Tuesday, December 16, 2008

The Ashram

I made it here and things are good but internet access is very limited. Therefore, I'm signing out for the next two weeks or so. Have a great holiday! I'll be in touch again next year.
Namaste!

Friday, December 12, 2008

Last day in Mcleod

If you haven't checked the blog for a while, make sure you read the previous two posts.
Travel for the next few days:
1. Tonight (Friday): overnight bus to Delhi
2. Tomorrow (Saturday): drive to Agra, driver and car arranged by a travel agent
3. Tomorrow night: overnight in Agra
4. Sunday: Sunrise tour of the Taj Majal followed by a drive back to Delhi
5. Sunday night: Overnight in The Airport Hotel (Delhi)
6. Monday: Early rise for 7:30 Kingfisher Air flight to Kerala. I should be in Kerala by 2:00 or so.

I'm booked at a yoga and meditation ashram for the last two weeks of December and possibly longer if I like it. I will have limited email access and the connection will probalby be fairly slow : ) so I might not be able to post more photos to the blog. However, I'll at least post something every few days.

Namaste!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

China today

I remember sitting in front of my TV this spring and seeing footage of monks speaking out to reporters who were on a government-orchestrated tour of Tibet. Before the Olympic games, China was trying to give the impression that the uprisings that occurred across Tibet beginning March 10th of this year had been quelled and that Tibetans were happy. The monks were supposed to keep quiet, but they didn't. I remember the monks sobbing to reporters, telling them that they had no human rights in China, that they weren't allowed to practice their religion, that they were forced to denounce the Dalai Lama as their leader. What courage it must have taken them, knowing what had happend to others who'd spoken out in the preceding weeks . I remember thinking that the monks I saw on the news were clearly identifiable by Chinese police, and were probably already dead by the time I was watching the footage.

I'm not sure what happened to the monks I saw on the news, but the latest report published by a Tibetan human rights group describes the marked increase in unspeakable crimes against the Tibetans in China during the past nine months. Hundreds have been killed--either shot on the spot during protests; or rounded up in the middle of the night, beaten, tortured, and released, only to die within days because state-run hospitals refused to treat them. It is estimated that approximately 6,700 Tibetans have been taken into "custody" since March. Many have been "released", but only after days or months of severe beatings and torture. Some have been convicted of their "crimes" (such as waving the Tibetan flag and shouting slogans) and will remain in prisons. The whereabouts of over one thousand are unknown. Bodies of victims (some still alive) have been cremated to erase evidence of torture.

In the years since China invaded the soverign nation of Tibet in 1949, 1.2 million Tibetans have been exterminated. But this is China today. This is the China from which we buy and to which we sell our goods. This is the China that seems to have been welcomed with open arms and few reservations into the global economy. This is the China that is fast becoming more influential than the US. I thought that since none of this information is in the mainstream media, I would post it here.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Priceless!

Things I've been lucky enough to do in the last few days:

  1. Receive a huge hug and a white scarf (kata, or blessing) from the owner of the Hotel Shree Tibet, who said I was "very, very nice girl." This is a Tibetan tradition bestowed upon guests, holy men, and statues of deities. (Aside: At the monestary here in Mcleod Ganj, it looks as if deities also get offerings of food, such as boxes of Chips Ahoy. No kidding.)
  2. Sit on a 12-hour bus ride next to an elderly monk who made sure that his wool blanket covered us both from head to toe.
  3. Sit in the courtyard between the Dalai Lama's residence and his monestary and watch Buddhist monks debate each other for over an hour. They debated in pairs, one standing and one sitting. I have no idea what they were debating, but the debates were loud and animated--each point was emphasized with a dramatic hand clap from the standing monk, his hands just inches from the nose of the sitting monk. They yelled, clapped, laughed, and pushed each other around in fun...a far cry from the usual vision of silent or chanting monks. I have video, which I've been trying to load for an hour now but I don't think it will work. The connection here is just too slow. So for now, you'll just have to take my word for it; it was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. The girl sitting next to me put it best, "There isn't anywhere else in the world I'd rather be right now."

