Yesterday I was in Bangkok, eating my last coconut curry.....today... I washed my face in the sacred Ganga...
The last five days have mostly been spent traveling. We left Pai on Friday and had a day in Chiang Mai to indulge in one last 2 hour Thai massage, and some last minute thailand shopping. We took the night bus to Bangkok on Sat night and arrived Sunday morning at 5:30am. The bus dropped us at the famous Kohsan Rd...a backpacker hotspot for an all night party. The energy was a bit unsettling as we navigated through the littered drunken bodies on the street and the stumbling dazed... Tired and disoriented we traipsed around looking for a room and all the guesthouses were full. We finally just hired a cab to take us to a hotel near the airport. We splurged on a nice room with air-conditioning...a must at this point since we were dripping sweat at 6am.
Yesterday (Monday), we flew out of Bangkok. Our hearts wept a little as we said goodbye to so many of our new favorite experiences, and yet, we were thrilled with the coming adventure of communing with the "Motherland".
We arrived in New Delhi at 11:30pm and killed a few hours at the airport... procrastinating on the journey to the Delhi train station. When we arrived at the Delhi train station, we were glad to find it relatively calm. When our train came, we boarded it with ease, and drug our exhausted bodies onto our berth for a few hours of sleep. The berths are stacked 3 high and I was in the middle. Its a somewhat cushy slab which is long enough to lay down with your bag at your feet. Before our eyes shut, Alesha and I looked at each other and with a long sigh of relief, said..."it feels so good to lay down!"
Our train rolled in to Haridwar 7 hours later. We got in our first indian rickshaw and headed the last hour to Rishikesh. The ride was surreal... so many sights and smells.. cows in the streets; women in beautiful fabrics; loud honking and reckless driving; carts of fruit; and bare feet on the Earth. I am surprised that I have not seen many people since I arrived. The train station, the streets, the view out the window of fields and farmland; this town... where are all the poeple? They are here, but not in droves as I expected in this "overpopulated" country. It is a relatively normal amount of people I would say... and that has been nice.
We arrived around 1:30pm, nearly 24 hours of traveling later. We are blessed by an Angel, named Karl Baba. He has reserved us a room in his hotel, and bless our stars, because the other places in town are full! He greeted us and saved our weary souls by showing us the way around town and to our first meal in India. We had some delicious curry as we sat in a restaurant by the Ganga river. After we ate, he took us up the river a ways so we could sit and rest and meet this most sacred, worshiped Mama. Green and icy cold, the snow melt from the Himalayas comes cascading down the mountains. As I dipped my hands in and splashed my face, I felt tears well up in my eyes... Am I really here??? Is this really happening?? Am I sitting on the banks of this Magnificent Holy river???? For a couple hours we sat by the water... drinking in the energy of her ancient dance, and steeping in the gratitude of another dream realized...
India. I'm in India...
The last five days have mostly been spent traveling. We left Pai on Friday and had a day in Chiang Mai to indulge in one last 2 hour Thai massage, and some last minute thailand shopping. We took the night bus to Bangkok on Sat night and arrived Sunday morning at 5:30am. The bus dropped us at the famous Kohsan Rd...a backpacker hotspot for an all night party. The energy was a bit unsettling as we navigated through the littered drunken bodies on the street and the stumbling dazed... Tired and disoriented we traipsed around looking for a room and all the guesthouses were full. We finally just hired a cab to take us to a hotel near the airport. We splurged on a nice room with air-conditioning...a must at this point since we were dripping sweat at 6am.
Yesterday (Monday), we flew out of Bangkok. Our hearts wept a little as we said goodbye to so many of our new favorite experiences, and yet, we were thrilled with the coming adventure of communing with the "Motherland".
We arrived in New Delhi at 11:30pm and killed a few hours at the airport... procrastinating on the journey to the Delhi train station. When we arrived at the Delhi train station, we were glad to find it relatively calm. When our train came, we boarded it with ease, and drug our exhausted bodies onto our berth for a few hours of sleep. The berths are stacked 3 high and I was in the middle. Its a somewhat cushy slab which is long enough to lay down with your bag at your feet. Before our eyes shut, Alesha and I looked at each other and with a long sigh of relief, said..."it feels so good to lay down!"
Our train rolled in to Haridwar 7 hours later. We got in our first indian rickshaw and headed the last hour to Rishikesh. The ride was surreal... so many sights and smells.. cows in the streets; women in beautiful fabrics; loud honking and reckless driving; carts of fruit; and bare feet on the Earth. I am surprised that I have not seen many people since I arrived. The train station, the streets, the view out the window of fields and farmland; this town... where are all the poeple? They are here, but not in droves as I expected in this "overpopulated" country. It is a relatively normal amount of people I would say... and that has been nice.
We arrived around 1:30pm, nearly 24 hours of traveling later. We are blessed by an Angel, named Karl Baba. He has reserved us a room in his hotel, and bless our stars, because the other places in town are full! He greeted us and saved our weary souls by showing us the way around town and to our first meal in India. We had some delicious curry as we sat in a restaurant by the Ganga river. After we ate, he took us up the river a ways so we could sit and rest and meet this most sacred, worshiped Mama. Green and icy cold, the snow melt from the Himalayas comes cascading down the mountains. As I dipped my hands in and splashed my face, I felt tears well up in my eyes... Am I really here??? Is this really happening?? Am I sitting on the banks of this Magnificent Holy river???? For a couple hours we sat by the water... drinking in the energy of her ancient dance, and steeping in the gratitude of another dream realized...
India. I'm in India...
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