Darkest before the dawn

I woke to a beautiful sunny day in the Himalayas. Dharamshala is a much more comfortable place. The hotel I'm at even upgraded my room to the one with morning sun and a balcony. I seem to be the only guest - must be the off season. It is pretty cold. I will attempt to buy some warmer clothing today and hike up the hill to the temple and residence of the Dali Lama. Not sure how long I'll stay here but I think Dharamshala will be my last destination in India - at least for this go round.

Comfort zone? What's that?

If my comfort zone was on a map, I'm so far outside of it right now, I don't even know which way to go to get back in.

New Delhi is the dirtiest, most inhospitable place one can imagine. I spent my first few days here just trying to figure out how to get out and into some place that might be okay. Initially I thought I wanted to visit the so called Golden Triangle - Delhi, Jaipur, and Agra (the Taj Mahal). But after looking into all options and experiencing Delhi for a few days, I decided it might be best to just make a run for the hills. So, I've booked a plane flight to Dharamsala tomorrow. Dharamsala is in the Himalayas and is where the Dali Lama lives. While it would be wonderful to be in his presence, I have no expectation of that happening. I just don't want to be here and would hate to flee the country without giving it a chance - Dharamsala seems like the best bet, though I do anticipate it being a bit cold.

About Delhi. If Indonesia is an education in how to protect yourself in a third world country, India is graduate school. The touters and scammers here follow you - usually striking up a "friendly" conversation. I changed hotels after the first night, and met the first of these guys during the 2km walk to the new, slightly less nasty place. He fell in stride with me and his English was excellent. After some introductory conversation, he started to tell me how the area I was going to be staying in (this is the "backpackers" area of Delhi - though I see few westerners) wasn't safe and I should take a tuk-tuk down the road to the central area where I could stay for just a couple of dollars more ("only 20 rupees" for a tuk-tuk I'm now sure he had on standby). He was quite friendly and believable but if I learned anything from Indonesia, it's that a local friendly always has an agenda. So when I spotted a McDonalds, I told him thanks for the advise, I'm going to slip in here, get something to eat and assess the situation. Which I did. As I was eating, I spotted another guy who seemed to be just hanging around and watching me. Honestly, I was feeling a bit frightened and was digging around the internet on my phone for as much objective information as I could find to figure out my next move. One of the suggestions I found on a forum was to ask a local female about the area. God bless the internet. There are few women in the streets here (another reason it's so uncomfortable), but a young girl and her mother came in and luckily she spoke enough English to be able to reassure me that the area we were in was safe "for me" in particular. I decided to give the new hotel a look and buy some time to figure out my next move. As I walked out of McDonalds, the lurker followed me and started telling me how the area wasn't safe. I politely asked him to leave me alone and when he persisted, I snapped and firmly told him I'd seen him watching me and it wasn't acceptable behavior - it took about 30 seconds to send him bolting back into McD's with his tail between his legs. I felt better after that. Though I am still very much on my guard any time I go out and cannot wait to be clear of this city.

That said, yesterday was actually a really good day. After a failed attempt at sightseeing the day before (a long boring story of discomfort and frustration), I almost had resolved to just stay in my room for the 2 days until my flight to Dharamsala. I'm glad I didn't. Humayun's Tomb is a world heritage site and is the precursor to the Taj Mahal. The site itself was impressive and interesting and I'm sure much less of a tourist nightmare than the Taj Mahal. But the real redeeming part of the day happened during the 2km walk from the metro to the Tomb. On a relatively civilized street (the first since arriving in India), I passed a street vendor with several people standing around eating. He waved me in and I accepted. They were 2 middle aged, warm and friendly men who served up a delicious, filling meal for 40 rupees (about 60 cents). While I was eating, one came over and asked me for one US dollar. Misunderstanding him, I told him I didn't have a dollar but I would be willing to pay more rupees for my meal (it really was so cheap), he walked away leaving me confused. Before leaving, I tried to offer him some more money but he refused saying they served a good meal at a fair price and hoped I would come back tomorrow. He really did just want a US dollar for a souvenir, I wish I had had one for him. It was an experience of such generosity and kindness, it brought tears to my eyes - perhaps a reflection of how isolated and targeted I'm feeling. Many people tried to tell me it would be rough here but others really love it. I suppose I am stubborn and just have to go see for myself. I am quite sure it's an experience I'll never forget and will cherish (once it's well behind me). Today is a national holiday celebrating the formation of an independent republic. I watched some of the parade on TV - no way am I going out into the streets.

