India 2013

By Don Chesnut
Copyright © by Don Chesnut 2013 [chesnut<at>uky.edu]


This is all that I took on this trip.
This is all that I took on this trip.
I went to India to see the Deccan Traps and to see the Ganges as it flows through the Himalayan foothills. I spent four weeks touring in west-central and northwestern India. The following is composed of my daily journal entries and photographs taken during the trip (please excuse the tedious and poorly-written nature of the journal). You may rather go through the thumbnail catalog (pages A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O).

28 February 2013 Thursday
    I got up at 7, brushed my teeth, and went downstairs. There is a light dusting of snow and the temperature must be around 30 degrees F. I made a big mug of mocha and read the newspaper. I took a shower, changed into my travel clothes and left the house by 10. Anne took a photo of me with my travel gear and then drove me to the Bluegrass airport. I'm wearing click-on Teva trekking sandals and black socks, so that it looks like I'm wearing shoes. I'm only taking my little, 40-year-old red rucksack and a camera bag, all carry on. I'll be in India for a month.
    At the airport I said goodbye to Anne. I got my boarding passes and went through airport security and then to my gate by 10:50. I'm flying from Lexington to Atlanta. At Atlanta, I take a nineteen-hour flight to Mumbai. With my Skymiles, I was able to upgrade to business class for this long segment. Although we change planes and crew in Amsterdam, it's all one flight.
    In Lexington it's a cold, wet, gray and dreary day. While waiting for my flight, I started filling out my daily travel journal. I'm taking my netbook computer and will send out my daily entries whenever I get internet access. I will also start taking my daily anti-malaria tablets (doxycycline).
    I'm taking two pairs of Patagonia Stand Up shorts and four Patagonia AC cotton short-sleeve shirts for the hot-weather part of my trip. I have a longyi I can wear at temples. For the cold-weather part of my trip (Himalayan foothills). I'm taking a pair of jeans, two flannel shirts, old tennis shoes which I will throw away when I leave. I also have a set of Caprilene(?) very light weight long underwear. I also have my old Patagonia travel sport jacket to keep me warm (I know I sound as if I'm in advertising). If my hands get cold, I'll put them in my pockets. We'll be camping out one night so I'll probably have to buy a cheap blanket.
    I am taking two small-group tours offered by Intrepid Travels. The first is a two-week trip from Mumbai to New Delhi, traveling through west-central India. We'll be seeing lots of archaeological ruins. I also hope to see the huge volcanic lava fields known as the Deccan Traps (Wikipedia entry). The second tour, Mountains and Mystics, is two-weeks journey in northwestern India. It starts and ends in New Delhi, but most of the time is spent northwest of here. It includes Dharamsala and Amritsar among others. We camp out one night on this second tour. After the second tour, I fly back home (no business class flights, however).
    I boarded the flight about 12:30. I get automatic priority boarding because I have a Skymiles credit card. That was nice. I landed in Atlanta and deplaned by 2:30. I proceeded to my next gate. Close by was a Delta Skyclub  lounge. My ticket allowed me in. I got a Sweetwater beer, local to Atlanta, and a plate of olives and crackers. I have two hours before I board my next flight.
    I boarded about 4:45 and the plane took off about 5:45. I picked cod as my dinner, there are four or five courses altogether. I started watching Argo, which was an riveting movie. We had noise-canceling headphones so I was able to hear everything. The pan-seared cod was very good, it came with green beans and fasso risotta. Earlier, I had grilled shrimp and basil tomato soup for starters and a green salad. I had a Tuscany dry red wine for drink.

1 March 13 Friday
    The overnight flight was about eight hours. I stayed up the entire time and watched movies. The first was Argo which I mentioned, then Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Killer, and then The Campaign with Will Farrel. For breakfast I was served French toast, link sausage, an egg dish, coffee and fruit. I could only eat a little.
    We landed about 8:30 in the morning at Schipol Airport. I got to my next gate by 9:00 and went through another round of security. The weather appears to be exactly like Lexington's when I left yesterday. The waiting area is not large enough to seat all the passengers for this flight.
    I boarded the plane and was at my seat by 10:30. Judging by the menu, I will have a choice between Indian and Western meals. During the course of the flight I was served Indian appetizer assortment, salad, bread and an Indian vegetarian dinner with greens, lentils, panak and several other items. I could only eat a small part because I was still full from the previous flight. I had a red Tuscany wine and water to drink. Desserts were offered but I turned them down.
    I watched two movies, Silver Linings, and Cloud Atlas. I also filled out the Indian entry form. I had some time left, so I watched the movie Bad Boss. I also started taking Pepto Bismol tablets.
    The plane landed in Mumbai at 11:30 pm. I went through passport control and customs very quickly. I was at the exit by midnight and noticed a throng of people holding placards with names on them. One fellow held the placard "Donald Chesnut" and I followed him to the car. He was a young fellow in his 20's and was from Mumbai. I spoke some Hindi with him and told him about my children and their ages, all in Hindi.

2 March 2013 Saturday
    I got to my hotel, the Hotel Fortune (www.hotelfurtune.in) by 1:15 am and checked in. This is a small, one-star hotel. I went to my very small room. I ordered two bottles of water (50 rupees combined) and brushed my teeth and took my malaria pills. I made a quick check for bed bugs and killed a couple of mosquitoes. There is a ceiling fan which should keep them off me unless the electricity goes off. I filled out my journal and went to bed by 1:45. I'm guessing there is no WiFi or Internet here.
    I got some much-needed rest. I got up at 7 and took my morning pills. Temperature seems to be about 72 degrees F. I went to the terrace restaurant and ordered the "American Beak Fast" of omelette, toast, butter, juice and coffee. They had a couple of other options, but I didn't know what they were. Perhaps I'll get one of them tomorrow. I got the Times of India newspaper at my door which surprised me. I looked through it while waiting for breakfast. The small dining area seems to be part of a roof-top construction area. It is covered by tarps and awning. One can't really see out. The sounds are horn-honking and crow calls. I caught up in my journal as well. The omelette was mixed vegetable (scallions, cilantro, tomatoes).
    I was the first in the dining area. After a while, six Indian fellows sat at the table next to mine. Shortly after, two western ladies came in. I talked with them before I went to my room. One was from Nashville and was traveling with her nephew. The other lady was from Christchurch and will be on the same tour that I'm on. They were both going to tour Mumbai today. It may get up to 100 degrees F.
    At 1 pm we had a meeting with the tour group. The leader is Uttam Pradhan, originally from Darjeeling. His mother was Buddhist and his father Hindu. He had worked as a sherpa before getting in the tour business. There are seven travelers including a man from Denmark, a young lady from Norway, another from Melbourne, another lady from Christchurch and a couple from Boise, Idaho (the first Americans I have met on any Intrepid trip). The meeting lasted about 90 minutes.
    After a 15 minute break, we gathered in the small lobby and took two cabs to the "dhobi ghat," the laundry slums. I had seen it before, but this time we actually took a tour through this large laundry area. I took lots of photos. After that we went to the beach along Marine Street and I took a photo of the skyline. Then we drove to the Colabra area, the big tourist center of Mumbai. I had spent a lot of time here in the past. We walked past the Taj Hotel and the Welcoming Arch. After taking photos we walked to the famous Leopold Cafe for dinner. The Taj and the Leopold were shot up during the Mumbai terror attacks (Wikipedia entry) and one can still see bullet holes in the walls and ceiling. I ordered a very spicy vegetarian kohlipuri dish. I also ordered garlic naan. We all shared a tower of Kingfisher beer. While we were waiting for our food, Uttam ran out and got me some electrolyte powders, which I use to add to my drinking water in hot climates. The bill came as one and we divided it by seven. My bill came to 500 plus rupees. I didn't have enough money on me, so I owe Uttam this money plus the powders.
    We took two cabs back to our hotel and I was in my room by 8 pm. We leave tomorrow at 5 am. I wrote in my journal, got ready for tomorrow, brushed my teeth and went to bed. They are doing construction work in the room next to mine and it is very loud with the pounding and shouting. I hope I can get some sleep. The television in my room doesn't work, so I can't drown out the noise.

3 March 2013 Sunday
    The construction stopped at midnight. I got up at 4 and took my morning selection of pills including Pepto Bismol which I take at least 4 times a day. I brushed my teeth and preformed my morning ablutions. There is an open shower head in the bathroom plus the usual bucket and scoop bath found throughout Asia and the Middle East. I never did get warm water, it was all one temperature, cold. I packed up again because we are leaving Mumbai.
    I was the first down at the lobby by 4:50 am. We left in cabs and arrived at the train station by 5:25. We found our seats in an air-conditioned car. The train was scheduled to leave at 6, but we didn't move till 6:10. I bought a very small cup of chai on the train for 6 rupees. It was the typical sweet, milk chai with a hint of spices (masala). We have a 7-hour train ride to Aurangabad and we should be traveling through the Deccan Traps. My window is heavily tinted and very dirty, so I'm not sure I'll be able to take photos.
    I ordered an omelette sandwich for breakfast and had a chai special. They added extra chilies to my omelette for me. We had breakfast around 7:45. They also took our order for lunch. I ordered chicken biriyani with extra chilies.
    We passed some very impressive scenery of steep mesas, buttes, and towers in the Deccan Traps, but the windows were so dirty inside and out, that I might not get good photos. More should be made of this scenery to attract tourism.
    I saw lots of crows, pigeons, pariah kites and also mynas, egrets and other shore birds. Later in the morning I saw a black Drongo, a medium-sized dark heron and a Black Ibis. There were many small perching birds that were too distant to identify. I also saw White-bellied Drongo and a large black vulture and later a dove in flight.
    We crossed a lot of farmland with dark-looking soil. I saw field crops of cotton, sugar cane, corn, garlic or onions, cabbage, wheat, rice, peanuts or beans, tomatoes and others I couldn't identify.
    My lunch of chicken biriyani came at 12:15. I added some lime pickle on top. It was pretty good and filling. I paid my entire breakfast and lunch bill of 177 rupees which was about three dollars.
    We got to Aurangabad about 2 pm. We almost didn't get off. When the doors opened a mass of people tried to rush in without letting us get off. It was almost a shoving match. Sandra from Norway almost didn't get off at all. We took two cabs to our hotel, Raviraj. I went to my room, took photos and then took a quick shower. There is hot water here, so that was nice. My room is three times as large as the one in Mumbai and much cleaner. I filled out my journal. I'll check and see if they have WiFi when we meet for our afternoon excursion. [They did not have internet at all, as it turns out.]
    We gathered in the lobby at 3:15 and took two cabs to an old fort ruin called Daulatabad (Wikipedia entry). This fortress was vast and included a hilltop fort palace, all made of or carved into basalt of the Deccan Traps (Wikipedia entry). We climbed a great deal and went through a dark, carved tunnel. The tunnel was designed to confuse invaders with lots of switchbacks and false routes. It was a strenuous climb and in the heat of the day, so we all drank a lot of water. I'm glad I had electrolyte water. We explored the main part of the fort for 1.5 hours and then took the cabs back to the hotel.
When we got back I went to my room and took another shower and then filled out my journal.
    At 7, we all met in the hotel restaurant. I ordered a Hyderabad mixed vegetable dish (extra spicy), with chipati bread, steamed rice, and a Kingfisher beer. We all shared our dishes and there was a nice ranges of flavors. The dishes came out slowly and we all had a lot of good conversations. I found out that the lady from Australia is on a two-year tour around the world. The fellow from Denmark has a very interesting sense of humor. I'm traveling with a very nice group of people. The fellow from Idaho brews his own beer and has invited me to try some whenever I am in the area.
    After dinner, I went to my room, took another shower, filled out my journal, and went to bed by 11 pm.

