At Cathedral Rock, Sedona, AZ
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Falling down the rabbit hole into Varanasi, India
Now that was a fast flight, a mere 1 hr later and we’ve made the hop to India. Welcome to never-never land, we’ve ventured far down the rabbit hole it appears. Varanasi is one of the holiest cities in India as the great Ganges River (the locals call it Gahn-Ga, not Gan-Geez) runs through here. It is a town frequented for pilgrimages to bathe and pray, as well as a final resting place.
Let’s see how to describe??...... bright colors, clean your nostrils over-powering dirt, beautiful dresses, in your face poverty, cheerful smiles, Amazing food, quick flooding streets, trash-trash-trash, scams, haggling, mecca of all silk weaving, sweltering heat, sign-less streets, crowded traffic, noise, horns, dodging cow paddies, bodies cremating, ashes floating, bathing with dirty water, pollution, begging, dodging the cows that left the paddies, friendly people, sharing and the list goes on. Varanasi for our first city has a massive list of love it, hate it’s already. A mix of the best and the worst that you want to experience.
The holiness of the city floats through the air, yet each time you step out of the tuk, a small scam or hand-out awaits. It’s a place where walking on the street would prove highly difficult as the traffic of bikes, motos, tuks, cars, jeeps, and rick-shaws would likely run you over. It’s a place where the finest silk in the entire world is found. We saw the ancient artists weave the most impressive pieces for tourists like ourselves to haggle over. Paying only a fraction of what they’re likely worth for someone who just worked 2 months hand-looming a bedspread. Truly impressive, the looms are so complex and we found it to be more like fine art than anything else. The river really is the central focus of the entire city though, it’s all about the great Gang-Ga River. We partook in the quintessential boat tour up and down the river to view the colorful buildings and ghats. Ghats, we’ve learned at basically bathing areas along the river, mostly made up of simple concrete steps leading down into the swiftly running river. Overall, Varanasi lived up and far exceeded the chaotic reputation we knew the cities in India would carry. It was truly a different land!
Let’s see how to describe??...... bright colors, clean your nostrils over-powering dirt, beautiful dresses, in your face poverty, cheerful smiles, Amazing food, quick flooding streets, trash-trash-trash, scams, haggling, mecca of all silk weaving, sweltering heat, sign-less streets, crowded traffic, noise, horns, dodging cow paddies, bodies cremating, ashes floating, bathing with dirty water, pollution, begging, dodging the cows that left the paddies, friendly people, sharing and the list goes on. Varanasi for our first city has a massive list of love it, hate it’s already. A mix of the best and the worst that you want to experience.
The holiness of the city floats through the air, yet each time you step out of the tuk, a small scam or hand-out awaits. It’s a place where walking on the street would prove highly difficult as the traffic of bikes, motos, tuks, cars, jeeps, and rick-shaws would likely run you over. It’s a place where the finest silk in the entire world is found. We saw the ancient artists weave the most impressive pieces for tourists like ourselves to haggle over. Paying only a fraction of what they’re likely worth for someone who just worked 2 months hand-looming a bedspread. Truly impressive, the looms are so complex and we found it to be more like fine art than anything else. The river really is the central focus of the entire city though, it’s all about the great Gang-Ga River. We partook in the quintessential boat tour up and down the river to view the colorful buildings and ghats. Ghats, we’ve learned at basically bathing areas along the river, mostly made up of simple concrete steps leading down into the swiftly running river. Overall, Varanasi lived up and far exceeded the chaotic reputation we knew the cities in India would carry. It was truly a different land!
Thursday, November 24, 2011
K K K K K K Kathmandu (Nepal, Mt. Everest and the top of the world)
Well, that’s a first. Flying into a city at 30,000 ft and off in the distance a mountain top is about as high as you are, peaking it’s way far above the clouds. Really something to behold.
