IndiaIndiaIndia

On Monday we were in Calcutta. Our hotel room was clean. It was our refuge from the garbage outside, the exhaust in the air, the beggars grabbing keith's arm. But still, I was distraught. I cried, saying I hated India. But what I had forgotten was how much worse it would get.

That afternoon, K and I took a taxi 20 min. away to Howrah train station. I had a horrible throbbing headache which got worse and worse as we sat there, hours early for the Rajdhani Express. It was medlam in there--so horribly noisy and echoey--there were even cars inside. K and I sat on our backpacks and I felt dead inside--numb--so overwhelmed. On the train we got lucky as two seats by themselves on one side of a compartment were empty, and the family opposite said we could have them. The train men wore odd red flannel shirts and came 'round with tons of food and drink--although I had nothing except yogurt, tea and a few bite-fulls of dubious ice cream--as we'd brought our own food from a restaurant and I was nauseous. Finally my great hunger this whole trip had abated. As K said, India will get rid of all your desires. And so we unfolded the seats into a bed and layed down with pillows and blankets, my head throbbing as strange Italian sounding music was piped through the cars--harmonium sounding like accordian. The couple nearby reminded us not to travel to Bodhgaya (from Gaya) until the morning, as it was very dangerous--the Bihar bandits...

Off the train, they pointed us towards some hotels, telling us to go straight there and not to "entertain" anyone. Only the hotels directly across the street wanted $20 and were nasty. The owners mean when we asked where Hotel Vishnu was, refusing to tell us. After seeing a room at the second place--sonmoisy above a restaurant and right on the road--when we asked again where Hotel Vishnu was--the man said, "What happened up there!"--offended we didn't like his room. It was midnight-1:30 AM for us--still on Thai time...K floundered and I piped in, "It's just too noisy for us..." The man said he'd have one of his employees, "He works for me, he's not some other person," take us to a nice place one minute away--the Roxy Deluxe. The name sounded promising.

And so we followed the skinny man wearing a peach scarf around the corner, down a dark street lined with garbage to the place with "comfort"--as we'd been assured. The Roxy Deluxe had a room wit white sheets covered in streaks of black, the grates over the windows were painted yellow and black with mold, the walls had streaks of grime and the bathroom--oh the bathroom--had a toilet full of brown sludge and a nasty sink which let out just a trickle of water. All along the tops of the room's walls were long rectangular windows with no screens or glass, which spilled in huge shafts of light. The room echoed with the sounds of the street--trains and honking autorickshaws and worse, the sounds of the employees and other occupants yelling to each other, a movie playing unbelievably loud.

We took the room--as we were too tired, and it was too dangerous to walk the km to the Hotel Vishnu, or take a rickshaw. We took it, and were brought a mosquito coil for the floor. We donned mosquito nets for our heads, climbed into our silk sleepsheets, and gingerly pulled the filthy woolen blankets up to our chests.

Don't Be...........

to those of you who might have been a teeny bit jealous of all the thailand fun...rest assured k and i are now in one of the hell realms here in india! let's just say yesterday--our first full day here, was a little bit rough. actually, by the time we were waiting at the howrah train station outside of calcutta for hours, where an incessant voice made announcements, a man with lopped off legs crawled across the floor, the man next to me frothed at the mouth, and there was a woman with elephantitis in one arm--i was a bit numb inside. after a 6 hr train ride we arrived in gaya around midnight--resting our weary heads inone of the vilest rooms imagineable--for $20! the toilet was full to the brim of brown sludge...it was sweet. we had to wait to come to bodhgaya this morning because of the bandits that lie in wait at night. seriously. but phew! here we are in bodghaya and we have a clean and quiet room in the taiwanese temple and today we've met and received blessings from jokhang tulku, yangtang tulku, ralo rinpoche and khenpo guru...so it's not all bad...wish us luck!

In Bangkok

In Bangkok you can always find a fresh snack, meal or drink--no matter where you are, no matter what time o day or night. The vendors arrive on wheels--rolling thier carts, driving their motorbikes, stalls attached.

the final island....................

here

how many people died on phi-phi?the rockety rumble--a thai train. the happiness of so many clusters of green coconuts at tops of huge palms. in the womb of the train. the green green green. the clear turquoise water. the bobbing long-tailed boats. and the wind. i'm here, in the andaman sea.the tree outside our thatched bungalow scatters tamarind pods on the ground. they burst under my feet. the light filtered through the bamboo. it was hot. the gecko on the ceiling-chirping. the cool, shining tiles. we're in bangkok. it's hot. the room is ringed with screen windows--high up and the cars and tuktuks and motorcycles going by sound like they're in the room, and people clearing their throats and coughing and spitting and showering. and the horns. at the morning market i got a bag of ice coffee for k and i to share, 2 sweet rotis each and two banana leaf packets of coconut sticky rice. then on the way back i got the most amazing congee to- go from a street vendor--eating it here in the noisy room...to an empty plastic bag, the vendor added a spoonful of sugar, a handful of cilantro, the rice soup, cooked ground chicken, a dash of fish sauce, a spoonful of tiny dried shrimp, cooked garlic, slivers of ginger, tiny shards of rice noodles, a handful of chives and salt!!! then she gave me little baggies of chili and vinegar and i was on my way...past the park, the street stalls, the tuktuks...

