lehd back in ladakh

woof woof.
woof woof woof.
woof woo-*THUNK*-yelp!
WOOOOF!!!!GROWWWL!!!WOOF!!WOOF!!

aaand i thought we were done for.

ladakh, and leh in particular, is known for its surreal lunar landscape (i thought more martian), its buddhist art and gompas ("more tibetan than tibet," they say), and the dazzlingly beautiful night sky. but when that stray got hit and the hundreds of strays leh exploded in a gnashing chorus of baritone growls and woofs, my mind was rather empty of anything but raw adrenaline and fear. getting torn asunder by a wild pack of non-family dogs is one thing, but i really didn't want that endless series of rabies shots.

luckily we were fairly close to our taxi when the unlucky stray was hit and the already dog-dominated night reached its grand finale. plus we had "dealt" with the dogs a week earlier when we 1st arrived.. by running back to our taxi and begging to be let inside for the night. this time we were armed with sticks and stones but chose flight over fight.

leh was beeeeeeeeautiful.. we saw half a dozen gompas around town and chilled out up at the shanti stupa which had a gorgeous view of the city and reminded me much of the peace pagoda back home. up around 11,500 feet, it definitely took a few days to adjust to the thin, thin air. a buddhist monk led a meditation class and told me to focus exquisitely on each natural breath, but i was practically panting.


we also went rafting on the indus until it met the zanskar, coming in from china and continued on to alchi, where we checked out a series of temples from the 11th century. the paintings inside were dark and ancient. the gold light beaming in from the occasional small rectangular holes lit up the dust and seemed to turn liquid/solid. in the temples there were small rooms barely large enough to hold the 25 foot richly colored statues of forms of the buddha.

other than that we drank lots of fresh apricot and sea buckthorn juice and ate a whole lot of tibetan food. the best meal, at Tibetan Kitchen, we went way overboard: chicken/corn soup, avocado mint tomato salad, veg. thukpa, boiled chicken momo, fried veg. momo, yamein garlic noodles, banana chocolate dessert and a big godfather beer from jammu.


our last night we had ladakhi tea at our guesthouse owner's home and met his mother and beautiful wife. yummy, buttery, salty tea in a room edged by many large, shiny, intricately made pitchers and serving bowls.

the 1 disappointment was that when we woke up at 4:30 a.m. and went to start the borrowed motorbike so we could ride to the tikse gompa for the morning prayer and music, it kept stalling. all day a buddhist monk smilingly kept trying to start it and had the same problem. turned out i got a fairly bad 24 bug and spent the day in bed getting over that anyway. lucky stars. room with a view.

ends & beginnings

hi, i'm brandon. with jake and sara leaving india, my friend gerrit and i decided to take up the torch.

we arrived about 10 days ago and spent one fabulous and aromatic day walking around delhi. we ate uttapam (YUM), soaked up the intensity of the spice markets, watched baby monkeys get shuttled by their mamas across the electric lines, gulped down some deeeeelicious fresh squeezed pommegranate and pineapple juice, and then had to say a too-quick goodbye to the colorful, beautiful, shiny one that is s. weston. lucky u.s. gets her back for a little while.

geeze, jake and i then hopped on a sleeper bus up to the state of jammu and kashmir. a shared jeep took us the rest of the way through achingly beautiful mountains to srinigar and we arrived, quite late, for a wedding. jake had to leave the next day, but we got in a way-good meal and an afternoon chilling around dal lake.

for the next week, gerrit and i were the exceptionally well-treated guests in a home that housed about 30 people for the wedding festivities. every day jake's friend shabir sent us on a new adventure with guides from his family. we never knew what was in store until someone would appear and say "come, come now, please." we saw the gorgeous moghal gardens, rode a gondola up to the snow-capped peaks of gulmarg for a picnic, rode around on a technicolor-bright boat on dal lake, took in a mosque surrounded by fat, short, funky trees, relaxed in an almond garden. even with all these eye-opening trips, the best part of our week in srinigar, by far, was getting to know the family during morning tea and cake, burst-at-the-seams lunches, afternoon salty chai with dipping gulcha, etc. biiiiig shout out to the baker's dozen children of the family and their wild and crazy ways.

