B&W pics from India

I finally got some of my black and white film developed. The pictures turned out great. I took them using my Olympus XA compact camera and Kodak 400CN film. I wish they made a compact digicam with a fixed focal length lens and a quality that rivals the lens on this little camera. I like the ease of use of digital photography, but I have to say that I still prefer the look of film taken with simple old cameras that have very high quality lenses. Especially using B&W film. Anyways, here are some of the pics. I'll have to put up another album for them sometime.









Developing film here is pretty cheap. I got 3 rolls developed, prints, and CDs done for around $15. The same thing back in Canada would have probably cost around $50.

New Album

I added the final album from India: India Album 6. Finally got through it...lots of pictures !

A note on Cell phones...

For those of you who have travelled around and used cell phones abroad, you know that almost everywhere around the world cell phones work differently than in North America.

Here and in India anyway, you can switch cell companies by picking up a new sim card and keeping your phone. The phones and cell network operate separately and everything is much cheaper. The rates are really cheap and the deals that companies offer are increadibly cheap by NA standards. Here in the Philippines, you can get a deal for unlimited text and calls for 400 Pesos a month (around $10 CAD)...only catch is that you can only contact people on the same network. The deals are so cheap that a lot of people carry more than one phone, one for each network.

I'm getting the impression that people in NA are getting ripped off with the cell phones. We should be able to keep the same phones, but switch networks by getting new sim cards. In theory anyway, cell phones should be cheaper than land lines because the infrastructure is much easier and cheaper to set up. I agree that taxes and overhead costs are higher in NA so that the cell costs should be higher, but I'm not convinced that it should be as high as it is.

That's my 2 cents anyway...

More photos...

I added another album to the list in the links...//a href="http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/rasfour/album?.dir=3ef6scd&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/rasfour/my_photos">India Album 4/a//. Don't ask me why I skipped the number 3...don't remember exactly the reasoning, but I can't change the album title, it's set.

I also added David and Karrie's site...they're a couple from Toronto. Really nice couple and great photographers too...they have some nice toys !

I met Mandy and Alastaire on the same tour as David and Karrie. They have their own blog going with some of their pictures.

Off to the Philippines

I've enjoyed my experience here in India. The intrepid tours allowed me to see a lot of the country in a relatively short amount of time. After 6 weeks though, I'm happy to leave. All the vendors, beggars, and pushy richshaw drivers can take their toll on you. I'm also ready to go and relax on a nice beach in Cebu.

I have lots of pictures to put on the site, but that will have to wait for now.

The Lotus Temple and the Baha'i faith

The lotus temple is a nice white building in the shape of a lotus. Really interesting architecturally...cool and quiet inside. I like sitting there for a little while.

The Baha'i religion is faily new...about 160 years old. It started in the area around Tehran in Iran and spread through Turkey, North Africa, and various other parts. Nowadays you can find a Baha'i temple almost anywhere around the world. It's seems interesting, but I wonder why it hasn't caught on more. It includes teachings from almost every religion. Here's the what the pamphlet I got says:

Basic Principles are as folows:

• Oneness of Mankind


• Independant investigation of truth


• The common foundation of all religions


• The essential harmony of science and religion


• The equality of men and women


• Elimination of prejudice of all kinds


• Universal compulsory education


• Universal peace

Sounds wonderful ! I can't say for sure what it's all about, but it seems like it a new age type religion. You can read more about it here.

Back in Delhi again...

We had our last meal as group at breakfast. It turned out to be Kathy's birthday also, so we signed a card and gave her a box of Indian sweets. Pravin, poor guy, had to rush because he had to finish the paper work for our group and then lead another tour on the same day.

I didn't do much that day, just relaxed and had a beer or two. I ran into Andy, my roommate on the previous tour, at the hotel and we went out for dinner and a couple of drinks. We said goodbye to some people.

