Meditation, Blessings, and New Opportunities

Warning: LONGEST BLOG POST EVER.

The last 3 days have been absolutely amazing. Yesterday, we woke up at around 8:30am, and we checked out of the Chonor House after a very tasty breakfast. We had hired a driver from the hotel, and we left the Chonor House at around 10:30am to head down to the Sherabling monastery, which is about 2 and a half hours from McLeod Ganj in the mountains. Before arriving at Sherabling, however, we stopped at the Norbulingka Institute for Tibetan Culture, which is about 2-3 km from the main town of Dharamsala. Named after the Dalai Lama's past summer home in Tibet, the Norbulinkga Institute is concerned with preserving the culture, arts, and traditions of Tibet. Upon our arrival, we were given a tour of the property, which was quite cool. We started out in the guesthouse, and we were then taken to the temple, which was amazing, as most Buddhist temples are. We were then taken through the various studios, where the Norbulingka students make all kinds of artwork, from incredibly intricate and elaborate Buddhist paintings, to fabrics and sculptures. It was amazing to see the work that went into the artwork, and it was even more incredible to hear about the training programs that last up to 12 or 13 years! Anyway, we enjoyed being at Norbulingka very much, and we were thrilled to find out that they had a room available for the next evening. After booking that, we left again in the car to head over to Sherabling.

The drive to Sherabling was about 2 more hours, but it was worth every second! First of all, the scenery was amazing, but that turned out to hardly be the most impressive part. Immediately upon our arrival, we were welcomed by the monks in the office, and we then explored the complex for a bit. Inside the main temple, we found that a ceremony was taking place, which included a great deal of beating of drums and chanting. Of course, we were apprehensive about entering, but the monks were insistent that it was ok and that we should go in. Reluctantly, we entered the temple and sat down in the back. Soon afterwards, we were finally assured that it was ok when three young monks approached us, greeted us, and poured us tea. We immediately felt welcomed, and we sat in the temple observing the ceremony and meditating for about 20 minutes. It was a very enjoyable and peaceful few minutes.

After the ceremony, we walked over to the bookstore and crafts gallery situated a few hundred yards from the temple. There, we met a monk named Choi-phel (we couldn't pronounce it, so we just called him "Cheerful"), who offered to meet us at the prayer hall later that evening and give us a private tour of it. He was really friendly, and as it turns out, he's only 20 years old, but he's been a monk at Sherabling for 13 years, and he hasn't even seen his family in that entire period!

Throughout the afternoon (before Choi-phel's tour of the prayer hall), we visited different buildings within the complex, including the monk's retreat center, where monks go at a certain point in their training. The retreat center is quite small (maybe 5 or 6 thousand square feet), and it basically includes dormitory-style rooms, a courtyard, and a prayer hall/temple. The retreats last for 3 years, 3 months, and 3 days. During that period, the monks do not leave the retreat center, and they are not allowed to communicate with one another in any way (they can't even look each other in the eyes!). They basically spend all of their time meditating and praying, with little else occupying their time. Obviously it takes an incredibly strong mind to participate in one of these retreats without going crazy!

We met up with Choi-phel before dinner, after exploring the entire complex, and he took us through the beautiful prayer hall, describing each of the sacred objects and monuments. He also allowed us to take some great pics, which we of course appreciated very much. It was great to be there and to learn about Buddhist practices, and it was absolutely amazing to learn about monastic life. In fact, for one reason or another, at the monastery I kept being reminded of my years at St. Mark's School in Dallas. I guess it's the fact that they're a bunch of boys in uniforms, they're studying and in class a lot, and it's more similar of an atmosphere than I ever would have guessed. Anyway, after the tour of the prayer hall, we went back to the guesthouse for dinner, and afterwards we basically relaxed and chatted for a few hours before going to bed around 11 or so.

We woke up at about 6:30am on Wednesday morning, as we had plans to meet up with Choi-phel at 7:30. We met up with him after breakfast at the prayer hall, and he was kind enough to take us to all of the different small puja (meditation and prayer) halls throughout the monastery. Each room was dedicated to a different Buddhist deity, and there was a monk in each room doing a puja. It was really cool to see all of the different settings for prayer, and we felt very lucky to have met Choi-phel. After seeing all of the puja halls, Choi-phel took us to his room, which is very much like a dorm room. We sat there for a while, and he showed us his books, his pictures, and some of the assignments that he had completed on Tibetan script...It was very impressive, especially since he had red check marks all over his pages, indicating that he was getting good grades! Once again, I couldn't help thinking about the parallels with St. Mark's and American education. Very cool stuff.

We left Choi-phel's room, and we headed over to the office, where we sat and chatted with the "administrative" monk (I can't remember his name). He gave us each a CD of the Sherabling monks chanting, which apparently won a Grammy in the last few years! I haven't listened to it yet, since I don't have a CD player, but I'm looking forward to playing it when I get home, as I'm sure it will be great for relaxation and meditation. After leaving his office, we walked over and checked out the nun's retreat center, which was very similar to the monk's retreat center, and we left the monastery soon afterwards. Overall the experience at Sherabling was absolutely incredible. I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to spend a day there, as it was both an educational and a moving experience. I hope that I'll have the chance to go back there one day, maybe for a retreat (probably more like 10 days than 3 years) or just a visit for a week or so.

