actually, everything is possible

greetings from orcha!

i'm sitting in our hotel lobby providing afternoon tea for the mosquitoes and hoping that i wont get malaria and thus this posting will be worthwhile from at least one vantage point! my plan was to post pictures in some format to go along with this post, but both flickr and facebook are refusing to let me in, so i'll have to try that the next time i'm near wifi (which is not as frequent as i'd imagined)

preliminaries: sorry that i'm not capitalizing this properly (or bothering with grammar), i'm still getting used to this netbook keyboard and using the shift key more often than not results in caps lock! i will make it a goal to make my writing less annoying!

where i'm at/have been:

i'm on a GAP tour from delhi to kathmandu right now and it's been a bit of a whirlwind -- safe to say there is NO possible way that i could travel the country with such efficiency without a guide -- nothing is especially clear and everything is a chaotic! we started in delhi (after a smooth flight that spat out my luggage at the end) and have already been to jaipur and agra (home of the taj mahal)... today we are in orcha, a small village in madhya pradesh (check the link above). we're staying in these 'tents' which are outdoor tent/hut things on the compound of a pretty posh resort.... it's really very peculiar... we have a tv and outhouse-ish shower/toilets inside of our rooms as well as air con and a fridge? we're about to go to a prayer ceremony which i will be woefully underdressed for followed by a contextually inappropriate party among the members of our tour (we had out tuk tuk stop at a 'liquor store' (ie a barred up shack) on our way into the village... i know, i know!)

highlights:

the taj mahal lived up to its billing -- even in the wake of a dicey GI day in my world.  we were there for about 2.5 hours and it literally flew by.  the thing that was most amazing is that although there were tons of people there, it managed to maintain an air of serenity.  you can sit and walk around and feel utterly enchanted by the awesomeness of the building, to the exclusion of all of the people milling around you.  they give foreigners these red 'shower caps for your feet' to use when you walk in the actually structure but i couldnt resist walking with the cool marble against my feet.  the building is truly a wonder and got me wondering: what kind of person conceives of and builds something like this? how did he treat mumtaz when she was alive? how must it have been to be imprisoned by one's son for years and looking out across the lake at the taj mahal?

impressions:

since people had cautioned me about streets flowing with excrement, i have found india much less overwhelming than i might have.  the traffic is chaotic, the streets are dirty and the air smells a mix of burning something (garbage? diesel?) and waste (cow? human?)
[insert night of drinking and a lack of certainty about what current GI problems relate to, nevertheless, back at it in the lobby]

cont'd:
what is far more overwhelming than the surroundings is the condition of some of the people i am seeing.  there are no shortage of beggars or people trying to hawk souvenir products.  while most of the people begging look alright, there are those who look badly deformed or obviously quite ill. guidebooks and people will tell you not to start handing cash out on the road because the line will not ever end, cannot ever end.  one of my travel mates has even suggested that it is dangerous to show that level of vulnerability while out on the streets and i can see where that comes from.  but then it seems that the goal must be to ignore the suffering of all of these people and carry on with your holiday? i cant seem to reconcile this type of goal with being human. in fact, i'm not sure how to reconcile the situation with myself at all quite yet.  rest assured this is not the last you'll hear of it.

on a lighter note:
some of you have asked me what i've forgotten/missed... here goes!
i forgot my beloved q tips --- and i am only somewhat ashamed to say that they have appeared to me in at least one dream since arriving -- ear hygiene is important!!!
i also forgot one of 3 t shirts that i planned to bring with the hopes of just buying all my clothes in india (that plan hasnt worked so far yet, lots of tourist clothes, not actual tasteful indian ones) ... jess helped me out in a jam and gave me an emergency one, but when i got here i realized that it says "DAM U"!!! -- in a land where you cant show skin, i've elected not to wear the expletive t shirt :) (but i appreciate the sentiment, jess :))
finally, i have managed to lose a whole host of items over the past 7 days, for reasons that i am yet to determine but given the scant number of things i've packed, is causing increasing concern. i lost a strap to my main backpack at the airport, nail clippers in jaipur and then i left my pjs in the hotel in agra (and so now the DAM U shirt has found a purpose!)

where next?
tonight we are taking the night train to varanasiinternet, there might be two postings in quick succession (i know, exciting! ;))

ps - click the heading to go to pictures (i think)