Goa, Christmas

Season's Greetings!! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

We are settled into enjoying hot sunny days and lots of relaxation. We arrived in Goa, a beach area popular with Europeans, about 10 days ago and we plan to stay until after the New Year. We should know that it is Christmas this year as we are in an area that has a lot of Catholics due to the Portuguese influence. Then we plan to travel slowly south and a little inland ending up in Chennai or Madras to fly back on Feb. l6.
We have an apartment and enjoying staying in one spot for a while. We enjoyed a scooter ride down the coast yesterday and visited a beach up the coast on a bus the other day. We have a wonderful beach 300m from the apartment. Beautiful fine sand and just perfect ocean temperature. The sea here is clear and green (not the clear turquoise of the Caribbean or Australia though). You can sit on sun chairs with umbrellas and the restaurant looks after you - with drinks or food. There are a few beach hawkers to pester you but after a while they ignore you and of course, lots of sleeping dogs near the restaurants. There are miles and miles of beautiful sandy beaches so of course one can go off to be all alone if that is your choice. Interesting that the sky at night seems to have so few stars - there is obviously something in the air such that the star show is not great. It is wonderful to eat dinner on the beach with your bare feet in the sand, a candle on the table and the sea in front of you and the stars overhead. Sometimes there is a gentle breeze and some nights there is entertainment at the restaurants. Pretty laid back and comfortable. Who ever thought that we would while away the days and nights like this? Stopping work sure does let one slow down!

Take care, Wishing you all a safe and joyous festive season

Susan and Clive
We plan to rent bikes (pedal type) in the next day or two and do a bit of cycling either on the beach or amongst the rice paddies and Portuguese homes (rather like mansions).
Clive has just managed to get enough reading material - we look everywhere for books - seems that he can just find enough. Me - well, I have two books in hand and the Lonely Planet keeps me busy. We will do some planning before we leave here.

Rajastan

We have spent the past month travelling in the area of Rajastan, south of Delhi, the land of the kings is the translation. It has been a time to see massive forts and palaces and a land of many colors and contrasts. In my initial planning, I thought a month up north and a month in Rajastan. Well, that is how it has worked out! When we left Rishikesh, I had had enough of yoga for awhile (ready to try again though) and now I think that we have seen just about enough in Rajastan. So we are just about ready to visit the beaches of Goa and chill out there. Imagine we can then order beer and meat or fiish - mind you I am really liking trying out being vegetarian. Clive is looking forward to more fish or meat. Neither of us has missed alcohol - imagine that - though we have enjoyed the odd beer and it may have caused some stomach upset (though mild). We have oded on Indian food a bit - we are now into boiled egg or scrambled egg for breakfast. Indian food three times a day is too much spice for us these days. We will ring the changes when we get to Goa. I still very much love not cooking, cleaning or shopping. There are so many nice spots to sit and eat or drink - lots of rooftop restaurants and quaint places. I reallly do enjoy Indian food but we sure don't need to order too much. The yogurt drinks with banana mixed in are tasty and give us a bit more protein.

We have recently enjoyed two days out on the desert on camels. I seemed to enjoy it more than everyone else in our group of six. I love to be in the great outdoors. We saw sand, scrub, deer, birds and just the open countryside and the odd poor village. Slept under the stars on the sand and kept warm with a bunch of blankets. Riding a camel is much like sitting on a horse except for the getting up and down - those long legs need to stretch on the way up and fold on the way down (feels like a bronco in slow motion). The best part for me was doing the 'beer run'. The camel boy of ten years of age was sent off to get beer (in case the guests want to buy). So I trotted off with him to his village. He bought the beer and put it in a sack with camel feed. Whilst he got the beer, I sat with his sister and her 6 kids in the mud hut. I explored and saw the hut for cooking and the one for sleeping. Then we trotted back to the dunes! It was fun to trot on the camel - I couln't have done that without some camel man (boy) in the saddle withme.
We have enjoyed wandering and seeing and relaxing - amazing how the time goes. What a land of contrasts this is - from the very poor to the very well heeled. We saw the people in the desert just subsisting and then today in the palace grounds we are seeing massive preparations and building for a threed day wedding that is going hhappen within the next few days - and wow are the palace grounds magnificent. So it goes.