4 March 2013 Monday
    Happy Birthday Nora!

    I got up at 7 and took my morning pills and Pepto Bismol. I also took another shower (we still have hot water). I went down to breakfast at 7:20. I was the first one at breakfast. I had an omelette with lots of green chilies, toast, juice, and a pot of Indian chai. It was a nice breakfast. I read the English-language Aurangabad newspaper. As I was finishing, Mads, the Danish fellow came down and joined me. I paid my bill. The young waiter asked me if I had any American coins. I told him that I would check in my luggage. I didn't have any, but I gave him an American dollar bill when I went back to the lobby.
    I went outside with the American couple and bought 3 liters of water. With the heat I've been drinking lots of water. I got some sun yesterday so I'll have to be more careful and use some sunscreen today.
    We met in the lobby at 9:30 and got into two cabs. We travelled for about 20 minutes to the Ellora caves (Wikipedia entry). The caves are within one massive layer of basalt (about 70-100 feet thick), Deccan Traps of course. The 34 caves were hand carved into the basalt. All the temples, columns, statues and cells were carved out of the rock in situ. Many of the statues were defaced by the Moghuls but some are intact. We hired a local guide, Sarnath, who led us around. He had an MS in history and had been leading tours for 40 years. He was well worth the money. We explored for awhile, taking lots of photos. I asked him how hot it was and he said about 36 degrees C (it was still cool in the morning). I had to wear bluejeans because it was a temple. There were Buddhist caves, Hindu caves and a Jain section. I took lots of photographs.
    Afterwards, we went to a restaurant and I had a salty lime soda, a Kingfisher beer, and Palak soup (spinach soup). It was too hot to eat much. The lime soda was perfect, it was freshly squeezed lime and salt and a bottle of carbonated water was added. Others asked about my drink and ordered some too.
    We then drove to Bibi Ka Muqbara (Wikipedia entry). It is a smaller-scale reproduction of the Taj Mahal. It was built by the son-in-law, Aurangzeb, of the man who built the Taj Mahal, but he didn't have as much money. We walked around and took lots of photos, but didn't stay very long.
    We stopped at a market where we bought fruit for tomorrow's travels. I bought a bunch of bananas, others bought different fruit and we will all share later. We got back to the hotel by 4 pm. I took another shower and then caught up in my journal. After that, I took a little nap.
    The little nap turned out to be a big nap. I woke up at 6:29 and we were supposed to meet at 6:30. I quickily put on the same clothes I had worn earlier and went quickly to the lobby. We took two tuk-tuks to the Miracle Family Restaurant and Bar. I ordered the Miracle Vegetarian Special (very spicy), a garlic naan, mixed pickle (Acchar), steamed rice and for drink a lime soda salty and a "Cannon 10,000" beer. I haven't had this beer before so I'll try to save the label. We all ended up passing the food around so we all had a tasting of everything. It was a good meal. We took the tuk-tuks back to the hotel. Five of us went to the bar. I had a fresh lime soda sweet with a shot of vodka added. After we finished our drinks, I went back to my room and repacked for travels tomorrow. I filled out my journal entries and then went to bed. I had a Pepto Bismol for dessert.

5 March 2013 Tuesday
    I got up at six, took my morning pills and did my morning ablutions. I went down to breakfast at 7 and had the same omelette with chilies and onion, toast, juice and pot of Indian chai. I was the only one there. After breakfast, I went to my room and typed up my journal in my little netbook computer. I'll send out my daily e-mail entries whenever I get an internet connection. I packed up and caught up in my journal.
    We all met up in the lobby at 9 am. This time we loaded onto our own medium-sized bus. We are headed to the Ajanta Caves and the city of Jalgaon ("jail-gown"). I saw Pariah Kites, white egrets, crows, Black Drongo, a kingfisher of some type, and doves. The produce here is interesting. There are watermelons, coconuts, white grapes, black grapes, chiku (sapodilla), guava, bananas, pineapples, apples, oranges, and cucumbers. There were a number of sugercane presses for making a sweet drink.
    As we approached the Ajanta Caves, I noticed some dark stripes cutting vertically across the hills. I took some photographs. At first I assumed they were basaltic dikes, but the stripe was only on the surface (Google Earth doesn't show them, so they are likely man-made). At Ajanta Caves (Wikipedia entry), we got off the bus and got on another one to get to the starting point. I saw lots of Red-Vented Bulbuls. The caves were hand chiseled into a basaltic layer within the Deccan Traps, and were started several centuries BCE. The caves are situated on the cutbank side of a deeply entrenched meander into the Traps. These caves are older than the Ellora Caves we saw yesterday. These caves, however, have preserved the ancient paintings on the interior walls. Because of the heat, I wore shorts today, but when we got to the caves, I put on my longyi. I was the only person I saw wearing longyis, but the various guards along the way said "longyi, you Indian man." We hired a guide that had published his own book on these caves and had been a guide for 33 years. We took lots of photographs. The temperature must have been a dry 40 degrees C.
    After the tour, we went to the restaurant at the entrance. I had salty fresh lime soda, a Foster beer, and a sweet corn soup. I also finished off the garlic naan that I had saved from last night. The others had more elaborate meals, including thalis. Mads also just had soup.
    We got back on our bus and headed for Jalgaon. The bus is not air-conditioned, but some of the windows can be opened (not mine).
    We got to our hotel in Jalgaon called the Plaza Hotel (or Hotel Plaza) at about 4:30. I have a small room in the front right next to the road. So far it's pretty loud. My door opens directly into the front desk and lobby. I should be able to hear any conversation in the lobby including phone calls. There is a shower and a bucket bath, but if you want warm water, you have to ask for it in advance. I decided to have a cold-water shower. There was no shampoo but with my short haircut, soap worked fine. After the shower, I caught up in my journal. There is a government-mandated power cut off between 4 pm to 6:30 pm. They have a power generator so I have one light that works. The fan should work by 6:30, so perhaps that will help drown out the noise.
    We met in the lobby at 6:30 and walked a couple of store-fronts down to the "Silver Palace" on Station Road. I ordered the Cheb Special Vegetarian Chuchi (or something like that)(extra spicy) plus steamed rice and special tandoor chipati. I had a Haywood 5000 beer made in India. I will save the label from this one as well because I don't think I've had it on my previous trips. Anyway, we all passed around our food. Sandra ordered a local dish made of minced mints and grains that was shaped into patties and fried, much like a falafel. Mads had an interesting spice and crispy chicken dish. The others were nice too. Kevin came and told me that the hotel wanted to change  my room, a better one had opened up. I told him that would be O.K., so the staff moved my pack into a much nicer room without the street and lobby noise. After dinner the owner showed me my new room. Clearly he had been uncomfortable in giving me the first room. I should be able to get a good night's rest. I got to my room by 9:30 and filled out my diary. I went to bed by 10.

6 March 2013 Wednesday
    I got up at 5 am and took a cold-water bucket bath, took my morning pills and got dressed. I packed and was in the lobby by 5:50. We left at 6:15 and walked a short distance to the train station. While waiting for the train I saw numerous herons, egrets, gap-mouthed storks, crows, mynas, etc. The train left at about 6:50. My seat was in a sleeper compartment and people had lowered the bunks and were sleeping. The lights were out. I put my pack and bag on my empty bunk and found a bunk in the aisle where Mads and I sat. The family in my compartment slowly woke up. They said that they were only on the train for another hour and we could have the compartment to ourselves then. I gave the two children a banana each. The father said that the son and he wanted to go to America. I went to the compartment where the rest of our group was staying and filled out my journal. I saw a Pariah Kite and several Indian Prinia birds. I saw five or six crows chasing a large hawk.
    We arrived at Khandawa at 10 am and got on our own small bus. We travelled through the countryside and arrived at the Narvada Resort in Omkareshwar (Wikipedia entry) at 12:30. We stay here for two nights. My room overlooks the small town of Omkareshwar, a Hindu religious center. I took photos and caught up in my journal. At 1, we met in the dining area and ordered lunch. I had chipati, steamed rice, mixed vegetable pakora, and Malai Kofti (with chopped green chilies sprinkled over it at my request). I had salty fresh lime soda. Of course we all shared as usual. A tour group of 21 French people came to the dining area after we started. I am glad we are traveling in a small group. We finished at 2:30 and I went back to my room. It is too hot to do anything so I will take a nap.
    I woke up at 4:15 pm, a bit more of a nap than I wanted. I met the others at 4:30. I saw a Golden-Backed Woodpecker. We walked to the lower town on our side of the river. This is a holy town and we must wear long pants (or longyi), we can't eat meat, and can't have any alcoholic beverages (meat and alcohol are not served anywhere). We went down to the river and hired a boat to give us a view along the river. The rocks are layered and dipping slightly toward the dam to the southeast. The strata were regularly bedded and were as thick as 40 cm, but averaged around 10-20 cm in thickness. They were medium dark-brownish gray in color and had a sharp basal contact. They looked to me to be turbidites, cravasse splay deposits, or tidal deposits composed of silts or fine sands. I saw lots of birds including white egrets, Cormorants, a wagtail, abundant Pond Herons, and cliff swallows. When we walked ashore, I got a closer look at the rocks and saw conchoidal fractures and ripple marks. We walked to a shop and each had a nice cup of chai masala. We then walked to the ghats and sat down while Uttam talked about Hinduism.
    We walked back to the hotel, ordered our dinner and went back to our rooms. I took a quick cold-water shower and then joined the others for dinner at 7:30. I ordered mixed vegetable dish (no gravy), rice, roti and salty lime soda. After dinner we hiked to the far passenger bridge (the suspension bridge) and watched an acive ceremony with singing and drums in one of the temples. I went to one of the temple rooms, poured oil over the lingum, got a yellow and red string tied around my wrist, a prayer chanted for me and then got some stripes painted on my forehead. I was given two red palm nuts to hold. I left a 10-rupee donation. I went to the next little cell, got another color painted on my forehead, got another string tied around my wrist, and got a prayer chanted for me. This priest wanted 150 rupees.
    We walked back to our hotel by about 9:30. I took another cold-water shower and prepared another 2-liter bottle of water with electrolyte. I filled out my journal and went to bed by 10:30. The room doesn't have air-conditioning, but has a nice ceiling fan.

