India - A Country of Extremes

From the desert... to the mountains... I think that's the line in some 'back in the school day' song. Tiff and I escaped the heat, and flew from the deserts of Rajasthan to the crisp, cool mountains of Darjeeling, the old British-colonial hill station at the foot of the Himalayas. Famous of course for their Darjeeling tea, Tiff and I watched ladies spry as mountain goats scaling the steep hills to hand pick the tea leaves. Only women pick tea, apparently, as men have not enough patience and mess up the picking! Here, I try my hand at it. Sure enough, I over picked, or mis-picked, and was shortly hereafter removed from the tea-picking premises.One of the most interesting findings were the people. It was like one big set of "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle" understudies, with a distinct mix of Indian and more Chinese looking residents strolling around town. The town borders Nepal, China, Bhutan, thus, the Chinese influence. Above, a young monk makes a breakthrough on the path to enlightenment and excitedly runs to find the other monks, so he can rub their noses in it, thereby forfeiting all the day's gains. Oh well, easy come, easy go.This shot, entitled Happy Buddha's 3G SIM Card, was taken at another one of the many Buddhist monasteries we visited, and reminded me of my dad, at the intersection of spiritual and technological connectivity. The Dalai Lama is widely revered in this part of India and here Tiffany pays her respects.We awoke at 4am to drive up to Tiger Hill for the famous sunrise. It was a little misty, but we could make out 4 of the 5 peaks of Mount Kanchendzonga, the 3rd highest peak in the world (after Everest and K2). On a clear day, we were told, you can see Everest from Tiger Hill as well. Even on this misty morning, the views were breathtaking; we watched the brisk wind blow away the clouds just as the sun broke the horizon and everybody cheered as the day's first light spilled out and the mountain peaks revealed themselves.Tiff was quite the celebrity around town. After signing on as a pledge donor for multiple kids on a school fundraising drive, she quickly gained renown as The White Girl With Loose Pockets and was trailed like the pied piper by little rug rat schoolchildren wherever we went.Our final stop was Lake Tsomgo in Gangtok, at 12,400 ft. elevation and a few hours drive from Darjeeling. Gangtok is only about 15 miles from the China border and we saw heavy military presence wherever we went, and had to get special permits to enter. A great way to finish off India, we hiked through the snow covered trails around the scenic lake, and contemplated all the diversity and wonders that we'd witnessed in this country. Tiff found a similarly blond-haired friend, one of the many yaks available for riding around the lake.
For the record, my shoes apparently have poop magnets attached to their soles. Tiff caught me on camera here discovering Zach's First Yak Poo. As far as summarizing India, I can categorize my experience by the approximately 5 different types of poop in which I stepped over the course of our travels (somehow Tiffany danced around all of it). I won't bore you with the details, but suffice to say, the drier the better. Camel and elephant poop (encountered in the desert) trump cow and yak (with the urban humidity and mountain moisture). And human is always bad.

On that note, we are off to New Zealand for a welcome respite from overpopulation. Humans - 3.5 million, sheep - 50 million. Or something like that.

I wonder what sheep poop is like...

Hot...Sandy...Desert...

Tiffany and I finished our tour of the major India sights and the Indian desert, traveling from Delhi, then back and forth through the hot, arid state of Rajasthan. We started off in Delhi, the nation's capital, and visited a religious Sikh temple, which also doubles as a soup kitchen (or a naan and curry kitchen, in this case). They let us help stir a giant pot of curry stew but more out of generosity for the photo op than our actual ability to help cook. They offer free food all year around to anyone and everyone, serving 20-40,000 meals every day!

Next stop, the religious center of India, Varanasi. Varanasi is the Mecca of India, with all Indians striving to travel there at least once in their lifetime. Crowds of colorfully dressed folks of all ages come at dawn to bathe themselves in the sacred river Ganges, which is supposed to absolve sins and cure illness, as well as spread the ashes of their cremated loved ones. It also happens to be filthy, as it receives a substantial amount of sewage along with aforementioned ashes. But that is no deterrent to the millions of faithful (Tiffany and I not among them) who plunge headlong into the river every day. Our first overnight train experience in India was not a pleasant one. We were crammed into a four person, double bunk section about the size of walk in closet, and only separated from the rest of the train car by a sheet divider. As the other couple was a kindly, older Indian couple, Tiffany and I offered to take top bunks. As you can see, they allowed for very little maneuvering space. And these were the second best accomodations on the train! We slept very little that night, as the foot traffic bumping into us throughout the car combined with the deafening snoring of the "kindly" Indian man sleeping below Tiffany.