Delhi, Agra, and around

Such a busy life - all of this travelling - hardly time to fit it all in (average travel speed on train or bus is 40 - 50 km/hr.). You blast along at unbelieveable speed and then you get stuck in little traffic jams or the train waits for a train going in the opposite direction. Mind you, one doesn't have to travel very far to see major differences and very different things!
Nov. has been wedding month and we hear music from weddings every night - and they go all night. Today is supposed to be the best day of the year to get married - two equal partners and it will last forever - know anyone tying the knot today? To start the actual ceremony, we see the groom on a mare following a noise making brass band of some description all wearing fancy uniforms (not unlike what we see at the Stampede). Then they stop at a hotel or whatever that has lots of Xmas type lights and then the party goes inside. They definitely are loud and we have even got up in the morning hearing the end of the loud disco-type music starting to die down. Thousands of weddings happened in Delhi today (3,000?) - they are expecting major traffic problems.

We enjoyed our stay in Agra (some called it Agro) but since we have been travelling a while, we did not feel harassed and thoroughly enjoyed our experience. A bit of a pity that the pollution and smog is so thick - the great change of light reportedly at sunrise on the Taj mahal is not so evident any more.

We went to a National Park to see birds - it was fantastic - and we didn't know until we met birders from all over the world that this is a prime site. What you stumble upon!! Lots of storks, cranes, egrets, herons, ducks and anything that you can think of were there. People had cameras with lens about 12 inches in diameter and packed their cameras in suitcases. Well, we enjoyed the birds as non-birders and cycled along. There were so many to see and so many species. They used to shoot them and in the 50's this water that fills up in the monsoon was left and it became a park. Since then more birds - and as luck would have it this is the first good monsoon in the past five years so the birders have descended here. ...so we enjoyed.

Spent the last two nights in a small guesthouse with a family who are way ahead of their time into reclycling, solar hot water, and organic farming. We enjoyed the town and their guesthouse (a central courtyard where the car is parked and a big area to sit on the marble floors (without shoes) and cushions and enjoy the atmosphere.

Now we have rejoined the tourist trail.

Hardiwar

Just a quick note - we are now 20 km from Rishikesh at Hardiwar- an hour by taxi to get here. Now we have spent a few hours today booking a way to Delhi. We have found out the joys of trying to book trains from a small centre - queues, papers, language barrier, etc. It took a while and we managed to get some kind of train for thursday am - lots of trains are already booked - so we will book several when we get to the Delhi reservation system. Meantime, we may or may not get to the National Park - it is a holiday here and information is rather scanty. Anyways, we will see a local temple and watch the pilgrims bathe in the Ganges later this p[m.

Take care, tons of love, Susan and Clive

PS Still vegetarian and no beer and no problem!

Rishikesh

Hi to each one of you,

We have settled into a nice little easy life on the banks of the Ganges (hard g's when you pronounce it). The water is aqua-green and quite fast flowing. Apparentlty at other seasons it is not so clean looking and of course downstream one can only imagine as it gets more and more polluted. People drink, bathe, wash clothes, shit and everything else that you can possibly think of by or in the river. Still it has a Hindu context and a pilgrimmage to the source one in a lifetime is the aim of most Hindus.

Two weeks of yoga twice a day, every day has nearly saturated me. From chakras, focussing, stretching, etc. I am loving it but it is nearly time to move on. We visit familiar restaurants and go on walks every day. We know where to get pasta, apple pie and coffee. The book stores are totally filled with books on spiritualism so that hasn't caught Clive's fancy. He is on his last novel so he would probably like a place with a better selection of reading material. In our busy days of relax, we have checked out nearly every book shop!

This pm. there is a concert here withIndian music. We will go along and see how long it catches our fancy. We can also enjoy the sun and the people watching.

