Me n Rashboy in Rajasthan

Hi everyone. I'm posting on my own this time since Gregg really has only seen the pillow this past week.. He is feeling much better now and I just left him at our favorite cafe having some lemon mint tea. About a week ago, after our first day in Pushkar, he came down with a fever and some achy-ness and a rash. We had the town Dr in (a very nice man) who diagnosed a virus.. We aren't sure what type of virus, it may be that one of the mosquitos from the south brought other gifts besides a simple mosquito bite- but either way, he is feeling better and we are planning our exit.

Teddy left for London after declaring the Dr a competent man- so I was left the lone nurse for my poor itchy patient. It has been a completely different experience, roaming the village on my own.. Before Teddy left we took a sunrise hike to a small temple on a high hill overlooking the city. It was absolutely gorgeous to see the sunrise from behind the wall of mountains that surround the city. We were joined by hundreds of monkeys and a flock of green parakeets, all with their own (loud) greeting for the sun.. I am missing my Teddy and his tall body towering over the crowds..

After Pondicherry we flew from Chennai to Delhi. Flying is definitely the easiest form of transportation here- no suffocating crowds and sweaty long hours.. but you also miss seeing the countryside and the people who are living their lives in a colorful array of fields and homes- you miss the saree clad women with bundles on their heads and the men leading painted cows and donkeys.. Train rides always have a dream-like quality.

Our night in Chennai was a hilarious photo shoot of the absolutely horrendous room we were staying in.. Gregg even posed sexily in the algae green shower- someday we'll get these photos up for you. The hotel owner suggested we leave for the airport way earlier than was necessary, so we breakfasted on airport samosas and chatted with other travelers while waiting for 3 hours for our flight! I've noticed that travelers who have been in India for a while have a hardened, crusty shell on them- sort of a dirty, aged ruggedness. Although this probably prevents harassment, I am trying to stay somewhat fresh and not so drained looking. I don't know why I don't want to look like this- but it sort of seems like India has sucked the juice out of them. My recipe for retaining innocence: sunblock, water and naivety..

(everything has just been erased so I will try to repeat it..)

In Delhi we were absolutely spoiled with the generosity of our dear friend Kersten (Benjamin was on a desert trek) and stayed in her enormous apartment in the south of the city. It was so lovely to sleep in a real, clean bed with blankets and get up and have breakfast and read the paper.. (especially since I was recovering from my 2nd cold in India- I think pollution induced..) I miss these simple things about having your own home. Kersten showed us her adopted city (she is from Austria and studying in Delhi for a semester) and we visited a temple shaped like a giant lotus.. inside you are encouraged to pray to any god you believe in in silence. The day we were there was a holiday (Public Day?) in Delhi so we were accompanied by hundreds of praying people. I sat in the silence and wondered how many gods were being prayed to at that exact moment, and how many were listening. There are times that I wish I believed in a god so that I could join people in having faith that something is out there paying attention- but there is too much pain and hunger here to spend my money on flowers and candy for the gods. I am beginning to see temples and gods as comforts, reassurances that life is more than the simple struggle to eat.. is that what it is everywhere?



We rode the night train to Pushkar, Rajasthan and entered a small magical city that surrounds a holy lake. The story is that a god dropped a lotus and created the lake and our first visit to the lake we each dropped a flower into it as an offering. There are "priests" who try to make you pray with them - with a charge of course- but I told him I wanted to do it by myself and sat and watched people bathe and pray to the small lake. The city is tiny with narrow streets that only fit motorcycles. There are tons of pilgrims, shops, cows and dreadlocked hippies. Our first hotel was home to several families of dread locked children and their matching parents who woke poor sick Gregg at the crack of dawn with their screams, so we finally moved to a more peaceful place. It's $2 more but the paint is not peeling off the walls onto our pillows!! Although last night some man with a really off key singing voice sang into a loudspeaker until 5am- at a temple practically right outside our door. When I asked our hotel about this they said that Pushkar is a very holy city.. but hopefully it won't be so holy tonight!





I've loved Pushkar and its cafes full of laid back travelers (probably laid back because of "bhang" (sp?)-almost like Amsterdam they offer everything with the "special" option- made with some kind of pot mixture.) It's an easy place to be a single woman and roam without harassment. But I'm missing my travel partner and I can't wait until rash boy rises to join me in our adventures.. We will (hopefully) be leaving Pushkar any day now and heading to the Taj Mahal before Varanassi and finally Darjeeling/Sikkim. We are ready for mosquito-less living, a little snow and a wood burning stove and, of course, to finally see the Himalayas...

this is what i called you on mom and dad...