    Namaste!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Chonor House

The bus to Mcleod Ganj left promptly at 6:30PM last night. Oh yes, this is what they mean by the term "smelly Delhi". Traffic and smell increase tenfold during rush hour. We spent at least 4 of the 12.5 hour bus ride in Delhi. At around 10:30 PM, we stopped for dinner at a roadside cafe conveniently situated next to a "gift" shop. The shop contained an odd assortment of items including giant vases filled with fake liquid and flowers, 3-D paintings (which reminded me of Phoebe's 3-D painting of Gladdis from Friends), and a plastic baby doll standing next to a giant, golden happy Buddha. Oh, and toss in a popcorn popper and a display of used sandals. It was worth the stop even though I didn't eat anything.
Once entered the countryside, the ride got really bumpy and...swervy, for lack of a better term. Imagine the bus from the Harry Potter books...the one that picks Harry up when he gets in a bind? Yes, this bus clanked and lurched and swerved to miss potholes, dogs, cars, people, cows, etc.
But we made it here and I am checked into a beautiful hotel called the Chonor House. It's part of the Norbulingka Institute and the proceeds go toward the preservation of Tibetan culture. Cool. Okay, I'm off to nap and then wander the town. Tomorrow I'm going to see the residence of the Dalai Lama : ) : ) Can't wait!

Delhi: 1st Impressions

The trip to the airport and the flight to Delhi went smoothly. Understandably, was tight upon boarding the plane in Kathmandu. Our bags were scanned, checked, and rechecked, which was just fine with me. The view from the plane, once again, was fantastic; the Himalaya seem to stretch on forever. The Delhi airport was clean and customs was efficient. Not too bad, I thought.

But then, the hassle of Delhi hit me. The signs pointing to where you wait for taxis were unclear, so much so that an Indian woman from North Carolina was also confused. After waiting in the wrong place for 15 minutes or so, we asked someone and were directed to the correct place. But it turned out that, even though I had called the hotel to confirm my complimentary airport taxi ahead of time and sent an email, they were not there. (By the way, sending emails to confirm anything in Nepal or India is pointless. I'm sure no one reads them as I have never received a response.) I called again and the hotel asked me to spell my name 5 times and then said a driver would be there in 10 minutes. Sure enough, a driver appeared in 10 minutes and took me to the correct hotel. Phew, I had negotiated the whole transport nightmare and was on my way to the serenity of a nice airport hotel.

But when I got to the hotel and was in the process of checking in, they told me that the airport transport was NOT complimentary. I had passed up the prepaid taxi stand at the airport (56 rupees for <5 kilometers) because I was told I had prepaid hotel transport waiting for me. Now the hotel insisted on charging 500 rupees (more than $10)!!! This, even in the US, is a complete ripoff. But I was stuck and didn't have much choice. I didn't have rupees (because the exchange rate at the airport is pretty low), so I paid with a $20 bill and received 400 Indian rupees change (a 45 rupee/$1 exchange rate, which will become important later).

My room was nice, the bed was the nicest bed I've slept in since maybe my parent's house in Chicago, and the shower was hot. But the hotel had no Internet services (which was my only requirement when I booked), which made it impossible to confirm future reservations with my travel agent. And to top it off, with 70+ channels on the TV, only one was English-speaking and played the same news stories over and over. Ug.

Upon checking out, the hotel again tried to rip me off. They tried to charge more than was quoted for the room, they tried to charge me for breakfast (which was clearly stated as complimentary on the booking form), and this time, conveniently for them, the exchange rate was 49 rupees per dollar (which worked in their favor when converting a US dollar room rate into rupees). And then they wanted to charge 750 rupees to hail a taxi for me to Majnu Ka Tilla (my next stop in Delhi). The rate should be in the neighborhood of 500 rupees. I walked outside and hailed a cab myself, paying 650 rupees, which was still too high but, at this point, I didn't care.

