Grace's Most Excellent Adventure

From Dharamsala I headed to my home away from home, the Nirvana Hostel in Delhi for a couple days. My friend Strawberry was there again! I love hanging out with her. She's my Delhi buddy. We went shopping and had an amazing South Indian thali (huge meal with many curries, rice, chapati, dessert, etc) It was delish. I got kind of sick of South Indian food when I was in the south but once I was back up north I was missing it. Delhi was soo hot. It was hard to be outside. The heat made the grossness of India even grosser. The next day we spent most of the day in the hostel and I caught a night train to Varanasi aka Varanasty.

Here's Strawberry with an Indian child

Sunny and Strawberry, my Nirvana Hostel buddies

The cool rearview mirror in the autorickshaw on my way to the train station

The train on my way out of Delhi

Varanasi was equally hot and even more dirty and disgusting. It was worth the stop. One day i explored the ghats on the Ganga and went to the ganga aarti and lit a candle with happy wishes for my friends and family and floated it down the river. The next day I went temple hopping with and Israeli/American girl.




A fellow artist


Cricket on the Ganga

This is me making a blessing for my friends and family

From Varanasi I took one last sleeper train to Calcutta. I only had half a day there and I wish I'd had more time because it was a cool city. I liked the vibe. I went to the Victoria Memorial but it was closed. The gardens were beautiful though. It didn't feel like India. there were lots of young couples being cuddly and holding hands.
I wandered around the city looking for a Bengali restaurant. The one I finally found was expensive but I though for my last meal in India I might as well go all out so I had a romantic dinner for one. It was really good but too huge. I could have split it.

The Victoria Memorial

The streets of Calcutta

My amazing Bengali Thali, my last meal in India!

I hurried from Amritsar because I heard the Dalai Lama was giving a speach. I made it for the speach but turns out I didn't need to hurry because there were many opportunities to see the Dalai Lama. I was with two German girls and we didn't have a radio to hear the translation so we listened in Tibetan and I shared my embroidery thread with them and a Tibetan nun and we all made friendship bracelets while we listened.

I found this photo on the Dalai Lama's website and put a box around myself!


After the German girls left I met Sachi who's from Berkeley CA and traveling around the world filming a documtry about the phenomonon of "speed cubing" i.e. competitions where people solve the Rubics Cube as fast as possible. The record is 7 seconds! Sachi and I stayed in a sweet apartment with a kitchen. We were friends with our Tibetan neighbors. At first they seemed really cool. They cooked for us and we had fun with them but after a while we relized they wern't that cool after all and we stopped hanging out with them. After Sachi left I moved in with four friends and we lived in a 2 bedroom apartment with a kitchen. They were a lot of fun.

Me and Sachi

I got a cappichino every morning served by Tibetan warriors ; )

Rosie and Keira, two of my roommates
When I ferst arrived I ate lots of Tibetan food, momos (like bready potstickers) and Thanthuk (noodle soup). Sachi and I took a momo cooking class at LIT and learned how to make potato momos, spinach momos, and chocolate momos! After the first couple weeks I was pretty sick of momos and ate mostly western food.

momos!
I learned a lot about Tibetan culture and history. I watched many documentaries about TIbet and listened to the stories of political prisoners and many refugees. March 10th was Tibetan uprisning day. It marked 51 years of the Illegal Chinese occupationof Tibet. Unfortunately I was sick that day and overslept missing most of the Dalai Lama's spech. I read it though and it was great. Normally I love protests but because I was sick I was feeling really overwhelmed by the crowed and didn't march down to lower Dharamsala. I have some regrets about not participating in the festivities more fully.

One weekend my roomies and I drove up into the mountains and went paragliding and then camping afterwards. It was amazing! I thought I would be scared but I wasn't at all. Taking off was so easy. As soon as the parachute opend up it just picked me and my tandem professinal right up and away we went! We were in the air for nearly an hour! On our way down we came in high about the landing area and did a big spiral all the way down. It was so fun! I guess I was lucky that I didn't feel sick because most of my friends got nauseous and some people puked.



