Last entry - photos!

 We're home now, and enjoying Bay Area weather, opening our mouths in the shower, not brushing teeth with bottled water, eating green vegetables, and drinking tea that is not heavily laced with milk and white sugar (actually we miss the chai - it isn't the same when you make it at home with unfiltered whole cane sugar, but can't bare to use white sugar in my tea unless I'm in India).  - Love Michael & Kaya

Same Ganga, different City

We're now in Rishikesh... further north, in the foothills of the Himalaya and closer to the mouth of the river Ganga. It was a teary eyed goodbye in Varanasi followed by a 24-hour train ride, an hour tuk-tuk (auto-rikshaw), and a lovely boat ride accross the river to the Guest House we stayed in three years ago.

It's still very much India, and very much the Ganga... and yet vastly different here from where we spent the last three weeks. Where Varanasi is old, dense, grimy, thick, traditional, ancient, filled with the smoke of burning bodies from the funeral pyres, and traversed by those seeking awakening through the mundane... Rishikesh is newer, clean, spacious, fresh, and filled with the sounds of chanting, and traversed by those seeking awakening through perfection. We love both.

Our visit in Varanasi was one of visiting ancient temples, bonding with a family, and coasting along calm waters in a row boat. Our visit in Rishikesh is one of sitting by and dipping in the faster and colder water of the same river, drinking Indian style coffee (lots of cardamom and sugar!), and taking long walks alongside the cutest cows ever.

More to come, with photos we hope!
Love,
Michael and Kaya

Varanasi family photos

Fish Smile Very Difficult

 The Kedareshwar Bed & Breakfast  is very intimate, as there are only 5 rooms.  The last few days we spent a lot of time with two young women from Barcelona who were staying here.  We took a full day trip to Bodhgaya - the place where the Buddha was enlightened.  It is a 5 hour drive each way... and we spent about 5 hours in Bodhgaya itself.  Our long day closed with an extremely intense drive home in the dark, on an unlit road with the driver going very fast, and Michael yelling at him to slow down the whole way.  Martha, Irina and I were in the backseat holding hands and vacillating between watching the road intently and closing our eyes.  In the end, we made it home safely and were met at the taxi by Habu (who also goes by the name Sonu)... we got the best comic relief ever.  

He told us that two men from Spain had checked in to the Bed and Breakfast that day.  Excitedly, he went on, "Spain men VERY DIFFICULT!  One fish smile.  Very difficult.  Spain men bad fish smile.  Very difficult fish smile."

Um, what?!  

We were cracking up.  Does this make sense?  We tried to break it down, word by word.   It took awhile.  And by the next day, after talking to some other family members from the Bed and Breakfast and finally meeting the "very difficult" men from Spain, we garnered the details... which are actually almost as funny as Habu's explanation.

The men are a father and son.  The son is nine months into a two-year around the world trip.  The father arrived that day in India to spend time with his son, and brought his sons favorite food with him from Spain - Calamari.  The Calamari was dried and packed.  And they asked to use the kitchen to cook it.  But the Calamari had gone bad (are we surprised?) and SMELLED very bad.  

The smell was so putrid to Habu that when the men were cooking it, he ran outside and vomited over the porch, down three flights of stairs.

Now, the men from Spain were very nice... but I have to agree with Habu, this is very difficult.  And while he meant "smell" when he said "smile" the story was worth a thousand and one smiles indeed!

Very lucky

I have to add something to an earlier blog... remember, someone told Michael he was very lucky because Kaya is like a lotus?  Well, a few days ago, I was in the internet shop alone and the owner of the shop asked whether Michael and I were a "love marriage" (as opposed to an arranged marriage).  A love marriage in India is more common in the movies than in reality, so it is very exciting and intriguing.  When I said "yes, it is a love marriage".  He said, "you are very lucky! your husband is a very gentleman.  His face is shining!"

I laughed and said, "yes, I am very lucky!"

I giggled all the way back to the guest house - not that it isn't true, but that Michael definately one-upped me.  I am a lotus, but he is SHINING!  

Ram Nagar & Sarnath

Some photos from our visits to Ram Nagar - the palace of the Maharaja (King) of Kashi (Varanasi) and the site of a fort... and most importantly to locals, the site of the most famous and delicious sweet lassis (a thin yogurt treat).  Inside the palace is a museum, mainly filled with the vehicles of Maharajas past - vehicles means carriages that would have been horse-drawn, automobiles (including old Fords and others from Detroit, Michigan), and palanquins (I was never sure what these were, in my readings of Indian stories, but now I know - they are human-carried carriages.  Some of the palanquins were silver, gold, and ruby studded.  Inside the museum were old articles of clothing, cooking ware, chandaliers, childrens toys, all kept in terrible, dusty, moth-eaten condition. They are old, and they look it.  There were also weapons from many generations - from ivory encrusted swords to rifles.  And some very scary looking weapons indeed - swords and knives that look like they kill on the way out rather than on the way in!  It turns out the current Maharaj actually still lives here, above the areas we are allowed to puruse.  The palace was full of school children while we were there... staring at us unabashadly and grinning back only when we smiled first.

Also, photos from Sarnath - a village that is 6km away from Varanasi (but an hour drive by car or auto-rickshaw because of traffic). This is the site where the Buddha came after his Self-realization to give the first teachings.  There are relics of the Buddha here, as well as a large excavation site that has revealed what was most likely a very large monastary from the time of the Buddha.  Also a 

museum, as well as temples installed by Buddhist organizations from Tibet, Thailand, China, and Japan.  

One very small portion of the family at kedeshwar guest house. Tried to load more photos but it wouldn't work, slow internet connection right now! We'll try again tomorrow.  

We are loving Varanasi, and have extended our stay another week!  The family is so sweet, they are full of the spirit of Ganesh - opening all kinds of doorways for us to layers and pathways in this city that we would not have found.  And they are opening our hearts every day with smiles, laughter, stories, home-cooked food, and even inviting us to sit on their family bed - I can't even imagine how many of them sleep in this particular bed on a given night - and read their palms.