We are reaching the last leg of our trip, and we have definitely saved the best (and holiest) cities for last.

 Previous to where we are now, (Amritsar) we were in one of the holiest cities in India. Varanasi. There are probably a few of you that have heard about the holy river Ganges. The first time that i heard that name was in "The Love Of Shiva" store downtown, where they were selling small vials of this holy water, for highly inflated prices. Now that i have actually been to the Varanasi Ghats (Steps) leading down the the Ganges, a little vial of water certainly doesn't do it justice. People flock this river every day to do laundry, swim, drink, feed the fish, (From my understanding, incarnations of "Mother Ganga" herself) and litter into until the point of even turning septic in some parts. Even just Varanasi itself, is just completely magical. 

You spend all day wandering through the maze-like streets, and good luck trying to find a certain place again (We learned that the hard way, being late for Sitar lessons two days in a row.) The very ironic thing about Varanasi, was that out of all of the places in India that we were planning to go to, I was actually very scared to go there. Both the Lonely Planet, as well as other travellers advised us to be very careful. That "Varanasi isn't the place for a woman to be" However, in my opinion they couldn't have been more wrong. I will never be able to forget how spiritual, and magical of a place that Varanasi was.

                                                                       

  

Now a 24 hour train ride away, we are in the city of Amritsar. Home to the "Golden Temple" it is one of the most important places in the Sikh religion. Although the city of Amritsar itself isn't really comparable to Varanasi, the Golden Temple is still an incredible sight to see. There are probably about a million people that visit the site every single day.

Tomorrow we are heading by bus to Dharamsala and Mclead Ganj, home to His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama himself. This will be our chance to learn a bit more about Buddhism. In the Hindu religion, they claim that Buddha was the 9th avatar of Vishnu. However Buddhists take pride in not having a Deity to worship, so really that doesn't fit. So if i have to ask the Dalai Lama myself, i am determined to find out how all of that fits in together.

From what i have read, there are a lot of really neat learning opportunities in Mcleod Ganj. Because of the Tibetan influence up there, my goal is to at least take a Tibetan language course, take a yoga class with Vaughn, and take a cooking class on how to make chocolate momos. Who knows, maybe by the end of our stay here we will be spiritually enlightened.

I know that i have been sort of slacking in the blogwriting department, but i have a couple reasons why i can justify; 

It is hard to find inspiration to write, when you are paying for the time that you spend on the computer. 

This is India. I would rather be experiencing as much as i can in the three short months that i have, and talk about it later. 

Thank you all for being so patient, and for taking time to read my blogs. 

Until the next time that i find inspiration,

Kass.

 

Reaching Out; Love Thy Neighbor

So this is slightly off topic from my normal posts, but i wanted to touch on what has been happening recently in northern Japan. Before our plans to go to India were final, Vaughn and i were actually planning on going to Japan instead, and I am incredibly thankful that I am writing this in an internet cafe in Chennai, and not frantically writing it in Tokyo. 

I am constantly driving Vaughn mental by wanting to watch the news updates in our hotel. However, i am incredibly disappointed in the way India is reacting to the recent events. Most of the headlines are "25,000 Indians Stranded In Japan." while this is slightly understandable, it makes me realize that all we really care about is ourselves. I am disgusted that all India really cares about is their own citizens, when i can guarantee that most of them are sitting comfortably in Tokyo, maybe experiencing a couple aftershocks, when there are upwards of 1500 people are dead in Sendai, not to mention the thousands that are still missing. 

And it's not just India... I can guess that Canada, and other countries are doing it as well. They are frantically trying to get their own citizens out of Japan, when they could be helping the people that are actually in danger. 

We put our borders up, and even when our neighbors are in danger, we may throw a bit of money at them, but money isn't going to help the mother with the loss her son, or the numerous people that are sleeping in train stations without a home.   

A Tiny Little Update.