Wow, what an enjoyable weather change. Kathamandu, Nepal just kicks arse. It’s beautiful and the weather is like mid-fall in KY, ever so slightly cool, just right to wear jeans and a tee-shirt, maybe a sweater or light jacket at night, our favorite time of year. The people so far are overly friendly, speak pretty decent English and are very laid back. The only annoyance may be the constant touts wanting you to take their trekking expedition over their neighbors. The women wear beautiful, colorful clothing, and are themselves beautiful. Lots of smiling faces and greetings of “Namaste”. Namaste is a common greeting and could be interpreted as a sign of respect and saying hello, but has a deeper meaning as well, reflecting “The divinity in me, bows to the divinity in you.” It’s followed by a modest bow with hands folded, fingers pointing to the heavens.
We rode one heck of a bumpy taxi ride to the our hotel, brightly named “The Peace Zone Hotel”, about 15 walking minutes outside of Themel, Kathamandu. Themel is the “backpacker, trekker, partier, shopper district” of Ktm. We wanted to be close but just far away to get some sleep at night as well. I’d recommend our hotel to anyone, just as friendly as they could be.
Grace- Kathamandu is where Marian’s bar was in the first Indiana Jones Movie.
Mt. Everest was unfortunately difficult to see this time of year, it’s a bit too cloudy and you’d just get lucky to see the peak from the ground, unless you trekked up to base camp (some 18,000 ft and 14 days journey, and quite expensive, which we could not do). So we opted for the Bouddha Airline flight around the Himalayan Peak, where you could get above the clouds, see the Summit and vast stretches of the mountain range. It was AMAZING! Absolutely AMAZING to see. Check out the pics.
We also went on 2 different “treks”, complete with personal guide and porter (someone to carry our pack). One was a 4 day journey and the other 6 days, taking us to different areas of the lower Himalayan range, where some of the best views, easier walks and fine weather could be had. We stayed in tea-house along the way (small guest-cottages), and pigged out on the local fare to fuel the 5 hours+ of daily trekking. We Loved it! Walking around the mountain ranges of the Himalayas, forests, lakes, streams, with the most spectacular back-drop possible, man, we feel so fortunate. These views are going to be tough to top.
Wow, what an enjoyable weather change. Kathamandu, Nepal just kicks arse. It’s beautiful and the weather is like mid-fall in KY, ever so slightly cool, just right to wear jeans and a tee-shirt, maybe a sweater or light jacket at night, our favorite time of year. The people so far are overly friendly, speak pretty decent English and are very laid back. The only annoyance may be the constant touts wanting you to take their trekking expedition over their neighbors. The women wear beautiful, colorful clothing, and are themselves beautiful. Lots of smiling faces and greetings of “Namaste”. Namaste is a common greeting and could be interpreted as a sign of respect and saying hello, but has a deeper meaning as well, reflecting “The divinity in me, bows to the divinity in you.” It’s followed by a modest bow with hands folded, fingers pointing to the heavens.
We rode one heck of a bumpy taxi ride to the our hotel, brightly named “The Peace Zone Hotel”, about 15 walking minutes outside of Themel, Kathamandu. Themel is the “backpacker, trekker, partier, shopper district” of Ktm. We wanted to be close but just far away to get some sleep at night as well. I’d recommend our hotel to anyone, just as friendly as they could be.
Grace- Kathamandu is where Marian’s bar was in the first Indiana Jones Movie.
Mt. Everest was unfortunately difficult to see this time of year, it’s a bit too cloudy and you’d just get lucky to see the peak from the ground, unless you trekked up to base camp (some 18,000 ft and 14 days journey, and quite expensive, which we could not do). So we opted for the Bouddha Airline flight around the Himalayan Peak, where you could get above the clouds, see the Summit and vast stretches of the mountain range. It was AMAZING! Absolutely AMAZING to see. Check out the pics.
We also went on 2 different “treks”, complete with personal guide and porter (someone to carry our pack). One was a 4 day journey and the other 6 days, taking us to different areas of the lower Himalayan range, where some of the best views, easier walks and fine weather could be had. We stayed in tea-house along the way (small guest-cottages), and pigged out on the local fare to fuel the 5 hours+ of daily trekking. We Loved it! Walking around the mountain ranges of the Himalayas, forests, lakes, streams, with the most spectacular back-drop possible, man, we feel so fortunate. These views are going to be tough to top.
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