crystal cat towers

I just ate an entire jar of Leh apricot preserves on a baguette for dinner.  And it was fucking awesome.  I wish I had a case of that stuff.  I'm writing this for all of you still in India who have access to sweet apricot nectar.  You should buy lots of it because you might want to eat a whole jar on a baguette for dinner when you get home.  Or you might want to barter with it.  I don't know.  It has special powers.

  

I wanted to post a final blog on my departure, but in true Sarah fashion, lost the one I had typed up.  I'm still gonna put something down because I really have a terrible memory.  Carrie and Alex, (probably the only 2 still reading this anyway) I went back and read some of your entries and was amazed at all the details I've already forgotten.

Let me sum up the easy way.  My last 2 days consisted of:

*An early, early flight from Leh to Delhi for Carrie and I.

*A guy wrapping himself in leather straps and boxes next to us in the airport.

*asshole delhi ricksha drivers

*cafe coffee day for as long as possible in the A.C with all of our bags

*waiting for a call from Jenny

*waiting in the park and exhausting every game we knew (secret telling, 20 questions. I guess we don't know that many games).

*me getting all bummed about leaving and other various things.  Minor break down avoided by awesomeness of Carrie, Jenny, ben and jerry's, and sex and the city.  I might have minorly broke down anyway. sorry guys.

*Super cheap pedicures and waxing as a reward to ourselves ($3.75 TOTAL!)

*admiring our pretty pretty princess feet and realizing it had not been a tan, but a semi- permanent layer of dirt.

*Super sad goodbyes

My cab driver did not stand me up or overcharge me.  (i think I paid 180 rupees from Jenny's-someone asked me in an email, I think)  I almost died on the way to the airport.  A bus tried to ram us twice.  I told the driver we should make faces at the bus.  He didn't understand what I meant until I started making faces at the bus.  He just yelled a lot but thought the face making was funny.

I blew a kiss to all of the cows eating trash on the side and in the middle of the road.  I blew a kiss to the crazy ricksha driving like a lunatic up the wrong side.  I blew a kiss to the power being out and seeing candles in the windows of all the businesses.  I blew a mental kiss to my driver honking wildly at an inanimate object in the road.  And I blew a kiss to the last of the chai stands- which I almost asked to stop for.

I was exhausted and prepared for battle when I arrived at the Delhi airport.   I had spent a lot of time intending for a pleasant departure, but I knew my chances were slim.  Even with my "luckiness."  I got into the longest line I could find (because, as carrie said, this would be the one I needed to be in) and prepared for an incredibly long wait.  The line wrapped around several kiosks where I'm sure people were being pointed in the wrong directions and being handed the wrong forms- if any at all.  It was looking bleak.  Then, suddenly, two guys appeared out of nowhere asking if I was traveling alone.  There was no way I was about to tell these assholes I was alone until I realized it would mean preferential treatment.  They escorted me and one other lone female traveler (carrying our bags) past everyone to the very front of the line.  "Why?" I asked.  I never got an answer.  The guy just smiled and in broken english said 

 "this make you happy? this good?" Um, fuck yeah?  This awesome.

I was given the right form the very first time without even asking, and then waved through  customs without incident.  The guy even SMILED at me and didn't even glance at my passport.  It could not have been an easier exit.  Goodbye India. Come visit me soon.

I love you guys and miss you lots.  I hope your having fun in your final weeks. We will tear shit up when you get back.  I can't hardly wait for the badass girls club. 

Make sure you look for the magical guys asking if you're traveling alone in the airport.  I think they might be Indian airport fairies.  You have to believe.  

Compiled quotes from carrie's blog

Thse are in no particular order. If we could plan it better, we would have ordered it by things that you might funny vs. things we will always find hilarious and no one else will get. But we didn't think that far ahead while we were thinking of them. Put these on your own blogs, Sarah and Alex.

