The Ladakh Experience

It's Saturday afternoon here in Leh and Jeeni and I just completed an awesome interview for "the project" over at the local Ecology Center / Women's Alliance office. All signs are pointing us away from town and towards focusing the research on this amazing glacial lake near the Chinese border where there are endangered black-necked cranes. Heck yes!!! Ok, more on that later.

We also want to give you a snapshot of the amazing people we have met at our guesthouse and around the village. This way, you can understand what our days are like and who the characters are that have been shaping our experience here...

Ok, our favorite person in Changspa (and we are in hand's down agreement on this one) is "Fabienne" -- a 39-year-old Belgian woman who has spent her life wandering around the world working odd jobs and laughing and collecting incredible people. Jeeni and I already have a bunch of "fabiennisms" that we walk around echoing and cracking ourselves up. One is about a certain type of person in India (which we will leave out of this very public post) and it amounts to "All they want is your wallet or your ass. No friendship to be had..." This probably isn't so funny for our audience at home, but just take either of us out for a meal upon our return to the states and we'll leave you in stitches with the full version of the story. Fabienne is a certified dive-master (yes, Karen and Paula -- I know I need to acquire this skill as well) and she has these AMAZING tattoos all over her body of ocean scenes.

We also live with this french-speaking mother and daughter. How cool is it that this woman brought her 6-year-old daughter to Ladakh for the summer for trekking! Anyway, we always have fun trying to talk to "Lila," the little girl, and having her belly-laugh at our futile attempts to conjure up a french accent (yes, school has failed me on this one).

We also have new friends from Germany, France, Holland, and Israel.

One of our little groups of friends in town is the crew of guys who work down the road at the "English bakery." The English bakery has exactly the same stuff (exactly) as the German bakery across the street. Nobody seems to care. We are in LOVE with these divine coconut macaroon cookies that our friend "Prem" (from Nepal) makes everyday and we are always greeted with a warm welcome and an honest smile from whomever jumps up to fetch us our predictable order.

Oh, I should tell you about our dinners -- sitting on cushions on the floor in the dining area with all of the other guests, talking and laughing and eating food picked that afternoon from the garden out back... The meals always begin with some sort of vegetable soup, follow with rice and spicy North-Indian vegetable platters, and conclude with cucumber salad and mint tea. It is so good and costs us a little over a dollar each per night. Absolutely divine.

FYI, we are taking tons of awesome pictures, but haven't been able to find anywhere to download them yet (and probably won't until we're back in Delhi). Expect a lengthy slide show when we get back (the narrated kind) :-)

lots of love,
Jeni

Random Tidbits, Observations and Huh??? (TOH)

1. Young Indian girls (under five) often have their heads shaved or are in some stage of regrowth.
2. We saw our first vehicle accident in Delhi. We were in a rickshaw and a motorcycle next to us rear ended a truck. Scary. It made my neck ache.
3. I saw a Tibetan Monk with a light up flashing cell phone at the airport in Delhi. Holy Bling!
4. There were random dogs running around and just milling about on the runway at the airport.
5. No one guesses we're American. Indians all think we are European. The only Indian to guess we were American, knew because he saw my Cal visor and he normally lives in the Bay Area...He won a bet with his friend.
6. Indians inspect the inseam of my jeans when I roll them up and say "ahhh, nice."
7. The streets always smell worse than our bathrooms at our hotels, even the community bathrooms...
8. Indians in Delhi are generally bigger than those in Mumbai.
9. At the airport, women get a private booth and a female attendant when being searched.
10. Pharmacies are called "Chemists."
11. Electricity is randomly available.
12. No two bathrooms are alike in India. Some have regular "western" toilets, some have "Indian" toilets which are a porcelain hole in the ground with grooves for your feet, some have a weird combination of the two. Most do not provide toilet paper (we carry this with us at all times), most have water hoses or buckets of water. Some are simple a hole in the dirt with the smell of lime. Most do not flush properly!
13. Ketchup is a staple in India, found on every table. However, it tastes like Tabasco sauce and generic Ketchup mixed. People put it on everything.
14. Everywhere we go, we hear American Music (from boy bands to Bob Marley).
15. Locals are MUCH more friendly than other travelers.
16.Indians think Australians invented the word "Dude." Jeni suggested they got the term from Baywatch and I suggested California surfers spread the term searching for waves down under. They didn't buy it..
17. Indian cell phone: stick head out two story window and yell really really loud.
18. Nodding your head "no" or "I dunno" means "yes" and "ya, sure."
19. Indians think the only food available in the US is McDonald's.
20. Indians litter all the time in the big cities. Drives me crazy!
21. McDonald's in India is not what you get in the US. The chicken sandwich is like a bocca burger with green chutney?
22. Funny joke book found on coffee table at a locals house "Unofficial Joke book of France." My favorite joke: "With a bushel of apples, you can have a hell of a time with the doctor's wife." Funniest part is the French joke book was mainly racial jokes about minority Indians?
23. There are new developments everyday. For example, in the morning we may notice a new shelf somewhere, by nightfall it's painted. The next morning a new garden is planted where there was dirt yesterday. Each day is full of change and surprises in our geography.
24. The words and grammar on the menus are a hoot. Under Mexican Cuisine I read, "Greecesp. Mousakan Veg." Let's just say I didn't order that one. At our favorite restaurant in Ladakh, the last page has a letter to customers... "Dear Customers...If there is any mistake from us, we are sorry for that. Give some ideas and suggestion to provide our performance. Thanking you, Zen Garden (Thanks for visit)"
25. Every drink we order has "stuff" floating in it. Usually the more floaters, the better the taste.
26. Things we would have brought had we known, Jeeni: laundry soap, nail scrubber, hair straightener with foreign adapter, more clothes, less bug spray (I haven't used my net even once and have only seen one mosquito!) and finally the ink refills I bought specifically for this trip for my favorite pen that I did bring. Now the ink is almost gone and I will have to carry the thing around. Jeni: extra tank tops, shorts, water purifier, a visor and she would have left her heals at home.
27. Dichotomy: At the Shanti Stupa, a peace temple at the top of a mountain, I asked two military men to take a picture of Jeni and I. They refused, asked for money, asked where we were staying and in general were complete assholes. Ten minutes later after walking around and enjoying the serenity, those two were gone and three different military men were in their place. I thought "ahhh not three more of them." However, these guys approached me and asked if I would take a picture with each of them? I said sure and one guy even went around the corner and changes out of his Cami's into a sharp suit? Weird. I think they thought I might have been Britney Spears. They were happy to take several pictures of Jeni and I!
28. There are Israelis EVERYWHERE?
29. Mustaches are called "Mush". I laugh every time I hear someone say that...
30.We have spent more time untangling the yarn we bought to make scarves, than actually knitting and crocheting.
31. There are NO Americans in Kashmir. To fit in, we have been practicing our Sweetish accents, replacing th with s and yes with dah.
32. I bought a Nike fleece, but I am sure Nike isn't getting any royalties.
33. Indian's favorite curse word is "Sh...it man"
34. Me and Jeni's secret vocabulary is growing on a daily basis, soon we will have our own language and call it Ni.
35. Yesterday was so hot that our babbling creek turned into a river within hours from glacier melt off.
36. India is tough on the bod. Mumbai was so sticky that I think I had more pimples in 6 days than I had my entire puberty years. Delhi is so hot we couldn't sleep and our bodies ached and skin started peeling off. Kashmir is so high up we have perpetual dry throats and running noses. We still love it though.
37. The keyboard I am using has both English letters and Hebrew letters?

