See you later

I've been in McLeod Ganj for about two weeks now. In a way it feels like I've been in a time warp. I had all these plans for things I wanted to do with my extra week here, but ended up doing myriad other things, which is OK. That's what vacation is for, in my opinion, just going with the flow. I could probably stay here forever, and who knows, one day I may return. But alas, I have a bus ticket for Delhi in a few hours and a plane ticket for Bangkok in a few days. Originally I thought I would take a day trip from Delhi to Agra to see the Taj Mahal before leaving. As amazing as I'm sure it is, and as lame as this may sound, I just feel like I cannot deal with the aggressive touts who swarm that place. I've been hanging out in what is probably one of the most peaceful places in India and I'm not up for dealing with the rest of it. So, maybe I'll see the Taj Mahal another day, maybe not. Either way, I'm OK with it.

I mailed a package of Christmas presents home today, which was an entertaining experience. After waiting a good 15 minutes, I was finally given the customs form, which apparently they were running low on, so I had to go down the street and make my own photocopies of it. After that it was pretty easy, but I've decided that it's not the language barrier that causes frustration here, it's just the not knowing how systems work. I've been lucky to meet some great people here and I can honestly say that traveling around and getting things done with people who know what's going is a much nicer experience. So it is with mixed emotions that I bid farewell to this place that in many ways I have fallen in love with. As my Muslim friends here say, inshallah I will return one day.


Buddhist prayer wheels at Norbulingka. I'm sure I'll be seeing plenty of these in Thailand as well.

Time flies when you're having fun

I didn't realize it had been so long since I last posted. There's something about this place that seems to make the time go by faster. Yesterday was Thanksgiving and I celebrated with... hold on to your hats... Indian food! It was homemade, though, and quite tasty. I was also given a couple pointers on how to eat with your hands and once you know how to do it, it's not so bad.

Yesterday I went down to Dharamsala, a pretty big city compared to McLeod Ganj. You can pretty much get anything there, including Western-style clothes. In one store I almost felt like I was back in the U.S. Also in Dharamsala is the Norbulingka Institute, another Tibetan Buddhist site. It is very beautiful there, and peaceful.


Outside Norbulingka, a sheep chows down... or up.


Oh my God this place needs to stop being so beautiful or I'm never going to get out of here!

The Dalai Lama

This afternoon I got to hear the Dalai Lama teach to a group of Russian Buddhists on the concept of dependent origination, basically that everything depends on everything else in order to have meaning. I was vaguely familiar with this concept before, so I was able to follow most of the talk. His Holiness spoke in Tibetan and I listened to the English translation on an FM radio. I was able to snag a fantastic seat and he was in my line of sight. My friend who went to the morning session as well couldn’t believe it, as he was sitting outside the temple. About halfway through the talk, the monks came around and filled up our cups with Tibetan milk tea, more milk than tea really. Apparently they usually put salt in it as well, but this wasn’t salted. I’ve tried salted tea and I’m not sure how I feel about it. Another interesting moment was when the monks came around and distributed 150 rupees to all the monks in attendance. If I had the red robes on, maybe I could have passed.

At one point during the talk the Dalai Lama sneezed and shortly thereafter chuckled heartily as he noted the translator’s surprise when he did this. Then he joked that if anyone was falling asleep out there, he could wake us back up by sneezing. He’s very affable. I got to see him get into his car; tomorrow I think I will try to position myself in this area so maybe, just maybe, I could shake his hand or at least make eye contact. Talking to some of the other tourists in attendance I learned what a treat it really is to be here and see him talk basically for free. Apparently people pay hundreds of dollars to see him speak in other venues. This, of course, does not take into account how much I’ve spent on this trip, but nevertheless it feels pretty cool.


I wasn’t allowed to take my camera in, but I took this picture of a monk outside the temple the other day.

Waterfall

I tend to wake up with a loose plan of what I want to do on any given day, but usually I don’t end up sticking to it. The fun thing about being on permanent vacation is that this is OK. I have another week left here in McLeod and I will be celebrating my birthday here. I’ve been buying many Christmas presents and also bought several items to try and sell when I return to the U.S. Since I have no idea what I’ll be doing for work when I return, I figured why not try that on the side? However, the more I travel, the more I want to travel! I wish my budget was unlimited, because my desire to explore certainly is. I met an English guy named Daniel who has been teaching in Vietnam for a while and is traveling now, so the idea of that is still simmering in the back of my mind. Apparently Hanoi is a pretty hip place. In any case, Daniel accompanied me on a hike up to the Bhagsu waterfall today. The weather was perfect and the fresh air magnificent, with a chai break (of course) at the café at the top of the hill. I bought myself a lovely Tibetan yak wool shawl and can’t believe I waited so long to do so. I am incredibly warm as I sit in my freezing room typing this post. I met my friend Jamyang and we continued through our lovely story about Rambo. Life is pretty awesome here.