There is a ceremony every night at the river's edge (on the polished steps) and at different points it is bigger or smaller. Near where we are staying there is quite a large ashram (place for people to stay and worship or mediatate). At sunset each day, live music is broadcast and people gather. There is singing of prayers, a fire where mustard seeds are thrown in the fire to forgive you of your sins and flowers are put in the river. Don't quite understand it all, but it is wonderful to see all the people gather at sunset and enjoy it all in such community and peace.

Well, its off to coffee via the cows, monkeys, people, motor scooters and general busi-ness that makes everything so colorful each day.

Love to all

Rishikesh 2

We left Amritsar last week after three good days wandering the temple, the local bazaars and visiting the border with Pakistan about 20 kms away, where every night they have a big ceremony to close the border. The Indians and Pakistan army guys try to outdo each other in stamping around and on the Indian side there is a huge crowd which cheers and shout presumably patriotic slogans and chants. A bit over the top after a while but I guess shouting slogans is better than war.

We caught a night train to Rishikesh a few hundred kms away - the yoga capital of India! We thought we had learned how to book and catch trains but found we are still novices. At the station the train was late - which we only found out by talking to other passengers - no announcements. Then when it arrived we had to track down our compartment with no railway staff to help. We had to go up and down the train twice before we found it! A first class sleeper ticket turned out to be not the top choice - the top is a First Class Air Conditioned sleeper! There they apparently supply bedding. In our compartment we had a bed but had to supply our own blankets. It was pretty comfortable though and we slept on the journey and arrived in good shape.

Rishikesh is a very peaceful interesting town. A yoga centre so lots of westerners taking courses on Yoga, Meditatition etc. Susan is taking a yoga course and enjoying it greatly. The course had a break yesterday and today so we went on a white water rafting trip on the Ganges. They took us about 27 km upstream from Rishikesh and we paddled and drifted down the river into the town. We went over about sixteen sets of rapids - more white water than we were expecting and were on the river for about fours hours. A good day and good deal for us - there were only two other tourists on the raft but not a very high income living for the professionals - one British guy and two Indians. Too much competition so prices are pretty low. But a nice life style for the Brit - he is off to Austria in week or so to ski intruct for the winter season Then back here for trekking and rafting in the summer!

So we are here for a while, Susan taking yoga, me sunning myself and drinking coffee. We will stay here for another week until a game park near here - Corbett National Park opens on the 15th November. We can hopefully see some wild life there befire heading down to see the sights in Rajistan - the Taj Mahal, numerous Palaces etc.

Dharmasala

We thought that we might write last night as we missed the film about prisoners/refugees from Tibet as we were waiting for a fabulous freshly cooked Indian dinner. Enjoyed the dinner and chatting with a couple of Israeli girls -lots of Israelis travelling here after they complete their army service. So as we were walking up the dark narrow street with l8-24 inch deep gutters of dirty water, garbage, etc. Clive misplaced a foot and fell down. Not harm done - had to clean up some though. ....it was literally like 'shit' got in the way of our destination.
Had a super time in Dharamsala - when we first arrived it seemed a bit overwhelming -but that changed fairly quickly. This place is full of Tibetans refugees. The Dalai Lama lives here and the Tibetan government in exile. As well there are orphanages and lots of monks and Buddhist teaching going onhere. It is quiteWestern here -lots of Westerners come to learn and volunteer in the Tibetan community. We even had coffee made with an Italian espresso maker and homemade fresh pasta and pizzas. The Tibetan food was kind of stodgy and the Indian food great. So much available here and a slow pace. From breakfast to coffee, walks in the countryside and then another tea up the mountain. Such a friendly place and no pressure here to buy or be hassled. I must tell you about one of oour pizzas out on a patio watching the setting sun and chatting with a German married to a Tibetan who translates Tibetan books and studies the culture (as well as theauthor of the German guide book on Tibet)...oh yes the pizza - we had the Fiorentino which had walnuts placed around it, spinach, basil, wedges of hard-boiled eggs decorating each slice. We try them all and enjoy the food sooo much.
When we walk, we do a lot of straight up and down and we see fields, homes, people cultivating the land, rock paths. In fact, we watched a team of four men work together and break great huge rocks with a sledge hammer and big piton like nails. Unbelieveable how much hand labour there is. They were building a retaining wall and then they will build a room orhouse of some description. ....we have seen so much manual labour on the roads as well. From making asphalt with a fire and tar and rocks, to breaking rocks with hammers, carrying dirt in baskets on their heads and so on. So slow but they do get there.

