Get it INDIA!

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Hey!

You may have noticed that this entry same title as my photos from the same period (I can send you a link if you're not on facebook...and I actually know you), and I would like to acknowledge Mr O'Donnell for the excellent Dad joke that I smirked at in a superior manner, and have used ever since.

My lucky Indian adventure began with a very paranoid trip to Varanasi. My friends in Nepal had primed me well.
"India is SO dangerous, yeah, you'll get harrassed ALL the time, the people only want money..." etc.
Cue being the ONLY woman in my carriage from Gorekpur and the only westerner on the train. PARANOIA!!!
The rickshaw drivers weren't so bad (they watched from a distance while I got out my Lonely Planet and then moved in to take me to the pre-paid stand). My actual driver took me to the wrong ghat (cue more paranoia) and WAITED until I got lost. However I was rescued by a group of 6 children, aged about 3 to 12 who asked what I was doing, "I am hiding from my rickshaw man", replied "We will hide you" and they all took me into a back courtyard where they stood and looked at me, smiling, until the rickshaw dude drove away. All paranoia gone, and all humour restored I've not looked back!

I immediately met some fabulous people in Varanasi, and we spent the days eating and being amused at the postcard sellers, rubbish eating cows and goats in coats, as well as awed and not so amused by the people bathing in the Ganges (pushing raw sewage out of the way to wash and take a 'spiritual' mouthful) and the burning ghats.
One of the girls, Anna, was heading out to Bodhgaya (where Buddha became enlightened) to do a meditation course. I looked online, and found that a Vipassana 10 day silent retreat was being offered the day after her course. I'd heard about Vipassana from Gemma, way back in Turkey - but didn't think I'd have a chance to do anything about it until I got back to Australia. Anyway, can you imagine me being silent for 10 days?? Well, the silence was the easy part.
If you want a good description (I don't know if there IS a way to describe it that actually makes it sound good, but she does the best) of the course, Sarah MacDonald wrote (way better than I could) a chapter in her book 'Holy Cow'. Let me just say that 10 hours a day of meditation is hard work!

As a measure of how chilled we were when we got out, one of the 'dharma helpers' had to tell us to be extra careful walking along the roads because we weren't so used to traffic. In his words "you don't want to be hit by anything here because the nearest hospital is in Patna, and you only go there to die". He then generously took us all out for lunch!

I found out that one of the guys on the course (Rupert) was also planning to head to Agra the next day, so we planned to get a taxi together to the station in Gaya. Then it turned out that although we had booked completely seperately, we were in the same carriage in bunks opposite each other (this NEVER happens on IndiaRail...espeically with 11 'sleeper class' carriages). We got to Agra 7 hours late (at 2am), slept for 3 hours on the floor in the back room of the only hotel that would open its doors, and went to the Taj for sunrise at 6am. It was beautiful (of course).
Not wanting to spend too much time in Agra - we had separately decided that we wanted to get a bus to Jaipur, so after 8 hours total in Agra, we jumped on a departing bus which, 20 minutes later fell off a corner of collapsing road up to its axle. I had always worried about this happening and was SO happy that it was on a suburban street, and not 1/2 way up a mountain with a 100m drop.
Instantly upon alighting (I didn't run, but almost everyone else did) I was surrounded by a group of at least 50 Indian men and boys. It was like an audience, and I was SO glad that Rupert was with me, because that way they were at least a little friendly and didn't dare touch me.
Another bus came and we made it to Jaipur and on a coin-toss decided to take another connecting overnight bus to Jaisalmer. Rupert managed to fall into a 'storm drain' (read sewer) up to his waist in the Jaipur dark, but was unphased, and, Rupert hosed down by the bus-driver with his windscreen cleaning hose, we reached Jaisalmer in the freezing cold.

The plan was, to do a 2 day camel safari, sleeping under the stars in the desert and we met 2 girls off the bus who wanted to do the same. We convinced them to come the next day with us, which was fortunate. At 3am the following day, Jaisalmer and the surrounding desert had the first rain for 3 years. It POURED for 7 hours - and it was so cold that we got our pictures in the Rajastan Times (Hindi version) as the only foreigners in town, dressed in ALL our clothes.
We decided that the camels could wait, and in the hope of some warmth, we left the next day (on another overnight bus) to Udaipur - the place where they filmed Octopussy on the lake palace. It was lovely with crumbling old palaces, serene gardens and Evgenia (who I had met in Varanasi and hadn't expected to catch up with until Kerala)!
Everyone was hurrying south for Christmas/NY or home, so I made a quick stop in Pushkar (also lovely) where I read for hours and drank Bhang Lassis with some ADFA (Defence Uni in Canberra) boys and admired the view from the grassy roof of the Pink Floyd hotel.

One more stop for Christmas, and I headed up to Rishikesh to have a look at the ashrams. I complained to the bus office about my back-of-the sleeper bed (bouncy to say the least) for the 16 hour trip but have learnt since not to complain. As I got off the bus, I looked through the remarkably clean windscreen, only to realise that there actually WAS no windscreen. It had exploded during the night and showered all the people in the front/middle seats and sleepers with glass.

Standing at a bakery in Rishikesh, I met up with Paivi, who I travelled with since I first started my trip in Chile....6 years ago. She was coincidently in Rishikesh with her boyfriend, so we shared Christmas dinner together and caught up. More randomness.

I'm now in Delhi, waiting to go to the airport to meet my brother and his girlfriend for India Part 2 - the South (and warm). It had better be warm, because I just sent my sleeping bag home (along with 10kg of other stuff). I might just have to dig out my suncream!!! Bring on 2009!

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Comments

[Mr Salad]

Enjoy the Silence?
Just one question Katie: what the hell do you think about when you aren't talking for 10 days? Mince pies? Galahs? David Hasselhoff? Big Kev? Sounds like a recipe for surreality to me... Safe travels. D.