India

My vacation is over now and I am back to work. It took me 48 hours to get back. I am adding the last pictures as I was not able to at the last place. The electricity was off and the computers were running on the generator. Maybe that was the trouble. My last couple of weeks in Goa were very relaxing. I spend a lot of time walking or biking on the beach and in town. I am not one to sunbath, so I rather walked along the differnt beaches.

Today is Monday and on Wednesday morning I will be flying from Goa to Delhi to catch my plane to the USA. I had a wonderful time here in this Country. Wished to have more time to see the southern countryside. I hear that Kerala and many other parts of the country down here are supposed to be just beautiful to see.

Still, I am glad to be able to have seen what I did. Now, being here in Goa which is a great place to relax and enjoy life. I have spent many hours walking along the beautiful sandy beaches. Went to a weekly flea market in Anjuna last week. It is on the northern part of Goa and the beach was a bit more rocky there.

Yesterday I rented a bicycle and spend all day riding around the smaller towns south of here. I returned on the hard beach sand at low tide. It was a wonderful day.

I have met many people and made many new friends, here and all over India, locals and also travelers.

I am looking forward to go home to see everyone, but am still sad that this trip will be over so very soon.

I tried to add a few more pictures, but the computer is to slow today. If I can not do so later on, may have to try after I get home.

Bea

Ok I am entering two entries in one day. I have not had a chance to do more in the recent week as I did not have a fast enough computer.

I had planned on taking a train to Jaisalmer up in the north of Rajasthan, but my lungs kept giving me problems, so I decided to not go into the desert. I was actually looking forward to go on camel safari, but. Well I decided to get some ocean air. I took from mt Abu a bus to Amedhabad in Guejerat and then took two planes over Bombay to Goa. It is a small state on the Arabien Sea in southern India. Great weather and great beaches. I have a hotel two minutes walk from the beach. I can go and eat anytime on the beach in one of many eating establishments. The water is lukewarm. So, I will be seeing some of the sites here now instead up north. They have spice planatations and coconut trees here. There are wildlife sanctuaries close by. It used to be under Portugese control until the 60s. People in southern india are more educated and more people speak english here. I have a wonderful hotel room, a bit more expensive but am planning on staying for a while so thought I go up in the world and be a bit more comfortable.

I stayed in Udaipur for six nights and enjoyed my stay very much. There was so much to see in and around the town. One day I took a car with driver and went to Kumbalgarh (fort)and Ranakpur (temple). It was worth the trip. I then had to leave Udaipur as the festival Divali was in full swing and I did not have any hotel room anymore. So I again took the same car and driver and he drove me to Mt Abu the only hill station in Rajasthan. The highest mountain in Rajasthan is there. It is a small town of 20,000 by a lake. I stayed 4 nights there and did a bus tour around the area visisting temples and just the beautiful countrysite. I also walked around the lake and just rested a bit.

Hi everyone. I made it to Udaipur Rajasthan on Saturday the 3rd of November.

From the Bandhavgarh Tiger Sanctuary I took a taxi for 100+ kilometers to Katri where I caught an overnight train to Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. It has 3.5 million population. I had the afternoon in Jaipur, so took me a taxi for five hours to see the sights. The old part of the city is all painted in pink. The city itself is a bit cleaner than Agra and Delhi.

In the evening I took another overnight train to Udaipur. I am here now and am really enjoying the city. It is a very beautiful city with many sights to see. There are Palaces and museums to visit. I will stay here at least three nights.

Yesterday I relaxed and just walked around the town a bit. Population is actually around 300,000. It is a city by a large manmade lake.

I am splurging and got me a very beautiful hotel room which is spotless and has hot water and everything ($10 per night). There are many tourists here in town. This town is on the Tourist circuit. Last night I enjoyed my dinner on the rooftop restaurant in my hotel. A nice german couple joined me. The views are just exceptional.

I finally was able to enter the pictures of the tiger I saw. I think they came out great.

Sorry about the picture of my hotel here. I don't know how to straighten out the pictures.

Well till next time. I may head up to Mt A or Ranakpur next, or the ocean. Don't know yet.

