India and Nepal
In November 2005, we spent about three weeks visiting the ancient countries of India and Nepal. We sincerely hope that you will enjoy our photo.
Arriving in Bombay, India and going through immigration was done in a flash but we waited almost forever for our luggage. Our greeter met us right outside of customs and walked us to our cab. We drove almost peacefully through very old neighborhoods; along our street we countless early 20th century apartment buildings intermixed with smaller building that appeared to have several floors piled haphazardly one atop the other. The weather gives all the buildings dark stains; perhaps it is black mold.
We crashed for awhile in our room and later took showers before having breakfast. The hotel offers Indian and American cuisines included with our room. We just wanted coffee, tea and something simple. Afterward, we found the health club and signed up for massages at 4:30 this afternoon.
We went for a walk to help get the kinks out. At 9 in the morning it was already heating up; locals sat only in the shade of trees and buildings. We stopped at a Citibank ATM and withdrew R10,000, or about $200.
We walked along a promenade on the Arabian Sea and wound our way into the financial district. All in all, this part of Bombay seems pretty well off in contrast to the shabbier neighborhoods we drove through last night. Traffic is far milder than in Cairo and getting across the street isn't as much of a challenge.
My thoughts this far on India: Dusty and dirty everywhere. Raucous and crowded. Grinding poverty with families living and begging on the streets. Chaotic traffic, horns blaring constantly and impetuous U-turns blocking all vehicles. Mammoth sized palaces in slow decay and roads paved with potholes. Beautiful women and little girls in brightly colored saris. Hindus, Muslims, Christians and countless minor sects all forced by reality to live together and to tolerate one another. Fabulous ornate gardens and heavily polluted rivers. Melodramatic Bollywood movies that rival Mexico's novellas. Elaborate marble bathrooms in hotels and ugly open pissoirs alongside the roads. Large, polished military trucks humming smoothly passing donkeys and camels pulling handmade wooden wagons. Peaceful quiet temples not far from the constant cacophony of horns on the streets. Boys and men routinely holding hands in friendship. New palatial mansions built of marble in the suburbs and tiny hovels above shops for the owners in the old town. Crowded and weather-beaten. Flower petals floating in fancy bowls. It is enough to induce schizophrenia.
Please click on the pictures below to open photos of that area of India or Nepal.
Bombay----------------Delhi------------------Jaipur------------------Udaipur--------------Kerala-----------------Nepal
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