We arrived safely in Delhi at 5am, a little worse for the wear after a long train ride, and we are gearing up for a long couple of days! Rigzin has graciously hosted us for chai and and breakfast before we head out to Connaught place for last shopping in the markets and perhaps a break from the heat at a local park, Lodi Gardens. Then, we'll head back to Rigzin's house for dinner and to clean up before heading to the airport. As Rigzin says, we don't want to offend our neighbors on the plane! It's been a wonderful and memorable trip, and students have so many more stories to share that have yet to make it to the blog. They'll need a shower and some sleep after you pick them up from the airport, but I'm sure they will be eager to tell you all about their adventures. Just a reminder that our ANA flight from Tokyo arrives at 11:15 am Friday! See you at Seatac!

this is really Alex

hello blog followers, this is actually Alexander Barsher blogging as i forgot my password to my account. Anyways on to the interesting stuff. India so far has been one of the most crazy and fun expieriences of mylife. At first when we arrived in New Delhi my head was spinning from all the traffic and people. We then went to Varanassi where it was a little less hectic. Seeing the Ganges river was absolutley incredible, it is such an amazing body of water. We then travled to Armistar (who knows how to spell that) where we saw the golden temple another truely awsome expierience. We are now in Dharmsala where yesterday i was super sick and didnt go out of the room, but today we met with a tibetan woman who was a political prisoner in china for 27 years! her story was one of the most inspiring ive ever heard. After the free time that we have right now were meeting with a member of the tibetan government in exile. Im super excited to meet with this guy as im sure he will be super interesting. Now i have to go but i now think that everyone needs to go to India at least once in there life time!

Modern Tibet

Peter & Owen here doing a mutual blog (we only paid for 30 minutes of computer time). We arrived here in Dharmasala two days ago. After an exhausting bus ride, we arrived in the town that hosts the Exiled Government of Tibet. The scenery on the bus ride changed dramaticly in the last hour of the trip as we skidded along the treacherous mountain roads. Niether of us expected to be in the midst of Tibetan culture just 5 hours away from India's most spiritual town, but here we were amongst Buddist monks and The Dalai Lama. We are staying in a idyllic Buddist monistary, 365 dangerous steps and a quick walk from the main square. The views of both the Kanga valley and the Himalayas are breathtaking, and the town provides a nice change from the craziness of both Delhi and Varanasi. The most interesting part of the town is the ever present feel of Tibet. Walking around the streets, I could swear I was actually there. The struggle of the Tibetan people, however, is obvious as well. The monks seem slightly out of place here in India, and the amount of 'Free Tibet' stickers and hats are countless. Today, we talked to a woman who had been imprisioned by the Chinese for 27 years, before managing to escape to Dharmasala. Despite the cruelitly inflicted upon here and the Chinese current occupation in Tibet, she said she has never been more hopeful for the Tibetan cause, and she is sure that she will see the day when the Dalai Lama returns to Tibet. (She is 82) On a brighter note, Tibetan food proves to be amazing, especially the Momos. Apart from the Tibetan Tea, made out of butter and salt, everything is delicous and filling. Next, we will go to a cottage still higher into the mountains to hike and recover from overall alarming bowel movements. Thanks to everyone who made this trip possible for us, and we'll see you soon! Owen & Peter

Dharmasala

It is our third day in Dharmasala and so far the trip has been amazing! Every day we've done something that is super interesting, like today we went to hear this Tibetan woman talk about being held in a Chinese jail for 27 years. We also went to the monestary where the Dali Lama lives up here. My favorite part of the trip was listening to Krishna talk about Hinduism vs. science. Another amazing experience was going to the Golden Temple, it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. India has been so great and I don't want to leave. Gabby

Golden Temple

After a two plane rides and a couple bus rides we made it to Amristar! What a beautiful city. We were only there for less than a day but it was extremely relaxing. The hotel we were staying at was much nicer than the previous places. I mean, it was no Four Seasons but it had western toilets so we were all happy. This was the point on the trip where almost everyone got sick. I was still having diarrhea, many others were too, and a few people started throwing up. But! We are all alive and functioning!
We went to the Golden Temple, it was incredible. There almost aren't words to describe the experience. It was so nice not to be surrounded by other tourists but it also made us more of a spectacle. We had a Sikh guide who was extremely knowledgeable. He took us through the temple and told us all about his religion and the temple itself. Halsey says it's more beautiful than the Taj Mahal!
Now, after a 6 hour bus ride we are in Dharamsala. So beautiful. Feels more like home than anywhere else we've been so far. And monks are some of the nicest people I've ever met.
Having a blast and can't wait to come home and share all our stories!


Gracie

Arrived in Dharmasala

Our last night in Varanasi was spent at Daali and Bantu's house listening to two world-renowned sitar and tabla players performing traditional Indian music. It was amazing to experience that music in a private recital.
We flew from Varanasi to Amritsar and enjoyed our one night in the "RV Continental" (our nicest hotel by far) and the group visited the Golden Temple.
The bus ride from Amritsar to Dharamsala was especially painful for those of us that had fallen sick, but we all survived and Dharamsala is gorgeous. We're staying in the guest house of a monastery that is a few flights of stairs down and out of the city which is a tranquil reprieve from our busy schedule. Everybody is loving Dharamsala and we've all enjoyed some delicious "Mo-Mo's" from the street vendors. A few more nights here in the town then we hike up to a even more "zen-like" retreat for a few last days before heading back to Delhi, and then Seattle.
We're loving the cooler temperatures-- it even rained this morning!

Bailey

Varanasi!

Namaste!

We're in Varanasi and it is very hot! Pretty different than Seattle's weather I'm assuming. But we'll be heading to Amritstar tomorrow morning! Really looking forward to seeing the Golden Temple.

Varanasi has been amazing! Much different than Delhi, one of the biggest differences I've seen is the lack of staring. In Delhi, it was almost constant, but here it's pretty rare.

Yesterday we had yoga on the roof top at 6:30, pretty amazing. Our instructor wore dress pants and a dress shirt and he still managed to be more flexible than all of us. After Yoga, we had breakfast and Doug taught us little bit about Hinduism. Sadly, I was the first one to come down with bad diarrhea. Luckily I only had to miss a couple activies but it was still pretty unfortunate. Squat toilets have made things a little interesting but overall I'm feeling a bit better. I'm really glad that I didn't have to miss the boat ride we took yesterday. Last night, we went down the Ganges. What an amazing experience. We watched the nightly ceremony at one of the Ghats. It was incredible to finally see something I had read so much about it books, in person. We were all covered up in long layers and 100% deet. I think we kind of made a big bubble type force field around our boat. Most people didn't get any bites!

Did a bit of shopping today! Got a couple of silk scarves and some really cool Indian MC Hammer pants which I am wearing right now. They're great for the heat! Hopefully I'll be able to wear them in the States too without getting too many strange looks. We also saw half a Bollywood movie today! I'm pretty sure the stories we made up about what was going on were better than what the movie was actually about.

We're headed to Amritsar tomorrow morning!!

Golden Temple here we come!

Namaste