We left Sherabling at about 11:00, and we headed back over to Norbulingka for lunch. While Dev was taking care of some travel arrangements on the computer, Jesse and I wandered over to the shop to look at some of the limited edition etchings of the Dalai Lama's life. We each ended up buying a few, and as it turned out we bought some of the very last ones ever to be made! I am really excited about these, and I can't wait to get them framed and put them up in my apartment at home. We rushed through lunch, and quickly hopped in the car to go to the Gyuto Tantric Monastery, where the 17th Karmapa Lama (pictured above with the Dalai Lama...FYI, I obviously didn't take this picture) was holding his public audience. We were told to come the monastery at 2:00, so we showed up at 1:45. Dev had spoken to Lama Phuntsok, who works closely with the Karmapa, and we had been assured that we would have a few minutes for a private audience with the Karmapa. When we arrived, we asked for Lama Phuntsok, and we were told that we could speak to him after the public audience was over. The public audience was very quick, although it was a cool experience. We had brought our katas (white shawls that are traditionally presented to high lamas for blessings), and we were all set to go. There was a woman in line who asked us if we had an extra kata, and of course we didn't, but Jesse generously gave her his own kata. I'm quite sure he earned some good karma for that action. After entering, we sat on some cushions in the prayer hall, and there were teachings being played over the loudspeakers, first in Tibetan, followed by an English translation. After the teachings were done, the Karmapa came out, everyone stood up, and we began to file towards the Karmapa. It was very cool to see him, and even though he's only 21 years old, the Karmapa's presence fills the room. Jesse and I had each brought our stethoscopes to be blessed (great idea, Jesse!), and we held them in our hands as we approached the Karmapa. When we walked up to him, he handed us a red prayer string as a blessing. He blessed our katas, and although he didn't gesture to our stethoscopes directly, or to the prayer beads that we had brought, we basically considered them blessed after that. We were moved pretty quickly though the line, and the actual moment in front of the Karmapa only lasted for about 2 or 3 seconds. Even so, we felt fortunate to have had the opportunity to be in his presence and to receive his blessings.

After the Karmapa's audience was over, we stood outside for a while waiting for Lama Phuntsok, and when he arrived, we were told that it would be impossible for us to have a private audience with the Karmapa that day. All of us were disappointed, especially Dev, since he had to leave the very next morning and wouldn't have another chance to meet the Karmapa. Lama Phuntsok gave Jesse and me his cell phone number, though, and he told us to give him a call so that we could try to have a private audience with the Karmapa on Friday. Jesse and I were very excited and hopeful about the prospect of a private audience! Dev left a few questions with Lama Phuntsok, and he promised to pass the questions on to the Karmapa and pass on his response to Dev.

Anyway, as we were standing there, a man who had been in the public audience saw me holding my stethoscope and walked over to me and asked me if I am a doctor. When I told him that Jesse and I are both medical students, his eyes got as wide as saucers, and he proceeded to tell us about a project that he and his family are involved in at the Gyuto Tantric Monastery, where we were! As it turns out, his name is Jan, and his parents are retired doctors from Dusseldorf, Germany. After their retirement they had come to Dharamsala, and while they were here they met with the Karmapa. They told the Karmapa that they had a great deal of medical equipment, and they asked him for his guidance in how to use the equipment. The Karmapa meditated on the question for a few days, and he subsequently had a vision of a clinic and a hospital that would be associated with the monastery and serve the residents of the region, including both monks and the poorest residents of the local slums. Jan took us through the clinic, which is currently run by nurses (there are no doctors yet), and he described the plans for the hospital to us. We talked with Jan for about 20 minutes, and we went into the office to meet the people at the Gyuto Tantric Monastery who are working on the current plans for the hospital. We asked Jan what we might be able to do to help, and he told us that the project is still in its early stages and that we can help by spreading the word and being creative. We exchanged contact information with Jan and with the people at the monastery, and we came away quite excited about the idea. It was a wonderful coincidence that we met Jan, and Jesse and I both feel so lucky that such an amazing opportunity seemed to drop into our laps!

Since then, Jesse and I have had a number of conversations about the project, and we are both excited about doing something back home that will contribute to the new hospital. The hospital won't be ready for another 3 or 4 years, so by that time we will be doctors and will hopefully be able to help with medical care at the monastery. In the meantime, we both want to do whatever we can to contribute to this cause, and we've been brainstorming quite a bit. We've been extremely excited since meeting Jan, and we feel like we are in a great position to help. We're looking forward to putting some work into this project when we return home.