Today it was the public bus for us - another experience -the only bus to Amritsar each day leaving at the wonderful hour of 5am. Arrived early this afternoon leaving the cool of the mountains and interesting terrain behind. Now we are apparently in the breadbasket of India-lots of farms and a reasonably rich state -lots of the school kids that I taught in Calgary came from this area. It is pretty warm here.
We had a wonderful lunch and met some Sikhs (we are near the Golden Temple which it their equivalent of Mecca or the Vatican). It was a wonderful experience to see the temple -going in with covered heads and bare washed feet - a large peaceful awesome sight with a lot of colorful people about -turbans of everycolorin the rainbow and saris of every hue.

Anyways, till the next update ta da and love to all

Delhi

The play that I mentionedin the last letter ended up lasting till 1am (7 hours) - it appeared to be mostly a long speech in the end - very little music or movement or interaction and the audience sat on the hard dirty ground so patiently and quietly. Quite amazing! Anyways we finally got to sleep after it finished.

Saw athe sights of New Delhi the next day on a tour. Then we caught a train to the old English summer retreat in the hills, Shimla. As we left Delhi, we saw lots of shanties made of plastic and sometimes corrugated steel rooves - no toilets - lots of people defecating beside the train tracks. Obviously no running water and lots of poverty. Much worse than the trrain view from London or elsewhere. My stomach was doing cartwheels.
As we spent the day on the train, we enjoyed seeing the agriculture and countryside with people much more spread out and working the land and living. We arrived in Shimla and climbed the mountain hills. The hills everywhere are pretty much straight up and down - not even the switchbacks that we are used to in the Rockies. We go quite some distance everyday - so I am not missing Sikome hill and Clive just does it all.
We meet people everyday and having an interesting time. Mostly travellers but not always.
We took a 10 hour bus ride through the twisty mountain roads - very narrow, of course no shoulder and often parts washed out - they are fixing the road often by hand - banging and breaking rocks and filling in the eroded parts - unbelieveable to see the painstaking effort that it takes to make the road passable.
Arrived in Manali, another wonderful more remote mountain village. Had a wonderful time here hiking about and meeting people, etc. We hired a taxi one day and a guide and went up to the pass at 3400 meters. The Himal-layas (not Him-a-layas). I went on a hike with 3 others and the guide. It is slow going at this altitude - Clive could not walk very far as the altitude affected him too much - it was wonderful. The Himalayas are not unlike the Rockies when you actually get there - but they are a long way up. Saw the glacier in the distance and lots of prayer flags. Everyone builds a little rock cairn (each adds a rock) and says a prayer. It was pretty chilly at this altitude.
At our wonderful little hotel we were the only guests - the season is finishing. On the last night, I cooked with the chef and made dinner. It was great - what they manage to do and the flavors. I now know that curry means gravy here and I was reminded that tomatoes and onions are the thickener in Indian cooking.
Not wanting to do a 10 hour night journey on a bus through the mountains, we got together with 4 others and hired a taxi to travel the about 200 km through the mountains to Dharamsala/McLeod Ganj - that took 7 hours - so you can imagine the state of the roads. The drive was wonderful. We had tea at the taxi driver's home about halfway here. Looks pretty prosperous here - agricultural - quite a few cars and tractors (occasionally) - but still no toilet at his house - they are in the process of building one.
McLeod Ganj - the centre of Tibetan refugees here has lots of Westerners visiting. Lots of people exploring Buddhism, yoga, reiki, etc - hope to do a class or two - but so far they appear to be 8 or 10 day courses.

Our stomaches have not been upset - we are fairly careful - and we do love the food so far. Great weather everyday, lots of walking and of course interesting people.

