Himalayan Healthcare

Hello everyone,
We both feel a little awkward about doing this, but we also both feel that it is such a good cause, we thought we would put it out there.

As some of you may know, Colleen will be volunteering two weeks of her time at beginning of December in a hospital in the Nepali town of Ilam with a group called Himalayan healthcare (HHC). Himalayan Healthcare is a not-for profit organization that works to provide primary health care, education and income generation assistance to people living in remote and impoverished regions of Nepal. She will be working with a team to provide outpatient and inpatient obstetric and gynecologic care for patients as well as local staff education.

Unfortunately, a portion of HHC's funding for this project fell through, so the group is looking for alternate funding sources, including donations. That is where you come in. We would appreciate it if you would consider donating to HHC to help fund their work in Nepal. Of note, we are not looking for donations for Colleen or any of the other volunteer physicians. All of the physicians are paying for their own transportation and expenses and are volunteering their services. Many are also bringing medical supplies from the United States. (Of course since we have been traveling, Colleen is just bringing her cheerful self, sans medical supplies.) Nonetheless, hospital costs such as anesthesia support and post-operative care will require some additional expense, although not nearly as much as in the United States. For example, a donation of $200 would pay for all of the hospital expenses for a patient who needs to have a hysterectomy.

We have included a link to Himalayan Healthcare’s website (http://www.himalayan-healthcare.org/ ) if you are interested in more information or would consider making a donation. If you would like to donate, you can do so online by following the ‘How you can help’ tab or the ‘Donate now’ link. Your donation would go directly to Himalayan Healthcare, and there is no need to tell us whether or not you choose to donate, although you might consider marking your donation for the ‘December OB/GYN Camp’.



Thank you,

Colleen & Michael

Amritsar: Funny Walks and a Holy Place

Amritsar is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab (after the capital Chandigarh). It is a pleasant town on it's own, out of the way enough to be far less overrun by tourists than other areas we've been to, but still relatively easy to get to (6 hour train from Delhi), great food (even in India, Punjab is famous for its food), and easy to get around on foot. It borders Pakistan (Amritsar is only 50 km to Lahore, even closer to the border), and is the spiritual home to the Sikh people. The two attractions most people come to see, the flag ceremony at the India / Pakistan border, and the Sikh's holiest shrine, the Golden Temple, reflect this. My brother visited India last year and told me that Amritsar had been a highlight for him. His descriptions intrigued me, so when we were making our India plan, Amritsar figured prominently. I have to say that my brother was right, and I was not disappointed. Amritsar has to be my favourite spot in India so far.

Security checkpoint

The flag ceremony is ostensibly just a bunch of army guys lowering flags at sunset at the border with the sort of pomp and circumstance that the military does so well. However, as we were to find out, it is really a bit more than that. For those of you who don't already know, India and Pakistan do not have the friendliest relationship. Under the British Raj, Pakistan was a part of India. When independence came in 1947 however, the majority Muslim northwest of the country chose to go its own way, and India was partitioned to form the new Muslim state of Pakistan and the (mostly) Hindu state of India. This did not happen peacefully. There were ethnically motivated massacres on both sides as Hindus and Muslims caught on the wrong side of Britain's arbitrary line tried to get to the other side. The conflict continues to this day. India and Pakistan have fought three full out wars, there are constant skirmishes in Indian controlled Kashmir, and more recently, the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in 2008 that killed 175 people were carried out by attackers from Pakistan. This is obviously a pretty basic and incomplete history, and I'm sure any Indian or Pakistani reading it would wince at the generalizations and omissions, but i felt it necessary to mention something about the history of the area in order to give some context to what has to be one of the strangest events I have ever seen, the flag ceremony at the Wagah border crossing between India and Pakistan.

The Indian crowd

The drive to the Wagah border post took about 25 minutes in a hired taxi. The first sign that something was up was the traffic. The road was full of cars and auto-rickshaws headed towards Wagah. I could not imagine that many people were on there way to Pakistan, I wasn't even sure if the border was open (it usually closes when there is a flare up between India and Pakistan, which is not that infrequent). I asked our driver, and he told me everyone was off to see the ceremony. Arriving at Wagah was the next clue. There was a real carnival atmosphere there. Cars and people jostling for space on a dusty road, loudspeakers blaring music, and vendors selling snacks. We got out of the car and sort of followed the crowd. Things took a more serious turn at an army checkpoint where we were lined up (girls in one line and boys in another as is usual in India) to pass through a metal detector and be searched by soldiers. After that it was on the the grandstand. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I certainly wasn't expecting stadium seating. There must have been between 5 and 10 thousand people, with an equal number on the Pakistan side, who we could just about see through a fence and a fancy gate separating the two countries. The crowd was energized. There was an MC on each side whipping the respective crowds into frenzies with chants and loud rhythmic music, sort of like the pregame at a sporting event

