varanasse: mother ganga

sunrise over the sacred ganga river.
we took a sunrise boat ride our last day there, it was incredibly beautiful
there was always a lot going on down by the ghats (the steps leading into the river) people come to varanassi from all over india to wash their sins away in the river and to cremate their loved ones. the pink building is the ma ganga temple, full of people constantly singing hari krishna hari rama.
this is our boat wallah, he was cool! the water may look beautiful, but it is septic, there are barely fish that can live in it, yet people bathe in it everyday, including using it to brush their teeth!
i just liked this pic, these are some dudes heading to do their pujas (prayers) in the river

a saddhu (holy man) doing a ritual. didn't he pick the best spot to do it?

Kajuraho: Kama Sutra Temples

here we are infront of one of the temples... trying to learn some things... j.k
one of the lesser dirty carvings! so legend has it that they built the temples here because there was a certain "power" in the land if you know what i mean!
from across the park... it was actually a pretty quaint town, we rented bikes and rode around, spent some time chatting on the porch at our hotel, talking to other travellers and to the yogi!
this is a freaky little chipmunk that chased me for a really long time, at first i was like oh cute i'll take a pic... then it would not leave me alone and i was afraid it had rabies or something!

home sweet 'homa

first of all, i have been kind of homesick the past few days, the pollution in calcutta is getting to chris and me. so, feeling under-the-weather and hearing about the bombs in delhi just kind of made me miss being home.

so, yesterday, i got to go to a volunteer meeting with the missionaries of charity, the mother teresa mission. not only did i set up times to volunteer while we are in calcutta, but also got to hang out with some babies, sweet cute and wonderful indian babies! this helped me snap out of being homesick! but anyway, here are some things i miss from home

1. our wonderful family and friends!!!
2. cooking
3. having a place to live all the time!
4. salads!!!
5. clean clothes
6. being able to run errands easily and knowing what to do and where to go
7. chips and salsa
8. ninnah
9. sewing
10. good coffee/ soy lattes!

things i love about india
1. the scenery
2. the colors
3. fresh pommagranite juice for 20 rupees!
4. cute kids!
5. good food almost anywhere you look
6. the fact that they dont try to hide the bad parts of life
7. learning to be tough
8. the phrase "sorry sir it is not possible" used about 1 million times a day here!
9. all the different varieties of the indian head tilt/waggle
10. the availability of cheap homoepathic medicine/doctors

so, we are trying to rest up, so we can have stong immune systems against the pollution, b/c we want to stay in calcutta for atleast a week, but won't if we dont start feeling better. this city is really interesting though. really we feel like it is identical to NYC or Paris, and the main commercial street is the champ elysee or 5th avenue, but really we may have just been in india too long. but its amazing, there are street signs, side walks, stop lights, parks!!!

we love you all very much!
too bad the rest of the world cant help us vote for president, b/c everyone we talk to is in love with obama as much as we are!!!

bus wreck!

so... after being told that our bus driver was "very fast" and when we asked "safe too" they said "oh yeah!" as in "yeah right!!!" we waited on the bus at the nasty bus station for about 4 hours, then headed out... about 30 minutes into the ride we hit a tractor pulling a trailor, and it took a huge chunck out of the bus, the driver got out yelled ot the other driver for a bit, then got back on and kept driving, totally unphased! that's india!

orchha: the hidden place part 2

orchha is full of old tamples, palaces and ruins. it was soo cute! this is the sunset he first night we were there, we climbed up into a huge gate and watched from there!
this is from inside the palace, looking out at one of the tamples. all the buildings were a mix of hindu and muslim styles. the palace had sich cool windows, designs cut out!
heres on one of the balconies looking out... he's the cutest huh?

also we saw a ginormous bee hive... maybe pics on the next post, it was like out of a sci-fi movie!

we miss you all terribly! can't wait to see you. today it has been 7 weeks! can you believe it?

peace and love!!! s & c

orchha

this computer is taking a super long time to upload... thanks lonely planet again for a faulty description of something... it reads "i-way- spacious, with super-fast connections and high powered AC." spacious=CRAMPED super-fast=SUPER-SLOW and ok about the AC.

so we are in Kolkatta now, we arrived this morning. it seems like a cool city so far. we miss you all a lot. love and peace

agra: taj mahal part 2

here are some selected pics from chris!

the beautiful taj through the gate
everyone waiting for the perfect photo op.
a super cute umbrella... its a good idea since it is so hot!!!

Agra: the Taj Mahal

oh everybody has a water buffalo mine is fast but yours is slow, where did we get them i dont know but everybody has a water buffaloooooooooo! took my buffalo to the Taj...
this is some of the arabic script from the Koran that is inlaid into the Taj, so beautiful!!!

and at sunset

just like we stepped into a post card huh?

hemis national park: homestay trek

this is at 4900 meters, its the highest i have ever been i think, we all could barely breathe, let alone hike!!! from the left it is laura, jim (both from montreal), tomas (holland), me and chris!
here's chris and i also on the pass, but looking out at where we go down. it ws really windy and cold! it looks like mars huh?
this is one night with the family we stayed with, they played music and we danced for while, the litle boy in the front was so funny, i think one of the best dancers i have ever seen!!
chilling in a valley before starting our day, its was so beautiful there!!!!

chris's favorite past time... builing rock bridges and hopping across them!!!! this time he made it.. others he came out with wet shoes!

this is at shanti (peace) stupa ... built for world peace, so we went, it was on another mt above Leh.

we love you guys a lot, i am trying to catch up on posts

posts to come: agra: taj mahal

orchha: the hidden place

kajuraho: kamasutra

stay tuned!!!!

Leh: land of high passes

here is the veiw from our guest house! it was a really nice place run by a family of Ladakhis! the older women was so cute, she said tome one day while we were cooking lunch
"you president obama?"
i said "no not yet, but hopefully"
"he good man, he look ladakhi, dark skin!"
"yeah hes a very good man"
then she sang "obama obama obama" i knew i liked her!
this is on the top of one of the mountains above Leh, there is a monastary and all the tibetan prayer flags to take all the bad out of the city!

bus ride: drain damage

so, this is to illustrate how bumpy it was... just imagine you are on an old roller coaster that is broken for 20 hours, and you are trying to sleep... i can't even do sudokus any more, b/c i hit my head too many times!!!
but... it was really beautiful!!! this was at like 6 am where we stopped for breakfast of yummy spicey chai and parantha, fried bread!
this is sometime in the afternoon, that is the river in the valley and the road we drove up. (it is basically a one lane dirt road that has massive rocks in it and huge pot holes!!

this is close to the end of our journey, after leaving the "highest truck stop in the world" it was crazy, just driving thru the valley, much better that on the side of a mountain! our driver drove straight through too! he smoked about 10000 cigarettes! but we made it to leh nice and safe. more updates to come, sorry its been so long, the himalayas dont get wifi!!! we are now in orcha. we love you all and miss you very much.

Cam, i hope your b-day was great!
mom, i hope you b-day/anniversary/trip is going well
polly, happy b-day in a week!!!

peace and love