Home....sort of

We're back in Honolulu.

There's a little bit of post-trip let down, but coming home to sunny Honolulu after the freezing rain of Buffalo is helping to ease the pain. Now it's back to reality: work, a new roof on the house etc.

For the next few weeks, Dan and I are in a weird, gray, re-entry zone. We're back... but our tenants Bob and Nadine are still in our house for a few weeks. We'll be couch surfing with various friends and just get to continue living out of suitcases for a bit longer. We've already run into half the population of Honolulu and it feels like we never left. Yesterday, I got a much needed haircut and went to my favorite Korean spa with my friend Robin --- we both got these full body scrubs and you would be appalled if you saw how much filth came out of my pores.

Dan has big news that he is now able to announce. On Monday (yup, tomorrow) he is starting a new job as the Senior Staff Attorney at the ACLU. He wasn't really planning to leave the the law firm, but the ACLU here is pretty small and job openings are rare.

We've had a great time writing the blog and we're trying to decide if blogging about "normal life" would be nearly as much fun (or remotely interesting to read). So....stay tuned for the next adventure and thanks for reading about our travels!

God Bless the USA

We made it safely home with a minimum of problems. Our flight from Delhi was late so we missed our connection to Buffalo. Thankfully, we had passes to the President's Club, so we spent our 6 hours in Newark gorging on free bagels and cheese.

Then we got to Buffalo and and we've been spending all our time "living on the edge" drinking tap water and eating raw cookie dough. Yup, we're back to the good life.

As promised, here are a few photos from our last week in India.

These are a few from Khajuraho -- these carvings are all from around 950AD:
Here is a disco version of Ganesh

While Khajuraho is famous for the erotic carvings, the majority are of people and gods and are pretty PG rated. Lots, like this one are of dancing girls.



Here are some of the infamous ones...




The Palace in Orchha


Here is the happy wedding couple in Orchha

Rock Hard Porn

Sorry it's been such a long time since our last post. We left the land of yoga (and no we didn't swim in the Ganges) and headed to Orchha and Kajuraho. We were back in the mood for temples, forts and palaces and these are some of the most spectacular in India.

Kajuraho is infamous for the carvings of erotica.....and come on, how could I come to India and NOT see ancient porn? You know you would if you were here!

The temples are spectacular. I promise to post a few pictures when we are back in the states.

In Orchha we went to our first Indian/Irish wedding. We were shopping in a bangle shop when a white woman came in and started talking with the owner. Over a cup of chai we learned that Denise -- the Irish woman -- had just married Loyal -- the Indian guy. Anyway, long story short, their wedding party was a few days later and we rangled ourselves an invitation. Not really a traditional Indian wedding by any stretch of the imagination, but we had a good time!

Now we are back in Delhi for a few days of last minute shopping. We head back to the good ol' U.S. of A. tomorrow evening so that we can eat some cranberries and stuffing with the family.

Dan and I are still in a bit of denial that we are at the END of our trip!
We'll do a few more posts from Buffalo with a whole bunch of pictures....so stay tuned for more blogging.

Happy Diwali

Happy Diwali!

Diwali appears to be every Indian's favorite holiday. It seems like Christmas, New Years and your birthday rolled into one. For the Hindus, Diwali celebrates the homecoming of King Rama after 14 years in exile. It is also celebrates the time when Krishna defeated a demon. Everyone here decorates their home with twinkle lights, small oil lamps, candles and a fresh coat of paint. Rishikesh is filled with women in their finest saris, sporting glittery new jewlery and carrying boxes of sweets for everyone they know.

We are still in Rishikesh, and we've been doing some serious relaxation in this beautiful town. We've done a bunch of different yoga classes (Mary's class at Open Space in Honolulu are still the best we've found however.) We are spending the rest of our days shopping, getting kick-ass massages and reading by the Ganges.

Neither of us has been brave enough to go for a swim in the Ganges yet.... The river is MUCH cleaner here than in Varanasi, but I'm still worried that "swimming in the Ganges" = "Bacterial Infection."

Here's a photo of the Ganges. Would you go for a dip?



Last night, for Diwali, everyone was lighting candles and setting bowls of flowers adrift on the river.

To join in the festivities we set off some fireworks on our balcony and Mara, Klara and I all got new henna on our hands.



P.S. Since Dan's run-in with the monkey, he hasn't been taking any chances. He's adopted Hannuman (the Hindu Monkey God) as his new best friend. In this photo we were pretending to be Hannuman....just thought you'd like to see a silly one.

Mom & Dad Return to America

Dad writing-

We left Deb and Dan so they could recover from our hectic days and headed to Kerala, a State in Southern India. for several days. We have since left India and are now home trying to adjust to the cold weather and gloomy skies.

I want to provide several comments. First, thanks to Deb and Dan for playing tour guide. We owe you! Second, thanks for trying to keep up with us. Lastly, thanks for putting up with us.

When we arrived in Delhi, it was a really rude awakening. People every where; cows, dogs, goats and pigs roaming the streets. No cats, since cats that cross your path are bad luck. They are a very superstitious people. I was told that they take the cats into the woods. Also strong obnoxious odors! Cars, motorcycles, bicycles, trucks, buses and people all trying to maneuver on the road. Below is a typical street in the city. See all the food for the cows and goats. There is plenty more! The biggest problem is plastic bags and bottles. These animals don't eat them.

