Top of the world to you! After a particularly brutal bus ride, Mike and I have arrived in Kathmandu. We plan to stay here for about a week before heading back to the Gangiatic Plain. It would be nice to skip the city at some point and get somewhere with more than fifteen stars in the night sky, but at the moment my traveling companion is experiencing some gastrointestinal difficulties. Our bus was supposed to arrive in the city at Midnight, but instead got here around six in the morning. The good news is we save money on a night at [View Full Entry]

---

---

I forgot to update everyone regarding my expenditures. In August I spent 11,587.5 rupees. More than July, cheifly due to travel expenses and the purchase of some shoes. Still, not too terrible (I expect this month, with lots of travel, to be a bit worse). Today I visisted Sarnath, the place where the Buddha first taught his message to mankind. While relaxing under the shade of a particularly grand and elderly tree, two teenage boys sat by me and started a conversation. They were bored, and one of them drew my picture (no sales pitch involved). I wrote my name under [View Full Entry]

---

---

Its good to be back in the friendly madness of the Gangiatic Plain. Yesterday I wore a lungi, and had as many people trying to speak to me in Hindi as in English. We went on a sunrise boat tour of the ghats, and a van tour of three different temples. One of them had the Ramanana written out on in Hindi the walls. I plan to come back in nine months and read it. In Hindu comsology, Varanasi is the cremation grounds for the entire universe. Sure is hot enough. A thought occured to me yesterday about how the Ganga [View Full Entry]

---

---

.2Mike and I decided to head to Varanasi, and here we are! It's quite an exciting city. Many more bicycles on the roads than in Delhi or Kolkata, but the main drag is still plenty crowded. We were shown the Burning Ghats by a silk-valla. A very ancient and powerful (in terms of auditory, visual, tactile, and olfactory stimulation) place, and mother Ganga is very wide and beautiful under the setting sun. Because we came here more or less on a whim (at first we were thinking about visiting the Golden Temple in Amritsar) we were not able to buy sleeper-class [View Full Entry]

---

---

This place is truly beautiful both in terms of scenery and humanity. Most of the foreign tourists here are Israeli. There are also healthy numbers of Indian tourists. The windy, steep, crowded streets are full of orange-clad Sadhus, Tibetan monks, turbaned Sikhs, hungry yet serene looking Muslim men, (Ramadan started early this year) Orthodox and not-so Orthodox Jews. I'm "shaloming" "namasting" and "salaming" all over the place, and it feels great. Yesterday, instead of a day of non-talking, I tried to do no talking in English. Mike knows enough Spanish that I was able to communicate esp [View Full Entry]

---

---

Mike and I met safely and made it up via uncomfortable twelve hour bus ride to Dharamsala. For a mere 100 rupees, we are sharing a very clean and very comfortable two bed room. Mcleod Ganj, the suburb where we are staying just above Dharamsala is about 1,800 meters above sea level, and it is very beautiful. It occupies the strip of conifers inbetween the temperate grass below and the sub-alpine medows above. Most of the people here are ethnic Tibetans (and some ethnic Nepalese), and their stupta-like buildings make a majestic yet unimposing impact on the surronding forests. I saw [View Full Entry]

---

---

Mike arrives to Delhi tonight at around 8:30. I sent him an email with the mobile of one of my new friends who works at my hotel. There are three of them, all very short, very muscular, and very kind. One can make beautiful Tibetan music with his gutair. They were even able to make some notes with my clarinet. I have tickets to go off to Dharamsala tomorrow. It will be nice to breath clean air, to see mountains and stars. Majnu Ka Tila is almost completely devoid of Westerners. It's definetly "off season" right now. I've seen maybe nine [View Full Entry]

---

---

This morning I bailed out of Paharganj and I am now in Majnu Ka Tila- the Tibetan colony. Paharganj was just too crazy and too touristy. The locals there making their living off of the visitors were too adept- one guy looked at me and was able to tell I am American. The Tibetans are on strike today, so I am not supposed to tell anyone where I am staying. I have only seen three other white guys in a place that is usually fairly well-stoked with the melanin deficient. One side of New Aruna Nagar is almost completely shuttered, but [View Full Entry]

---

---

The cows here are half and again or perhaps twice as big as the cows in Kolkata. The dogs are about the same size, but much uglier and tough looking. One can feel the sun more directly. There seems to be less pollution. The streets seem dustier, perhaps due to less rain. Everything seems more bleached, both physically and culturally. The people are a bit more aggressive regarding selling and bargaining. One young man told me angrily to chollo after I tried to talk him down to two rupees for a piece of fruit that I do not know the name [View Full Entry]

---

---

Mission successful! I've got a nice room in a clean hotel (with own bathroom and TV),some food in my belly, and access to the outside world. The train trip was fairly non eventful. Spent a bit more than half of the 25 hour journey sleeping, and the rest looking out on the beautiful countryside. Only one guy (who works in the tourist district for Paharganj in New Delhi) recognized me as a ferangi and talked to me in English. Four people asked me questions in Hindi, and only one of them realized I was non-Indian after I tried a few words [View Full Entry]

---

---