Day 77: November 20. Clean Air. But really this time.

We woke up to find ourselves in the foothills of the Himalayas. At night the hills were sparkling with lights but this morning they were caked in mist and fog. Apparently this was the first really cold day of the season. At hearing this Alicia got excited and Karla sighed longingly for summer again.

After a superb breakfast, we (mostly Karla) fiddled around the room as it started to sleet outside and heard it patter onto the tin roofs and tall pine trees. It just couldn't be more different here than from Rajasthan. Although we are just at the very base of the mountain range (at about 1700m), you can just feel the force of the great mountains beyond the highest visible ridges.

We began the day by, surprise, taking a short walk up into the "hills" in search of a good view and some peace and quiet. The hike up to Dharmakot was pretty great. First, it had stopped sleeting. Second, we got to see winterized baboons closer up than ever before (they have alien eyes as it turns out) and even were followed by two very adorable and healthy doggies. At the point where we had a stunning view of the valley and town below, we decided it was time for an official full body stretch. It was well overdue and felt amazing in the crisp fall like weather after a warming walk up.

On our way down we wandered down a few more roads. Reaching a cottage rent-by-month complex, we met a German couple having just arrived a few days before. They were going to be there for five months! And starting in the fall no less. This started a discussion between the two of us on the walk down about the mental and physical trials of backpacking and how different it would be to do as the German couple was doing. Although Alicia is enchanted with the idea of traveling, the thought of backpacking is slightly unnerving at times. On the otherhand, for Karla, the idea of backpacking and the mobility it allows is much less daunting than settling down permanently/semi permanently. And here we are, on a whirlwind of a trip. Its amazing how people adapt and get better at doing so.

As promised in the guidebook, there were wall to wall shops lining the streets in the hippie-Tibetan-Indian and Chinese (just food wise though) town of McLeod Ganj. We browsed, but we were in need of a snack break before long. After eating wonderful Tibetan soup (makes sense in the cold climate) and chatting with an Israeli girl our age who sat at our table, we headed down the hill to learn more about Tibet and its culture/religion. On the way to the Tibetan Tsuglagkhang Complex we had to force ourselves to stop peering into shops and comparing colors and prices. We were just so good at it but here it seemed no one hassles you!!!! I hope we don't get out of practice...

The Dalai Lama had apparently arrived in the morning from being in Japan for surgery. He also had recently released a statement that he does not forsee any sort of peaceful independence from China in his lifetime. It's an interesting and trying time that we have stumbled into. Going to the museum in the complex really educated us a lot on the history of the Tibetan struggle for peace and independence. It was very saddening and intense to see pictures and read about people's stories, but it such a great experience! We even had time for an hour long documentary upstairs in the museum. Called 'Red Flag Over Tibet', it was made in 1994 by an American reporter and aired on Frontline news.

Within the complex is also his Holiness' official residence. While in the past he has granted audience to foreigners, lately he's been pretty busy with dealing with spiritual and governmental matters and one can only see him maybe driving by in his car or at a public meeting or press conference. When we saw Scott later in the day, he told us that we saw him arrive. How cool!

The Tsuglagkhang Temple in the complex was our first up close and personal Buddhist experience. It was built in the spiritual likeness to the Jokhang Temple in Tibet, which was destroyed in the 80s during the "Chinese revolution." It was especially beautiful when we arrived as there were monks inside reciting their prayers. We wandered around a bit and even tried out spinning the mandalas in a clockwise direction.

After breezing through some more shops for warm shawls on the walk back to town above, we staked out some Indian food (harder than you think to find) in a cozy narrow restaurant with fun colored lamps and chill music (including 'Sweet Melissa'). On the walk home we finally noticed that there weren't many cows wandering the streets, which we think may be due to the fact that there is so much green (!) to be eaten here off of the roads. The one cow that we did see had vegetable greens on its back that someone had (cruely) put there. After we figured it wasn't so cruel because another cow would eat them off of it. Cows are hilarious.

After this, it was still early but definitely time for bed. Night!
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Day 76: Nov 19. Long Day's Journey into Night

1:30am. Tipping the receptionist at the hotel, we walked the short distance back to the train station and waited for ours to arrive. Of course it was late (although only by a half hour which was a blessing!) and in the meantime we watched a playful puppy lick everything in site and a homeless man steal the flip flops of another homeless man while he slept. It was a sobering wait.

We finally made it onto the train and settled in before climbing onto our beds and passing out. Although this time we were in 2nd class sleeper, it was more comfortable than the A/C class because there was no A/C blowing into our faces (it got cold at night anyway as we headed north!), and because surprisingly, the beds were longer in this class, leaving us more room when we slept with our bags. It wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as our first sleeper train in India.