The next day was more of the same...the remainder of us had breakfast together and said goodbyes to Anthea and Reena. I saw Dave and Theresa later that evening.

The neighbourhood around the hotel is usually buzzing at night with the market area, but the last two nights it's been eerily quiet. There's some political unrest in the city with the authorities trying to close down shops and vendors that have sprung up in areas where they shouldn't have be. My understanding of the problem is that some extremely poor and incompetent municipal city planning is to blame. There hasn't been an organized effort to manage the city and now some parts of it are out of control in terms of shops and residences.

Today I managed to get up early in the morning and went to see more of Delhi. I went to the India Gate...a memorial for Indian soldiers. I also went to see the Lotus Temple...a centre for the Baha'i faith.

Amritsar

In the state of Punjab, Amritsar is predominantly a Sikh city and has the Golden Temple. Sikhism is another of India's many religions and historically, it's an offshoot of hinduism. It stems mainly from the teachings of Guru Nanak.

Sikhs follow a disciplined way of life...they don't cut their hair and wear turbans. There are 5 things that a Sikh must wear at all times:

1. a special Sikh comb


2. special Sikh underwear


3. an iron bracelet


4. a dagger


5. not sure about the 5th thing...I think that they shouldn't cut their hair

In theory, Sikhism is a very inclusive and tolerant religion. Like many other faiths, extremism can take hold and the result is some violence.

We went to the Golden Temple in the evening to see the holy book get put away for the night. It's a very involved ritualistic process that is neat to see. The temple it self really is golden...it's covered with cold leaf. The rest of the complex is made of white marbel. There is also a pool that surrounds the temple and people bathe in it as a purification thing.

Amritsar itself was pretty busy when we were there...the were celebrating the birthday of Guru Nanak...I was pertty beat so I sat and watched the start of Australia and the West Indies cricket semi-final match. In my time in India, I've learned to like watching cricket...it's an interesting game and somehow I end up watching for a few hours at a time.

Amritsar was the last stop on the tour...we rode yet another overnight train back to Delhi.

Orchard Hut

Orchard Hut is a nice secluded spot for trekkers and other tourists. It takes a lot of effort to get there, there are no direct roads or paths.

It's run by Mr. Dhami and his family as a business. The food was really good, the accomodations were very basic but nice. It felt like being at a very basic cottage...the were no showers so you had to bathe using a bucket. They had a neat little water heater that used a wood fire. They also had a little pool that a few of us decided to jump into at differnt times...really cold!!! Couldn't stay in it for more than a minute.

A palmist came in and read the palms of most of the people in the group. It was an emotional experience for some people, for me it was more of a learning experience. He told me about the basic areas of the palm and what the represent. The way the lines and wrinkles are located and their lengths tell you about the person. It seemed pretty neat and he was spot on about some of my past and personality traits...apperently the thumb can tell you a lot about the person it's attached to.

Other than that, it was a really nice place to sit and relax for three days.

The trek, Khajjiar, and Chamba Valley

We started the trek early morning from a spot called Lakarmandi. Basically we walked down one mountain, had lunch by a river, and then hiked up another one. It took us about 6hrs to go about 20km. Pretty decent pace. The area is part of the southern himalayan belt of mountains.

Some photos from the hike:







Khajjiar is billed as the Indian Switzerland. It's another spot in India that you would not expect to see. Very scenic and very green a cool. Rob and I went zorbing...the slope wasn't very steep and the balls weren't that inflated. We had two guys helping to roll us along so it wasn't that extreme of an experience, but it was cool.



The hotel had a ping pong table. We got a mini tournament happenning with Rob, Pravin (the tour leader), and I. Pravin turned out to be a pretty good player...I'd say we were pretty even in wins/losses. Rob put up a good fight and got his fair share. Rob and I ended up playing for about 4hrs until past midnight...I was teaching the finer points of the game and he started getting pretty good. If the ball hadn't flown out the window, we probably would have been there for another couple of hours.

