Varanasi/Agra, India

Love it or hate it, it's hard not to be drawn in by India's sensory overload. The smells, the sights, the sounds and the tastes are all uniquely Indian and unlike anything I've experienced. The cities are a maze of colourful saris, roaming cows and goats, haphazard rickshaws, roadside vendors, the occasional car, and above all else, people. 1.2 billion of them.

Our Indian initiation was a little rocky. We crossed from Nepal via rickshaw and boarded a bus for Gorakhpur, with a record breaking lack of leg room. I'm not what you'd call tall and even I had a to pull some maneuvering to shoehorn myself into the seats. After all of this I had to change seats and was joined by a very large man. Him, his uninhibited staring and all of his 300lbs seriously invaded my personal space, most pointedly so when he fell asleep on my shoulder. And then fell asleep on my shoulder again.

2 hours and 1 unwelcome cuddly-buddy later, we arrived at the train station and India hit us like a ton of bricks. People were lying on every available inch of floor, both in and out of the station. Literally hundreds of them. A goat was blocking the entrance and everyone - goats included - was fascinated by the foreigners and their ticket buying endeavors

We arrived at our destination, Varanasi, after about 30 hours of travel. I think we all immediately fell in love. The people were unexpectedly friendly, and everything looked, sounded, and tasted so different that we felt a little like kids in a candy store. Of course we've had our minor difficulties with young men and their inappropriate behaviour, but for every groper and starer there are 50 friendly smiles.

We spent our first full day in India wandering through the cow jammed roads, silk factories piled to the ceiling, and markets with bangles as far as the eye can see. Between all of these and the multitude of gorgeously colourful saris, India is, if nothing else, an amazing plethora of colour.

The main draw to Varanasi is a sunrise ride on the Ganges to watch the Hindu rituals that take place on the ghats (steps leading down the worshipped Ganges). Again, the colours were striking. The buildings and temples have somehow evaded sun-fading over their hundreds of years and provide a unique backdrop to the Ganges. We came across a corpse burning ceremony, but I was happy not to be able to get a clear view of the proceedings. We did, however, come pretty a close to a floating dead body.

We left Varanasi on a night train after our trip to the Ganges. Steph and I lucked out and got top bunks, tucked safely away from staring eyes. Each wall has a bottom, middle and top bunk. Sounds cramped, but it's actually reasonably comfortable and a great way to save on time and accommodation. Our next stop was Agra, home of the amazing Taj Mahal. It fully lives up to its hype. It's huge, white and beautiful. We saw it first at sunset, then at sunrise and finally in daylight. Each time it appeared a different shade of white. The inside, like the outside, is made of solid white marble. The gates enclosing the tomb are difficult to explain, but resemble a floral lattice all hand carved from solid marble. What struck me most about the Taj Mahal was that it was created in a single lifetime. It looks like it could've taken centuries. It's an astounding sight and I'm having difficulty getting my mind around it the reality of my being here and seeing it.

Agra and Varanasi, the only 2 cities we've visited thus far, have distinctly different feels to them. Varanasi was a city of constant action and I felt like a fly on the wall of Varanasian life. The roads were jammed, people were everywhere and there was an endless supply of interactions and happenings to spectate. Agra, on the other hand, feels like it exists solely to showcase the Taj Mahal. I hardly feel like I'm in India here. Instead of watching people go about their daily life, I AM their daily life. I'm a walking ATM. Tomorrow morning, at the ungodly hour of 6am, we're heading to Jaipur in the province of Rajasthan. We'll stay there for a day to breakup the long trip to our ultimate destination, Jaisalmer, in the Thar Desert near the Pakistani border. Here we're going camel trekking and sleeping in the desert under what's touted to be the world's starriest sky. More importantly, apparently camels fart a lot. I will confirm later.

Tibet, Everest, and a little Maoist rioting for good measure.

The last weeks have been ones full of angry pilgrims, beautiful scenery, intense cold, high altitude, and finally, INDIA!

