Just a few quick pictures...

I won't lie.  I'm not very interested in writing this post.  I have other things on my mind (i.e. books, food and shopping).  But I wanted to post some pictures of Rishikesh.  It's a small hilltop that is so loud from the hours of 7 AM - 9 PM.  And then, silent.  Dead silence. 

Lots of travelers and lots of chai.  I hope everyone misses me as much as I miss mexican food...

P

 

The view outside my hotel at 7.00 AM.  It's quite dead.  But in a few hours, every stall will be full and everyone will be singing 'Shiva shambo'!

 

The very auspicious ganga.  Just steps away from my hotel.  I believe Rishikesh is the starting point of the ganga (thus its cleanliness).  It's pretty dirty in Varanasi.

 

The view above the ganga as the sun rises.  It's quite spectacular :).

 

Laxmanjhula!!  There are so many monkeys on this bridge!  And actually, monkeys just roam the streets.  It's quite unclear whether humans or animals are in charge in India.  They just roam freely.  No joke, yesterday a cow came into the store where I was shopping.  A cow.  India is great.

 Great statue of Shiva while the sun sets.  There is an aarti held here every night.  The statue is magnificent. You can't see it from here, but his entire body is outlined in great detail.

 Hanuman!  Rescuer of Sita from Raven.  All along the walls, there's a mural depicting the story of Ramayana.  I'm not sure why his heart is missing...

Plane, plane, bus, metro, bus, bus, bus, rickshaw...Rishikesh

Yes, that's the number of switches I made to get here.  I must really want to be here...

But in all seriousness, it's quite amazing.  Honestly, I'm so lost in this moment, that I don't think I can pull myself out of it to capture it properly.  But a few quick scene setting details:
- I walk out of my hostel with a view of the Ganga.  For those who don't know, Rishikesh is a jump off point to the Himalayas.  The Ganga doesn't originate here, but it's quite clean up here.  Perhaps I'll wash some layers of karma off, if I have the guts for it.
- 7 Rupee chai...so good.
- A hanging bridge (Laxmanjhula), running across the Ganga
- It feels like Redmond, Thai Tom, Seattle, the space needle are another universe away

Apologies for the lack of pictures.  But at least you get my thoughts!!

P

a few departing thoughts...

boarding the flight now, so this will be brief...
things in excited for:
- dirt cheap chai
- best veggie food ever
- smell of smog
- heat
- watching the men hold pinkies...
and of course...airline food!! I loved it since I was a kid...

also, if any of my beloved fans really ever want to travel to India, a few tips:
- get an indian SIM card
- create an account on makemytrip or cleartrip
- get rupees before ($100-150)
-ODOMOS!! Advice courtesy of my mother :)
- have a way to call India. India loves the internet, but its main way of doing things still is via phone. A Skype account is generally enough

hopefully my next post will be from abroad, with a cup of piping hot chai!

P

Resetting expectations

no Myanmar...most people are trying to get out of Myanmar; I'm the only idiot trying to get in.

so, the problem w Myanmar is: things change at the drop of the hat. The lonely planet is littered with warnings like 'at the time this was written...' 'check with government officials...' and 'its up to the discretion of the Myanmar government...'. I'll just use the word subjective, to put it simply.

last I read, the country offered on arrival visas for tourists. Apparently that was a 1 month offer (can countries do that??). Soooo, I was about to board my flight and BAM! they denied me access to the gate. No visa, no entry.

I called my uncle who lives in san Fran, bummed w the fam for 2 days, sulked them in my sorrows, pulled my act together and reset my course of action.

the interesting thing is that this is my professional job: planning and damage control. I feel like the older you get, the more your life becomes about risk management. I'm not too sure how I feel about that. Actually, I know exactly how I feel and I hate it. I just want to be invincible for the rest of my life.

so I'm off to India in 2 days (for sure). I think I may go to rishikesh. Its a little ashram town in the both w a yogi yoga instructor.

is it weird that there is a part of me that is dreading India? Don't get me wrong, I love India. But. My experience in London has made me fearful if traveling. Hence the whole risk management topic. Aside: I dislocated my elbow bouldering in London. It was miserable.

I won't let my fears control me. There's a lot left for me to learn from India. I just wish I was going some where new too :(. Ah well, just a few more years. I'm not ready to be a 40 year old, conservative adult, who sleeps next to a financial calculator just yet ( but, maybe I'll never be that person!). I'm gonna be 25 and as snoop and wiz would say: young wild and free.

India...here i come!!

 

NEVER use travelocity. Travelocity sucks.