When we awoke in the morning, we nibbled on some "breakfast," and passed the day dozing, looking out the window and reading. At one point while Karla was napping, Alicia was reading on her top bunk, and a woman across the way motioned her down. Alicia thought she was letting her sit in a more comfortable position, so she brought her book down, but the woman motioned her 21-year-old daughter over and had her practice her English! We had a lovely conversation about our lives, education, and a tiny bit of politics. She chastized me for not knowing that the governor of Louisiana is Indian. Oops!

This girl, whose name I unfortunately can no longer remember, was going with her family to move to a town in Punjabi state to teach Hindi at a secondary school. It was the first time she was leaving her state of Rajasthan (except for the 2 days she went to Delhi to interview for this position), and now she was going to be living in Punjabi for 3 years! Luckily, although her father and sister were just there to 'settle' her, her mother was making the move with her. Karla and I were jealous. Mommies, can you move with us?

Within the last hour of the train ride (around 3:30) the conductors came over to check our tickets for the third time! As we began to be irritated, they sat down and we figured out that they too just wanted to chat. They were very friendly, and wanted to exchange pens. Not about to part with our one remaining functioning pen, Karla rustled up a #2 pencil, sharpened it with her pocket knife, and thrilled them with tales of how all American schoolchildren had to use these pencils for every exam. They were impressed and happy that it was an American pencil. And we in turn received pens that say 'om shantra' which means 'peace within'. We are still trying to get them to write well...

We asked them one more time when our stop would be, then they left us. We finally got off the train in Pathankot at 4:50pm (!) and walked to the bus station, with a quick detour at a tourism office to make sure we knew where we were going.

As we walked into the bus station, the bus to Dharamsala was pulling away! We asked someone when the next bus would be, and it wasn't until 9:30pm, getting into Dharamsala around 1 am. Although we were disappointed that we missed the first one, we were relieved that there WAS another bus tonight, so we resigned ourselves to calling some hotels to make sure that we'd have a room as soon as we arrived.

While Karla was on the phone and Alicia was guarding the stuff, she was approached by an American man who asked if we'd be interested in sharing a cab with him up to McLeod Ganj, where our hotel was. Our only concern was the price, and neither of us had the energy to haggle, but Scott, the American, said he'd be happy to bargain, and he left his baggage in my charge while Karla procured a room for us.

Scott was successful. We got a cab for 500 Rs (just over $10) a person, including a generous tip. We made the 2.5 hour journey high up into the mountains in a nice cab with pleasant conversation and finally relaxed! We were sooo glad that we took a cab, especially since we arrived at our hotel 15 minutes before our bus would have left the station! Although it was 5 times more expensive to take the cab, sometimes that's what you have to do when you're on the road for 31 hours!

We said goodnight to Scott, (who thanked us again for being at the bus station - he was just as weary as we were!), settled into our hotel, and had dinner next door. Although it was cold out (finally! Alicia has had enough of summer weather - 6 months of feeling hot is excessive!), we both took hot showers, and finally tumbled into bed.
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Day 75: Nov 18. In which we both nearly get gored by a passing cow. Within 5 hours of each other.

This morning got off to a bit of a rocky start with a tiff that lasted well through a delicious chocolate croissant breakfast at a German cafe and into the Palace museum. With the help of the space provided by the radio-silence of the audio tour, we both cooled off and were able to fully enjoy each other's company by the end of the day. Nothing like the entertainment of an audio tour to lighten the mood.

The Jaislamer Palace was beautiful, but not quite as impressive as the one in Jodhpur. What was spectacular was the views of the fort and city below - it really does look like a giant sandcastle!

After our audio tour, feeling much more civil, we walked through the streets of the fort again, this time knowing exactly what we wanted. We made a couple of small purchases, and were on our way out again, and were admiring some puppies, when a passing cow nudged Karla out of her way with her horns. Alicia thought that she was protecting the puppies, but Karla thought she just wanted to pick a fight.

On our way out of the fort, we stopped to look at another item in a shop. We had been in this store yesterday, without buying anything, and the owner came in saying, 'you come in yesterday, you don't buy. What do you want?!' So Alicia made the mistake of saying 'sir, are you unhappy?'

This launched a 20 minute discussion (and by discussion I mean lecture) about Jainism, inner peace, and accepting fate, as well as chokra, and the physical balance that helps one to achieve peace. Alicia really took it to heart after this morning, and felt (after she extricated herself - he would have talked for another hour!) that she really learned something about patience. And Karla got a great price on an item normally more than two times the amount she got it for. Perfect!

After our lesson, we stopped at a bakery to get snacks for our journey this afternoon, then picked up Alicia's backpack. Unfortunately, the tailor took it upon himself to not replace the zipper, as instructed, and to just 'fix' it. However, we'd gotten it 'fixed' like this 2 times before, and each time when we would put stuff in the pocket, the zipper would break again. But we didn't have time to get it fixed properly, so she'll have to make do until the next stop.

