Is any trip to India complete without a trip to see the sacred Mother Ganges? This famous river winds through the country, giving life to northern towns and accepting life at Varanasi, where the ghats sit on the banks of India’s holy Ganges River. After nearly two months in India—during which I witnessed the chaos …
The bus skirted the mountainside as my cousin and I traveled toward Dharamsala, India. In my many weeks backpacking through India, this past week had begun the tour of subgroups and other cultures strongly present within India. En route to visit Dharamsala—or, more accurately the small town of McLeodganj—I stopped for several nights in Amritsar …
I’m on other side of my ten-day Vipassana meditation course. It was intense. Looking back, I still can’t pinpoint why I decided to take this spiritual boot-camp, of sorts. For those who undertake the ten-day course, that’s essential what a Vipassana meditation retreat boils down to. Before my Vipassana retreat, I had never meditated in …
Trekking in the Himalayas conjures images of beautiful, sweeping mountainscapes. It’s cupping your hand to your brow and tilting your head upward to gaze at the world’ tallest mountains. After five weeks traveling and living Nepal, most of that spent volunteering at a monastery with young monks, the time had come to pit myself against nature and …
I left Agra in the dead of night with the promise of the Golden Temple on the horizon when I awoke in Amritsar, India. My cousin and I had a wild few weeks journeying north from Mumbai. We marveled at the palaces in Udaipur, the camels and monkeys in charming Pushkar, the colors of celebrating Holi, …
Monkeys in India are unkind. In fact, as cute as they may look from afar, they are downright nasty. Monkeys don’t wander the mountains and towns back home in Florida, so I didn’t realize that it’s not fun and quirky to encounter a monkey while traveling—it can be harrowing. What would have been a challenging …
One of my wide-sweeping goals for my round the world trip was to learn new things. Not just the intangible knowledge of new cultures and religions, but also tangible skills and crafts specialized to the people and flavors of each new place. In every country I’ve visited (72 and counting!), I’ve tried my hand at new local …
The dilapidated bus that was to be our next means of transportation was my next “welcome to India moment.” The first was the commuter train from Mumbai to Ahmedabad. In this case, the bus has seen more days on this earth than I have, and the last paint job was administered around the time I weaned …