Off the beaten path..

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Wow - I could write a book, but I've already been on this computer emailing for 1 1/2 hours! I met up with Andrea in Hampi - good but full of more tourists and many mosquitos! And no good Indian food - mostly half decent "continental food". I stayed on the far side of the river (you take a little boat across) - which was different from last time. The best experience there was riding my bike (rented) to the Hanuman Temple or "monkey temple" - on the way I came across a big family on a pilgrimige trip visiting all the temples - they didn't speak English, but it didn't really matter. I stopped to take a photo of the kids, and one of the dads took my bike and started fooling aroud - so I let him ride the bike with his two kids on it, and I walked with the rest of the family. They bought me some grapes, and we climed the hunreds of steps to get to the top of the mountain/rocks where the temple was. At the top we took lots of photos - the women each wanted to pose for their individual photos (they were amazingly beautiful in their bright colored saris) - then some wanted to learn to use the camera - so I got to be in the photos too. We walked back down, and I bought the kids and the grandpa some cold drinks, and they went on to another temple. After, I went to a lake where I met up with my friends Annette (Germany) and Julian (France). We layed in the sun on the rocks (a little too much - it was the first time I forgot to put on sun screen - but I didn't get burned too bad) and went swimming in the cool clean emerald green water.
So we said goodbye to freinds, and after almost 24 hrs. traveling we are in Tamil Nadu - in a town I can barely pronounce, much less spell. There are hardly any tourists here which is actually really nice. There is an Ashram a couple miles out of town - but even there, there aren't too many foriegners. We arrived yesterday, and last night visited the biggest Hindu temple I have ever been in. It is in the center of town - there are at least four magnificent entrances - and many small temples and shrines inside. Indians come from all over to visit the temple and climb the mountain that is right outside - every full moon, which is in a few days, so they are arriving by the bus load, most of them dressesd all in bright red. On the full moon, they light a huge fire on top of the mountain (with a 30 meter wick and 2000 Liters of ghee) and every one climbs to the top or circles around the bottom. There is a long story to all of this, but I don't have time to tell it now. I climbed part of the way up the mountain today - it was kind of like hiking in Boulder, but more lush with small temples and caves and sahdus along the way. Tommorrow we will go togehter (Andrea andI) and try to make it to the top. The food here is the best I've had in all of India! There is fresh street food everywhere (fried chilies, samosas, lentil patties,and more) and today I had an amazing meal with rice and about six different veggie dishes/sauces (with free refills) - all served on a banana leaf! The people here love to have there photos taken - and they act like it is the most exciting thing in the world to see themselves on the digital camera scene. My back is staring to hurt, and with the money I've spent now on the computer time, I could buy three of those meals! Gotta go. Love and Blessings, Laura

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Comments

[Mom]

Your trip sounds marvelous. I can't wait to see the photos. Where you are now sounds like the most interesting place so far. Love, Mom