From Varanasi, we took the train to Agra, home of the famous Taj Mahal, the world's greatest monument to love. Constructed in 12 years by the Emperor Shah Jehan for his wife as a memorial (she died after giving birth to 14 children in 19 years of marriage!), the Taj Mahal is a stunning architectural masterpiece, and was glowing in the dawn sunlight as we watched the first rays of sun strike the glinting stones inlaid around the marble domes.

Here, Tiffany manages to "grasp" the significance of the Taj. In Agra we picked up our trusty driver Rana, who would accompany us and transport us safely through the desert for the next 10 days. Unfortunately, both Tiffany and I were struck down by our first India stomach sickness and spent most of the evening in Agra running to the bathroom, crawling out, and then running back in. As a side benefit, I think I've lost at least 5 pounds so far!

Our first desert stop was Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. Below, we visited the giant astronomy park built by a king, or maharajah. He built amazingly accurate sun dials that told time to a 20-second accuracy. Below is a neat looking apparatus that does god-knows what, but it looks neat.For our next overnight train, from Jaipur to Udaipur, I insisted that we upgrade to the best class on the train. Not that I'm a complete wimp (partial, yes) but the price differential was about $40. And Tiffany's peace of mind not having to listen to me whine all night? Priceless. We got the same size cabin but only the two of us, and a sliding glass door to complete our privacy.
Our next stop was perhaps my favorite city so far, Udaipur. Sitting on a huge, man-made lake, the city was serene and quiet in comparison with everything we'd seen so far in India. Below is the Lake Palace hotel, which sits in the middle of the lake and is only accessible by ferry boat. After a sunset boat tour around the lake, Tiffany and I enjoyed the end of our day sipping fresh lime sodas (an India specialty) at a restaurant/bar in the middle of the lake. Now this was more like it! Udaipur is also famous as the setting of the James Bond movie, Octopussy. Every local hotel and restaurant plays the movie every night at 7pm, with complete disregard for Roger Moore's terrible portrayal of 007.

From Udaipur we drove to Jodhpur, the "Blue City", so nicknamed for the number of homes painted blue. Formerly the color of the elite, Brahmin class of priests, it became popular for citizens of all castes to adopt this color paint, perhaps when it became known for its mosquito-repellant quality.
From Jodhpur we drove to Jaisalmer, where Tiffany fell in love with yet another animal, the camel (or technically dromedary, as the one-humped variety are called). We took an ill-advised camel ride into the face of a whipping sandstorm, and even though Tiffany spent most of the time with her eyes closed, our faithful underaged camel guides pulled us through safely. Below is Tiffany with the poor boy that had to drag her camel though the hot, blistering sand, and looking none too happy after the ordeal. By the way, it is just incredible the way animal life and human life are so intertwined here. We see cows, goats, donkeys, camels, dogs, rats and sheep freely roaming city streets, cars swerving and screeching to a halt to avoid them.From Jaisalmer we drove to Bikaner, and rather than visiting the infamous Temple of the Rats, where thousands of rats scurry along the floor of a temple and religious adherents celebrate having their bare feet run across by the furry disease carriers (an even better good luck omen is eating something with rat saliva on it, I kid you not), we decided to visit a camel breeding farm. Tiffany clearly enjoyed the attention of the adolescent camels below, much more I'm guessing than from rats of any age!
So we are now out of the desert, having logged approximately 30 hours in the car and 2 overnight train rides. Tomorrow we fly to Darjeeling and get a close up of the Himalayas to wrap up the India leg of our trip!

Holy Cow!

Before coming to India, I knew cows were sacred, and that they were often found wandering around the neighborhood. But it didn’t prepare me for what it’s like to see cows all over even the busiest cities, meandering through traffic of even the largest cities in India. It’s something you have to see to believe! If you’re a cow in India and you feel like laying down in the middle of a busy intersection, no problem! Cars, rickshaws, bikes and pedestrians will gladly tangle themselves into tons of traffic without a second thought. If a cow in India and you feel like entering a shop to cool off, go for it! The people will probably even feed you!

While the cows don’t help the efficiency in the overcrowded cities we’ve been to, their majestic presence and slow gait does have a calming effect on the craziness of Indian city life. That is, in all but one of the cases we’ve seen…..

We spent two days in Varanasi, one of the most holy cities in India and home to the Ganges River, a famous pilgrimage for Hindus. We were being lead through the narrow streets of the old town by our guide during our first night in town. The lanes are so narrow, that if you stand in the middle, you can stretch your arms out and touch the shop doors on both sides. As we made our way though the tiny streets, we heard a thunder of hooves. Looking ahead, we saw three spooked cows racing towards us. We were able to duck into doorways just in time, but one of the poor old pilgrims wasn’t so lucky and got a bit of a trampling. It’s been our closest near death experience yet, but we figure if we have to go, it might as well be in the most sacred place in India at the hands of the most sacred animal!