Anyway, after leaving the monastery, we felt great, having received the Karmapa's blessings and having found such an amazing opportunity. We returned to Norbulingka, and even before getting settled in our room, we met some more interesting people! The first was a woman named Shadi from Canada. She had been in Dharamsala for about 3 weeks in order to follow the teachings of HH the Dalai Lama, and we had also seen her at the Karmapa's public audience. We spoke for a while, and she also introduced us to Vanessa, who is a public health student in England. We made plans to meet for dinner a few hours later, and we went upstairs to relax for a bit. At dinner, we heard all about Shadi's experience with Tibetan Buddhism (she has studied for a number of years and recently took her Bodhisattva vows), and it was very interesting to hear her describe some of the very deep ideas that are central to the religion. We also discussed India's public health with Vanessa and Hope (the other girl in her program), and it was a very enjoyable dinner. We were very glad to have met all of them, and we made plans to have dinner the following night in McLeod Ganj. Finally, after a long but incredible day, we went to bed around midnight.

On Thursday morning, unfortunately, Dev had to leave to go down to Chandigarh before heading back to Mumbai to meet up with his family. We woke up at about 6:30am to see him off, and Jesse and I went back to bed pretty much right away after that. It was a bummer to see Dev go, as both Jesse and I really enjoyed having him along. It was great to hang out and travel with Dev, and I'm glad we got to meet up. Anyway, after he left and we went back to bed, Jesse and I got up at about 10:30am, hung out for a bit, and had lunch at Norbulingka before heading back to McLeod Ganj. One funny note about the taxi ride...hanging from his rear-view mirror, our cab driver had a pin of the Texas flag. When we asked him about it, he told us that one of his regular clients from the U.S. had given it to him. Looks like Texas pride has gone global! Anyway, after arriving back in McLeod Ganj, we took care of some logistical stuff, like getting our bus tickets to Delhi, reconfirming our flight to Moscow (the first leg of our flight home on Monday), and of course calling Lama Phuntsok to see about getting a private audience with the Karmapa. Lama Phuntsok told us that all of the appointments for Friday were booked up, however, but after explaining to him that we were leaving and wouldn't be able to come Saturday, he agreed to squeeze us in for a few minutes and told us to come to the monastery at 10am. Of course, we were quite excited! After all of that was taken care of, we went into town, hit up the bookstore, and shopped for some crafts, etc. Basically we didn't do much. We did, however, get some momos (dumplings) from the street, and they were really good...mmmm. At 6:30, we met up with Shadi, Hope, Vanessa, and a new friend Christopher (from France), and we headed out for Japanese food. Again, dinner was a lot of fun, and afterwards we headed back to the Chonor House for tea and dessert. We had a nice time, and we exchanged contact information with everyone before saying our goodbyes. Afterwards, we were again exhausted, and we headed back up to the room for a while to read before bed.

This morning, we woke up at 8:00am to head over to the monastery to meet the Karmapa. After a quick breakfast, we grabbed a cab, and we arrived at Gyuto Tantric Monastery at exactly 10am. We called Lama Phuntsok, and he told us to go to the waiting area where he would come and get us. We went over there, and we again met some very nice people, including a couple from Phoenix, a woman from Dallas, and a woman from Canada. The subject of katas came up, and when Jesse explained that he had given his away, the woman from Canada immediately pulled out her extra kata and gave it to him. Talk about karma! After a while, Lama Phuntsok came in, and after giving our passports and passing through the normal security checks, we went to stand in line to meet the Karmapa. We were in the very back of the line, and for some reason still unkown to us, one of the lamas came over and pulled us to the very front of the line! We had no idea why it happened, but we weren't about to argue. We were led down a series of hallways, up some stairs, and at a certain point we were asked to take our shoes off. We were then led up some more stairs, where we then waited outside the Karmapa's room. Jesse and I were both quite nervous, since we had no idea how to act in front of the Karmapa, but luckily the couple from Phoenix was right behind us, and they explained to us the proper method for prostration and presentation of the kata. After a few brief moments, Jesse and I were led in for our private audience with the Karmapa.

As we walked in, we saw the Karmapa sitting on the other side of the room, and the only other person there was his translator. We walked over and began to perform the prostrations that we had learned, but it was pretty clear that we didn't know what we were doing. The Karmapa smiled and gestured to us to get up, that it was ok, and he took my kata from me (I was holding it completely wrong) and placed it around my neck. Even though we did everything wrong, the Karmapa didn't seem bothered at all, as he seemed to realize that we intended nothing but respect. After completing the formalities, we sat down on our knees in front of the Karmapa, and we were invited to ask him a question. Jesse and I took turns speaking, and we explained that we were medical students from the US, that we had met Jan, and that we wanted to help with the hospital that the Karmapa himself had envisioned. Jesse handed him the flyer that we had been given, and we asked him for his guidance on how we might best contribute to his vision. The Karmapa looked very focused and serious, and after a few moments of contemplation, he replied to us (through his translator). He said that since the hospital is located in a remote place, there is a real need for people that are trained in using the medical equipment that they have been given. He asked us to help bring people over to help with medical treatment, as well as to help train local doctors. Jesse and I were both very appreciative of the Karmapa's response, and we thanked him, bowed to him out of respect, and left the room. After thanking Lama Phuntsok, we left the temple and walked over to the clinic. We spoke to the monks in the clinic, took a few pictures, and we left with a clearer idea of what we can do to contribute to this cause.

