Land of the Thunder Dragon

Bhutan is small country tucked away in the Himalayas and has been closed to the outside world until relatively recently. There are no McDonalds, shopping malls or movie theaters and the 'highway' connecting the various towns and villages throughout the country is more or less a one to two lane dirt and paved road. The country is Buddhist and dotted with incredible monasteries and temples. Some are perched high on mountain cliffs like the Tiger's Nest Monastery which took us a 3 hour climb to reach. There are clear rivers tinged with blues and greens, mountains and huge forests  everywhere, and there is a calmness that is hard to find elsewhere. People are friendly but don't seem too used to tourists. Bhutan is surely a unique place.

For the past week we've been traveling to various towns and villages, staying one or two night in each location and watching colorful festivals, going on half day hikes through beautiful valleys, and visiting temples and massive zongs which are fortresses dating back to the 12th century.

For this part of our journey, we have Nadia's father Nabil and his wife Violet traveling with us, which has made the experience all the more special because we get to share it with family. Maya and Mira have really enjoyed spending time with their grandfather (Jidu) and Violet.

We've just arrived in the capital, Thimbu, after an all day drive over mountain passes (+10,000 ft) and down into terraced rice paddy valleys dotted with houses built with a unique architecture I've never seen anywhere else. Tomorrow morning we'll visit the weekly farmer's market to see what's for sale. Life is good.

Cheers, Rob

Hiking to Tiger's Nest Monastery 

Terraced rice and wheat fields, Paro 

Former royal palace 

Happy kids on their way home from school 

Traditional dancer at festival in Bhumthang 

At makeshift marketplace near festival 

Weathered faces are the norm in Bhutan 

Zong (fortress) at Trongsa

Greeting from villager

Stupa where monks are camped out 

Memories

We are collecting memories, not things....

Nadia

Active time outside...

Seeing amazing natural wonders (Mount Everest)

Creating art (Bhutanese prayer flags)

Spending quality time with family (like my dad and Violet here in Bhutan)

Diverse India

It's been another fascinating week in India. We spent two more days in Varanasi with a wonderful group of girls (orphans) from the Little Stars School. We took all 26 of them and 3 of the staff to dinner for pizza and ice cream on our last night there, concluding 4 days of activities and fun together. We took lots of photos, had them printed and then made a large poster with all the photos, which they hung up in their general area at the shelter. The girls were so warm, welcoming and appreciative it was nice to connect with such a worthy group of people and to see Maya and Mira making new friends on our travels.

From Varanasi we took a night train to Agra -aaaaahhhhhhhh, what an experience. We arrived at the train station at 11:30pm, where Maya immediately vomited in the parking lot because she was quite sick with the flu for several days (thankfully she's now almost 100% back with the living). The station had hundreds of people sleeping on the ground, stairs, benches etc and we were surely the only foreigners at the station. We found an outside place on the cement platform to put out a couple of sarongs so we could sit down,watch our backpacks, and let Maya get horizontal. Almost instantly the mosquitos found us, en mass, so we all lubed up with repellent. Next, the overwhelming stench of raw sewerage had Mira and I wearing bandana's like outlaws to reduce the noxious smell. Then came the rats - lots of them and big. They were not shy, anything but. I couldn't go more than a minute without jumping up and scaring away the rats trying to make a quick b-line right for us to get any food they may find in our possession. This went out for 4 hours until the train arrived at 3:30am. Once on the train, more delays occurred on route which resulted in us arriving in Agra at 4:30pm instead of 6:30am - 'running late' is a relative term when referring to local trains here. To add to the ordeal, Mira fell head first off our train cabin's top sleeper bunk onto her face on the floor and really scrapped up the bridge of her nose. We're very lucky she didn't break her neck. She's still sporting some pretty good scabs, several days later, but otherwise she's her same cheery self.

The first morning in Agra, Nadia and I did yoga on the roof of our hotel looking out at the dome of the Taj Mahal (don't envision me in any amazingly spiritual yoga positions - I still can't even touch my toes). Later in the morning we all went to see the iconic Taj Mahal which really does warrant a visit. The architecture and workmanship is truly magnificent. 

After 2 nights in Agra we traveled to Ranthambhore, a 6 hour drive, in an attempt see a rare wild tiger. Fortunately, on our second 3 hour drive through the savanna and forest where a population of wild tigers live, we spotted one just before sunset. We were sitting in our open vehicle with our guide and heard the warning call of a mule deer which signified a tiger was nearby. About twenty minutes later, we were in awe as a stunningly beautiful tiger walked along a dry riverbank then passed right by the vehicle we were in. It really was quite exciting to see such a rare animal in the wild.

