Chandra Mani & Anand Sharma
Darjeeling, West Bengal
Home for "Darjeeling Tea."
Sadus & Yoga,
Hindu Holy Men.
Fantastic Indian Marketplace.
Colorful Nuts & Spices.
Holy Cow (really!)
Meghan at the Brahman Temple
We really had two seperate sojourns in India that could not have been more different. We spent about 10 days in the Northeastern section of India in both West Bengal and Sikkim, in the Himalayan foothills. Then we flew to Delhi and embarked on the "tourist triangle" of New Dehli, Agra, and Rajasthan (although given the time of year and current political climate, we didn't see any tourists).
From Kathmandu, we took a night bus for 10 hours across the border with our great friend, Anand. We stayed with his familiy for four nights near the Indian city of Siliguri. Between time with Anand's incredible family, we went to Darjeeling (famous for tea and Indian tourists from Kalkata), and visited the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (the international climbing school founded by India's Tenzing Norgay - the man who first summited Mt. Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary). There we found out that with just some minor negotiations through notoriously lubgarious Indian beauracracy, we could get permits to the territory of Sikkim, and better our views of Kachenzjunga (the thid highest mountain in the world). So that's what we did.
Back to Anand's, we were continually blown away by the generosity and sweetness of his family (thank you Mommy and Daddy, Indira, Isha, Ashim, Raju, and Kabir).
The rest of our trip in India was just too complicated and too hot (above 110 degrees) to adequately put into words. But the general sense is that we didn't begin to scratch the surface. In some ways, although unspoken between us until later, it was easy to focus on the grime, the pollution, the noise, the relentless touts, the heat, the shocking poverty. But later we compared notes and found that we were thinking the same things. All that, yes, but so much more than that too - the wonderful insanity of it all. In a five minute span, taking place anywhere in the country, there's more to see or experience, than any 24-hour period in western culture.
How amazing.
How crazy.
How India.
And it definately "got" us. We have to go back there and see it again. We know we will. There is just too much to see. There are 1000 more worlds under our radar that we missed out on, and will need at least a few more trips to check it all out.
There's under a month left in our trip but please Email us along the way!
Links
Return to the home page via this link: David Frick
Return to the home page via this link: Meghan Van Vleet
Nepal
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Australia
New Zealand
Fiji
October
September
August
July
June
May
Taj Mahal, Agra.
Overlooking Pushkar, Rajasthan.
The Blue City
Johdpur, Rajastan.
Meghan Atop a Palace Guesthouse
(Rajastan)
David with Pushar behind.