Views of today’s hike…

My fabulous new 'do, or lack thereof.

Totally awesome

I am on Cloud 9 today. The vibe in this town is just amazing. I have another Tibetan "student" now, a waiter at a different cafe where I had breakfast this morning, who asked me if I would help him with a book he is reading. I went back this afternoon and we read a little bit of a terrible book, some novel that I believe takes place in the southern U.S., given the characters' names (Althea and Beulah). It was awful, and next to impossible to understand, especially as an English language learner. So I asked him if he had any other books and he disappeared for a moment, returning with First Blood. That's right, the Rambo story. Pretty awful as well, but actually much easier to understand. So for the remainder of my stay here I will be returning to this cafe most afternoons to read Rambo with a Tibetan refugee. Gotta love it.

The other cool thing is that because I've been here for a few days now I kind of know people. The greetings every morning - namaste with the Indians and tashi delek with the Tibetans - are friendlier and the conversations more meaningful.

And finally, the coolest thing of the day is that I did something I have been wanting to do for a long time. Some of my friends and family know that I was planning to shave my head when I got to Thailand. However, I decided to do it here. Given the fact that it's a common hairstyle in these parts due to the many monks, I thought it would be easy. It took me a few days to find a place where I liked the vibe, though, and today I found a great little shop up some steps with a hip young hairdresser who did it for me, after many times of asking me, "Are you sure? Are you sure?" Right after the first snip (he cut before he shaved) I had a brief moment of panic, but after a while I was feeling psyched. And I have to say, I absolutely love it!! It feels awesome and, in my opinion, looks awesome, once you get over the intial shock. :) I promise I will post a picture, but for now, enjoy the sunset...



(By the way, if you're familiar with electric shavers, I did it on a 3 setting, not 0, so I'm not totally bald!!!)

200 steps

I moved closer to town yesterday, into a huge room with an amazing view of the mountains. Still no heat, but there's a hot shower and that makes all the difference. Being in town now, as opposed to up in the mountains, it's actually not quite as cold, as in I can't really see my breath in the morning when I wake up, so that's nice. And now instead of a 2 km walk down a mountain, I only have to walk 200 steps up into town. I don't feel so bad not doing my daily yoga with this kind of exercise. I signed up to see the Dalai Lama next week. He is teaching on the 24th and 25th for two hours each afternoon. I need to get my hands on a radio, to hear the English translation, a cushion to sit on the ground, and a cup. I'm guessing they pass out tea to the attendees. It couldn't have been easier to sign up - you give them your passport info, two passport-sized photos and 10 rupees (only like 20 cents!!) and they give you a badge. Sweet! It will be interesting to see what the place looks and feels like when H.H.D.L. is in town (His Holiness the Dalai Lama).

After signing up, I took a walk around a nice mountain loop and enjoyed the fresh air and beautiful scenery. There weren't many other people on the road. One nice man came up and introduced himself as a traveling massage therapist, at my service if I so desired. That is one case where I think "just say yes" does not apply. Other than that, it was a pretty quiet walk. On the way down I met up with two Tibetan women and we braved a huge group of monkeys together. I don't know if I would call it a fear, but let's just say I have a healthy respect for these red-faced monkeys now. I've seen them fight with each other and it's not pretty. At one point we had to climb down a rocky ledge in order to avoid passing by them as they went to town in a dumpster. Never a dull moment. :)


The view from my room. Good Morning!!

Twists and turns

One of the really cool things about this place is that it seems to be an almost endless maze of little streets. I keep finding new things, new shops, new bakeries (!), new restaurants. I changed my flight plans today so I will be here for at least another week. In some ways I feel like I could stay here forever. One obvious way to do so, here or anywhere really, would be to get a job teaching English. However, there is no shortage of organizations where people volunteer to teach English to Tibetan refugees, so I think that would be next to impossible. Plus, my heart just isn't in teaching at the moment. Interestingly, I've had two people in shops here tell me I could work for them, which is somewhat appealing. I am definitely feeling drawn in by this place, but at the same time want to see some other nearby places. Hmm... decisions, decisions.