I left off last time with a planned trip to Ganden Monastery. I realize I have an underlying theme of cold in these posts, but shit - it was cold. We got there before sunrise and had the bus been immediately going back to Lhasa, me and my whiny ass would've been on it without a second thought. Thankfully I had no choice, so we began walking the kora. Like the rest of Tibet, it was absolutely beautiful. We watched the sunrise (heat! yay!) over the mountains and had some yak butter tea with the locals. Unfortunately yak butter tea tastes as it sounds: yak, butter, hot. It's not good. What's worse is they re-fill your cup every time you take a sip. It's the calorie-laden, vomit-like gift that just keeps on giving! We really had no way to talk to our fellow drinkers, so we all sat there and giggled at eachother for a while before boarding the bus back to Lhasa. The ride home from Ganden was one of the funniest and most bizarre I've had to date. For reasons I will never come to understand, I pissed off a pilgrim and was nearly dragged out of my seat. Rather than fight a pilgrim, I accepted my relegation to the bus floor and relinquished my seat. The next morning we began our long trip of unpaved roads and off-roading to the Nepali border, through Gyantse, Shigatse, Old Tingri and Everest Base Camp. I'm sure all of those mean nothing to any of you, but all that matters is that they're in Tibet. We did the trek with 3 awesome guys: Ed the Aussie, Adam the Canadian, and Harry Potter himself. Our first stop, Gyantse, was again one of extreme cold in our unheated room, but the fun we had playing in a 14th century fort on a mountain more than made up for this. The 5 of us had the place to ourselves and we acted accordingly: like little kids. The next day we made our way to Shigatse, but not before I got my offer for school in September. Forgetting I was at over 4000m, I broke into a frenzied sprint back to the hotel. This completely defeated the purpose since I was too out of breath to tell anyone the good news upon arrival. After some rushed packing, we set off for our shortest day of driving: 2 hours to Shigatse. We did little more than eat, wander and relish in our one and only heated room on the way out of Tibet. It was also St. Patty's day, so we did Ireland proud and indulged in beer and drinking games.

Shigatse was the end of ease and comfort. We started our 8 hour drive to Everest, through what is likely the most amazing scenery I'll ever see. I can't possibly get across how unbelievably stunning Tibet is. I don't think there's an ugly inch of space in the entire country, and if there is, it certainly isn't on the way to Everest. We arrived at Rongfu Monastery, our home for the night, a bit before dusk. All confident and gung-ho, we set off for the 7km hike in and 7km hike out of Everest to see the sunset. This didn't last long. At 5600m, the altitude swiftly quashed not only our trekking plans, but also our will to live. We barely made it 4km before realizing we'd never make it back if we finished the trek in. We walked a total of less than 8km and arrived back at the monastery dizzy, nauseous, exhausted and frigid. I was so miserable for the last 2km that I managed only 4 words: "I f#$%!#$ hate this". Altitude kicks your ass like nothing else. I felt like I'd run 3 consecutive marathons, not walked 8k on flat ground. The following night was without question the worst I've ever had. It was -10, the monastery had no heat, running water or bathroom, we shared a twin bed and had 2 sleep talkers and 1 violent snorer in our room. Steph and I solidified our couple status that night in our fruitless attempts at keeping warm by spooning. In the end we both stayed awake all night, waiting for the sun to rise and bring a bit of heat. All that being said, Everest was incredible. The trek made me feel like a crotchety old lady, but nothing can take away from the realization that you're watching the sunset over Everest. The discomfort was worth it a million times over for one night of amazing scenery at the highest inhabitable point on the planet (we think). Yes, I complained, but I didn't for a second take any of it for granted.

Everest was our final stop before we arrived at the Tibet-Nepal border. We off-roaded for 8 hours to get there and arrived in desperate need of good food and ass transplants, so we stayed the night and crossed the next day. The road was so bad that it took half an hour to drive the 8km to a hilariously insecure border. The guard turned his back for a second and a couple of guys actually ran like hell, rushed the gate, and successfully broke into Nepal. Definitely a highlight. We walked across the border and boarded our bus for Kathmandu. It was amazing how quickly the scenery changed from cleared out avalanches and ice to lush mountains, waterfalls and rice terraces. Despite their proximity, Tibet and Nepal are physically and culturally very different. Nepal proved to be something of an adventure. In a stroke of genius timing, we showed up in Nepal on the exact day of the largest upsurge in Maoist violence since last year's ceasefire. We came across a couple of reasonably peaceful protests during the day and didn't think much of it...until dinner. While thoroughly enjoying our $1 meals, heaps of people started running past us full tilt. We weren't sure why until we saw the baton swinging police in pursuit. The restaurant gate was slammed shut and locked. We all got in the back, occasionally moving to peak out a window. 20 feet from us was a mob of soldiers, cops and Maoist rebels beating the hell out of eachother. It calmed down after about 15 minutes. We returned to our hotel and stayed there the rest of the night.

