Here, there, and everywhere.

There are so many things to tell you all about India. The bad times, the good times. The times Rich refrained from sending me home on the next plane and instead waited until my foul mood had passed. In most photos, one of us is either sick, cranky, or fed up. This photo from the Taj Mahal has one sick Rich, one cranky Me. We had gotten up for the 6 am visit to beat the crowds.



India is a tough place to travel, and just when you have decided to heck with it, I'm over this country, India sends out the secret weapon: the people. Especially the kids.

We are in the mountains, and we currently have a car and driver (ok, confession; we are being driven around India in an SUV - how the mighty have fallen.). Our first night out of Simla was wonderful. Tattapani is a little town on a river with natural hot springs. Rich got giggles from every school girl who walked by the table where we sat to read and drink tea. The scene goes like this. Us, sitting and drinking tea. The dirt road to the school is between us and the river, the dozens and dozens of school kids would drift by in clumps of five to ten kids. In each clump the staring eyes would fix on us as the kids walked by. One of us would smile and wave. One of the braver kids would call out "hullo", Hello, Rich would reply. The giggling would start and keep going through the brave "goodbye" one of the them would call out. More giggles. Repeat this scene about twenty times in one evening.

Tattapani was also where we met Kurt. Kurt is great. He is traveling around India on a rented motorbike, and back home in Salt Lake City he works as a bike mechanic and sign painter. He promised to come visit us in SF and experience the wonderfulness that is SF bike culture.

In Naggar, another mountain town where the temperature inside our concrete hotel was probably fifteen degrees colder then outside, we walked up the dirt roads that wound past what I called a living ethnographic museum. The area is mostly orchards and corn and livestock. The traditional houses are made from wood with slate roofs. The slate roofs are covered with drying laundry, corn, and chile peppers. Again, it's hard to stay mad at a country that has little kids popping up above the railings of the balconies and waving and calling "hello goodbye". As fascinated as we are by them, we get it back tenfold. Rich and I are in a few vacation photo albums now as we have teenage girls and honeymooning couples asking to take a photo with us.

Today our driver Rana drove us up toward the Rohtang pass. The pass is closed for the winter, it is at about 4,000 meters, he let us out when the road starting getting dodgy with snow and we walked a few kilometers up to admire the mountains and the eagles soaring overhead. The broad river valley is dotted with small villages that look as if they fight a never ending battle with the river.

The people in the mountains are so nice, and all seem so happy. The living here is more subsistence living, with easy access to clean (looking) water that flows off the mountains. Yesterday, a day when the sun declined to shine, we went into the restaurant attached to our hotel here in Manali where we ran into a British couple we had been chatting with that morning in Naggar. We all realized about the same time that a wood burning stove near the windows was actually hot and we huddled around it defrosting our hands and feet. An older Indian Gentleman seated near the stove turned and said "I can't believe what I am seeing, I thought you people were impervious to the cold!" We laughed. Impervious, yeah, right.

Backtrack to Vienna

VBonus post, Rich got some photos uploaded so I can't resist this photo of me bidding the wines of Europe goodbye.



For the record, it has been 10 days since my last glass of wine, and about 8 since the last bite of yummy chocolate. (Picture The Scream when you read that.) Oh, that is my new haircut. I'm not sure if the woman was just not a great stylist, or my German was really that bad. Rich got a haircut too. His is also not fantastic, he misses Leo, his barber.

And here is my honey, chilling with his Vienna CityBike. The best travel companion I could have, the one who puts up with me and does ALL the arrangements. My job? Try to complain as little as possible and make him laugh when it all gets to be too much.

Me, and my shadows...

Hanging at the river at Orchha.



The kids come running when the camera comes out, and they all want to see their photo on the screen of the digital camera. The kids who are not selling anything are happy to chat, ask where I'm from, my name, and hang for a little while until we walk along. Those who are selling things are impervious to rejection and will follow you along continuing their pitch, until, like a cat in the city who reaches the limit of known territory, they finally turn back, but await your return trip.


Our boat ride on the Ganges at Varanasi was somewhat overwhelming. I am currently reading Slowly Down the Ganges by Eric Newby, written in 1966, and from his descriptions the only things that have really changed are the advent of mobile phones and the plastic waste.