This is one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip so far. A Tibetan man, prayer beads in hand, makes his way up to the temple.

Just say yes

Have you ever seen the Jim Carey movie Yes Man? I'm feeling a little bit like that these days, but to a slightly lesser degree. It's just amazing the things that can happen when you are open to new experiences. Just a week ago I was so, so, so ready to get out of this country, but now I don't want to leave! Rishikesh provided a decent buffer from the hell that was Varanasi (I'm happy to report that other people are aghast when I tell them I spent a month there, so I'm not the only person to be turned off by that place!). McLeod Ganj... I just can't say enough nice things about this place. It really is like Little Tibet here. The people are so kind, and genuinely so, not always trying to sell you something or harass you. Just yesterday as I was enjoying some tea in a coffee shop with wifi, a young Tibetan man asked me if I could help him with the meaning of the word "meaningful". I find that I really struggle with trying to explain things sometimes and can only come up with "meaningful" explanations after the fact, which in some ways is a signal to me that I shouldn't be teaching. Nevertheless, this man then asked me if I would help him learn English, which basically just translates into meeting for conversation. So we met today and went for a nice walk to the Buddhist temple, and lo and behold next thing you know I was invited to a Tibetan wedding! Have I mentioned that folks here are incredibly warm and generous?


Too many thoughts are racing through my mind at the moment, but I'm feeling more or less ecstatic. This place is really good for the soul. I love that it's incredibly cold here and yet most restaurants still have outdoor dining, no space heaters. I love that you can go into an internet shop and sit down next to a Buddhist monk who has just come in talking on his cell phone and is now talking to his friends on Skype. The Dalai Lama is returning in a few days and I am strongly considering pushing back my plans to be here for that, as well as take advantage of the endless amazing opportunities in this town - Tibetan cooking classes, meditation classes, yoga, you name it!


I've never seen so many Tibetan prayer flags in one place. This is next to the temple. The idea behind these is that there are prayers written on them and the wind takes them up to the heavens. Sure would be nice if all these prayers could translate into a Free Tibet.


A monk spinning the prayer wheels.

Altitude adjustment

Wow, just when you think things couldn't get worse... they get better! I am happy to report that I think I have found a place in India that I could totally fall in love with. It is the McLeod Ganj/Bhagsu/Dharamsala area, way way way up north in the Himalayas. It's nowhere near Mt. Everest or the top of the world, but in some ways it feels like it. I rolled into the train station at Chakki Bank around 3 a.m. and wasn't exactly sure what would transpire after that, as in how or when I would reach my destination, or what that destination was to be exact, but somehow everything just seemed to fall into place. I soon met up with a young German couple who are traveling with their 3-year old daughter (brave!) and we split the cost of a taxi up to Bhagsu, just north of McLeod Ganj. The taxi driver happened to have a friend who has a guest house and so we ended up getting rooms there. My room is huge, there are actually two double beds in it, and the best part of it is that there is a hot shower. This is key because there is no heat in the room and it is really really cold here. I am thankful for the down jacket that I just got in the mail before leaving Varanasi (thanks Mom!). I may also be investing in a hat and some mittens and more wool socks while I'm here. I'm tempted to buy myself a lovely pashmina scarf... hmm... these are not cheap, especially by Indian standards, but they are soooo fantastic.

I think I slept for 4 or 5 hours on the train, so when I got into my room around 6 a.m. I slept for another hour or so. Upon waking I reveled in the hot water until it ran out and dried off as quickly as possible before layering up and heading out to check out my surroundings. Breathtaking would be a good way to describe it. Here is the view from the guest house:


The mist is almost magical here.

I hiked up into the village for a bit, admiring the scenery, when I was joined by this little fella and other members of his family:


Talk about a welcome committee! They followed me around the whole time and even accompanied me back into town. One of the reasons I love this place is because even though there are street dogs here, they are not abused and actually seem to be very well taken care of. This is likely due to the influence of the Tibetan Buddhist community here (yay for Buddhism!).

So I've spent the day wandering around, eating, drinking chai... you know, all the things you're supposed to do on vacation. I love having only a vague sense of what time it is, being able to read for hours on end, and just seeing where the wind takes me.


