Everyone remembers 'Buddy Jesus' from Kevin Smith's brilliant religious satire film, Dogma, right? Who could forget that hilarious parody of the commercialization of religion and spirituality? Ladies and gentlemen, I have found its match in Hinduism/eastern spirituality. As soon as we arrived, Buddy Jesus sprang to mind. Willa describes it as Disneyland spiritualism. Welcome to …
The Inevitable
I figured it would happen sometime, given how much I travel, and I've been lucky thus far. I just crossed my fingers and hoped to avoid it as long as possible, and that it wouldn't be too bad or inconvenient. At long last, it happened. Last night on the train from Delhi to Pathankot, I …
Rajasthani Heat
They warned me. Every single Indian I met warned me. They said, why are you going to Rajasthan in summer [it's summer here]? They said it was insanely hot and no one in their right mind would go there this time of year. I figured it couldn't get any worse than anything else I'd experienced thus …
Indian Observations
I realized yesterday that not only have I been in India for 7 weeks, but this is - and will be, when I leave after two and a half months - the longest I've been in any one country outside the US, except for my year in France. I guess India wins some sort of …
Mountains of Maharashtra
I am currently in one of the more stunningly beautiful places in the world, with a natural landscape similar to that of the Grand Canyon, only much more lush and green, though similarly hot. Thankfully, at night it is cooler, and overall it is cooler than Mumbai. Before I get started, I want to do …
Kerala, Part 2: Munnar
Note, I'm posting twice, so be sure to read the one below this one first, for chronology. ----- After a couple days in Fort Cochin, we took the ferry back over to the more industrial, bustling, typical Indian city of Ernakulam and caught a government bus up into the Western Ghats, the mountains here that …
Kerala, Part 1: Fort Cochin
There are many problems with trying to post in India, the most important being that internet is surprisingly difficult to find. (There are plenty of internet cafes, mind you, but sometimes internet is out on the whole street, and many places we’ve been don’t have wifi, so I can’t use my own computer and hence …
Cambodia
In case you're confused by the last post and this post, I am actually in India at the moment, but I felt the need to catch up, so that's why you're getting all these posts now, when I have time to write things out. Here's Cambodia for you: The best way to describe Cambodia would …
The Motorbike Story
So, I promised that I'd tell you guys the story about when I rented the motorbike in Bali. Here it is, though it is completely unedited and terribly long, so I apologize. The final version will be shorter and pithier. “You go slow, ok? You go slow.” “Yes, of course.” I nod enthusiastically, putting my …
Happy Anniversary
Yesterday, Friday (when we went from Thailand to Cambodia), was my 4-week anniversary of arriving in Asia, and, consequently, beginning my travels. Since arriving in Hong Kong on January 16th, I have been in six countries - China/Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Cambodia - taken three flights, gone on three train rides over …
Kate Thorman 