Story

The Frog And The Mouse

There was a frog in a tank. A mouse was living on the bank of the same tank. Gradually the frog and the mouse became friends. One day the mouse wanted to swim in the tank. But it did not know swimming. Therefore, they consulted and tied their fee together witha a thread. Then the frog jumped and swam hither and thither. The mouse with its leg tied was floating with it on the water. In this way they enjoyed the swimming in the water.At that time an eagle was flying above. It saw the mouse swimming in the water. At once it caught it and lifted with its feet. Alas! the frog tied with the mouse was also hanging with it. He happilly obtained both the frog and the mouse and killed and ate them.

The mouse living in the land made friendship with the frog living in the water. Hence both of them died together. Therefore, friendship of two persons of the same line only will work.

-- Excerpt from Learn Sanskrit In 30 Days

Day 9

It is Saturday. It is raining, again. Guan and Candi are in Dharmakot. John has left the area for a couple days.

Found a library today at the meditation center. They had books on religion, meditation, medicine and novels, including but not limited to a full set of Harry Potter books.

Dharmakot is a small place. Cafes, restaurants, guest houses and laundry shops. There is only one main road, which is not large enough for cars. There are a lot of travelers, most of which sit around all day smoking at the cafes. These places also tend to play loud music, most of it chill stuff but with occasional rap emerging when Guan visits.

Due to the weather, the recent living schedule has been as follows. Sleep in until nine or ten, brunch, walk around trying to find something to do nearby, afternoon tea, internet, dinner, back to guest house. No it is not very exciting. Yes will update when something exciting happens.

Signing out. Namaste, good evening and good night.

Day 6

No post today, so instead here is an episode of Shaktimaan.

Day 5

Our second day in Mcleod Ganj has been greeted by rain. We probably would have stayed inside but hunger urged us out mid-morning to go in search of food.

John has been absent since yesterday so it's been me (Guan) and Candi wandering the streets of this tourist town. From what we've seen the place is basically rows of small shops and guest houses with the Dalai Lama Temple situated in one corner. The roads are narrow and hard to navigate with all potholes, stray dogs, cars, motorcycles and cows all pushing to get through at once.

A large part of the day was spent unsuccessfully trying to find alternative accomadations. Apparently we managed to land the cheapest place in town upon arrival, which is actually pretty nice compared to over half the other rooms we've seen. That said, the more luxurious places in town are quite impressive and put to shame a large number of European hostels, especially considering the price. I have two places staked out already, in case we come up with the budget to actually stay at one.

The stores here carry some very nice things, especially clothing. It's a good thing that we have limited cash and are travelling light because otherwise we might already be overloaded with gifts.

Due to the wonders of the internet we have reestablished contact with John through Facebook. I think we need to go meet him now, so I am going to end this update here.

Photos are on Facebook. Namaste, good evening and good night.

Day 2

"All the buildings are built with 9 sides, because 9 is the largest one digit number which symbolizes unity."

Today we were given a tour of the city. We got to visit about three places - well, three and a half to be exact - and the rest of the time was spent in traffic.

First stop was the Lotus Temple of Baha'i. It was midday and we were asked to remove our shoes at the bottom of the steps leading to the shrine, so basically we got a good feet baking. The photos in the info center also seemed to indicate that the temple was hand built. Talk about Egyptian blood. Anyhow, there are a couple of temples like this strewn across the world - Australia, Chile, Ugando, Samoa, Chicago.. hmm, the last one seems pretty accessible. Guess where the next trip is going to be planned for?


After the temple we went to the tomb gardens, whatever the name was. Entrance was 10 rps per local and 250 rps per foreigner. Not only was the place huge, about 10 minutes in a battalion of middle schoolers came shrieking in, apparently on a field trip of some sort. At least two dozen of them ran up to us at separate intervals and were especially amused at John's Shaktimaan impression. Needless to say the place ended up being very chaotic. I hope the dead were not disturbed too much.

Due to sleeping difficulties the previous evening Guan and Candi were pooped after the two sites and requested food, drink and air conditioning. Guan in particular insisted on seeing the mega shopping mall so that was basically the last destination for today. According to John, the place was every bit as superficial as the places in the US. They did have decent restaurants though, one of which we got to stop for dinner before squishing back to our place through ultimate rush hour traffic.

Last minute on the clock. Guan's phone died just now so no photos today still. We'll be leaving for Dharam Shala tomorrow! Will update again once we get there.

Namaste, good night!

Day 1 - Initiation

"We''re not in Kansas anymore!"

So we're finally here. In India, for real and up close. First impressions, this place is different for sure. We kinda noticed that on the drive to the hostel last night. Darn near got stranded at the airport, with armed officials stationed at all the entrances. At least it was easy to get through customs.

Got a brief view of the surroundings today, after another hectic ride through some of the craziest traffic in the world. Motorcycles, tractors, tricycle cabs, we even saw a cow chillin' by the side of the road. Our noon search for a McDonalds ended up fruitless so we ended up with pizza for lunch. The soda has sugar instead of corn syrup! Yay!

It's late, we're tired and this cafe computer is about to logout on us. Will post more updates tomorrow. Namaste, good night!