7 March 2013 Thursday
    I got up about 6:15, dressed, put on my trekking sandals (that's all I've been wearing), packed 2.5 liters of water and left at 6:30, just before sunrise. I didn't see any of the others in my group. I am starting the 12 km religious walk around the "Om-" shaped island, Omkareshwar (it's actually triangular in shape). I wanted to leave early before it got hot. I crossed the pink bridge, turned left and walked along a sidewalk, working my way clockwise (as seen from above) around the island. I saw lots of rocks with ripple marks and took lots of photos. I also saw lots of birds, I tried taking photos of some. I saw House swifts, cormorants (Indian Shag and Little Cormorants), Little Egrets, herons, Pond Herons, Yellow wattled Lapwing, Cliff Swallows, White Wagtail, Red Vented Bulbus, White Browed Fantail, Blackbird?, Babbler, Gray Tit, Purple Sunbird, House Sparrows, Myna, Tree Pie, and others. I hiked to the confluence at the downstream side of the island (the river splits and comes back together). Worshippers were bathing in the water, I dipped my hand in the water. I walked further along the walkway and came to a large statue of Shiva sitting. Further along the hilltop I came to an archaeological ruin, a platform with stone columns. At the base were carved elephants holding up the platform. There were strata composed of granular to small-pebble conglomerates near the ruins. This represents the highest-level strata that I've seen in this town. The path winded down to the tailwaters from the dam. Here the rocks were more thinnly bedded (they overly the rocks along the river described yesterday and underly the conglomerate). There were lots of ripple marks, lenticular bedding, scoured bases. I looked for tidal rhythmites but didn't see anything definitive (there were thick and thin sets). There were no fossils in any of the rocks that I have seen in the last two days, not even trace fossils. I continued my walk past the suspension bridge and on to the pink bridge. I crossed the pink bridge and found my way back to the hotel by 9 am. The entire hike was 2.5 hours. I didn't drink any water until I got to the hotel. That's when it started getting hot.
    I got my journal and went to the dining area. I ordered a pot of chai and butter toast. There is no omelette here because there is only vegetarian food allowed. I filled out my journal. There was one other fellow sitting in the dining area. He had a white beard and was a westerner. He spoke to me first and we talked a bit. He was from Santa Fe, New Mexico and this was his twentieth trip to India. He came to this area most of the time. He said he liked religions. He said he knew about Lexington because he had a good friend who was a doctor there. Uttam came in and ordered a cheese sandwich and chai and we talked a bit about Intrepid trips. He said he could help me organize a trip to Darjeeling, Assam, Sikkim, Bhutan, and Nagaland. That would be an interesting trip.
    I went back to my room at 10:30 and took a cold-water shower. Others in our group have hot water, but apparently mine doesn't work. Anyway the shower was refreshing and cooling. All the rooms have bars on the windows. This is to keep the monkeys out. The monkeys are very common everywhere. There are two kinds, the Rhesus Macaque (Macaca mulatta) and the Southern Plains Gray Langur (Semnopithecus dussumieri) with its long tail and long legs.
    I went back to the dining room at 10:45, this time with my netbook. They don't have internet but I can type out my journal at least. Later, Shirley, Sarah, Kevin and Mads showed up and we sat at one of the big tables. I had sweet lime soda, but they ordered lunch. I was still typing when they left.
    There is nothing planned for the rest of the day. The temperature is about 100 degrees F and it is uncomfortable to do much outside. I photographed a few birds. I saw a Red Vented Bulbul do a courthsip dance and I saw a Sunbird taking nectar from a Bougainvillea. I also saw a Little Brown Dove and a Chiffchaff. I took a nap for awhile. At 6:30 we met in the dining area and had a talk about the significance of this area and the caste system. We all ordered dinner and then talked for another 30 minutes about our activities tomorrow. Our food came and we all shared. I ordered fried panak with spicy gravy, paratha, and sweet lime soda. Three people ordered desserts like babas a rhum and passed them around too.
    I went back to my room by 8:30 and began packing for tomorrow. I brushed my teeth, caught up in my journal and was in bed by 9.

8 March 2013 Friday
    I got up at six, took my pills, brushed my teeth, and took a cold-water shower. I went to the dining room about 6:45 and talked some more with the fellow from Santa Fe. Sarah and Kevin were there too. After about 15 minutes our food came and the others filtered in. I had a pot of chai masala, two pieces of toast and I added some butter and marmelade. Kevin told me he won first place for his marmelade at their state fair, in fact, he won ribbons for eight out of his nine entries (some were for pickles). I saw Cliff Swallows, a bunch of Red Vented Bulbuls and maybe a couple of Black Bulbuls.
    We loaded up the bus and left the hotel by 8 am. We stopped at Maheshwar (Wikipedia entry) on the Narvada/Narmada River at 9:40 and looked at a temple on the river bank. We saw lots of gray as well as white terns, a White Breasted Kingfisher, swallows, a parakeet, little white egret. We also saw a weaving shop on the grounds of the temple/fort. We got back on the bus at 11 after having some ice cream (pistachio for me; it was in a cone and wrapped up).
    We are riding in the plains with distant mountains (Western Ghats) off to our east. These mountains appear to have horizontal layers of basalt so perhaps they are the Deccan Traps again. In outcrops closer to the mountains along our rough country road we can see columnar basalt and some spheroidal weathering.
    We arrived at Malwa Retreat at Mandu (Wikipedia entry) at 12:30. This area is on top of the Deccan Plateau and within the Deccan Traps outcrop. I moved my stuff to my room and took photos. I have an open window in my room that won't shut and there is no screen. This is a government-run resort just like the one in Omkareshwar. I saw Bulbuls, Mynas and parakeets. We went to the dining room around 12:45. I ordered egg curry, butter paratha, fried rice, and two sweet lime sodas. I added my own salt. We all shared.
    At 2:30 we all met and got on the bus. A local guide joined us. We went to several archaeological ruins that this area is famous for. Some of the ruins were started in Hindu times prior to the Moghul invasion, but most were built or adapted during Moghul times. We visited quite a few structures and took lots of photographs. This whole area was a walled city on top of and at the edge of the Deccan Plateau and it held as many as a million people. Almost nothing is here now. The escarpment area is called the Western Ghats. The temperature is around 100 degrees F. After a while we stopped at a resort and had a beer in the shade to cool down. From there I could see Pond Herons, egrets, etc. After an hour we got back on the bus and went to two hill top palace/forts at the edge of the escarpment. We are catching a bit of a breeze here and it is not so hot. There were a number of green parakeets and House Swifts. We watched the sun go down and I filled out my journal.
    After the sun went down, we got back on the bus and drove to the hotel. We paid our local guide and then went to the dining room and placed our order for dinner. I ordered Aloo Matter (potatoes and peas) extra spicy, chapati and sweet lime soda. We will be served later. I went to my room and turned on my water heater (it works!) for my shower. This is the first hot shower I've had in a while. I dressed and went back to the dining room for dinner.
    Then I realized that we were eating on the lawn at one big table. Our dishes came out and we all passed them around. I had two Kingfisher beers, but couldn't finish the second one and passed it around as well. We had a lot of good conversation. I spent most of my time dealing with my nose. I am either coming down with a cold or a sinus infection. It has gotten worse throughout the day.
    I went to my room while others were still at the table. I brushed my teeth, filled out my journal, and went to bed at 11 pm.

9 March 2013 Saturday
    I got up at 6:30 and turned on the water heater. I took my pills and brushed my teeth while the water heated. I took a fairly long shower because the water was warm. I organized my things and packed. I joined the others for breakfast. I had two pieces of toast with a little jam and a small pot of chai masala. We paid our food bill (dinner and breakfast) and then loaded onto our van at 8:30. Today is a travel day. While waiting to get on the bus I saw a white egret, crow, Little Brown Dove, and an Indian Prinia. Along the way (still in the Mandu area) we saw lots of ruins and gorges while driving. I saw a few outcrops of columnar basalt. We are traveling on the Deccan Plateau. The main field crop here appears to be wheat. I saw Red Wattled Lapwings, crows, drongos, mynas, Pond Herons, sandpipers?, egrets, doves, etc. I'm also seeing crops like corn and potatoes.
    We stopped at a truck stop so that the driver, Mack, could take a chai break. We all got a chai as well. We got back on the bus and headed to Indore. We arrived at the train station at Indore at 11 am. I saw a Pariah Kite here. We have about 1.5 hours before the train leaves. We were able to board the train at 12 pm. The train pulled out at 12:30 and we have a six-hour plus trip to Sanchi.
    Leaving Indore, I noticed next to our set of tracks, a narrow-guage set of tracks spaced about two feet apart. I haven't seen that train yet though. We ordered a set menu that will come later for lunch. I ordered chai several times. At 2 pm the lunch came. It was a vegetable biryani and a vegetarian curry. I poured the curry over the rice, added the mixed pickle, stirred it up and ate it. It also came with a cup of bottled water. My assigned seat was in a compartment with Uttam, Sandra and Tanya this time. My nose is still a problem, but not as bad as last night. People gave me their salt packets so I will be able to do a salt-water nasal flush tonight at the hotel. Hopefully, that will slow the infection down.
    There is a beautiful tree here called "Flame of the Forest" (Butea monosperma). It has vivid orange colored flowers and the flower dominates the tree. The flower is said to look like a tiger's claw. I have seen it throughout our trip in the Deccan Plateau. I have also seen cattle egrets, Pond Herons, Little White Egrets, parakeets, Red Wattled Lapwings, bee-eaters, a large gray heron, and Pariah Kites after lunch.
    We stopped at the Bhopal station about 5:30. There was a huge chemical disaster here years ago and thousands of people died.
About half an hour later we arrived at the station in Vidisha. We took a truck cab 12 km to Sanchi. We arrived at the Gateway Retreat at 7:30. This is another government-run hotel very similar to our previous two. We pre-ordered our dinner and then went to our rooms. I turned the water heater on to make a shower. While heating I took photos of the room. The shower was great, but the floor was as slick as could be. I dressed and headed to the dining room.
    As it turns out, we were eating outside on the back patio. I had ordered mushroom curry, roti bread, and a Kingfisher. We all shared and we all had more than we could eat. The food was very good. Someone ordered chicken tandoori and that was excellent. We all talked for a long time and then I went to my room. I tried a salt-water nasal flush but it just seemed to make things worse. Several other people were getting the cold as well.
    I filled out my journal and went to bed by 10:30. We have another travel day tomorrow after a short excursion here in Sanchi.

