Yesterday during lunch I was asked to make a special balloon for the head guru here.  I had mixed feelings – I’ve never seen him smiling and that tells me balloons aren’t his “thing”.  I was asked to wait on the side until he’d finish his lunch.   I was concerned that I’d be late for a yoga class done by a Chinese group.  At the end of his lunch I watched as he left…  no balloon!   I was a little late for the class.

It was a friendly, playful class.  Afterwards I made some balloons for the group and they asked me to join them in their group picture.  Annie wasn’t with me so I don’t have a picture of the “family, Where’s Waldo photo”

As Annie was leaving our dorm room she saw a crowd walking by and noticed the head guru was leading the way.  She stood on the side to take a close photo when she noticed he was giving hugs to everyone along the way.  She got a bear hug from him.

I checked out the Facebook page for the festival

(go to Facebook and search for:  International Yoga & Music Festival Rishikesh , 1st -14th

Then look at the photos  on Day 3 I’m photo: # 71 and 71 –

I made friends with a Chinese woman and went to the workshop her group gave today.  After their workshop they asked me to join them in their group picture (I stood out like in the Japanese photo last week)…

Yesterday I met a very sweet yoga from China and a gutsy yogi from Austria (she lives in Switzerland now).

I took a walk with the Austrian across the bridge and to the other side of the Ganga River.  She said she wanted to bathe in the river… I said i’d walk her.

Next she spoke about jumping off the bring into the river.  I hate to be the guy who says “no”, but this didn’t seem like the thing to do here.  As we got to the bridge she began asking folks (most of whom didn’t speak English) and got the impression she shouldn’t do this.  We got to the other side of the water and she stripped to her bathing suit.  There were maybe two boats in the water and a couple of people washing themselves (no swimmers).  She said she wanted to swim across the river to the ashram and handed me a bag of her belongings.  As she began to put her feet into the dirty water a policeman began to shout at her … basically saying “NO!”.  She put her clothes back on and we walked back.  Later she said she spoke to her teacher (who is here) and was yelled at again – “No one swims in the holy Mother ganga River!”

Annie say that a guru was speaking in another ashram last night and decided we’d go.  It meant crossing the bridge at night and taking a rickshaw up the winding cliffs with a driver 9and his friend (who was navigating).  They didn’t know where it was and in the dark, this felt uncomfortable.  We finally made it at the end of the talk….  on the way back we smelled pot and realized our driver and his navigator were both smoking  while driving on these winding mountain roads in the dark.

On the walk across the bridge we needed to navigate between the people and motorcycles.  One cycle had no lights…. but the back seat driver was holding a little pen light.

Today I’ve been given permission to do balloons.  I don’t have many with me.  We’ll see.

We can’t find a working ATM machine or bank in this town so Annie’s retail therapy is missing it’s quota…. No withdrawals yet that I can notice.

We took a Reiki class yesterday… and found that if we take the next 2 we’ll be certified…. Wow… just what I was looking for?

One evening we saw an Indian dance. I wanted to video record it and the camera guys were set up in the four or fifth row. I was early (before the crowds), so I took a front row seat.   Soon some guy in orange came to me and bowed… I tipped my hat to him. Later I noticed many people approaching him… bowing, placing their hands on his feet and then touching their heads. The front rows seemed to be reserved for the gurus and saints.   At the end of the performance when all theses saints and gurus joined to the dancers on stage to bless them, I decided I better stay in my seat.

We also took a workshop in Japanese Shinto Yoga…. It gave Annie a number of deep laughs – it was fun.

At the end of the workshop the Japanese group got on stage for a photo session. One of the Japanese teachers asked me to join them on stage. I thought they wanted a group photo with a variety of yogis from around the world, so I joined in. It seemed I was the only Westerner to go up with them. Annie was taking a photo of them and wondered how I got in…. Annie has given me permission to take out my balloons… but not for another couple days. I’m getting the withdrawals….. but I still seem to have irreverent fun.

Lots of typical scenes here from the car window along our drive from Delhi to the yoga festival in Rishikesh:

Every once in a while there’s a beautiful rest stop:

Tons of bricks are being made here… everywhere:

sugar cane:

guess what weed grows wild all along the roads?

Cow and bull shit is valuable here – their flattened out like pancakes and used for fuel to cook meals…  I can’t imagine how the smells affect the taste?

we get close:

Our driver welcoming us to our hotel:

view of our roof-top dining room:

While waiting for breakfast I had fun shooting balloons from up here to the kids down below:

Some of the art  works on the walls of our hotel:

This town was known for the big houses rich merchants built for their families… and had colorful paintings all over the walls…
Here are some street scenes:

What a surprise… the balloons showed up.  I soon had crowds of kids following me along the street as Annie shopped:

Annie found a shoe shop with three generations of shoemakers.  She went in to buy a pair and have them adjusted:

When the kids saw me enter with her, they waited outside for me.  

