Gobble, Gobble, Gobble!

Cindy and I got back from our 13-day trek a few weeks ago, and we're still tired. Of course, it doesn't help that the day we got back I think I got a touch of food poisoning and laid in bed for about 36 hours trying to recuperate from both blisters on my heels, tendonitis in my right ankle, and an upset stomach, but . . . I'm back from my trek and the absolutely amazing, gorgeous adventure that was India!

As you will recall, we took off on August 12th for a 13-day trek through the Himalayas. We began the trek with a 6-hour drive to Lamayuru, a city west of Leh. We drove through some beautiful mountains, stopped at a river crossing to unload all our stuff and carry it across a foot-bridge since the river had washed out the normal bridge, switched jeeps, then continued on our way to do photo shoots at two monasteries. We then drove through the "moonscape" that is a section of mountains, where we got a ton of great pictures since our jeep got a flat tire about 2 km from our campsite. We walked the rest of the way, and settled down for the night to play cards with our trekking companions, a French brother and sister, Remy and Gabi. We were also joined by an Italian couple, Elena and Jonluca, so the card-game was pretty interesting with a mix of French, Italian, Spanish, and English being spoken at the table. All in all, the language barriers were crossed and we had a good time playing Remy's version of "spoons."

On the way to Lamayuru, we attempted to learn how to pronounce our cook's name, but it just became too difficult for us since we can't make some of the sounds used in the Ladakhi language, so Cindy nick-named him T-Dawg. From there, things snowballed and pretty soon we'd named our own guide G-Unit, and other various guides, ponymen, and cooks who had different clients but were on the same trek other "gangsta" or ridiculous names like Q-Diddy, LL, Diggity, Flava Flav, Ice Cube, Snoop . . . the list goes on.

The next morning, we were awoken bright and early with a tea delivery from G-Unit. The tea deliveries became a regular thing, and we were very happy to be woken up slowly every morning, first with tea, then with hot water to wash our faces and hands, then with a hot breakfast and time to pack and break down our tent. It was all very efficient and overall a great way to start our mornings.

I won't get into the day-to-day details of our treks, because that would be way too boring, but I'll suffice it to say that I saw some of the most breathtaking scenery I probably will ever encounter during those 13 days. On our second (maybe third) night camping, everyone had been hanging out in the cooking tent because it was pouring down rain when one of the guides for another group (not sure which gangsta) stepped out to see how the weather was and told us all to come outside to see the rainbow. We were all skeptical because everyone knows you can't have a rainbow without sunlight, but . . . I was the first one to step outside and see what is probably the most incredible thing I've ever seen in my life -- a double-rainbow created by the light of a full moon on a misty, but almost pitch-black night. If any electronic device had been able to capture the image, it wouldn't have done it justice. Believe me, we tried. : )

Our trekking continued over passes, through valleys, across rivers, and I developed some pretty nasty blisters on my heels on about our 5th day of trekking. They, and the tendonitis in my right ankle, were the bane of my existence for the next 8 days of my life, and I actually hiked for quite a few days in my flip-flops (Thank God I bought new Reef sandals at REI before I left for this trip! Nothing else would've survived, and these are about ready to fall apart now!). My heels are on the mend now, but today when we were contemplating hiking up Stok Kangri, the highest peak around here at over 6K meters, the tendonitis won out and I decided I had to be a wimp and not do the climb. : (

On the 6th day of our trek, we got our first "hot," meaning non-glacier-fed-river shower of our trip. Prior to having a real bathroom, which included a Western toilet and a standing shower, we had been "showering" and doing our laundry in the rivers. Unfortunately, we were not to find another bathroom or Western toilet for the rest of our trip, and took several more showers in the freezing cold rivers we crossed along the way. Luckily the weather was nice, and by the time we got out of the river it only took us about 15 or 20 minutes to warm up enough to stop shivering!!!

Remy and Gabi left us after breakfast on the 6th day, and we continued on alone with G-Unit and T-Dawg across the Indus River, just below where it meets the Zanskar. The river was too high and strong for our donkeys to cross, so we said goodbye to Q-Diddy, LL, the donkeys, and most of the other gangsta crew who were taking a rest day, and continued across the river on what could've been a cool zip line, but was instead a little wooden box that was heavily loaded down with supplies (and us), then pulled across by hand.

While I was waiting for my turn to cross, I met Freddy from Germany and Ingo from Austria, who are both ex-pats living in Bangalore, and who were traveling together. Those two told me that they planned to follow the same route as us for a few days, as did Matt from England and Andreas from Germany, who had been on our original trek, but who we had never met but who we met having tea on the other side of the river. The nice thing about meeting them early was that we all stayed at the same campsite, and we ended up playing Texas Hold 'Em with all of the guys and two Norwegian girls, Ingrid and Camilla, who were also on the same trek as everyone else and were staying at the same campsite. So even though we left Remy and Gabi behind, there were other travelers for us to get to know.

After 3 days of trekking with the new European community (in flip-flops), Cindy and I left the most popular trail in Ladakh, and continued south through Hangar to Dat. Here, the scenery changed a bit and we went over fewer passes, and through more valleys, which meant more river crossings. We were told before we left on the trek that this was the area where we'd see the most wildlife of anywhere, and that was absolutely true. We saw a few herds of 30-head of Ibex, which basically look like with mountain goat horns, but cooler. We also saw wild horses and marmots. The only thing we missed was the blue sheep, which I'll probably never get a glimpse of. The only ones I saw that could've qualified as blue were some that looked like they'd been spraypainted purple. We're still not sure what the reasoning is behind that - maybe branding?