The next morning we set out down the mountain into the Chamba Valley area. The downhill was mostly on paved roads...I found it harder than the previous day's hiking, mainly because it was tough on my knees. I managed to survive though. We stopped for a quick lunch and headed off to catch the local bus.

Chaos ensued:
Rob decided to stop and pet some puppies. Dave somehow got roped into taking a picture of someone's wife who was very shy and didn't come out. I was watching what both of them were doing. Meanwhile, the rest of the group had got on the local bus...more light packed into the local bus. The two guides stayed behind to see what the three of us were doing. Long story short, we arrived at our destination by means of a commandeered car, 2 very packed buses, some timely phonecalls, and a ton of very close and touching interaction with the local people...especially the bus conductor.



We hiked up the side of yet another mountain to finally arrive at Orchard Hut. The dinner that night was filled with a lot of laughter as we recollected the chaos of the day.

Dalhousie

Dalhousie is a quiet mountain town named after another influential British guy...I don't recall exactly who he was, but there's been so many of them. The town itself is nice and quiet. It's a destination for Indian tourists. We didn't see many other foreign toursits.

The hotel we stayed in was pretty crummy. The rooms were damp, the towels they gave us were wet, and cleanliness was an issue. To top that, a bus load of Indian tourists got up at around 4am and made an incredible amount of noise. It sounded like about 5 guys were standing outside the room arguing with each other and horching and spitting...not pleasant. We were supposed to get a good night's rest because our trek started the next day.

Not much else to tell you about Dalhousie...

A little about Buddhism...

There are different varieties of Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism is one, southeast asian Buddhism is found in Thailand and surrounding areas, the Indian variety can be fount in northern India and in Sri Lanka.

The Buddha himself seems to be a half man, half mythical figure. His name was Siddhartha Gautama and was born as a rich man. His father tried to sheild him from the realities of life by creating a utopian existance for him. At some point, Siddhartha decided to leave the palaces and went out into the world to experience suffering. Through meditation for 49 days under a Bodhi tree , he achieved enlightenment and discovered the root of suffering. Here's an excerpt from the book "Sacred Symbols of Buddhism" about what he understood:


For Enlightenment, which brings salvation, the Buddha laid out the Four Noble Truths and The Eightfold Paths. The Four Noble Truths are constructed on the logic of syllogism with the proposition or premise - the thesis - :

1. That suffering is cused by worldly bonds;


2. That its origin is linked to Samsara, the cycle of human existence, caused by desire such as lust, possession, and happiness;


3. That suffering must be eliminated by the destruction of desire through the elimination of ignorance;


4. And that the elimination of ignorance, the ultimate cause of human misery, must be made through the Eightfold Paths which leads to Enlightenment.

The Eightfold Paths recommend the following:

1. Right understanding


2. Right attitude


3. Right speech


4. Right action


5. Right conduct


6. Right effort


7. Right attention or mindfulness


8. Right meditation

There is a lot more to Buddhism than this, but it should give you an idea of what the buddha taught. For more on Buddhism, read here.

Dharamsala

Dharamsala is the home of the exiled Dalai Lama of Tibet. The three days we spent there were a nice exposure to Tibetan food, culture, and Buddhism. The surround area is very scenic...situated in the mountains. It's also a good place to get a workout just walking around !

The Tibetan food is mostly vegetarian and my take is that it involves mostly soups, stews, and dumplings. The steamed momos are awesome...especially with some chilly and soy sauce. The thukpa soup is really good too...very wholesome...good for cold weather. Yes, it got pretty chilly at times...had to bring the toque out.

I heard it was cold so I brought some long johns and the toque, but I didn't think that I'd get to use them. The long johns are still sitting at the bottom of my pack, but I've used the toque a few times.

My take on Buddhism was that it was a very practical religion with it's own scriptures and holy books. We saw some very elaborate paintings about Buddhist mythology...tibetan mythology in any case. There's a lot more to the religion than one would think...lots of mythology and symbolism.

