And the journey continues...

So we got back from Varanasi yesterday. The rough landing in Delhi caused me to freak out a little, to the great amusement to the guy sitting next to me who had snored and stolen my armrest the whole way through... There was also some Buddhist monk sitting in first class... So much for giving up material possessions...

My ipod got wiped as I was backing the songs up onto my computer, so I will be spending 4 lonely months in South Asia without Travis and all his glory to keep me company. I was able to salvage about a third of the songs though, so it shouldn't be too bad.

We were planning on going to Agra for a few days to see the Taj Mahal and the surrounding areas, so we got our train ticket online and overpaid for a tuk-tuk to take us to the train station. After waiting for a few hours, I found a nice little hand-written sign in Hindi at the Enquiry counter where all I could understand was our train number, and the 16:10 departure time crossed out and replaced with 23:10... 7 hours was a little much to wait at the train station. If we would have taken that train and arrived in Agra at 2am, we probably would have been so exhausted that we wouldn't have enjoyed the sunrise at the Taj. Instead, we over-paid a tuk-tuk to take us to a hotel in the center of Delhi (free wi-fi! Skype date with anyone who wants tomorrow!). We got a taxi to pick us up from here at 2am (yeah... 4 hours from now... why aren't I sleeping?), so we should make it to the Taj Mahal for sunrise, and before all the hordes of day tourists arrive, which should be really nice. My nice camera's making a weird sound, though - I think something is loose in the lens... I really hope it'll survive tomorrow, and the next four months...

Originally we were going to go to Tawang, on the border with China and Bhutan, but we only got confirmation that we had received our permits TODAY, so weren't able to book our flights or anything. Since it's such an ordeal getting there (1 plane ride and 2 days in the car each way) we figured it wasn't worth it, especially if we were going to lose a day or two getting our travel arrangements sorted out. So no work in the orphanage up there, sadly. Maybe on the next trip to India I'll go to that region - anyone care to join? (Amber, I'm talking to you...).

We booked our flights to Leh, departing on Thursday. We'll fly there and sort of play it by ear for the next couple of weeks. It's supposed to be really nice, high up in the mountains of Kashmir. We'll probably spend some days in Leh, then start driving back down to Delhi, making stops in Himachal Pradesh along the way. The road between Leh and Delhi goes up to 5000m, so it promises to be beautiful.

One fun thing that happened while in Varanasi was my visit to a really cool NGO called the Sankat Mochan Foundation. It was started by a Professor of Hydraulic Engineering in the 70s, and is an effort to clean up the Ganges in Varanasi, and eventually beyond the city, too. The professor, Dr. Veer Bhadra Mishra, is basically a guru in the area, very respected. I wanted to get some information about the organization, so I walked over there with some Indian kid who had come with me. The office was closed so we went to this little house a few feet away (walking past a dead body covered by a sheet, may I add...) and in the room was the Guru, dressed all in white, having a meeting with a half dozen men. He waved me in, I sat down, and he talked to me for a few minutes about who I was, what I was doing, what I wanted to know about the organization, etc. While I was talking to him someone came in and laid on the floor in front of him and kissed his feet! It was crazy to be talking to the Water Guru of Varanasi! It was really fun to meet this guy who's such an icon in the area, although it was a little awkward to crash his meeting.

All in all, India continues to amaze me. I am definitely on sensory overload, partly because of the proximity of this trip to my African odyssey, but also because I know so little about Indian culture itself. Africa is so much easier for me to understand, because I've studied its history and culture for years. India, on the other hand, is just surprise after surprise. I'm really glad I'll be spending so much time here, so that I can really get to know it on a deeper, more intimate level.

I'll end with a quote from Salman Rushdie in his book 'Midnight Children.' He describes the streets of Amritsar, and the same description of sensory overload could be made of Varanasi:

"The holy city of Amritsar smelled of excrement. Amristar dung was fresh and redundant. Nor was it all bovine. It issued from the rumps of the horses between the shafts of the city's many tongas, ikkas, and gharries; and mules and men and dogs attended nature's calls, mingling in a brotherhood of shit. But there were cows, too: sacred kine roaming the dusty streets, each patrolling its own territory, staking its claims in excrement. And flies! Public Enemy Number One, buzzing gaily from turd to steaming turd. Spicy sweet fumes rose from a street-snack barrow."