Travelocity sucks.  Although they are in a service industry, they have no problem screwing over a customer. 

As you can probably assume, I am NOT in Myanmar (the entire story revealed in another blogpost).  Long story short, travelocity would not reschedule my flight and I was forced to miss it.  And of course, $900 down the drain. Travelocity, Cheapoair, kayak...make very little money off any flight (~$5.00), so they have absolutely no monetary incentive to fight for a customer.  They are just a middle man.  In the end, the customer is the one who eats it.

Until a more perky post...

Priya

Myanmar countdown - 5 days

Yesssss...this is it. I'm barely packed, bought my lonely planet 2 days ago, got some travelers checks, and am saying my goodbyes...apologies for the profanity, but FUCK ya! Its time to travel!!

so, to review the itinerary: Myanmar for 10 daya, India for 10, then home.

for those who don't know, I travel...light. And spontaneously :). Part of the appeal being detaching yourself from everything. Buddhism and Hinduism 101: detach yourself from the material world. Just getting back to my roots. Interesting fact: Steve jobs was Buddhist.

apparently Obama just came back from Myanmar (trade sanctions are officially open!) so clearly he asked me to tie up the loose ends after he did the prelims ;). No, but really, the country is changing. I bet 10 years from now ita going to look more and more like Thailand.

fun fact: credit cards are just pieces of plastic, they hold no value. Myanmar isn't recognized by OFAC (some financial institution). This is new, even for me!!

but I've come so far!! Who would have ever thought a little brown girl from Detroit would make her way to the depths of SE Asia? I definitely didn't. I didn't even realize traveling was a part of me until I didn't have it.

the first 3 days will suck. I'm going to miss running water and clean bathrooms and toilet paper (such an American concept). Buuuut, i gotta push through the pain; because then it gets so good.

until our next encounter my beloved fans

I miss traveling

It's been soooooo long.  I'm exhausted with America.  I'm exhausted with materialism.  I'm exhausted with commercialism.  I'm exhausted with policies, rules, skinny jeans and politics.  I'm exhausted with the bullshit that is a first world country.

I underestimated how much traveling is a part of me.  Maybe it's not even traveling; maybe it's just change.  It's hard to be in one place for so long.  There are two types of people in this world: travelers & tourists.  It is fundamentally impossible for me to be the latter.  Tourists have the luxury of calling one place home.  I'm not sure travelers can say the same.

But I just need to wait.  Myanmar in December.  It was one of the few countries I couldn't visit when I was living in Thailand; no border crossings allowed.  But I'm on my way!  I have NO IDEA what I am going to do there.  But without traveling, I feel myself slowly losing a sense of self.  I haven't been abroad, properly, since Costa.  First world countries don't count.

You might ask: what is it about traveling I love so much?  Ever wonder: why do people need a green light to go? Why do I need to pay my rent? What would happen if I didn't?  What if we lived outside the lines we drew so long ago?  Would the world stop turning?  Or, would we see that 24 hours can be used for...anything. 

There are no rules with traveling.  The only rule is to make your own rules; something I've always done well :).  But making your own rules means you don't really 'fit' the ones everyone else abide by.  But generally speaking, I fit the constraints of a tourist life (good job, good friends, good apartment).  But I'll never really fit.  A nuanced life.   

I cannot wait to scratch this traveling itch.  I can't stop staring out windows (ironically, Windows 8 released today!).  I'm sorry if this was a depressing post.  I honestly didn't intend for it to be :).  I could not ask for a better life.  I have everything I've ever wanted.  But to be frank:  This must be what a wild animal feels when it's caged in a zoo.  Restless...but on the bright side, it's a really pretty zoo.

And of course, I'll leave you with some never ending pictures of Nepal...

Yes, there is a wild animal on the top of that hill!  And yes, that's a hill...

 

Excellent craftsmanship.

Nepalis LOVE posing for photos...especially since there were only 7 travelers on the trail.

I was so tired.  I actually remember sitting down here...Kish was out of water, so I gave him the rest of mine :). 

Seriously, what if this was in your back yard?

Greedy.

Katmandhu. Diwali's coming up!!

Priya



 

Aufwiedersehen Deutschland, cheers London!

The last few days in Germany were...awesome!  Igor's 28th birthday was on May 2nd (3 important people in my life are tauruses...go figure) and we celebrated it on the 4th.  We went paintballing...I thought I was going to be awesome.  I definitely was not.

