To the Ends of the Earth, Literally: the Survival Story (Cont'd)

Thank you for joining the next edition of the Survival Story....

1. if you are just now joining us - please read the entry below this one first....
2. if you are overwhelmed by the amount of text written.... enjoy the pics and see haley's blog for the cliff-notes.
3. if you are anxiously waiting to read more and were disappointed by the "to be continued" part of the original blog entry .... you are probably my mom. =) love you!
4. Enjoy.

The Saga continues....

After the 7km hike, we reached a place pronounced "Poooh". you can't make this stuff up! Please prepare yourself for the cheesey jokes that are to come and pity Haley for those she had to endure....

Well i must say we felt like we were in a lot of "poooh" trying to get out of poooh. Our national friend pointed out to us that there were two parts of Poooh....Old Poooh and New Poooh. He lives in old poooh. (I hope you realize and can imagine the amount of restraint that went into listening to him during this conversation) After hanging out a while by the road, we finally got a taxi and shared it with many people along the way. Our first friend is pictured below... i couldn't even pronounce her name little lone spell it so i will just call her "sally". I don't really think she looks like a sally, but it will have to do.... She was all smiles until Haley snapped the pic then serious face.. followed by smiles and giggles after she took it. I just don't get it.

***Side note for my dad.... if you will notice a certain article of jewelry placed strategically in her nose... Then i want you to remember how small my nose pin is in comparison.... Ok, so now i want you to thank the Lrd that HE did not put me in her village where i would be tempted to blend in with her culture... and then tell me how much you like the small stud that i wear... That is all i will say about that.... =)****

We traveled with all sorts of people in our car - village ladies with their buckets of delicious plums, old men with their Himachali apples, educated and uneducated, army people, etc. You never knew who was going to flag you down and join in the party.

This was probably the best part of the drive when the pine covered trees started dispersing and the the terrain started becoming more rocky as we climbed higher and higher into the heavens.

Here are some window shots...

We finally reached Okan* Lake where apparently the Dalai Lama visited the month before. There wasn't much to the place but the landscape was really beautiful. We were feeling a bit hungry so we stopped at this one restaurant and waited for about 20 min before we finally flagged someone down who told us they had no food.... so we went to the bottom of the hill where 2 restaurants/hotels were and asked for food and toilets - they had neither. No food. no toilet. at a hotel with a restaurant..... what kind of town is this?? seriously.

then we went to the next dot in the road - they had momos!! yumm. but no toilet. sad. Us mountain gals have no prob just stopping and finding a bush somewhere.... however the terrain had changed so that there were no "strategic" places to go. So then we arrive at our next police checkpoint to show our permits - we make friends with the policeman guy and he lets us use their toilet - i have never been so happy to see a squatty in my life! It didn't have running water but it had a door and that's all that mattered!

To Be continued....

To the ends of the Earth, Literally: The Survival Story...

Our journey began before the sun was up... of course our taxi showed up half an hour late but what to do? I was only sad because i could have slept an extra half hour if i'd known this... but i guess 5 or 5:30 am doesn't really make much difference. (we should have know there would be more "kinks" in our trip since it started out this way.)

Our taxi took us to Sim* and made great time because i mean how many other people are up that early anyhow?? So in Sim* we made hotel reservations for our upcoming "hangout time" with our group there when we returned from our journey... only in india can you bargain for even a hotel room. ha. the given price was 4000 rs but with our expert "bargaining skills" and some name dropping we only had to pay 2200. So great! Then we called for a new taxi (because seriously, who thinks a taxi driver who lives in the plains will know how to maneauver properly on the tiny tiny mountain roads??? not me) Thus, began our 2nd leg of the journey... Sim* to Oep* with an over priced but highly skilled driver (we found this out later..) The fun thing about road trips here is you never know what you will see... from breathtaking scenery to people's daily routine...to temples and statues of hindu gods...

and Turbaned men on motorcycles transporting bed rolls....

Think Random, remember?

We finally crossed the K* district line

which is where the "roads" get a bit tricky... i'm sure the random goat herds didn't help our time in getting there quickly

or the rain that turned our "roads" into mud lakes which we preferred to think of as chocolate mousse rivers (doesn't sound as scary... why would chocolate mousse rivers want to get your tires stuck or send your taxi sliding off the side of the mountain?? yeah that's what we thought too. It just made us hungry.) At one point we had to stop along with a bunch of other taxis/trucks/buses and only told that we were waiting.... for what we weren't sure until the sky lit up and a HUGE explosion occurred making both me and Hal jump. then as if on cue, all the engines fired back up and continued on as if random blasts at night were normal - perhaps here it was... they were working on building a hydroelectric plant that was built into the mountain.

This whole scenario reminded me of a Brian Regan (comedian) bit he does where he
says: "one time I saw a sign that said blasting zone ahead... shouldn't
that sign read 'Road closed'?? .... Alright guys blasting zone ahead... put on
your helmets. Remember last time??? we lost Billy? BOOM! whoa that was close!!.."

We did finally arrive safely in Oep* with a copy of our lonely planet and when we headed towards our hotel that we picked out.... it was closed down for the winter. Naturally. But this is where our super safe and mud conquering taxi driver made up for his extra rupees he was charging... He asked someone for a good hotel for us and instead of just dropping us off went inside to check things out for us and then made sure we were ok with staying there before he peaced out. So nice! (i think he also took regular baths also...)