We considered going to Kashmir yesterday - but after researching thought not to. People really do try and get you to believe what they are saying. One wants to trust people and what they are saying but we are approaching most things with some skepticism. People do have tales - at least they just lose some money - not getting what they thought they had purchased. Of course, it is nice not to be taken for a ride, bu of course much more important is one's personal safety. So we decided against Kashmir - even thoug they try to show you letters of how great it was (one letter and 144 clients). ..Lines like "this will be the best part of your vacation in India....but no pressure...I have 3 others going and later in the day,,l,,suddenly 5 are going and now it is 2 jeeps ....I have Canadians out there now and they are extending their stay --the best thing that they have ever done.....and so on....still no pressure...no loss if you don't go"- and then the Aussie who sits down beside us and says that he is going - maybe he is in on the con (if it is one) or maybe he is just naive. Anyways, one always has to be on one's toes and look after oneself. Nice to meet other travellers to share tales with. Of course, we have met wonderful hoteliers but one needs to approach carefully and not trust too readily - more difficult I am sure if you are younger? or alone.

Anyways, thats the latest - a bit disjointed but life from this minute's perspective. Probably here for about a wek and then off to Amritsar.

Manali

We are having trouble making a connection here - on
> a very slow connection inManali (at the base of the
> Himalayas). All is going well. We are adjusting to
> life in India and of course out here - away from the
> congestion, poverty, and pollution of the big cities
> - this is a great place to become familiar - though
> of course you can never let your guard down. People
> hassle you less here but it still happens and one is
> learning all the time.
> The food has been great and we are enjoying the
> mountains. We are going up to a pass tomorrow with
> an aussie and 2 brits. It will be great. It is a
> 4-wheel drive and then we have a guide to make a
> fairly short walk to a lake (Rohtang Pass - if you
> can find that Jenny.
> We are planning onn spending most of the coming week
> here. We may go on a 3 or 4 day trek depending on
> how it works out tomorrow with this company. Also
> may do a couple of short hikes here and enjoy the
> town and scenery and our hotel room with a balcony
> of polished wood looking out at the mountains.
> After Manali, we expect to go on to Dharamsala.
> Will write again depending upon getting a better
> connection - probably next week.
>

New to India

Just feel compelled to write a little today - Day 2 into acclimatizing in India. It is full on here - wow! We have seen so much - from color, noise, smells and a huge massive amount of people, unbelieveable filth in the streets (contrasting to the indoors) and so much poverty. So many people trying to make a living somehow. People sleeping on the streets, people well dressed, autorichkshaws and bicycle rickshaws aplenty - it is tough trying to walk either down the street or across the street and keeping your feet on terra firma - lots of broken cement blocks, garbage, people everywhere - congestion is the word like I have never seen and more poverty than I have ever seen. People without all their limbs, young children, old men, young people every age and apparent health or ill condition. It looks so massive and where does the health, cleanup, etc ever start. Still lots of people are doing well.