Afterwards, we headed back to McLeod Ganj, and we basically haven't been doing much since then. We checked out of the hotel, had lunch, and did a bit of shopping, and we've now been at the internet cafe for the last few hours, as evidenced by this record-breaking blog entry. We're off to Delhi on a 12-hour overnight bus in an hour or so, and then back home on Monday. Not many adventures left! Keep checking the blog, though, since I'm sure I'll be full of wrap-up thoughts. Thanks for reading this entry...I know it's been a long one!

Dharamsala and McLeod Ganj

After a lazy day in Shimla on Saturday (seriously, we did nothing at all), we hopped in a car at around 10pm for an all-night drive up to Dharamsala. Unfortunately, Michael wasn't able to come with us since he was heading back to the states a few days later, so we took him to the bus station and saw him off to Delhi. It was of course a bummer to lose a member of the travel crew, but I think Michael was pretty excited to get back home, so we couldn't really blame the guy!

Our driver to Dharamsala was very nice, but he didn't speak any English, so that made for an interesting ride. At the beginning of the drive, the roads were winding through the mountains a lot, and this guy was barrelling through the turns at what seemed like light speed. At first, I was certain that my stomach would give way at some point during the drive, but I settled down after an hour or so, and I was able to lie down in the back seat and listen to my iPod with no problems whatsoever. About halfway through the ride, though, we all switched seats, so I was up in shotgun for the last half, and there was clearly no way to lie down up there, but I didn't really mind. It definitely made for a good vantage point from which to watch the road, even though it was dark outside. We made it to Dharamsala in about 7 hours, and we then took another 30 minutes or so to drive up to McLeod Ganj, which is the upper town of Dharamsala, where all of the Tibetans live. We drove around for a while in the pouring rain looking for our hotel, and we eventually found it....of course, we were all exhausted, so we were very happy to find that we could enter our room right away, even though it was only 5:30 am. Our hotel, the Chonor House, is a really cool place that is associated with the Norbulingka Institute for Tibetan Culture. It is a wholly Tibetan place, and each room is named after a different region of Tibet. Our room is called "Central Tibet", and there are murals of the region on each of our walls. Needless to say, we were glad to arrive, and we all fell asleep very quickly. After a bit of a rest, we woke up around 12:30 to go explore McLeod Ganj.

Now...a brief interlude to tell the story of Dharamsala/McLeod Ganj and the Tibetan people. As you may or may not know, in the early 1950's, soon after the Communist Party came to power in China, the Chinese government decided to "liberate" Tibet. To make a long story short, the Chinese invaded Tibet, destroyed their temples and cultural monuments, and began the process of removing the Tibetan people and culture. They banned all forms of religious worship and basically attempted to force Tibetans to adhere to Chinese customs and lifestyle. Eventually, in 1959, the situation became untenable, and the Dalai Lama, who is the spiritual and political leader of the Tibetan people (and regarded by many as a God-king), was forced to flee to India, where he and the Tibetan people were given refuge. Dharamsala (more correctly its upper town, McLeod Ganj) is now the main center for Tibetan Buddhism in the world, as well as the home of the Dalai Lama. There are substantially more Tibetans than Indians here...it's like being in a different country. It has been incredible to learn about the plight of the Tibetan people. It's one thing to read about it, but to be here and to meet the refugees is a truly powerful experience.

Anyway, after waking up, we went down to the complex surrounding the Dalai Lama's residence, and although we weren't able to go into the residential portion, we were able to walk through and around the temple, which was awesome. At the very front of the temple, we saw the space where the Dalai Lama gives his public addresses...I very much hope to be able to return one day to hear him speak, even if I can't understand the Tibetan language. The temple itself was very relaxed and cool, and we spent a few minutes in both of the two sections before walking all the way around the outside of the temple turning the prayer wheels. Basically, prayer wheels are cylinders upon which different prayers are written, and each time you spin one, it is just like you have said those prayers. By walking around and spinning all of the prayer wheels, we effectively said all of the mantras that were written on them. While I don't know what any of them say, it was a very cool experience to participate in one of the sacred acts of Tibetan Buddhism. We saw a lot of monks, and of course everyone was very friendly. Jesse gave one of the monks 500 rupees for a trip to Delhi...what a guy!

After leaving the temple, we walked down to the Tibetan Museum, which tells the story of the Tibetan people's oppression in China and subsequent exile to India. The stories, both individual and collective, are absolutely heartbreaking, and it's amazing to see how the community has held together in such a dire situation. By all accounts, the Dalai Lama has provided amazing guidance and leadership for his countrymen, and the Tibetan people remain peace-loving and compassionate. The people here, having been through so much oppression and pain, amaze me in their ability to remain positive, friendly, and kind. I have been so impressed by the Tibetan people here, and I feel very welcome here in McLeod Ganj. We are constantly receiving friendly greetings from Tibetan monks walking down the street, and everyone is very warm wherever we go.

We had dinner last night at a Tibetan restaurant, which was very good, and we finished off the evening with some billiards at a local pub. We met some locals and some travelers, and we enjoyed ourselves very much there. After returning to the hotel, we stayed up late to watch the World Cup final, and we hit the bed soon after.