too much already for 1 post but just want to say that, so far, india gets a big YES. top-drawer, 5 stars, fireworks... throw it a parade.

last.day

I got my appetite back a couple of days ago, so I've crammed about 12 days of near fasting into a two day 'leaving India' feast. What do you do on your last day in a country that has been your home, for better or worse, for the past 7 months? It has been a pretty basic day- didn't want to do anything too special because I know that I'll be returning to India soon- at least within 2-3 years if not sooner. This is the first place since New York, and special parts in California, that just pulls me. I feel a great connection to this country, so much so, that I don't really mind leaving because I know it's not the end. So tomorrow early morning, I'll hop on a plane, see my friend Lambert in Thessaloniki, then see my family in Santorini, and be stateside by June 29th... I will eat nothing but Boboli pizza and fake cheese, air-popped popcorn with butter and salt galore, and Whole Foods salads. I can't wait.

These 7 months have been something.. For the past few days, tons of people have asked me 'well, what was your favorite part of India'? I've answered this question so many times now that I think I can safely put together a little list. Here it is (in no order because that would be too hard)

1) Delhi Delhi Delhi- particularly the day I roamed around old Delhi, went to the Jama Masjid (biggest mosque in India) and Akshardam (biggest temple in the world), and bollywood danced till the late hours at a farmhouse outside the city

2) Day spent at the Golden Temple and Pakistani/Indian border at Amritsar

3) Birthday spent in Kanyakumari, the very tip of India- watching the sunrise, fullmoon lunar eclipse set, walking around all day just talking and meeting people.

4) Dancing in the Maharajah's Palace in Mysore

5) The Ellora Caves (jake did headstands and we got in trouble for climbing on top of the caves)

6) Walking past thousands of prayer flags strung across the mountains, on the way back from the Dalai Lama's temple in McLeod Ganj, realizing that a little bit of god is in everything and everyone, and sitting on the ground with a sarangeet musician as he played happy happy songs.

7) The little family life we had in Goa with our friends Santosh, Akhilesh, and Liz

There are tons more, but when people ask me, I usually say a combination of these things. So today I ate some delicious thali, wandered around connaught place, old delhi, new delhi, and saw some friends. Will leave at 4am for my flight. Then that's that. So I suppose this is also the end of this dancing fool's blog, since I'll be heading back west for now (well, I'll be east coast, but who really wants to read about adventures in Jersey and Poughkeepsie?). So perhaps one other dancing fool will continue to write (ah hem, Jake) as he heads on to China-- because god knows we miss those haikus!!!

Anyways, thanks for reading friends- can't wait to see most of you live and in person really soon! PeaceLoveLight&Life...

things that should have happened in month one

I leave India in 5 days... It's crazy to think about coming home, though for these past couple of weeks, I've been having intense deja vu, thinking of trips to the salad bar at whole foods, or taking a drive through town, or even catching the 6 train at rush hour from Astor Place, and it feels like these past 7 months have been entirely compressed to just a few sparkling moments.

That said, this past week has been a bit hectic, a bit relaxed, and in a way I think I'm doing everything I was supposed to do in the first few weeks in India- namely, get really sick and get really worked over by a street guy. After a few months of travel, I thought I was immune to these things, but I guess it's impossible to completely avoid these common travelers' woes..