We walked back to the hotel and repacked on the roof while waiting for lunch. The owner of the hotel had procured bus and train tickets for us, and we sat on pins and needles waiting for them to arrive so we could make our bus! As soon as we got them, we paid and took a rickshaw to where we were told the bus would be. It wasn't there, so we had to pay double to be taken to the next place. Luckily our bus was there!

The ride was pleasant enough, and we arrived 6.5 hours later in a town called Bikaner. (At one rest stop, we were standing around waiting to reload the bus, and a cow tried to nudge Alicia out of her way (this time a little more forceful)! Everyone laughed, but karma came around because the same cow started eating a cardboard box (news paper is their main staple but cardboard is a close second) in the truck of the man who laughed at her!)

When we arrived in Bikaner, it was 9:00 pm, and our train wasn't until 2:15 am (although when we bought the tickets we were told the train would be at midnight...), so we went to a restaurant until they closed, then into a sweet shop until it closed, then walked to a local hotel and asked if we could sit on their couches in the lobby until our train.

At first the receptionist said no, but Karla realized that he didn't understand the question, so we simplified and asked again. This time he said yes, thought about it, and then asked if we wanted a room. We asked how much, and he said 'no', so we assumed he meant no charge and went on up. It was blissful to lie down for an hour and a half, and here I will leave you until tomorrow's entry.
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Day 74: Nov 17th. Sand Castle

These days we always have so many errands to run. They are mostly because we love bargaining with shop keepers and also because there are things to do! Unfortunately Alicia has been having a case of the zippers. Although her case of the straps was cured yesterday, today we dropped into a tailors to have her zipper replaced. It was quite the hilarious interaction...the tailor didn't speak a word of English and of course Alicia's Hindi isn't the greatest, so business was conducted in a series of mimed actions. When she asked about the price, he showed her on his measuring tape. She bargained him down by doing the same, then he showed her what time the bag would be ready tomorrow.

Meanwhile, next door, Karla was spending quality bargaining time in a traditional textile store. He had all sorts of cool stuff and it was hard for her to make decisions (surprise!). The great thing is that we got the package sealed with linen and wax included in the price of her purchases. We even were able to stick some last minute things in the box.

We dropped the box off at the post office, but of course we didn't have enough money, so we left the package with the friendly postal worker, thinking we'd be trusting him with it in a matter of minutes anyway, and walked back toward town to find an ATM. Of course there was a line...but we made it back before the post office closed and hopefully Alicia's family will get it before Christmas!

As forts are the theme of this trip, next on our list was the fort. This one was different from the others in that there are well over five thousand people living in it. It is just amazingly beautiful to wind in between the streets. It's a shame that the fort is collapsing because of water use through occupation - it was not built to sustain plumbing at all because it's in the middle of the desert. Now, with all the waste water going through the city every day (in open sewers no less), the infrastructure of many of the buildings is completely deteriorated and beginning to collapse. Yet, walking around within the walls of the Jaislamer fort, it became very clear as to why these people aren't going to move without a fight. Everything is for the tourists. There were just so many restaurants and shops packed into such a small space it was incredible.

Soon it was snack time and we found a gorgeous yet deserted restaurant on wall of the fort looking over Jaislamer below. During all of our purchases and consuming of food, we tried as much as we could to support the businesses outside of the fort.

By the time we were done eating and shopping it was too late to go through the whole audio tour (supposedly comparable to our last one) at the fort's palace. So we slowly made our way down to our guest house instead, stopping at nearly every shop it seemed. We even tried out a fried ball of dough soaked in honey for fun (sorely missing our baklava days). We haven't been eating so many sweets lately, but we've been consuming masala chai like it's our job (it is). We both have this idea that someday we will have the perfect cup of chai and until that day, we try it every chance we get.

We had dinner at another rooftop restaurant overlooking Ghandi Chawk, the main square just inside the Old City gates at Jaislamer before making a beeline for bed.
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Day 73: Nov. 16: Jaislamer

We finally have realized that the only way to get going at a reasonable hour in the morning is to wake up, order breakfast, get ready for the day/shower etc. and then, just maybe, your food will be ready. On account of our planning we left the guest house nearly an hour and a half earlier today. Efficiency efficiency efficiency.

We walked to the clock tower to get someone to fix Alicia's poor bag. A few straps had broken along with a zipper. Amazingly, within fifteen minutes both problems were fixed for only seventy five cents. Hooray! (Until we realized later in the day that the zipper must in fact be completely replaced-not hooray). We then tried a giant store of scarves but realized they weren't going to lower the price to a reasonable amount after looking through a billion scarves. We got evil eyes on the way out on account of the mess and no profit, but they shouldn't be so stubborn. They aren't going to make business with many (half smart) people at those prices. Sick of scarves, we tried the spice shop next and got some yummy chai masala and garam masala spices for what we were told by our guest house was a good price (obviously they charged us double automatically but we will never be able to buy it at the Indian price- maybe Hindu lessons and a few tanning sessions is the answer). Shopping at the clock tower was more of an experience and less of a successful shopping trip, but that's ok by us. There will be other markets.