Coming in for landing

safely on the ground and watching my friends land

I came to Dharamsala to work with Art Refuge UK, an art therapy organization. I worked with another volunteer and a Tibetan staffmember who translated for us and we taught an art class to the Tibetan refugee children who had just arrived. Unfortunately in a month I was only able to assist in teaching about 5 classes. There were very few new refugees because it was close to the end of the season. Most refugees come during the winter when the borders are more difficult to patrol. The Chinese government was also putting pressure on the Nepali government to return the refugees to China and not allow them into India. It was a good experience but unfortunate that there wasn't much to do and that it is becoming more difficult for refugees to make it to Dharamsala.

This is me with Lhakpa and Amma on my last day in Mecleod. You can see some awesome children's art behind us.
I found some other volunteer activities to help fill out my schedule. For two weeks I worked in a free childcare for Tibetan babies and toddlers under the age of 3. They were adorable! Unfortunately Iw asn't allowed to take photos. The schedule got a bit repetative but I was missing them after my two weeks were over. My last week was a bit more relaxed and I worked on my painting of a stupa and prayer flags. I also volunteered a few times in the English conversation class at LIT mostly helping Tibetan monks and nuns practice their English.

Here's my painting. As finished as it's going to get.
I was so happy in Mcleod and so sad to leave. I was very comfortable in my life there and enjoied my roommates emensely.

So from the Andamans I flew to Delhi (with 2 layovers). In Delhi I stayed at the Nirvana Hostel (for the 4th time). It was nice to see Shreejesh again and I made friends with an awesome girl named Strawberry who is a tantric yogini from Montana. It was here 4th time there as well. She and I hung out for a day in Delhi before I caught the night train to Amritsar.
On the train I sat with a very friendly family from Mumbai. They fed me some Rajasthani food and their daughter put mendhi (henna) on my hands in exchange for a friendship bracelet. They also tried to teach me some of their mother language, Marwari. About three hours into the ride they realized that I was on the wrong train and there was no bed on this train for me! Luckily the train I was on was also headed to Amritsar so all I had to do was get out at the next major stop and wait 10 minutes for my train.
I arrived in Amritsar in the morning and headed straight for the Golden Temple which is the holiest Sikh temple. Sikhs are supposed to make a pilgrimage there. I stayed in the dorm accommodation for foreigners. I shared a room with a photographer from Ireland and a Korean girl who is in India studying English. I was going to go to the Pakistan border and see the border closing ceremony but I was tired and took a nap instead. In the evening I walked around the temple some more and met an Indian woman who has been living in Amritsar for six months. She walked many laps around the temple with me and told me about the history of the temple and a little about the Sikh religion. It turns out that she was raised Hindu but now considers herself to be secular. This is quite rare for an Indian woman! I also went inside the temple with her which was so beautiful but quite crowded. There was a big crystal chandelier inside and the walls were ornately carved and inlaid with natural and precious stones.
For dinner we ate in the dining hall of the temple which serves thousands of people a day and is completely donation based. It was pretty standard but good. We got chapatti, dal (lentils), sabji (veggies) and kheer (rice pudding) for dessert.
The next day I headed north to Dharamshala!

My flight to the Andamans was at 4am so I didn't sleep. It was a quick flight (2 hours) and I arrived very sleep deprived. On the boat from Port Blair to Havelock Island I made a new friend, Gabby from New Zealand and we decided to share a beach hut. We stayed on Beach number 5 which is the most social beach. The beach there is beautiful but very rocky and hard to swim in except at high tide. Beach number 7 is beautiful and great for swimming and snorkeling. One of the first few days Gabby and I rented a scooter. Neither of us had ever rode one before. Gabby picked it up quicker than I did. We bought a kilo of mangos (which soon became a pattern for me) and brought them to beach 7. The water is bright teal blue and the sand is white and as fine as flour. The beaches are also covered in tiny hermit crabs which make really cool patterns with their eggs. Beach 7 is not lined with Palm trees but rather has a forest of huge trees that looks like Where the Wild Things Are.
A few days after we arrived some of Gabby's friends came, 3 Irish guys Tony, Al and Steven, and one Swiss, Harry. They were a lot of fun to hang out with. There was a cheap and delicious place on the road where we ate most often. My favorites were the shakshuka and iced coffee.
I don't really know where the two weeks went. There was a lot of laying in hammocks or on the beach. At night we had campfires with music and sing-a-longs
Unfortunately my camera was stolen and stupidly I had all my memory cards in my camera case. Isabella says she will send me photos from south India soon.
These photos I stole from Harry:

