http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/moorepants/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from moorepants en-us Sun, 27 Dec 2009 23:45:02 +0000 Sun, 27 Dec 2009 23:45:02 +0000 PaintingI see many people painting their houses fences etc. Most houses are brick so there isn't much to paint. But people seem to keep things very tidy and nice looking here. So they don't seem to like any trim on the houses to look as if they aren't well maintained. But on the other side of things there is a ton of great graffiti. It is illegal to do graffiti but there are special legal places http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/blog-332830.html I just finished packing all my stuff into my pretty new backpack. Of course it was much more than I had expected but everthing fits with some room to spare. The next stop is Danville VA homesweethome where I will meet up with Bean my India travel companion. A four hour drive in the 200000 Nissan stanza eeeeeh. I must be off.Until next timepants http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Virginia/Norfolk/blog-3121.html The ride to Danville was very wet. The rain was so heavy I could barely see the road markings. But I made it here safely. I ate a going away supper with my parents and grandmother. I also said goodbye to my aunts and uncle. I missed the red Love event of the night though. There was a little get together at Jerry Meadors place. Since I missed the event I will try to get a picture of Jerry's http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Virginia/Danville/blog-3146.html After our two long flights a very confusing paris air terminal and no sleep for about 34 hours we are finally here. We got a hotel reservation from the airport tourist office and slept until almost lunch time. We are now venturing around Connaught Place in Delhi. This is the main circle. Our next stop is to find some food and tonights place to stay. I guess our most fun experience so far i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/New-Delhi/blog-3242.html Today we traveled to the many historical sites in Delhi. We began with a trip to the Bahai Temple Lotus Temple and the Muslim Tower Qutab Minar. We then ate lunch at a rather expensive Indian restaurant that was very similar to the ones we have in the states. Bean's dreams came true and he sat with a snake charmer as he coaxed a cobra from his basket. We finished the day off with a trip to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/New-Delhi/blog-3391.html Today Bean and I took a minibus ride into the heart of the mountains to a small town called Naranag. This town has just recently gotten some limited forms of electricity. We were able to interact with the locals and stayed at one of the homes for lunch and tea. And for Bean a little shisha from the hooka eeeeh. We then went on a trek for a few hours into the mountains. We followed a river a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Jammu-and-Kashmir/Srinagar/blog-3392.html After a couple of days of air and train travel we are now in Jaipur the Pink City. We found a very nice hotel with hot showers which we both badly needed. I walked out into the courtyard this morning to find monkeys swinging around and peacocks flying about. There seems to be a new suprise everytime I turn around. We took an autorickshaw around the city today with our new friend and driver http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jaipur/blog-3526.html The city of Agra has turned out to be the most fun yet. Today began with a nice walk to the Agra fort. The fort provided some beautiful views of the very dry Yamuna river and the Taj Mahal in the distance. We then took a peaceful stroll through the Shajahan park which led to the Taj Ganj area in front of the Taj Mahal. We ate lunch on a rooftop restaurant with a wonderful view of the Taj and a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Agra/blog-3623.html Once again the current city is a totally new experience. The main attraction is the river Ganga the mother of the hindu people. The city of Shiva rests on the west side of the river and the river bank is covered in concrete ghats steps down to the river. The various ghats have different purposes such as bathing cremation grounds body drop off points boat landings shopping and prayer shr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Varanasi/blog-3743.html Bean bathed in the holy Ganges yesterday. So far he hasn't become infected or anything. If he does get sick from it he has asked me to tie a weight to his foot and push him out into the river like they do the diseased who have died. Supposedly if you die in Varanasi you will automatically reach moksa salvation so this is the best place to die. We took a evening Yoga course with one of the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Varanasi/blog-3792.html Bodhgaya the city of enlightenment. We are now enveloped in the realm of buddhism. We are staying in the Burmese Buddhist Monastery for the next four nights. We visited the Mahabodhi Temple this morning and meditated under the Bodhi tree. This is a decendent of the actual tree that the Buddha sat under when he became enlightened and is the most holy pilgrimage site for Buddhists to visit. Th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Bihar/Bodh-Gaya/blog-3899.html Bodhgaya has been a great place to stay and we are regretting having to leave to Kolkata tomorrow. But we are trying to stick to one month in the north and the second in the south so we've got to get moving to make it by the 15th. We came across a wonderful school in the nearby village and have been helping out with the orphans that stay there. Today we played a soccer match in a field by the r http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Bihar/Bodh-Gaya/blog-3958.html Kolkata is definitely the most modern city we have been to. The British influence is very recognizable. There have been a few brief moments when the surroundings seemed almost American but an Indiaonly event like a sheep herd in the city park brings us back to reality. I found some decent camera stores so I broke down and bought a digital camera. I just couldn't be without one. So now the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/West-Bengal/Kolkata/blog-4080.html Well the 27 hour train ride wasn't bad at all. It is much better than plane rides of the same length. You can lay out flat stand up and walk around sit and the bathrooms are very large compared to planes. I have been really impressed with the passenger train system. We need a similar system in the US. The Amtrak system is just too expensive and doesn't stop in enough cities. We arrived in http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Chennai/blog-4203.html Hey Everyone Bean on the mike. India is incerdable just like I knew it would be. we traveled down south to Chennai yesterday it was a long train ride and we were in a small compartment with a family with three kids. The constantl mimcked everything we said and wanted to play chess the whole time. That is how India is people are very friendly and ver interested in what you are doing. Everytim http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Chennai/blog-4205.html We visited the tomb of St. Thomas one of Jesus's twelve disciples today and offered our prayers to the mannequin of St. Thomas. The San Thome Cathedral is above the tomb and is one of only two churches that are above the graves of one of the disciples. We sat in on mass and listened to an Indian priest musically recite verses from the bible. We then spent the afternoon at the beach. We met a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Chennai/blog-4226.html Our first experience with the Indian bus system was quite fun. We were thrown off of two buses not literally before we managed to get onto the correct one. After a very peaceful bus ride down the eastern coast we arrived at the small town of Mamallapuram. This place is quite amazing. It is a beautiful coastal town that is full of ancient Hindu architecture and art. The majority of the pe http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Mamallapuram/blog-4325.html We had an enjoyable two hour bus ride to Pondicherry. It was a bit better than the one to Mamallapuram but this time we didn't have a seat for the first portion of the trip. Bean sat on the steps and I stood both trying to hold on so the bus wouldn't sling us out the door. We had a very difficult time trying to find a hotel. After trying about 10 different places I asked a woman passing by http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Pondicherry/blog-4449.html Well we've spent the past couple of days hanging out with our new german friend L.S. and trying to get a sense of what The Mother's experimental city is all about. We have definitely realized that we need much more time to really understand how Auroville works. The main goal of the experiment is to create a place where humans beings from all over the world can live together in unity. After s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Auroville/blog-4578.html Yesterday we arrived in Bangalore after a very uncomfortable 8 hour bus ride from Pondicherry. Padmanabh and Prashanth two of our Bangalore contacts picked us up at the bus depot as soon as we got there. This was quite relieving it is the first time we didn't have to figure what to do and where to go. We spent the rest of the day relaxing at his home and recovering from the sleepless night. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Karnataka/Palahalli/blog-4987.html