Kenzie and Josh take on (and crush) the Himalayas

For those of you who didn't know, my sister Sam and I hiked the Mist Trail in Yosemite a few months back (Josh's outdoorsiness must be rubbing off on me). I would have popped the pimple that was Half Dome as well, except the rangers wouldn't let me hike it due to snow (wooses). So, of course, when I came to India, Josh and I had to conquer the Himalayas.
For Josh's last weekend in town, we headed to Dharamshala and McLeod Ganj, a town on the middle range of the Himalayas that just happens to be the home of the Dalai Lama (and sometimes Richard Gere). The weather looked like this:

Despite the monsoon, Josh and I hiked up 200 meters from McLeod Ganj (at 1770 meters) to Bhagsu, a little town with a cool waterfall...... which, of course, we climbed up to.

We also hiked to Dharamkot, a hippie village. Here we sat down and enjoyed the scenery from inside an open-air cafe:

The scenery was amazing even with the mist, and when it finally cleared up the last day: well, see for yourself:

Yes, I have seen the Himalayas!

I'm a millionaire!

In Indian rupees that is. Each dollar is worth 50 rupees so the exchange rate is definitely in my favor. In addition, everything is cheaper here. High-end hotel rooms are $100, pedicures are $10, great meals are $30. The only expensive thing is the wine...it's about double the price it is in the US, and the selection is crapola. Grrrr...no Riesling for Kenzie.

Anyways this is the first time I have been "wealthy" in my definition of the word- I can afford more than 99.9% of people in India just because I receive a US salary. I have to be honest: it's amazing! I can purchase a meal, hotel room, massage without ever looking at the price tag. I better watch out or this whole experience is going to go to my head. I need to remind myself I still have US bills to pay :) To give you an idea of this out-of-this-world experience, here are two of the hotels I've stayed at:



The ITC Sheraton Mughal in Agra: Josh and I got a room upgrade to a suite because I am a Gold Member of Starwood (thank you Dallas case!).


We had our own pet fish in this suite!



The ITC Sheraton Rajputana Palace in Jaipur: Another room upgrade...there must not be many Starwood members in India. Bonus: I used Starwood points so the stay was free.

Josh's Amazing Adventures in Nepal, Part II

I couldn't go to Nepal without doing a little trekking. Bryan cheerfully agreed to accompany me on a hike through the mountains outside Kathmandu.
We walked uphill for 11 km, gaining 900 meters of elevation - in only 3 1/2 hours. It was very foggy and often rainy, but also quite pretty.
Finally we arrived at Phulchoki, the highest point in the Kathmandu Valley - and a Nepali army barracks. The soldiers here helpfully told us that we couldn't keep going past Phulchoki because the trail was overgrown by bush and washed out by mudslides. (Darn monsoon season.) I'm of the opinion that if a Nepali army officer tells you not to attempt a hike, you should probably take his word for it.
We had nowhere to go but back down the hill. So our trek, which was planned for two days, got downgraded to one day. Oh well - it was still a pretty intense day, and it turned out we got our best photo-ops on the way down.And after we got back to Kathmandu, I discovered I had two leech bites!

Josh's Amazing Adventures in Nepal, Part I

Hi y'all,

You may be wondering why the blog hasn't been updating recently. It's quite simple, really: Josh has been traveling. But he's back now, and he's ready to regale you with his exciting stories from a week spent in Nepal.

I had to get out of town, really. Mackenzie works all day Monday through Friday, and it gets kinda boring around here without her. So I flew by myself from Delhi to Kathmandu on Monday morning and back on Friday evening. I hung out with Anne and Bryan - friends of my sister's who are living in the Kathmandu area. I hadn't seen Anne and Bryan in years, but they nevertheless took the time to show me around Kathmandu and introduce me to Nepali culture.

The city of Kathmandu is in a big valley, which means there are gorgeous Himalayan mountain views in every direction.Unfortunately, the mountains are sometimes hard to see, because Kathmandu is also one of the smoggiest cities in the world. It is apparently common knowledge here that every gas station in Nepal adulterates its gasoline with kerosene, which increases the sellable volume but makes the gas exhaust MUCH smoggier. Somebody call Captain Planet.

Nepal, unlike India, has a large Buddhist population. Buddhist temples are called stupas, and Buddhists like to build their stupas on top of big hills. Like, really big hills. I climbed all the way up to the top of Swayambuh temple in Kathmandu. There were a LOT of steps (only about half are pictured here) but the panoramic view from the top was amazing.

Nepal also has Hindus. We went to Pashupatinath, the holiest Shiva temple in the world, on the banks of the holy Bagmati river. Funerals take place in public here: bodies are wrapped in orange cloth (orange is a holy color!), their feet are dipped in the river, and then they are placed on funeral pyres and cremated. Being cremated at Pashupatinath is an honor: members of the Nepali royal family are cremated here in public after their death. I felt a little weird watching strangers' funerals from across the river, but Bryan assured me that this is totally normal here - and in fact a bunch of Nepalis were watching along with us. Some of them appeared to be couples on dates.
Even the monkeys come to watch the funerals - probably because people feed them.
Nepal has a lot of cows. And pigeons.

