Kolkata, India December 25th – 29th 2010 Spent Xmas here. Fell slightly sick on Xmas day itself. Not much to do except wait for my flight out to Chennai. Played some pick-up soccer in a field with trash everywhere. Went to visit the Mother Theresa House for the Dying and Destitute but it was closed…
Category: India
Bodhgaya, India
Bodhgaya, India December 23rd – 24th 2010 When I was a kid, I used to have a set of encyclopedias I loved to read. And in one of them, there was a story of Buddha and a picture of a statue of Buddha being enlightened under the Bodhi tree. I never thought the day would…
Varanasi, India
Varanasi, India December 19th – 21st 2010 One of the oldest cities in the world and one of the most popular destinations in India, Varanasi did not disappoint when it came to the topic of life and death, especially the latter. All Hindus try to come here to die so they can achieve “moksha”, basically…
Thoughts while on train from Delhi to Gorakphur as I travel to Nepal.
December 9th 2010 As I lay on my 312-rupee sleeper bunk in a crowded train car, I had some thoughts about my journey through India so far. Andy Mesa, one of my readers, put it best: Most travelers to India have a love/hate relationship with it. I am leaning more toward “hate” than “love”. As…
New Delhi – Part Two
Delhi, India Part Deux December 7th – 9th 2010 What have I learned about bus rides in India? Avoid them whenever possible. I specifically told the bus-booking service I did NOT want a window seat. If anyone here remembers, I had encounters with small roaches along the walls of the bus during my Aurangabad to…
Amritsar, Punjab, India
Amritsar, Haryana & Punjab December 5th – 6th 2010 From McLeod Ganj, I had to take a 3.5 hour bus to Pathankot to catch a 3-hour bus to Amritsar where the famous Golden Temple was located. The Golden Temple is the Mecca of the Sikh faith; every Sikh tries to make the pilgrimage here once…
McLeod Ganj, Himachal Pradesh, India
McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh December 3rd – 4th 2010 BEWARE OF ESSAY. My bus from Shimla was supposed to be a deluxe. It was supposed to take 10 hours to get to Dharamsala. My plan was to sleep through the journey on a reclining chair, in the warmth of a bus, and arrive around…
Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India
Shimla, Himachal Pradesh December 1st – 3rd 2010 I’ve never seen a torn-up dead body before. Until today. Leaving my guesthouse around 5 am, I took an auto-rickshaw to a train station that had my train to Kalka, which would take around 5.5 hours. From Kalka, I would take a ‘toy-train’ to Shimla, which is…
New Delhi, India
Delhi, India November 25th – 30th 2010 Notes: Trash everywhere, especially on outskirts. The colors from trash colored the landscape. Lots of pigs running around in the trash. Had steak and eggs with a Coke for Thanksgiving. Cut of steak was like the one found in pot roast. Not the greatest but it’ll do. I…
Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India
Agra, Uttarpradesh November 24th 2010 Saw the Taj Mahal. It was very beautiful. The most beautiful building in the world? I would agree. At the end, I couldn’t leave. I just stared and stared at it, wondering how such a beautiful structure could exist. It rained that day. Walked by a restaurant that had a…