It was disconcerting to be a witness to the multitudes who pray and wash in the river, and to see the cremation fires.

It has happened.

Every time Rich and I have been in a tough or uncomfortable situation so far, like biking over Loveland Pass in August, or on our day of three trains in Slovakia, one of us will turn to the other and say, hey, quit bitching, would you rather be at work right now? The answer has always been no. We both really liked our jobs and our co-workers, but the point of a year off is a year off from everything. And we always knew we would never get to these places on our 2 or 3 week trips during our working lives.

Well, last night, as I lay shivering in bed with a tummy thing in our hotel room in Orchha, Rich said to me, well, would you rather be at work right now? YES! I said. What are you nuts, I could be in my cozy little cubicle, with a grande awake tea from Starbucks and a lemon scone. There would be a nice bathroom down the hall, clean drinking water, and my lovely co-workers to go out to lunch with. Heck, I'd even rather be in a staff meeting!



So, let me backtrack a bit and give you a run down of our time in India so far. We landed in Dehli, from Vienna (Vienna is lovely, one of the nicest cities we've been to.), and spent one night in Delhi. We wandered around with our backpacks until our train left the next day at 4 pm or so. The Delhi train station was quite a scene. We were on a night train, Sleeper AC 1st class, pretty nice. We went to Varanasi, on the Ganges river. It is a holy place where people go to pray and wash in the river - 60,000 people a day go down to the river. Bodies are burned at two different locations, or Ghats, on the river. Our hotel was on the river, accessible only through the alleyways. The day we arrived a movie was being filmed right outside our hotel, it was fascinating to watch, but it made it very difficult to get into the hotel.



The alleys are amazing. From about seven feet wide to less then four they are lined with small shops, housing, silk factories, anything you can think of. Although the alleys are too narrow for bike rickshaws, scooters and motorbikes do use them, as do the cows and the goats. It is quite amazing to turn the corner and see the entire alley taken up by a large cow, laying sideways in the alley. We learned that when you get lost in the alleys, which you will, it is impossible not to, listen to the locals. They will point you in the correct direction. Or ask a little boy to guide you to your destination and give him 10 Rs. It will save you a lot of time and frustration.



From Varanasi we went to Orchha, on the Cockroach non-express night train. It was a night to forget, but we probably won't. We passed the time playing increasingly silly versions of Gin Rummy and killing cockroaches. I told Rich later that I would have gladly traded a kidney to be off that train about 8 hours before we were. Maybe even half of a liver. Orchha is amazing. They are in the process of restoring many of the temple and palaces here along the river, and the town is small and friendly, without much of the touting and begging we found in Varanasi.

But still, but still. What is it that makes me feel unsettled? Is it the poverty? Or that fact that since arriving in India we haven't had enough exercise? We'd been walking about 5 to 10 miles per day, but where we've been here in India that is just not possible. Is it the water bottles? Although we bought MicroPur, the silver ionized water purification tablets that allegedly don't taste at all, we haven't used them yet. We've probably gone through more plastic bottles of water in one week in India then the two of did in SF over five years. We both hate the waste and pollution factor of bottled water so at home we use the same bottles over and over, re-fillng them with pure sweet Hetch Hetchy water. OK, maybe the fresh pomegranate juice at the little restaurant in Orchha was not a good idea and that is why I'm now taking loperamide and an antibiotic for my tummy.



Well, cutting to the chase, we are considering a shorter stay in India then we had planned. Rich is looking into getting us to Thailand a week early or so. So, enjoy your coffee and tea and nice drinking water on demand. We'll keep you posted. Everyone in the travel forums says to give India a few weeks, you settle into it. Maybe we will. I'll keep you posted.

We're going where?

So it's good bye Vienna and hello India tomorrow. Goodbye yummy beer, hello Indian food (which we are really looking forward to).



Rich found a place for us to stay in Dehli, the plane gets in at midnight, and he arranged for airport pick up. Stay tuned for more adventures.

