This is the end, my only friend, the end!

Well, I'm at the end of my journey. Filled with mixed feelings of wanting to continue to travel and keep living exciting new things everyday, and at the same time, wanting to come home to enjoy a new perspective on life and share my experiences with my friends and family.

India has not been the easiest of travels but it's been one of the most interesting places I've ever been. I've definitely had a love/ hate relationship with the country. Some days are amazing and I want to stay here forever, I feel that I fall deeper in love with Mother India. Other days, I couldn't get the hell out fast enough and I wonder why I ever decided to come to a place where I will need a "vacation from my vacation".

There are people everywhere, and I mean everywhere; you are always being cheated by some rickshaw driver or vendor and having to haggle over prices; there are constant power cuts and water shortages; the air quality in most cities is well below recommended health standards and garbage follows your every footstep; people will misinform you just because they cannot say no; and peace and tranquility are sometimes very hard to find amidst constant honking of everything with wheels, shouting that is also known as talking, and people pushing and shoving you just to get by or to get ahead of you in line.

BUT, India is also full of magic. It is a place where anything can happen and you can be surprised at any moment. People with little money and almost no knowledge of English will make you feel very welcomed by sharing their food with you and attempting to make genuine conversation so they can know more about you; during a downpour of rain you can watch a street kid climb on top of a cart and begin to dance and sing with so much joy that you instantly light up inside; hope and love can be found everywhere, in people's looks and smiles, in the beautiful arts such as paintings of romantic ideal love, and especially in the music that you hear in shops, buses or blaring from someone's cell phone; and with one flight and one train ride you can experience India's tremendous diversity by going from amazing snowcapped mountains to the desert where there is a completely different language and culture.

In a nutshell, that has been India for me. Full of highs and lows, wonder and horror, joy and frustration. But in the end, I've learnt and grown so much from my travels here and I know that this is a place that has captured a place in my heart.
As the last leg of my trip, Rajasthan has been both intense and beautiful. It is a place where the rawness and chaos of ancient India still thrives, where you can find glimmering, bright colours of turbans and saris contrasting with the dry and desolate environment, and where music and dance reign supreme in all kinds of forms and traditions.

Each place has had its own unique charm and beauty. Jaisalmer is in a desert area, and all the buildings in the city are made from a stone that looks like the colour of sand. This is where you can find one of the largest forts in the world. Walking within the fort walls is like taking a time travel trip, imagining how life use to be.

                        

In the desert dunes with lots of wind and an amazing shower of sand!

Jodhpur has another amazing fort that overlooks the city with little blue houses. This colour was apparently chosen for its natural cooling system and it also acts as an insect repellent! Although Jodhpur is a busy Indian city, people are friendly and the small streets of the old city are a pleasure to stroll through just watching life go by.

As for Udaipur, deemed as the most romantic city in India and also where parts of "Octopussy", the old James Bond movie were filmed, it is a touristy yet lovely place to wind down, do some shopping and reflect upon one's journey while sitting on a rooftop terrace overlooking Lake Pichola..

Dried up Lake Pichola.

I'm leaving in a few short hours so along with writing the last entry of my blog, I am trying to take some time to think about all that I have experienced in the past months. We'll see how it sinks in as I return to my home and my normal life.

This is the end, but only of India, and only for now. I know that I have many new beginnings waiting for me and I can't wait. See you all in Montreal!

Immersed in Buddhism: From courses to the land known as "Little Tibet"

As a former anthropology student, I really appreciated the 10-day Introduction to Buddhism course I attended in Mclead Ganj. The course was challenging because it forced me to deconstruct my views on the meaning of life and encouraged me to take on a completely different way of looking at the world. Overall, I gained a deeper understanding of Tibetan Buddhism and also a great appreciation for the practical benefits of Buddhist meditation and philosophy.