It's been a while ago now so the details are a little sketchy, but here's the basic run down:

The hotel we stayed in was just up the hill from Dharamsala in an area called Macleodganj named after a british guy who had some influence in the area...don't know what exactly, I never paid attention to the story and missed the details. The place was nice and the food was really good.

We went to the Buddhist temple up at Macleodganj to check out the monks debating metaphysics and theology. It's a pretty rowdy debate. One monk sits down and poses a question. The other stands and formulates an answer or an argument and then caps the final point by slapping his hands together in front of the seated monk's face. with about 30 or so monks split off in pairs it got pretty loud. I took some neat pictures there. Here's one of the debating:


Here's Rob trying telepathy with his camera:


And one at the temple's prayer wheels:


One morning there, Liz, Linda, and I hiked up to Bhagsu Falls to have a look. The hike itself was nice, but the falls were modest. Maybe a 20 meter drop and a relatively small amount of water. Some indian tourists were dipping in the water...crazy...the water was really cold. Liz and Linda were like superstars walking around, everyone wanted to take their picture with them...especially groups of young guys.

In the afternoon, we went down to Dharamsala to see the Karmapa. I didn't know it at the time, but seeing the Karmapa is pretty close to meeting te Dalai Lama himself. I'd never heard of the guy before or knew much about what we were doing there, but some people had come a long ways just to see him. Some tibetan people were around me and they started to get really excited and started mumbling some chants and sayings when he came out. We went in line and got blessed by the Karmapa and he gave everyone a red string with a knot on it that's supposed to contain a prayer from him. It's a shame really, I wish I knew more about the man and the place before I got there so it would have more significance for me. Nonetheless, I'll remember the experience for a while.

The last day I spent wandering around town...some of us tried to get an tibetan astrology reading...apparently it's a really involved process that you need to know your time of birth. An the person spends a night figuring stuff out and then gets back to you the next day. We didn't have that kind of time so it never happened. I went to the local Tibetan museum to see some of the history. The Chinese have treated Tibetans badly, without a doubt. Somehow though, I didn't have that much empathy for their cause...they've established a home in the area around Dharamsala and the tibetan business and religion are thriving there so I had a hard time viewing them as refugees. Also, from what I saw, they were treated badly, but I think the Palestinians and a lot of people in Africa and South America have it much worse.

Mandi

Mandi (sounds like Bundy) is a nice little town. I don't recall exactly, but I think the hotel we stayed in was an old holiday house for british colonail people...or it could have been more of a retirement home. It's hard to keep track...the days really blend into each other. In any case, it was a really nice spot with a quiet and peacfull courtyard. The service and food were great, but the beer was really terrible...I think they had an old stock of a bad beer to begin with.

Mandi is a stocking point for the fruit merchants around the area. The bring the fruit in from the different farms, stock them, and redistribute them to other areas. They're also famouse for making preserves and jams. I didn't have any fruit or jam there...did't really run across anything interesting.

We walked around town and checked out a couple of temples. There is a neat little cloth market where you can buy material and then take it to a tailor to have something made. The prices were pretty decent from what I heard...I'm not that big of a shopper so I didn't really look closely.

Some of us started wandering around the other areas around town. A nice man stopped us and gave us an impromptu tour of some of the older and unique hindu temples in the town. He figured that he'd feel good about showing some tourists around and also build up his karma by showing the temples to people...really nice guy, unfortunately, I couldn't understand a word he said. But Reena speaks a little hindi and she was able to translate for us.

The next day, we headed into Dharamsala.

Delhi, the 3rd group, and Shimla

We took an overnight train back to Delhi from Ajmer, which is about an hour's drive from Pushkar. I think I've spent too much time on Indian trains already...this experience wasn't anything more exciting. I did keep a few people up with my snoring (I caught a cold and was all stuffed up)...that made me chuckle in the morning.