Here's to you Mister Master of the Road Taxi Driver!!!

Day 2

We found out that our national friend was in town to go with us to Azak*- what a great brother! good thing Jules and i had made this part of the trip in May because i may not have known that we needed a permit to pass through certain parts of the district since we were foreigners. (our national brother had never needed one and so had no idea about this) DAD was looking out for us on this one! So we spent our morning filling out forms and being escorted to 3 different buildings where we finally received our permit. We were also with 3 Israelis who were traveling through and one of them had the last name Kaffman! who knew?? Maybe i'm really Israeli... Probably just German but still! how fun! Here are some pics of Oep*
After this we met some other "family members" that lived there and we had the best chai ever! and my first time to have egg curry - which was pretty tastey i must say. They are from the east part of our country where i wouldn't be surprised if they ate red hot chilis for snack like popcorn and just popped one after another into their mouths without a second thought. Crazies. This pic was taken from their terrace...

Ever since we had arrived in Oep*, it had rained, it had become a joke that we brought the bad weather because apparently the weather had been really nice until the day we came. (of course) And as we reached our hotel, we just so happened to look out as we were climbing the steps and saw the biggest most beautiful rainbow ever! This pic doesn't do it justice.... i felt like we could almost reach out and touch it. Now in retrospect, i feel like DAD was reminding us that He does not go back on his promises and that He would be our protector. He was with us our entire trip looking out for us - that is for sure.

Random soapbox:

It is strategic to have short legs when living in this state....

So when we were in the office getting our permits, everyone laughed at me because i had to bend down really far so they could take my picture for the form... dang long legs! Which reminds me - I am quite lucky to have a traveling friend who is 5'4 because then she has extra room for me to put my legs when we travel on these mountain buses... mountain people are TINY! and so therefore my legs do not fit and can make a 7-10 hour bus ride quite uncomfortable.

So, apparently DAD really took pity on my discomfort, so the next day we weren't in the bus 2 hours before we came to a traffic jam... Now up until then we had stopped 2 or 3 times in which everyone unloads off the bus, helps move some rocks out of the way so the bus could continue on then piles back on and we keep going no problem... well when we came to the traffic jam we found out that it was a landslide that was the length of 1 and a half kilometers. So we walked a ways up to where the landslide began and decided that there wasn't any way it was going to be clear that day nor perhaps the next day.... so we just put our packs on and climbed over it and when we reached the other side, watched for another bus on the other side but just ended up walking the 7 kms to the next town. Technically we weren't supposed to take pictures (but i did - and most people do) because technically we weren't supposed to deviate from the road (but we did - because of the landslide) nor where we supposed to carry maps/GPS etc (but we did) nor were we supposed to stay overnight anywhere along the restricted area (but we did - b/c we asked an army guy - he said it was ok). Rules were made to be broken, right?

to be continued....

Up the hill a ways....

After returning from Agra to Delhi, we took the early train to the City Beautiful where we rested and visited my favorite markets. Then that weekend we headed to Nimda* about 5 hours away by taxi, to introduce my parents to my indian family. The Mommas and the Papas... hehe

It was so much fun and i have never eaten so much food in my life! Thanksgiving didn't hold a candle to the massive amount of food they prepared (meal after meal after meal.... just ridiculous i tell you! )Mamta and i were inseparable. we just house hopped together to see everyone.

Goodbye again my beloved Nimda*!

Dearest Mumsie and Popsicle....

and to all those who didn't believe they came to the india.... THEY DID!

Here is your proof.....

Whatever Dad says - don't believe him, don't even feel sorry for him - he ate meat at almost every meal and yes chicken is meat, contrary to some people's thinking....

My beautiful roomie who "accompanied to us to the Taj Mahal"

Welcome to the india!!!

Taj Mahal entrance fee for nationals: 20 rupees (50 cents)

Taj Mahal entrance fee for "angrez" or foreigners: 750 rupees (c. $19.00)

To see my parent's faces as we drove in the traffic to the Taj: priceless

once upon a time...

ROADTRIP!!

I have missed my old state and its fresh air (except when you pass a Tata truck on the road and you get a good whiff of old fashioned black smoke and pollution straight to your lungs)
I felt at home on our way to Sim* as we passed people left and right on our death defying drive through the winding moutain roads. Its just common to have about 5 almost-wrecks on your way anywhere... the key is ALMOST. It was funny to see all of us naturally lean back into our seats, pop our ipods out and close our eyes.... well beki and i anyways, you would still hear the occasional gasp from Haley as we would pass a car and come quite close the the vehicle coming the opposite way. its just normal... safety regulations and traffic rules really are more like guidlines than actual rules anyways.

We arrived safely and stayed with some friends. By the time we left several days later, we were feeling quite spoiled having each of our meals homecooked including stuffed chicken and made from scratch rolls to banana pancakes and buscuits for breakfast. It was amazing. We hung out with some new friends for two full days just telling stories. Of course we sang at the beginning with a guitar, harmonium, and tamberine while sitting on the floor on bedrolls..."indian style"

Then the last day, before we left Sim* for the City beautiful, we went to see the Viceroy of india's old home which is now a school. sim* was the summer capital for the British when they were ruling in India. BUt it is still beautiful, well maintained and HUGE! Beki, Haley and i took turns about the garden and admired the green grass that is not so common in other areas of india. We practiced our "British" accents and listened to haley's very southern georgia accent.