Bikaner (by Michael)

From January 16th.

We're in our fourth day of the tour now. Checked into our hotel in Bikaner, after an overnight camel trek last night. That was an experience. Riding the camel was a combination of equal parts fun and pain. Little known fact: camel riding is one of the earliest forms of birth control. We spent a very cold night in tents in the desert. Semi-desert actually, just a little more arid than Osoyoos. It was nice to get out of the bustle after 3 days in Delhi.

My new buddy, Daloo

In one day in Delhi we visited a Hindu temple, Islamic mosque and Sikh gurudwara. I talked to a guy in gurudwara and when he found I was from Canada, he mentioned he has a sister in Surrey. That’s neat. We’ve actually met a few people in India with ties to Surrey. I've found so far that India hasn't been any more hectic than Vietnam, and in that way feels familiar. We've run into only a few scammers so far. Or maybe we're a little more seasoned than the last trip. We had a taxi driver quote us 180 rupees (roughly $3) for a trip, then at the end claim it was 180 each. I said no, then he tried for 180 dollars. Nice try. We also discovered a scam where people will talk to you on the street for a while, not asking for any money, but ultimately they direct you to a (fake) tourist office, which will tell you all the sites are closed, but will offer to hire you a car somewhere else for the day. The fake tourist shops look very similar to the government run ones. It took us a few days to catch on because it was so subtle. It didn't cost us any money, but we missed seeing a few things thinking they were closed. It's kind of fun after you catch on to the local racquet. As far as scams go, that's pretty mild compared to Vietnam and Bali.

We're in a group of 15 plus a guide for this tour, which so far has been a great group. We were taking bets on who would be first to succumb to 'Delhi belly'. We had our first winner last night -- a guy who'd been brushing his teeth with tap water. So far Sarah and I are doing great. We're loving the food. I wish I could remember the names of some of the stuff we're eating.

Today we went to see the Camel Festival at the stadium in Bikaner. As soon as we got in the gates, someone approached us to sign up for the events. They were having some foreigner events and needed more participants. All 7 in our group participated in the turban tying contest, up on a stage in front of maybe a thousand spectators. We had one demonstration then had 5 minutes to tie our own. I’m pretty sure I built a masterpiece. I think. I couldn't see it myself. After this we were interviewed by all the local TV stations. We’re minor celebrities again. Next we participated in the foreigners vs. Indians tug-of-war, which the locals won handily.

Then all seven of us piled into a rickshaw and headed back to meet up with the group to go see the rat temple. As you might have guessed, the rat temple is a temple dedicated to, and full of, rats. Being a temple, you must remove your shoes before entering. Apparently it's considered quite luckily if a rat crosses your feet. No such luck for me. It wasn't nearly as frightening as I thought. They’re well fed and used to people, so there’s no real worry of getting bitten. It was interesting to watch them scurrying around, a lot like watching chipmunks. My biggest concern was being sure not to step on one. That would have not gone over well in the rat temple.

Rat paradise at the rat temple

More photos are up on our Google+ album.

Beijing (by Michael)

From January 12.

We woke up in Delhi this morning, after 2 days in Beijing. China was fabulous. We found it extremely friendly, and modern and well organized. And we lucked out and had 2 beautiful blue sky days with very little of the smog that Beijing is famous for.

My expectations were based on Vietnam, so I expected to have to be wary of shady taxi drivers, being constantly harassed by hawkers and scammers. None of that was true here. Everywhere the people we met were professional and helpful. Our first night, we found ourselves a little lost in a hutong (a narrow alleyway winding between residential compounds) trying to find our hostel. A local noticed us looking around like lost tourists and without a saying word, pointed out the way for us. The language barrier wasn't that noticeable though. All business and street signs are subtitled in English. We were told the government has been promoting English as an international language at least since the Olympics. The few times when there was a language barrier, people were patient with our gesturing. In McDonalds, where we tried red bean pies, they pulled out a card to point at. They've seen a few tourists here before.

Even so, Sarah and I were occasionally minor celebrities. A few times in the Forbidden City and again at the Summer Palace we were approached by people who wanted to take photos with foreigners. At this time of year at least, these sites are full of mostly domestic tourists, so I imagine some of them haven't seen too many foreigners.