“There goes the King! That guy owes me money!” Otsal, guest house owner.We were having dinner outside with Otsal. For like two hours. He was very jovial, but was verbose. He mentioned he went to school with the queen of Ladakh. Later, a Bolero (SUV) drove by the restaurant, and the guy said the quote, offering to call the king back for us.

“Brad and Angelina came to this shop, and I didn’t know them. I just thought, yah! They take quite good care of their bodies.” Praveen, internet shop owner in Varanasi.We couldn’t quote to do Praveen justice, but we wanted at least one quote from him. His trademark was to open his eyes wide and say “Yah!” He had lots of stories about his various customers throughout the years.

“I think some people think we Brahmins have an attitude.” Praveen. Who totally had an attitude.

“I wouldn’t be too proud of the United States.” Guen (goon?), the Belgian boy whom we grudgingly had allowed to sleep on the roof with us.Funnier was when Sarah whispered to me under the blanket “That was rude!” We couldn’t stop giggling after that because he kept saying rude things until we made a point of going to sleep.

“Score one for America” Sarah.Related to the above; we were on the roof, and it was raining. So Sarah and I both thought really hard to ourselves “Stop rain stop rain stop rain stop rain” and then it let up and stopped. We felt superior to our rude Belgian roofmate.

“Storm is a selfish bitch. That’s probably why they got Halle Berry to play her.” Sarah.We realized that Storm, the X-Man, would do better to stop drought and famine with her powers, and leave the fighting to people with less transferable powers.

“That’s incorrect.” Carrie.When a armrest of the seat in front of us fell backwards into our seat, Carrie stared for a moments, and then said this the first time. She continued to say it, for instance if a straw was faulty, or if anything ever went wrong or unexpectedly (which it did).

“I’m sorry. Would you like to punch me in the stomach?” Carrie.Carrie had talked about how she likes to get her dad and brother to punch her in the stomach to build up muscle like Muhammed Ali did. But they never liked to do it, so she tried to trick them into it. In Varanasi, Alex was stressed out about a near-miss incident with two shifty looking guys who clearly were up to no good. Alex felt like he needed to be our protector, but he’d felt helpless and weird about it, so he was frustrated and pent up. Carrie made this offer, but Alex laughed and said “No, I’m trying to protect y’all, not punch you in the stomach.”

“Cover stealer!” Sarah.Sarah whispered this very quietly into Alex’s ear in the middle of the night, waking him up, and making them both crack up hysterically in the middle of a sleepy night.

“That’s precious!” Sarah.Quoted on Carrie’s blog.

“I did a photo session with the guy from the guest house kitchen. He wanted…he wanted them with his mobile phone in one hand, and waving with the other.” Sumit, semi-professional photographer.Our friend who took fantastic pictures. Here is the actual picture, which we were excited to finally see. Sorry I can't figure out a way to put it in the post itself--something keeps backfiring.

“I think you just want to sit next to him, and it’s really starting to piss me off.” Alex.Sarah doesn’t like when guys have a barbed wire tattoo around their arm. She and Alex were on the plane to Leh, and Alex was in the middle, with Sarah in the aisle, and a barbed-wire tattoo guy at the window. She kept offering Alex the aisle seat for his long legs, and he finally got irritated and said this quote deadpan to her, which made her laugh hysterically. Poor guy with the barbed-wire tattoo.

“Yes” The universal answer to any question you ask in India.Is this made of solid gold? Does this cab go to Texas? All of these questions will conveniently be answered “yes!”

“Our people are the filthiest on earth!” Guy from a shop in Jodhpur.Apparently, an OK way to start a conversation is to yell this to tourists across the road.

“What’s the point?” Travel agent.In response to our talking about getting altitude sickness in Leh.

“Jesus is lord, Jesus is lord.” British tourist.After visiting monasteries in Leh, she said she counteracted “all that” by repeating this phrase to herself.

“Great job” Sarah. About everything, usually sarcastically. As in, Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job.

