lions & tigers & bears, oh my

yesterday we went to a national conservation area outside of bangalore.  they have a rehabilitation program there to take care of wild animals.  we got to see the aforementioned ones, plus a couple others.  it was pretty cool to see the tigers, especially a couple of white bengals along with their 6-month-old cub.  but for the most part, the "safari" was pretty lame.  the little vans traveled caravan style around the same track all day, and the animals were lured close to the road by food.  it was not a very natural setting--much more like a zoo (which i hate).  the fun part about the whole thing is that we took our tuk-tuk driver's son in with us.  he must have been about 6.  his reaction to the animals was more than worth the admission price, even if the rest of it was pretty lame.

for the last couple of days, morgan and i have been staying at our friend puneet's house.  so great to see him!  it's been so many months since meeting at the ashram.  morgan and i really did very little while visiting him...  laundry, next leg of the trip planning, email catch-up, etc.  and this after doing nearly nothing while we were in arambol.

the beaches there were spectacularly beautiful.  we had a bungalow on a path between two gorgeous ones.  from our front porch, only the path separated us from the ocean.  our view every evening was the sun setting as a brilliant red orb over the water.  besides lounging on the beach (would you believe i managed to not get tan in 10 days there...?), we took yoga every day.  well, morgan did when he wasn't running to the toilet.  otherwise, what a beautiful vacation.  interesting that when one travels for so long, one needs a vacation from traveling.  sounds so extravagant, but truly it's necessary for the sanity.  anyway, we got our vacation.

now, for the first time in almost 11 months, morgan and i are spending a little time traveling separately.  there was a day during our time back in the states in december that we didn't see each other, and it was LITERALLY the first time since march 5, 2008.  now morgan has just arrived this morning in hampi, a great sounding town in the south with amazing boulder & rock formations.  i'm headed back up to see friends in pushkar, the beautiful little place where i spent my birthday.  we're looking forward to our week of independence, and i think we'll also look forward to reuniting when our time is up.  so, traveling alone in india-- not something i really ever expected to do.  and yet, i'm not nervous about it at all.  helps that i'm headed back to someplace familiar, and that once i'm there i won't really be either traveling or alone.  but it is still a good thing to go through, i think.

this morning i arrived in delhi (a city i'm not very fond of), and tonight i'll take an overnight bus out of here.  one day in town is plenty for me, and i'm actually just planning on staying in this area today and finding a nice little cafe to spend some time reading or something.  so that's where i'm off to now, dear friends.

coca cola and the bbc

what a crazy last couple of days...
we arrived in mumbai on monday night, and on tuesday morning we were approached to be extras in a bollywood commercial. who can say no to that experience! it turned out to be an ad for coca cola about a clown falling off a bike. we were two of only 20 or so people there (not including all of the tech people filming the thing) so were featured prominently throughout. not sure if it will ever make it anywhere, but if it does, you'll be able to google it in about 1.5 months. we did that all day tuesday and wednesday morning. wednesday evening, we were sitting in the leopold cafe (which still has bullet holes from the attacks in november) and our table was filmed for the bbc. our south african friend was interviewed, and we'll all be on the bbc's indian financial report on sunday! (could you tape this, mom?) pretty amazing.

wednesday night we were supposed to take the train to arambol, in goa, but we could only get waiting list seats, and they weren't confirmed, so we stayed one more night in mumbai. we ended up spending the next day with our friend from italy in the largest slum in asia. it was very intense. talk about poverty. but there's a realization that we all had: in some ways the poor people in india are better off than the poor people elsewhere... yes, they live in abject poverty, but there is a large and somewhat sustainable community. there are also very cheap services & goods available to them. it's not like the u.s. where if you're poor you can't afford anything. chai is cheap, and you can find street food for a few rupees. i'm not saying it's an easy existence, but the people we met (we were mostly surrounded by kids) smiled all the time. and it was amazing to see that the people who have the least asked for nothing but attention and photographs. my earlier disappointment with the people here has been largely reframed by meeting locals and straying from the tourist trail.

so, now that we've left mumbai (on an overnight bus last night, arriving in arambol this morning), we've entered the other extreme... people with money relaxing on the beach. it's a change i appreciate for what it is, but i wouldn't trade the experiences we had yesterday for anything. intense and raw, but real and worthwhile.

happy new year

i'm hoping that 2009 brings lots of good news. 2008 was truly intense. a lot of great times, but a lot of not-so-good towards the end of the year.

in about 45 minutes, morgan and i will be off to the airport to continue our trip. we fly through newark, where we will take advantage of our 10-hour layover by going into nyc. my best childhood friend, eliza, will meet us in the city. then we're off to mumbai (directly from newark! i think it's about 18 hours on that plane ride.)

i'll write again when we arrive in india to let you know we made it, and to post a few more photos.