10 March 2013 Sunday
    I woke up at six but got up about 6:45. I had to get up once in the night to tend to my nose. I brushed my teeth, took my pills and turned the water heater on. I took a shower, dressed and then went to breakfast. Kevin and Sarah were the only ones there. We all ordered omelette masala with chilies, toast and chai. When we were almost finished, Mads joined us. I asked him about travels to Denmark and he gave me some information about what to do there. After breakfast, Kevin, Sarah and I walked around the grounds of the hotel. Lots of nice landscaping. We walked to the pool and saw a male Indian Robin singing on top of a lamppost. We also saw a big Kingfisher, several mynas, some parakeets, and other birds.
    I went back to my room to get ready for our morning activity. At 9, we walked about one or two km to the world heritage site of Sanchi (Wikipedia entry). It is a group of stupas and other structures some of which were built several centuries BCE and includes the oldest stone structure in India. We hired a local guide and toured the main stupas. I then walked to the old monastery and another stupa. We then went through the local museum (no photos allowed). Most everything is made of local sandstone (Chunar Ss. and Mathura Red Ss. according to the labels) and there were outcrops of sandstone around the stupas. I could see lots of ripple marks, parting lineations and other structures.
    We walked back to the hotel and ordered drinks and snacks. I had salty sweet lime soda and sweet corn chicken soup. A number of people in our group seem to have my affliction with noses running, stopped-up nose, sore throat, sneezing and coughing. We got on our truck cab, very tightly squeezed in and headed to the train station. We arrived after about 15-20 minutes. We waited on the platform for about an hour. Our train pulled in and we loaded on very quickly. However, no one could find Shirley. She must have overshot the car. Uttam ran after her and I think she got on the train while it was moving. The train left at 3:05 pm. I am in a compartment with a bunch of Indian fellows. They are watching a movie on their laptop and have closed the curtains and put their feet up on my seat, so I am locked in. I slept briefly but mostly just looked out the window. I ordered some chai. We have about a four-hour train trip. Luckily, the car is air-conditioned.
    The train arrived at Jhansi about 8 pm, an hour late due to railway construction along the way. We got on two tuk-tuks and drove for about 40 minutes till we got to the town of Orchha (Wikipedia entry). We checked into the Sunrise  (a minus star rating from me). It may have been clean once but not in the last 20 years. The windows are open and can't close. I think there is screening but I did see a mosquito. Someone else's toothbrush is in the bathroom or perhaps they wanted to let me use it. There are no towels and no soap. The floor has clumps of dirt on it. There is no oversheet on the bed, but there is a quilt-like thing. There seems to be a smudge of cow poop on the sheet. There is no toilet paper. I noticed that there was an old comb available for my use. The tub had big brown stains all over it. I was afraid to go into the bathroom. I think the lower-level staff used it as a bedroom.
    We went out for a walk and ended up at a Lonely Planet-approved Ramaraja restaurant/bar. We went to the roof and met another Intrepid group and friends of Uttam's. We had beer and snacks and lots of conversation. Mads and I walked back to the hotel leaving the others at the restaurant. There is a lot of loud music and fireworks tonight. This is part of a Shiva festival. The temples are active and one can hear chanting and singing.
    Back in my room, I brushed my teeth (with my toothbrush) and went to bed. Hope I can sleep.

11 March 2013 Monday
    I woke up about five but didn't get up till 6:45. My sinuses are clogged up and running at the same time and now I'm getting a dry cough too. I brushed my teeth and took my morning pills. I didn't take a shower because it's a little chilly and there is no warm water. I dressed and got ready for the day.
    I went to the front desk about 7 and asked for breakfast. They led me to an upstairs patio and brought me an omelette, toast and chai. I saw about 100 swifts, some crows, mynas, sparrows, gap-mouthed storks, and parakeets. I saw Kevin and Sarah and waved them up and they had breakfast too. I paid 180 rupees and then we walked down to the Betwa River. There was a bridge over the rapids. The rocks in the water appeared to be granitic (from a distance, looks like pink feldspars). I bought two liters of water and took them to my room and added electrolyte powders the them. I waited in the lobby for our morning excursion. Sarah and Kevin told the hotel manager about my room and they moved me into a much nicer and cleaner room. I moved my pack to the room but haven't had time to check it out. I'll take photos later.
    We walked to the big Orccha Fort/Palace in town (Wikipedia entry) and hired a guide to tell us about it. I took lots of photos. We then went to Ramaraja bar/restaurant for lunch. I had a vegetable mushroom soup and a Kingfisher beer. It's starting to get hot again. Everyone is telling me that I sound better but I don't really feel it. We then headed out to the more distant Lakshmi Temple and looked at the nice artwork there. We walked back to town and went to the Blue Sky cafe (2nd floor) and ordered drinks to cool down. It feels to be in the upper 90's. We also had papad. I filled out my journal. None of the hotels have had Wifi or any sort of internet connection. it may be New Delhi before I can send my e-mails out.
    Near dusk, we walked to the river's edge and hopped along the boulders to the middle of the river. After a few minutes, a fellow came up to us and gave us each a Kingfisher beer to drink while the sun went down. Uttam had set this up previously. Another group was very jealous.
    We met at the restaurant (Ramaraja). Our guide walked us to the Hindu temple where we saw a Hindu ritual with hundreds of people participating. I had to remove my sandals and belt to see it. We then went to the restaurant and I split a thali with several other people. I finished eating and paid my bill and walked back to my hotel while leaving several others behind. I got to my room, flossed and brushed my teeth and went to bed.

12 March 2013 Tuesday
    I got up at 7, took my pills and brushed my teeth. I went up to the roof cafe and I ordered the usual breakfast, toast (with jam this time), omelette and chai. We got in two cars and headed for Chanderi. Most of the rocks for the first half were granites, second half were sandstones. We saw another species of Flame of the Forest tree. This one was taller and had brilliant red flowers instead of orange. I saw several Indian Rollers, shrikes, lapwings (red), white and cattle egrets, mynas, drongos, crows, doves, Pied Kingfisher, babblers, bee-eaters, swifts, and others. We stopped at a village for a chai break. We got to Chanderi (Wikipedia entry) and our hotel, Hotel Shree Kunj by 11:45. It was very clean and nice. I took a quick shower and then met the others in the lobby at 12:15. The local guide, Kalibhai, used to be a guide for Intrepid a long time ago. We went on a walking tour and saw old fort walls and a welcome gate and then finally a Jama Masjid (Friday mosque) which was started in the early 1200's before minarets were used. We then waked back to the hotel and waited a bit for our "picnic."
    We got in a couple of vehicles and drove to an old moghul hunting lodge on a lake. It's now a museum for ancient statuary We went to a stone balcony overlooking the lake. They spread out two rugs and started unpacking the food and drinks. The balcony had a roof so there was shade and a breeze kept everything very comfortable. We had mixed vegetable curry, rice, papad, roti, dahl, a cheese-oil curry, guava chutney, fresh-cut vegetables, sweets, papaya, beer, water, etc. Several people fell asleep after the meal. I saw a Pied Kingfisher, Little White Egret, white heron (or large egret), cormorant, swifts, fish eagle? and large terns. I took photographs of some of the statuary.
    We drove for about ten minutes and got out of our vehicle to see the Jain rock carvings on a cliff face. Some dated to 200 years BCE, but others were 16th century AD. We had seen a completely naked Jain priest walking through town earlier.
    We then got back in the vehicle and drove on bumpy roads for about 45 minutes till we got to a river's edge and series of sandstone outcrops. We had just passed through a sandstone quarry village to get here. Our guide had discovered the site. The rock shelters had rock paintings dating around 10,000 to 6,000 years BCE. We took lots of photographs.
    We got back in our vehicle and returned to our hotel. I took a quick shower and then met with the others in the lobby at 7:45. Our guide invited us to his home for a meal. He is a Muslim so he explained his beliefs and experiences. He knew that I was a geologist and was excited to show me some rocks and artifacts. He showed me a hand axe that was probably 100,000 years old. He also had an agatized geode with a platy crystal in the middle. He asked me to explain it and I did my best. He also showed us his collection of ancient coins. He is a very interesting fellow and has done a lot to promote his town and region. We left his house after our wonderful meal (rice, potatoes, allo pakora, dahl, mixed vegetables, chipatis, semolina-flour dessert, papad and other items), and walked back to our hotel.
    I filled out my journal, brushed my teeth and went to bed.

