Stories From India

Our flight from Bangkok to Mumbai in many ways is like any other flight - dry air that makes my hair limp, safety instructions I hope I never have to use, and smelly bathrooms. In my seat, somewhere h

India is not a place that travelers talk about with ambivalence - it is either loved or hated with equal passion. We have spoken to many people this year who have traveled extensively in this country

India is far too vast and varied a country to "do" in a month or two. It offers landscapes ranging from the Himalaya mountain range to the western Thar desert, plus the central plateau, plains, foothi

I find the women of India beautiful. They all have long, black flowing hair and wear bright colorful saris. The fabrics shimmer while their arms, covered in bangle bracelets, sparkle. Even the women I

Our room in the Lalghat Guest House overlooked Udaipur's Lake Pichola and delivered a fantastic view of the ritzy Lake Palace Hotel - a hotel built 250 years ago as the summer palace of a former ruler

After a five hour bumpy, dusty bus ride we arrived to a deserted road outside the city of Ajmer. Our destination though was th

For a couple of days we have been visiting Pushkar, a small town on the edge of the desert. In the center of town is a sacred Hindu lake, making the town an important Hindu pilgrimage center. It's fas

It is easy to forget the little details that make a destination memorable. So here in Pushkar on a 20- minute walk around the holy lake, I took a few notes about the everyday things:

This morning we arrived in Jaisalmer, a city nestled in the Thar desert, close to the border of Pakistan. High on a hill

The owner of our guesthouse smeared my face with the first streaks of color - two palms of bright red gulal powder right across both cheeks accompanied by a cheerful, "Happy Holi!" It was a good star

I learned something new over the last two days: camels are very smelly creatures. However, I could not tell you which smells

A cow lies lazily in the middle of a busy intersection. Seemingly oblivious to its awkward location, it chews nonchalantly as motorcycles, cars, rickshaws, and bicycles whiz past with only inches to s

Jodhpur is a large bustling city with a large fort to explore and a city painted in indigo blue to wander. But the highlight of our time here was not in the city, but in the surrounding villages. We t

A sign read "Welcome to the Land of the Eternal Snow Peaks" as the bus started ascending up the steep windy road from the warm, green plains of farmland below. The temperature was getting noticeably c

The KhanaNirvana Community Cafe looked more like an Arizona coffeehouse than a typical Indian restaurant, but it should - it was opened by several western expatriates who are in McLeod Ganj helping th

A cup of hot chocolate sits steaming in front of me. I sit at a cafe in the town square and the cafe's large windows offer me a view of life on the streets. From here I can see the taxi stand, bus sta

I hoped to catch a glimpse of the Dalai Lama while in Dharamsala, so I was pleased to learn that our arrival coincided with two weeks of his annual teachings. All I needed to do was show my passport,

Walking down the street in India is like participating in a complicated obstacle course testing one's ability and competence. It is essential to always be aware of your surroundings. A careless step c

We had just stepped off a harrowing 13-hour night bus and the last thing we wanted to do was to put up with Delhi's famous touts. But there we were, dressed as suckers, wearing backpacks and lost expr

Photo check-in.

I'm in Varanasi, sick in bed, fighting a nasty bout of food poisoning. In my delirious haze the room spins with the fan above my he

This morning I hired a man to take me out in his boat on the Ganges River. I wanted to see the Hindu pilgrims bathing in the rive