We've been getting a little homesick after seeing pictures of our families and the beginning of a football season we'll mostly miss (GO EAGLES!). But there is nothing a McDonalds Chicken Maharaja Mac combo deal can't cure, is there? I'm happy to report McDonalds fries are awesome all over the world and the Maharaja Mac is an interesting twist with Chicken and an Indian sauce . I'm hooked! Our rickshaw driver thought McD's is all we wanted for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We're not totally pathetic Americans!We got to Delhi and were surprised at how normal it was. Well, other than an actual monkey begging for change at the train station. Many travellers had told us it was awful, but then they'd never been to Mumbai. It was such a treat to have 3 lane highways and big grassy parks. We found a cool rickshaw driver to give us a full day tour of the city for $15 and a McChicken Burger. What a deal! The first place he pointed out was a "wrestling gym" on the side of the road. It consisted of a giant dirt patch 30 feet from the street with a dozen Indian guys in briefs Greco-Roman wrestling for fun. Our guide was a keeper if he was going to continue to show us absurd spots like that.
We had a full day of Delhi sites including an amazing government district with the president's palace and defense building. You could tell the British had planned on staying a little longer. Delhi has some gorgeous open areas with 500 year old tombs and more recently the Bahai Lotus temple that make you forget you're even in a massive city. Surprisingly the Gandhi museum was mediocre at best considering he is their savior. We walked down a narrow vacant hall to come upon the dhoti he was wearing the day he was assassinated, blood stains and all, with no designation other than the brochure I was carrying. The museum represents much of how I feel about India in that they seem to have their priorities misaligned. Our day finished with the long awaited Bollywood film Cash. As we walked in a polite girl asked us why we were seeing a film in Hindi. Good question. We figured we could follow the plot line easily enough. And we did. Unfortunately the plot line was incredibly lame and could not live up to it's "Biggest Action Film Ever" slogan. Sadly, we crept out halfway through with our heads held low. What a disappointment.
A side bit: For those who have read The Kite Runner, I have witnessed kite running in India. Because of Independence Day (August 15) kids take the day off to fly kites all over the country. It was cool. Dozens of kites crowding the skies over the city and kids dangerously playing frogger in the streets running after them. I even read an article in the paper asking kids not to coat their strings with glass because it slices and kills innocent birds.
As seen by our previous pictures, we headed down to the Taj Mahal to see our first Wonder of the World. We woke up at 5:30 to beat the crowds (it didn't work) but at least were able to get the all-important Taj Mahal couple shot. We were so early, people hadn't made it into the back of our picture. India has this tourism deal that Indians pay 10 or 20 rupees to see any sight (25 cents) and tourists pay 200-500 rupees to go to the same places ($5-$12) which I'm pretty cool with because essentially we have the money to and Indians shouldn't have to pay higher prices to see their national heritage. What I do have a problem with is forking over $20 per person to see the Taj Mahal when Indians still pay 50 cents. I think I had hit my breaking point on that one. But of course we paid it, and it was worth it, and we held hands in public, because if we pay American prices, we hold hands like Americans.
Now to the Taj. Our friend Rahul told us only one thing about India and that is the Taj smells like feet. Fair enough. We were looking forward to testing this theory. Walking towards the main mausoleum, we started doubting Rahul's experience. But as we entered through the threshold of the Taj, we were hit with a strong smell of old socks and moldy feet. Indeed, we will never doubt Rahul again! And to answer Spragoo's question, we do talk about Rahul all the time. Such as, Does Rahul pay foreigner prices or Indian prices when he comes here? Will Rahul ride an elephant into his wedding? Does Rahul realize he could take Bollywood by storm with his exceptionally good looks? Of course we think about him at all times. He's everywhere!
We write now from the amazing town of Leh in Ladakh, India, a village nestled into the Himalayas. It was just what we needed. It feels like a different country, and it does have a very large Tibetan community which changes the culture. We took a flight up here instead of a 20 hour jeep ride through Mudslide Valley in the mountains. The flight was a bit of a white-knuckler as we corkscrewed through the mountains and miraculously ended on the ground without clipping a mountain peak. We were greeted by 60 degree fresh air, blue skies, and mountains as far as you could see. Ahhhh, peace.
Since being here we have done a lot of sleeping and acclimating (we're at 12,000 feet) and more sleeping. But yesterday we were really lucky to see the Dalai Lama "teach" in the next town over. We took a taxi over to the town and were greeted by a scene out of Bonaroo (except with no drunk teenagers and more mountains). 50,000 people had camped out for a day with the DL to hear him speak about Nirvana and compassion. We were lucky to get close to the front in the "foreigner" section with an English translation piped in through the speakers. While sometimes he was hard to follow, his entrance into the tents and just his overall presence was really powerful. Oh, and the free yak butter tea was quite a treat. One sip and I had my fill.
We are now preparing for a 4 day trek into the mountains. We tested our lungs today with a short hike up to a gompa (Buddhist monastery) and were treated to burning lungs and aching legs. At least we know what we're in for. We won't be posting for at least a week while we're gone and then back to Delhi before we close the book on India for good. I can definitely promise more awesome pictures (if we can find a fast computer).
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