Bea

Ok, I have not had a lot of time or ability having a fast computer. A lot of things have happened since my last entry. After leaving Mc Leod Ganj we went for Rishikesh the yoga capital of the world. We stayed a day and then went up to do some trekking in the higher Himalayas by Gangotri. It is on one of the tributaries of the Ganges river. The Glacier is only a couple of days walk away. It was quite cold up there. Close to 10000 feet. Edith got the Delhi belly and was not able to walk, so I was going to do some day trekking only with some friends from Italy and Argentina we met on the bus. But we could also not do that as the trails were closed to foreigners. Seven had frozen to death on a treck. So we ended up heading down the hill back to Rishikesh again. We were three days on the very narrow road in a rickedy bus with people on top of it. But we made it. It was very beautiful up there.

The day of my birthday we stayed in Haridwar for the night as out train to Agra left at 6:00am. Haridwar is not a very touristy city but has a twice daily celebration on the Ganges river. We joined everyone and afterwards we had a nice dinner in a better than usual place.

My lungs were starting to act up by then from all of the smog around here.

Arrived in Agra were the Taj Mahal is on the 25th of October. The smog was so great that we could hardly see the monument from our rooftop restaurant which is very close by.

On the 26th we took a city tour and bought some carpet. I hope that it will make it. Edith went to the Taj Mahal to take some pictures, I was on prednisone by then and did not want the smog anymore.

Stayed a day in Ochra by Jhansi. A beautiful small town with all kind of palaces. We met a couple from Italy and and Edith went with them to Varanazi. We already had a ticket to go there, but I did not feel like seeing another city with polution. I went instead to this beautiful area without many tourists. It took me 30 hours to get here frm Ochra. It is a Tiger sanctuary with over 40 tigers in it. Went for Safari this pm with an Indian family. We did not get to see a tiger yet.

Will leave for another safari tomorrow morning at 5:30am.

So far everything is doing just great. This place does not see many foreign tourists, so no touts or agressive selling. People want to help me find my way. On the train here I had only a very low class ticket and just went into a higher class one. Someone gave me a bunk to sleep on and I was able to upgrade my ticket. Some people helped me in getting a tuk tck to get me a cheaper price. So all is well. Will try to head for Rajhastan now. Have to see how to get there. Edith will meet me there somewhere. She may go to Kathmandu for a couple of days first. I rather stay out of the large cities.

My hotel room is here just great. They even have toilet paper, sheets and towels and all clean. Life is good. and only about $8 a night.

So until the next time. Bea

ok, I finally figured out how to add the pictures.

They are first from Delhi then Golden Temple in Amristar, at Attari border with Pakistan and now in McLeod Ganj by Dahrmsala.

We like it here in the foothills a lot. The food is great. The population is mainly Tibetan here. Today is all day a great celebration for the Dalai Llama receiving the medal in the USA

I am finally having a chance to write. We arrived in Delhi on time and the hotel picked us up as planned. It was a long flight and we are just now starting to get over the jet lag. It is a 12.5 hours difference in time.

Spent two nights at the hotel Namaskar in the Pharaganj area of Delhi. Didn't do too much there. Got our train ticket for Amristar. The touts are very aggressive in that city, which we already knew, but it is still a shock when one is tired and new in the country.

Early on Saturday the 13th we left by train which was three hours late. Arrived in Armistar after dark, so took a tuk tuk with a german couple to the Golden Temple.

The temple compound is just awesome. Everyone was very friendly. It is the Sikh's most holiest place. Kind of like Mekka is to the muslims.

Many Pilgrims were there who also sleep there. We slept also at the temple. A seperate room is set aside for foreigners. They were very full but found me an actual bed and for Edith a mattress on the floor. Though, she did have to dodge the mice at night. I think she was lying in their path. The first night we also ate at the Temple. They serve over 60,000 pilgrims per day.

The second day we went to Attari at the Pakistani border and watched their daily closing ceremony. It was very clorful.

On Monday we started our journey to McLeod Ganj by Darmhsala were the Dalai Llama lives. It took us all day. First local train, then toy train (small guage) then by bus and the rest by taxi as it was dark. Are now in the Om Guest House which is very nice. Paying 275 rupees (about $7). We will be staying for at least another three nights here.

So far, I can say that India is an amazing country. In different parts are very different people. If one can overlook the dirt and dust it is a wonderful place.

I will try tomorrow to add some pictures. I was not able to figure it out today.