Archive for the ‘ Musings ’ Category

Dreams and the desert of reality

As I sleep in the upper berth on the twenty hour train ride to Jaisalmer, I wake to a massive cacophony of English language wasted energy.  Two English women, a mother and daughter team, are trying to fit three massive bags into the smallish compartment area while shouting and complaining at each other at high [ READ MORE ]

The Tourist Tax in Agra

Sorry for the lack of posts.  I’m trying to get caught up while hanging out on the beach in Goa.  Some of these posts have been sitting around my laptop for a long while. he most famous sight in India is the Taj Mahal.  Every tourist visits it.  It’s one of the wonders of the [ READ MORE ]

Mountain Roads and Mortality

hope that the hardest of my travel in India is behind me.  The road from Jammu to Srinigar was crazy.  The road from Srinigar to Leh was worse and the road from Leh to Manali was washed out due to rain and early snow.  It was the most insane. The scenery was fantastic.  We travelled [ READ MORE ]

Buddhist Leh and Why Hippies Annoy Me

Kashmir is actually separated into several regions.  In the north, the Kashmir Valley makes up the western section, is predominantly Muslim, and is covered in forest.  The eastern section is called Ladakh, is mostly Buddhist and is a desert mountain region.  The city of Kargil, where India and Pakistan fought a war in 1999 separates [ READ MORE ]

Already blogging badly!

  • August 26th, 2009
  • Posted in Musings

I made it to Srinigar in Kashmir after a long, hectic journey by share jeep.  I’ll fill in some details on that soon but for now the internet is a little too slow to upload all my photos, etc. so this is just an update post to say that I’m here and I’m safe.  I’m [ READ MORE ]

My bags are my children

  • August 20th, 2009
  • Posted in Musings

One of them clings to my back while the other holds my hand as I walk.  My bags will be right with me for the next two years and I have to protect them.  But unlike kids, I get to choose them and control what they are filled up with.  Here’s what I chose and [ READ MORE ]

The Plan is a Process

  • August 18th, 2009
  • Posted in Musings

When I tell people about this trip, a lot of them ask me what my plan is.  Where am I going exactly?  What will I see?  Where will I stay?  It’s funny to say that I’m traveling for two years and then say that I really have no plan at all.  But it’s true.  I [ READ MORE ]

Two years in India and China

  • August 16th, 2009
  • Posted in Musings

Modern India and China are fascinating enigmas to me.  Encompassing a huge percentage of the world’s abject poverty, they trace their origins back to some of the greatest and oldest civilizations on Earth.  India turned back Alexander the Great on his quest to conquer his way to the ends of the earth.  China built huge [ READ MORE ]

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