Hotel Mera Mann Lucknow

... style of Angkor Wat. The town is actually clean and neat. No beggars or garbage pickers. Many travelers like to come here to visit the temples because the reliefs depict life two thousand years ago. Many of the reliefs go into details based on the Kama Sutra, as part of the soldier's life. The Japanese love it here. We left after lunch. No more trains for us. We flew to Varanasi. Love, Leslie

The train was long and the visits to the toilet numerous. Descending from a cramped upper berth in sleeper class to prevent one from ******** oneself at regular intervals was not fun. The toilet to the left was a squatter, meaning I had to go through the added precaution (yet highly necessary) of removing all clothes, before returning shoes and getting down to business to prevent me accidentally covering my sweaty ...

... the place for weddings and great marriage carts decorated in finery and glitz pulled by horses adorne the city ......and thats what it is.. a sprawling hectic city .. <br><br>some of it very wealthy other parts like all of India slums...many people living by the side of the road and hundreds of rickshaw drivers just sleeping every night on their bike ... we saw this on our way out in the early hours .<br><br>We finally found a room, with A/C for ...

... namaste' and we loved it. It's easy to feel sad when you see the conditions they are living in compared to our own, but if you look past the basics, you see how rich their lives are. I think their lives will always be a struggle but not in the way that we know it. Their houses are clean, they do lots of cooking and eat three meals a day. The ingredients they use are so cheap and so accessible. They all live together in family groups and everyone ...

... had walked in human waste. It was time to clean the boots. In Bandhavgarh we camped within the luxurious grounds of the Maharaja Resort. The Maharaja was like the king of the region and this was like is retreat to hunt tigers. The current Maharaja is no longer a royal, but seems to still have a large presence. The main hall has stuffed tigers and mounted deer heads from a time when killing animals was honourable. It was here that I found out many of ...

... On Sunday, Oct. 28th, our teacher and her Kathak troupe had a show at the state theater in Lucknow, called Rabindralya, and the three of us decided to go to see what "real" Kathak dance looks like. When we arrived at the theater, we were escorted in and told to sit close to the front in seats that looked as if they had been reserved for special guests. We didn't complain though, since we had a great view from where we were seated. The theater was huge and ...

... when the guru started chanting and singing, the people joined in. It seemed odd to me that the centerpiece of this religious service would be a pre-recorded, televised message from the guru, rather than chants and prayers led, in person, by the yogi. However, people didn't seem much to mind that their leader was on a TV screen, and they sang along and clapped with fervor. At a couple points in the chanting, some men in the group would stand up in the middle of ...

... gana, asi que en realidad si tienes un trabajo que te permite vivir bien, aqui se vive muy bien. Por la noche teniamos que tomar nuestro tren, que resulto ser un tren nuevo por eso nadie en la estacion sabia de que plataforma iba a salir, pero como le habiamos dicho a varias personas donde ibamos todo el mundo estaba escuchando a la chica del altavoz, para decirnos desde que plataforma salia el tren. Otra vez la gente demostrando que son muy amables, solamente que son ...

... familiar. Unfortunately the Sikh man who'd been riding with us had gotten out earlier, so we couldn't check with him to confirm that we were in the right place. However, Sharon suggested that we just get out and walk, and eventually we'd find our house. I'd say that we wandered around the neighborhood (possibly in circles) for a good 25-30 minutes, trying to read addresses in the dark. We tried to ask a few different groups of people for directions, but with our very ...

... dressed shoppers who were buying their groceries there and the many imported products on the shelves. Sharon and I decided not to buy that much at this market, hoping that we'd be able to get most of our groceries at a cheaper, open-air food market like we'd seen in Mussoorie and Delhi. After shopping, JK dropped me, Sharon and Paula off at the SAHAYOG office. Paula introduced us to some of the NGO's staff and showed us around the office. All the staff ...