Harry,Tony, Steven and me

Beach 5 where we lived!

Our beach hut at the Pelican where I lived with Gabby

Beautiful beach number 7!

Sunset over beach 7

Well it has been a long time since I last posted so I'll just give yous some highlights.
From Kerala Isa and I headed down to the southern-most tip of India called Kanyakumari where 3 oceans meet. We decided to spend a little more and stay in a nice hotel with a balcony that had a view of the water. In the morning we went to the roof to watch the sunrise.
Next we headed to Madurai, a big busy Tamil city that feels like the real India. We spent most of our time wandering around and exploring the city. we met up with Ian who happened to to be staying at the same hotel as us (psychic twin connection???). We ordered many pots of chai drank it on the roof of our hotel which had a great view of the city and was close to the main temple. One day Isabella and I had a "food day" and we decided to try everything we had never tried before including many interesting street foods. Our favorite south Indian food was pongal! All the other south indian breakfasts (idly, dosa, parota, puri, oothapum etc.) I got sick of but pongal is amazing. I think it is mashed overcooked dal and rice with spices but it tastes like mashed potatos. you can pour sambar (watery curry) on top and it its so good! We always asked to try all the different sauces which usually included sambar, coconut chutney and a some kind of red coconut chutney that was really good.
Next stop was Mamallapuram which felt just like every other touristy place in south India. We paid for a guide to tell us about the ancient carvings there which was well worth the money.
Next we headed to Pondicherry which used to be a French colony. It was a really cute city. I liked the vibe there. We had a moment in a cafe eating french food surrounded by French people and it really felt like we were in France.
The timing worked out really well because we headed back up to Chennai and Isabella flew home only a couple hours before I flew to the Andamans!

Kerala is a beautiful state! I love it here. I have been traveling with Isabella, my Swiss friend, since we met in Ooty. We were on different train cars on our night train to Cochin aka Kochi because we bought our tickets at different times. She got off one stop too late so we got separated but it only took a dew hours for us to find each other! We stayed in a home-stay with a very nice family in Fort Cochin. We spent the first sleep-deprived day exploring. in the evening we took a ferry to a celebration at the Shiva temple in Ernakulam. On our way we stopped to drink some coconut water. I drink it everyday here. A coconut costs 10-15 rupees (about 25¢). They are really good at wacking the top off with a machete and they stick a straw in it for you to drink. If there is any flesh to eat after you are done they will cut it in half for you and cut out the edible part or cut off part of the husk to make a little spoon for you to scrape it out with. The ones with the best tasting water are actually the young coconuts that don't have any coconut meat yet. But I digress. We stopped and talked to the coconut-wala for a while and he taught us some Malayalam (the language in Kerala). At the temple there were 7 decked-out elephants and lots of headache-inducing music. They also made explosions that sounded like gunshots every so often outside the temple.

These are the Chinese fishing nets in Fort Cochin

The next day we went on a full day backwater tour. It was serene and peaceful. Part was in a canoe and part in a houseboat.



These are coconuts drying in the sun that will be made into cocnut oil.

This woman is making rope out of coconut husks.

Our lunch was a banana leaf thali! Yumm

In the evening we went to a Katakali performance which is a traditional Keralan performance set to music. All the parts are played by men and they don't speak but instead use gestures and exaggerated facial expressions.







This was the end on the battle when the hero eats the heart of the evil character!