13 March 2013 Wednesday
    I woke up about 6:15, but didn't get up till 7. I took my morning pills plus Pepto Bismol, and had a nice warm shower. My nose is clogged up but didn't run during the night. Several others in the group have symptoms tracking mine, but as far as I know, there are no new cases of this cold. I started packing because we take the train later in the day.
    We had a fixed breakfast at 8 AM which included cereal, milk, bananas, papaya, toast, masala omelette, jam and chai. At 8:30 we met in the lobby with Kalibhai (our local guide) and we walked through the town visiting sites, shops and homes, We went to the home where the guide grew up. A Hindi family "adopted" him (he is Muslim). The lady welcomed us and offered us chai.
After about 2 hours of walking excursion, we went back to the hotel. Here we paid our local guide and loaded our packs onto a truck. We got into another vehicle and drove for about 45 minutes to the train station in Lalikpur. We waited for about 30-45 minutes and then loaded onto our train. Six of us are in one compartment and Mads and Uttam are elsewhere in the same car. I got a chai and a vegetarian biryani for lunch. We have a 4 or 5 hour train ride to Agra. Along the way I saw a very large fort on top of a mesa at Gwalior and beyond Gwalior I saw five wild peacocks, plus the usual white egrets, gray heron, pond herons, lapwings, doves, crows, drongos, parakeets, etc.
    Our train was 1.5 hours late arriving in Agra. We loaded onto our own bus and went to the Maya Restaurant. I ordered eggplant curry (extra, extra spicy), garlic naan and a Kingfisher beer. The eggplant came without any spiciness. The clients were completely westerners and I guess that they didn't think that I really meant extra spicy. Anyway, after the dinner, we reloaded onto the bus and went to our hotel, Hotel Sheela Inn within walking distance of the Taj Mahal. We spend two night here.
    At the hotel we went to our rooms and unpacked. I took my four short sleeve shirts and pair of jeans to the front desk and asked that they be laundered. Hopefully, I'll get them back. I have had to wear jeans instead of shorts most of the time because this area requires more conservative dress.
    Most of us went to the roof-top terrace and saw the Taj Mahal. There were lots of fireworks going off all over town. These were for weddings. We saw a number of people all dressed up for a wedding while we were driving through town. We apparently have WiFi at the hotel, but only on the rooftop. I'll send out my e-mails tomorrow. I went to bed at 11.
14 March 2013 Thursday
    I woke up at 6 but got up at 7. I took my morning pills, brushed my teeth and took a luke-warm shower. My cold seems to be getting better. At least four of us have had it. My nose is still stuffy and I have a bit of a dry cough, but it is much better.
    I plugged my computer into the outlet to charge it up. The others are going to the Taj Mahal today and to a Bollywood movie, but I've seen the Taj before, so I'm staying back to type up my e-mails.
    I went to the roof-top cafe and ordered jam toast and a pot of chai. Unlike other places, here I got a full pot with about four servings. I sat with Kevin and Sarah. They asked where I was staying in New Delhi. I told them Pooja Palace. They looked at the reviews and then they booked a room there too. While eating breakfast I saw house crows, pariah kites, rock doves, a brownish gray dove, parakeets, mynas, a small grayish brown bird, a hoopoe, and a beautiful kingfisher. I took some photos of the Kingfisher. Sandra, Mads and Tanya joined us. They are going to meet at 9:30 to see a Bollywood movie.
I paid my bill (65 rupees) and then went to my room. My computer was fully charged so I took it back to the rooftop. I went to a covered area so I could see the computer screen and started typing my journal. I bought a pot of chai to drink as well. I typed for hours till I caught up to my last journal entry. Then I backed up the photos on my camera. After that, I connected to the roof-top WiFi and started sending out my daily logs. I finished by about one PM. I took a walk to the Taj Mahal but didn't go in. I bought some shampoo because the soap was making my hair stiff. I went back to the hotel and the others came back from their Bollywood movie.
    At 3:30, we met in the lobby and walked again to the Taj Mahal. The others got their tickets and went on in. Uttam and I walked to a coffee shop (Cafe Coffee Day, a chain) where I met another Intrepid tour guide and some of Uttam's friends. I had an iced coffee (mocha) with ice cream and chocolate syrup. I'm not sure what I ordered but it was good. I saw a Royal Enfield motorcycle and walked over to look at it. It was a 2012 model 500 cc, single cylinder. Uttam came out of the shop with the key and started it up and drove away. He asked if I wanted to ride it but I declined. I didn't feel comfortable riding someone else's bike. The bike belonged to one of Uttam's friends. After sunset, the others came to the coffee shop and we walked back to the hotel.
    I took a quick shower using my new shampoo. It seemed to take the stiffness out. I caught up in my journal as well.
    We met in the lobby again at 7:30 and our driver took us to the Mayan restaurant again. I ordered a dry vegetable dish extra, extra spicy, a Kabuli naan and a Kingfisher. We all shared as usual. It was a good meal. We returned to the hotel and went to the roof top cafe. I checked my e-mails (none) and talked for awhile. I went back to my room and collected my newly laundered clothes. I did most of my packing because we travel again tomorrow. I brushed my teeth and went to bed by 11 pm.

15 March 2013 Friday
    I woke up at 6:15, but got up closer to 7. I took my pills, brushed my teeth and had a quick shower. I went to the roof top and sat with Kevin and Sarah. I got a pot of chai and checked my e-mail (none). I paid for my chai, gathered my things and met the others in the lobby. We loaded our packs onto our vehicle and drove to Agra Fort. I have already visited the fort on a previous trip, so Uttam and I went to a chai stand and had some chai. I saw parakeets, Pariah Kites, crows, mynas, a Koel?, white egret, swifts, pigeons, brownish-red doves. After 1.5 hours, the tour of Agra Fort was over and I rejoined the group in the van.
We drove to the Agra train station and boarded our train to New Delhi at 11:30 am. Our group is in two different but adjacent cars. I am in a compartment with an Indian family. We have a 4.5 hour train ride to New Delhi. I saw a large coucal, Pond Herons, egrets, kites, coots, sandpipers, lapwings.
    We arrived in New Delhi at 3:15 and loaded onto two cars. We had time so we went to Lodi Garden (Wikipedia entry) and walked around for an hour or so. I took photos of some of the Lodi dynasty tombs and mosque. I also took photos of a parakeet and a hornbill.
    We got back into our cars and headed to our hotel. We got to the Hotel Perfect about 5:10 and I moved my pack to my room. They have WiFi here so I should be able to get out a couple of emails.
    I took a shower and tried to log onto the internet. I got connected to the WiFi but the internet connection must be dial-up because it was extremely slow and frequently interrupted. I was never able to log onto any email or facebook connections. Perhaps my next hotel will have a better connection.
    We gathered in the lobby at 7 pm and walked to a good restaurant nearby. I remember this restaurant from the last time I was in New Delhi in 2009. I ordered a "Vegetarian Sizzler" tandoori grill, plus jeeri rice and pashowari naan. After dinner I proposed a toast to our group and especially our guide Uttam. One of the other guides came around near the end. After we paid we walked about a block to our hotel.
    I went to my room and caught up in my journal. I tried the internet connection again but was unsuccessful. I brushed my teeth and went to bed by about 11 pm.

16 March 2013 Saturday
    I woke up at 6:30 but got up at 7. I took my pills, brushed my teeth and took a hot shower. I went down to breakfast at 8 and had masala omelette, toast, jam, cornflakes and chai. I sat with Mads. After awhile Sandra and Tanya joined us.
    I went back to the room and packed my bags and carried them to the lobby. They stored my red pack under the front desk. We met at 9 and walked to the Metro. We had to change trains once. We got off at old Delhi and walked around. We went through the Jama Masjid, the oldest and largest mosque in India. It's a beautiful mosque (no photos for me). We then walked through the colorful wedding market, the spices market, etc. We also toured a Sikh temple and we could take photos here. Mads wore my longyi because he wore shorts today. We rode trishaws and a local bus as well.
    We came back to the hotel by about 12 or 1 and walked to a restaurant for our last meal together. We had collected a tip for Uttam and presented it to him at the table. I ordered a cheese (panack) with cashew and vegetable curry gravy, plus a roti and a Hayward 5000 beer. And we all shared.
    We went back to our hotel. Kevin, Sarah and I got our packs and walked to our new hotel, Hotel Pooja Palace, very close to our old hotel. I checked into my room by 3 pm and took a few photos. I tried the internet and it seems to be a lot more stable than at Hotel Perfect. I filled out my journal and then took a short nap. I got up at 5 and took a shower. I went down to the lobby at six and read the Indian Times.
    I saw Kevin about 6:30. He said that Sarah was feeling badly with the cold, so he and I went out for a beer and then went back to the hotel. I typed out my journal to my last entry.
    I brushed my teeth, watched a little TV and then went to bed by 9:30.

17 March 2013 Sunday
    I woke up at 6:30, got up at 7, took my pills and brushed my teeth. I went down to breakfast a little after 7. Kevin and Sarah joined me shortly after. Sarah said she was feeling much better. Kevin was having a problem logging onto the internet though. I had omelette masala, toast, jam, butter and a pot of chai.
    After breakfast I went to my room and sent out several e-mail entries. Kevin said that the front desk staff reset the router and then he was able to log on. I showed him how to make his computer boot up faster by turning off startup programs when booting up (by running msconfig.exe).
    I went back to my room and took a hot-water shower and then filled out my journal. I also filled out a form for my next trip. I cleaned the lens on my camera and my glasses. I backed up my camera files to my netbook hard drive. Then I read the Sunday Times of India and the Hindustan Times, both in English. The number of rapes in India is staggering.
    Around noon, Kevin and Sarah knocked on my door. We walked for about three hours, stopping at Punjab Sweets Corner for lunch. We all ordered dosas, I had a Racha Masala Dosa with a very nice mango lassi. It was good and filling. We stopped at Amour Cafe and had a beer. We went back to our rooms. The temperature is 84 degrees F. I watched TV and took a nap.
    I went down to the lobby a little before 6 PM to meet with my new group. I was very surprised to see Uttam was the leader of this group too. We went to the conference room on the roof. Nine of the twelve participants were there, three others are on another trip and we will see them tomorrow evening. I talked with Gabby from Tasmania, but originally from Hungary. He left in 1956 during the Hungarian Revolution. He is 75 and the oldest member of the group. I also met Richard from Darwin, Australia. He is a customs official. Then others came in. There were two ladies from England, but with an Indian background. They both speak Hindi. Another young lady is also from England and works at a university there. There is a mother-daughter pair from Australia. The daughter lives in Perth and I mentioned to her about traveling there with two of my daughters. The mother lives in another part of Australia, but I don't remember where. There is a lady from Montreal who was also from Hungary. She had been a professor of linguistics. I am the only person from the States. Uttam gave us information for the upcoming trip.
    After the meeting we all walked to the same restaurant that we used for our last supper on the last trip. I ordered the "Vegetable Sizzler" again and passed it around. Others started passing theirs around too. Everyone ordered too much and there was a lot left over. After dinner we walked back to the hotel. Uttam and I went to the roof top and shared a beer and talked about the new and old trip while he worked on his computer. Then I went to my room. I brushed my teeth and went to bed about 10:30.

18 March 2013 Monday
    I woke up at 6:30 and got up at 7. I brushed my teeth and took my pills. I went down to breakfast shortly after 7. I had four pieces of toast, butter, jam, banana and lots of chai. It was a buffet breakfast but I wasn't very hungry. The buffet was 175 rupees, I gave them 200 (keep the change). I sat with Sarah, Kevin and Uttam., but the entire group filtered in. Richard said that he doesn't eat breakfast.
    I went back to my room, took a shower, cleaned my sandals and caught up in my journal.
    At nine, I went down to the lobby. The group was starting a walking tour of old Delhi, the same trip I did two days ago. I told them to have a good trip and went back to my room. I think I will be doing something with Kevin and Sarah today. I typed out the rest of my journal.
    Sarah and Kevin knocked on my door about 10 or 10:30. We walked to several gardens and ended at a Rock Garden, a hill with outcrops of quartzite. I wonder if they are part of the Aravalli Hill, an ancient mountain chain. At one point along the way someone threw a partial bucket of water on me. It hit me fully along the back of my shirt and my camera bag. It was such a deliberate hit that I think it was on purpose. I turned to see who it was and everyone averted their gaze, so I never knew who it was. We made our way through the rock gardens a second time and arrived back at our hotel about 1:15. Kevin's pedometer said we walked 9 km.
    After a short break, we walked to the Punjab Sweets Corner. I shared a mini thali with Kevin and Sarah and Kevin also ordered a Rawa Masala Dosa like I had yesterday. We all had lassi to drink. The other group came in while we were eating and I suggested some things for them. The three of us then went to the hotel roof top for an afternoon beer. I was back at my room by 2:30. I took a shower and washed out the shirt to remove the questionable water that had been thrown on me. I filled out my notes and decided to take a nap at about 3:30. There was too much construction to really sleep.
    I went to the lobby at 6:30 and met all the others including the three new participants. We walked to Spice Bar Restaurant. I ordered a chana masala curry (extra, extra Indian hot spicy) plus jeera rice and a Kingfisher. We all shared. Mine was not spicy. Mads came walking in and talked to me. He was with his new group in the adjoining room. After we paid, we walked to a food stand. I bought a bunch of bananas for tomorrow's lunch.
    I got to my hotel room by 9 and filled out my journal. I flossed and brushed my teeth and packed for tomorrow's travels. I went to bed at 9:30.