This morning, we woke up pretty slowly. We managed to get moving around 11am, and we were happy to see that it wasn't raining. We hiked up for about 20 minutes to the town of Bhagsu, which was nice, and we continued on to Bhagsu falls, which is a beautiful waterfall a bit further from town. There were quite a few people on the path to the falls, but afterwards we hiked up a bit further to a place called Shiva Cafe, which was completely out of the way. The first thing we noticed about Shiva Cafe was the huge pot of cannabis plants growing right out front...clearly a pretty laid-back place. When we walked in, there were a few people relaxing, and we sat down and ordered lunch and lassis. We hung out there playing backgammon and poker, writing postcards, and reading for a bit, and we left at around 4pm to head back to town for our Tibetan cooking class, which we had signed up for last night.

The cooking class was great. The teacher, Sangye, came to McLeod Ganj from Tibet about 6 years ago, and he's a totally laid back and hilarious guy. Today's class was on Tibetan soups, and we learned 4 different recipes. It was more observation than hands-on cooking, but it was awesome to watch him and great to learn from him. There were about 10 people in the class, including some hilarious guys from London, who are all here on their break between high school and university. Anyway, we got to keep printouts of the recipes that Sangye used, so I'm planning on trying them when I get home. Hopefully it won't take me too many tries to get it right!

Anyway, this evening we are probably going to head back to the billiard bar, and tomorrow we are going to spend the day and night at a monastery in Sherbling, which is about 2 hours from here. We'll be spending a good deal of our time there meditating in complete silence and solitude, which I think will be a very cool way to spend the day. I'm looking forward to having the chance to do nothing but reflect, especially as we near the end of such an active trip through India. On Wednesday we'll return to McLeod Ganj, and we're hoping that we'll have the chance to have a private audience with the Karmapa Lama, who is the 3rd highest official of Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism. Unfortunately, the Dalai Lama is sick, so we won't get to see him, but we're very much looking forward to having the chance to receive blessings from the Karmapa.

Ok, wrapping up...In many ways, McLeod Ganj is the most amazing place I've ever visited in my life. There's an incredible energy here that one can't help but appreciate. As I said, the Tibetan people are incredible, and it's a wonderful privilege to be able to come here and visit their home in exile. I am excited about spending four more days here, and I really think that this will be something that I draw upon for the rest of my life. It's a perfect way to finish up our India travels. More stories to come!

More travels in the North

Before starting, let me say that this post has a uniquely Indian twist to it, in the sense that this is my second attempt at writing it. At the last internet cafe, the power went out and the computers all turned off, so I lost everything I had written. Oh well, if anything, India forces you to become a more patient person.

Ok...catching up, starting with Jaipur. As I had written before, the hotel we stayed in was really nice, especially for only about $10 a night per head. It was classic Rajasthani Indian architecture, which basically means it was the kind of place you'd only find in India, with ornate (but not opulent) decorations. Plus, it was quite comfortable with A/C, comfy beds, and hot water, so we were happy.

Tuesday began pretty lazily, but we soon got off our butts and checked out Jaipur. We hired a driver, and he took us out to see all the sights of the city. The first stop was Jaighur Fort, which was relatively cool, and it was also the setting for Jesse and Michael's first and only camel ride. It was pretty hilarious, too, because we found out that camels get up relatively abruptly, and the dudes got tossed around a bit after boarding the camel. We got a lot of pics, and it was a cool place overall. From there we went to the Amber Fort, and that was pretty cool too. Jesse really wanted to ride an elephant, but I guess he decided against it, and we went from there to lunch at the Taj hotel, where I had a quite tasty club sandwich with french fries. Mmmmm. After lunch, we checked out the rest of the city, with the first stop being Jantar Mantar, which is a really funky astronomical observatory that has all kinds of weird instruments in this huge plaza. We got a tour guide for 100 rupees, and he described all of the instruments to us...definitely money well spent. The coolest instrument by far was this huge sundial (it was 30 meters high) that is able to tell time within 20 seconds of accuracy. It was pretty amazing to see, especially in the middle of Jaipur, even considering the fact that it was 100 degrees outside. The last stop was the Galta Monkey Temple, which was pretty awesome. It's kind of out in the middle of nowhere, but it was a really cool place. I got blessed by a Hindu priest, and he put a Bindhi on my head, which was kind of cool (Joel, I know you'll get a kick out of that). Another funny moment was when Justin was trying to feed monkeys with the monkey food he had bought, and one of them just ran up and ripped the bag out of his hand, spilling food everywhere. It was quite hilarious. Anyway, after that, we had a pretty standard, but good, Indian dinner, and we went to bed pretty early.

The next day was basically just a travel day. We hopped the bus from Jaipur to Delhi, and it was pretty painless. We had found a good deal on orbitz.com for a nice hotel in Delhi, so we were very comfortable there, but we were quite disappointed with the Japanese meal that we had for dinner, but oh well, you can't win 'em all, right? We again went to bed early, as we had a wakeup call at 4am.

