Well, no more hurling, thank heavens, but I'm still not feeling my best. I got up feeling great this morning and wandered out into town to do a little more shopping. I was starving, so I made the error of eating breakfast. All downhill from there, I've been nauseous ever since. I tried to make up the dance classes I missed yesterday, and I was learning this really fun Bollywood routine, but my stomach kept lurching and we had to call it quits. Sad :(
So tomorrow night I head for Delhi. I was hoping to do a couple hours of camel trekking tomorrow (obviously I've ditched the notion of going overnight tonight), but at this rate even that may be out of the question. Looks like I'll have to lie low another day and let my antibiotics work their magic. But on the up side, this has given me the chance to read an interesting book that claims Jesus spent time in India as a youth, survived his crucifiction, and returned to be entombed in Kashmir somewhere. It's an intriguing premise, but the scholarship is totally shoddy so even if there's any truth to any of it, the author sabotages himself. It's getting kind of hilarious as the book wears on...
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Lucky streak over
Ugggggggggh.
I've been really really lucky so far in all my travels that I haven't really had much in the way of tummy trouble, but it couldn't last forever. Last night was an epic hurl-fest lasting from about midnight until 7AM. Still not feeling great, but I'm well enough to get out and post to say I survived. So unless I have a miraculous recovery, looks like I'll be missing my last day of dance classes and possibly even the camel trek I'd hoped to fit in tomorrow. Alas. But for someone whose immune system is as lame as mine, the fact that I haven't been sick like this all the time is no small feat, and I can't complain too much.
I've been really really lucky so far in all my travels that I haven't really had much in the way of tummy trouble, but it couldn't last forever. Last night was an epic hurl-fest lasting from about midnight until 7AM. Still not feeling great, but I'm well enough to get out and post to say I survived. So unless I have a miraculous recovery, looks like I'll be missing my last day of dance classes and possibly even the camel trek I'd hoped to fit in tomorrow. Alas. But for someone whose immune system is as lame as mine, the fact that I haven't been sick like this all the time is no small feat, and I can't complain too much.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Kathak dancing...
Um...I am apparently a really bad dancer. Good thing my teacher has a good sense of humor about it. :) It's one of those "good habits in ballet equals bad habit in other dance forms" things. Also the use of joints I didn't realize actually moved that way. My teacher can make his hands undulate like they've got no bones, and I've totally got flippers for hands, so I look like I'm trying one-handed clapping or something when I try to do the same thing (alas, it's one of the most common steps in this form of dance). But he's very patient, and he's young enough that he doesn't take his own classes too seriously, so we laugh about it a lot (although my cluelessness can only be fun for so long. And he's stuck with me 3 hours a day for two more days!).
I got my "Pushkar Passport" today, which is when some guy shakes you down for a "charitable donation" for doing puja at the lakeside. It happens to everybody, and most travel accounts say people will bug you until you do it, so I figured I'd just suck it up and get it over with (you get a little string around your wrist that says you've done it). I also have a red smudge on my forehead that I'll have to get someone to take a picture of.
I also got to wander around the lake. I walked past the place where Gandhi's ashes were scattered, which is pretty special. He was such an amazing and inspiring figure, it's nice to share a part of that, even a small one.
Otherwise an uneventful day. More shopping. More dancing. I may hit the post office. Oh! The dog! I almost forgot! One of my teacher's brothers and his wife have this giant scary German Shepherd. He is easily up to my elbow. Maybe even bigger. Anyway, he isn't used to too many visitors, so he is really territorial. He's fine when his owners are around, but yesterday when they weren't around, I had to walk past him to get from my room to the stairs, and he growled, then jumped up and took a snap at me! Jeeez! So now I'm scared of him. But apparently he responds to commands in Spanish, because I talked to the wife (who is Spanish) about it and it worked earlier today. Growl but I told him to to sit and stay in my now-limited Espanol, so no biting. But I'm still totally scared.
I got my "Pushkar Passport" today, which is when some guy shakes you down for a "charitable donation" for doing puja at the lakeside. It happens to everybody, and most travel accounts say people will bug you until you do it, so I figured I'd just suck it up and get it over with (you get a little string around your wrist that says you've done it). I also have a red smudge on my forehead that I'll have to get someone to take a picture of.