We have figured lots of the ways the networks here work with tourists. Yesterday we were constantly accompanied by well dressed gentlemen wanting to assist in their friendly manner. When Clive finally said "we don't want a guide" they disappeared within 50 meters and then the next one took over with the same line. They all have cell phones - wonder if they are talking to the next guy.Anyways they all directed us the wrong to Connaught Place which should be a 5 minute walk from here. We never did find it. However, we went out this am and followed our map and presto! there it was just as the map said.
Then we tried to get to the train station for foreigners to buy tickets. they can show you identification showing that they work for the railway and again direct you away from the station down to some travel agent. As we went to go up some stairs, we were stopped two stairs up and told firmly that the office was closed. We went up and there it was! Wonderful!
Again today, some man firmly and politely (like a powerful teacher to his students) asserted that he knew where the government travel agency was as he had id showing uus that he worked for the government. As I didn't listen and walked away, he explained very firmly that I must listen to him. Anways we didn't and again he had attempted to misdirect us.
so now we have some of this sassed out and know to relie on our maps, guidebooks and government official offices (though everyone claims to be legitimate.
We enjoyed our day immensely - ate some great vegetarian meals at nice quiet restaurants, saw the Red Fort (should be called a castle if it was in England), saw the oldest mosque in India and surprise, surprise another festival tonight with all of the proceedings on the same ground as last night so we have been watching fireworks and some of the 3 hour enactment that is still taking place. Apparently some god (Hindu) was in the forest for 14 years and they are celebrating his return. ..we notice at both of festivals the women and children sit together and the men sit at the back. Men and women are not together in public very much. It is so orderly for all of the masses. They gather and sit and then split up very quickly. The play itself has lots of color and very little action. I am sure that the audience must know the story very well - but we are trying to figure out bits. The music and drums go quite often so it is all so entertaining. What timing!
...reading in the local paper here that in Dubai that Ramadan has become too commercial and that people spend too many evenings shopping instead of reflecting on what Ramadan is all about. Sounds like the old story about commercialization of Christmas - just another setting.
Guess that is enough of my story for today - so much to relate and I like to abbreviate it so much - not really into recording - however as we adjust I know that this will seem like a distant memory if I don't relate it now. Everything is so intense - guess that's one of the great things of travel. And we have seen so much and talked to a few other travellers - who keep on returning to India - guess that it gets in their blood - though they don't much care for Delhi. So we shall see how it all unfolds. We have bought a ticket for Shimla for Sat morning leaving at 6am! The life of retirement and we want to get up for a tour of South Delhi early in the am tomorrow. Tough , isn't it? Shimla is in the mountains (or rather a valley). We catch a train part way and then switch to a narrow gauge railway for the last bit. Clive really likes those (and so do I).

Anyways, must sign off for now. We do love to hear from anyone at home - and how you are all doing - miss you all but having a wonderful time.

Delhi and Dubai

Well, we arrived safely in Delhi at the wee hours of the am and were pleasantly greeted by a taxi to take us to our hotel. It is a nice cocoon in the midst of filth on the streets and so on - internet cafe and a restaurant - so we will have a chance to acclimatize and get our bearings and make some plans. As usual I decided to pee before picking up baggage and we got our first reaction of a non first world place - smelly, mosquito (singular), squat toilet and no paper! Tonight we enjoyed our first meal and it was great - the same little dishes that we are used to at our favorite Indian restaurant in Calgary. We also had prime viewing of the culmination of a festival from the hotel roof. We looked down into a square that had 3 characters (bad men) about 30 feet high of painted cardboard (a full scale version of children's artwork) and lots of people in costumes, crowds packed in (men in one area of the street and women and children in another area). After some time fires were ignited under each of the bad men and firecrackers exploded and the men disintegrated. Soon the crowds disappeared. We enjoyed watching it all from our cocoon on the rooftop. This celebration is all over India - not just for our pleasure.

Dubai was a land or city of extreme heat and beautiful warm clear waters and fine sandy beaches but not terribly interesting. Tons of large malls and all of the shops that we are familiar with - La senza, esprit, etc - so much square footage for displays and beautiful tiled floors through the expansive air-conditioned shops. Being Ramadan meant no food until sundown - around 6 pm - starbucks opened at 600pm each day so no morning coffee. Quite the reverse of Ramadan at school in Calgary where we eat and the Muslim kids don't. Here we are not allowed to eat or drink in public - so we had a few snacks in our pack and a ton of water. We sneak out of clear sight of everyone and have a drink. They don't do too much this month and I can hardly blame them - no water even, from sunrise to sunset. I believe that they may have been friendlier if they were not so hungry and thirsty. Clive and I were consuming about 8 liters per day - but then we walked quite a lot. At sunset, the restaurants fill up very quickly and most of the restaurants have a wonderful Mediterranean buffet which is decimated in the first hour. They have a whole lamb, lamb stew in yogurt, grilled meats (kebabs), rices, wonderful salads with lots of wonderful ingredients, great spreads (hummous, babwgnoush/, etc and lots of fresh fruits and puddings. The flavours are certainly to our taste - from cilantro to garlic and oil.

The highlight of London was seeing the production of Les Miserables.