I seriously think paintball is a sport for people who really like first person shooter games (i.e. Halo, Doom - for the older folks out there).  There were no trees to climb up, so I just kinda hid in the back and tried to shoot people.  I wasn't the most successful.  And I surrendered really easily.  Some pictures:

Me before paintball started.  As you can tell, I'm wearing climbing clothes...I'm an idiot.  You gotta layer up for paintball!  Those things hurt!!

Left to right: Dennis, Katja (priceless expression!), and Tabea (Igor's girlfriend)

Me, still smiling before paintball....our paintball instructor took pity on me and gave me an extra pair of pants to wear!

Tabea, Igor's girlfriend, giving a thumbs up!!  That mask is very becoming of her...



This is Igor's original team.  I think Yusre (the guys on the very right who is turned away), is smoking...oh, Germans...

But!  The cool thing is that we got to go bouldering on saturday!!  For those of you who don't know, I've gotten really into climbing.  Bouldering is a type of climbing where you are not tethered.  So climb up and jump down.  You're never climbing very high though.  But it is tricky.  German boulderers are very different than Seattle ones.  Differences:

• Height: Seattle is filled shorter people at the gym; in Germany, every guy was like 6 ft tall.  This actually makes a really big different because it determines how far apart the grips are placed.  A taller person has a bigger winspan than a shorter person.  So moves taller people can make, I literally have to jump to make.
• Overhangs:  There are a lot of overhangs in Germany, where you are almost literally climbing upside down.  One of the cool/defining characteristics about bouldering is that it is much more daring than regular climbing.  If you miss a hold, you will fall.  Climbing in an overhang is...tiring, to say the least :).  Gravity's a bitch (sorry Newton).  Anyway, more overhangs == need more strength during climbing.  German climbers are pretty strong.
• Arm strength vs. core strength:  As mentioned above, German climbers are strong.  The interesting thing about climbing is that the best climbers int he world aren't necessarily the strongest, but they know exactly how to shift their body weight, which means they have incredible core strength.  The latter is where Seattle falls.  A climber who relies on their arm strength to work their way up the wall, it's pretty clear that every move requires a lot of effort.  A core strength climbers looks pretty effortless on the wall (but it requires just as much effort!)

Alas, now I've left Germany.  But I'm London!  And I'll give you a hint that I'm not here to drink high tea or eat the shortbread....I'm here to visit my sister!  She moved to London 1.5 years ago (about the same time as I went to Seattle).  So, I finally came out to see here!

Cheerio ol chaps!

 Priya

Back on the road again...

Perhaps I should use a different title for this post...my mother might read this and reach straight for the telephone to call the Nepali embassy and ask if they know where I am :).

But, for those of my readers who are...salivating for my next post, here it is!  I am back on the road!  But this time in a much more tame (somewhat lame!), expensive and orderly place: Germany.  1st world countries...how they bore me :) (sometimes).  But this in one in particular, because for those you who don't know - I spent a year studying abroad in Germany.  I took a year off of high school and college to 'study' in Germany for a year.  I use the term 'study' lightly since I wasn't learning in a conventional sense...

Now, my more critical readers might be asking themselves: why are you in Germany if you aren't really that excited about being there?  Well, if I'm not travelling to eat food, to see a new place or to indulge in my expensive hobbies (i.e. diving/climbing), then what could I be traveling for? People!  I'm traveling to see people.  My best friend, Igor, lives in Germany.  Brief context: Igor and I met on my year abroad.  He ended up being the next door neighbor of my host family.  I guess we hit it off in the first few weeks and have hung out ever since (6 years!).  He's visited me 3 times in America...I thought it might be time for me to come visit him :).  Igor:

Yes, Igor is 3 years old.   

No, but really, this is him in real life

So, the question reigning over your mind is probably: what does it feel like?  Being back in Germany after your year abroad? (clearly, I pretend that I'm being interviewed by the paprazzi...).  It's pretty...refreshing.  Germany was the start of my travels.  It was the first place I'd been to, aside from India & Canada, that I needed a passport.  I came here as a novice adventurer.  Now, 6 years later, I come here as a beginner (seriously, not that much more learned...).  It feels refreshing!  Germany is still Germany.  The trains are on time; the pretzels are delicious; Germans stare at brown girls...everything is the same as I remember, but in a better light.

I think its really easy to feel overwhelmed by the world.  There is no way you'll be able to see and do everything in one lifetime, much less one visit.  There's always a new place to go or something you missed in an old place.  But...it's kind of nice to see Germany similar to the way I left.  It makes you think the world I just a little bit smaller than envisioned.

Ok, bis bald meine lieblingse leser!

Priya