19 March 2013 Tuesday
Happy Anniversary Anne!

    I woke up at 5:15, but didn't get up till 5:50. I took my pills, brushed my teeth and took a shower. I was down to the lobby by 6:15. We boarded onto three cabs at 6:45. We got to the New Delhi train station and onto our train by 7:15. We are distributed in two cars scattered here and there. I sat between an Indian fellow who could speak English, and Marianne, the Hungarian-born woman who lives in Montreal (professor of linguistics at one time). She speaks Hungarian, English, French, Russian and German. I saw lapwings, shags, pond herons, coots, egrets, crows, and Pariah kites.
    We arrived at Kalka (just after Chandrigar) after four hours of travel about 2:15. We walked over to the "toy train" to Shimla (Wikipedia entry). We left about 12:30 on this very windy mountain railway. Our assigned seats for the seven in our car had been taken over by a large local family, but they left the two rear bank of seats empty. We occupied those seats. We had to stack our luggage on the floor. This is a very scenic mountain route and has frequent switchbacks and tunnels. We had the fruit that we bought last night for lunch and we all shared. We went over one mountain pass where all the trees were pines. Some of the distant mountain peaks were snow covered. We also saw the Deodar Cedar (Cedrus deodara, Wikipedia entry). We also saw several stands of Tree Rhododendron with abundant scarlet-red flowers (Rhododrendron arboreum, Wikipedia entry). Gabby is quite the botany lover and told me what these plants were. I saw parakeets, but there was a solitary one with a long blue tail. This was five hours of riding in the mountains and the scenery was spectacular.
We arrived at Shimla (Wikipedia entry) about 5:30. We are about 2200 meters elevation. We took two cabs to our hotel Silverine. This is a very nice hotel, my room overlooks the mountains.
    We placed our dinner order for later tonight and will take a walk into town before dinner. After a 10-15-minute break, we walked through town. This did not seem like India at all. It was more like Gatlinburg than Mumbai. And there was a lot of British architecture. The air was clean and cool and there was no odor of sewage.
    After our walk we went back to the hotel and had our dinner. I had ordered a vegetarian curry of some kind that I can't remember. I ordered it extra Indian spicy (it was perhaps medium), plus a garlic naan. We all shared. I had a sweet fresh lime soda to drink. After we finished, the staff brought out a birthday cake with candles lit for Lynsey (a young lady from England). We all sang Happy Birthday. After the cake we went to the roof terrace. I had a beer (we had to buy it at a shop elsewhere). It was chilly in the mountain air, maybe 55 degrees F. The staff lit a fire in a fire pit on the roof and that warmed things up. I finished my beer and went to my room by 10:30. I filled out my notes, brushed my teeth and went to bed by 11.

20 March 2013 Wednesday
    I woke up at 4 and 6, but got up at 7. It was quite chilly. I took my pills and brushed my teeth. I went down to breakfast at 7:30. I was the first person there and they weren't set up for it yet. Eventually the buffet was set up. I had butchey (sp?) and poori as well as toast, jam and two cups of chai masala. Several others came in after I got started. I went back to my room and took a shower and filled out my journal.
    At 9 AM we met in the lobby. We walked for about 45 minutes to the Viceregal's House (Wikipedia entry). This was the house for the British head of India. It was a very elaborate stone building with Burmese teak-wood interior. We paid for a short guided tour and took some pictures inside and outside.
    We then walked to a local coffee shop for lunch. I had a cheese sandwich on white bread and a coffee with heavy cream. Five or six of us then trekked up to the giant statue of Hanuman, the monkey god. This was a steep climb up a series of roads and steps. I took photos of the giant orange statue. A fellow warned us that the monkeys there will steal our glasses. I put mine in my shirt pocket and buttoned it. A rhesus monkey quickly climbed Lynsey's back and grabbed the glasses off the top of her head. She had to pay a local vendor who offered the monkey some food for exchange of the glasses. She then had to pay the vendor for the food. This is an obvious racket. We then walked carefully back down the steep route back to the upper plaza of Shimla.
    My group of about five people then walked around the interesting shops, taking photographs.
    At 6:30 we met at another coffee shop and walked to a good local restaurant. I ordered channa pindi (a chickpea curry), jeera rice, and a sweet lime soda. We all shared.
    After dinner, we walked back to the hotel. Uttam and I went to the sports room on the rooftop and played eight ball for the title of "King of India." I won one game and Uttam won two, so he is the real King of India. I had a Kingfisher beer. Sarah, from Ireland, came up and joined us for conversation.
    I went back to my room by 11 PM. I brushed and flossed my teeth and then filled out my journal. I went to bed by 11:15.

21 March 2013 Thursday
    I woke up at 6:30 and got up at 7. I took my pills, brushed my teeth and took a warm shower. I re-packed because this is another travel day. I had two bananas left so I had them for breakfast. I typed up some of my entries. I went to the lobby to pay for my meals and sat down with the others.
    Shortly, we loaded onto a van and car. We had a five-hour drive down windy mountain roads. A number of people became carsick, but we didn't have any incidents. We stopped once for a chai and toilet break. We arrived at our Maharaja Palace hotel in Mandi (Wikipedia entry) about 1:40 and our pre-ordered lunch of chips (fries), cucumber and tomato sandwiches, grilled cheese (paneer) sandwiches, and vegetable pakoras. We were first introduced to the king of Mandi, a nice, very sociable gentleman in his 80's. Because it was a palace and not originally designed to be a hotel, the rooms varied from servants' quarters to honeymoon suites. Therefore, we had a lottery. I drew last from the three others who had single rooms. I drew a very nice room (one of the best). I was pleased. We are only here for one night.
    We met at 3:30 for our afternoon walk. We walked down to the Shiva temple by the Beas River and then along the narrow streets and markets. We went to a sunken mall with three levels of shops around the edges. In the center of the mall, we had chai masala. Three of us stopped at a shop where a man was making betel nut packets. I had tried betel nut several times before but this one was different. It was a sweet betel-nut packet. It had no tobacco so you didn't have to spit it, you just swallowed the juices. I couldn't recognize everything that was in it, but it had lime paste (caustic), betel nut, rose water, fennel, coconut, honey, syrup candy and about six or seven additional ingredients. I put the packet in my cheek. Slowly the sweet juices came out and they were quite nice. I didn't need to chew or anything.
    We walked back to the hotel and I got to my room by 6 PM. I filled out my journal. Everyone wanted to see my room and they are saying that I have the nicest one. I took a nice, hot shower and then dressed and joined the others in the garden at 6:30. The king invited us to sit at his table. I sat right next to him. Our order was taken and I had tandoor chicken (one half), garlic naan and a Kingfisher. For dessert, we had ice cream and jamun. The king loved to tell riddles and brainteasers and he took great pleasure when any of us were able to answer them. I was able to guess a lot of them. He was a very sociable fellow. He will be the last king of Mandi even though he has a son. Because of the Indian government, no new kings will be allowed.
    After dinner, I went to my room at 9 PM. I filled out my journal and got ready for tomorrow, another travel day.

22 March 2013 Friday
    I woke up at 6:30 and got up at 7. I took my pills, brushed my teeth and took a hot shower. I packed up again. At 8, I went to the courtyard for breakfast. I paid my food bill along the way. I had a pot of chai and toast. I sat next to the king (Maharaj) again and he told me many more riddles and brainteasers. I told him that the next time I come to Mandi, I'll have more to tell him in return.
    About 8:30 or so, we loaded onto tuktuks, two plus luggage per tuktuk. We went about 1 or 2 km to the bus station where we caught a local bus for a five-hour drive. The bus is crowded and a number of locals are standing in the aisle. Once again we are on a windy, bumpy road with shear drop offs inches from our wheels--no guard rails. I can see lots of snow-covered mountains ahead of us (Dhauladar Range, Wikipedia entry). There is much colluvium along our road and almost no rock outcrops. The stratification of the floral zones is easily seen from a distance. As we ascend we leave the typical trees of this part of India and see the light green band of pines. Above the pines we see the dark green band of the Deodar cedars (Cedrus deodara). We stopped at a big town halfway through our trip, for a chai and toilet break. People tried to occupy our seats when we got back on, but Uttam shoo-ed them away. I saw a Marsh Harrier (?). We passed many rock slides, some quite large. They have to continually repair this road. I'm in an aisle seat this time and can't easily take photos. Uttam's next guided tour is Mumbai to Kathmandu. He generously invited me to go with him for free. All I would have to do is pay for transportation. Not doable for me though. At the bus stops, one can see that most buses have vomit tracks down the sides below the windows. Nice. Last night I put a tea bag in my liter of drinking water. I tried it today and it's not bad. I may keep doing it. We are constantly traveling parallel and below the snow-covered Dhauladar mountains. I saw crows, pariah kites, mynas, parakeets, lapwings, small egrets, and a pair of hornbills.
    We got to Dharmasala (Wikipedia entry) at 3 PM and got off with our luggage. We took two vehicles to the Norbulingka Institute (Wikipedia entry) and walked around taking photos. This area is the home of the Dalai Lama and the expatriot capital of the Tibetans. We saw lots of arts and crafts. At the end of the tour we went to the cafe and I ordered a pot of chai masala.
    We then got back in our vehicles and drove up very narrow and windy roads to McLeod Ganj (Wikipedia entry) and then up even smaller lanes to our hotel, Hotel Budha's Valley by 6:15. I carried my pack to my room and took a quick hot shower. At 6:45 we met in the lobby and took the two private vehicles to McLeod Ganj. Here we went to a Tibetan restaurant. I ordered a vegetarian momo (dumpling, jiaotze) and a pork thentuk (soup-like) plus a Kingfisher.
    We then walked back up to our hotel using flashlights. I got to my room by 9:30 and filled out my journal. There is very loud music from an outdoor bar close to our hotel. It is way too loud to sleep. I flossed and brushed my teeth and then tried to sleep. This could be a long night.