Jai ho Jaipur!

Jai Ho, Jaipur

The city of Jaipur is the capital of the Indian state of Rajasthan. "Jai-pur" means "victory city", and "Raja-sthan" means "land of kings" - so as you can guess, this is a city with a proud military heritage. In fact, it was ruled until 1947 by a dynasty of Maharajahs who still hold a ceremonial title. Jaipur is also nicknamed "the pink city", because back in the 1800's one Maharajah had the city walls and all the main streets painted pink. To me it looks more like a salmon color though.

In Jaipur we saw...City palace, an old palace of the Maharajahs that had been converted into a museum .

Jantar Mantar, a collection of gigantic astronomical instruments in stone. One of them is a 75-foot-tall sundial, called ".. Yashan", meaning "Giant instrument". This guy might have been compensating.

The Hawa Mahal ("Palace of Winds"). A tall but narrow building overlooking the main street, with lots of little windows so the harem could look out on passing parades (yay women's rights.)

Mackenzie's favorite site: The Rambagh, an old palace of the Maharajah's that has been converted into a really nice hotel. We ate dinner here and then walked around the grounds. Maybe we will stay here next time we come to Jaipur :)

The Jaigarh fort: a big fort atop a hill. It had amazing views of Jaipur, as well as the world's largest wheeled cannon (more compensating?) - which has only been fired once. Think of it like the Death Star.

The Taj Mahal!

Once we finally got to Agra, we saw the one thing that every American wants to see in India: the Taj Mahal. We arrived in Agra the day before so we could wake up before dawn and see the Taj at sunrise. It was amazing: white marble writ large, gleaming in the dawn. We had to take off our shoes just to approach it - though first we took our canonical Taj Mahal photos, of course.

Fun Facts: The Taj Mahal was built in the mid-17th century by Shah Jahan, a Mughal emperor. It was a mausoleum for Mumtaz Mahal, his favorite wife. (His other wives are buried just outside the complex... I bet they're really ticked off.) Shah Jahan was overthrown by his son Aurangzeb, who imprisoned him in a fort nearby where he could look out and see the Taj. (At least Aurangzeb didn't kill Shah Jahan... there's family ties for you.)

Things we saw on the way to Agra

We took an Indian road trip - from Delhi to Agra! The following pictures were all taken from inside our car as Vinod took us on the 5-hour drive.


The obligatory "cows crossing the road" picture. This happens all the FRIGGIN time.


All week we've been seeing these guys - walking by the side of the road, dressed in orange, carrying colorful frilly contraptions. They are pilgrims carrying holy water from the Ganges River in Haridwar, returning to their home towns and villages. They need to arrive back at home in time for the Kanwar Yatra festival. I bet that's good exercise.


These guys are preparing an elephant to be ridden.


Crossing the state line. Yes, India has "states" just like the USA - though we didn't see any signs for an "Uttar Pradesh Welcome Center."

In which Josh cleverly avoids deportation

Mackenzie has a job here in India, so she has a business visa. I, however, am here just for fun - so I have a tourist visa. And the government of India, out of an apparent distaste for tourists, has attached all sorts of weird rules and stipulations to the use of a tourist visa. One of these rules says that if I leave the country, I can't re-enter it within two months, unless a certain set of arcane conditions is met. When I left India to go to Singapore and Cambodia, I believed I could fulfill these conditions. I double-checked with the visa company in the US, and I double-checked with an Indian customs officer on the way out of India, and they told me I'd be fine.

Of course, I wasn't fine.

We arrived at Singapore Changi Airport and attempted to check in with Singapore Air for our return flight to Delhi. The counter clerk looked at my passport and refused to give me a boarding pass. She said that Indian immigration might not let me in, in which case I'd be detained and then possibly deported back to the US - and Singapore Air would be fined for permitting me to take the flight. I said no, I was fine, because I had met all the arcane conditions. She was still skeptical, so she called in her supervisor. I explained the situation to him. He called in HIS supervisor. I explained the situation yet again. We all stood around for an hour, arguing over exactly what the rules were and exactly what horrible fate would befall us all if Singapore Air let me on their plane. We called half a dozen Indian embassies and consulates around the world; nobody had any idea how to deal with this apparently exceptional situation. Finally we got the Indian immigration authority on the phone, and they said... I would be deported.

So it turns out Singapore Air knew what they were talking about. I guess it helped that, unlike the various government officials I'd talked to, they had a financial incentive to know what they were talking about.

Singapore Air kindly allowed us to reschedule our flight for free, and Mackenzie kindly agreed to keep me company (instead of just going back to Delhi without me.) The upshot was that we got to spend an extra day in Singapore - and really, there are far worse fates than that. I had to spend the whole morning waiting in line at the Indian embassy to get my passport stamped. But in the afternoon we went to the Singapore Botanic Gardens - and also to both of the Hard Rock Cafes in Singpore that we had not already visited. (Mackenzie REALLY likes the Hard Rock Cafe.)