Czech borders and beer

Getting from Poland to the Czech Republic was an interesting event. We had left Wroclaw looking for a quiet place for Rich to recover from a nasty cold that gave him a bad cough. We would have liked to stay with our Servas hosts for another night, but Rich was feeling lousy, and coughing a lot, so we hopped a bus to Jelena Gora for two quiet days of rest, gentle walks, and picnic lunchs. And hugging odd carved statues in the woods.






We took a bus from Jelena Gora to the border. Note that I say to the border, not over the border. Why not? Well, for some reason the bus stopped about 100 meters shy of the border and we got to walk across. Rich was in sandals. It was cold. I like to imagine what people are thinking as they see us. Did the border guards call out to each other, check out the crazy american in sandals?

We knew we would like the Czech Republic when the first opportunity to buy Pivo, that’s beer to you and me, was about 40 meters past the border.



And we didn’t even have to walk on the road to the next town, there was a well marked trail to Harrachov.



And in Harrachov there was a brewery combo glass factory. What’s not to love about this town?



We ran into a Rick Steves Czech Beer tour group at this brewery. I bet they didn’t get to walk across any borders. Behind me in this photo is the glass blowing floor. You can’t see in this photo but most of the workers had a pint of beer somewhere in their work area. We assume it was Friday afternoon thing...but maybe not. Maybe they do it when they need to replenish the stock of seconds for sale.



Harrachov was a town of hiking and drinking beer. We took the ski lift up the mountain and hiked and drank beer.



After a cold hike there is nothing like relaxing with a cold beer.




Two days later we took a little chugger train from Harrochov to a slightly larger town, Tanvald, to catch the train to Prague. This was a Sunday.



The train to Prague was pretty empty when it left Tanvald, but at the next station a big group of boy scouts got on. They must have been camping and were heading back to Prague. It got very crowded, with kids standing in the corridors, and backpacks everywhere. Rich had the pleasure of sitting next to a little boy we call ADD Kid. The little guy could not sit still. To top it off, the heat in our compartment was stuck on full blast and it was raining outside so the window couldn’t be left open to combat the fierce heat. Well, we thought, maybe it will put little Mr. Ants in his Pants to sleep. No such luck. He went out in the corridor and stuck his head out that window, got soaking wet, and came and sat back down. But, the kids were actually quite well behaved. As the train continued on more and kids piled on at each station. Cars were added to the train, but still it was standing room in the corridors only. Then, the train stopped and we were all piled onto busses for a ten minute ride to another train station where we all piled back on a different train.

Rich on the Charles Bridge in Prague.

Poland, we love you.

Poland was a joy. The people are so friendly. Bus drivers, taxi drivers, everyone we interacted with was so nice. Yes, I am bit biased as my family on my Mothers side is Polish. Her father left Poland in 1910.

Krakow is a beautiful City, here is Rich at Castle Hill in front of the amazing Cathedral.



Warsaw is a huge city. We walked our feet off and still felt that we didn't really get a grasp of the City. It is simply too big, and has no center that you can point to. The Warsaw Rising museum was amazing though. It chronicles the almost 2 month long fight of the people of Warsaw against the Nazis near the end of WWII (not to be confused with the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, which was earlier in the war, when the Jews decided to fight back.).



The Polish Home Army fought hard, hoping for Ally help, but ultimately lost control of the City again, and Warsaw was bombed into oblivion. The Rising memorial depicts the heroic fight. Here a solder descends into the sewer tunnels which were used to travel and communicate during the battle. Museum website: www.1944.pl



Then it was on to Wroclaw, where we stayed with a Servas family. Wroclaw was the most rewarding stop of our time in Poland. Not only were Wojliech, Malgorzata and Carolina fun to talk to and very hospitable, but we went to the school where Malgorsata teaches and spoke to two of her English classes. She teaches at XII Liceum in Wroclaw and the kids in both classes, III fgh and IE2, were lovely. Rich and I talked about San Francisco and our lives while Malgorzata quizzed the kids and encouraged them to speak up. I talk so fast that I'm amazed they kept up, but they did. English is becoming an even more important second language for a lot of people.

Kids, if you're reading this, keep up the English. You were all wonderful and made our stay in your beautiful city even more fun. Come visit us in SF, we will be signed up as Servas hosts when we return.

To top off our great stay, we discovered that Rich and Malgorzata share a birthday, Oct 24th.