Nepal wrap and India

NEPAL

After Bhutan we spent another week in Kathmandu waiting for our Indian visas. It was nice coming back for round two -Kathmandu seemed much more manageable the second time around. Our first full day back was great -the Maoists were protesting (as they do about once a week) and the party was forcing businesses (whether they supported the cause or not) to shutter their doors. Moreover, all vehicles, including public transportation and even bicycles, were forbidden from operating within the city. This made the otherwise lunatic streets of Kathmandu pleasantly palatable for an entire day.... we enjoyed a full day of walking about town, with thousands of others, free of the ever-present danger of being run down by a bus or auto rickshaw. As long as we gave the protesters a wide berth as they marched down the major thoroughfares, we were at no risk whatsoever of violence against our good selves.


Five days of bumming around Kathmandu earned us our visas, and we made for the Indian border. Along the way we made a detour for Lumbini, the birth place of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha. Nations from around the world have constructed Buddhist monasteries within a giant nature preserve there to honor the site; Thailand took the cake for the coolest, though by far not the largest, monastery. Within this preserve you can actually view the very spot where the Buddha was born. He wasn't around, but we got some good pictures...

INDIA
We had not initially planned to come to India on this trip, in light of its size, but somehow managed to talk ourselves into it. These things happen. Just the other day Tatyana popped up with "we really ought to check out Pakistan"... We thought better of it, but not for the reasons one might think. Visas were going to be costly, and after forking out $120 to get into India we decided the budget just wouldn't hold it. Next time...

We crossed the border at Sunauli and made our way by bus to Gorakhpur -what must be the dustiest town we've been to yet. From there, we took another bus (12 hours) to Lucknow -slightly less dusty, and an ancient Mughal stronghold. Here we began to encounter the first truly amazing architecture in India. After a few days the relentless heat drove us onward, and we took an overnight A/C bus to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal.

Agra is a relatively peaceful city. We stayed in the Taj Ganj district, a small community favored among backpackers and butting right up against the great outer walls of the complex. From the roof top of our guest house we could see quite a lot of this amazing structure, but felt compelled to fork out the $15 each to tour the entire facility the next day. Just incredible. The Taj Mahal is very slowly falling into disrepair as the many chemicals emitted from plants in the surrounding areas severely degrade its marble construction, but at 356 years and counting I would say its holding up quite well.

We watched the sun set beyond the Taj Mahal each evening, as the local youth emerged to their roof tops to battle each other in kite warfare. We sat in awe as these talented young men deftly controlled their simple square-foot kites to evade and attack the lines of their opponents (perched on rooftops as far away as two hundred meters), and were treated to several dozen "kills" over the course of our stay. In the narrow alleys below, even this tranquil neighborhood bustled constantly with the chaos of rickshaws, autorickshaws, motorbikes, cows, bulls, camels, dogs and people...

We have spent the last few days in Delhi. It amazes me that even in the middle of this major city, cows, bulls, and oxen still wander freely among the rickshaws and people... I can't begin to imagine where they are going, unattended, or where they reside in the evenings... But I've seen enough livestock on roof tops to know that their is always room somewhere. Its a shame that with all this great meat walking around, the Hindus don't make a concession or two and fire up the barbie... I could really use a steak. India is certainly a different animal than any other place we've been. Delhi has provided more of the impressive ancient architecture we've come to appreciate here; beyond that, it is a very large and busy city, and we're looking forward to heading East.

This evening we are taking the overnight train to holy city of Varanasi... the next posting should be really interesting...

Tatyana has posted photos to her facebook account. Follow the link below:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024287&id=1081248185&l=6198f44ff0