Rat-Free Island Bliss

Koh Lanta living

Lagoon between Koh Phi-Phi Don and Koh Phi-Phi Ley

In our cliff-side Phi-Phi bungalow--the aqua waters below us...

Swinging on Phi-Phi!

Night beach-ing it on Koh Lanta.

How Quickly....

Heaven can turn into hell!

We had left Koh Phi-Phi and it's crystalline waters full of coral and rainbow colored fish--it's expensive everything and surly people behind...arriving on the unbelievably relaxed Koh Lanta. All the locals we met were full of smiles and sweet words and we had found a brand new thatched bungalow for less than ten dollars with a bathroom and a porch, complete with hammock and an incredibly long white beach across the street. It was so sleepy and laidback here, we couldn't believe it-- and the beach was virtually deserted.

As night fell, the full moon rose huge in the sky and we dined on the beach under the stars, lounging on cushions while soft music played and children scampered about. It was idyllic...we thought we'd landed in paradise.

After dinner that first night, we layed on the hammock together, listening to K's MP3 player. But soon enough I was tired and told K to meet me inside.

As I opened the door to our room, I immediately heard a very loud scratching noise coming from the oh-so-thin roof. It went on and on, as though some animal were trying to claw it's way into the room. I thought it sounded like it could be a squirrel, only there were no squirrels on Koh Lanta...K said it must be a big lizard or something. And so we went to bed. But the noise got louder and louder, witht he sound of breaking wood and whatever it was pitter-pattering back and forth, back and forth.

After an hour, we decided to go tell the front desk, hoping they could move our room as it seemed unlikely we'd be able to sleep. But reception was closed, and the only people around were the waiters and bartenders, all a little drunk. We told them something was on our roof and one of the guys came back to our room with us to check it out. On the way there, he said it was probably a cat or a rat. A rat!!?! What!?! Up until then, I hadn't been too perturbed, but as he sat on our bed listening, he said, "Yes, it's a rat. I can't do anything now, tell reception in the morning." As the roof led straight into our bathroom and there was a giant gap under the door, we got a little concerned that the rat might get into the room. "Oh, they never do, "he assured us.

How quickly things change. I thought, as I layed there that night in my own private hell. The rat had begun his work at 10, only taking a short break from 1:30-2:30. Other than that, he scratched and ran around up there like a madman until 6:30 in the morning, when the sun began to rise. Often, he sounded like he was bowling, rolling rocks this way and that. At other times, it seemed he was dragging a huge stick back and forth.

For most of the night, the rat hung out right above my head, gnawing away on the roof--giving me horrible visions of him crashing through and landing on my face with a thump!

P.S. He didn't--and since we switched rooms the next morning, we were rat-free and very happy!

Ode to Skewers and Bags (A.K.A. Ode to Thailand Street Food)

Traditional Thai iced coffee by the train station in Trang...for some reason they also provide you with an entire pot of delicious jasmine tea for free!

Keith and a giant piece of chicken on a stick!

This little man on the island of Koh Lanta, had his coffee cart attached to his moped...

Sweets and sweets and sweets in Bangkok.

My morning roti maker...she pours the ubiquitous sweetened condensed milk and sugar on top, rolls it in paper and voila--all for just 5 baht!

Keith and guava vendor outside Wat Saket (where some of the Buddha's teeth reside). Your guava is cut into pieces and served to you in a baggie replete with skewer and sugary chili dipping sauce!

Thailand Thailand Thailand!

Keith surrounded by fish at Phi-Phi Ley


Phi-Phi Ley from on our long-tail boat excursion with a man from Argentina, a woman from Israel and another woman from Spain


Keith and I on the overnight train from Bangkok to Surathani--photo courtesy of our aging Montreal neighbors...

Keith at the start of the train trip--yes, those are both his ice creams!


Oh, this one is pre-Thailand! Us and Karma Chagme Rinpoche in front of his kitchen!

Greetings From Thailand!

I am happy to report that K and I are now in Thailand! No load shedding (A.K.A. power cuts), no ridiculously crowded buses with squacking chickens in the overhead compartment, no garbage everywhere! Here in Bangkok, we are gorging ourselves on delicious street food and drink and preparing to head to the island of Koh Phi Phi in two days!Yay!