Heading into McLeod Ganj, a 2 km walk from Bhagsu.

Yoga redemption

Last night I took my first official yoga class in India with a man named Surinder Singh. He's probably in his 50s, with long black hair and a big black beard. The class was about two hours long. At times it felt more like a teacher training because he would stop to work with one student as the rest of us watched. He was amazing. He was very good at offering adjustments, sometimes with just a gesture or a word, often by just standing next to you and looking at you a certain way. I was both amused by his presence and intent on being a good student, unlike any other class I've ever taken. After the class he gave a brief talk about going inward. I often find talk of meditation a little hard to follow, but everything he said made sense. Basically, if nothing else, my trip to India was worth it just to meet this man. Awesome.

Tomorrow I head out of Rishikesh. My train leaves in the afternoon and I should arrive early the next morning close to Dharamsala. I'll be spending 6 nights in McLeod Ganj, home of the Dalai Lama. He, unfortunately, will be traveling, so I won't get to see him. There's a big community of Tibetan refugees there, however, so it should be quite a different vibe.


Random tree that caught my eye.

Bas!

This word means “enough” in Hindi. I’ve had enough. If I’m being honest, I probably had enough a long time ago. It is pretty well decided that I started out in the two roughest places in India, Delhi and Varanasi, and it’s true that it’s gotten better from there. Nevertheless, it’s not better enough. I am so thankful I brought my iPod with me because the only way I could deal with walking through the streets to get to this wifi café today was by listening to Rage Against the Machine at full blast. This is not normally the kind of music I listen to, but it’s good for venting frustration. If I have to refuse money to another limbless person on the side of the road, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I know that sounds harsh, but you really get immune to and fed up with it all, and there’s also something really messed up in that.

There were almost no photos with this post as well. The wifi was working like a charm at first, but then became deathly slow, making it almost impossible to upload anything. I can deal with internet issues; that is really just the icing on the cake. I’m tired, however, of trying to avoid the piles of cow shit in the road, tired of seeing men pick their noses and scratch themselves and urinate in public like it’s no big deal, tired of the stares (yes, I am white and blonde, get over it), tired of people honking their horns all the freaking time and when they're only like 3 feet away from you. I actually found this café again today by the following landmark: yes, this is the pathway where I saw a woman taking a dump yesterday, so this is the way to the café. How messed up is that? How messed up is this place? Is a lot of the world really as messed up as this?

Rather than continue with this rant and sound like a total complainer, I will just conclude by saying that India for me is like papaya; I keep trying and trying to like it, but I just don’t. In my opinion, the coolest things about this place are best viewed in an import shop. I've had a lot of great experiences and met a lot of interesting people along the way so far, but India is most definitely not near and dear to my heart. Bas.

... it's worth mentioning that despite my opinion of this country, I've taken about 1000 pictures. Here are a few from my first days in Rishikesh.


Hello Himalayas.


Two monkey siblings at play. "Hey, how does this feel?"


Henna tattooing along the side of the road.

Vacation

As I wandered around Rishikesh today I thought about what the title of this blog would be. One idea was "Note to self: don't buy more than one banana," and the other was "Hey dude, pass the patchouli." The first stems from an experience I had yesterday afternoon. I had been told by a couple people here that the monkeys really like bananas, so much so that they might even try to take them from you. I sort of forgot about this as I bought two bananas, ate one, and thought I would bring the other back to my hotel for later. It was only about a 5-minute walk to my hotel after all. Not even a minute after my purchase one very large red-faced monkey scaled the fence I was walking along, his eyes on my banana. It took me no time to decide to drop it, plastic bag and all (sorry Rishikesh). Lesson learned. The second comes from the fact that there are A LOT of hippies in this town. I mean, I'm on vacation and wandering around, but just for a while. I get the impression that some of the folks here have been doing this for a very long time. You can easily live here for under $10 a day, accomodations and all.

Sadly, I have no pictures to share because I haven't had any luck finding a place where I can use my own computer, so it may just have to be text for a while and then a barrage of photos. It's really beautiful here, though. It's in the foothills of the Himalayas. I had forgotten how much I like mountains until I realized I hadn't seen any in over a month. I went for a great walk today, hiking up to an old temple with amazing views. My calves were quaking a little bit afterwards, another reminder of how sedentary ashram life was.