Live, from Bollywood!

We made it to India! Approximately 16 hours after leaving Shanghai, we arrived in Delhi, India, ready to start our adventure.

The comparisons to China are inevitable, and our tour guide, who picked us up from the airport, spent the entire drive to town trying to figure out how India stacks up against China. We figured out part of his motivation later -- he went into a speech about how much less working class (particularly those unfortunate enough to be in the tourism industry!) folks in India made compared with China, and how it was because of the Indian reliance on tipping. He added some colorful language about tradition and history in an attempt to romanticize it, but yeah, they're all looking for tips. I tried to lower his expectations by relating our 2 1/2 years in China, where tips are verboten, and how that was the custom, etc., but to no avail.

Luckily, our friends Marc and Meredith were here recently and gave us tipping guidelines. So far, its 100 rupees (about $2.50) for the slick talking guide and 100 for the driver. Yes, it took 2 people to pick us up for some reason. And 50 for the hotel bellhop.

Anyway, Tiffany is happy, because animals abound! We are in Varanasi right now, land of the holy Ganges river, and have seen cows, dogs, cats, monkeys and goats freely roaming the streets, in traffic, even a large cow taking up residence in a store.

We hope to post pics later, but that's it for now!

Ciao Ciao Shanghai

Sadly, this will be our last blog entry from China. Tomorrow morning we leave on our trip and depart the country that we have called home for the last 2 ½ years. It is with mixed feelings that we leave China. On the one hand, we are so excited to return to the US and our friends and family, clean air and blue skies, and not walking down the street worrying about having your shoes spit upon by accident. And yet on the other hand, we will sincerely miss the excitement and wonder of life in China, the blissful ignorance of not understanding 90% of what people are saying, and the feeling when you get out of bed each morning that an adventure awaits you just outside your door.

Why even today, Tiff and I were in a cab and watched a fight breakout on a street corner. Four women paired off in a tag team match and were fiercely attacking one another in a contest worthy of a GLOW bout (Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling for those of you who have forgotten already!) One pair was locked in close combat, each grabbing fistfuls of hair and pulling the other’s head down, like two bulls locking horns. The other pair traded blows with bamboo sticks they’d found laying around. It was truly mortal combat in the purest form. Now where are we ever going to witness that in California?? And not only did these women fight, but bystanders quickly gathered around. Not to break them up, mind you, but to watch in equal fascination to ours. I believe one old man was quickly appointed bookie as bets were made and money traded hands.

In any event, Tiffany and I have spent the last few weeks reminiscing over good times and bad, lots of “Remember that time when…” stories, and attempting to summarize our experience in China, to roll our last 2 ½ years into one neat, efficient, fortune-cookie metaphor. And we have struggled. We realize that these were the first years of our marriage. And we realize that it has been an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime adventure. But what does it all mean? we wonder.

Who knows, really. Our gut instinct is that our time here will continue to affect and inform us for the rest of our lives, and we will always look back fondly on our days in China. We will remember the struggles and frustrations, the triumphs and failures, and continue to periodically recall our experience with “Remember that time in China when…”

At least one thing is for certain: We have had a damn good time relating our adventures to you all through this blog! And we will try to keep posting our epilogue a little longer while on the road for the next 4 months. Below is our schedule, and we hope to find Internet access along the way.

Thank you for reading, and see you all soon,
Zach and Tiffany

April 3-23 India Tour (Rajasthan, Dehli, Darjheeling and Agra)
April 23-24 Traveling to New Zealand via Malaysia
April 24-May 13 New Zealand (driving around the North and South islands)
May 13- 19 Sydney
May 19-27 Cairnes (Great Barrier Reef)
May 27-28 Chengdu, China via Hong Kong
May 28-June 6 TBD, Chengdu and possibly Tibet or Yunnan Province
June 6-17 Xinjiang Tour- NW region of China, visiting Urumuqi, Turpan, Kashgar and other cities along the Silk Road
June 17-29 Mongolia Tour
June 29-30 Beijing
June 30-July 5 Sanya- Chinese beach town for Zach to recover from Mongolia
July 5-9 Shanghai
July 9-17 France – to visit our friends Anne and Michael, who went abroad the same time we did, to manage a B&B outside Paris.
July 17-22 New York
July 22-29 Chicago
July 29-? San Francisco

The Li River Runs Through It

Tiffany and I celebrated our last day of work on Friday the 21st of March. The next day we flew down to Guilin in the south of China to experience the famous Li River boat cruise to Yangshuo, where we spent four days celebrating the end of our China careers.