23 March 2013 Saturday
    I woke up at 6:45 and got up at 7. I took a hot shower, took my pills and brushed my teeth. No one else appeared to be up. I went outside and took pictures. It was chilly outside so I wore my sport jacket. I saw several birds and tried taking photographs. Gabby came down and we went inside and ordered a couple of pots of chai masala.
    I have had a dry cough for four or five days and now my voice is going hoarse. I saw a Plumbeous Water Redstart (several photos above) flitting on the boulders in the creek and a White-Capped Water Redstart with white head and brown body elsewhere on the boulders. I also saw what may be a flower pecker, crows, etc. We are located on a steep mountain slope a little lower than the snow line.
    We walked down to McLeod Ganj and then took the lower road from the small plaza to the Buddhist temple (Tsuglagkhang) and home of the Dalai Lama. We walked through the temple and Uttam talked about Buddhism (he had been a young monk). I took several photos of the mountain scenery, prayer wheels, birds and cones of the Deodar tree. I saw a griffon soaring overhead.
    We then walked back to McLeod Ganj looking at all the shops. I went to the Cafe Coffee Day, our meeting point for 12:30 and saw Uttam (I am a bit early). I ordered cafe latte grande and filled out my journal. I still have the three orange and yellow strings (dhaga) that were tied to my wrists 2-3 weeks ago.
    Lynsey, Angela, and Kay said that they would help me buy shawls for my daughters. We looked in several stalls and stores, but finally found one with just the right selection. I bought four silk shawls, all of different colors.
    I thanked the ladies for their help and left them to do their remaining shopping. I went to a Tibetan Ganpo Massage and Health Center. I got a one hour massage for 600 rupees. It was an average massage, similar to Chinese massage. I walked around some more till 6:30 when we all met in the very small city square. We went to the Carpe Diem Restaurant. I ordered a one-half Tandoor chicken, garlic naan, lime soda, and a Kingfisher beer. I sat with Annette, her mother Loraine, and Gabby. Gabby was saying that he had spent too much money buying rings. He showed us some of them.
    After dinner, we walked back to the small square. The younger ones went to a bar and some of us walked back to the hotel in the dark. I got to my room by 9:15. I filled out my journal, took a shower, and brushed my teeth.
    At 11 PM I was awakened by loud thunder as a thunderstorm started. It rained heavily into the night, the first rain of the trip.

24 March 2013 Sunday
    It rained heavily till about 4 AM, but continued throughout the morning, sometimes heavily. I heard the local transformer explode at 3:45 and we had no power after that. I waited till about 7 to get up so that I would have enough light to see. I brushed my teeth and took my pills. There was still enough hot water in my little heater to take a hot-water bucket bath. While re-organizing my pack, I noticed a fire in the next building. I quickly put on my clothes and ran downstairs in my bare-feet. The clerk was outside so I went out and told him about the fire. He ran off to do something. I think it was an electrical fire. It continued to rain all morning with occasional thunder. This much rain in a steep mountainous environment makes me think of landslides, debris flows, and flash floods.
    At 8:45 we walked to the "German Bakery" (nothing German about it at all) in the pouring rain. The temperature feels to be about 40-45 degrees F and it is wet and windy. I am wearing sandals and my feet are wet and cold. The German Bakery is in a big walled tent and the electricity is off everywhere. I ordered the German Breakfast which consists of fruit salad (cut fruit), toast, omelette and chai, all for 120 rupees. Everyone is cold and shivering. After breakfast I walked back to my room and got in bed to keep warm. Some of the others walked to the waterfalls or to town for either shopping or pharmacy. Apparently about one-third of our group are suffering from mild to severe diarrhea and nausea. I have passed around Pepto Bismol tablets. Others are trying local pharmacy cures or even antibiotics. Unfortunately, today is a long travel day. I don't have any symptoms yet but I will take a Pepto Bismol tablet just in case. Every few minutes there is a clap of thunder.
    At noon we all met in the lobby. I paid my 90 rupee bill from yesterday. Big packs were wrapped in a tarp and put onto the roof of one of the vehicles. We drove to McLeod Ganj and one of the vans had a flat tire. After that was resolved, we headed back on our journey. One in our car was very sick and we stopped many times along the road. After we got to the lowlands the temperature increased. We stopped at a sort of rest area restaurant for snacks. I had garlic naan and a chai masala. We got back to the cars and drove to the Patan Court train station. We loaded onto two adjacent sleeper cars about 4:45 PM. Five of us were in a compartment with and Indian fellow. His wife, baby son and daughter were in another compartment. He had just come back from a pilgrimage to thank god that he had a baby boy (he hadn't done this for his baby girl). He offered me two kinds of sweet candy balls. One was a coconut macaroon and the other was a hard ball with almond pieces and sesame seeds glued together with a hard, dark sugar syrup. We had a nice conversation with him. We arrived in Amritsar (Wikipedia entry) about 7:40. We put our luggage in a rickshaw and walked to our hotel, the Grand Hotel. Our luggage was unloaded and we checked into our rooms.
    A few minutes later, tables were set up in the courtyard. I filled out my journal and then ordered mushroom mutter (peas) curry and garlic naan. They don't sell bottles of beer, so I got a pitcher of Kingfisher to share with the table. Sarah had her small speaker, so I brought my netbook out. We played Indian music with our dinner.
    After dinner I brushed my teeth. I need to buy water tomorrow. I have given several of the sick people my electrolytes. Two people actually have fever.

25 March 2013 Monday
    I woke up throughout the night with a dry cough. I got up at 7, brushed my teeth and took my pills. I took a hot shower as well. There is a peculiar electrical setup with my room. To turn on the lights in the room or the bathroom, one has to go outside into the hallway and click two switches on the wall. To turn off the bathroom light or water heater, one has to go out in the hallway again. There is WiFi here and I was able to connect to it this morning after I entered the lengthy password, but the internet connection is down. This is a common situation in India (if they have internet at all). At least I can charge the computer. I typed out some journal entries and then packed for our travel tonight.
    At 9:30 we loaded onto six trishaws, two to a vehicle. The driver would pedal the trishaw through the dense and chaotic traffic. At one steep slope we had to get out while he pushed the trishaw up the hill. We rode for about 15 to 20 minutes till we got to Jallianwallah Bagh (Wikipedia entry), the scene of a massacre by the British against unarmed Indians. Around a thousand men, women and children were killed. We then went to the Golden Temple (Wikipedia entry), the most famous and sacred of the Sikh temples. We had to wear head coverings before entering and had to remove our shoes. We lost Gabby at this time. We walked around taking photos and absorbing the sights and sounds. At 11:30 we gathered and walked to the part of the temple where food was prepared and served. Thousands are served this way. We sat on the floor in a large room with hundreds of others. We were served dahl, chipati, a spicy potato curry, and a milky rice dessert. It was unexpectedly very good. We then left the temple and looked at shops around the temple. I was going to buy a kara (Wikipedia entry) bracelet for men that represented fearlessness. It was a traditional part of the dress for Sikh men. I was about to buy it but Uttam said that he was buying because we were brothers (with different mothers).
    The ten of us got on one tuktuk (it must be a record for westerners) and rode back to our hotel. We had checked out in the morning but stored our luggage in two day rooms.
    At about 4:30 we went to the famous Wagah border ceremony (called a retreat, or changing of the guard and colors, Wikipedia entry) at the Pakistani border. This was a 45-minute taxi ride to get here. It was very unusual and I tried to video some of it (I was looking directly into the sun and was too far away). One should see this  video on Youtube (it is not mine). The goose-stepping soldiers would kick so high that they would hit their heads. It was a real crowd pleaser. After our 45-minute ride back to Amritsar, I took a shower and ordered dinner.
    At 9:30 we loaded our luggage onto a trishaw and walked to the train station. We are taking an overnight sleeper to Haridwar and we arrive about 7:30 tomorrow morning. Four of us are sharing a six-person sleeper with a local family. The Indian lady wanted to keep an eye on her children, so we changed around a bit. I took an upper berth that requires some acrobatics. We made our own bunks and turned the lights out after about 30 to 45 minutes. I continued to cough.

26 March 2013 Tuesday
    I may have slept during the night. I was not uncomfortable, I just coughed all night long, which, I'm sure the entire car could hear. I got up at daylight. The toilets at our end of the car are stainless steel squat toilets. The Indian family left just before daylight. I showed the people in our compartment how to put up their bunks so that we could sit up. Today is clear and sunny with a little bit of mist close to the ground.
    We arrived at Haridwar about 7:30 in the morning. We walked through the station and loaded onto our bus. We drove for about 45 minutes till we got to the Tapovan Resort in Rishikesh (Wikipedia entry). Rishikesh is in the lower foothills (Shivalik or Siwalik Hills, Wikipedia entry) of the Himalaya and is located along the Ganges (Ganga) close to where it flows onto the plains. I see lots of sediment-choked valleys full of boulders, cobbles, etc. on down to sand. The cobbles appear to be very well rounded but oblong.
    We went for breakfast buffet. I had some kind of porridge, a spicy potato curry, chipati, toast, jam and milk tea. We were assigned our rooms. I went to mine and took a hot shower and brushed my teeth. I filled out my journal as well and put on my shorts for the first time in weeks. There is no WiFi or any internet here. I turned my laundry in.
    At 11 AM we met in the lobby and walked to the main part of Rishikesh and crossed the foot bridge to the other side. A group of us ended up at Cafe Coffee Day. I had a choco Frappe. I then walked down a lane parallel to the Ganges in a downstream direction. I walked as far as the next pedestrian bridge (Ram Jhula) and went down to the ghats. I looked at the cobbles and sand. The boulders were not rounded, but the cobbles and boulders up to a meter wide were rounded. The sand was micaceous (muscovite). The water temperature was very cool.
    We had been advised to buy cheap clothes for tomorrow's celebration. Tomorrow is Holi (Wikipedia entry), a festival where people throw dry dye on each other and it is highly likely that we will get hit. Rishikesh is a very holy town and the world center for yoga. No meat or alcohol is allowed at anytime. However, during Holi, men drink a highly intoxication drink called bang. Anyone who is in range will get hit by dye powder. It is not safe for women and many will be molested, so we are concerned for the women in our group. There are four men and nine women on this trip. In addition all shops and businesses shut down for the day. We may have to stick around the hotel tomorrow.
    On the way back to the hotel, I got a one-hour Auyervedic massage for 500 rupees. Of all the times I've been to India I've never had one of these. This place offered courses in Auyurvedic and Reiki massage. My massage was similar to most massages but with the use of auyurvedic oils. I smelled like auyurvedic medicine when I walked out.
    I went back to the hotel to wash the oil off and to get ready for dinner. I also filled out my journal and typed some of it. At 7:30 I put on a T-shirt and my new throw-away pants and met the others for dinner. The pants are of such poor quality that they are starting to pull apart at the seams. I was afraid that I might not get through dinner. Anyway, I ordered a bottle of water, banana lassi, aloo matter (peas and potatoes), and garlic naan. We shared but there was still much food left over. Today was Marianne's birthday, so Uttam got her a cake with candles. We all sang happy birthday and she tried to blow out the trick candles. We signed our bill to our room (they don't have enough change for our group to pay here). I went to my room. My laundry came at 9:45. I typed some more, brushed my teeth and went to bed.

