A Radical Sabbatical
The “head nod” is ubiquitous in India among men, women and children alike. It’s like the A-OK gesture or the thumbs-up in other countries. People do it whenever they’re conversing, but the best part is it can mean almost anything. Some examples are yes, no, maybe, and thanks.
Cows, oxen, and water buffalo [...]
This past weekend, despite the heat, we set off on a camel safari (one night) in the beautiful Thar Desert. Our favorite part of the trip was when the camel stood up and sat down. See the video of me on my camel Johnny Walker below.
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Marc may have been a bit harsh in his first assessment of the country. We’ve spent a few more days and visited a few more sites to realize that every place in India is not the same (wow, what a revelation, right?). What has surprised us the most is the friendliness of the people. Seemingly [...]
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
On Tuesday we grabbed a morning bus from Khajuraho to Jhansi. After a greasy lunch of fried samosas and kichoris and excited questioning from several engineering students we boarded a crowded train to Agra. In Agra a friendly mototaxi driver named Bobby took us to the Taj Ganj neighborhood [...]
When we arrived in Gaya we thought we would quickly settle into a hotel, eat and go to bed. But as we are learning nothing is as easy as it should be in India. For a fleeting moment it seemed like we would be returning to Bodhgaya for the night after four hotels told us [...]
Thursday, April 22, 2010
On Thursday we survived our first overnight train ride in Sleeper Class. Sleeper Class is the lowest reservable train class. It consists of segments of six berths in a three tier arrangement opposite a two tier section. There are three fans per segment and barred windows. No bedding [...]
Varanasi is situated on the banks of the sacred Ganges River (often referred to as Mother Ganga). It is one of Hinduism’s holiest cities. Thousands of pilgrims journey here to wash themselves at the numerous bathing ghats (wide stairways). Hindus practice cremation and it is considered especially auspicious to be cremated at [...]
Yesterday we crossed into India at Sunauli after a bumpy bus ride across southern Nepal. After another bus ride and several bicycle taxis we arrived in Garakhpur. There followed a learning curve wherein we attempted to decipher the convoluted Indian train system in an attempt to get to Darjheeling. Eventually we decided to head south to [...]