I also got to wander around the lake. I walked past the place where Gandhi's ashes were scattered, which is pretty special. He was such an amazing and inspiring figure, it's nice to share a part of that, even a small one.
Otherwise an uneventful day. More shopping. More dancing. I may hit the post office. Oh! The dog! I almost forgot! One of my teacher's brothers and his wife have this giant scary German Shepherd. He is easily up to my elbow. Maybe even bigger. Anyway, he isn't used to too many visitors, so he is really territorial. He's fine when his owners are around, but yesterday when they weren't around, I had to walk past him to get from my room to the stairs, and he growled, then jumped up and took a snap at me! Jeeez! So now I'm scared of him. But apparently he responds to commands in Spanish, because I talked to the wife (who is Spanish) about it and it worked earlier today. Growl but I told him to to sit and stay in my now-limited Espanol, so no biting. But I'm still totally scared.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Good pick, guys!
Well done guys. Pushkar is amazing.
Last night the guys from the Saraswati school came to pick me up - at 2 in the morning - from the train station. They're brothers, and they're really funny, so I'm looking forward to taking classes with them. My room is quite nice, as well. Great air because it's off a little balcony. I got up this morning, and on the way down to score myself some breakfast I hit this awesome shopping street and ended up buying a silk skirt for myself, and a couple really fun souveneers for people back home. Totally not on purpose, but it was all such great stuff I couldn't resist.
Then I hit the Rainbow rooftop restaurant, which is awesome. It has a great view over "Lake" Puskar. It's really a pond, but it's so beautiful. There are stepped ghats going down to the water all around, with crumbling architectural treasures from several different eras popping up behind them. Beyond that are the mountains. An incredible view. And...drumroll, they have for real pancakes. Not crepes. An actual bread-like, honest to goodness, break out the maple pancake. It had honey on it, but it was still quite possibly the most delicious thing ever because I've been craving one forever. They've also got this great whipped fresh-squeezed OJ which, after weeks of what I've taken to calling "faux-J" was the best thing ever. I plan to eat 3 meals a day there and have a glass of OJ with each so I can kick this cough that's settling into my lungs.
Yesterday was pretty fantastic too, overall. I forgot to mention the sights on the way to the train station (in the AM when I bought my ticket): a work elephant walking down the street and a parade, complete with uniformed marching band, on the way to a temple! Sweet!
Then all the stuff I mentioned yesterday, and a trip to the nature walk, which was the best thing about Agra besides the Taj itself. There was practically nobody there, except young Indian lovebirds looking for a place to hold hands without some older person disapproving. Really cute. Anyway, I found a place with a great view of the Taj complex (it looks like a far-away fairy tale city from there), and wrote out some postcards in complete peace and solitude. Then, I pretended I hadn't understood the guard's instructions that the forest path was off-limits (hey, there was no sign saying I shouldn't go...I thought you meant wandering into the forest off the path, officer...). I wandered off into the woods on the old stone path, and what should greet me but a wild peacock! So cool! By the time I got my camera out his less-ornate girlfriend had showed up, but I didn't get a clear shot of the spectacularly plumed male. After a bit of observing they headed into the forest and I kept walking, only to stumble upon a grazing deer, the size of which blew me away. My camera, of course, had run out of batteries, and as I fumbled for more, what should walk out of the woods but this strange water-buffalo-deer creature unlike anything I'd ever seen before. Of course, all my batteries were dead - my charger is no longer functioning properly from too much rough treatment - so I didn't get a photo of either one of them, but it was better than a wildlife safari out there.
The train was another Indian style adventure. I shared my compartment (ticketed for six) with over 15 people, all but one of whom were loud obnoxious young men with a penchant for smoking cigarettes under the no-smoking sign, until the very classy and offended older lady sitting next to me and I finally found the conductor and made a stink about it. Then they kicked all of our un-ticketed "guests" back to the unreserved seating coach where they should have been all along and the rest of the trip was uneventful...except for the part when I think we might have hit a person with the train. I couldn't really understand what was going on, but from what I gathered, someone was trying to cross the track and didn't quite make it, but maybe that was just a rumor because we were only delayed by 10 minutes...