A colourful structure at the entrance to Tiananmen square

I had a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that we were in China. It seemed so easy. Contrast this to our first day in India today, where there is no doubt we're in a different country. I loved everything about Beijing, from the massive ceiling in the airport as we arrived to the walkable downtown, the colours of the Forbidden City, and of course, the Great Wall. The section of the Wall we visited, Mutianyu, runs along a mountain ridge. We took a chair lift up, walked to the end of the rebuilt section (and a little passed that into the ruins) and then rode a metal luge track back down the mountainside. I wondered if it was like Disneyland where you can go full throttle and still not be anywhere near the limits of the ride. It wasn't. I had to use the brakes a few times. It was awesome.

Sarah and Michael on a Shoestring: Beijing to Udaipur

It's a good thing we're rained out in Udaipur, India today. Last night, I had just put the finishing touches on a lengthily blog entry when I accidentally deleted it all. The shame of it was that with our busy touring schedule, a bad head cold, and the resulting early bedtimes it had taken me the better part of 4 days to finish it. So, while we're stuck in the hotel hiding from the heavy downpour, I'll do my best to give you the Cliff notes.

On Jan 8, Michael and I started out towards India, but since we had to layover in Beijing anyway we opted to take advantage of China's 72 hr visa-free option. Over two days we were able to see the Forbidden City (HUGE!), walkabout Old Beijing, and then hired a tour guide to take us to see the Great Wall. The Wall is definitely impressive, though officially you're only allowed to visit a few short sections which are maintained by the government. Beyond these parts was the "Wild Wall," which looked like it was being slowly reclaimed by the earth - with guard posts dotting along impossibly steep moutain ridges. Hard to believe that each brick had to be carried up the mountains by hand!

Standing atop a guard post

Next, Delhi! It's a dusty, busy, loud city, but has plenty to offer a tourist seeking adventure. We were on our own for two days before we were scheduled to meet up with our tour group, so we were free to try and introduce ourselves at our own pace. Delhi is a fairly old city, which makes it all the more interesting. Amongst high-end shops and cars and modern buildings are colonialist style shopping areas (Connaught Circle), and ancient mosques. Some of my favourite places in Delhi are large parks with the ruins of temples dating back to the 1200's, where locals come to picnic with their famlies

Humayun's Tomb - within a large park complex, restored not long ago. It was the inspiration for the Taj Mahal!

One of the aforementioned mosques-in-a-park

 After we joined the rest of the tour (16 young people from Canada, the US, Germany, England, Scotland, Norway, New Zealand and Australia), we made off for the desert and the hotly anticipated camel safari near Bikaner. We were each assigned a camel, though we weren't trusted to lead ourselves, so each camel also came with a local boy who walked beside us - for 4 hours! (and in flip-flops, through the sand...) We stayed overnight at a cozy camp, where our hosts prepared us a delicious supper, and we all chatted on into the night next to a fire. I will admit to being quite cold on this excursion, though. My expectations of India's weather were incorrect, and nighttime in the desert was very chilly! Thank goodness for the extra blankets and the hot water bottles we were given!

Giving a camel good pats after having brought us our of the desert the next morning

The next few days after that were busy! Long bus rides for several mornings, plenty of local food (even the "non-spicy" food can be piquant), temples, tuktuks and huge forts rising up over well-worn cities. It was in Bikaner that we stumbled upon the Camel Festival, where - as western tourists - we were ushered through a VIP entrance to the stadium and invited to join in on some special competitions. Initially, we were hesitant to join (there were at least a thousand people in attendance), but in the end, we joined the tug-o-war (locals vs tourists), and came up on stage for a tourist-only turban-tying contest! For the most part, our turbans weren't very good, though one in our group won second place and 2000 Rupees!

I found these gentlemen at the festival, dressed to the nines. They had competed in a mustache growing contest! (though you wouldn't know it, since they keep them well curled up), the winner was crowned "Mr. Bikaner"

We visited a sacred Rat Temple near Bikaner- a temple that was over-run with rats!

