Manali=Canada With Indian People

I lied, we get pretty good use of the computer up here in tourist country. Manali is the Indian honeymoon capital and we have had our photos take so many times by couples that we feel famous. The view from our $7 a night hotel room is hard to beat. Snow capped peaks loom above and the environment reminds us so much of home. We haven't done too much as we were knocked out with another Indian bug, but we did attempt to go trekking. These Indian stomach bugs are powerful machines and sneak up on us when we start to get comfortable again.

There are several complaints that Dave and I have about India in general so far:

1) The need to hoark and spit constantly

2)The need to remove tumour sized boogers from the nose

3) The constant honking of cars (we see you, why do you honk when you are right in front of us?)

Sensory Overload

(The Ghats of Varanasi and the Taj Mahal in Agra).
After Varanasi Dave and I bolted to Agra, a tiresome 12 hour journey. A room with a view of the Taj Mahal was just what we needed. The Taj Mahal is every bit as impressive as you expect it to be, you can't help but admire it quietly for a few hours. By this point we were both feeling a bit better, but still hadn't quite kicked our Delhi-belly.

(Dave and our goat friends at Amber Fort in Jaipur).
Jaipur was the next stop and well worth the trip. Driving from the train station to the hotel we saw the usual slew of cows, goats etc. walking down major highways and roadways. But now added to the mix were camels, long-tailed , elephants and donkeys. We visited several tourist sites in Jaipur including an observatory, palace, mosque and the Amber Fort. The Amber Fort is how you expect a photo of India should look. Definitely our favourite part of the city!
The trip from Delhi to Jaipur was relatively short in comparison to traveling anywhere else in India. Delhi was fantastic! Why do people say such bad things about Delhi? There are some rougher neighbourhoods, but the new parts of the city are sparkling. We had arrived the same day as the Olympic torch run in Delhi, but the government had evacuated everyone out of the area to prevent any trouble. So only a handful of Indian citizens (the rich and famous) got to see the torch! We visited the Gandhi memorial where we were suddenly joined by 50 Tibetan monks taking part in a peaceful demonstration. They had obviously been in town from protests of the day beofre. They were now protesting a peaceful return to Tibet.
(Some angry Tibetan monks at the Ghandi Memorial in Delhi. Dave in the Rock Garden).
We left Delhi vowing to get back there to spend a few more days and headed to Chandigarh. The city was designed by an architect who created equal blocks known as sectors. The city is clean (the cleanest in India), organized and the people seem to be fairly well off. There is a large Sikh population here and the men wear colourful turbans representing castes and family background. We visited a place called Nek Chand's rock garden. It was created by one man years ago who decided to use up rocks and other waste by creating a bit of a Wonderland. When the government found his illegal creation they encouraged the artwork and even paid for additional workers. It is literally a work of art.

(Starting to look local in Shimla).
Dave and I are in Shimla right now, which is way up north in the foothills of the Himalayas. It's about 2300m up, perched on cliffs. These aren't the pleasant rolling highlands that we're used to. Infact, the entire bus ride up involved gripping the seat handles with white knuckles, while getting thrown around like a rag doll. People were sick, I'm talking violently ill, out the windows as we whipped around corners. My tactics were to prevent myself from looking down the sheer cliff faces and pretending that I was driving. Shimla is amazing! It's cooler than the 40C we've been getting, there are plenty of shops and walkable streets. Of course, we have met up with our old nemeses...the monkey. They steal things from your room, underwear, bras, hats, bags and these monkeys are hearty mountain monkeys. A breed that is far hairier, fatter and perhaps a tad more superior to the desert monkeys of Jaipur.
We will be attempting to make our way to a place called Manali and then to McLeod Ganj (Dharamsala) and may not be able to write for a little while.

An Indian Experience

(Colonial Buildings downtown Kolkata, Park Street Cemetary reminiscent of New Orleans, Bodhgaya temple, looking down the Ganges during a burning).

Calcutta or Kolkata as it is now known has a bad name for itself and I'm not completely sure why. There are far dirtier places in India. There are lots of poor people, unyielding begging could be a little tough. Women with babies hanging off them, people with disabilities of all kinds, withered elderly people and lots of children. Nevertheless, we liked Kolkata. It's crowded with people all the time, down the market streets and in the expansive parks where everyone is playing cricket. We visited the Victoria Memorial, Kali Temple, the Marble Palace, the Park Street cemetary (members of royal family, famous writers etc. were buried here) and Tagore's house. I'm sure none of these places are even remotely familar, most are familiar with Mother Theresa and gheap homes of the homeless. I am getting used to men elbowing me in the chest, sometime very painfully, I have yet to catch one of them.

We spent a night in Bodhgaya after a painful SL class train ride (the lowest class where 9-10 people cram into a small space and even if you book a sleeping bed, some Indian man is found fast asleep in it upon your arrival). Space is not an option here. Bodhgaya is the site where the prince obtained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree to become Buddha. A Bodhi tree that is said to be the descendent of the original was planted in 1873, I can't remember the previous dates for Bodhi trees, but it looks like the current one is dying due to mass tourism as explained by a concerned Buddhist. See! You can learn something from a crazy, ranting European hippy.

We are now in Varanasi after another gruelling train ride, made a little better by having some other tourists to speak to. We both caught the bug...AGAIN! We haven't been eating meat here, but it could have been from anything. We noticed that people are notorious for resealing water bottles, as we once found dirt smeared against the inside of our bottle in Bodhgaya. I was finally well enough to walk around the ghats (steps down to the river) today and saw a family burning a body on the edge of the Ganges. That didn't freak me out at all... Hopefully we'll muster the energy to get up early for a river ride at 5am.