We're now back in Delhi and have just met up with Nadia's father Nabil and his wife Violet. It's great to reconnect with family. Tomorrow we all fly out to the small and relatively closed country of Bhutan, located in the Himalayas. The kids are excited about the prospect of seeing Mt. Everest on the flight into the country's capital, Thimbu.

All is good, even with the scraps, bug bites, various sicknesses, etc.    Cheers, Rob

Old men passing time at night next to the Ganges 

Group photo with girls from the Little Stars School/Shelter 

Sadu 

Color, color everywhere

With Nadia at the Taj Mahal (a bucket list item for sure)

View of the Taj Mahal from the Yamuna River 

Friendly man I met on the street in Agra 

At Ranthambhore National Park 

Rare tiger sighting while on safari 

Beautiful and majestic animal

Tiger

It's soft fur shines
as it patters along the forest floor,
stalking its prey.
Gracefully,
it pounces,
painlessly killing a deer,
scarcely making a noise.
It's lips glisten a ruby red,
And it's mouth twitches,
It continues on through the forest,
Completely alone,
Untraceable,
A streak of orange and black in the shadows.

Maya

Live Life!

Life is short, don't waste it. How much time do you spend in the mirror every day? Why does it matter what you look like. That time could be spent living your life! The universe, think about the universe and what we are, why we are, then think about when you get old, you won't be able to barely walk, now, finally think about when you die. Appreciate life before life is over. When you are young, you want to be older to be able to, run a marathon for ages 18 and up, you want to be heard, for people to stop squeezing your cheeks and start listening to what you say. But by the time you realize you are older, your to old to eat whatever you want without getting fat, you can't ride a roller coaster endlessly without getting sick. Live life at the fullest.

Mira

Transportation

In eight countries visited so far on our trip, we have travelled by foot, bike, car, bus, train, boat, and airplane. My favorite is the train, watching the passing countryside, walking between carriages, sampling food given or sold, seeing and hearing the locals.

Unless it's a delayed sleeper train...

Nadia

Holy places

For the past 10 days we've been exploring two very spiritual places in India. First we visited Amritsar in the Punjab region, which is the holiest place for Sikhs and home of the Golden Temple (375kgs of solid gold, plated over thin sheets of copper and wrapped around the temple). The temple has a huge pool where devotees come to bath and pray. There is also a communal kitchen, staffed by hundreds of volunteers feeding 40,000 people free of charge every day. People's sense of 'giving back' is very strong in Amritsar and quite moving. In addition to visiting the temple and taking a walking tour of the old city, we also traveled to the Pakistan/India border where we watched border guards conduct a surreal, end of day - closing of the border crossing ceremony (lots of British type pomp and high kicking), which dates back to when Pakistan and India became independent countries.

Now we're in the ancient city of Varanasi, along the banks of the Ganges River, where pilgrims from all over India come to bath in the holy river. Many come seeking cure from ailments or sickness while many of the old and poor come to die. We started our visit by taking a sunrise boat trip on the river and watched as the sun came up and people congregated at the river to bath and pray. The early light off the temples, Maharaja palaces and mosques was incredibly picturesque.  We also saw funeral piers where bodies were being cremated in the open on large piles of wood. Varanasi is an iconic, ancient city that looks like one big photo-shoot for national geographic. The buildings are very old, there is a never-ending labyrinth of narrow alleyways lined with very old heavy wooden entrances to houses and temples, sacred cows roam the streets everywhere unmolested, monkeys hang off the telephone wires, half naked holy men are a common site and transport is mostly done by pedal rickshaws and 3-wheel took-tuks. It's an adventure just walking the streets everyday.

For the past couple of days we've been volunteering at a girls shelter which is home to 26 wonderful girls ages 6 -17 years old. The girls are orphans or come from very poor families and have no place else to live. We've spent afternoons at the shelter, and the small school attached to it, doing art work with the kids, playing games, eating food, and just having fun. Maya and Mira have really enjoyed volunteering and making new friends. On Saturday night we've organized to take all the girls and the staff for pizza and ice cream at a local pizzeria along the river. It should be fun.

Cheers, Rob

 Golden Temple, Amristar

Making tea for 40,000 people

 Yogi

 Early morning on the Ganges

 Beautiful smiles

 Vibrant colors everywhere

 Contemplation

Holy man

 Maya with new friends 

Row boat ride at sunrise

Mira learning to meditate

Lucky

We are truly lucky,
to have been born into our families,
with enough money to go to school,
But what about those who weren't,
those living without an education,
missing school so that they can work,
being forced to live a life they didn't choose.

We are truly lucky,
to be from where we are from,
places of comfort and luxury,
But what about those who weren't,
those living in poverty,
begging on the streets since day one,
being forced to live a life they didn't choose.

We are truly lucky,
to have been born into our families,
where we all love each other.
But what about those who weren't,
those living in hatred,
getting beaten by their parents,
being forced to live a life they didn't choose.