I had some trouble eating when I first arrived in Bhagsu, and a few days later a doctor told me that I had an amoebic parasite in the right side of my intestine. He gave me some herbs to clear the amoeba (and the inevitable eggs it was laying) out my system... Agh, the thought of some wormy multi-legged, egg-laying thing squirming around in my body did nothing to help my appetite. Over the days I kept getting worse, despite the herbs, until finally I had a wretched fever, and my dear friends came running with another doctor from down the road (at this point I had decided to move from my mountain isolation into town because god knows a 20 minute hike to get to bed is not the best thing for getting better), who informed me that no, there's no parasite, just an intestinal infection, and he gave me some more medicine and a strict diet (which I could start when I felt like I could eat something). Well this doctor sure was something because within a few hours my fever broke, and I've been feeling better and better each day, despite the fact that I still have virtually no appetite. Call it a 'leaving India' fast, I guess- though I am sad that I probably won't be able to enjoy all the spicy greasy delicious goodness and indian thali before I leave.. We'll see- I've still got time- I've got to have at least one mutter paneer before departing..

So now I'm feeling a bit better, pretty weak, but able to get around-- now for the getting worked over by a street guy. My friend Santosh introduced me to a friend of a friend of a friend (etc. etc.) who said he would introduce me to some painters. I really wanted to have a painting of a map of India to bring home with me... And being that I'm in thangka world (buddhist style painting, beautiful, colorful, and detailed), I figured I could comission a painter to do it for me. The man who said he would connect me to a painter promised to have it 4 days hence, on the 11th, which was yesterday. I gave him some advance (and therein lay my error), and he gave me a receipt in the form of a business card with his number. Well the 11th was a beautiful and sunny day (for once amid all the rain), so I set into town (McLeod Ganj town, which is about 15 minutes by walking) to pick up my painting. Went to the bookstore where I met this man, and was told he was out for a few hours. No problem- I ran a few errands, and returned back. Still no sign- I left my number, and wandered around a little more. Returned back, and found that I had JUST missed him, and no one knew where he is. Hmm- I tried calling, but no answer.. Was getting a little suspicious, especially when his friend, with a pained look on his face, told me that the painting had not been finished- in fact, as of yesterday, the painting had not been started, as the man 'with all the connections to many many painters' had not found someone to do it. Moreover, the friend, with an even more pained expression, told me that this man had thrown a grand party yesterday- and when asked where the money came from, he simply said 'he came into some business'. Well this business wasn't just any business, it was MY business, and MY money that I had foolishly given this man. When I heard this I wasn't surprised, wasn't irritated, I was angry. I told this friend that I wouldn't leave his side until we found this man, and if we didn't then the police would be notified. Any mention of the police, and folks who deal with tourists just about freak out, so he asked me to calm down, and we began to search. Place to place, checking restaurants, shops, asking any and all acquaintances, no one knew where this man was. To be honest, I was getting a little excited at the thought of bringing the police in- the amount of touts and scam artists we've dealt with in these 7 months, and this would be like one big payback... But just as my patience was about to completely wear out, the friend got word that the man was in the bookshop. Over we went, and as soon as I saw him I started yelling. I wanted a scene, I didn't care- I wanted to embarass him. I don't know what came over me- I wasn't hysterical, I was hmm, how should I put it- I was a girl from New f*ckin Jersey (forget New York, you dont want to get on the wrong side of a Jersey girl...) who was PISSED OFF and didn't feel like being told 'yes darling yes darling'. The man, Manu is his name, just looked sad. His shoulders hunched. He didn't say anything when I told him why I was angry. He didn't protest when I told him he had spent my money on booze for his friends. He didn't say anything when I called him a liar and a con artist. He just looked at me sadly and kept asking if we could speak privately. Well, I may have been foolish once, but to go down an allyway with this dishonest man would have just been beyond silly. I laughed at this request, so in public view we stayed. He said there was a painting, but it wasn't ready. I demanded to see it, so off we went to Nick's Italian restaurant. There, on the middle table, was a half completed painting. It was the map of India, very colorful- all that was missing was the route I had taken that I wanted painted in. That was the main part of the painting- to have this piece of art that detailed my hectic crazy journey throughout this hectic crazy country. 35 places in 7 months. That was missing, and Manu promised me it would be done soon. Seeing the painting quieted me a little- it was by no means in thangka style, and by no means worth the money I had paid him, but still, it was there, and it would be finished "soon", he promised. I demanded that it be done by noon the next day, and he obliged. I asked who the painter was, and he said it wasn't possible to meet the painter, though the man is a 'very good friend of his'. He tried to tell me he didn't like seeing me like this, his darling friend, and I could only respond and say that 'I'm not your friend- we made a business transaction- a bad one on my part'. With that I turned and left and couldn't look back.

