some delicious freshly grilled shark last night while sitting on a table on the beach overlooking the ocean. Havent seen a glorious sunset yet but i have two nights left here for the evening clouds to clear which i hope they will .

just a short walk from the beach i am on, past some rocky cliffs, is another EVEN MORE deserted beach (that i am headed to right after this update) with a lake that comes up to the backside of the sand filled with fish and bordering green hills . . . incredible.

just booked my ticket to mumbai for the night of the 27th, and will wake up in mumbai o nthe 28th to spend the entire day there, and then head t othe airport at about 11PM to catch my 2AM flight to brussels . . . where i will then RUN from the airport to the train station to catch my train to amsterdam . . . where i will then probably get absolutely no sleep that night or the night after that due to this crazy queen's day festival that just happens to be going on there when i am there.

thats about all . . . i am browner (color wise) than most of the indians on this continent

Delhi and Paradise

Leaving Pushkar was really sad . . . it was the first chilled out place I went, and the population of people there is just amazing . . . men in all white and bright colored turbans, women in ridiculously bright sarees and huge arm bangles that come up to their shoulders, and a sense that not EVERYONE was trying to scam you, which was really refreshing.
Getting up to Delhi was an experience all together, with some waiting time at the town with the train station called Ajmer turning into the white kids being a spectacle for no particular reason. We had some time before our train was supposed to leave so we plopped down at a random building to later find out everyone was waiting there to meet the superintendant of the Ajmer police. While we were there we were the center of much attention minus any actual english conversation, its hard to describe why it was so magical and entertaining, but it just was.
Train to delhi was incredible . . . Air conditioned, only 7 hours, and there were two meals and a snack served . . . that really is the best you can ask for.

AND NOW

I AM IN GOA!!!! at a ridiculously small beach in the middle of no where called arambol, living in a bamboo hut right on the sand for the next four days. This is paradise. Last night i had fresh grilled squid and shrimp during a beach barbaque that is apparently held every night :). The ocean water is almost too warm and the waves are pretty big. Just to the right of the sandy part of the beach are some rocky cliffs which are extremely beautiful, and i plan on completely chilling out here until i head up to Mumbai in 4 days to catch my flight to europe for my extended layover before heading home.

I love Pushkar

This is such an amazing place!

No annoying rickshaw drivers
No cabs
Desert mountains surrounding a small town with a dried up lake in the middle
(okay some people still trying to scam you, but that's everywhere)
Hilltop temples surrounding the town
The old women here have these ridiculous bangles that go up their upper arms all the way to their shoulders, and ridiculously huge nose rings and earrings that have sagged their skin so much

waking up at 5 tomorrow to hike to the second temple (bigger one) for sunrise!

bought ridiculously cool shorts :)

heading to Delhi in two days

oh i love pushkar

visited the bramha temple today here, one of the only hindu bramha temples in the world!

I give you good price

so many things to describe and so little time to do it.

FIrst of all, the Taj Mahal was absolutely wonderful . . . no more words, want to understand, go to India

afterwards mackenzie and I wandered into a local market outside of the tourist quotas which was amazingly refreshing (the streets were too small for annoying rickshaw drivers who pester you to no end) and the people werent looking to scam or annoy you, everyone just wanted you to take a look at their shop and havey ou try something.
After that we wandered out of the market down a more industrial street where we were mobbed by children screaming hello and demanding that we take pictures of them . . . usually the public harassment here is totally annoying but on this street it was pretty obvious that it has nothing to do with taking your money and they were just excited to see a white person, so we amused them and took pictures . . . we were called into one house with this gigantic and awesome woman who just had us sit down and attempted to talk to us for a few minutes, even though she knew no english, i really liked her

Second house we ended up in was because we were watching people fly kites from the roofs. . . we were beckoned up to try which turned into Tea, swarms of neighborhood children talking to us, free henna, and hindi music transferred to mackenzie's pen drive.

Unfortunately these amazingly good experiences are completely shadowed here by people trying to scam you, pester you, leave no room for your personal space, stare at you, shake hands with you as you are walking down the street, and pretend to be really nice to you until they finally reveal why they really have started talking to you (want a tip for being your unofficial guide, want you to see their shop. ect)

The only way to deal with this has just been to let it be and go with the flow and laugh about it. . . because in India the more you fight the system, the worse it kicks you in the ass.

Heading to a small quiet town called Pushkar on the edje of the desert in Rajasthan, and then heading up to delhi for one day in a few days to catch the Flight to GOA !!!!!

GOA = Bamboo hut on a beach!!

so much more to explain and describe, but honestly its too much for words, india is amazing and ridiculous, annoying and beautiful, fragrant and putrid, kind and cutthroat. Someone could come here and have the time of their life, or the worst time of their life . . . not to say i have not been pissed off a few times here, but i am definately doing more of the former.

Ganges feet

okay i did it, gross, i washed my feet in the ganges. I stepped on the ashes of thousands of indian grandparents and possibly previous important politicians . . . my feet are now holy. Left last night and am now in Agra (change of plans, jaipur tomorrow) going to see the Taj Mahal today!!


Short and sweet might be the new theme of the entries because computer time is limited to space in between running around.

Varanasi

not that much time to really go into things but varanasi has been amazing

extremely spiritual place that many hindus go to to see the holy river, many people come here to die because it is the holiest place to be creamated.

The Ghats are openings to the river where people bathe, pray, are creamated,

people BOTHER THE CRAP out of you way more than in nepal, for boats, tea, jewlery, hash, anything yuo can think of.

off to jaipur today!