Humayun's Tomb

I met a guy on a train

Though I've been thinking all along that Laos would be my next destination from Chiang Mai, it turns out it's India. I took the overnight train to Bangkok night before last and will take a 4am flight to New Delhi day after tomorrow.

The night train was great. Somewhere around 8 or 9 pm, a porter came along and turned my bench seating into a comfortable sleeping berth with clean sheets and a warm blanket. In bits and pieces, timed with starts and stops the train made along the way, I managed to get a pretty decent night's sleep.

My time in CM was a terrific break from the constant moving on that I've become more and more weary of. I spent several days working with Abby (Sean and Prang's oldest) on math and English. She's a bright and beautiful child and I will miss her (along with everyone else there).

I stayed in the guest house with Marisa who was turned out to be an instant and much cherished friend. One of the things I told her was that I felt like I had another life/work chapter in me and that the universe seemed to be telling me I need to teach. It's been coming at me in ways that are subtle and some that are not so subtle. I told her of my resistance to the idea and my attempts at bargaining with the universe ('cuz teaching has NEVER been on the list of things I would want to do in my life). Which brings me to the title of this post...

I met a German guy who gives seminars on NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) while traveling with the workshop attendees (at least that was my take on what he was up to - I suspect that I was part of his ongoing marketing efforts). One of the first things out of his mouth was "Are you a teacher?"  All I could do was laugh. I'm sure he thought me quite rude, but luckily he didn't take it personal and we went on to have a quite interesting conversation - though I still can't really tell you what NLP is... lol.

So, perhaps to teach. What, where, when and who are yet unknown to me. First up - India, Nepal, The Camino de Santiago and perhaps home for a bit to see my beloved Rasta in her last time on this earth (last summer, the vet gave her a year before she thought the cancer would return with a vengeance).

Best Christmas ever

It turns out, Sean and Prang's house isn't quite within walking distance of Chiang Mai. So, I rented a scooter for a month and google maps did the rest. Some back and forth emails and a dead battery on Sean's phone meant they weren't quite expecting me but were graciously welcoming anyway. Sean and Prang have built a loving home of barely controlled chaos, though their kids are some of the most respectful and well behaved children I've ever encountered. Every day is infinitely interesting. And exhausting. They live on a plot of land maybe an acre in size. It has 3 houses - one for them, one for their long time friends Adam and Cindy and their many, many kids (foster and otherwise) and one smaller guest house that Cindy has graciously agreed for me to stay in for a bit, along with her friend from the States, Marissa.

Erik arrived from Bangkok on Christmas morning. It was so good to see him, I cried in spite of myself. The following week was a whirlwind of northern Thailand. After collecting him on my rented scooter, we returned to Chiang Mai so he could get one for himself and made our way up into the hills to Doi Suthep national park and the Wat Phra That temple. After seeing so many temples already, this one was a bit meh. But, a day on a scooter adventure with my son was priceless!

After a night in a Chiang Mai hostel, we got on a bus (thanks to Prang for taking us to the bus station!) and headed to Pai. After a night of pigging out on Thai food at the night market, we once again rented scooters and rode 50 km over a mountain pass to the Lod cave and a truly unique experience. Entrance to the cave is only by lantern carrying guide and bamboo raft. You get on a raft and float down a river into the cave with fish swimming alongside. After disembarking there is a longish walk through a very large and cool cave. Our guide spoke very little English but was very kind and took good care of us (me actually, Erik didn't need much). After the tour, we got on another raft and floated to the exit where we made a 1 km or so trek back to the beginning. All in all it was an extraordinary day.

Into the cave - Erik's expression reflects the awe of the place

Out the other end

 
After Pai, we made the day long journey to Sukhothai. We spent the first day there visiting old Sukhothai on bicycles just as I'd done a couple of weeks earlier. I felt better this time and we explored much more thoroughly. At about the farthest place possible, Erik's bike got a flat tire and we had to walk back. Day two was a bus trip to Si Satchanalai - a place with the most impressive ruins yet. It's just far enough off the beaten track to limit the number of people who go there making it an extraordinary experience. We waited nearly 3 hours for the return bus after the 4 o'clock bus failed to show at all and the 5:00 one was very late. We were about to give up and call a taxi when it finally showed up.

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Old Sukhothai

The next day (new years eve) was time to say goodbye. Erik took the long bus ride to Bangkok and spent the night partying with half the city on Chao San Rd while I returned to Chiang Mai and slept the whole next day. Although the time felt like a blink of an eye, it was so great to see Erik and travel like we always have - packing as much adventure as possible into the time we had.