We finished off our trek with a night of playing the real version of spoons with our cook, guide, horseman, and 2 monks from the local monastery. Let me tell you, the monks weren't too keen on fighting over spoons. They need to get more aggressive! Buddhists just don't understand competition. They let us win every time! : )

After resting for a few days, and recoving from what I thought was food poisoning, Cindy and I rented bikes and rode outside of Leh, towards Hemis. We stayed one night at a town with a giant monastery and woke up just after sunrise to watch their morning chants, which was an amazing experience. One little kid, probably about 7 or 8, was totally into the chanting and was really fun to watch. All the other little monks were more into goofing off than anything, so the whole thing was quite the show!

Ironically, on the way we were flagged down by Diggity and Flava Flav, who were returning from another trek and saw us walking. It's too bad we didn't ask them for a ride back to Leh from where we saw them because the following day it started to rain on us and we hitched a ride back to town, cutting our ride short. I can't say I was too terribly disappointed about that, since my bike's gears weren't working very well and the seat wasn't adjusted right. Let me just comment that renting bikes in a developing nation (I think that's what India is) is VERY different than renting them back home!

After our bike ride, we used 2 days for mad Christmas shopping before heading back to Delhi, which we left after about 3 hours for a tour of the "Golden Triangle." We rode to Jaipur, or the Pink City, which is where the James Bond film Octopussy was filmed, on the first night . Since we arrived late, we had dinner and crashed, then woke up early and saw what there was to see of the city. I think the highlight was a park that was dedicated to sundials. People have come up with the most interesting ways to tell time! It's too bad I haven't learned any of them yet because when Cindy and I split up in a few weeks I won't have anyone to tell me what time it is! : )

After the day of sight-seeing in Jaipur, we had our first Bollywood experience. Jaipur has one of the largest theatres in India, and we enjoyed the escape from the heat and humidity while watching Sinnh is King. Our driver, Arun, and his friend Baloo, explained the plot to us since most of the film was in Hindi, and although we could pick up most of what was going on I definitely wouldn't watch more Bollywood without subtitles!

We left Jaipur for Agra on September 4, but not before visiting the "Monkey Temple," which is a Hindu temple outside of Jaipur where we met a bunch of pilgrims and did a photo shoot with them. The photos turned out great since all the women were wearing the most brightly colored sarees. I can't wait to upload them so you can see how beatufiul they were!

About an hour out of Jaipur, our air conditioning went out, and we spent the next 4 hours sweating in the HOT sun and being absolutely miserable in the back of the car, but it was well worth it to arrive at the Taj Mahal in time to see it in all its glory as the sun was setting. I don't really need to explain the glory of the Taj, since everyone has seen pictures of it, but I do need to explain that it is THAT MUCH BETTER in person. If you're going to India, you MUST see the Taj Mahal!

We boarded a train from Agra to Varanasi the evening of the 4th, and slept the whole way to the famous city on the Ganges River. Since we arrived in the morning, we checked into a hotel and headed straight out to see what we could see. And what we saw was impressive. Hindus believe that if a person is cremated in the Ganges they experience Nirvana, so there are several crematoriums along the river. We witnessed the end of numerous funerals, and the rituals that take place just prior to cremation while we overlooked what is one of the oldest cities in the world. They have the cremation process down to a science, and the owner of the crematorium gave us a rundown on how cremation works and the rituals involved in a Hindu cremation as we watched. It was fascinating.

After viewing the cremation, Cindy and I were whisked around the city by two guys we met who get commission for taking people into carpet shops. Although we didn't buy carpets, we saw some really interesting stuff and were happy to have a guided tour of the city. They even showed us a free rooftop where we went to see a Hindu ceremony. I'm not sure what the purpose of the ceremony was, but it involved a lot of dancing with fire, so it was cool to watch.

We left Varanasi on September 6, and arrived back in Delhi the morning of the 7th. In Delhi, we did last-minute souvenir shopping, and saw as much of the city was was possible before boarding a plane in the wee hours of September 9th to come to Istanbul, where we've been for the last 3 days. Although I think we've only seen the tip of the iceberg that is Istanbul, we've seen as much as possible - cathedrals that were converted to mosques during the Ottoman Empire, mosques, mosques, mosques, the palace . . . We got a free boat tour yesterday before checking out the city's shopping center, and went to the grand bazaar, which has more knock-off purses and shoes than Delhi and Bangkok combined!

Unfortunately, our sight-seeing time was cut short when my wallet was stolen the very first day, probably on the tram from the airport, and I spent hours at the police station filing a report. I luckily only had the equivalent of $165 US and my debit card in my wallet, and have straightened everything out, so that's a relief.

As for Istanbul itself, the city reminds me of a mix of Seattle and San Francisco, and I've fallen in love with it. I told Cindy I could marry this city. Ironically, I've received several marriage proposals since we arrived. : )

We're off to the bazaar to see if we can find some cheap art (and me, a wallet) before going to the airport in a few hours. We're off to Zagreb, Croatia, before we leave for the Dalmation Coast to get some beach time in.

I hope everyone is well back home. I've missed countless birthdays, anniversaries, etc. and I apologize. Congratulations to Nik and Anne! I can't wait to meet your new baby!