Tibetans in Mclead Ganj going for a walk around a park with prayer flags

My next move in India was to Manali, the starting point to reach my desired end destination, Leh. I settled into a small guest house in the outskirts of the city and decided to take a little nap. A little later, I was awoken by sounds of screaming, shouting, and glass breaking. Domestic dispute? Yes, indeed. This incident got me thinking about marriage in India and I began to recall the numerous conversations I have had with Indians about their perceptions on marriage.

Till this day, a large proportion of people in India are married through arranged marriages (I don't have the exact figures but I believe it's around 80-85%, it was 90% only 5 years ago). And since marriage in India is thought to be for life, even if people become unhappy in their marriages, they rarely divorce. In fact, India has one of the lowest divorce rates in the world. Although this situation is changing and divorce is becoming an easier and more common process with changes in laws and policies, it is still somewhat taboo.

I remember talking with one man in Orissa, actually it was more like a confession as this man poured out his heart and soul about his marriage. He said that he was terribly unhappy and that it had been over 20 years that he was living in the same house, but separately from his wife both physically and emotionally. I felt that he was living with such a heavy burden on his soul and that he felt there was no way out. It was really sad!

This story mirrors the situation of many Indians (but don't get me wrong, of course many are also quite happy in their marriages). So the moral is (well, I just made up the moral)... appreciate your freedom to choose your partner, but don't go to the other extreme and take marriage so lightly that you resort to divorce as soon as anything goes wrong. Let's take the Buddhist view and find the "Middle way"!

Apart from that interesting experience contemplating love and marriage, Manali was a quick stopover. I did however get the chance to experience the hot springs there! In a enclosed space with an open roof, I found myself with 4-5 naked tribal women just washing myself and splashing hot spring water on all over me. Although the water looked a little dirty, my skin felt amazing afterwards and is was quite liberating to show a little skin after months of covering myself completely. Plus, I felt like I bonded with some of those women. Grooming has a tendency to have that effect, just look at the animal kingdom!

I was glad that I took a little R&R time in Manali, because the journey up to Leh, although magnificent, was quite exhausting and at times, even terrifying. Being one of the highest roads in the world with its highest pass at 5300 meters high, it is only open for 3 1/2 months of the year. Along a very narrow road (barely wide enough for 2 cars), vehicles steer their way up and down, through water, bumps and snow. Honestly, it's was like going through the landscape of another planet.

A real winter wonderland up there!

And the funniest part of the journey was at the top of the first pass. Many Indians go up there to "experience" the snow. Some people were dressed in one-piece snow suits and others in their Indian attire, including beautiful saris, sliding down the hills on the bums and having the time of their lives!! Imagine if we tried to have as much fun in the winter time!!

Finally, I arrived in Leh and it was totally worth the journey. It has been one of the most magical places I've been on my trip so far. Ladakh (the area that Leh is in) is a completely unique place that resembles more Tibet than India in terms of culture; this is why it is know as "Little Tibet".

And the landscape is extraordinary! Being a high altitude desert found within the Indian Himalayas, all around there are arid mountains with all kinds of lines and crevasses as well as beautiful colours ranging from brown to green to pink. And to top it off, in the background there are soaring snow cap peaks. Sometimes I look at the scenery and it's so beautiful that it almost looks fake. Picture perfect!

A bird's eye view of Leh

              

       A giant Buddha in Thiksey Monastery                      A Ladhaki women spins her wool with a smile

After touring various monasteries, going on a 4-day trek in the mountains, and taking a 2-day jeep tour in one of the most picturesque parts of Ladakh, I feel that this part of India has captured my heart!

Hiking at high altitude is quite a challenge. At 5000 meters, the air is pretty thin...every step up requires a lot of effort!

Well, it's the countdown to my Indian adventure as I only have 10-days left. I'm in Rajasthan right now and I will be here until the end of my trip. I went from snow and cool weather back to 50 degree scolding weather!! India is crazy!

After 3 days of trekking, I felt amazing. I love the mountains!