I hung about Delhi for a day and just rested for most of the day. My roommate Andy and I tried to make up for our beer deprivation in Pushkar so we had a couple. At dinner, the group parted and said gave farewells. I made some good friend in those 2 weeks...I hope to keep in touch with them down the road. David and Karie convinced me to alter my travel plans so that I'd stay in Hong Kong for a few days around Chinese new year. I'll do that on my way back to Canada.

The next day, I met up with Lara, an aussie whom I met on the first tour. We had lunch, then and a nice chat. Then we parted ways and I went back and met up with the third group for dinner.

Yesterday morning...back on the train ! This time a full day's journey north to Shimla in the mountains.

Pravin on the toy train:



Shimla during the day:



Shimla during the night:



I like Shimla a lot. It's really mountainous, but quiet and cool. A big change from the desert of Rajasthan and the noise and hustle of Delhi. The place is very scenic...very nice. Wish I could stay longer, but we're due to depart tomorrow morning.

Beware of the monkeys though...the Rhesus Macaques here are very agressive. They will jump on you and steal your glasses because they know that they'll get food in return for them. If you are walking along eating something, they will try to steal it from you and scare you into throwing your food away and running. You can rent a monkey stick for rupees to hit on the ground and threaten them to turn away. Oh...they also don't like having their pictures taken.

Why I didn't like Pushkar...

There's really not much to do around there except sit around at cafes or shop. There also seems to be some organized crime at work there, because it seems like there are a lot of drugs going around the place. There's also a big tourist rip-off scheme at work there...it's pretty elaborate. Here's how it works:

The bait:
Some guy comes up to you and tells you he's a brahmin (hindu priest)...he's dressed pretty normally, but shows you a string from under his shirt that's supposed to be proof that he's a priest. He asks you to drop the water in the lake because it's a holy place. You take the flower and head down to the lake via one of the 52 ghats (or series of steps) and starts the supposed blessing ritual.

The hook:
He then has this kit of flower petals, rice grains, and red paint. He begins a mantra or chant that you're supposed to repeat. The ritual involves a lot of repitition, water, throwing the petals in the water, etc. At this point, he pretty much has you and now he asks you to pledge a donation. Whatever amount you say, he will tell you to give much more...in US dollars or euros. If you resist, he will say something about it being bad karma. When you agree...he then goes into another repitition and water and blessing ritual. Then he will double the amount you had said previously, because the intial donation was for a charity, and now the second one is for him because he's a priest and has no work and this is how he supports his family. You will probably agree at this point even if you don't like it.
Then he says thank you...another blessing ritual. Then he places the red hindu welcome mark on your forehead and ties a string around your wrist to show that you have already been blessed.

The Sinker:
He now asks you to had over the money you pledged. Half of it then goes to the supposed charity guy and he keeps the rest. Then they send you on your way and thanking you. You walk around pushkar and all of a sudden every street vendor, beggar, and store keeper are asking you to come in and buy something. The mark on your forehead is apparently a big sucker sign.

I thought that I was pretty street smart at this point, but I fell for this scheme and ended up giving $10 canadian. Others I know got taken for $25 US. I'm pretty sure that there's an organized crime element in the area that's behind all the drugs and these schemes. Once you accept that initial offering of the flower, you submit your will to theirs and your done. They're really good at what they do and the whole setup is slick and elaborate.

It's a shame that it happens in such a holy place. You can go to the Brahma temple, drop a flower in the lake, and get similar sort of blessing with no pressure for a donation. The only money you hand over is what you are willing to donate and you put that yourself into a donation box. I was already turned off by the whole place so I never went to the temple, but I've been told that that's the proper way that things should be done.

_________________________

There's also a large Israeli presence in Pushkar. The story goes that a lot Israeli soldiers that finish their tour of duty leave Israel and go to Pushkar to find a spiritual experience. I also saw some rabbis there who apparently go there to try and bring those soldiers back into the fold of Judaism.