“You can’t build up a tolerance to amoebas, dude!” Alex.One of our classmates bragged he’d been building up a tolerance to the tap water—brushing his teeth with it, drinking a little teaspoon here and there.

“Those monkeys totally could have had their way with us.” Alex.Quoted in Sarah’s blog.

“This is so awesome. India is so fucked up.” AlexQuoted in Sarah’s blog.

“So elegant. So, so elegant!” our professor, snapping picture after picture with his disposable camera of everyone in their Indian suits.

“Deer garden? Like where they grow deer?” Carrie.

“Shit show.” Jenny.

“What the hell does that even mean?” Alex, about the above quote.

“Love thy neighbor, but not while driving.”

“Be gentle on my curves.” Road signs in Leh.

“Full Full Full Masala” Battery ad in Varanasi.

“Exhibition cum Sale” Sign in Mussoorie, and a few other places. Gross!

“Do you think it’s like a fountain show?” Carrie, about above, at 6am.

“Educate yourself!” Forestry expert, asking if Carrie knew the origin of the word Hindu and Indus River.

“Your thank-yous are too heavy for us.” Sunny, our guilt-ridden scam artist.

“[I’m sorry I tried to scam you out of thousands, but] you didn’t even tell me happy birthday!” Sunny, contrite but confused about the concept.

“Did you have the sexes?” Some of our scam artists, and their odd turns-of-phrase.

“Whatcha doing?” A wide-eyed Sarah and Carrie, asking Shlomi, our Israeli seatmate at the airport, about what turned out to be a prayer cycle of some kind. It involved wrapping his arms with leather attached to boxes, and tying one on his forehead. Neither of us had ever, ever seen this.

“We can get by without toothpaste, right?” Sarah and Carrie, realizing neither of them had toothpaste or deodorant for 4 days.

“[Dani, a blonde girl] looks like an old man with her hair. And Sarah should wear more sunscreen so she won’t get more freckles. I like my skin color.” R, young and rude.

“It’s like everything I put in my mouth is the best thing I’ve ever tasted!” Carrie.
At the five star hotel dinner in Mussoorie.

“She’s clumsy.” Jenny.Explaining why Sarah fell, in the manner of explaining that someone is mentally retarded.

“Do your have spare breakfast?” Security agent at the airport in Leh.Turned out she was asking if we had spare batteries, which we couldn’t take on the plane. But breakfast made just as much sense to us at 5am.

“I didn’t know I could do that!” Alex.After doing some amazing sand dune aerial roundoff. Pretty much sums up Alex.

“That’s some real man-on-man love there.” Sarah.The men here don’t seem to have the homophobia we have in the states, maybe from not believing homosexuals exist. But they are very comfortable holding hands and riding four to a motorcycle and things. Sarah said this about a man sitting on another man’s lap.

Indian tranquilizers

There are a few things I've failed to mention about Leh.
* people carrying prayer beads and praying as they walk through the day.
*the delicious rice cardamom pudding that I will dream of when I leave.
* Lines to the ATM like waitin' for da club
*toilets of death. These can be found throughout India, but I've just thought about mentioning it. They are a weird hybrid of a western and turkish toilet. It's the size of a regular western, but with the turkish foot holds on top. So you have to climb up to squat. the entire bathroom is the shower so everything is always wet. This means that you are climbing up on to a slippery porcelain death trap. And I'm still not quite sure which direction I'm supposed to be facing, but I've found one that works for me.
*the hot fresh nan in the morning
*Yak cheese sandwhiches (surprizingly good and cheap)
*Butter tea (I finally got to try it! Believe it or not it tastes much like a cup of melted butter and salt)

Sumit, Carrie and I had a slumber party on the roof the night before he left. I liked her description of him. Something like an elf in one of her stories. When they vanish into the ether you feel a slight sadness. I thought that was sweet, but Carrie is always saying neat, sweet things. I agree. I feel like we bonded during his 3 hour therapy session over chai.