After that, it's been smooth sailing. The driver stopped at a bank ATM, as requested, and the drive here was actually not too scary. The trip from the far southwest corner of town to the north side took only about 45 minutes with very little traffic. There's more green space in Delhi than I imagined and I only had one person knock on my window asking for money (I expected swarms). Majnu Ka Tilla is a small, quiet Tibetan refugee neighborhood in north Delhi and is where you can catch the overnight bus to Mcleod Ganj. So far, everything here has gone smoothly. I found an internet cafe (hence, this blog) and a free place to store my bag for the day (Wongdon House). I walked into Tibet Trek and Tours and bought my bus ticket for the price advertised. Hallelujah! This time tomorrow, I should be at the Chonor House Hotel in Mcleod. Of course, between now and then, I will be taking a 12-hour, overnight bus ride. Should be interesting.

That's all for now. I'll write more in a few days : )

Namaste!

Friday, December 5, 2008

Off to India

I'm off to Delhi and then to Mcleod Ganj. I'll be in Delhi one night (6-Dec) and then will take the overnight bus to Mcleod. I'll blog when I get to the hotel in Delhi and then again when I get to Mcleod. Thank you everyone for thinking of me. I'll be careful.

Namaste!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Back to Kathmandu

After staying in Nepal a little longer than planned (see previous few posts), I've made plans to head to India. I plan to steer clear of big tourist hotels and cities named Mumbai (seriously, how does spell check not know this city??). Here's the tentative plan:
  • Wednesday (3rd): Pokhara to Kathmandu by bus
  • Saturday (6th): Kathmandu to Delhi by plane
  • Saturday night: stay in a safe, clean airport hotel one night (hot shower, flush toilet, real bed)
  • Sunday night (7th): Take the overnight tourist bus (wonder how this will be) from north Delhi to Mcleod Ganj (residence of the Dalai Lama, immediately north of Dharamsala)
  • Monday (8th) through either Thursday (11th), Friday (12th), or Saturday (13th): stay in Mcleod Ganj (possibly do some hiking, hang around for the festival for the Dalai Lama's Nobel Peace Prize. No, he won't be there, but it should be fun.)
  • After Mcleod Ganj (no later than the overnight bus on the 13th): Travel back to Delhi (possibly via train through Amritsar to see the Golden Palace), or possibly straight to Delhi via bus and then to Agra via train for a day trip to the actual Taj Majal (not the hotel), or just straight back to Delhi, no stops, no sights.
  • Monday (Dec. 15): Fly to the southern coast of India (Kerala). I have a reservation at a yoga ashram.
As you can see, a few days are still fuzzy but it's coming together. I should know more about whether or not I'll make any additional stops (Agra, Amritsar) in the next few days. I'm having a travel agent work on that and it will depend on security. The plans can all change if things in Delhi heat up. But I'm limiting my time in Delhi (2 nights max), and heading to places that are relatively cool.

Namaste to you and to Nepal! I'll be back to both.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Oh, and one more thing...

...my sense of smell is even more sensitive than usual today. Everything stinks. What's that all about?

Puking in Pokhara, but okay now : )

First off, let me say that I'm well on the road to recovery. And kudos to the basic medical care here in Pokhara. I didn't even have to leave my hotel room, for which I am grateful. The pharmacist a block away was able to perform the appropriate, ahem, test, and prescribe the appropriate antibiotics within about 3 hours and for less than $15. Seriously. When have you been able to walk 3 minutes, wait 3 hours total, and spend less than $15 to get any medical care in the US? Tell me.

And on that note, I'm just catching up on election night videos. Did anyone catch David Letterman, referring to Obama, "Anybody mind if he starts a little early?" Not at all.

Cheers!