The next day we took a boat from Alleppey down to Amma's ashram in Amritapuri. It is enormous! There are over 3000 people living there and including daily visitors there are nearly 4000! It is surprisingly calm and peaceful for its size. There are people of all ages including young families and retired people. Some have been living there for 20 years or more. I enjoyed our time there but there wasn't a lot to do that you didn't have to pay for. We went to a yoga class and washed dishes as our karma yoga aka Seva. We even got darshan (a hug) from Amma! The was lucky because she was supposed to be traveling around India but she postponed her tour and nobody is sure why. She does have a lot of love for everyone and has some great philosophies to live by. I also felt a strong spiritual presence from her.
There was a lot of praying to Amma. It was strange for me to pray to a living person. There were definitely some fanatics there. I think many of them see her as god or a living connection to god. Anyway it was an interesting experience and I'm glad we stopped by but a couple of days there was plenty.


In the afternoon we took a boat down to Kollam and then a bus to Varkala! We stayed in the nicest place I have stayed in India for only 400 rupees ($5 per person). After dinner we went down to the beach and met some Brazilian guys who were playing music around the campfire. We also met some (fellow western Washingtonian) friends we made at the ashram. The next day we played in the waves which Isabella calls "waving." I love the way she speaks English. In the evening we had a little birthday party in a treehouse with some new friends.


We got a little too excited and forgot to take pictures but the cake said Happy Birthday Grace! The whole restaurant sang to me. The chef also put a string of flowers around my neck and they smelled amazing! It was also the night of the full moon! Isabella and I laid on the beach and gazed at the moon and stars. We didn't even care that our hair got all sandy.
The next morning we did some more waving. We left in the afternoon for the Shivananda yoga ashram. We arrived after dark and we were told that even though we had a reservation they accept everyone and had more people show up than ever before. All they could offer us to sleep on was a straw mat on the cement floor which we had to pay full price for. It was late and there was nowhere else nearby to stay so we paid but I was upset about it. I did not sleep well and woke up early in the morning with a fever and body aches that lasted most of the day. The staff there were mostly rude and not sympathetic so as soon as my fever was gone I headed back to Varkala. Isabella didn't mind sleeping on the floor and hadn't had the yoga ashram experience before so she decided to stay and we are going to meet up again in a couple days in Trivandrum.

This was on the train. We sat with our feet in the doorway.

This was an impressive performance we saw on the street in Trivandrum.

I stayed in a hostel in Mysore and met a cool Israeli girl who was also traveling alone. We swapped stories of our difficulties traveling in India. I also got to know some geology students from Kashmir who were in Mysore doing research. I really only had one full day in Mysore so I went on a cheap bus tour. We went to many places but my favorite by far was the Palace. It was so beautiful! Unfortunately I was not allowed to take photos inside. We ended the day at some beautiful gardens with a fountain show at night. You wouldn't believe how huge and excited the crowed was just to watch a fountain with colored lights and music. I spent the day with a British geography teacher who has been living in Dubai for 20 years. he has been to all but 70 countries so far and was even in Sri Lanka when the tsunami hit! He was quite an interesting fellow to chat with.
The next day I was trying to go to Kochi but I didn't get an early start on the day and it was going to be late at night by the time I arrived so instead I followed some fellow backpackers up to Ooty and I'm glad I did!
Ooty is way up in the mountains and is very cold! It is the first time I have been cold since I left Delhi in mid-December. The landscape is lovely green terraced tea plantations and houses. I took another cheap bus tour of Ooty and Coonoor. It was a nice way to see everything in one day but I think I'm done with the packaged tours. The always include several stops that really don't interest me. I did enjoy all the beautiful views and the tea factory, and I got to know some young couples on vacation from Bangalore.
Today I took one of the few steam trains left in India from Ooty to Coonoor. I hung out with a couple from the Netherlands who are interning in Pondicherry and a lovely girl named Izabella from Switzerland. Izabella and I were chatting and found out that she and I had been hanging out with the same group of people in Palolem but she arrived the day I left. Small world! Now she is coming with me on the night train to Kochi down in Kerala. I'm excited!