27 March 2013 Wednesday
    I woke up at 5:30. The young staff hang out in front of my door (it is at a corner of two hallways) and they talk and yell at each other. There is no sleeping past 5:30. I got up about 6:30, brushed my teeth and took a shower. I typed out my journal for about two hours and missed breakfast.
    About six of us took a walk to downtown. People were saying Happy Holi and rubbing colored powders on our faces, in our hair and on my beard. Buckets of water were thrown down on us from balconies above. It was all in good fun. One young man rubbed colors on my beard and said Happy Holi, Uncle Ji. There were more Westerners doing it than Indians here. Many people were absolutely covered with the powders. I took a lot of photographs using my older backup camera which I carried in a plastic bag. We went to the Ganga Beach Cafe filled with Westerners all covered in colors and taking photos of each other. Everyone was having a good time. [Holi in Rishikesh seemed safe, it may be a different story elsewhere.]
    We eventually got back. We re-arranged our packs. We are only taking small packs for our travels today and leaving our big packs at the hotel. We loaded onto two vehicles and drove for about 45 minutes upstream along the Ganges. This is one of the most beautiful drives I've been on. We could look down sharp drops and see the Ganges flowing through the Himalayas. This is especially interesting for me because I use the Ganges as a model of the Lee sandstone belts in the Appalachians.After 45 minutes we came to a stop and got out. We carried our small packs along a trail for about five minutes and came out on a sand and boulder beach on the Ganges. There were two strings of tents lined up along the sand. An old parachute was used as a mess tent and we had a very nice lunch of rice, acchar, dahl, mixed vegetable curry, potato curry with dumplings, chipati, and boiled water. We were then assigned tents. They were wall tents with twin cots and a tarp floor and awning.
    We were all eager to get the colors off our skin and hair, so we went to a safe pool. The Ganges is a rapids here and unsafe to enter except where there are protected pools. The water was cold but one could get used to it. I used soap to remove most of the colors, but staining remains on my face and arms, so they tell me. I wore swimming trunks and washed out my throw-away clothes. By the time I got to the campsite, I had a huge hole at the crotch of my pants. There is no point in saving them, so I will just leave them here. I climbed along the boulders looking at the rocks. I saw cross-bedded sandstones, quartzites, some crystalline rocks, and a limestone boulder with mussels and high-spired gastropod fossils. The sound of the Ganges flowing is like a waterfall and very relaxing. I met a fisherman fishing along the edge and walking along the boulders. I talked with him a little. He was using a soft plastic fish with one big hook and one small treble hook. He said it had very life-like action. I went back to the mess tent, drank some boiled (hopefully) water and filled out my journal.
    At 5, we had tea (sweet milk tea). The staff built a fire on the beach and we took the mess tent chairs and sat around the fire. At 7:30 they brought us mugs of vegetable soup. At 8 we had dinner in the mess tent. Everything was vegetarian. We had mixed vegetable curry, mutter paneer, dahl, boiled rice, chipati, vermicelli dessert, and water to drink. After dinner we went back to the campfire. We listened to music on Sarah's I-pod and speaker, and had some conversation. There was a full moon and we could see without flashlights, even though the sky was cloudy. I told a story that must have been depressing because everyone left after I was finished.
    I went to my tent at about 10. Even though it was quiet with only the sound of the Ganges, I didn't sleep very well.

28 March 2013 Thursday
    I got up around 7. I could hear all different sorts of birds from 5:30 till 7. I don't know what they were. I brushed my teeth and went to early tea at 7:30. It was sweet milk tea. At 8 we had breakfast which consisted of toast, butter, omelette, plain yogurt, chipati, and barley porridge. I made an omelette sandwich and added ketchup and acchar.
    After breakfast, I filled out my journal. We took partial group photos (several people had already left for the climb up). Then we gathered our gear and walked back up to the road. We loaded onto our own small bus and made the drive back to Rishikesh. We re-assembled our luggage and left it in the day room. Several people lined up for showers.
I walked into town and went to a rooftop restaurant. I had fresh lime soda and a plate of humus and pita bread (the pita was actually a roti). It was becoming very hot (about 37 degrees C) and the town was extremely crowded for some reason. I walked back to the hotel. The shower was now free so I took one. There was no towel so I just scraped the water off and dressed. Then I met with everyone in the hotel restaurant and I had my first coca cola of the year.
    At 3:30 we met in the lobby with all our luggage. We presented to Uttam the money that we had collected for our tip to him. When the small tourist bus arrived, our gear was loaded and we boarded. It was hot so we had the windows open.
    After a 45-minute drive we arrived once again at the Haridwar train station at about 5 PM. We put our luggage in a pile on the platform. Our train to New Delhi was supposed to leave at 6, but it didn't arrive till 6:15. There was a very mad rush as people tried to get on. People shoved me out of the way, pushed their way on board. It was every man, woman and child for himself. When people finally boarded they blocked the aisle and progress couldn't be made. I put my pack above my seat and a fellow shoved it out of the way so he could put his luggage in the rack. He occupied my seat because he wanted to sit next to his wife, leaving me without a seat. Uttam came around and offered a change of seats, and everyone was happy. This is a crazy system.
    At 6:45, the servers brought a snack tray for each person and brought hot water jugs. I had sweet milk (non-dairy) tea. There was a pastry, some cake-like thing, some candy, and mango juice. I only had the juice and tea. Next came a small tray with small bread roll and butter. Then one with a small cup of tomato soup arrived. Then came a large tray with cut carrots and radishes, roll of chipati, a dahl, and a vegetable curry, as well as steamed rice. There was also a small container of acchar. At about the same time I got a container of plain yogurt. A liter of water is already provided at each seat. After the dinner trays were picked up, they brought small containers of vanilla ice cream. After a while, I was awakened by a server and he asked for a tip. I noticed that he only asked Westerners. I'm pretty sure they're not supposed to do that.
    We arrived at New Delhi station, the end of the line. We loaded onto several cabs and slowly made our way out of the crammed parking lot and to our destination, Hotel Pooja Palace. I got to my room close to the lobby by 11:40 PM. I took a hot shower, brushed my teeth, filled out my notebook, and went to be shortly after midnight.

29 March 2013 Friday
    My room is next to the kitchen, so I can hear the staff making loud preparations for breakfast. The lobby noises were apparent as well. I got up about 7:30 and took a shower, took my pills, and brushed my teeth. I went to the lobby to say goodbye to those who were leaving for their morning flights. A group also went for breakfast. I wasn't hungry, so I stayed in my room typing out my journal and backing up my photos. I was able to connect to the internet, so I sent out a mass of e-mails (journal entries). The internet connection ceased shortly after they were sent.
    I pulled everything out of my pack and re-packed. The tennis shoes that I had packed and never used will be discarded. I thought we might have to trek over gravels and granules at some point and sandals would not work well. I have worn sandals the entire trip. Taking the shoes out saved a little room that is now replaced by the shawls that I bought. I also took a nap. I will have a long series of flights later.
    A group of us met in the lobby at 7:30 and walked to the Spice Bar and Restaurant. This was our last meal together. I ordered mixed vegetable curry extra spicy, and rice. I had a small Kingfisher for drink. This should be my last beer for a long time. There were eight of us and we all shared as usual. I walked back to the hotel before the others because I needed to leave for the airport soon.
    At 10 PM my airport transfer came. I rode with Marianne who had a flight at about the same time. It was a 45-minute ride to the airport. I went to the Air France counter and was issued just one boarding pass (to Paris). I inquired about the other flights and the young man eventually found them and issued all of my boarding passes. I wish he had done a thorough job the first time. I made my way through customs and security and walked to my terminal. I had plenty of time, so I walked to a coffee shop and had a hot chocolate. I lounged here for about 1.5 hours.

30 March 2013 Saturday
    They started boarding just as I got to the gate. I sat next to an Indian lady and her daughter. The lady was very surprised when I spoke Hindi to her. The movie viewer in our bank of seats did not work, so I couldn't watch movies. I listened to some easy French pop and classical music. For dinner, I was served a vegetarian tray, but I was not hungry. I kept the small bottle of water and had a vin rouge for drink. I may have slept some during the flight, but if so, it wasn't much. At about 5:30 AM Paris time, we were served breakfast. I had a big tray of food but only had one bite of an omelet, a croissant, a plain yogurt and a chai masala.
    We landed in Paris about 6:40. I took the shuttle train to my new gate about 7 AM. I bought Anne a box of chocolate at La Maison du Chocolat. The temperature is at freezing outside and it's supposed to get up to about 36 degrees F. I sat down and filled out my journal. My French is very weak and my pronunciation is horrible. Single word answers get me by unnoticed, but anything approaching a sentence is answered by English. My cough is back too. I went to a coffee shop and ordered a cafe latte. I typed out my journal while there.
    At the gate counter I got priority boarding which is handy even though I'm traveling in economy class. I got on the plane around 9:50 AM and went straight to my seat. The plane took off at 10:40. During the flight I watched The Life of PiDilemma, and The Hobbit. I was served food several times, but I just wasn't hungry. I did have some bread, ice cream and ginger ale. I haven't been hungry for weeks and I can't imagine being hungry again. I've had a dry cough throughout the flight. We landed in Detroit at 2:40 PM and it is bright and sunny.
    I made my way through passport control and customs very quickly (I have no checked luggage). I was at my gate by a little after 3. My next flight departs at 7:30 so I have a long time to wait. I filled out my journal and then typed it out.
    I boarded my flight to Lexington about 7:00 and the plane took off about 7:30. I was in Lexington airport by about 9 PM, very tired. I walked to the exit and saw Anne waiting for me. She told me all the news on our drive home.