India. Holy Cow!
Greetings from Goa, India.
Depending on who you talk to, India is either the best place in the world or the worst. People either love it or hate it. Fortunately for us, we absolutely love it here (which is good since we're here for over a month). No question, India is a land of extreme and fascinating contradictions. In Varanasi (India's holiest city), the streets are gridlocked by taxis, pedal rickshaws and the ever-present cows. And yet, watching the sun rise over the Ganges with it's ritual bathers (yuck!) and burning funeral pyres was one of the most beautiful and serene experiences we've ever had. Travelling through Rajasthan state, we saw how the rural people live in humble huts with no electricty or running water. Yet, just down the road, there are the marble palaces of the Maharajas - perhaps the most extravagent rulers the world has ever known. We've had to fend off a never-ending stream of touts and hawkers trying to either swindle or sell you something. And yet, we've also met a Jain high-priest who invited us to attend the service at his temple and friendly people who have invited us into their homes. I guess that's the beauty of the place - a swirling mass of humanity that defies definition.
Here are a few other highlights. We visited the absolutely incredible Taj Mahal at dawn. We visited Ranthanbore National Park in search of the elusive Indian tiger. We were thrilled to find a female tiger in heat and followed her for 40 minutes while she roared and marked territory in search of a mate. We did a sundown camel safari in the mystical town of Pushkar (which is Hindi for "Damn, my ass hurts"). And we stayed in a guest house overlooking lake Pichola and the fabulous floating Lake Palace Hotel. And most importantly... the food! We've been eating yummy Indian food day and night. It's incredible and incredibly cheap. A fantastic meal of chicken tikka, panner butter masala and garlic naan for two will set you back a whopping 250 Rupees. Yep, 5 whole dollars. So, eat up. They'll make more!
Sylvie and I will be celebrating Christmas on the beach in Goa and then will be moving on to Kerala further south for New Years. We hope all of you have a Merry Chrisma-Hannu-Kwanza-kah and a Happy New Year!
Namaste
John & Sylvie
More photos are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johngarner
Comments
I can only look every so often of I can't contain the envy as I go back and forth to stupid meetings : )
enjoy your christmas, we'll miss you on the boat (we leave on tuesday!) and see you soon enough - I'll post all our pics here when we get back so you can see how the caribbean is looking : )
Happy belated birthday. Sorry we can't be in the BVIs to celebrate it with you. Read a great article on Vox in the economist of all places. Great company and cool client. Thanks again for turning me on the site. It's been really fun for us. See you in a few weeks. Have a rum punch for me.