The Pakistani crowd (over the fence)

Then came the main event. 8 soldiers appeared out of their barracks, dressed in full formal gear. Shiny black shoes, spats, perfectly pleated sashes and some kind of peacock berets with a shiny embroidered fan on top. They all stood at attention and the leader started what must have been a muster call to the uproarious cheers of the crowd. Through the fence, we could see and hear the same thing going on on the Pakistan side. I'm not sure what the point was, but there was lots of long drawn out yells, some synchronized head snapping and foot stomping. Then one of the soldiers did the most incredible thing. He broke rank and set off quick time towards the border gate, in a half skip, half goose step / high kick. The ladies at the Moulin Rouge couldn't have kicked higher. The crowd went ballistic. He went right up to the gate, stomped a bit, saluted his flag and glowered through the gate at his Pakistani counterpart, who was pretty much mirroring him. This was repeated several times by other soldiers in a surreal bit of military / cabaret choreography. For those of you familiar with it, it was the Ministry of Funny Walks from Monty Python. Then the leader from each countries group of soldiers (you could tell the leaders by their more extravagant headgear) started lowering their respective countries flags. This was done incredibly slowly. I was told later that this was to ensure that at no time would one flag be lower than the other. When finally down, the flags were ceremoniously but quickly folded, and trotted double time by the soldiers back to the barracks, to more wild cheering from the ecstatic crowds.

The glowering stare

When it was all over, I didn't know quite what had hit me. The crowd surrounding me seemed satisfied, everyone was smiling and seemed to have that "we really showed them" kind of look. Had we won? Had our guys kicked higher than the theirs, were our guys dressed snazzier? I can honestly say that was one of the strangest things I have ever seen. If it weren't for the fact that people have died and continue to die in the conflict between these two countries, this kind of hyper nationalism and glorification of military culture would be hilarious to me. However, the reality is that the people in attendance did not find it in any way funny. Their chants and flag waving were not the stuff of conciliation, or fraternity, and I couldn't help feeling a little sad when it was all over. The sturdy barbed wire fencing and military barracks we passed on the way back to the taxi belied the smiles on the faces of spectators.

The Golden Temple at Amritsar

If the flag ceremony represented the negative end of the spectrum of nationalism, I would have to say that the Golden Temple represents, in my opinion, an example of the beautiful potential of religion. I won't go into the details of the Sikh religion, I'm certainly no expert, and it's not really germane to the point. Just to give you an idea though, the Golden Temple in Amritsar is to the Sikhs what the Vatican is to Catholics, the wailing wall is to Jews, and Mecca is to Muslims, the holiest of holies. The Temple is located in the centre of a man made lake which in turn is surrounded an all four sides by other religious buildings, beautiful in their own right. The Temple itself is stunning. It is "Golden" because 100 kg of actual gold was used to coat its exterior, and this beautiful golden facade brilliantly reflects the sunlight and is mirrored in the lake, really quite beautiful. The Sikh holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib, is sung (the Sikh book is made up of hymns that are sung rather than read) in the Temple from early in the morning to late at night, and pilgrims form in lines for a chance to cross the narrow bridge to the Temple for a few minutes inside. Pilgrims will also bathe in the lake as its waters are considered holy and imbued with special powers.

It is not the acts of the pilgrims, nor the buildings themselves that define this place, beautiful though they are. Rather it is the sense of spirituality and brotherhood that permeate the site and are almost palpable. It is difficult to describe, but in a country full of noise and exuberance, here was peace, in a country full of people pushing you out of the way, here was quiet consideration. You could see it on people's faces, everyone was there to experience something beautiful, and you could almost feel their happiness.

