http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/lemonindi/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from lemonindi en-us Thu, 31 Dec 2009 10:00:52 +0000 Thu, 31 Dec 2009 10:00:52 +0000 I am continuing to write about India on my blog atBreatheDreamGohttpbreathedreamgo.comAnd Twitter about India using the namebreathedreamgoThanks for followingMariellen Ward http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/blog-421169.html April 16 2009 TorontoI am actually writing this from my home computer in Toronto. I didn't get a chance to write a last entry mostly about my few days in Jaipur and Delhi before leaving India. I spent my last day in Jaipur being a tourist. I went to the Amber Fort with Frances another guest at Rawla Guest House. Although we left quite early at 9 a.m. it was already growing hot. I am luc http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jaipur/blog-391372.html Poolside in JaipurI've had some down moments in India especially recently but this isn't one of them. I am sitting beside the lovely cool pool at Jas Vilas hotel in Jaipur drinking chai and using their wireless internet service. I stayed at this gorgeous place run by a warm and aristocratic Rajasthani couple three years ago when I was here with Caryl my Canadian diplomat friend.I can't act http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jaipur/blog-388179.html Leaving PushkarTonight is my last night in Pushkar I am leaving tomorrow after eight days here staying at the wonderful Inn Seventh Heaven. There is a wedding across the street from my hotel which is of course loud. Every night it seems there is a celebration of some kind here. Several nights ago was a big religious celebration devoted to the god Vishnu and we were treated to a noisy and col http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Pushkar/blog-387097.html Pushkar BluesMarch 28Today is apparently the second day of the Hindu calendar year and I am in Pushkar a very small town ringing a circular sacred lake in central Rajasthan. Pushkar is famous for three things the supposedly only temple dedicated to Brahma in India the annual camel fair held in November and the ldquoviberdquo which attracts hippies and other foreigners to this laidbac http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Pushkar/blog-385765.html Aurovalley Ashram Rishidwar March 22 2009Itrsquos my last day for now at Aurovalley Ashram and I am sitting on the marble terrace in front of my room listening to John Lennon on my iPod singing ldquoimagine therersquos no heavenrdquo and I canrsquot because I have found it. Parrots are flying in the trees in front of me one of the beautiful young Indian women who lives and works h http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttarakhand/Rishikesh/blog-384568.html Ananda Prakash Yoga Ashram RishkeshAshram life is not for everyone but it sure suits me. I love the quiet focus on introspection increasing awareness and various other healthy pursuits. The people are kind and thoughtful the food is delicious and healthy therersquos lots of time to just BE and of course therersquos yoga At Ananda Prakash Yoga Ashram in Rishikesh the day starts at 6 a.m. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttarakhand/Rishikesh/blog-382713.html All life is yogaTwo days at Aurovalley Ashram and the peace joy and wisdom of this place is already filling my soul and this in spite of a raging head cold cough fever. I really am detoxifying and I canrsquot think of a better place to do it in. I am sitting in my simple lovely perfect ashram room writing the birds are chirping outside my window a gentle breeze wafts through the screen http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttarakhand/Rishikesh/blog-379302.html Tonight my friend Ashish and I took a boat across the Ganga to the flat wide sandbank on the other side to watch the sunset over the city and the ghats. About 20 minutes or so after the sun disappeared behind the ancient buildings on the other side of the river the pink sky ebbed away leaving behind a pale glow that made the entire scene appear delicately soft like a pale unearthly watercolour http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Varanasi/blog-378330.html Benares at sunriseI just watched the sunrise over the Ganga from my room in Benares Varanasi Kashi city of light Shivarsquos city it has many names. My room in the wonderful Hotel Ganges View is on the first floor only one floor above the street and it is a very special room. It has its own private sitting room or sun room a circular room with woodshutters that I can open up to let the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Varanasi/blog-377635.html Home at the edge of the desertI am back at the Fifu Rest House in Jaisalmer sitting in the fourth floor terrace restraurant feeling the soft desert breeze and enjoyign the peaceful ambience. I feel I have found another perfect spot in India along with Aurovalley Ashram Shinshiva Resort in Kerala and the terrace of Ajay's house in Delhi.When I find a perfect place like this in India I never wa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jaisalmer/blog-374754.html Lake of mirrorsUdaipur 530 a.m.From outside my window which has a view of the Lake Palace Hotel glimmering on the moon fed lake I can hear the sound of morning birds and Hindi wedding music blaring in spite of the early late hour. It is wedding season. On my ride into the old city of Udapiur ranged around the lake I drove pass two barats wedding processions in full swing. People wer http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Udaipur/blog-374094.html Moon over JaisalmerI am writing this from one of the four terraces of the Fifu Guest House in Jaisalmer. It is located about a kilometre west of the centre of Jaisalmer the 11th century hilltop fort. The view is magnificent the guest house is lovely and Fifu and Jitu who run the guest house and take care of the guests are two of the nicest people I have met in India. All the many many glowing http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jaisalmer/blog-372874.html It's official. I have a new relationship with India well with Delhi anyway. Arriving in this country for the third time really does feel completely different. The entire city seems to have slowed down which is a bit of a bizarre statement given Delhi's crowds and chaos. Everything passes by me at a more leisurely rate and I am noticing more details and having more moments. I think I am g http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/New-Delhi/blog-370007.html I'm just now in the throes of getting ready to travel to India for the third time or thrice as Ajay would say in his uppercrust Indian accent. Deciding to go was EASY. I bought my ticket months ago and got a very good deal motivated by both the carrot of returning to India and the stick of another ghastly Canadian winter. So I am leaving on January 30 and returning on April 1.Deciding w http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Ontario/Toronto/blog-363873.html India Redux Thoughts on why I love IndiaI'm writing this on a very cold Toronto winter day. Ajay and I are basically trapped in the house. It's a good day for reflective thought. And I do find myself thinking a lot about India. Ajay teases me that I cannot go a day without talking about India. And itrsquos true. India is no longer just a place on the map to me nor is it just a place I visited http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jodhpur/blog-232352.html December 2007The snow is falling heavily here in Toronto and I am casting my mind back to the last two weeks I spent in India. The two highlights were Jaidev's naming day and the wedding of Ajay's cousin. In between I made a new friend Divya spent a day at Qtub Minar one of Delhi's world heritage sites the city has four went shopping and TRIED to go see the hit movie Om Shanti Om with http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/Delhi/blog-228136.html Toronto December 14 2007While I was in India I spent most of my time in Delhi. Last time in 20052006 I took seven trips and returned to Delhi seven times a particularly auspicious number as seven capital cities have rise and fallen on the site where todayrsquos modern Indian capital now stands. New Delhi is the eighth. This time I took only one trip and that was to Rishikesh for four http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttarakhand/Rishikesh/blog-227651.html Toronto December 7 2007I am actually writing this at home at my desk in Toronto with the cold blue morning light reminding me that I am now back in a cold northern country having left the warmth and vibrant colour of India behind. I had every intention of writing travel blog entries while I was in India from November 528 2007 but I was too taken up with just being there. Socializing http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/Delhi/blog-225654.html Hello allI am getting ready to travel to India for the second time. This time a short trip to North India only 3 12 weeks in Delhi Rishikesh and Puskhar for the worldfamous Pushkar Camel Fair. In Delhi I will be celebrating Diwali and attending a really big Hindu wedding with Ajay and his family. In Rishikesh I will be visiting my yoga teacher Yogi Vishvketu and seeing his brandnew ash http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Ontario/Toronto/blog-210682.html