Oh if only I could get travellers miles for driving! Well the past week has been an adventure indeed! Last weekend I headed up to Amritsar where my mom's 2 sisters live. I spent 2 nights with my mom's younger sister and her family...my one cousin has 2 very cute kids, the younger one being a very rambunctous 2.5 year old who loved it when I'd take his picture. On Saturday night, we went to the Golden Temple which was very busy yet extrememly peaceful. I got some great photos of the temple and its reflection in the water around it. The water is used for bathing, drinking, and the home to many large fish (think gigantic goldfish)..it's said to have many healing properties- and I can vouch for that now! My contacts were driving me nuts all day long and I took some of the water and rubbed it over my eyelids...and I felt instantly better! The spirituality of the place was very powerful and people from all walks of life are there, Hindu, Sikh, poor, rich, and American tourists who I were only too glad to have a full conversation with after a week of constantly speaking broken Punjabi :).
Sunday was my birthday (thanks to everyone for the well wishes!) and I spent it at my older aunt's home. I got a surprise visit from my dad's brother and his wife from Batala...it was great to see them- funny how much my uncle and my dad are alike (made the same types of jokes, etc). Then my cousins wife made a feast for dinner- south indian food called Idly and Sambar (my fav!) and some macaroni and chinese noodles. We cut a birthday cake. It was yummy haha.
It's funny but somehow I don't feel like I'm on vacation...it just feels like I'm living my day to day life, albeit I'm far away from familiar surroundings...I guess that means I'm living in the moment. Yahoo for me!
ON Monday I went back to visit my cousin in Nikoder (it was going to be a 10 minute visit, but somehow turned into me staying there for 5 hours...I'm glad I did, I'll miss her a lot). Her husband dropped me off in Nurmahal and I spent the night showing my shopping conquests to my aunt and cousin...Apparently Jalandar is the best place to pick up indian clothes, etc, so I'm glad I went quasi-overboard :)
Tuesday I went back to Jalandhar to visit my sister's in-laws (in part to yet again switch my suitcase, and partly because they are super super nice people and I wanted to spend more time with them). When I got back to Nurmahal my Uncle swiftly took me via scooter ot the "bhag" they purchased 3 years ago. It was dark when we got there, but it's a gorgeous orchard full of all different types of fruits and night blooming jasmine which made it smell heavenly. At my uncle's insistance, he suggested I take a dip in the pool (which is more like a holding tank for water, but I was assured it was safe for swimming)...he said it would make for a great memory, and he was right...it was beautiful to be under the stars in the nice nighttime weather. I spent some time with my grandparents before going to bed, then was off to Ludhiana the next morning with my cousin Judge for my 7:10 train to New Delhi. The train was great and Hunny (my new Delhi saviour) was there to meet me.
I had a bit of time to freshen up before we went back out ot the airport to get Claire. She came out looking like an exhausted traveller and I started to rattle off the things to expect in India (traffic conditions, public urination, abject poverty...that type of thing). It feels great to have her here...the next part of the journey is begining!
We ate a feast for breakfast on Thursday morning (probably a bad idea) then headed out on a tour of the city with Hunny and his brother Kavish. It was quite hot and they brought us to see the National zoo (probably a bad idea)...we saw tigers and bears, and stood alarmingly close to a jaguar (got to love Indian leniency on rules and safety). Then it happened. Due to the previous bad ideas detailed above, my dear Claire was a victim of a terrible episode, which involved her doubled over vomitting in close proximity to a soda vendor...a group of people were staring and we thought "we probably weren't meant to travel today". WE then returned home and passed out for a 3 hours. Then we thought, HEY, LET"S TRY THIS AGAIN!!! so off we went to see the Hare Krishna temple and Lotus temple...Hunny said the Lotus temple would turn off it's lights at 8, so I thought we were in pretty good standing when we were 10 minutes away at 730. and then it happened. OUR CAR BROKE DOWN AT A BUSY INTERSECTION! It took about an hour to get going again...after kind strangers helped them pull the car over to a safe side of the road and the mechanic came to fix the problem. Claire and I were in good spirits, since we were happy that the weak battery decided to give out during the cool night and not when we were in the dead heat during the daytime. Unfortunately the Lotus temple was long closed and we had about 15 minutes to run into the Hare Krishna temple and check it out....haha, we both looked at each other and said "we sooooo were not mean tot travel today"!
All part of the adventure. We're headin gto Akshar Dam temple today, which should be exciting (we're taking an auto richshaw this time!). Will keep you posted on the next adventures...going to Taj Mahal on Sunday then heading to Rajasthan early in the week. Happy Trails!
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