Dinner at the Golden Temple

As it specifically concerned us, I have to say that I always find it difficult to visit a place that is holy to a religion that is not my own. I feel like an interloper, and am never sure if my presence is an insult.This was most definitely not the case at the Golden Temple. On several occasions, people stopped to ask us if we needed anything or if we had any questions. Of course we had questions, and they were always patiently answered. People would just stop to say hello, and try to make us feel more welcome. As a matter of fact, one of the tenets of the Sikh religion is langar, or communal eating after worship. This is practised at the Golden Temple where a communal kitchen feeds the pilgrims, thousands daily, simple meals of rice, curry and bread. We were intrigued, but did not want to impose ourselves. This turned out not to be an issue as several people invited us / shepherded us into the cafeteria. At langar, everyone sits and eats from the floor (the Sikhs believe all are equal, and sitting together on the floor ensures that no one is above another). So we sat on the floor, more awkwardly that everyone else of course, and had our meal. It was really great. The food was great, and we were made to feel totally welcome, even though we were the only non-Sikhs in a hall of at least 700 people. Everyone, from the people serving the food to the people sitting around us would say hello, try to make small talk or smile at us. Regardless of how you fell about religion in general, there are times when it can achieve something truly beautiful, and In Amritsar, it has.

We are in Varanasi now, and leave tomorrow for Kathmandu. It seems like we arrived in India only yesterday....

Michael
Divya Hotel, Assi Ghat,

Varanasi, India

Rajasthan: Back on the Beaten Path

If Africa, or at least large parts of it, were off the beaten path, then Rajasthan is very much on it. Rajasthan is a province in India. Its claim to fame is that it is home to the kingdoms of the maharajahs. These kingdoms have a rich history and culture that stretch back hundreds of years, and the countryside is littered with their old fortresses, palaces, havelis (fancy homes) walled cities and temples. Add to that a good transportation network, inexpensive lodging and food, colourful markets and town centres, and you have the perfect ingredients for a major tourist destination. It sounds great, but as with most tourist destinations, it can be pretty awful. Whatever culture or beauty may have existed has, for the most part, has been chased away by convoys of tour buses, to be replaced by shysters selling inferior copies of whatever people came for in the first place.Combined with the general filth of the cities (the air was so bad, some days it was difficult to breathe), beggars, congested traffic, and incredibly aggressive touts, you end up with a bad impression to say the least. Also, due to time constraints, Colleen and I hired a driver for our 12 day tour. Before you go thinking we’ve become aristocrats, it was actually not that much more expensive than taking trains and buses, and it was really the only way we could see all we wanted to see given the time constraints we were working with, and given that it is the holiday season here (Diwali), booking hotels and transportation as we went would have been a real challenge anyway. However, this is not the way we like to travel, we prefer to be in charge and not really plan that far ahead, and I can't say we really enjoyed it that much.

However, it is the weak mind that dwells on the negative, so here are some of our good (sometimes great) experiences in Rajasthan, and why our overall experience was positive.

Sheer volume: Having a driver allowed us to see many places we would never have got to without one. Our route was Delhi, Mandawa, Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Ranakpur, Bundi, Fatepur Sikri, Jaipur, Amer, Agra, Vrindavan and back to Delhi. Not bad for 12 days, exhausting though.

Driving: Driving in India is a real adventure. The scenery is impressive, and the roads are generally pretty good, it what’s on the roads though that really gets your attention. On any given day, Bittoo, our driver and new Sikh friend from Delhi, would have to weave his way through cars, tractors, people, camels, buses, elephants, trucks, donkey carts, cows (lots of cows), motorcycles and monkeys. While technically you’re supposed to drive on the left here, Bittoo chose the middle of the road in order to be best situated to avoid traffic coming at us from either side. We alternated between amused and terrified. My favourite was the guess how many people on the motorcycle game – 5 was the record, unless the babies count for less than 1.

Camel ride

Camel ride: It was definitely a tourist trap, and when we first pulled up, I got that, “well this sucks, no way I'm going to have fun here" attitude. Then I got on the camel, it stood up, and I turned into a giddy ten year old. Sure the ride was only an hour or so, but we were in the desert, on a camel. You have no idea how tall a camel is until you see the ground from ones back.

The Thar Desert: The Thar desert is in the Northwest of India, on the border with Pakistan. The part of it we saw was really beautiful, dry savanna with huge sand dunes rolling away into the distance. We even saw a few wild antelope. We spent a night under the stars sleeping in the desert too. That was pretty incredible. There were more stars than I've seen in a while, and as if ordered up just for us, there was a thunder storm in the distance, with lightning strikes lighting up the night sky from time to time. The best part though had to be the moonrise. Watching a giant moon rising over the sand dunes, basking everything in a weird brownish burgundy colour was unlike anything I've ever seen before.

