We have wireless!

After much searching we've secured a hotel in Mumbai that has wifi, we did have to move rooms to get it working - but I'm hoping to be able to upload some photos for you.

Ha ha! Once successful image! This is a photo of the ashram I stayed at in my first week. The owner loves flowers and so the gardens are amaazing. The tall building you're looking at contained my room on the 3rd floor overlooking the courtyard. To it's right is the dining hall and at the extreame left you can see a tiny bit of the temple.

The other photo (top right) is my view from where we did our yoga practice every am as the sun came up and pm as the sun went down. It was so peaceful as all you could hear would be birds and the river.

and the photo top, top left (clearly I have some layout to learn) is of the water fall we walked to. It has been slightlt enhanced by a bored Sandy, but these colours are closer to what it actually looks like!

As it takes a long time to upload these photos, more will come in a separate post, so I don't run the risk of losing them

namaste

this is the train that never ends...

After a lovely relaxing time in the little town of Orchha, we went to the train station to catch our overnight train to Varanasi. We had a lovely cab driver not only drop us of, but came in to verify we had the right platform and show us the "upper class" waiting are (you, know for super models and the like)

You have to understand that train stations in India are a bit different than at home. Everyone is camped out, literally sitting and sleeping, everywhere all over the ground. The upper class waiting area (as cramped as that was) was appealing due to the lack of whack-a-doodles in the room. You don't have to be quite a paranoid as on the main platform, keeping an eye out for your belongings. One really sweet addition to the main platform was a mother dog with 6 pups who were probably about 5 weeks old. They were so cute! I gather the station master had a soft spot and hadn't run them off.

So being that we're in India, 1 1/4 hours after our train was due to depart it arrived in the station. We boarded to discover we weren't ticketed for the class we had hoped,but also that it was scheduled to take 12 hours to cover the 575km distance. After an attempt at sleeping the sun rose and there we were waiting yet again for the train to move. This one just seemed to stop contstantly, with out any apparent reason. The a/c was weak at best (it's 44 degrees C here today) and Sandy was going greener by the minute.

After having arrived at the train station at 9pm, we arrived in Varanasi at 1pm. Thankfully the guide that had been booked had waited the additional 3 hours and we stepped off to a "Welcome Lesley" sign which was the only thing that kept Sandy from a mini breakdown. He whisked us off to our hotel (which was quite nice) where Sandy became one with the bed and bathroom while I went off on a boat ride down the river. For the record, Sandy has been to Varanasi before and told me to go without him, since I'd have our guide with me.

It still seems a bit strange to me when we passed the burning gates (where they cremate bodies 24hrs/day) I did see a body wrapped up in the adorned fabric. But thankfully I wasn't able to identify anything that was currently burning. The truely crazy part were how many people were just downriver swimming. Candles are set a drift amongst flowers and it made for a beautiful sunset.

Sandy is looking better now, hopefully it lasts!

Namaste

India supermodel!

Hello all

Here I am again, this time in the sleepy little town of Orchha. I'm enjoying small town life for a couple of days and I've found an internet cafe where my fingers don't ache after a half hour of typing (i have to admit I'm surprised by the lack of technology here). Tonight we are catching the night train to Varanasi so we're getting a chance to catch up on e-mail for a bit before a final dip in the pool and off we go...

I just had an opportunity to read over some earlier blogs and would just like to make a sweeping apology for spelling errors. As I mentioned you have to put some muscle behind these keyboards and I guess my fingers just aren't that strong. So some errors I don't notice - some I'm too tired to fix. I have had requests for additional details in my blogs so I'll do the best I can. Please don't forget to leave comments, I love hearing from people!

So the other day we were in Agra and went to see the mighty Taj Mahal. After paying literally 40x the price of the locals we were issued booties and water and joined the line. It took a little bit for me to recognize that I was the only female in line, I then noticed an all female line and figured that I better go join that one! As is the norm in India it was a very close line (hence the reason for separating the sexes). An older lady behind me decided to take me under her wing and have me do this line "right", so she put one hand on my shoulder in the appropriate shove position and gently escorted me up to the front.

Of course Sandy was no where to be seen as they had 3 guards checking the guys and only one checking the women and all of their handbags! I eventually got through, thanked the lady behind me and found Sandy.

You know all of those pictures you see of the Taj Mahal being quiet and peaceful - they've all been taken before it opened! Loads of people everywhere trying to get the ultimate shot in front of the archetectual wonder (just too tired to go back and fix spelling there!). Personally, I've always really wondered what it looked like inside, so knowing there was only an hour until close, we made a beeline for the line to get in.

Is it possible to be disappointed by one of the 7 wonders of the world? Ya, outside is stunning no question. But inside is nothing but a crypt. I had no idea! But for whatever reason (maybe we should blame the heat for this one) I couldn't stop giggling. I just couldn't believe that it was empty.