Which brings us to yesterday....4:00 am came really early, but we made it to the train station with no problems at all. The first train we were on was from Delhi to Kalka, and it was pretty uneventful, aside from the annoying people that kept getting on every stop trying to sell us stuff, being really loud, etc. It was about a 5 hour ride to Kalka, where we met our narrow-gauge Himalayan Queen train to take us through the Himalayan foothills to Shimla. As for the Himalayan Queen train, let's just say that we were all a bit disappointed. I guess I had romanticized the whole thing, and I expected a much more luxurious experience...but wait, this is India, I forgot. Basically this train was really crowded, the seats were tiny little bench seats that were WAY too small for two people, not to mention hard, and there were a bunch of people pushing around everywhere. It wasn't half as crowded as a Bombay train, but it was plenty crowded for a 5 hour journey. Needless to say, we were quite happy to arrive in Shimla.

As it turns out, Shimla is a nice place to spend a few days. We immediately noticed how much cooler the air is here, and it isn't quite as crowded. Of course, when we arrived, we were followed around by some porters/hotel touts, and we made the (incorrect) decision to go take a look at one of their hotels. We ended up hiking around the whole town with our huge backpacks on until we finally found their hotel, and when we arrived we checked out the rooms only to find that they smelled really bad. We finally ditched the touts, and we wandered around town for a while longer until we found a hotel that we liked for a good price. It turned out to be a long search, but in the end it was worth it, and we got a nice place. We had dinner at a place that we found in the Rough Guides book, and afterwards we checked out a bar that turned out to be full of only Asian males. No more than 30 seconds after we walked in, three of the guys started fighting, and this one guy kept sucker-punching the other guy while the other guy held him back. They were all escorted out, and needless to say we decided it wasn't our kind of place and walked back to our hotel. We hit the beds pretty soon after that, and we all slept like rocks until about 10:30 this morning.

Today was a very cool day. After our late wake-up, we went into town to try to make arrangements for travel to Dharamsala tomorrow night. While at the travel agent, one of the guides offered to take us to Chedwick Falls for only 200 rupees (a little more than 4 bucks), so we decided, what the hell, let's go. It turned out to be a great walk, and at a certain point it turned into a full-fledged hike through the mountains, complete with narrow, rocky switchbacks and steep inclines. As a point of reference, it was a bit like the Ute trail in Aspen, but definitely not as wide. Anyway, I hadn't expected quite that intense of a hike, and I was wearing flip-flops, so that it made it a bit more difficult. Nevertheless, it ended up being a great hike, and we all ended up getting pretty worn out. We stopped by the Viceroy's Lodge, where used to be the main center of the British government in India during the summer months, which was very cool to see. Now we're back in town, and we're about to head to get some dinner...yummy.

Tomorrow, we'll spend the day in Shimla, and we're off to Dharamsala tomorrow night. It doesn't look like we'll get the chance to meet HH the Dalai Lama, but oh well, hopefully another time. I can hardly wait to get to Dharamsala...I have a feeling this will be my favorite part of the trip. More stories to come!

Pics of the Taj Mahal

This may be the best picture I've ever taken. The Taj Mahal was closing, and there were hardly any people left, so it was prime picture opportunity time.

This one actually serves as proof that Jesse and I did indeed visit the Taj Mahal. Good times!

A luxurious way to visit the Taj Mahal

What a day yesterday was! As I wrote about before, we took the EARLY train from Delhi to Agra, and I can't remember what I wrote about this, but the train was very nice. We were given breakfast, tea, and a newspaper, which was quite surprising. The tickets were $5 a piece, which I felt was pretty reasonable!

The hotel in Agra, the Oberoi Amarvilas, was unbelievable, to say the least. We had originally booked one room, where all four of us (me, Jesse, Michael, and Justin) planned to stay. Of course, we hadn't thought the plan through very well, and it turned out that the hotel wasn't too amenable to the idea of more than 2 people staying in a double room. We ended up getting the second room, and even though we had to spend a good bit of money, it was totally worth it. We got into our room at about 10am, and I immediately took a nap, while the other guys went down to the spa for a steam. I got up after a while and took a shower, and since I haven't had a hot shower in about a month, I don't think I've ever enjoyed a shower quite as much. I spent about 30 minutes in the shower before heading down for lunch, where I had a nice club sandwich with french fries....again, it was fantastic. Afterwards, we hung out in the pool for a while, read our books in the room (which overlooked the Taj Mahal), and we finally left for the Taj Mahal at about 4:30.

The Taj Mahal...one of the seven wonders of the world. It was amazing to be there, and all of our expectations were met, if not surpassed. When we arrived, of course, we were hassled by numerous merchants and boys selling postcards, and we've basically gotten to the point where we have no problem either ignoring them or just yelling at them to leave us alone. We were a bit nicer at the beginning of the trip, but after almost 5 weeks in India it has become clear that politely declining someone's offers is completely ineffective. I feel kind of bad at times telling people to leave me alone, go away, etc., especially kids, but the reality is that there's no other option. So anyway, after telling all of them to bug off, we entered the Taj Mahal complex. The first thing that I noticed was that it was crowded, but not nearly as crowded as I had expected. There was definitely plenty of room to move around and take pictures, and no one was really pushing or shoving anyone. That was quite a relief, as I had expected much worse. The Taj Mahal itself was breathtaking. I took about 40-50 pictures, and it's definitely true what they say about the light. As the day came to a close, the Taj Mahal took on more of a red hue, and I took pictures that reflected at least 4 different shades of light at different times. We found a cool spot along the side of the monument where we sat and watched the colors change. It's pretty incredible, and it's tough to take your eyes off of it. Even as we left, I walked backwards while focusing on the Taj Mahal. It's incredible to see with your own eyes. I'll post pics later...