Anyway, off to my dance class at 3PM!
Last night the guys from the Saraswati school came to pick me up - at 2 in the morning - from the train station. They're brothers, and they're really funny, so I'm looking forward to taking classes with them. My room is quite nice, as well. Great air because it's off a little balcony. I got up this morning, and on the way down to score myself some breakfast I hit this awesome shopping street and ended up buying a silk skirt for myself, and a couple really fun souveneers for people back home. Totally not on purpose, but it was all such great stuff I couldn't resist.
Then I hit the Rainbow rooftop restaurant, which is awesome. It has a great view over "Lake" Puskar. It's really a pond, but it's so beautiful. There are stepped ghats going down to the water all around, with crumbling architectural treasures from several different eras popping up behind them. Beyond that are the mountains. An incredible view. And...drumroll, they have for real pancakes. Not crepes. An actual bread-like, honest to goodness, break out the maple pancake. It had honey on it, but it was still quite possibly the most delicious thing ever because I've been craving one forever. They've also got this great whipped fresh-squeezed OJ which, after weeks of what I've taken to calling "faux-J" was the best thing ever. I plan to eat 3 meals a day there and have a glass of OJ with each so I can kick this cough that's settling into my lungs.
Yesterday was pretty fantastic too, overall. I forgot to mention the sights on the way to the train station (in the AM when I bought my ticket): a work elephant walking down the street and a parade, complete with uniformed marching band, on the way to a temple! Sweet!
Then all the stuff I mentioned yesterday, and a trip to the nature walk, which was the best thing about Agra besides the Taj itself. There was practically nobody there, except young Indian lovebirds looking for a place to hold hands without some older person disapproving. Really cute. Anyway, I found a place with a great view of the Taj complex (it looks like a far-away fairy tale city from there), and wrote out some postcards in complete peace and solitude. Then, I pretended I hadn't understood the guard's instructions that the forest path was off-limits (hey, there was no sign saying I shouldn't go...I thought you meant wandering into the forest off the path, officer...). I wandered off into the woods on the old stone path, and what should greet me but a wild peacock! So cool! By the time I got my camera out his less-ornate girlfriend had showed up, but I didn't get a clear shot of the spectacularly plumed male. After a bit of observing they headed into the forest and I kept walking, only to stumble upon a grazing deer, the size of which blew me away. My camera, of course, had run out of batteries, and as I fumbled for more, what should walk out of the woods but this strange water-buffalo-deer creature unlike anything I'd ever seen before. Of course, all my batteries were dead - my charger is no longer functioning properly from too much rough treatment - so I didn't get a photo of either one of them, but it was better than a wildlife safari out there.
The train was another Indian style adventure. I shared my compartment (ticketed for six) with over 15 people, all but one of whom were loud obnoxious young men with a penchant for smoking cigarettes under the no-smoking sign, until the very classy and offended older lady sitting next to me and I finally found the conductor and made a stink about it. Then they kicked all of our un-ticketed "guests" back to the unreserved seating coach where they should have been all along and the rest of the trip was uneventful...except for the part when I think we might have hit a person with the train. I couldn't really understand what was going on, but from what I gathered, someone was trying to cross the track and didn't quite make it, but maybe that was just a rumor because we were only delayed by 10 minutes...
Anyway, off to my dance class at 3PM!
Monday, November 17, 2008
Pushkar accomplished!
So I have called into Pushkar and arranged a dance intensive complete with staying in-house at the studio/ashram. I'm not sure how many hours of class I'll be taking a day, but I'll figure that out when I get there.
So now I'm going to make the most of what remains of my time here in Agra. So far so good. I took a walk around the fort and sat under a shady tree for a while, then took a ride on a rickshaw past Victoria gardens, which is lovely, and then visited a totally non-touristed mosque right next to the West Gate of the Taj. Now I'm going to grab a jalebi (mmmm...sugar) and head down to the riverside to sit and stare at the Taj until it's time to go. Perfecto.
So now I'm going to make the most of what remains of my time here in Agra. So far so good. I took a walk around the fort and sat under a shady tree for a while, then took a ride on a rickshaw past Victoria gardens, which is lovely, and then visited a totally non-touristed mosque right next to the West Gate of the Taj. Now I'm going to grab a jalebi (mmmm...sugar) and head down to the riverside to sit and stare at the Taj until it's time to go. Perfecto.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
And the winner is....