I spent yesterday running into everyone I've met. It's been so nice to wake up, go out for some hot nan with fresh apricot jam, and meet up with someone random for coffee. I've grown really fond of the crazy german. She got a little forclemped last night when we said our goodbyes. We agreed it was a shame that we met up so late in the game. She has 11 more months of a solo world tour.

The people here are so awesome. I sat with an old muslim man in a shop yesterday for over an hour negotiating a price for a stone. He kept saying "This stone very old! Very old!"- as in antique. That was his main bargaining chip. Then he would show me ones that were "cheaper" and "not so old." I found this very amusing and it still makes me smile. It's a rock. Of course it's old. These things don't form over night. I kind of mentioned that, but he didn't understand anyway, and he was too cute to argue with. I wanted to suggest maybe throwing out that the rocks were filled with gold. This would make a little more sense. I ended up getting the price I wanted and a really cute picture of the two of us. He was the most precious.

I really love meeting the women traveling here. They are all inspiring in some way.
I had coffee this morning with a woman that had jumped out of a jeep on the way to a treck during a break up, and took a bus back. Now she's staying out her trip and kickin it solo. I feel like I've facilitated at least 3 therapy sessions with strangers in the past 3 days. I guess this is appropriate because I've had several of my own while I've been here.

This week has been so great. The whole trip has been so great. I've been getting really sentimental about everything and and all of my experiences here. The other night at dinner (at our usual Tibetan cafe) I couldn't help but think about how cool chance meetings are. It's awesome to meet people and make a connection in such a short period of time. I feel like I really know some of these people. I might not be able to remember their name, but I feel like I know them. I'll never see most of them again. And that's ok. Summit, the Austrian Sprite, crazy german girl. I wonder what their lives will be like when we scatter. I'm going home with a money belt full of email addresses.

I should also mention that I took some Indian tranquilizers last night. This is probably the culprit behind my blissed out sentiment. I got them in Rajasatan to help me sleep. Actaully, Va Jay Jay got them for me so they are probably rufies. Whatever. They work nice and I got 5 for 10 rupees. I only took a third of one because they are unmarked and come with no directions. Plus, I wanted to stay awake for Watcher in the Woods with Carrie on the roof (that movie scared the shit out of me as a kid!). It's rained on us the past two nights. I woke up once last night and thought, "oh, it's raining... maybe we should move. eh, it'll stop eventually." That's how well I've finally been sleeping.

So for whatever reason, today has been lovely and relaxed and everyone seems so beautiful. Even the western hippies with their "I'm in India and going to play the part" outfits. Rest assured I will not be returning home in saggy baggy hippy pants, bangels dreds etc. I will be returning in my one pair of nasty jeans, my broken belt that I had to poke another hole in, and my sad scraggly scarf.

I miss you guys and can't wait to see everyone, but I'm really sad to leave. I'm trying to make lists of all the awesome things waiting for me when I get back. Like you.
It's my last night in Leh. I'm gonna eat chocolate balls and drink chai masala like they're going out of style.

Condensed Kashmir Soup

You know how everyone says that Kashmir is the most beautiful place in the world, heaven on earth, bla bla bla, etc? Well, they weren't even lying a little bit.

I jumped off the plane, declared it's beauty, and ran straight for the toilet to kick start my day long vomit marathon. Altitude sickness. I spent my first several hours sleeping and throwing up in trashcans.

Sleeping on the roof top at our guest house here has been the best one yet. We are surrounded by mountains, the stars and the milky way are AMAZING, and we are awoken every morning to the OM meditation song that is broadcast across the entire city. This starts about 5:30-6:00 AM and continues for about 30 minutes on weekdays, and up to an hour on sundays. Don't quote me on this because I'm totally making it up, but I'd say about 90% of the population in Leh are Tibetan. It's such a change from the lower parts of India. It's the cleanest and friendliest yet. There are countless stupas, gumpas, and monistaries to visit.