We had wanted to send a package from Jodhpur but our guest house owner told us that there were too many Indian mafia people in the city (uhhh...) and that we should just wait until Jaislamer. Hopefully its safer there???

We went back to our room to collect our bags and pay our bill before taking a tuk-tuk (aka rickshaw) to the bus station for our 3:30 bus to Jaislamer. While loading our bags someone asked where we were staying. Somehow he guessed right away that Jack had recommended us to Hotel Deep Mahal (I'm starting to think we are the only white travelers around). He told us that it was in the fort and that we should stay at his brothers place instead (oh sure, sounds great!). We hadn't known that the recommended hotel was in the fort, but decided we shouldn't stay there after all. We had read in the book not to stay in the fort because it was falling apart because of the over crowding. In an effort to preserve it, the government has tried to encourage people to move out by offering them land etc. but everyone is stubborn and too proud (all details were explained by our current hotel guy). Also, many of the residents depend on the tourists and will live there as long as they keep getting business. So although our bed it hard as a rock, we are doing the right thing!

Upon arriving in Jaislamer we were bombarded like never before by a ton of guest house representatives (we really are the only tourists around to bother I guess), but we stood strong and headed out to find our own place. We ended up at Hotel Peacock. Clean, good food, and relatively hassle-free. No window to the outside world (which could be a blessing in disguise on account of the lovely open sewer systems running freely throughout the city), but we won't be here long and its only about $6.50 a night for the two of us.
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Day 72: Nov. 15: Exploring the Blue City

After breakfast, we climbed the hill behind our guest house to the Meherangarh Fort. From the rooftop with a birds eye view it looks like it would be easy to find your way, but when your view is obstructed by tall buildings along narrow streets, you feel like you're a mouse in a maze. This fort is still run by the maharaja of Jodhpur who is more interested in preserving the tradition and culture behind the fort than anything else. I guess it isn't too hard when you live in a beautiful palace a few kilometers away. The fort is on a huge 125m high hill, and looks imposing from every angle. Inside the courtyards and many rooms are memorizing. The audio tour (yes, we gave in) was really quite helpful. Although it makes looking harder, this particular tour was super informative and interesting.

After walking through most of the fort, it starts to make sense why it was never taken by enemy forces. Perhaps the most striking yet subtle thing that there was to see in the fort were the sati marks (shown as relief hand prints left by the maharaja's widows) on the wall as you exited. Karla was previously unaware of this now illegal practice of being burned alive with your dead husband when Alicia explained it . After hearing about it, she figured it was better to die in child birth than in flames just because it was tradition. We both agreed we wanted to look into it more closely.

A relatively short walk away was the marble Jaswant Thada Tomb. It was "more simple" than other tombs, temples etc, but it had this feeling of greatness when you walked around. The outside was the most impressive, and for once the pigeons on the roof looked majestic instead of dirty and annoying.

Next stop was lunch at Michael Baba's Hill View Guest house, which took forever, didn't taste the greatest and involved someone thinking we also wanted a massage (simply not true). They even called Michael himself from town and he came a-runnin. Poor guy.

Then we walked to the clock tower at the central bazaar and took a rickshaw to the Palace where the current maharaja lives (also doubles as a hotel). We had heard his voice in the audio tour and thought we'd visit his place (and palace) as well. We took a rickshaw (Karla loves riding them so nothing was lost really) but got there and were unimpressed. We thought it looked too modern and too influenced by the western/British world. But hey, it was an important place. We asked two white girls whether it was worth it to see the museum for a dollar- it wasn't, and so we rickshawed it down to the bus stands to buy a bus ticket to Jaislamer.

Then we tried walking back to the clock tower to check out the shops. We kinda got lost which was good and bad. Good because Karla found some sweet scarves and bad because Alicia was feeling far too queasy to be patient enough for shopping. When we tried getting home on a rickshaw we found that we were a lot closer than we thought and so had only been driven 1 block when the rickshaw couldn't go any further because the streets were too narrow. We gave the driver half of what we were gonna give him. He made some protesting noises but we were strong and kept walking.

Ginger tea was the answer to our sickness prayers. Karla tried what she had had the night before to compare the cooking of the real cook versus the nephew, Jack. Honestly Jack's was better because it was less greasy and had more vegetables.

After din din was packing time. And then we blogged a bit (we are almost up to date!). We have quite a few things to do in the morning, good night.
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