There are a lot of other people trying to find God or themselves in Pushkar...it seemed like a hippie commune at times. All in all, I just had a bad vibe about the place. If anyone plans to go to Pushkar, go for the camel fair or go just for a day...not more.

Pushkar

Pushkar is a holy city of about 7000 people with a small lake. The story goes that Lord Brahma was flying by on a lotus flower and one of the petals fell to the ground and formed the lake. Pushkar also has the only temple dedicated to Brahma in the world and it is also a destination for hindu pilgrims.

Because it's such a holy place, there's no eggs, fish, meat, or beer. We spend 3 days and 2 nights there...too much time in my opinion.

We did go on a camel ride...I was excited to go on it, but rather sore by then end of it. Here are some nice pics from the ride:





Pushkar is also known for the camel fair that runs around the end of October and the beginning of November. Apparently we were a few days early...too bad, I would have liked to see it in action. Apparently the base model camels go for 10,000 rupees (@38 rupees per canadian dollar...that's around $260 !). The top model camels run for about 40,000 rupees or $1,050. The best buy, I'm told, is the mid-range camel for about 25,000 rupees. What's the difference between a top range camel and the base model camel ? Well...the top range camel is healthy, intelligent, and fully trained to obey voice commands. The base model camel is old, weak, and pretty dumb.
The mid-range camel is somewhere in between...

Bijaipur

There's another really nice hotel in Bijaipur that used to be a maharajah palace and now converted into a classy hotel. If this sounds similar to some previous posts that's because we were touring the Indian state of Rajasthan...literally meaning the land of kings, or Raj's.

The hotel was really nice with a nice swimming pool and a ping pong table, but there's not much around the place other than some very rural villages. We ran into a few water buffalo:



And watched the sunset by a nearby water reservoir.



We got up early the next day and headed to Pushkar by car.

Bundi

From Jaipur we went to the Ranthambhore National Tiger Part reserve. We were in a loud diesel powered bus and there were about 5 other similar buses on the same route. Needless to say...no tigers. So there's no real story about Ranthambhore.

Bundi, on the other hand, was a really nice place. There's an old palace there that's abandoned and in disrepair. It's cool to see nature slowly take over...bats have found a home in there and some of the structures were starting to decay. It had some really neat painting in there...really fine delicate art. It used to be a maharajah residence but now it's an attraction. It was really nice because we were pretty much the only people there and no hawkers/vendors.

We also saw the summer residence:



...and a lot of monkeys:

.

Apart from that, Bundi is a nice little town. The houses were mostly painted this nice baby blue colour aparently because it's one of the cheapest paints around. Makes for some nice photos...like this goat:

Jaipur

I heard Jaipur was a really cool place, but I didn't really get that. It had some neat places...the city palace and the wind palace. The coolest by far was the Jantar Mantar observatory. Big massive sundials ! I was amazed at how they could carve such straight lines in marble...you'd have to see it to really get it, but I thought it was incredible. The bazaar was interesting too...bought some basic items like toothpaste and underwear (very important...should have packed more to start with). Overall though, I thought it was very similar to other Indian cities.

I did decide to get a haircut though...was starting to look a little shaggy. I asked the barber if he had clippers and he said "yes ! Yes ! Sit down."
I said: "how much ?"
He said: "30 rupees"
I said: "ok" and sat down.
He toweled my head off because I was pretty sweaty, wrapped an apron around me, reached into a box and pulled out the hand shear clippers. I looked at them and said to myself:" this is probably a bad idea, but what the hell, I'll give it a shot".
It was a bad idea...he started getting hand cramps and my head looked pretty patchy. I told him it looked like crap and that I heard that Jaipur barbers were really good, but this was not. He shook his head and said that his arm hurt. I said: "Crap...shave it then." So I left Jaipur as a poor imitation of Ghandi and with a funny story to tell.