Along the Li River cruise are some incredible landscapes, and the boats floating slowly down the calm waters are dwarfed by sheer, craggy mountains on both sides. The scenery along the river has famously been memorialized in countless Chinese scroll paintings and landscapes, as well as on the back of their 20 dollar bill.



Yangshuo is a sleepy little river town that has become somewhat of a mecca for Chinese tourists and foreign backpackers. The food is excellent, and the hotels cheap. Many outdoor activities are available, including biking around town to see some of the beautiful-to-the-point-of-surreal landscapes, rafting down the river, hiking and rock climbing.




Tiffany and I focused our efforts on maximum relaxation and spent many happy hours reading on our balcony, and wandering aimlessly around the area and admiring the many stunning views. You can see the view from the balcony in our room, and I am sunning myself contentedly.

Here Tiffany bikes along a country road to nowhere, always on the lookout for cute animals that she shouldn't approach but invariably will.










Above and behind me you can see Moon Hill, with the hole in the mountain at the top forming the shape of a rising moon. We hiked up to the top to take a closer look, after fending off a flock of aggressive Chinese ladies selling drinks. We gave in early and bought 2 bottles of water for a dollar, in return for their agreement not to follow us up the mountain, like they did with all the other hikers we saw.


At the top of the mountain was not only an impressive rock formation, but some brave rock climbers who were busy ascending it. If you look closely you can see the climber on his descent. He had just finished climbing the underbelly of the arch, which, given gravity's annoying persistence, is extremely difficult. (For all the rock climbers out there -- I asked him about the climb and he said it was rated a 5.13b.)









It is really an amazing sight, to see these mountains. Imagine you were high above up in the sky and had a handful of mountains in your hand. If you were to let them spill out of your hand, and watched them tumble to earth, and plunk into the ground at random angles and patterns, that is pretty much how Yangshuo would appear.





It was the perfect way for Tiffany and me to wrap up our China careers. We had a nice long weekend to rest and relax, and contemplate what a fascinating experience China has been.



And what better place to sit and think than Guilin and Yangshuo, whose breathtaking sights have served as inspiration to philosophers, artists and very appreciative travelers for centuries.

Models vs. Real People

Last week, I somehow got talked into taking part in a International Women's Day fashion show featuring a group of Shanghai's female professionals. They tempted me with free clothing, how could I say no?

I arrived at 4PM sharp for almost 3 hours of hair, make-up and practice. I was one of three western women, as all of the other 'models' were Shanghainese movers and shakers.

The hair stylist apparently thought most of the women were too short for the runway, and took the liberty of adding 3-4 inches of hair height.

With lots of ratting and hairspray, the hair stylist unknowingly re-created my 8th Grade Dance Hair (circa 1990) . Needless to say, that style remains a low point (right next to the spiral perm and big bangs) in my hair history.

The show started at 6:30, and it was my understanding that I could do the fashion show and cut out after. But, as happens so many times in China, I misunderstood the situation, and ended up having to sit down to a formal dinner, listen to many speeches (in Mandarin of course), and watch several cultural performances before my runway debut.

After dinner, speeches, entertainment, and several toasts of orange soda (apparently the drink of choice for Women's Day events), it was time for the 'Fashion Show by Elegant Women Elites', my big runway debut. I felt pretty good, as I had at least 4 inches on all of the other participants and was by far the youngest of the group by at least a decade, and while I wasn't a big fan of my hair, looking at the other participants, it seemed I had gotten off easy. With my ego puffing up by the moment, I took my place in line, trying to remember all of the instructions barked at me during our 45 minute practice (of which I had understood about 20% since they were all in mandarin) and hoping I wouldn't fall.

Then something even more unexpected than having to sit through a formal dinner with ridiculous amounts of orange soda happened. A gaggle of real models breezed right past onto the stage. I immediately had a flashback to an old Sex & the City episode, as I realized there were 'real' models followed by us, the 'real' people. Let me tell you, there's no bigger reminder that you're NOT a model then having to follow a bunch of real models on a runway in front of an audience of 400+ people.

I was able to scrape a bit of my ego off the floor when after the show a very kind man from the audience asked to take his picture with me. He was pretty surprised when I asked him if I could take a picture of the two of us with my camera as well. I figured what the heck, I may not be a model, but at least I've got a fan, and I've got the picture to prove it!