Our first day functional was spent on a motorcycle (I'm begining to see an addiction developing. I really think it's the best way to travel). Alex and I drove (actually Alex drove, I rode) all around the outside of Leh. I can't even begin to describe how awesome it was. There aren't any street signs in all of India so it's easy to get lost even with a map. ( I have to mention here that while there are no actual street signs, there are plenty of awesome suggestive signs. For example, "Be gentle on my curve," "I am curvacious. Be slow," and "Love thy neighbor, but not on the road.") I can't think of a more beautiful place to be lost. I kept thinking. "Wow. I'm riding through the Himalayas on a motorcycle. WOW! I'm in Kashmir in the Himalayas!" So getting lost wasn't a concern. It was actually pretty cool because we ran into great people and photo ops. And everything ended up looping together anyway. We visited at least 4 or 5 villages. For more accurate details please refer to Alex's blog-if he ever gets to it. I'm glad we've been so busy having fun, but I wish I'd had time to jot down some details. My brain can't hold them all.

We found an amazing tiny cafe run by an older couple that has some of the best food I've ever eaten. Our salad prayers have been answered with a vengance. It's heaven. Actually, we're headed there right after this so I can't get it off my brain. I might have to break this up into sections because, as I said, I'm starving, and the internet in this town in crazy expensive. 100 rupees an hour. Everything is a little more expensive here. We've gotten used to road side and local food (our last meal in Delhi was 40 rupees for 2 people). One thing I miss about the grittier parts of India are the food stands and chai shacks. I'm really gonna miss the chai masala. I'm already missing India so much. I don't know what I'll so without the constant craziness.

Back to Leh:

Day 3 was spent white water rafting on the zanskar river. sweetness. I don't know where the rest of our time went that day but we met an Indian doctor/photographer from Australia and booked a trip with him to the nubra valley about 4 hours north of leh. I went up the highest drivable road in the world in jeans, a tee shirt, sandals and a sheet. Because I'm brilliant. The day up I spent trying to sleep to avoid sickness on fast curvy mountain roads, but the ride was totally worth the result. This valley is the absolute most beautiful place I have ever been in my entire life. I think my heaven would seriously look a lot like this. Or just be this. You'll just have to see pictures. But even that won't represent a fraction of the awesomness. Photos can't capture the smell of herbs and mint, or the sounds of all of the running streams, and the ab fab temp. the people all smile wave, and yell "julley!" There are mountains and sand dunes and two humped camels all rolled into one (evidently there are only 2 places in the world with 2 humped camels and Russia is the other. Just a little FYI. Everyone seemed quick to sell this point).
We spent the night and had a spontanious photo shoot in the sand dunes the next day with our photographer friend. By the time we got back to Leh, a wonderful surprise had arrived on our doorstep- carrie! Now I've swapped out one awesome travel buddy for another. Unfortunatley, the one who left took the tooth paste and deoderant that I've been borrowing. Hmmm... it might be a stinky last few days.
I slept late this morning for the first time in weeks- 8:30. I felt like I had slept the whole day away. We've been getting up first at 3:00 AM on the roof to the horrible, off tune call to prayer from the masque next door (I'm convinced that they are waiting patiently for him to retire and fill his spot with some one who can carry a muslim tune) , and then at 5:30 AM to the meditation song. I spent the day with our new photographer friend, Summit. It's been nice to just stroll around and sit for hours with tea. It's funny how you can have heart to hearts with complete strangers. It's part of the fun of travel and meeting people. We're meeting up tonight with a group of german girls we met at our guest house a few days ago. Oh crap, i think I'm out of money. I'll have to update more later.

Motorcycles and home cooking

We said goodbye to Jenny in Jodhpur to catch her train back to Delhi, and continued on with our crazy ass driver, Va Jay Jay, to Pushkar.