We left the Taj Mahal at about 7:30, right when they closed. Of course, the same merchants and hasslers were awaiting us outside, but we brushed them off (sounds so much easier when I write it....trust me, it's a huge pain in the butt). We were then taken back to our hotel, and we headed down to the spa, where, as luck would have it, two massage appointments had opened up. Since Jesse and Justin had already scheduled massages for the morning, Michael and I decided to take these, and it turned out to be fantastic, plus they were only $50 each for an hour, which strikes me as less than half what we might pay in America or Europe. Afterwards, we had a great Indian dinner at the hotel restaurant, and we went to bed soon after. I slept SOOOO well, even considering that we set our alarms for 6am to have a look at the Taj Mahal at sunrise, then headed right back to bed. Jesse got up for his massage at 9:00, and I stayed in bed until almost 10. Finally, we checked out of our luxurious palace at around 11am, although I can truly say that none of us really wanted to leave.

We got on the bus to Jaipur at 11:30 or so. The bus wasn't too bad, with functioning A/C and padded seats. I found that I was able to read my book while we were moving, so I was quite satisfied. The ride was a bit scary, though, and when we finally got off in Jaipur, I definitely felt like I had cheated death more than once. The bus ride did come with one interesting twist, though. When we had arrived in what appeared to be the outskirts of Jaipur, a man got on the bus and asked us if we were going to Jaipur. When we replied that we were, he told us that this was our stop, and we needed to get off. It appeared somehow sketchy, and we almost got off (I was halfway off the bus...thankfully my traveling companions were a bit more skeptical). As it turned out, and as confirmed by my Rough Guides guidebook, rickshaw drivers often get on the bus at the stop before the main station and try to convince tourists to get off the bus in order to get their fares. Not only that, they generally refuse to take you to your hotel in favor of taking you to a place that offers them a commission. Very shady business. They even will go as far as telling you that your hotel has burned down, and sometimes they even have a fake number that you can call that will confirm what they've told you. Luckily we didn't get off the bus, and we were taken to the main station. After about 15 minutes, we were picked up by a driver from our hotel, and we had no problems getting here.

The hotel that we're staying at in Jaipur, the Umaid Bhawan, is very nice, especially for what we're paying for it. The rooms are 1300 rupees a night, and they come complete with A/C and hot showers (I think). We're hanging out here for a while awaiting my buddy Dev Motwani, who is meeting us here and traveling with Jesse and me for the rest of the trip (Justin is going from here to Jaipur, and we'll lose Michael in Shimla). Tomorrow we will explore Jaipur, which is known as the Pink City. We'll spend tomorrow night here also, and on Wednesday we'll take a bus to Delhi, where we'll spend one night before boarding the Himalayan Queen train to Shimla on Thursday morning. Finally, we'll take a bus up to Dharamsala, where we hope to have the chance to meet the Dalai Lama. Visit again for more adventures!

The Golden Triangle

Well, it's almost been 5 weeks since the start of my trip to India, and I'm officially done with the first part. Jesse, Michael, Justin and I left Mumbai yesterday on a 7:15am flight, and we arrived in Delhi at around 9:30. Some of the girls in our program had told us that Delhi was an absolute nightmare, so none of us were very excited to arrive. Nonetheless, we had made the decision that we would make the most of our day there. When we arrived, we were met at the airport by a driver, and he took us to our hotel, the Metropolis Tourist Lodge in the area known as Paharganj. As it turns out, Paharganj is the "backpacker" neighborhood of Delhi, and it's kind of nasty. It kind of reminded us of Bombay. The streets are narrow, there are people (and random cows and goats) everywhere, it's dirty, and there's the all-too-familiar stench of shit in the streets. As it turned out, though, the hotel was nice enough, with relatively comfortable beds, luke-warm showers, and A/C. We dropped our bags, got kind of settled, and ventured out into the city.