In Jaisalmer, the man with the longest mustache in town, in front of a Haveli. The ornately carved balconies was all over, and so beautiful!

In Jodhpur, the "Blue City," we toured a large palace. One of the more striking pieces in the collection (besides the ornate seats for riding elephants), was this dagger. Once stabbed into an enemy, a trigger could be pulled to open the blade and flay them from the inside!

We took a fleet of Jeeps out to the countryside to visit local artisans. Here, Michael's watching a potter showing us the wheel that he must spin manually with a long stick. We got to try our hand, but generally failed miserably....

Last night in Udaipur, we attended a local dance show. This woman was able to dance with 10 water pots on her head!

So, today we try and wait out the rain. We're still in a fairly arid region, so I'm hoping it doesn't last all day. Later this afternoon, we have plans to regroup and attend a Henna tattoo demonstration, and then a cooking class where I've been told we'll get to try and make samosas! Yum!

*For the record, we're currently taking the India on a Shoestring tour, organized by G Adventures

Rad-Toberfest

 Last weekend, Mike and I headed to southern Ontario for a double-header of awesome. In fact, all that fun almost made up for the fact that it takes forever to get out of Sudbury and down to where the action is.

Saturday morning, we got up bright and early for the Colour Me Rad race. After Tough Mudder finished, I have been looking for fun and interesting things to keep me in a "Fitness is Awesome!" state of mind. This race seemed like a great match! 5km, they don't keep track of race times (they advertise "just finish before dark"), and volunteers throw bombs of brilliantly coloured corn starch at you every kilometer. A good time was had by all!

SO MUCH PINK!!

This is the moment Mike ripped open a bomb of powder with his teeth and instantly regretted it. I'm told its akin to the cinnamon challenge....

 But the best part of the race was that I did it with Mike. Yes, truly, as sappy as it sounds I'm most excited that we did it together because we've never done a race together. Mike remains so, so, so much faster than me, but when I started all of this fitness stuff the goal I had in mind was to be able to do more fun, awesome, active things as a team. So consider me ready for more!

After dusting off all that dye, we drove up to Hamilton where an amused hotel clerk checked us in. Later, our friends told us: "Yeah, the lady at the desk said that some people covered in paint were looking for you." Thankfully, it scrubbed off well* in a hot shower. I was definitely glad for that, because I ready to spiff up in the dirndl I'd sewn for the largest Oktoberfest outside of Germany!

After some creative purchasing, we had our hands on tickets for our group to get into the hottest - sold out-  Bavarian club on the circuit - the Concordia Club.

Inside of the tent. This was early in the night and I'm sure there were a few hundred more people join us later.

 It was definitely an awesome place. I particularly liked the live Bavarian band, but there were also some very awesome appearanced by some local dancers. Let me paint a picture for you of one dance I liked best:

Imagine a strapping young man wearing lederhosen picks up his buddy by the ankles so their navals touch. (Upside down, facing together.) Now imagine that the upright young man walks around the circle of dancers, and those other dancers take turns drumming the upside-down lad on the bottom. BUT, not to be left out, the upside-down lad also has his face and shoulders between the upright young man's legs and is also drumming the upright young man's bottom. So much fun, ja!?

I could not make that up if I tried. This was an actual thing that happened during a dance routine.

Mike in a pirate hat that we don't know where came from...or went. Me in my dirndl! (hard to see but the skirt is black and quite full)

So, check that off of the bucket list! Been to Oktoberfest, brought home another lapel pin for the collection...



*Except that today - 5 days later- I still managed to find green paint in my ear.

Can You Spot Mike?

You'll have to look closely....

Autumnal Appreciation

Thanksgiving has wrapped up (Literally. There's about 40 lbs of food wrapped up in my fridge), and I have been granted an unexpected day off work to spend some time getting soul-satisfied. Actually, I thought I was supposed to work, but upon my arrival I realized I'd made an error on my schedule.

I am thankful for unanticipated time to myself.

Last night, I was finally able to have some friends over for a real dinner party on a real dining room table. It was f&%#ing rad. The whole meal was delicious and included some stellar dishes provided by my guests (including their homemade broccoli salad, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie and caesar salad). I was especially happy with how my organic, 14lb turkey  and apple and blueberry pies turned out. It was exactly, perfectly right.