Making a Connection: Making any kind of local connection in Rajasthan was not easy. We didn’t spend a lot of time in any one place, and most of the places we stayed were overrun by other tourists, and the industry set up to cater to them. However, we, or rather Colleen, did have a pretty special moment in Jodhpur. We were walking through the main gate of the Palace, and there were a group of musicians playing local music for tips. A group of schoolchildren on a class trip was listening to the musicians, and broke into a sort of group folk dance, a sort of Indian macarena. A few of them saw Colleen and dragged her into the dance. I was thankfully spared, but it was fun watching Colleen awkwardly trying to match steps with a bunch of 14 year old Indian girls. Afterwards, the teachers asked us a bunch of questions for the class, and everyone took pictures with us. We found out from the teachers afterwards that the children were from the countryside, and most had never seen a foreigner before.

Udaipur sunset

Udaipur sunset: Udaipur is adjacent to lake Pichola, and the orange sun setting behind the hills in the distance, shimmering over the lake and casting a glow to the lake palace (you might recognize the lake palace from the James Bond movie Octopussy) as the city lights come one is really stunning. On a trip full of amazing sunset, this was the best. The picture I included gives you an idea, but really doesn’t do it justice. 

Rooftop restaurants: One thing India definitely does right is the roof top restaurant. Almost every hotel or restaurant has seating on the roof. You may have to walk through the kitchen, closet, bathroom  and someone’s bedroom to get there, but once you do, you are treated to amazing views of the city, the desert, or the local fort or palace. It can be especially nice at sunset. 

Meeting other travellers: Africa was so far off the beaten path that we would often go days without meeting other travellers, but here, we meet them daily. Really nice people too, from all over, each with their own story. We have spent some really nice evenings having dinner with other people, just chatting the night away.

Our old friends...

Monkeys: We had gone about two or three weeks without seeing a monkey. No one should have to go that long without seeing a monkey. They are sacred here, so similar to the cow, they cannot be harmed, and have the run of the cities. In some places you would be just standing there and a monkey would scoot right past you. They are real cheeky though, and it wasn’t uncommon to see someone chasing a monkey who had just stole their lunch.

Diwali: Diwali is the festival of lights, and it is the day when the Hindi God Lakshmi brings wealth to a household or business. Homes and businesses are lit up with candles and electric lights so that Lakshmi will not lose her way. Fireworks are also set off. I'm not quite sure what purpose they serve, but there sure were a lot of them, an were they ever loud. 

Local customs: Did you know it is illegal to kill a cow in India? The penalty is 100,000 rupees (about 2,000 USD) and up 3 years in jail. After almost having been hit by several cars trying to avoid cows in some of the cities we visited, I couldn't help but wonder what the fine for killing a tourist was - must be less than for a cow.

The Taj Mahal: I'm sure you've all seen the pictures, but it is even better in person. This would have to go on the over-hyped, but still very much worth it list.

Motorcycle Shrine

Motorcycle Shrine: As the story goes, a local pious and charitable man crashed his motorcycle on a stretch of highway and died. The police impounded the motorcycle, but the next day it miraculously reappeared at the crash site. This miracle was repeated when the police tried to impound the motorcycle again. That was all it took to convince the local people that the man’s spirit had entered into, and now lived in the motorcycle, so they set up a shrine on the side of the highway around it. This was not some event in ancient history, the crash occurred less than five years ago. Nor is it a stale inactive place, trucks and cars were parked all around the shrine, and people (including our diver) were praying and leaving gifts.

Vrindavan: Is a holy city in the Hindu religion. It is in the region where Lord Krishna spent his childhood, and there are many temples to Krishna. More interesting to me though, it is also home to the Hare Krishnas. Yes those Hare Krishnas, the ones you used to see in the airports with shaved heads and pony tails, dressed in robes asking for donations. I don't know a lot about the sect, nor why so many westerners are drawn to it, but it was a little surreal walking through the streets of an Indian town and bumping into worn out American hippies in robes on their way to a Temple. Our driver treated them as an attraction. He would nudge me and point one out whenever he saw one, almost like spotting some rare animal at a zoo.

The ramparts at Bundi Fort

Jodhpur Fort and Palace: Jodhpur's fort and palace were the best preserved and restored of all of the sights in Rajasthan. You could really get a sense of the history of the great maharajahs here and take yourself back in time to tiger hunts, elephant fights, great battles, palace intrigue and general medieval shenanigans.

Jain Temple at Ranakpur: 1444 carved marble columns, no two alike, supporting marble domes, alcoves, colonnades and statues, all in a beautiful natural setting. Maybe one of the most beautiful religious buildings I have ever seen. The sense of spirituality was somewhat diluted by the monk that asked for a tip after blessing me though.

Big juice: Alcohol is not a part of Indian culture. I'm not sure if it's illegal, but no one will sell you a beer. Instead, you order, and are charged for a "big juice", then, miraculously, a beer appears.