This situation left me feeling pretty bad- it's complicated... Because I know that Manu has pocketed a great deal of my money and has most likely spent it partying with his friends. Still, there will be a painting- a day late, but there will be a painting- I don't feel bad that I yelled at Manu because he's a slippery guy who needed to be put straight. Still, it leaves me feeling bad because this painting, this simple painting, which was to be my big souvenir from the trip is filled with bad energy. Well, maybe, to put a silver lining on it, the souvenir symbolizes just one big lesson-- if you want something, in India especially, you've got to play the game, and if you play it wrong, you get worked over. I'll never forget that lesson whenever I look at this painting. Seven months, and you can still be as new as day one. Travelers' arrogance can hit even the ones who least expect it, and perhaps I did get a little arrogant towards the end of this trip. Getting sick and getting worked over have brought me down a little, but sometimes the most basic lessons need to be learned over and over from the beginning to the end and beyond.

one dancing fool dances to... Pakistan?

You remember that show "The Wonder Years"? My family used to watch it every week while I was growing up, and it is still a favorite for me and my brother. One of the things I really loved about that show was that Kevin Arnold, the main character, this little arrogrant self-involved adolescent to teenage boy, could really only understand the monumental national and world events of the time (sixties and seventies) through his little suburban, middle school lens. Neil Armstrong landing on the moon was cool, but landing a date to the dance with the hot new girl was the center story.. Sure, it was fluff, and nostalgic cheesiness, but it really drove home this point-- that, for the most part, we can really only relate to larger world issues and events through our own personal experiences and connections. This point is obvious, but when you're floating around the world, in the midst of chaos and war and terror and food crises, it's those personal connections with these larger things that opens up that miniscule moment of clarity.

On my way out of Delhi, I stopped in Amritsar, a Sikh pilgrimage site, known for the beautiful Golden Temple (and boy is it beautiful). I decided to spend the night in the golden temple itself, which offers free dorm-style accomodation for visitors and pilgrims (hey, I was getting too soft in Delhi I think). It took a while to find the actual place where I would stay, as Amritsar is quite possibly one of the most bustling places I've seen in India. The temple complex is open 24/7, and it is filled to the brim with people around the clock. Walking through the old city (autos aren't allowed past a certain point), was absolute madness, but finally I entered into the complex, and eventually found my way to the dorm for foreigners, where I was greeted by an incredibly friendly American guy, and an Italian guy fixing his motorbike. I dropped my stuff off, and headed straight for the temple itself, to take it all in and stroll around. In Sikh tradition, everyone must have their head covered within temple grounds at all times, and of course no shoes allowed-- the whole temple is surrounded by water, which is considered to be holy water, so families, men, women,and children were all bathing themselves. I got my feet a little wet, but maintained a bit of a distance.. Linked up with some older women after giving them the Sikh greeting (thank you to my friends Dr. Harpal and Indu in Delhi who showed me this right before I left!), and just enjoyed taking photos with people and playing with some of the kids. It was just really beautiful to walk around under the beating hot sun, watching the rays reflect off the water and the (literally) golden centerpiece in the middle.

After my walk, I ran into the friendly American, named Mike, who took me to get a meal in the pilgrim eating hall. In Sikh tradition, everyone from all faiths and backgrounds are invited to share a meal together. The meal is free, and the dining hall serves up to 40,000 people A DAY. It was a mad rush to get plates and bowls, and an even madder rush to find a place on the floor. Everyone sits in rows facing each other, and the food servers come around serving up delicious rice, dahl, chapati, halwa, and sweet yogurt. We had to eat fast, as the next group was getting ready to come in-- amazingly, I was the last one to finish, and they literally had to shoo us out! We walked our plates to the dish washing section, handed them off, and just took in the scene. Hundreds of people cutting onions, vegetables, making chapati, cleaning dishes, serving food, all volunteer. The sound of clanging steel dishes were the bells of this temple- it rang all day and all night and was surprisingly soothing.