Being welcomed with open arms at the Golden Temple

Our next grand sight seeing visit was to the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine of Sikhism. Not only does the temple have a relaxed and mystical ambience to it, there is also a very communal and open vibe to the whole experience there.

Anyone who goes to the Golden temple is welcomed. Sikhs believe that there is a universal, omnipresent God and as such, whether you pray to Allah, Jesus, or a Hindu deity, so for them, in a sense, it all comes from the same source. They also believe that under the sun and God, we are all equal. Because of these beliefs, unlike Hinduism, Sikhism does not have a plethora of deities and a caste system is not part of their religion.

My new look. I think it suits me quite well!

You can really feel this general sense of openness when you visit the temple as people welcome you and want to explain things to you about their religion. During our evening visit at the temple, an older man sat with us for about 2hrs explaining the history of the temple and various things about his religion. It was really nice to share with someone like that. We even had a friendly, yet slightly crazy man, bring us to the Sikh museum the next day, where he gave us a tour of the various paintings. It was actually quite funny cause he would bring us around, give a short commentary like "this is Guru such and such, he did this, he is a good man" and then he would say in a commanding voice, "come"!, which meant let's move on to the next painting. The whole time, I kept wondering if he would do something weird or freaky, but he was harmless and pretty entertaining.

One of our many friends at the Golden temple. He was definitely one of my favorites!

The temple is almost made entirely of gold; hence the name, Golden temple. To enter the temple, you stand in a long queue that inches its way to the entrance. But once you arrive, it is well worth the wait. Inside are glimmering colours of gold and red, with musicians and singers singing beautiful devotional music!! Before entering the temple, I could hear this enchanting music come from loudspeakers all around the site, but I had no idea it was coming from inside the temple. Later, I found out that you can even see a translation of the music's poetic lyrics on a flat screen television near the back side of the temple.

We visited the site at different times of the day to fully get a feel of it. At night it was really magical as the whole place is illuminated with lights and candles are place all along the edges of the water tank. It was really peaceful to just sit near the water and gaze at the temple while listening to the music or watching people pray.

Visiting the Golden temple made me realize that since I've been in India my appreciation for the role religion and faith in people's lives has greatly deepened. Although I've always had my own set of beliefs and my own practice of spirituality, I understand now more than ever how grounding and powerful having faith in something can be, how it can give direction and meaning to your life.

 A father assists his young son to bathe in the holy water.

At night, the temple is illuminating with lights, giving it a different feel than during the day. 

Another way to intensify your communal experience at the Golden temple is to stay at the guesthouse affiliated to the temple. Pilgrims and visitors are welcome to stay for free in dorms, but beware this is no four-star hotel. When we entered the dorm for foreigners at 10am on the day we arrived, I thought we entered a refugee camp! Beds lined up in a long row, mattresses on the floor, stuff everywhere. And at night in the courtyard, you could hardly walk to the bathroom without walking on top of someone camped out outside on the ground. But at least it was pretty clean and the people taking care of the place were quite nice.

Apart from sleeping arrangements, the temple also offer continuous free meals all day long. It is estimated that the temple feeds around 60000-80000 people a day!!

Eating at the golden temple is truly a unique experience. Following a stream of people, you enter this massive building where you are handed a plate, a bowl and a spoon. Then you are directed towards an area where you wait with an anxious and hungry crowd. If I haven't spoken about crowds in India yet, well this is the opportune moment.

The concept of order, queues and crowds with no shoving or pushing in India simply does not exist. Don't get me wrong, it isn't aggressive or ill-intentioned, it's just cultural. I find it quite hilarious when an 80-year old granny who looks so sweet pushes me forcefully to the side to get through! You go girl!

Anyways, so imagine this crowd of hungry people when they finally open the doors to the dining hall...pure chaos! I've never been squished so thoroughly in my life before. It was almost like a stampede of panicked animals. Everyone is thinking food..food..food!! And it's free! Once you get inside the door you have to run for a seat on the floor before being pushed around again. It's like going back to the basics; instinct and survival of the fittest! An amazing experience for those who dare!