Pushkar! Thank you guys from absolving me of responsibility for myself! Now all that remains is to call and make sure that the teacher is available for the days I'll be there and then get a train ticket or bus ticket (uggggh, definitely a last resort) to get myself there. Fingers crossed!
29 at the Taj
Ok, I am now a breath away from 30. Let us never speak of this again, it grosses me out.
But regardless of that, it's been a good day. I got up this morning and went straight to the Taj, which was, of course, incredible. There's a reason it gets the attention it does, and that's because it's spectacular. It almost glows. And I thought it was all white, but it isn't. The marble is inlaid with all kinds of precious and semiprecious stones, and it's unbelievable. The mausoleum of Mumtaz Mahal is exquisitely detailed and so delicate. It's definitely a tribute to Shah Jehan's affection for her. (note: in the picture I'm looking a little drenched from jumping out of the shower and into the Taj, but I wanted to show off the outfit Dan and Sonia gave me - you guys are the best! I love it!)
I also saw the palaces inside the fort, which are pretty spectacular. A lot of it is shut down because of ongoing restoration and excavation, and I'd have given my right arm to get into a few places that were locked up, but what was open was amazing. Theses sultans really had fantastic taste. So much white marble and red sandstone...the marble in particular is perfect for this climate because it's cool even when the heat is raging. There are fountains and green lawns everywhere. Tell you what, I could definitely live like that...provided, of course, that I didn't have to live locked up in the (I kid you not) basement harem all my life. My favorite spot at the forts is definitely the prison tower of Shah Jehan. Apparently his son took the throne from him shortly after the completion of the Taj Mahal and locked him away in this tower until his death some years later. But what a poetic place to be locked up. It's a beautiful open area of white marble, with a wraparound balcony that looks out over the river, and in the distance he could see his wife's tomb, where he would later be buried as well. It's almost like being suspended in the air.
I am hoping that after my big night tonight I can get some photos uploaded. I've realized that I haven't given you guys any pictures since I left Israel. My bad.
Tonight's big: I'm going to try to catch the sunset at the Taj nature trails, then to an actual nice hotel for a fancypants dinner, then a little bit of trinket shopping, then back home to make some phone calls home. All in all a lovely day!
But regardless of that, it's been a good day. I got up this morning and went straight to the Taj, which was, of course, incredible. There's a reason it gets the attention it does, and that's because it's spectacular. It almost glows. And I thought it was all white, but it isn't. The marble is inlaid with all kinds of precious and semiprecious stones, and it's unbelievable. The mausoleum of Mumtaz Mahal is exquisitely detailed and so delicate. It's definitely a tribute to Shah Jehan's affection for her. (note: in the picture I'm looking a little drenched from jumping out of the shower and into the Taj, but I wanted to show off the outfit Dan and Sonia gave me - you guys are the best! I love it!)
I also saw the palaces inside the fort, which are pretty spectacular. A lot of it is shut down because of ongoing restoration and excavation, and I'd have given my right arm to get into a few places that were locked up, but what was open was amazing. Theses sultans really had fantastic taste. So much white marble and red sandstone...the marble in particular is perfect for this climate because it's cool even when the heat is raging. There are fountains and green lawns everywhere. Tell you what, I could definitely live like that...provided, of course, that I didn't have to live locked up in the (I kid you not) basement harem all my life. My favorite spot at the forts is definitely the prison tower of Shah Jehan. Apparently his son took the throne from him shortly after the completion of the Taj Mahal and locked him away in this tower until his death some years later. But what a poetic place to be locked up. It's a beautiful open area of white marble, with a wraparound balcony that looks out over the river, and in the distance he could see his wife's tomb, where he would later be buried as well. It's almost like being suspended in the air.
I am hoping that after my big night tonight I can get some photos uploaded. I've realized that I haven't given you guys any pictures since I left Israel. My bad.
Tonight's big: I'm going to try to catch the sunset at the Taj nature trails, then to an actual nice hotel for a fancypants dinner, then a little bit of trinket shopping, then back home to make some phone calls home. All in all a lovely day!
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