Aside from shopping and being in close proximity to rebels and riots, we spent some time at an amazing little orphanage in Kathmandu. The woman running it is 26, has devoted her life to charity, and basically makes the rest of look useless. We spent the day there playing with the kids, and instead of leaving saddened as you would expect after visiting an orphanage, we left happy. She's doing an amazing thing and has built an amazing home for these kids. Here's the web address should you feel inclined to take a look or make a donation.

http://www.muktinepal.org/

Nepal's a beautiful country. I can only imagine how amazing the trekking would be and I would love to come back , but for now it's India...intense India...which deserves a post all on it's own.

Lhasa, Tibet

Land of snow, rooftop of the world or Tibet; whatever it is you choose to call it, it must be the most photogenic country on the planet. The scenery is fantastically beautiful and the people are endlessly fascinating.

We flew to Lhasa through mountain peaks and into what has to be the most remote airport ever built. Our 1 hour drive into the city was equally as impressive, through mountains and past turquoise rivers and lakes. The weather here is beautiful, but deceptive. I made it through 2.5 weeks in the tropical paradise called Boracay without any real sun burns, but one afternoon in Lhasa's 10C, high altitude sun and I torched all exposed skin. The high altitude not only turns you into a lobster, but also brings on altitude sickness: headaches, shortness of breath and throwing up. Needless to say our first 2 days consisted of lots of sleep, lots of unhappiness and lots of whining.

We began our exploration with some aimless wandering through Lhasa, a city full of the deepest religiosity I've ever witnessed. Random walks take you past thousands of prayer flags and hundreds of prayer wheels, both of which are said to release and recite prayers. The wheels release prayers when spun by passers-by and the flags when blown by the wind. Men, women, monks and pilgrims can be seen prostrating - a show of devotion that involves moving from an upright position to a face down position - in front of any religious entity. The spiritual core of Lhasa, the Jokhang Temple, was our first stop. We began by walking the Jokhang kora. A kora is a clockwise circuit around a temple followed by monks and pilgrims. It was a fascinating walk, which I've done several times since. I've watched followers show their devotion in a plethora of ways, from chanting and prayer beads, to prostration and prayer wheels. I went back on my own last night and was the only foreigner walking the kora, among hundreds of monks and pilgrims. Others walking the kora seemed confused by the solo white girl and decided to join me, much to my pleasant surprise. I was first accompanied by 2 women who showed me around by pointing and smiling. I walked it again and was joined by 2 monks, one of whom could speak limited English. We carried on a small conversation and he was able to tell me about his hometown, Chamdo, a small village with no schools or electricity. He ran prayer beads through his hands the entire time we spoke.

Walking some of the most sacred Buddhist lands, alongside monks, made for one of the most unique hours of my life. It's a walk I could time and time again, as I did once more today. I followed a chanting monk who lost concentration only once - to giggle at the white girl.

The (former) political core of Lhasa, the Potala Palace, was our second stop. Here it became very obvious we were at altitude. Under normal circumstances the climb up wouldn't be terribly challenging, but with our oxygen availability cut in half we had to rest every 20 or 30 stairs. The Potala is an incredible sight: bright white, set high up on a hill, and likely the largest building I've ever seen. It was the political centre and home of Dalai Lamas when Tibet was independent. Today it sits depressingly dormant. Once home to 4000 monks, the Potala now sees probably only a handful of tourists and pilgrims each day. Walking through, past the Dalai Lama's bedroom and tombs made from over 3000 kg of solid gold, it's hard not to be saddened at how lifeless this amazing place has become. Every square inch is hand-carved or hand-painted, taking what must have been hundreds of thousands of man hours to complete. It leaves you with a sense of amazement at its intricate beauty, as well as how such a peaceful, friendly people have been brutally forced away from what they value most.

Tomorrow we'll head to a monastery 40km out of Lhasa, where we may have to hitch back. Apparently they don't let foreigners on public transport, so I may have a good story to tell. After that we begin our 5 day to trek to Everest base camp and the Nepali border with another Canadian, an Aussie and a Brit. I expect it'll be unbelievable...and frigid.

Chengdu, China

Our fantastic organizational skills have once again landed us behind schedule. We - still- find ourselves in Chengdu, China, waiting for a flight to Lhasa, Tibet. Sadly, we've had to scrap our plans to take the pressurized, 48 hour train ride. It's booked solid. The ride up to Lhasa's 3900m would've been an unforgettable trip, but an impossible one this time around. Train or not, our trip to Tibet, aka The Rooftop of the World, promises to be fabulous. Here's hoping the altitude sickness doesn't keep us down too long.

