India - third post

Hi all,

I woke up this morning to 9 monkeys sitting on the roof about 10 ft. from our hotel window. I think they are rhesus monkeys and we have been well educated on monkey etiquette here in India. Don't feed them, don't get within 10 ft of them, and don't look them in the eye because this is a sign of aggression and they will charge you. So instead, we try to take pictures sideways, looking but not looking, and hoping that they don't move away too fast. Monkeys, dogs and cows walk around wild in India. The dogs are ok during the day but at night they make such a fuss that I sleep with earplugs. Cows graze everywhere and are loathe to get out of the middle of the road, which is already very narrow and usually bordered by a steep drop-off (like about 1,000 ft). So it's a game of chicken or 'cow', as the case may be.

Yesterday we left Dharamsala on another seemingly endless bus ride through the mountains, down roads too narrow for our bus and another car to pass comfortably. A 90 mile ride took us 10 hours. Yes, 10 hours. Getting around in India is an exercise in patience and endless napping. We can't seem to get anywhere in under 10 hours. Tomorrow we drive to Chandigarh, a trip that should take us about 2 hours but will undoubtedly take us 6 or 7. We arrived in Rewalsar, a Buddist holy place, about 8:30 pm cold and hungry, only to find the hotel had no heat, not in the rooms and not in the dining room, nowhere. None of the Indian hotels have have heat. None of them. And in the mountains it was about 28 degrees F last night. Marty and I went to bed with our pants, woolen socks, long underwear, fleece jackets, hats and gloves. We slept to the endless cacauphony of packs of barking dogs and woke to the shrieks of monkeys next door. India is not a quiet place.

I've decided that the 5 most important items to bring with you to India are PATIENCE, earplugs, at least one roll of toilet paper (the bathrooms don't come with it), a heater, and a filtration mask. Wet wipes are also a good idea. India is amazing but it is also dirty, noisy and never seems to sleep. Also helpful are pillow encasers (the kind people with asthma use) (the pillows in India are grisly and quite disgusting) and a sleep sack. I have more 'must haves' but I'll talk about those later.

Tomorrow we travel to Chandigarh, spend the night and then fly to Delhi in the morning. From Delhi, we fly to Jaipur. Marty has decided to leave us in Delhi and fly home. He has had enough of India, "thank you very much!" Not his 'cup of tea'. Frankly, I don't blame him. Even though the cancellation/rebooking penalty was hefty, he had no hesitation about paying it. He is done! So you all will see him Sunday, Dec. 6. He'll bus it to Madison from Chicago and probably arrive Sunday around noon - 2pm. I will stay on for the second week. I'm hoping that we are through the worst. At least Jaipur should be warmer than the mountains, although I'll have to break out my filtration mask again.

I miss everyone. Nothing like a trip to a far away land to make you appreciate home. There's no place like home..... There's no place like home..... (who stole my ruby slippers?!).

Donna