Chiang Mai, Sukhothai, Bangkok, THAILAND!

I HEART Sukhothai!

These are from the ruins of the old city of Sukhothai. It was a wonderful day riding my rented bike from site to site and getting really burnt by the sun in the 40C. But folks in Sukhothai know how to party, so by night I drank whiskey and soda to cool off, then got sweaty dancing and singing karaoke!

We were in Chiang Mai for Songkran. Songkran is Thai New Year! Thai folks really know how to celebrate, with a week long, city-wide waterfight! People pile into pick-up trucks and Tuk-Tuks and also rome the streets or stand outside of bars and throw buckets of water on each other. It was the best fun I've ever ever had...I think N.America NEEDS to adopt this tradition!

Thailand is known as "Land of a thousand Buddhas" In Bangkok there's the Black Buddha, Golden Buddha, Emerald Buddha, Big Buddha, Standing Buddha, Reclined Buddha...etc...etc...They are all very exquisite.

city shots

The Chai-Wala in the alley next to my Amedabad hotel made the best chai I've had so far, at the tender age of 8 or so.

These are shot from moving rickshaws through the streets of Amedabad.

Rollin' with the homies.

The mean streets of Bombay or Mumbai depending on who you talk to! Cricket, I don't get it. These kids were an awesoome BMX/B-boy crew. The one in the striped jacket wanted me to kiss him on the cheek so I made him do a bunch of flips and stuff first, then he gave me his phone number and told me to come over for dinner! I thought it was sweet but didn't accept the invite.

Fresh Fruit juice is my favouritest part of India I think. In Canada we pay like $10 for fresh juice, here it's equivilant to $0.75! There's a drink called faluda, it consists of ice cream, fruit and vermicelli noodles and some other mystery ingredient that looks like fish eggs. I haven't had the balls or the stomach to try it yet...

Udaipur Holi Festival

Udaipur, Rajasthan!

HAPPY HOLI! I don't know if that is how you spell it, Holi is a festival where every one goes nuts smearing eachother with coloured powder! The photo of me with green on my face isn't even half of what was to come the following day...I was cleaning colour out of my ears for weeks!

The tall woooden srtucture in the photo below was to be a giant bon fire (example to the left) I have a wicked video of what it took to light the giant fire, where they proceed to shoot fireworks, it almost cause a riot and wound up with the electricity to the town square put out! What FUN!

Photos from Amedabad!

This was an unusual site in Amedabad. A non-functioning well that descended some 100ft. underground. Quite ornate like many things in India. It was situated in the middle of a neighbourhood and seemed that no one paid it much attention. In fact the only other people around were a couple kids who, as me and my Australian friend reached the very bottom, proceeded to hawk loogies, managing to hit the Aussie on the head! Upon exiting the well, we sat under a tree where a bird shat directly on my face. I had to laugh, what else could I do?

Satyagraha Ashram. I found it very well presented (unlike too many of the museums and galleries in India) And I bought half of the English books that were available in their book shop! Gandhiji was pretty cool. He's known as the Father of the Nation, if you don't know why you should read up about it. India has, to this day, a prevalent Caste system. Gandhi spoke out against this system and invited Harijans (lower caste folks) to live freely in the Ashram, which stirred dissent from many of the other inmates, but was quite revolutionary for his time. Caste, however, is still observed in many parts of the country.

I am here

I spent a couple days in Amedabad, Gujarat. Another Australian traveler described it as a hell hole, which sort of matched my experience there. Maybe it was from travel fatigue that I was sensitive and emotional. The worst of it was 2 creepers following me around one night until I managed to lose them (which I had to try really hard to do) The awesomest part of the city ws visiting Gandhi's Satyagraha Ashram. A little piece of amazing history there of which I will post photos soon.
From there I visited Udaipur, Rajasthan. I fell in love with the city and my original 3 day stay turned in a week or so...partly because I got ill...from what I don't know. The guest house where I stayed was lovely and family owned. The people I met were fun and the city is just beautiful with Mountains in the distance and the lake near by. There are lots of rooftop restaurants with spectacular views. I visited a temple in the mountains (the name of which I cannot recall) that was entirely carved out of white marble with something like 1400 exquisite pillars. A week in Udaipur proved to be quite enough for me and it was onward! Sick of being in cities I moped around Delhi for a few hours before boarding a bus for Rishikesh, and I am now in Himalayan heaven! Photos and more to come...

I met very friendly Prachi and her equally friendly but quiet husband on the train. Even though we barely spoke eachothers' languages we got along famously. They invited me to dinner and I accepted (even though many folks warn against that sort of thing.) I got a glimpse an Indian household and community.