Just a side note- because my brain isn't thinking in any chronological order right now :

I think Alex and I have finally hammered out a solid system for communicating about the smells in India. It's all smells. The whole country is a bubbling smell pot of different variations. There's a point system up to 9, but I am only going to reveal 1- 5, as these are most important and frequently used.

Masala #1 - kind of obvious, it's the pee. The piercing urine smell that only street side urinals can provide.

Masala #2 - obvious as well, it's the poo. But there are all different kinds of poo, so I think it is important to differentiate. Masala #2.5 is cow. Masala #2.8 is human. Human gets higher on the list because it smells worse and it's just way more gross to see in the street.

Masala #3 is vomit. We don't really have to use this one too much, but when you do-you really do.

We'll skip #4

Masala #5- is a very important B.O. The cologne of India.

This is just a little answer key to help you along as you read our blogs. I believe there might be a color system in the works as well. I'll get back to you on that one.

Anyway, back to Pushkar, it's a beautiful little town surrounded by mountains and hosting a small population of stoned priests and locals. "Special Lassi" is on most cafe menus and only costs about 30 rupees. That's less than a dollar.

Alex had the brilliant idea of renting a motorcylce and driving around outside of town. Why Not? (another Va jay jay-ism. "Ya, why not?") It was only 150 rupees for 24 hours. I have to give mad props to the boy. Not only had he never driven a motorcycle, but he was driving it on the opposite side, in Indian traffic, and on Indian roads. Great Job! We didn't wipe out once, and it was so much fun. The first time we took it out it started to rain. Just as he pulled it up under an awning it came a torrential downpour. We were really lucky to have a chai stand across the street. Everything seemed to work out perfetly. We ran through the river in the road and had tea with all the men in their turbans. They were very amused by our cameras.
By the time we were done with our tea it had stopped raining. Driving on the country roads was the coolest thing we've done so far. We got drenched by a bus blasting music, carrying at least 15 people on it's roof. At one point we ended up going up a mountain. Again, great job on the driving. people are crazy on those mountain roads. We ran into the british guy from jodhpur with all the funny enthusiastic stories. He's not enjoying India. But i'm enjoying his stories.
We had dinner with a woman from Turky and sat out on the lake for the evening ceremonies. I really enjoyed Pushkar. People actually come to talk to you for conversation rather than money. The "priests" want money, but whatever. (religion is SO for sale here) It's so much better than everywhere else.
We woke up way too early the next morning to hike up to one of the temples on the mountain for sunrise. Sunrise didn't quite work out, but we made it up eventually, and then decided to screw our driver and keep going on the motorcycle. One of the highlights of the trip was stopping on the side of the road to take pictures of the beautiful woman in their saris digging ditches (woman do all the work in this country. You'll find men lying on cots outside, drinking chai or peeing on the side of the road). Before I knew it I had a hoe in my hand and was being shown by 5 or 6 chattering women how to dig a ditch. None of them spoke english, but they were all eager to communicate with us. All at once. I was wearing my bangles wrong, and my scarf should have been on my head. I'm pretty sure that's what was being said. They seemed very pleased when I adjusted both. One of them stuck her finger in my ear. i don't know what that was about.
Va jay jay was totally pissed when we got in 45 minutes late and drove like a crazy person (even crazier than usual) all the way to delhi. Horn every 4 to 5 seconds. Seriously. I had to tell him to chill with the horn.
So once again, I'm back in delhi at casa de jenny (thanks jenny!). we bought yogart and bananas for dinner last night, mango and oatmeal for breakfast, and now alex is making us all killer omlettes with lots of veggies. All of these things are going into his letter of recommendation that carie, jenny and I are writing. Plus the clothes washing and loaning me money which is making my next trip possible. I'm so excited.
we bought our tickets to kashmir tonight and leave early, early tomorrow morning. EEEEEE! This will be the last leg of my trip. : (
I'll be there until the 11th, fly back to delhi, and then fly out the next day for etas unis. Evidently we bought tickets on a really risky airline, so we are staying positive and hoping to make it to Leh. Challo!