The man power behind this whole operation is volunteer-based. They give the plates out, serve the meals and clean up. It's really impressive! 

Just to fill the gaps in my travel logs, in between the Taj and the Golden temple, Ron and I took two weeks to relax in Rishikesh. We stayed at two different ashrams, did some yoga, attended interesting ceremonies, and took the time we needed to rest before Ron's departure.

Yes, sadly, Ron went home yesterday and I will continue my journey for another month. After our whole incident in Nepal, he needs to arrange some things with his insurance company. As for me, I'm off for a 10-day Introduction to Buddhism course in Mcleod Ganj. During that time, I will not have access to the Internet, so no worries if you don't get any news from me, I'll just be deep in contemplation and meditation.

As the Dalai Lama has said, "With realization of one's own potential and self-confidence in one's ability, one can build a better world." 

Magical moments at the Taj Mahal

After a long train ride, we arrived dirty and sweaty in Agra, home of the beloved Taj Mahal. As usual, we had a few dodgy-looking, eager for a commission rickshaw drivers following us as soon as we got off the train. Let me explain. Many rickshaw drivers get a commission from certain hotels if they drop you there. So sometimes getting to your destination is quite a challenge. Either you are told that the place you ask for no longer exists or that it has burnt down. Whatever the story line, after being in India for a few months now, we're ahead of the game! We can spot these types a mile away and we definitely stand our ground.

We finally settled into a hotel (of our choice!) a stone throw away from the Taj and decided to go explore other city sights in order to leave the Taj for the next morning..

Our first stop was Agra Fort, aka the Red Fort. Originally built as a military structure, it was later converted into a beautiful palace by Shah Jahan (the one who mandated the construction of the Taj) and ironically, it is where Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his own son towards the end of his life.

After the Red Fort we went for some views of the Taj from the back side across the river. From that very first moment, I found the Taj stunning to look at and I was greatly looking forward to the following morning to see it up close and personal.

Not only is the Taj Mahal beautiful to look at, it also has a very interesting story behind it. The Taj Mahal is seen by many as a tribute to undying and deep love. Described by an Indian poet as "a teardrop on the cheek of eternity", it was built by emperor Shah Jahan as a mausoleum, in memory for his favorite wife. Its construction took 21 years, using material from all over Asia/ India and over 1000 elephants to carry the materials, and the total cost has been estimated at over 32 million rupees; an extravagant amount of money for that time. Its entire structure is made of marble and precious stones were engraved in various parts of the designs on the walls. Despite its simplicity (or maybe because of it), the Taj is very elegant and truly magnificent.

Approximately 2 to 4 million people visit the Taj Mahal every year, making it one of India's prime destination for both local and foreign tourists. It is a source of inspiration and many people consider it to be the most beautiful buildings in the world.

We certainly enjoyed it and we think it is a must-see if you come to India!

Unfortunately, Agra wasn't all comforts and pleasure for us. After eating a 20 rupee (approx. 50 cents) thali (an idian meal with rice, curry, dal, etc) or maybe it was the lassi (yogurt drink) from the less than hygienic food stall or maybe it was heatstroke from 50 degree weather, I was severely ill. On the up side, throwing up for 24hrs really makes you appreciate the moments you feel good.

I'm all better now. I went to consult an Ayurvedic doctor who gave me all kinds of natural herb pills along with a diagnostic of my dosha. For those of you who don't know about Ayurvedic medicine, it is an ancient, traditional medicine from India. Being a holistic way to practice medicine, doctors will ask you not only about your diet but also about your lifestyle and state of mind. Basically, they want to know about your body, mind and spirit from which they can determine your dosha and the main element(s) that dominate within you (three categories or combos of these: vata (air/space), pitta (fire/water) and kapha (water/earth).

I found it quite interesting that when I went to consult for some stomach problems, the doctor mostly talked about my mind's capacity for great determination as well as what I need to work on with my relationships with men!