After the meal, Mike and I took an accidental barefoot walk to get some juice (the temple complex is so big that we didn't realize we were far into the old city until some street boys made fun of us for being barefoot.. Probably not the best idea, but what can you do..), and then we decided to go to the border ceremony to be held later that afternoon. About an hour away from Amritsar, is the village of Attari, which leads to the Indian customs area right before the Pakistani border. Each day at sundown, there is an amazingly theatrical exchange between military officers on both sides. I wasn't planning on going near Pakistan, but after being assured it was safe, we set out. The village is set up like any other small town or city with a primary tourist attraction as its main revenue. There were tons of food and cold drink stands, boys running around selling DVDs and photographs, and anything you can imagine. Mike is the kind of guy who would say "yeah, of course!" when I jokingly suggested we should get some popcorn for the Pakistan/Indian border show, so with a bag of popcorn, we headed towards the Indian side of the area. The whole place is set up like a stadium, with huge stands all around, and a gate dividing the two countries. The Indian and Pakistani flags are up in the center, and banners are hung on either far side. When we got there, our pale disheveled selves were put right in the VIP section (all foreigners are put there), which was pretty amazing to us. We were the first ones there, so for awhile we sat by ourselves in the gated off VIP section, while thousands of Indians crammed into the 4 other stands. It seemed strange, and really wrong, until eventually the whole VIP section filled up (the majority were Indians.. Only about 10-15 foreigners were there), the rest of the bleachers filled up, and still thousands more trying to get in. The Pakistani side, on the other hand, was a bit slower to fill, but eventually about 1/3 of their side filled up (India has advantage in numbers obviously).

It was completely open-air, and the sun was at its peak... We waited for about an hour, and people started getting restless. Babies were crying, people were sweating up a storm, but all we could do was wait. Finally, both sides started playing music from their respective countries, and the mood lifted a little. India was playing patriotic dance tunes, and I could barely hear what was going on over in Pakistan. A few songs in, a small groups of kids in the front of the stands got up and started dancing on the center floor- the song was the title tune from "rang de basanti", my favorite bollywood movie, and it made me so happy to see those kids. A moment later, Mike looked at me and said "we should go dance". "What? Oh no, we can't! We're all the way up here, and there's just a few kids down there..." But the next thing I know, Mike is bounding down the stairs in long strides, and I just had to go with him. He ran into the center to join the kids, and a roar ripped through the crowd. I let out a yell, and I ran in as well to the sound of cheering thousands. More kids ran up to dance, and all of a sudden I was posing with mothers and babies, and all kinds of people, but all I really wanted to do was dance.. For the next short while, I shook my hips and flicked my wrists with the girls, and couldn't stop laughing. At the end of the song, we decided we should go back up, and we were met with more cheers.. And that's how I came to dance on the Indian/Pakistani border. Thanks to this crazy, yogi american californian whom I ran into by chance at the golden temple. Thank goodness for him!

Finally, over an hour later, when everyone seemed at their wits end, the ceremony began. There were lots of theatrics, high kicks, and macho marching. The Indian army men marched on to the Pakistani side and there was a great fake fight play, and then they marched back. The whole thing took about 20 minutes, but it was definitely worth it to watch the gates open. For me, the most incredible part was to watch the two flags come down by crossing over each other in the center. Afterwards, people rushed to the now-closed gate, to snap pictures and wave to each other. And that was my Kevin Arnold Wonder Years moment... I've heard and read so much about the the tension between India and Pakistan, and the west's fears of Pakistan... Yet for me, all I can think of is watching those flags cross each other, people waving from the Pakistani side, and dancing. The border that has so much controversy, so much (recent) history, and so much blood, seemed almost irrelevant. Geopolitical, geographical, spiritual borders, all come down to a few inches of land? It just doesn't make sense. I know it's not the larger, but to have that brief moment when the border melted away and it just didn't matter, was truly amazing. One of the highlights of the trip, for sure.