Early in a.m. pic from our hotel in Delhi.

I did notice that there must be few building codes that are followed.

Wires crossing everywhere.

We went to a Sikh temple in New Delhi. They feed lots of people for free. People volunteer to make sure there is food for everyone. Here we are making chipote. I'm sure Daniel will be making these when he returns to Hawaii.

Sweating while making chipote.

Sweating while eating Tali. (not at the Sikh temple). Hmmm, delicious!

Look ma, no utensils!

Ready for more excitement

We often used the auto-rickshaw for transportation over short distances (1-5km).

Deb would like to be transported in one of these. Dan needs to find another job to support her in the manner she would like to become accustomed to.

Typical street scene. This is in New Delhi.

There are many small shops in the various cities. Each has a specialty. This one sells clothe. The fancy silks are really worth seeing. When you enter most shops, you remove your shoes. I wore sandals everyday.

And another street in Bundi. Auto-rickshaw, bicycle, donkey and people. All moving around without crashing into each other.

From Delhi, we took a train to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. We had reservation for an air conditioned car, nice! Passenger trains are a common mode of transportation. You should have a reservation for the AC or sleeper cars. We also took an overnight train from Agra to Bundi. Just our luck, our car had the smelliest toilet. Every time we stopped at a station, the obnoxious odor penetrated into the car. The other trains we took were during the day.

Below are pictures of us at the Taj.

Bernie & Sharon at the Taj

Sunrise at the Taj

D&D at the Taj at Sunrise

We headed to the fort near the Taj, and saw many monkeys. Better stay away from them if you have food.

"Goldsmith's" parade, Bundi

Holy cow, batman. Watch where you are going!

As Deb said, we celebrated Sharon's birthday at Jodhpur. It started out with a typical breakfast of masala eggs, juice, toast, fruit, etc. And a birthday cake. We sang Happy Birthday. We were really not hungry, so Sharon cut the cake and we decided to eat it with lunch. Lunch was after our jeep ride.

After eating the B-day cake we sat around and chatted before going out.

Note the fledgling.

Sharon and I left Deb and Dan in Jodhpur and headed south to Allepey. Allepey, the Venice of India, is in the State of Kerala. We flew to Mumbai then hired a taxi to Allepey. Our plane which was suppose to leave Jodhpur at 2pm was late. We got to Allepey around 11pm, which was about 1-hour later than we thought. Below are pictures from Allepey. Note all the plants. It rained a bit every day. It was also around 90F and humid.

This is where we stayed for 2-nights.

We stayed on a house boat (not this one) for one night.

This is a typical houseboat.

Rice patty

Rice being shipped for processing

People travel by boat. This is a boat stop

And, I was able to skipper our house boat!

The White Album

We're in Rishikesh, the yoga capital of the world. It's where the Beatles came to get away from the press, meet the Maharishi, and write most of the songs on the White Album.

Now, Rishikesh is full of Israelis. The upside is that we can get pretty good falafel. The downside, as you might expect, is a town full of stoned Jews.

The other great part of Rishikesh is that we've reconnected with Mara and Klara -- our Mukti co-fans from Darjeeling/Sikkim. Klara was in the hospital in Agra for six days. Six days. The doctors there said it had something to do with her gall bladder. In theory, she should have surgery. Instead, she and Mara are going to Thailand next week. Why ruin a perfectly good trip by worrying about your gall bladder? I mean, what does your gall bladder do, anyway? I think it's like your appendix -- totally useless.

Diwali begins tonight, so we're heading out to watch fireworks. We'll try not to lose a hand or food in the explosive mayhem.

And then there were two...

Sharon and Bernie have just left us, and after 11 days of whirlwind touring, we're ready for a vacation. And some heavy drinking.

We had a fabulous time with FB and Sharon, but we're tired from going at a much faster pace than we normally do. Deb and I usually try to do about one thing a day (e.g., seeing a fort, going to a market, or napping -- any one of those things would normally constitute a full day). But not with Sharon and Bernie. Oh no. We sometimes saw two or three things a day. Did you hear that? Two or three things every day!!! Plus we ate up to three meals every single day. Can you believe it?

As Bernie mentioned, we've been touring Rajasthan, which is known for it's forts and palaces (and places called "toilets"). They are spectacular buildings that have been turned into museums and hotels since India became a united country. Here's a few photos

This is the fort in Jodhpur:

Here is the palace/fort in Udaipur:

The roof top of our hotel in Udaipur

Sharon on a camel.

For Sharon's birthday we went on a village jeep safari. Bernie LOVES jeeps (almost as much as motorcycles), so everyone thought this was a great plan. We stopped in various villages in the desert and watched them make crafts.

In one, we learned how they make pottery and then got to try it:

Here is what Deb made:
Here is Bernie's creation:


And here is mine -- I think I'll keep my day job.

In another, we watched them making phenomenal rugs. So nice, that we were swayed to buy one each--- they claim that Prince Charles bought a rug from them, and if it's good enough for royalty, it's good enough for us, damn it!

The high point of the tour (pun intended) was participating in a traditional opium ceremony.

This is the guy making our opium.

After the opium look how happy everyone is!!!!

Sharon and Bernie have headed south to the backwaters of Kerela. We are heading back north to the mountains to Haridwar/Rishikesh.