Our first destination yesterday was Connaught Place, which is one of the focal points of New Delhi (Delhi is separated into two cities, New Delhi and Old Delhi, and they are very different places). The first thing that we noticed while walking around New Delhi was that it is much cleaner than Mumbai. Also, the streets are wider, the traffic isn't half as bad, and there aren't nearly as many people trying to sell you stuff or begging for spare change. That's not to say they're totally absent....quite the contrary. After being in Mumbai for a month, however, New Delhi seemed like a cake walk. We walked around and stopped in some really cool places, including a Tibetan market and a 4-story store that sells all kinds of cool crafts and furniture. Afterwards, we continued walking down the Janpath (a central road in New Delhi), and we came to a wide-open park, which was basically unbelievable. There were even trash cans, and the grass had been mowed. I didn't think they had wide open space, trash cans, or mowed grass in any Indian cities! Anyway, we basically wandered around there for a while, and we got followed around by some kids who wanted money. Ultimately we found the metro station, and we were again in for a huge surprise. The Delhi metro is, incredibly, probably the nicest metro I've ever been on. The trains were all new, everything was automated (except for the ticket-buying process), and it was really clean. We really couldn't believe how nice it was! We also observed some hilarious things, like Indian people who had never used escalators trying to figure out how to get on. There was a woman with her daughter, and they just stood there at the bottom of the escalator watching them go by. The woman finally stepped on, of course everything was fine, but the girl got scared, ran back, and ended up just taking the stairs. The moment, aside from being a bit comical, definitely highlighted just how deep the culture gap is between the eastern and western worlds.

We got off of the metro in Old Delhi, and when we emerged, it was like we had stepped into a different world. Old Delhi is just as frenetic and congested as Mumbai, and it actually has even more third-world Indian charm. Here's a sampling of things we saw there that we never saw in Mumbai....cycle rickshaws, people getting their beards shaved on the street, snake charmers. Very cool stuff. After waiting for about an hour to get my phone charged, we walked by the huge mosque in Delhi (the name escapes me right now), and we took a cycle rickshaw to the Red Fort, which was really cool. After that we had dinner in Connaught Place, and we got to bed for our early morning wake-up today.

When I saw early-morning, I mean it. The alarm went off at 4:45am today, and we quickly packed up and headed to the train station for our train to Agra. The train was actually really nice, and we were fed breakfast with tea, plus they gave us free bottles of water and newspapers. We all kind of dozed off, and the stop at Agra snuck up on us. We almost didn't make the stop, but we all got off safely. We were met by a car from our hotel, the Oberoi Amar Vilas. This hotel is RIDICULOUS. We had all decided that since we've been paying $10/night for hotels the whole trip, we'd spring for the five-star hotel in Agra. It's definitely worth it. Our room overlooks the Taj Mahal, and it's extremely comfortable. I can't wait to take a hot shower and sleep in a bed with a soft mattress and a full comforter! It's really going to be amazing. We're heading to the Taj Mahal this afternoon, and we're going to stay there for sunset. Then we'll have a nice dinner, a leisurely evening, massages in the morning, and then we're off to Jaipur! Come back for more pictures and updates. Peace!

Chillin'

So, the last few days in Mumbai have been pretty relaxed. Most of us decided that since it's the last week, we needn't spend our time sitting around in clinic. Therefore, we've basically just been hanging out and relaxing (as much as you can realistically do that in this city). Umm, let's see...the other day, I don't remember which, we went to the Crossroads bookstore in South Mumbai and hung out there for a while. Nothing all that exciting.

On Wednesday, we went to see a Bollywood movie called Krrish. Basically this was the weirdest movie I've ever seen, but it was actually really fun. I couldn't figure out what was going on, and Jesse kept elbowing us and telling us to look at the main character's freakish accessory thumb. I think he was some sort of superhero who got his powers from aliens or something, and the whole time he was sort of courting this REALLY hot girl. Apart from that I have no idea what the movie was about. Every once in a while they'd speak little bursts of English, but definitely not enough to clue me in to what was going on. Oh well, it was a great experience, I can now say I've seen a Bollywood movie!

Yesterday was another chill day. We hung around Bandra for a while, and at 3:00 we went over to the home of Dr. Mahendra Chinai, who is the father of a friend of Mom's. He couldn't have been nicer, and his house was very nice. It was built in the 1930's by a British architect. Incredibly, Dr. Chinai has lived in that house his whole life. He was very hospitable, and we hung out there for a while drinking chai and discussing India and America. I've put up a pic of Dr. Chinai and me relaxing on his swing.

Afterwards, we went down to a restaurant called Khyber in south Mumbai, which is known as the best restaurant in India. The food was actually pretty phenomenal, especially the chicken Tikka Masala. The decor was really cool, too, and we all really enjoyed it. It was kind of crazy since we had 25 people, and they were probably really tired of us by the time dinner ended, but whatever, I guess we're just perpetuating the image of loud, obnoxious Americans. The craziest part was that Jesse was feeling sick, so he took a cab back to our guesthouse, and we basically all thought that he was done for the night. As it turned out, he's a trooper, and he pulled the classic "boot 'n rally". Right after getting back to the guesthouse, he booted, and then he turned right back around in a cab to South Mumbai to finish the night of partying with us! Very commendable.

After dinner we went to Insomnia, which is the dance club inside the Taj hotel. It was really fun, and we were basically the only ones there. We danced quite a bit, and the DJ was playing a lot of 90's rap and hip hop, which made for a fun dancing environment. Everyone was well served as far as alcohol is concerned, and we finally made it back to the dorm at around 2:30.

Today we're basically chillin, getting ready for our trip to Delhi tomorrow. We're taking our local coordinator, Sampada (who we call Sampadizzle) out for dinner tonight, and then we're off in the morning. Namaste!