 I am thankful for the cornucopia of wonderful foods I have been able to try in my lifetime. Food! Glorious food!

And when I think about the last two years, I remember the adventures I've been on. Surfing and skiing and sunsets and museums and oceans and, and, and... When I talk to my colleagues at work, I hear that one is in the labout and delivery room (during my shift), waiting patiently for her adopted son to be born. This is as I hear another colleague is just divorced in the same year her brother and her father pass away. She tells me she's very interested to see how her "new" life unfolds, and hopes that she can move on in a positive frame.

 I am thankful for the gift of opportunity - opportunity to explore our world, to alter our lives when we want, and to beat our own trail when the usual one is blocked off. 

Think About What You Say

Often at work I find myself a cheerleader. I mean, yes, sure one of my primary functions is to will children from illness to health, but being that they're young people it's not unusual that I have to really bring out the "big inspirational guns" to convince them that a) they can get better and that b) sometimes they also  need to put in work to get over the barriers preventing them from ragaining their 100%. I once sat with a teenaged boy for 30 mins, like some movie-style football coach trying to bring him to the realization that he needed to break his cycle of laying in bed all day in order to get out of hospital. It was something like: Yes, your leg hurts and you're sad because you can't plays chool sports at all this year now, but if you don't get out of bed to do physiotherapy you'll also not get out of hospital. If you don't work at this physio, you might not recover well enough to play sports at all. You might get benched for a very, very long time rather than just this season because you didn't take some responsibility for working your way back.

That's the cliff  notes, anyway. For the record, he was 17 so I could dish some stronger words than if I was just trying to get a 7 year old to do the same thing.

Anyway, recently I've found myself doing some similar coaching, except I'm noticing that what I'm saying really applies to a lot of situations - including some things I'm working on myself. Not to toot my own horn, but I'll offer something up, and then think "Jeeze, that shit it solid gold. You could learn something from yourself!"

This one is pretty much my favourite, and I've used is in many ways for a while.

Yes, what you're about to do is hard work. Have you ever been skiing? Well, I remember the first few times I hit the slopes. I was terrible, and I fell down pretty much more than I was upright. But I had this good/crazy/expert skiier friend help me out. Early on she said "Let's try a double-black diamond run (The Headwalls)!" After I picked my jaw up from the ground she told me something to the effect of "I'll be ok. Just take your time and have fun!" Well, we did. That run was stupid and way out of my comfort zone, but we rolled down and played in the powdered snow around the trees and at one point I think we just slid on our bums like we were on a giant playground slide. It was by no means pretty, but I made it to the bottom alive and proud! But most importantly, the next time I ventured onto an easy run I was able to say "Wow! This is so much easier than the headwalls! I can so totally ski down this!" It's the same for you. If you just hesitantly keep taking the easiest route, that's all you'll ever be comfortable with and you certainly won't progress further. But if you push yourself -even into a place where you're positive it won't look good or go smoothly - you'll be able to look back at what you've already done and be able to say "Wow! That other stuff isn't as difficult as it used to seem. I can get through this."

Lately when I tell this one - or a version of it (like You are about to be challenged. Do your best, because in order to move forward, you will have to at least meet them. You don't have to do it well, but it does take work to get the things we want), I find myself repeating it in my mind. Especially now that I've registered to run the Tough Mudder race in just over a week. I set this goal a few months back and I've been working hard at it but frankly it still scares the ever living shit out of me. And the training had been hard. For a person who has long proclaimed that she and running "are not friends," I have been doing a lot of running. I even (successfully) tackled a long run with a very, very long uphill climb which at the beginning of the summer I would never have believed I could manage. As they say, I may have been slower than a herd of turtles running through peanut butter, but if I didn't try it, even ungracefully, I might never have known I could do it. And as a plus, all of my shorter, flatter runs seem so much more achievable!





It's a pretty sweet example of "don't dish it if you can't take it" - and I totally believe in it.

p.s. Thanks, Mandy for being the crazy one and deciding it would be a good idea to try the Headwalls on my second day at the slopes. I have since returned many times.