Kolkata you ain't as bad as you look.

At first glance Kolkata looks like hell on Earth, the wildest display of humanity you could ever imagine. In Kolkata privacy is not an option. People are eating sleeping, defecating, and essentially living out in the open, on the side of the streets. Life is not hidden in doors but happens all around you whether you like it or not. Kolkata is as in your face as it gets. The poverty, the crime, the drug use, the good, the bad, and the ugly spills out onto the streets. Everywhere you look there are beggars, insane taxi drivers, make-shift shanty towns and anything else you can imagine. To one side you see a vendor making lassis next to him a cobbler fixing shoes and then across the way a barber cutting hair on the sidewalk and a "dentist" cleaning teeth on stool outside a restaurant. The city is bursting with energy and chaos. Crossing the street in this hectic city without a scratch is a major feat. The traffic, the noise, the regular power outages and the horrendous smell of human feces all add to the persona of this old British Colonial Capital. This is the city of Mother Teresa, The Victoria Memorial and more professional beggars than you ever thought possible. But beyond all that squalor is a vibrant city full of colonial charm and metropolitan conveniences.Kolkata is a diamond in the rough mostly because of the Bengali people. They are by far the most genuine and hospitable people you will encounter in India. Our first night arriving in Kolkata an Indian man from Kolkata helped us get from the train station and into a taxi going to our guesthouse, it was completely unexpected and appreciated. Kolkata is a city that keeps on surprising you with its unexpected character and warmth.The longer you stay in one place in India the more you begin to become to understand all the madness and you stop just being part of the scenery. Kolkata made me a true fan of India as a country and made me realized the Indian people are what keep travelers back again and again despite everything else.

Burning Bodies

If you are a Hindu lucky enough to die in Varanasi, and be cremated by the holy Ganges, it is believed that you will go straight to Nirvana. Ideally, your soul will be released from the reincarnation cycle and be sent to Nirvana where life is eternal bliss. This is the ultimate goal of Hinduism, reaching Nirvana. Varanasi, the sight of the holiest stretch of the Ganges, is an orchestra of sights and sounds, mostly having to do with Hinduism and death. Many of the buildings near the ghats (steps leading to the river) in this ancient city are used as hospices to house those who are waiting to die and be cremated in a holy ceremony. Although this city is haunted by death and the dying it is not morbid or depressing, just plain bizarre. Walking through the corroding alley ways you will most certainly bump into your fair share of sacred cows, motor bikes, vendors, and families carrying the covered body of a deceased loved one down to the "burning ghat." The burning ghats are funeral pyres stationed near the water and the most surreal aspect of Varanasi. At the burning ghats bodies are placed on pyres made of wood and burned for 3 hours before their remains are then placed in the Ganges. Watching the burning ghats made me feel as if I had stepped back in time to the Medieval Ages. Even though this ceremony is a huge honor for any Hindu to receive, in my opinion cremating people outside in the open for spectators to view is a bit gnarly. But what do I know about achieving Nirvana, so I merely watch this spectacle and keep my western opinions to myself.
The burnings take place from the early morning well into the night and can cost the family up to 3,000 euro depending on the quality of the wood. Sandal wood is the most expensive and sought after wood used for the cremation. Sandalwood does the best job of fulling cremating the body and hiding the smell of burning flesh. Currently Hindu women do not attend these burning ceremonies, because in the past the widow of the man being cremated was pressured by her husband's family to throw herself on his funeral pyre. Needless to say standing by these burning ghats makes any woman Hindu or not feel a tad bit nervous about being surrounded by a male population who might want to push you into the flames, so I was on full alert.

Beyond the crazy burning ghats is the other focal point of this city, the Ganges river, which is the heart and soul of this eccentric city. The river is severely polluted and full of the remains of dead people but that does not stop people from washing and swimming in the water. I saw people straight up drinking from the river. I opted for an early morning boat ride as a way to take in the river, as apposed to a dip in this bacteria ridden body of water. It was beautiful as long as you did not study the river, but instead the picturesque scene on the shore.

It goes without saying that Varanasi is a mind blowing place that takes you out of your comfort zone and throws you right into the fire (pun intended). It is a circus of life and death and everything in between. You will never be able to look at a barbecue pit the same way again.

Tight Security

My monkey Charlie is a necessity for my travels. I have no shame. He has seen the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, the Eiffel Tower, the Sagrada Familia, the Colosseum, the Vatican, he got sloshed in the beer gardens in Munich, and even chilled with the hippies in Amsterdam. This monkey has a full access pass to the world my friends. But the Indians did not want him stepping foot in the Taj Muhal. Now to be fair the trip has made him a little rough around the edges and his beard has gotten a little long but to consider this monkey a terrorist threat is ludicrous. He was brutally ripped from my backpack and the Security Woman barked "No toys!" obviously this security guard was on a major power trip and was way out of line. A toy! A toy! Blasphemy! Sorry lady but this is a world traveling monkey, so why don't you cut the 'tude. Actually I maturely stuck my tongue out at her behind her back and stomped over to the lockers (ie random Indian dudes watching foreigners' stuff for donations). Then sullenly went to see the biggest tomb made out of marble, which was breath taking and amazing despite my efforts to ruin the experience by sulking and ranting about how lame India is for the first twenty minutes. The Taj Mahal was spellbinding, but no sight is the same without Charlie.

Udaipur a feast for your eyes

Udaipur is beyond words. It is magical and charming and intoxicating. We were lucky enough to be here during the Hindu Mewar Festival during which women come out in their most ornate saris to honor Shiva and Parvati's love. Yesterday the town paraded through the streets, and we were able to witness this beautiful ceremony and get pictures of the hypnotizing women and children of Udaipur. Some times all it takes in India is leaving your hotel room, and you have the experience of a lifetime.