Ladakhi Paradise

We made it! This is our first access to Internet since arriving in Leh, which is in the Ladakh (Eastern) region of Kashmir. We are in the Himalayas in a town that is at 11,500 ft. I got really sick the second day here from the altitude change. I lost about 4 pounds in two days, which I figure puts me back at normal because I gained weight in Mumbai and Delhi. One of our escapes from the heat was eating in air-conditioned restaurants. Now I am back to normal and pretty well adjusted. We have to do everything slow because of the lack of oxygen. Just walking to town, which is a 3-mile round trip journey, requires several breaks and a good nap when we get back to our guesthouse.

Our guesthouse is amazing. Jeni started up a conversation with a woman at the airport who, later, randomly sat next to us on the plane. She had a car picking her up and recommended that we share the ride and stay at the same guesthouse. Goba Guesthouse is located just outside of the main town area in Changspa. The Goba is ran by a beautiful Buddhist family and is 300 rupees per night for a double. That’s $3.48 each for Jeni and I. Granted there is only electricity at night and it is not guaranteed, hot water only comes in buckets and we are in the middle of nowhere. However, we are surrounded by rice fields, vegetable gardens, poplar trees, cows, amazing birds, colorful lizards and we eat home cooked meals for breakfast and dinner, which our host picks from her garden that day (the best food I have ever had in my life!) We are extending our stay here because we both love it so much…

This morning Jeni and I climbed a mountain with steps to see the Shanti Stupa (Peace Temple) that was actually opened by the Dalai Lama back in 1986. It was spectacular, as is our view in every direction. We are surrounded in all directions by mountains of all colors with trees, snow, rivers, temples, villages, etc. We will be planning a trek in the next couple of days, which will consist of walking and camping, visiting nunneries and temples, enjoying nature, not bathing (ahhh), and having a guide/cook/protector.

I will write more when I can. This internet place is run off of satellite and just opened today! There are other internet café’s but they are all on dial-up and cannot connect even for a second. This place is 4 times as expensive to use the internet as the big cities, so expect fewer (and shorter!) posts for the next few weeks.

Livin’ it up in paradise, Jeeni (slightly out of breathe either from the beauty or lack of oxygen…)

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Yes folks, we are LOVING it here in HEAVEN – I mean Leh. I have to say that this is the most beautiful place on earth. Snow-capped Himalayan peaks grace our view in every direction. Buddhist stupas (temples) dot the hillsides. This morning, we saw a bird that looked like a tiny zebra with a lion’s head out of our bedroom window. The family we are staying with has made us feel welcome, loved, and safe. Also, this is where all of the NGOs are located in Kashmir – so we can go about the interviews and picture-taking assignments as if we are just fellow trekking fanatics or meditation seekers, drawn to Ladakh for its fresh air or it’s prospects for spiritual enlightenment.

Behind our guesthouse is a huge set of barracks housing the Indian Army (perfectly and ironically situated for us, I might add) and I have to say how foreign and small the military presence is compared to the majesty of the Himalayas. Last night we went to sleep to the bizarre sound of bagpipes and marching soldiers. In the morning we awoke to birdsong and a bright sun rising over expansive fields of rice. Weird, eh?

Anyway, we will have some awesome pictures to post as soon as we find a working USB port to upload to. The view from the airplane window touching down in Leh is rumored to be the best in the entire world – and we have the pictures to prove it! It looked as though the wings of the plane were going to scrape the mountains on either side and the sun was so bright and the land below was a glowing emerald green.

missing you lots,
Jeni