Pri and I left India this morning at 6:00am, and are now here in Dubai!
Just a 5 day stopover before China.
(We are leaving on the 16th Jan for Guangzhou...)
Some family friends of hers have a hotel/apartment here where they stay on business, which they have so kindly offered for us to stay for a few days.
We'll go on a desert safari and city tours, go to Abu Dhabi and to the beach!
Leaving India was kind of sad- I felt that I didn't see all that I wished I could have.
Rajasthan was magnificent and beautiful, wild and ragged. Dusty but natural. The holy lakes, magestic architecture, fighting cows and great friends I met. I will try to pursue silvermaking when I get back to LA.
Delhi was old and mysterious, I definitely could spend more time there. There's a book called City of Djinns, one year in Delhi, by William Dalrymple that I want to read.
Rishikesh, Amritsar, Kashmir- places I didn't go, but would go back for!
Agra- The Taj Mahal, one of mankind's greatest achievements...
Varanasi, so dirty, so contradictory and strange, I wasn't there long enough for the magic to take hold. I could have stayed to take some tabla lessons, I think that would have done it for me. Didn't have time though, the earth keeps spinning forward!
Kolkata, even dirtier. From there I would have gone north, and visited Darjeeling, Sikkim, Bihar, Bangladesh, Burma, Myanmar... There's just so much!
Hyderabad- from New Year's Eve at the Telagu Film Awards to sari shopping with Pri and her mom, and delicious homemade food every day, this was a great place to clean up and recharge.
Kerala- another delicious experience, the best when Sabith took us to meet all her co-sisters and each one fed us and sat with us and asked questions about our lives...
All in all, I am satisfied with my trip. These memories will mellow in my head like mixing rice with curry with my hand- once the gravy incorporates with the rice, it becomes a different flavor altogether. For now, the flavors are still sharp and distinct, and it is hard to write them all down in a way that will convey the feeling of the time, the accurate sensation of "being there". In fact, that much accuracy is often not appropriate to a description of an event. The stories will tumble out, and after a few repetitions they will start to make sense.
For now, the stories will continue!
Dubai is already fascinating- The middle east is another facet of our wonderful world history...
Goodnight!