So now I am finishing up my Indian journey, and I can't imagine being in a more perfect place. My dear friend and teacher Santosh, knows me all too well, and has found a place for me to stay for the next 8 days in upper Bhagsu, which is outside Bhagsu, an "up and coming" backpacker town, which is outside McLeod Ganj, home to the Dalai Lama and crazy touristy backpacker town, which is outside Dharamsala, home to the Tibetan government in exile, and very famous tourist spot. I am literally a 20 minute hike away from anything, staying in a tiny room with just a bed, and the mountains and sunrise as my backyard. I am the only guest in a small guest house, run by the nicest family in the world. They cook all their meals on a wood burning stove, and today I had fresh aloo paratha, fresh chai, and freshly picked mint tea. The only sounds I can hear are birds and baby goats, and I can't imagine a more perfect place to take in this whole trip. Probably won't have too much to report from up here, but perhaps that's a good thing...

oh kolkata.. (plus a little something for the mom's...)

JAKE FOUND PBR in NEPAL!
I took a last minute trip to Kolkata this past week-- boy oh boy what a place... From our train being delayed due to a cow getting sucked into the engine (to which the woman next to us said 'oh this shouldn't be too bad. last time this happened it only took a few hours'. oh okay, what!?), to running around for half a day between 3 different places trying to change train tickets, to getting pelted with water packets and bottles at a soccer game, to walking through the second largest banyon canopy in the world (in the most horrifying humidity I must add), it was most definitely a crazy few days. My friend Lambert invited me to come along to the Bayern Munich vs. Kolkata soccer match, in which crazy goalie Oliver Kahn was playing his last game. I love soccer, and I had really wanted to see Kolkata, so why not. We couchsurfed with a fantastic guy name Biplob, who has a beautiful home (even though I must say that the power cuts made staying in one place almost unbearable). The game was tame- Germany won easily, but the place was PACKED (largest stadium in Asia), and eventually the small group of German fans we were sitting with started getting heckled by Indian fans-- it was funny until the police showed up with their lathis to break everything up... Being that I'm half german, it was kind of hard for me to convince anyone I was rooting for the Indian side.. Eventually everything calmed down as the game ended, with a lovely fireworks show..

The next couple days we saw the Victoria Memorial, and went to the Botanical Gardens to see the 2nd largest banyon canopy in the world. We also ate some of the best street food I've ever had (kebabs from a dhaba at midnight, after going to a rock n' roll bar.. nothing ever tasted to good!). Kolkata was steamy, crazy, and chaotic.. I think the vision that a foreigner has of the 'exotic' indian city would be Kolkata. More street vendors, and smells, and people sleeping on the street than I've seen in all my travels. There's a metro, but it's not like the swanky Delhi one, and Kolkata is the only place that still has human pulled rickshaws. It's an insane mix, more so than Delhi, and amid humidity that soaks through your clothes the second you step outside, it's a lot to take in. I loved those three days though-- felt like I was as wide-eyed as ever...

Jake is here now, and Scott Leeder came through and 'couchsurfed' with us last night... We all had a blast, and took Scott out (or I guess the moms took us out) for a birthday/leaving India dinner at Punjabi by Nature. We ordered so much food that I'm pretty sure I'm just getting out of the food coma just now... Anyways, it's always really great to see familiar faces in crazy foreign lands, so I'm glad that we all got to go out.. Now I can't believe it, but I'm getting ready to leave Delhi! Tomorrow I head up to Amritsar to see the Golden Temple, then over to McLeod Ganj for 2 weeks, then it's back to Delhi for one day, and then over to Greece! Trip is winding down very quickly- lots to process still, but that will come at a later time.. For now, it's still lovin the whirlwind!!