I love my hotel. I'm sure I could find cheaper accomodations, but that is relative here. It's in a quiet part of the city and I've met some great people already. There's a fabulous restaurant next to the lobby that serves a wide variety of food. Variety is key when it comes to eating, I've decided. I like Indian food, just not every day. Last night I met three American women who are all associated with the foreign service, either by themselves or through their husbands. They've had so many interesting experiences all over the world. We sat up on the roof deck and shared a bottle of wine, very hard to come by in this country, but these ladies are resourceful. I've noticed there are also a lot of Russians here, and apparently it's popular with Israelis as well because every international restaurant has an Israeli section on the menu.

All in all, I'm feelin' good. I'm officially on vacation now and master of my own schedule. Yoga at 6 did not happen this morning. I was planning on taking a class at the free festival this afternoon, but that didn't happen either. I went to the place and started to listen to the lecture that was happening before the yoga class. It was about mudras, taught by someone who kind of looked like a sadhu. I left about halfway through, though, partly because my cold was kicking in and partly because I just wasn't sure how to "relax my pancreas." I love yoga, but the old-school stuff can be pretty out there. One of the descriptions in the festival brochure actually reads, "Sri so-and-so lives under a mango tree." India is fascinating.

Rishikesh rocks!!!

... and not just because the Beatles came here. The last 24 or so hours are kind of a blur, so forgive me if I sound incoherent. I left the ashram at about 10:30 on Monday morning. My taxi? A motorcycle, because traffic was so bad in town if we had taken the car I would have never made it to the train station in time. As it was, it was quite an exciting journey with my big backpack strapped to my back zipping through the streets. At times it felt like we were playing chicken with the other vehicles as the rules of the road went completely out the window and there was no such thing as "lanes". My train was sheduled to leave at 11:55 and we arrived at 11:30. Just in time... that is, if my train hadn't actually left at 8:30 that morning. WHAT?! I've heard of trains being late, but 3 1/2 hours early? What kind of public transportation system changes the schedule like that? Oh right, India's, of course. How could I be so silly? So anyway, a little bit of frustration, disbelief, and 800 rupees later I was on another train. (No, I did not shell out another 800 myself, the taxi driver/ashram kindly covered the cost. 800 rupees is only like $16 but still, I wasn't going to pay this just on principle alone.)

It was a long overnight journey and I was the only tourist in sight. One man spoke English quite well and we all managed to have a lively conversation about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, terrorism, and karma. Nothing serious. Haha. I arrived in Haridwar at about 9:30 or so and attempted to locate the bus station, but that proved next to impossible. So I ended up taking an auto rickshaw to Rishikesh, only about an hour's drive. I found my hotel, had some breakfast, showered, and now I am ready to explore! I am happy to report that the Ganga is actually blue. And it's quite lovely. Downtown Rishikesh seems a bit like Varanasi, as in semi-chaotic, but where I'm staying is on the outskirts. It's nice and quiet and even, dare I say, clean. Well, clean by Indian standards anyway. I am at an internet cafe, so one of my goals in the next couple days is to locate somewhere with wifi so I can upload some pictures. But now, it's off to take some! Acha! (Good!)

Two more days

As in, two more days left at the ashram. On Monday I leave for a 24-hour (gulp) journey north to Rishikesh, the so-called "yoga capital of India" and the place where the Beatles came to hang out with Maharishi Mahesh back in the day. I'm looking forward to seeing it, and hoping that the train ride will go as smoothly as possible. I've got a chain and lock for my bag as theft is pretty common apparently. I've also been advised not to eat or drink anything sold on the train as people have been known to mysteriously pass out for hours and wake up without their belongings and documentation. I will head into town today to stock up on some drinks and snacks for the long haul. So it will be a pretty chill couple of days - last-minute laundry, packing, saying ciao to everyone I've met here. I will miss having this place as a home base, for sure, and my new Italian amici, but I am most definitely looking forward to dictating my own schedule. Will I still wake up at 6 every morning and do yoga? We'll see what happens. Travel always tends to throw everything off.

Here are a couple of my favorite pics from the trip into town the other day.

Animals

It was another heavy-on-the-animals day today here. On our way into town we saw our first elephant, being ridden by two men, presumably on their way to a job site. We saw several monkeys, including this baby one:

Upon closer inspection we could see that the animal was seriously injured. It had bandages on its legs and arms and a major gash on its neck. So sad. I believe these people were caring for him, however, but I'm not sure how he got that way.