When i made a few balloons for the shoe maker, they crowded the door… he chased them away, afraid they’d break his door.

The shoe maker enjoyed when I put a pair of his shoes in a balloon…  but wasn’t too happy when I put one of his father’s sharp tools in a balloon (I took it out quickly):

The animals all work hard:

The people work hard and live hard:

A vulture in the dessert (or is it desert?)

Our driver saw this guy and pointed him out to us:

Living quarters:

trucks loaded:

We passed a group of about 2 dozen camels an the road…  it’s mating season. 

These families were waiting for a bus/car and I made balloons for them…  

Here you can see them as they drove away in their car:

We made it to the yoga festival in Rishikesh.

The drive from Delhi on Friday was easy enough… beginning at 7:30am (our driver said 6:30am would be best…. But he had a habit of arriving a little late).

He only needed to ask directions a few times (GPS’s aren’t as common here as in the States). At the end we needed to drive up one side of a mountain winding path and down the other side. Had it been dark and rainy it would have probably convinced us not to go , but it was just raining. We planned to arrive the day before registration for the festival…. Arriving with 700+ participants sounded like a line we didn’t want to be on.   That was a good choice.

Rishikesh is on the Ganges River as is Varanasi…. The water Is much cleaner at this point.   To walk down the path of shops you have to pass a multitude of Holy (?) Sadu’s all asking for money, cows, motorcycles, bikes, and a variety of other local colors.

The two ATM machines we’ve found are both out of money or broken… and few shops take credit cards so we don’t expect to spend much money for a while.

In the first morning (which began at 4am) we’ve already taken and Osho-Style Dynamic Meditation (the word “meditation” gives the wrong picture of this style)…

A Somatic/Feldenkrais movement work shop (I always wondered what that was)…. And workshops with a number of “named” yogi’s.

During one session when we were to keep our eyes closed… I had a feeling I should peek for a moment and watched a monkey come between Annie and me to grab a banana from my vest pocket.

Annie wanted to see the big inauguration ceremony with all the saints and teachers… I decided to look for internet.

After lunch Annie will take a soul song workshop and I’ll go for Astrology.

We’ve met folks from all over the world… everyone we bump into is friendly.

I’ve been holding back and haven’t taken one out yet (we’ll, I used an unblown one to fix my watch band).

If I find Internet connect I’ll post this…. And maybe get some photos up soon?

found it…

This tour of Rajasthan ends today as we return to Delhi (a 4 hr drive we figure will take us 6 hrs).  Tomorrow we have a 6-hr drive to Rishikesh where we’ll be attending a yoga festival… we figure it will take 9-hrs of driving & stopping).

lots of these guys along the way:

musicaians entertained us on the way to the mausoleum

This was my favorite.  He let me try his instrument… saying it was his grandfather’s …. then he tried to sell it to me (I think).  There were twelve metal strings (which you tune, but don’t touch… then there’s one horse hair string which you play.  The metal strings and coconut shell make an incredible sound.   

These were built for the “lower” royal members (not for the king and queen)

This was for the king:

The workers use cell phones:

The blue city:

Shopping in the fort:

Annie goes to any depth (debt?) to find bargains:

I have to interject “which one flies?”… forgetting this is India, not Arabia:  

local cabs:

Hard at work:

This family followed us around the market for a while:

Annie fitting in:

These knives were used for tigers…  Jab the tiger then squeeze to the blades open and rib up his inners….  I’ll pass:

The kids in this family worked hard (singing but didn’t smile….

I brought out some balloons and they smiled…. I think as soon as we left the father might have removed the balloons – they probably get better tips when they don’t smile”

When we first saw and entered this fort, I kept getting images of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings…. Then a few days ago when we turned the TV on (one of the few times we did that), Lord of the Rings -the final episodes #3 was playing.

The wall around the fort made us think of a smaller version of the Great Wall of China….  but it’s still pretty impressive:

Royalty were carried in fancy carriages before cars:

Local artists use whatever they have to create miniature arts….  Annie was happy to see bugs (the artist was happy to see Annie)

The Blue City:

On Friday we spent the day driving to and exploring Mt. Abu.  A pretty lake, a palace, and an incredible temple waited for us there.   Then at night time we enjoyed another local market.