So that's our Rajasthan experience in a nutshell. We are in Amritsar now waiting to take the train to Varanasi (leaves in 3 hours). More on Amritsar in the next post. It is an amazing place, by far our favourite in India so far.


Michael
The Grand Hotel,
Amritsar, Punjab
India

India: First Impressions

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from India. Our reason for adding it to our list was pretty simple - how can you go around the world without seeing India? It’s just too big, important and interesting a place to skip. However, to be completely honest, I don’t know that much about India. Sure I know some basic geography and history, and unlike Africa, India actually makes into the news every once in a while, so I have some idea about current events. All of this knowledge is very superficial though, so I arrived in India basically an empty vessel, anxious to learn as much as I could. My education began at the airport.

Holy cow!

We arrived at Indira Gandhi International Airport (Delhi) at 2 am on the 24th. Let me tell you, 2 am is a really inconvenient time to arrive in a new country. We didn’t have a hotel lined up, had no local currency, and no Indian sim card for our phone. To make matters worse, all the ATMs in the airport were out of order. We were pretty tired at that point, and although the airport was very clean and modern, the thought of sleeping there didn’t really appeal to us, so we got to work. I changed some US currency for Rupees (we keep US cash with us for this kind of emergency), Colleen got a sim card and some prepaid minutes for the phone and we contacted a hotel that would take us, so by about 4 am, we were on our way. The taxi ride from the airport to our hotel was my first glimpse of India. Even though it was dark and I was tired, I was doing my best to drink it all in. Having arrived directly from Africa as we did, I couldn’t help but notice the glaring differences. Streetlights, traffic signals, 6 and even 8 lane highways, highrises, factories, shopping centres, parks, you name it, Delhi had it. At first glance, this could be any big city in Europe or North America I thought to myself… Then we passed a guy riding an elephant.  I did a bit of a double take, then checked with Colleen to make certain sleep deprivation hadn’t got the best of me - she confirmed the sighting. I should stress that this was not some side street or a dirt path, it was on the main road from the airport. Any thoughts that India might be just another humdrum destination were further put to rest when we arrived at our hotel. Colleen had to alert me to the fact that a cow was bearing down on me from behind as I got my bag out of the taxi. I suppose I knew that cows are sacred and wander the streets in India. It is one thing to know something intellectually, but being chased by a cow on a deserted city street in the early morning hours is something else altogether.

Delhi Sunset

We spent the next few days in Delhi soaking it all in. V.S. Naipal once said “There is little subtlety to India”. Based on my first impressions, I would certainly agree. As a matter of fact, I might go one further. In my short time here so far, I’ve not seen any evidence of subtlety whatsoever.  Everything seems to be at the extremes, good and bad. From the colourful saris worn by the women to the heaps of garbage in the streets, from the fantastic flavours of the food to the awful smells of excrement and garbage in the streets, from the beautiful temples and mosques to the decrepit buildings of old Delhi, from the serenity of the park at the India Gate to the cacophony of carhorns and yelling in the bazaars, everything is over the top. It all seems to hold together though, and even has its own peculiar sort of cachet, and even some real beauty. My personal favourite is the light. I don't know if it's the dust or the pollution, but there is always a haze or a fog hanging over everything. The sun is difused by this haze so that everything is bathed in this soft sort of orange - pink colour, especially at sunrise or sunset. It's really fantastic.

Street in Old Delhi

I think Colleen summed it up fairly well in her own inimitable way. We were in an autorickshaw (sort of a three wheeled motorcycle taxi) on one of the main roads in Delhi. It was a busy street with three and four story buildings packed tightly together on both sides of the street, shops and restaurants crowding the sidewalks, which were themselves crowded with people. The whole area had a feel of metropolitan hustle and bustle. Colleen turned to me and said “You know, this place is a lot like Queens (NYC)”. Just as she finished her observation, we passed a wagon being pulled by a galloping cow, the driver on the cart whipping the cow, exhorting him to greater speeds in an effort to keep up with the traffic. Colleen looked at the cart, paused, then said “I take it back, this is nothing at all like Queens”.  I hope that in the time we have here, we can get a better understanding of India, because from what I’ve seen so far, this is a pretty special and amazing place.

The Red Fort, Delhi

We’re in Rajasthan now, touring the medieval forts and palaces of the maharajas. Then we’re on to Amritsar, Varanasi and then Kathmandu.

Michael

Pearl Palace Hotel
Jaipur, Rajasthan,
India

PS Happy Diwali!