As we continued our walk we saw, as always, several street dogs, and then one in particular that was in such bad shape. She had, among other things, a huge gash on her cheek and seemed to be losing her hair and had something growing on or attached to her skin. The worst part was her eyes, which were full of fear. She seemed to be looking to anyone to help her. I can't even write about this without crying because it was just so awful. This is how India gets to you. It's like you have to detach and somehow accept that this is "just the way it is," even though there's something seriously wrong with some of the things that are the norm here. I'm sorry, but there are just some cultural differences that are unacceptable. Maybe that sounds arrogant, but there it is. It's just unacceptable to accept the suffering of other beings, in any form. And it's so frustrating because you feel helpless to do anything about it.

Ahhhh...

Today is an amazing day. Yes, I am very disappointed that the majority of Mainers voted Yes on 1, but I am certain that in time justice will prevail. Love is love, period. So I'm following the local news from the other side of the world... technology is incredible.

I decided to walk along the ghats here today. I've been practicing yoga every morning (with no exception, also incredible) since arriving at the ashram, but that has been my only source of exercise. Not enough. Among other things, I'm looking forward to the next leg of my journey as I anticipate I will be moving a lot more. Ashram life is peaceful, but rather stationary. I thought I would make it all the way to Manikarnaka Ghat, the main burning ghat, but instead followed a sign for a German bakery, which I never made it to, and discovered a maze of tiny alleyways filled with shops. I had no idea this was here. It is so much cooler than Asi Ghat, the main tourist ghat, with a much wider selection of products at higher quality and lower prices.

I'm feeling particularly good today because I feel like I've turned a corner. There have been moments when I've felt completely overwhelmed by this place. From what I understand, Varanasi is one of the most hardcore cities in India. For one, the pollution is unbearable. I keep meeting people who have been where I'm going, further north, and everyone tells me it's much cleaner. I never realized how much I appreciated sanitation until now. Also, I'm beginning to feel comfortable in my own skin again, so to speak. When I first arrived I felt a little like I needed to adopt a completely Indian way of dress. While I'm still respecting the local customs, I'm back to dressing more like me. I met a woman today from Montreal and we were both amused that bare shoulders are considered offensive here, but a bare mid-section is OK. So yes, I am learning, or re-learning, a lot, namely the importance of being true to yourself.


Laundry time.


The maze. Lots to see, but be careful to look down frequently to avoid the cow dung and huge piles of trash!


A fake sadhu happily poses for a picture, fake because he wanted money afterwards.

Diwali, part do

Happy Diwali... again! Yesterday was Deep Diwali, a little quieter a celebration, but plenty of lights nonetheless. I believe this celebration focuses more on the spiritual side of things and less on the fanfare. Fireworks were essentially non-existent and there wasn't a full-blown concert going on next door. We also had paneer at the ashram for the first time, palak paneer to be more exact. If you've ever been to an Indian restaurant you probably know that palak paneer is spinach with cheese curd. The spinach was actually grown here at the ashram, then cooked to oblivion. Delicious.


How auspicious (I have heard this word more times here in India than ever before in my life), a full moon on the same night. View from the ashram roof.

Loknath moves among the candles lining the ashram steps.

In the village

Today we took a trip to the village of one of the boys who lives at the ashram, Sudanshu. He is 17 years old and an absolute sweetheart. We met his mother, grandparents, brother, and a handful of other relatives and neighbors. It was actually quite beautiful out in the countryside, in the fields. We feasted like kings; the food was incredible. Everyone responsible for serving food here is like your grandmother, offering you so much food that if you ate it all you would surely burst. They don't take no for an answer easily! After lunch there was a mandatory nap where everyone lay down on the beds outside. All the guests did, anyway. The occupants of the house cleaned up after the meal. We took a walk around the village and drew quite a crowd. This was definitely an off the beaten path kind of place; they don't see too many tourists. One of the coolest things we got to do was eat sugar cane. I've got quite a sweet tooth, but I've never tasted the sweetness at the source. Bellissimo! Bahut baria (really great).


Sudanshu prepares the sugar cane for eating. Never having tried it before, I approached it like a popsicle, top-down, as the locals chuckled. The trick is biting from the side, pulling a strip off, chewing on it to get the sugar, and then spitting out the fibrous part. They gave us each a piece about 3-feet long, which of course we could not finish.


This boy was curious, but a little camera-shy.


Some of the many cows we saw on our walk. These ladies look a little underfed.