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It took me 9 hours on the local bus to get to Bangalore. On the way I saw lots more windmills yey! I also shared an earbud with an adorable 4-year-old girl. I think I'm a city girl at heart because I love the feeling of traveling all day and arriving in a big exciting city. Bangalore is probably my favorite Indian city that I have been to so far. The weather is nice and it is much cleaner than Delhi and Mumbai although I don't think the tuktuks use CNG which is too bad.
I am staying at the very cheap (125 rupees aka $2.50 per night) Bangalore Youth Hostel. It is not in the Lonely Planet so its pretty dead. I don't mind too much though because I have a whole dorm room to myself.
My first day in Bangalore I went to the botanical gardens. I went on a tour with an Indian family from Chennai and had a lovely time though I wasn't that impressed with the gardens themselves. Next I went to a mall and pretended I was back at home for a few hours. I even got a veggie delight sub on whole wheat at subway. I then decided to see the next movie playing in English which happened to be a terrible romantic comedy starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant. I enjoyed it a lot more than I should have just because I'm missing American culture. I happened to be sitting next to a cute and friendly Danish guy and after the movie we went out for coffee and a bite to eat. He was great company.
Today I went to an art museum with some amazing modern and contemporary Indian art! So inspiring. I need to get some art supplies asap. I really enjoyed being by myself because I could linger in the rooms that really captured me and breeze by the ones I wasn't as interested in.
I think I'll head down to Mysore the day after tomorrow.

I've been in Hampi for two days now. I lost my ear buds so it was a long and very bumpy bus ride from Gokarna. I was traveling on January 14th which is the day of the Makar Sankranti festival. Everyone had the day off and many people go to the river to bathe. People also draw beautiful colorful designs with chalk outside their homes. It was cool to see all the different designs as I road by on the bus. I also remember fields of yellow sunflowers with palm trees poking out . We even went by a hillside lined with windmills harvesting wind power! That was shocking to see in India-the land of burning plastic. Some local girls came to sit by me for part of the ride. They were very excited to talk to me. They hoped that I spoke Kannada (the language spoken in Karnataka, the state that I am in right now). They both spoke a little English and told me about the festival.
When we arrived in Hospet, the nearest city to Hampi, and I shared an autorickshaw with an older French woman who was on the bus with me named Eliza. She and I scouted out guesthouses together and decided to save money by sharing a room. She was great company. She is a Buddist and has been all over the world but came on this trip to India as part of her spiritual journey. She spent a month at Amma's ashram in Kerala where I plan to visit. Now she is about to begin a 60 day solo retreat in a cave upstream from Hampi.
I wasn't feeling well on Friday and had to submit some grad school applications so I didn't get to see much that day. Yesterday Eliza and I went sightseeing. Hampi is so beautiful. It was a huge empire in the 14th century with 500,000 people in its prime. The landscape is covered with huge rounded boulders, some of them precariously balanced on each other. There is also a huge amount of fairly well preserved ruins and carvings. In some places it reminded me of Rome. It is surreal to see the local people now living among the ruins and boulders.
Today I am taking a bus to Bangalore!
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I stayed in Palolem for over a week. I had a nice time there but was getting quite restless and was ready to move on. I left Ian in Palolem. Now I'm at Om beach in northern Karnataka. It is beautiful here and much less developed. I have met some cool people here but I don't think I'll stay long because there is a huge group of Indian guys who won't leave us girls alone. They keep asking to take my photo ("just one snap please!") and I say no! I already told you no! and they take it anyway. rrrr
So anyway I think I will move on to Hampi tomorrow or the next day.
There was a nice bonfire last night. I met lots of people. I was the only American as usual. Its so cool to hang out with people from other parts of the world. I met a fire dancer from Slovenia and this fun Israeli guy who reminded me so much of my friend Nathan. I felt like he and I were already friends even though we just met. Today I've been hanging out with 3 girls from Sweden who are staying at my hotel.