Holy Pushkar

Pushkar is a tiny Hindu pilgrimage town in Rajasthan and sight of one of the worlds only Brahma Temples. The Pushkar Lake in the center of town is where Ghandi's ashes were spread and is an extremely spiritual place for Hindus to bathe. Here in this Hindu town there is no booze, no meat, no kissing and you must dress conservatively. It is a small and pious town in the middle of the desert and along with all the pilgrims, are the ever present tourists, like myself, looking for a bit of spirituality or a place to chill. Despite all this holiness you can never escape the shady factor in India. Here in Pushkar you have to dodge even the holiest of people: priests. The town is over flowing with priests of the Brahmin Caste ready and more than willing to make a profit off the spirituality of the pilgrims. They are especially looking for the Western tourists who naively let their guard down in order to experience this so called spirituality. In India everything comes at a price. If you are seeking spirituality and good karma, they are yours, but not without donations. Improving your Karma comes at a price even for Hindus but for American tourists you walk into these spiritual traps, and are asked for US dollars. We received our "blessings" by the ghat down at Pushkar Lake twice, neither time was very holy and both left Rooz and I feeling used. Our first experience with the "priests" was our first day in Pushkar we were approached by a "priest" who forced rose petals into our hand and told us to respect Pushkar and the Pilgrims we must throw petals into the holy lake and then give him a donation for the town. This dude was dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, not the white robes of a priest, and barely had his routine down. So we walked away (but not without getting severely cursed out) and later saw this con man selling hashish to some Spanish kids at a pizza restaurant.



Two days later we went to visit the Brahma Temple and after were ushered down to the ghat a second time to supposedly "drop some petals in the holy lake". There we were led to the priests lair. At the main ghat we were taken to the steps of the lake were Rooz and I were split up to receive our blessings from these over eager priests. This time it was the real deal they had the sacraments all set up and they had their speeches down pat. These were real priests so we decided to go through the motions and receive the blessing. We did not want to piss off the priests by being disrespectful. I decided okay, they are going to asked for a donation but its part of the experience. I chose to visit a holy city I invited this aspect of Hindu culture into my trip. The priest was extremely curt and rude to me, he went through the sacraments at rapid speed. He told me to tell him the names of all my family members and repeat a blessing in which I asked for success, good marriage, sweet children etc, etc. He could tell I was very hesitant to participate and that I was acting like a frightened little animal about to run. So he rushed me through the blessing giving me ghat holy water to put on my head and giving me a bindi made of rice and red chalk. He made sure to tell me that everyone who receives this blessing must give a donation to the town (aka his personal pocket book) and kept asking through out the little ceremony how much I would be willing to give. He suggested I give 100 US dollars per family member and this way I would be sure to receive good karma and have a good trip in India. At the end of the ceremony Rooz (the sucker) had already given a donation to his priest of 70 rupees. Mean while, my priest was demanding that if I was to donate in rupees I should give a minimum of 500 rupees per family member. By then I was sooo over being polite and priest or no priest, this had gone far enough. I want to respect all religions but I am on a backpacker's budget my friends, so God is gonna have to take a rain check. I said "No, my friend has given a donation for both our families" and we booked it out of there as fast as possible, praying to everything holy they would not recognize us later.

India, too much for my puny brain

We are now in India and boy do I miss the easy life in China. India is opulent and squalid all at the same time. It is beautiful and miserable and completely frustrating. I complained while in China about it being a tad culturally sterile, well there is nothing sterile about India. We have only been here 6 days and it is taking some serious adjusting. But despite all the negatives India is the most inspiring place I have been. I am excited for the Challenge. We left hectic New Delhi for Rajasthan the state of the Maharajahs and colorful saris. more to come soon....

xie xie (thank you)

China is like your grandparents, quirky, wise, love able, and a sometimes a little backwards. But all in all you respect them and appreciate them. China is the same way. Our route through China was speedy, but it was well worth seeing as much of the country as we did. After Yangshuo we headed to the Yunnan Province and saw the old cities of Dali and Lijiang. Dali had changed a lot since my Dad had been there in the 80s but I am sure even then there were probably old women trying to sell him illicit substances, or dumplings, or both. Both cities are now very touristy with cobble stone roads that lead you straight to the KFC but still worth seeing for the minority food and culture, that is less than abundant elsewhere in China.




From Lijiang we took a plane to Chengdu the capital of Sichuan (and my favorite city), the home of hotpot and the Great Panda. Both were amazing and although the Pandas do nothing but eat bamboo and lay on their backs they are the national treasure. Pandas are slowly de-volving and now must be shown how to mate and care for their young. Thank god they are frickin adorable or else the Chinese would not go through the trouble of showing them Panda porn or teaching them how to love their babies.



In Sichuan we went to the Bamboo Sea outside of Yibin with our two friends from Dublin that we met at our hostel. It was a beautiful park full of waterfalls and about enough bamboo I need to see in my life time. Next we headed to Xian where we saw the Terracotta Army that was built by the Emperor Qin Shi Huang so that he could rule China even after death.


Then we took a 14 hour sleeper train to Beijing. Beijing was everything I hoped it would be, the city is massive and everywhere there is so much history its overwhelming. We hit all the sights necessary: The Forbidden City, The Summer Palace, Tiannamen Square,The Olympic Arenas and of course the Great Wall. The Great Wall is the most impressive sight in China, I was completely blown away. I thought, oh a stupid wall, whatever but cynics beware, the Great Wall is a powerful place.




Five weeks in China is definitely not enough but it's a good place to start. Needless to say I was sad to leave and hope to be back one day. xie xie China.