The high lights of Aurangabad were the ancient cave temples of Ellora and Ajintha. Very detailed Hindu, Jain and Buddhist temples carved out of mountains. Elephanta Island, Mumbai times 100! Flash photography was prohibited so these photos are from the outisde, one at ground level and one looking down from the cliff.

मुंबई Part 1

It's been a while.
I was in Mysore, seeking living accomodations and decided that I didn't want to stay in that city for an extended period. Soon after arriving, I departed, heading for Goa with a new friend!
It was a long ride on a bus where i suspect bed bugs feasted on my legs, and then a train where I slept sitting up because not only were bunks all taken but also every inch of floor space! Stepping off the train in Madgaon, Goa my traveling buddy and I hauled our heavy bags to the road to wait for a local bus, when a very adament taxi driver stopped to talk to us. He was heading to where we wanted to go, Panaji - an hour away, and would take us there for Rs.300. After some haggling, literally us walking away several times and him circling around again and lowering the price, we got the ride for Rs.100.
Panajai AKA Panjim is the capitol of Goa, maintains a European flavour, or after taste, from the former Portuguese colonialists. It is quite lovely, and a place i would definitely return to for further exploration! I didn't make it to a beach which is a major highlight of the state, but what evs. I did go and see a World Heritage site though! The Basilica Bom Jesus where the relics (i think that means corpse) of Saint Francis Xavier are contained. His dedication to the spread of Christianity lead him all over the world. He also founded the college of Jesuits. yep.
Onward! next stop Mumbai, en route to Aurangabad!
Meeting awesome people always assures me that i am on the right track, and this train was full of them! a mother-daughter-father team were going to secure a Visa to the USA so the daughter could join her husband there. They were awesome because we had similar interests in Yoga and Meditation and spirituality in general. Mother was reading a book on Sufism, daughter was reading a book on Holistic lifestyle and father had attended several Goekna Vipassana retreats and was cracking jokes. All were genuinely smiling, shiny and bright.
I made another friend with whom I discussed the Indian teacher Osho, and some of his lessons on being authentic. A ride i thought was going to be slightly painful flew by without measure!
Mumbai! the most expensive place for accomodations in the country. Very crowded city, feels worse then NYC. My room at the city Palace (for 2 nights) was basically a shoebox, and no one had the decency to cut out any windows. Oh well, clean enough! With my Osho reading friend from the train I visited Elephanta Island where there is another world heritage site, a Cave temple devoted to Shiva. Very breath taking!
Part 2 is to come!

Namaste!

First impression; Bangalore was jaw dropping from the moment we left the airport. Once we entered the city in a taxi the intensity thickened. From narrow streets, fast moving, non-stop jumbled traffic (not always dividing lines, so sometimes the drivers swerve around vehicles moving too slow and it seems for a moment that a head on collision with on-coming traffic is imminent, to cows and dogs roaming the streets। We arrived safely at the home of our beautiful hosts, friends of friends. After a day of getting oriented with the city, the pace and the culture the original sense of bewilderment subsided. Now I am more used to things here in Bangalore, and feeling ready to explore more of what India has to offer. Next stop Mysore!

Landed at last!

We've arrived in Asia!

Landed in Singapore at 8:00am local time.

The flight was not as bad as I anticipated! I always bring books with me on buses and planes, but never seem to read them. Outside the windows is much more consuming. The films that the airline offered were helpful too though. I saw more movies in 21 hours then i have seen in 6 months! I did bits of yoga on the planes and at the gates, very helpful although I got inquisitive glances and stares.

Singapore is wonderfully balmy. The highway from the airport lined with green bushes blooming purple blossoms. The architecture is cool, with lots of modern buildings in the works. We are staying with 2 of Steph's amazing friends. They live in a part of town that contains older buildings from the 50s or 60s, and while most of the old buildings have been torn down to make way for newer brighter, glass towers, this part of town is protected as historic. It is just my style, I'm not much of a condo liver.

We are going to check out a Dim Sum joint and a local market now. Feeling surprisingly fine energy-wise. I know jet-lag is looming.

Hurray! Singapore!

Tomorrow we're off!

I got my malaria prophylactic.

Clothes and toiletries in a backpack (back pack courtesy of the lovely "Sabs")

Money, cards, ID and insurance sorted out.

I'm trying to make the rounds and say good byes to all the loved ones, won't get to see everyone before I go though, Boooo-urns.

Not so much looking forward to the flight tomorrow. I have a feeling I will land in Singapore with a severe pain in the ass, I don't mean Steph ;D

Farewell Canada!

Not yet left! Next Friday

Greetings!

I hope this blog helps you stay rather up to date on my where abouts and activities! The count down of days has begun for my and my sister, Steph's departure which is set for Friday, February 5th, 201o!

Stay tuned to see what comes of the VZ sisters!!!!!

Love Leah