Home, Sweet Home

We all arrived safely.

Delhi airport is a madhouse, completely unorganized and time consuming. It took us about 3 hours to make it through all the checkpoints. Our flight out was delayed by 2 hours. Gopal has nothing good to say about British Airways. I will say that the Indian attendants were very kind and as helpful as they could be. You could immediately tell the difference once in London - very civilized!! We landed at LAX at 3pm on Saturday, Dec. 15th. It took us an 1 1/2 hours to finally retrieve all our luggage.

Once home, I took a long shower, pet my cat and went to bed at 6:30pm. I have been dealing with sinus drainage and coughing for the past week. That's clearing up quickly since I've arrived in California. This morning I treated myself to bacon and eggs and a long bath.

In closing, I have to say that the trip was amazing and life changing. I enjoyed every minute - even the challenging times. Again, because of Gopal we were treated to a far deeper connection (particularly with his family) to the culture than if we had travelled without him. My deepest gratitude goes out to our friendship - I am truly blessed.

Now that I am home, I am grateful for my bed, hot running water, clean drinking water, meat and fresh vegetables. The one thing I loved about India that I didn't miss is Christmas music and decorations and the frantic chaos associated with Christmas present buying.

A friend of mine told me before I went that I "will never feel poor again." This sentiment continues to echo through my mind. Today, I feel rich and grateful.

Thank you to those who have kept up with our blog. I hope you have enjoyed the journey as well.

Merry Christmas!

The Morning of Our Return

Arleta and I are packed and ready to check out of our last hotel stay. We are in Delhi.

Last night, Gopal and his niece took us to an amazing Punjab (Gopal's nationality) restaurant. It's appropriate that our last meal was probably our best. Before the meal, however, I went to the "Man's Salon" and got a shave (I've never had anyone shave me before!!), a facial and a full body massage for 550 Rupees (= approx. $15 US). I tipped more than I paid because, hell, I'm leaving and it's good to be generous.

The hotel (Hotel Shiv) is another experience. For about $100 US we stayed in something that we wouldn't pay $20 for at home. Somewhere in the middle of the night I kicked the cord for our electric heater out of the wall and the air conditioning went on. The tricky thing is the switch which provided power for the outlet for the electric heater ALSO provided the power for the air conditioner. Since I didn't know how to turn off the air conditioner, I had to run power to both the air conditioner AND the heater at the same time. I guess this is considered FULL SERVICE??

Anyway, the trip has been amazing, adventurous, full and we owe a lot to Gopal's generous nature - taking care of us, haggling with driver's and merchants, planning our trip, and JUST sharing himself unconditionally.

Namaskar
(Sanskrit for Namaste)

Namaste: The Highest part of ME reaches out to the Highest part of YOU; and we meet in the middle.

Wednesday - Haridwar

We left Delhi early Monday morning and drove to Haridwar - one of the holiest cities along the Ganga River. Haridwar means Gateway of the Gods. (On your left is Krishna).

Haridwar is closer to the mountains, so the water is cleaner. I stuck my feet in as they say it's supposed to wash away your sins. Well, my feet are sin-free anyway.

After spending the night in Haridwar, Arleta, Gopal and I went to Rishikesh (the home of yoga and many ashrams) then proceeded up a very windy, mountainous road to...




...the lovely mountain town of Mussouri. Here is a picture of Gopal and Arleta with the Himalays in the background. Mussouri was quite nice and extremely cold. The hotel provided a room heater - which did not help. I have been fighting a sinus cold since last Sunday, plus I didn't think we'd all survive a night of freezing, so we headed back to Haridwar.

Gopal and I are more than ret' to come home. It's been fun. I want to take a hot bath, enjoy a hamburger, speak English, pet my cat, and not have to smell the continuous aromas of feces, urine and diesel exhaust.

Sunday in Delhi

Mom & Craig made it home safely. Their first stop was an In-N-Out for burgers.

Arleta, Gopal and I are still in Delhi. The air seems cleaner but my lungs and sinuses disagree. Much phlegm!!

Arleta and I went to the place where Gandhi was shot yesterday. Good to see. Mostly, unfortunately for Arleta, we're laying low in Delhi these two days. Planning to take off early tomorrow morning.

We made it Home

A few pictures that I hadn't had a chance to post earlier ... just a few of the many, many pictures we have !!










The tree under which Buddha received enlightenment.










Buddha ... this picture was taken from outside the temple, as we were not allowed to take pictures inside.












All of the trucks in India were decorated lavishly. At night, the reflections and lights are beautiful !!







It was not unusual to see a pair of these creatures pulling a cart loaded down with people or whatever ... most often, on the wrong side of the road, coming straight at you !!









After 28 hours on traveling, from New Delhi to LAX, we made it home. That isn't counting the 2 1/2 hours it took us to get through everthing in Delhi and the hour it took at LAX. Thankfully, our bestest friend, Vickie, came to pick us up at LAX. She and her sister, Phylis, we waiting for us the minute we walked out of the terminal. Friends like her are very, very special !!!
We left the camera with Mike, so that future pictures are up to him.

Back in New Delhi - Arleta here - Mom & Craig en route home

After Varanasi, we took a 6 1/2 hour road trip to Bodhgaya (or Buddha Gaya) - the location of a beautiful buddhist temple (pictures do not do it justice) and the site of the bodhi tree where the buddha sat and gained enlightenment.

But first, the road trip. Imagine sitting on the 10 freeway. You are heading West on your side of the divider. You are in the #1 lane (or the fast lane). Suddenly you see a bus overloaded with passengers hanging out the doors and sitting on the roof headed in your direction in your lane. You get over within an inch of hitting the bus head on (because the bus does not slow down) after you pass the ox drawn cart in the lane next to you, only to avoid running over the child or woman who has crossed the road in front of you, only to come to a sudden stop because the freeway has, without warning, become a pot-holed dirt road. The roadways are ABSOLUTE chaos in India. But, in absolute chaos there is order and peace. I have yet to witness someone get upset because another car/person/bus/cart/bike has cut them off. We saw 3 overturned or broken-axled trucks, but no accidents.

Bodhgaya was beautiful, more tropical (for the desert). Again, I felt an amazingly sweet energy meditating under the tree. We also saw a fish pond which looked more like fish soup there were so many large (what looked to be) catfish.

The next morning we took another harrowing trip to the airport, arrived in Delhi, mom & Craig packed (mom not feeling well with running sinuses) and dropped them off at the international airport. The international airport is another experience I will describe at another time. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER complain about LA traffic or the LAX.

Thursday in Varanasi

Here is the monk that Mike is talking about. Also, Gopal getting his hair trimmed.

The "barber" also massaged his neck and back. Gopal is soooo spoiled !!

A lot of tours stay at the hotel where we are staying. Craig and I were talking to one of the tour guides at breakfast and he told us how lucky we are to have someone like Gopal with us to arrange everything for us. I told him that we knew that and we really are fortunate !!

We stopped at a silk shop and found some wonderful buys. We finally (after how many days?) realize that even though there are many inexpensive things to buy, we end up buying more !!!! So, still spend a lot of money !! Will have to be frugal when we get back home !!