We are truly lucky,
to be from where we are from,
places with stable governments,
But what about those who weren't,
those living in fear,
terrorized by army officers,
being forced to live a life they didn't choose.  

We are truly lucky,
to have been given the lives we have.
We started school before the age of six,
and continued on into our twenties.
We live in comfortable homes,
with much more space than we need.
We get along with our parents,
and don't get scared when our fathers walk through the door.
We walk down the streets,
without having to hide from officers or policemen.

We are the lucky ones,
we are living a life that we got to choose,
and those who are not,
well, maybe they will find a way out.
Maybe they will escape their families,
before being forced to marry a man twice their age.
Maybe they will flee their country,
before the government does unthinkable things.
Maybe they will get a scholarship,
and go from rags to riches.
Maybe they will get taken into a shelter,
and stop begging on the streets.

Maya

Lucky

The sound of music.  The sound of someone telling you a joke.  The sound of laugher.  The sound of people having fun.  Those are all sounds you love, you want to hear 24/7.

The worst, loudest sound of all, is no sound at all.

Some unfortunate people don't get the chance to hear.

We, my family, are very very lucky.

Not many people can say that.  We can.

We want to share our luck.  So every chance we get, we try to help people.  Even while we are traveling.

One person who we met in a camp in Jordan was a refugee from the Syrian war.  We gave him kindness and time.  Now he is in a university in Canada.  From this small act of kindness, we changed somebody's life.

Please do the same.

Remember it takes a big person to realize what they have and don't have compared to others.

Mira

The Little Star School and Hostel in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

Living the Gospel

As part of a walking food tour of Amritsar, Punjab, India, we walked through the kitchens of the Golden Temple, a very sacred Sikh temple.  80,000 people visit the temple each day.  Each of these 80,000 people is offered a free meal.  The ingredients for the meals come from donations.  It's an incredible display of humanitarian spirit!

Volunteers from all walks of life (tall and short, rich and poor, women and men) mix, stir, and boil - and peel and chop tons of onions and garlic.  It was a loud and bustling scene.

 While the temple has and uses an automated paratha machine, women brush clarified butter on the finished bread.  There was a lot of laughter and joy in that room.

 The temple cooks 100 kilograms of rice every day of the year, in large, large batches.  Interestingly, I only saw men cooking the huge vats of rice and curry.

Visitors from other parts of India (and other religions) are impressed by this generosity - as were we!

Nadia

Quiet

Sunlight bounces off of the water that mirrors the golden domes and towers of the temple. So many are people milling about around me, some bathing in the glistening body of water, others eating in the shade of the great white arches. Thousands of sikhs make this pilgrimage everyday, they walk around the Golden Temple, praying, bathing, and offering food to the Gods. And yet I stand in quiet, on the crowded walkway. There are hundreds of people in the courtyard, baking underneath the hot Indian sun, and yet I stand in quiet. More people come in every minute than go out, and yet, standing in the gateway, it is quiet.

Outside the Golden arches and marble pillars, is an empty Indian road. A few people mill about, selling things, buying things, trying to get home. I stand on the dusty paved road, trying to catch a tuk-tuk, in complete mayhem. There are less people on the streets than in the temple, but horns honk, and people yell. As I cross the street, I yearn for the quiet of the temple. No longer am I standing amongst hundreds of people, and yet in quiet, no longer am I avoiding thousands of pilgrimagers on a crowded walkway, in the quiet. I am outside, in a fairly empty street, hoping that my eardrums make it out alive.

Maya

Chaotic and fascinating Old/New Delhi India

After a  wonderful few days in Singapore spending quality time with my sister Ann and her family, we're now in India.

We recently took an early morning bike tour (6:30am) through Old Delhi. As we biked through narrow alleys, main thoroughfares and along the banks of rivers we saw an ancient city slowly coming to life. Children were riding pedal rickshaws to school, men were bathing in the streets at public tap stands, venders were baking bread to sell, butchers were slaughtering animals, monkeys were hanging from telephone wires while dogs and cats were everywhere, while the morning light highlighted centuries old temples, mosques and forts.

The trip was anything but 'easy biking' as cars, motorbikes, rickshaws, people, dogs and just about anything else that could move would get in the way as we tried to navigate the streets in one of the most populous cities in the world. Through it all though the kids were terrific. We all survived with no crashes and I had the opportunity to take some nice photos. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of India over the coming weeks. Next stop, the Punjab.

Cheers, Rob

Life on the street

Fisherman on the Yamuna river cutting through old Delhi

Fascinating people everywhere

Holy men relaxing on street

Woman at mosque

Busy streets of Old Delhi

Nomads

Mira at Jama Masjid

Walls and gate of the Red Fort

Man reading and smoking

Maya making friends

Reflection of Mira in tuck-tuk rare view mirror