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Published: December 24th 2006
The Indian Santa
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!The past few days have been alittle crazy. After the caves we took the overnight train back to Mumbai. The train was a few hours late and we had to make an 11:50am flight to Delhi...so we jumped off the train at an earlier stop ( we thought it would be quicker to make it to the airport via taxi then stay on the train). The taxi-ride to the domestic terminal in Mumbai is another story for another time (yikes!). Anyway.....we caught the flight and landed in Delhi, spent the night, and left at 5:15am to the train station. Caught a train to Kalka and switched to a toy-train (tiny train-car built for climbing mountain passes). It was a 5 1/2hour trip north to the mountain town of Shimla. Our train car of 20people started off quiet.......but ended like a giant party. We made great friends, some police officers from Delhi tried to get us drunk, and we ended up having a wonderful meal with our new pals Alex and Moshe from Israel. Ade and I left Shimla at 8:00am the following day and took a 7hour taxi-ride North to the town of Mcleod Ganj / Dharmshala. This is the exiled
Downtown Mcleodganj
Check out the giant mountain in the backround! home of his holiness the Dali Lhamma. The town is high in the mountains of Northern India, with amazing views all-around (its freezing here and there are wild monkeys everywhere). We are booked in a country/backwoods-style room (The PemaThang House) with a huge balcony overlooking the valley. We will spend the next week here enjoying the holidays and hiking/ taking classes/ learning Tibetan culture. It feels like a whole new adventure is about to begin.
The trip so far has been everthing I wanted. Daily challenges, unexpected side-trips, quiet moments, and encounters with new friends. The best part of India (aside from asking the woman-of-my-dreams to marry me), has been meeting the people. Only after a few seconds of talking, you get the feeling you have known each other for a lifetime. Taking time to watch the locals doing their daily activities has also been a pleasure. People going to work, kids going to school, friends and family spending time together.......its so much like home.
I watched children hanging Christmas stars outside their huts on the backwaters and the holiday spirit slowly spreading over the country-side the past couple of weeks. Even in places where there is
Our View
This is the view from our balcony at the PemaThang House. visually no financial wealth, there are still smiles and togetherness......these are the most wealthiest people I have ever seen.
Happy Holidays and much love to everyone.
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