Chengdu has been an interesting place to be, if not a little cold. It's been hovering near freezing at night. In itself that's not too cold, but I've spent 2 years acclimatizing to temperatures in the 30s and certainly no colder than 12C. I generally start bitching around the 15C mark. Consider that, then consider our hostel is unheated. An open air. What I'm saying is that we're freezing our subtropical asses off and embarrassing Canadians the world over. I imagine Tibet will abruptly jolt my body back to its Canadian reality.

So Chengdu. Good place. It's an interior, southwest city of 4 million , probably mid-sized by Chinese standards. In contrast to Kaohsiung, Chengdu actually has sidewalks. In theory I'm sure they're for pedestrians, but in practice they've become an extra lane. Oh well. We've spent some time wandering the streets and have managed to navigate our way through cars, taxis, tuk-tuks, rickshaws, bicycles and scooters without getting hit, which is at least moderately impressive. Our foray into Sichuanese food has been both a success and a failure. It all tasted great, but I regretted every last bit when it began to rot my insides. If I can't handle Chinese food, it'll be interesting to see how long it takes before Indian kills me.

Giant pandas are the unquestionable highlights of Chengdu. The Sichuan province, where Chengdu is located, is home to 85% of the world's giant panda population. They're surprisingly playful, incredibly cute, and always eating. Bamboo is the snack of choice and they have an insatiable appetite for it.

Chengdu's next biggest claim to fame is the Wenshu temple, honouring Buddhism's wisdom reincarnate. The ground's are large, impressively well kept, and comprise the largest green space I've seen in 2 years. The temple is known for its vegetarian restaurant (very good) and its tea house. The tea house was one of the more comical experiences we've had to date. This twitchy little Chinese lady pulled out a chair, and without asking, sat down. She proceeded to explain that she was looking to practice her English. Fine by us. Unfortunately her speaking, while limited, has developed beyond her comprehension. She didn't talk TO us, but AT us. She did this for about half an hour, filling the awkward silences with an even more awkward, loud, high-pitched laughter, and occasionally prodded us to ask her questions she wouldn't understand by repeating "please...please...please" until we finally relented. The tea house and this lady were difficult to get away from. She wasn't keen on leaving us (until she randomly jumped up and literally ran away) and the man with the kettle wasn't keen on letting us drain our cups. Every time we took a sip he was there to replace it with fresh, hot water. Countless cups of tea and 2 very full bladders lately, we pounded our last cup and ran like hell.

Our week long stay, which was supposed to be 3 days, has been relaxing but uneventful. We're looking forward to our 5am wakeup call for our Tibet flight tomorrow. We've passed the time with some great people, most of whom are also stranded, awaiting transportation to their next destination. The situation may not seem optimal, but the unlikely company makes it all worthwhile. It's hard not to revel in my nomad life when I sit around a fire, speaking French to a Belgian, English to a Canadian, while across from the Swedes speaking Swedish and the Danes speaking Danish, until we all finally switch to English to discuss our next adventures: trekking at Everest, Bangkok, Hawaii, California, India, California, Nepal...

More Beijing (from Chengdu, China)

Beijing was busy, lots of fun and too short-lived. If you ever get a chance to go there, plan on at least 4 full days. We immediately got sucked into a world materialism and shiny things at the Silk Market and spent a small fortune. Totally unplanned and a huge expense, but it'll be better than Christmas when we go back to Canada and open those boxes! That night we had a traditional Peking duck dinner, which is a requirement when in Beijing. The restaurant was all cheesy and touristy, complete with a horse-sized, plastic, smiling duck, but that kind of thing is pretty fun sometimes and the meal was delicious.

The following day was full of walking and sight-seeing. We started off at the Forbidden City. It's huge, beautiful and ornate and made me realize I know next to nothing about Chinese history. Before going I thought I had a pretty good handle on things, but there's an overwhelming abundance of names, dates, dynasties, buildings, symbols, traditions, etc. that left me feeling very unknowledgeable. After the Forbidden City we went the next major sight in Beijing: Tienanmen Square. As the largest open square in the world, it's absolutely huge. Around 2000 people were killed when the tanks rolled through. Given the size of Tienanmen, it's some kind of twisted miracle that it wasn't a bigger number. It's hard not to walk around there feeling thoroughly creeped out and being there was yet another reminder of how fortunate I am to be Canadian.

