A summary from Mark twain

Mark Twain wrote:


"The land of dreams and romance, of fabulous wealth and fabulous poverty, of splendour and rags, of palaces and hovels, of famine and pestilence, of genii and giants and Aladdin lamps, of tigers and elephants, the cobra and the jungle, the country of hundred nations and a hundred tongues, of a thousand religions and two million gods, cradle of the human race, birthplace of human speech, mother of history, grandmother of legend, great-grandmother of traditions, whose yesterday's bear date with the modering antiquities for the rest of nations-the one sole country under the sun that is endowed with an imperishable interest for alien prince and alien peasant, for lettered and ignorant, wise and fool, rich and poor, bond and free, the one land that all men desire to see, and having seen once, by even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for the shows of all the rest of the world combined."

Mumbai to NY

Our last few days in India were in Mombai. What a culture shock it was from Delhi. People obey traffic rules, there were no cows on the road in the inner city, there were high rises ( reminded me of Miami Beach) and walkable streets. Of course that was the inner city. We asked to see the area where Slumdog Millionaire was filmed and were told tht was now high rizes, Not to be defeated we ditched our tour company again, got the help of the taj to arrange to have someone take us to the slums and teach us the differnce between the slums ( which provided bare minimual subsidized housing and a way to earn a liing ) and theh street peoplewho lived under tarps on the streets were not given any goverment aide in fear of the " godfathers" of India. It was important to see what could be done what was done and what was not done to give peole dignity and hope. we also arranged a trip to Elephanta Island, hennas, were invited to High tea in the Place part of the taj ( where they even offered to pakc our suitcases!) on our last day.

Did we ever mention the rains? It reained only when we were in cars or rickshaws and the sun cme out when we steeped out. How lucky can we be?
Did we mention the security- I have never been frisked so often, or seem such tigt security to enter hotels and monumemnts. The fear of trrorism is red + alert.

Well rachel is back off to Blatimore tomorrow where she is being interviewed by the City paper re a music festival she has but together for nxt weekend, and I am off to work again. It will be hard to be apart as we grew to really know each other ( yes there were some awful battles but 98 percent of the time we were in sync on the adventure)I will contine to post photos as we get the entered into the computer,.

Love to all barbara

Last full day In India

Today was our last full day in India. We spent it taking a tour of mumbia, which is indias financial Capitol. Mumbia couldn't be any mire different than Delhi. The streets are infinitely cleaner, cows don't roam the highways, drivers actually stay in their lanes, the sidewalks are not congested, high-rises are all along the waterfront etc. Well, at least that's the part of mumbia that we saw. Our tour guide absolutely refused to take us to any other area of town no matter how many times we asked. We were both well aware that the neighborhoods we were shown are nothing like the real Mumbai - a Mumbai which houses one of the biggest shantytowns In the world and has a population of well over 17 million. We knew that our tour guide was lying to us about the nonexistence of Mumbais slums and poverty In order to save face.

we were able to see the oil spill off the Mumbai coast from our airplane. For those of you In the states who are not aware, two ships recently collided and oil spilled all over the place. Don't get too hard on yourself if you weren't aware of this - nobody we spoke to who was from India knew anything about the gulf oil spill either. It just goes to show how little people know about global catasrohpies...

We are staying at the taj hotel. This place is beyond fabulous but a harsh reminder of the reality of terrorism. A shopkeeper at taj told us his story of how he fortunately had left the hotel ten minutes before the terrorist attack. He then proceeded to show us bulletholes In his walls. One of the holes was blocked by a small statue of ganish, the god of good luck. That statue had not been damaged and saved the store from being destroyed. Rachel bought a ganesh necklace after hearing that story, hoping that ganish would provide an equal amount of protection.


We look forward to seeing you all in the states!





From Barbara and Rachel's Ipad

Location:P J Ramchandani Marg,Bombay,India

Off to Mombai

We just spent two days in Delhi. The contrast between Bhutan and India is mind boggling. In Bhutan the harmony between people and nature, the influence of Buddist philosophy, the respect for all life,nature and human, permeated every moment of our day and night. There is plenty of room for everyone to live in harmony. Delhi, on the other hand, is the most overpopulated city we have ever experienced. People, cars,motorbikes, rickshaws competed for every inch of space. The city is preparing for the commonwealth games next month and hence everything is in a state of destruction/construction I.e. a mess. One can't walk anywhere easily as open holes for new metros, and sewerage are everywhere. The commonwealth games are in 43 days and the stadium is not yet built. Between the beggars, the construction without safety considerations, the lack of traffic rules, and the density of people, crossing a street was an adventure. Nevertheless we managed to buy silver at great prices, to see old and new Delhi, visit the Ghandi museum, the bazaars, and even a modern mall. We had adventures buying glasses (frames were 30/40 $! And simple lens 9$! Rachel found out thru an eye exam ( 2$) that she needs glasses, so we got several stylish pairs. At 50$ a pair it was worth the risk, even if we need to change the lenses the frames are great.We were lucky with the rains. It poured every time we were in a car or rickshaw and miraculously stopped raining when we started to walk! The roads were mudslides, our shoes destroyed, but it was like being kids again walking in mud.
Another contrast in Delhi almost no ATM worked, in Bhutan there was not an atm.
We are on the plane enroute to Mombai, our last leg. It has been a trip of a lifetime, strenuous, full,rich in experiences, bonding of love and respect for each other's anxieties, needs, loves. We both love a good adventure and we have had a lifetime full. There is so much to process,so many photos to look at, so many laughs, as many oh my gods. We contrasted and compared religions , traditions, values, foods, and both agree that we are glad to be American where a
Although things are far from perfect , at least there is clean water, clean air,
Lots of choices, and our friends and family.
Love, Barbara and Rachel


From Barbara and Rachel's Ipad

Off to Delhi

We are in the airport in Paro ready to leave Bhutan, which is an unbelievable country. It was so peaceful here that we both forgot the day and the date! We don't want to go. Yesterday we hiked up to ten thousand feet to visit the tigers nest monastery. We were accompanied by cows bulls dogs and our guide. Most visitors cant make the hike but we did it! It Rachel and I from 7 30 AM to 4 3 PM to do the round trip, but the experience was amazing. We were blessed by the llama, sat in prayer ceremonies, saw the most luscious greens imaginable . The hotels have been dreams. Some have no electricity because they want to protect the fight path on the endangered species the black crane.We have taken amazing hikes ( the guide woudn't even let us carry our water
!) and met lots of smiling people everywhere. The streets here are so clean (especially when compared to Delhi!) and there are no traffic lights anywhere in the country! Now back to Delhi and then to Mumbai.

From Barbara:

Hello everybody. We are in shangrila!!(AKA BHUTAN) Even the airport was like a fairy tale. The buildings are ornate the people welcoming, the weather perfect!(Holly - we got your doll made by students in a school for the disabled. It's very special) This is the first time in years that I feel almost no stress. Rachel got the same sickness I did, one day later, but with a Cipro and one dose of immodiaum each we are full of piss and vinegar and having an amazing experiencel It is an awesome place to be-people are happy smailing children are children, the air is clean, the food delicious, we hike miles every day, we get full of mud and smiles. Our guide is a devout Buddist and we have learned so much about Buddism. We have attended rituals, have been to Buddist University, schools, have earned all about prayer flags and mantras. We could stay here forever.

First day in Bhutan

From Barbara and Rachel's Ipad