Outside we were there to get stunning photos as the sun went down. While getting those photos an Indian woman approached me. At first I didn't understand what she was asking, I thought she wanted me to take a picture of her , but then I got it. She wanted her photo taken with me. The weird part is, by no means is this the first time I've had this request while I'm here. Many like to say hello an wave, some want to shake my hand, I've had entire parades of children following me (not asking for anything,just following me), but any one with the means wants photographic proof that they saw me. Perhaps its just how pale I am (just today I'm starting to notice the first signs of a tan) or the theory that I've chosen to adopt....
"INDIA SUPERMODEL"! After all it is the glamour tour isn't it?

Namaste

early morning giggle

Just wanted to share a quick moment I saw this morning. As those of you who know me understand that I'm not the swiftest bunny first thing in the morning, you'll understand when I was starring blankly at a fruit cart. Next thing I know a dark figure appeared behind said cart. Then a head of the most lovely cow came up over the edge to smell the oranges, limes and lemons. The owner of the juice cart had wandered off and this was the cow's big chance!

She wandered over to the far end and proceeded to find the small container of freshly squeezed juice. She happily lapped it up until the cart owner, saw what was happening and chased her off.

Yeah! Cow got some juice - go cow, go!

Here kitty, kitty,kitty....

Hello all
Well we made it to Rathamborne (sp?) National Park and in addition to checking out a cool old fort, went on two safaris. One of the safaris we saw the "Queen of Rathamborne" who is the oldest tiger in the park, sitting patiently in a den watching the deer walk past. Obviously she wasn't hungry! We waited for an hour and a half for her to get up, as she did we all waited with baited breath.... for her to lie down again. Yes ladies and gentleman, it's official, we had a shift!
Thankfully that morning we had been really fortunate and seen one of her daughters for quite a while ( a little far away) but I got some decent shots anyways. We also saw crocs, mongoose and a large variety of deer and birds. The important thing, I achieved one of my goals since I was a little kid, to see a tiger in the wild!!!!
We're now in Agra and are heading out to see the Taj Mahal.

Hoping everyone is having a good week, and yes my tummy is better - thanks for the well wishes!

Namaste

my pal Johnny

Hello everyone
You'll be pleased to know that I have met up with Sandy and we're off on our latest adventure. It was a late night arrival followed by an early morning as we set out at 8am to arrive in Pushkar for 4:30pm (yes, I was a vision!). It was after a quick dip in the pool that I got to meet my new pal Johnny! Johnny is a 7 year old camel who likes long walks, an occasional jog and all the snacks he can reach along the way. He was a good guy and we had a great time riding into the dunes (I have some awesome photos, but yet, substandard internet - hey, we'll be lucky if the lights stay on - will post pics as soon as possible). Johnny and Sandy's camel Donny both floped down in the dunes on their break and stretched out much the same way an exhausted golden retriever I know does...
This morning we hiked up to a temple to watch the sun rise. Although the monkeys their made up the entertainment factor, I couldn't help but feel a bit sad for the people of India. Their pollution has hit such a point that even when I was up in the mountains the sky is never a pure blue. The grasses aren't a pure green. Their enviroment in total (at least at this time of year) seems to be verying degrees of neutral grays and browns. I understand why the women wear such brightly coloured saris (other than the fact they're gorgeous!). It's really the only place other than ads where colour is infused in their lives... makes me really appreciate home.
We have now travelled to a larger city called Jaipur. It's a big busy city. Today we went and visited a fort, which was beautiful, all the carvings and the detail are so intricate! We also did a bit of shopping between my sprints for bathrooms as my tummy has not been happy. Time to break into the meds we brought...
Tomorrow we head out early and start the drive to Rathamborne National Park to pursue my dream of seeing a tiger in the wild. (I actually saw a leopard Saturday afternoon on the way to the train station, my cab was waiting at a railway crossing and we spotted in it the bush 20m away - very cool!). I would be very surprised if there's internet there, so lets assume I'll be disappearing for a couple of days
Hope you're all well ~ namaste

almost kind of...

good morning all, and happy Easter.

It was 8 years ago this weekend when Paul proposed to me - what a sweetie eh?

Some have been interested in the schedule at the ashram:
5:30 wake up
6 meditation
6:30 chanting (which I never really got)
7 yoga
9 breakfast
9:30 clean up
10:30 meditative walk
12:30 lunch
4 discussion
5 yoga
7 sunset ritual,singing and dinner
8:30 meditation
nighty-night!

Well I've wrapped things up at the ashram and am headed back to Delhi. As a final hurrah, we had caught word that the Dalai Lama was going to be speaking in a nearby town. As there has coincidently been a major hindu festival nearby, taxi's haven't really felt like working and it's been tough to get to civilization. So we decided to walk and listen to his talk before I headed to the train station. So up we got at 4am I packed up my stuff and off we went. I would like to take a moment to thank Jeremy of New Liskard ON for taking my pack as "good exercise" as we walked over 10k (3.5 hours of hills) to discover that he's actually coming tomorrow.... well, we tried...

Just got word that Sandy is coming in tonight, so I better get finding a cab

Namaste