That night we changed the pace and went to see the acrobats. They're complete freaks and no words can explain the ways they contort their bodies. They must have bones or muscles or maybe even entire body parts removed, who knows, but it was a great show. The night came to a hilarious end when returned to our room, which is right outside the elevator, and found my fluorescent striped underwear outside the door for all to see. Yah, we don't know.

March 3rd, 2007 was the highlight of my travels to date. It'll be difficult to surpass climbing the Great Wall of China! It was 7 degrees and rainy, but great for climbing a mountain. The steps leading up the wall are on no less than an 89 degree angle and a couple of feet high each. I was practically kneeing myself in the forehead trying to get up. Steph and I were leading the pack and feeling all confident and cocky in our hiking abilities until we realized there was a sprite little 72 year-old in front of us, thoroughly kicking our 24 and 25 year-old gym going asses. This old man and our twitchy little rabbit of a tour guide, who seemed to cover the full 10k with a hop, skip and a jump, made me and all of my time spent in a gym feel utterly useless. Parts of the trek were easy and overall we didn't feel too terrible, but some of the inclines and declines were incredibly steep and on flat-faced rock. This combined with rain culminated in a 4 foot slide and subsequent bail by yours truly.

It was a cold, wet and physically challenging 10K, but worth the effort 10 times over. Standing on 2000 years of history was an incredible feeling, but difficult to comprehend. It would set in for a minute here and there, but "I'm standing on the Great Wall of China!"is a hard statement to fully process. We returned to Beijing cold and soggy, but with a sense of amazement and a lot of excitement for the trekking to come in Tibet...should we ever make it there. We're now in Chengdu, the gateway city to Lhasa, Tibet. Only problem is that we once again discovered fully booked flights upon arrival. We'll be here for another week. Ooooooops.

Beijing, China

After an unexpected, extended vacation to the Philippines, this reaches you from Beijing, China. I think the reality of our unattached, nomad existence is finally beginning to set in. About a week ago we said our 2nd round of goodbyes to the Kaohsiungers who made it to the Philippines for Chinese New Year. Despite our months of adventure ahead, we both felt a big loss when everyone set off for Kaohsiung. It was the kick we needed to fully realize that our time in Taiwan is over, we're not going back, and there are a lot of really amazing people we won't see again anytime soon. As sad as the goodbyes were, it was well worth it for the crazy experience that was the last 2 years. Xie xie ni Taiwan and xie xie ni to everyone who made it so fabulous.

The mass exodus of Kaohsiung from Boracay ended not only our Taiwan experience, but also a completely excessive and unnecessary 2 week bender. There is absolutely no reason why anyone not in university, not under the age of 21, not in Cancun and not on reading week should behave the way we all behaved these past 2 weeks, but it's almost unavoidable. There's not a whole lot to do on a secluded island except relax, drink, sleep and kill the remaining time by drinking some more. I have very much enjoyed the detox in Beijing and look forward to continuing it in Tibet and never repeating the excessive - albeit fun - weeks we just had.

People and gorgeaus scenery aside, one of the highlights of our trip was a bar called Bom Bom. It's run by a group of super friendly young Filipinos who happen to be phenomenal musicians. Everynight we listened to live acoustic music with amazing singers, guitarists and bongo drummers, while lying in the sand enjoying $2 cocktails. They mostly did covers of famous songs and managed to put the original artists to shame. It was a daily highlight and I'll be sad not to do it again tonight, tomorrow and the night after that.

Our nights at Bom Bom also gave me the chance to get to know a local fairly well and learn about his life in the Philippines. He says everyone comes to Boracay and thinks he leads this charmed life. He's young, educated, and on a break from school. His days are spent on the beach playing frisbee, skimboarding and kitesurfing. His nights are spent playing drums. On the surface it looks incredible, but dig a little deeper and you hear how fraught with corruption his life in the Philippines has been, how most of his friends have drug problems, and how he's seen his close girlfriends end up in prostitution. Obviously his life starkly contrasts my own and it makes me realize that I too often forget how fortunate I am. Being born Canadian has made it all but impossible for me to experience the things he has. I may not get to play on the beach everday, but it's well worth the security of being Canadian.

Steph and I are now getting ready to board our flight to Chengdu, China, where we'll see some pandas and take the 2 day train through the mountains to the highest civilization in the world: Tibet! I'll write more from Chengdu about the amazing experience that was seeing Tiananman square, as well as the highlight of all my travels so far: climbing the Great Wall of China.