The next morning we began our 2 hrs later than planed (a little more retail therapy and a visit to the post office).

The drive to Jodhpur brought us through desert and mountains.  Much of the land scape reminded us of the South West in the US.

The curvy roads up and down the mountains seemed big enough for one car and few safely fences…  when motorcycles and other cars  would come towards us from the other direction or come from behind us wanting to pass, it felt a bit unsafe.  Our driver said, “this is nothing….  in the Himalaya Mountains the roads are ‘really’ narrow and curvy… and the roads are crowded with recklessly fast drivers.”

Our driver likes to pull over when he sees small groups of kids on the road… especially very poor kids.   Some of the views (of their homes, working conditions, and technology makes us feel like they are living in a time warped past.

This photo wasn’t in focus (sorry) but seeing people crowding into cars and trucks ….  on top, on the hoods, holding on the backs, is pretty common here.

Anything can delay our drive..

We visited the Kanakpur Jain Temple along the drive.   Yesterday we thought the temple we visited was the cream of the bunch….  but this one blew that one out of the ball park.  1444 marble columns, each different, and each with intricate carving …  even better – they let us take photos (for a charge).

Afterwards we watched as monkeys danced on out car… as we made it to our hotel in Jodhpur.  We were welcomed by the young owner offering us a flower necklaces and fresh juice.   He told us that this hotel was his family home, built  125 years ago by his ancestor who was a military leader.  There were paintings of each family member (the patriarchs) for the past 125 years up on the walls.

He mentioned how 10 years ago he and his brother tried convincing their 60-year father the value of turning their family home into a hotel (the father wanted them to wait maybe 20 years so he could live his remaining years in the house he grew up in and always lived in)….  After they converted the house into a hotel and moved their father and the rest of the family into more modern nearby homes, the father asked, “why’d you wait so long?”   People and families are the same everywhere.

For our final day in Udiapur we decided we had enough temples and castles…   this was to be a day for retail therapy.   I hung out on the streets waiting or in a coffee shop with my lap top. One “find” was a shop that just sold Rajasthani puppets. When we went inside, the owner took me in the back room and demonstrated some of his puppets. He took out newspaper clippings showing that he’s famous…. He even had an invitation to present his puppets at an exclusive crafts fare in New Mexico three years ago (he had problems getting a visa and couldn’t go).

After his demonstration I took out some balloons and made him a balloon puppet.   He asked if I could return after 3pm (when his 5-year old daughter got home from school). Annie and I returned and he put a puppet show for just the two of us.   His sensitivity reminded my so much of Alice May Hall, a close puppetry friend who died about 25 years ago at the age of 97… a few days after her final puppet show.   He didn’t even try to attack us by selling anything… it was just an artistic exchange.

We visited the home of the man who was our guide the day before.   He’s been investing all of his and his family’s money building a hotel/restaurant/art gallery in town.     We wished him luck and said we’d mention him to anyone we might run into who’s looking to invest money.

We watched as some local folks were preparing a big street dinner for their families:

That evening Annie finished her shopping and I did some more balloons outside the shops.

In the morning we had some time while waiting for our driver, so I thought I’d say goodbye to Udiapur in my own way –

I figure we can either research each location and then see what we’ve read about or just be surprised day after day….  I like surprises (i.e…. I’m getting lazy).

This morning we started early with a walk to the local temple… passing small shops and street folk –

The carvings on the walls of this temple went on forever with so many images… row after row…

Then we were off to the Palace –

The arrows intrigued me… I had to ask what the crest shaped arrow was for….  for shooting off the head of the enemy.   That caught me by surprise.

One king realized his enemies were afraid of elephants, so he dressed his horse as an elephant as he rode into battle:

We stopped at more shopping places….

and then a beautiful garden:

We stopped at the ruins of another temple and I made some balloon offerings:

During the final drive traffic presented us with another type of vehicle… he splashed water all over our windshield –

Then we ended at the final temple of the day…. the largest, nicest one that dwarfed everything else.

When we entered the temple, we bought some flowers as an offering…  I smelled the flowers… very fragrant!  Only to find out offering pre-smelled flowers is an insult, so I put the flowers inside my hat and kept them.

There was a downside here – we couldn’t take photos…. the upside was that a street fair celebration was going on outside so our cameras has a field day:

(note – these were not my balloons… I was afraid if I had taken out any balloons I’d get mobbed and never get out alive once my pockets were emptied of balloons)

At then end of the festivities  folks packed up their sales items and left.   Many of these families walked to the festival – possibly a 3-hr walk each way and many of them without any footwear.