For the first time in almost a month, Vaughn and I are doing our own things for part of the day. So i am taking this opportunity to post an update :)

We are still in Anjuna, it seems like we have been here only a few days, but it has actually been almost 3 weeks. The days seem to just slip by here, i guess when you are doing pretty much nothing, you tend to forget how much time has passed. 

Everything we do here is absolutely amazing. We have gone to the beach, went to animal rescue centers, night markets as well as day markets too. We have made quite a few friends, both human and animal, and have managed to have the time of our lives with 2 months still left of our trip.

Greasy - Our puppy friend

One of the most amazing opportunities that we have had was to visit the monkey rescue center. A couple days ago, when we went to take a look at the animal rescue center, we got a pamphlet for the monkey rescue center just up the road. 

We thought that we would just get to see a couple monkeys in some cages, but no... 

This was one of the most beautiful houses that i have ever seen.. This house had 30 monkeys, 19 cats, and 10 dogs. Every where you looked there was a furry friend wanting some love. 

For more pictures, check out both mine and Vaughn's Facebook. ( I took a lot of the ones on his profile) haha

Let's Get Together..

And Feel Alright;

Everyone gets those moments in life where it feels like nothing could get better. Those moments where you the world, and the people around you, make you feel truly inspired 

While in India both Vaughn and I have encountered many of these moments. Moments where everything seems perfect, and for a while can make us forget that we have actual lives to come back to in Canada.

Goa is definitely a big change from the hustle and bustle of Mumbai. Here you sit in your beach chair watching the sunset, and just relax. It is definitely a slower pace here, until the sun sets, and the parties begin. Goa is the place of hippies, reggae music, and trance parties. But when you don't feel like fist pumping and flashing lights, there are wonderful fish barbeque's, romantic candle light dinners on the beach, and dancing on the shore.

Forget Hawaii and Mexico, Goa is the place to be. 

An Update Finally! - Mumbai

Well, I am sure that all of you guys have been waiting for Vaughn and I to post another update. It is so hard to find the time!

  This week has been full of so many ups and downs, it took us a while to get used to the pace around here. The first night that we arrived here was terrible. We paid $40 just to get from the airport to the hotel (Which is actually a complete rip off.) and it ended up being completely full. So at like 4 in the morning we had to drive around looking for another hotel, and all of the ones that we had looked up were all full as well. The one hotel that we did manage to find was called the Hotel Ascot, which was a gorgeous modern hotel, but it was about $130. We were so tired that we decided to stay there anyways, and it ended up being entirely worth it.

The morning after, we set out to find a cheaper hotel. While walking down the street, we were approached by some "holy men" who claimed that they wanted to bless us. They ended up just wanting some money from us, and so we tried to leave, but they were very persistent. Finally, we managed to get away, with 150 Rs. less in our pockets. We did manage to find a cheaper hotel, called the India guest house, but i guess we got what we paid for. The walls didn't even meet the ceilings, so we could hear everything going on in other people's rooms. But oh well.  It was only $10 a night. ;)

We went to so many places during our week here, including the Mahalakshmi Temple, Victoria Terminus, and Gateway to India.However, the most amazing place that Vaughn and I visited was the Elephanta Caves.

And it was here, that Vaughn Fjetland proposed. <3

It is funny, because India can seem like the most unromantic place to be. People eating with their hands, as well as not using toilet paper. But he managed to pick one of the most beautiful places to ask.

We are now off to Goa, taking a 12 hour train ride tonight.
I will post another blog as soon as i can!
Happy Valentines day <3

Thanks for reading!

Namaste**

Bags Packed, Visas Attained.

13 Days Left To Go;

It seems like it was just yesterday Vaughn and I were telling people that we were planning on going to India "In a year from now". And now all of a sudden there are 13 days left before our trip, and i still can't imagine myself stepping onto that plane.

It seems like the big moments of my life have been represented with backpacks.




I just wanted to say thank you to Tyler Rae, for starting my blog addiction, as well as posting a shout out  to "What's Your Delhi" on her own page. Love you Ty!


There are so many things that i am going to miss when i leave, and these are a few of them:


1. Friends & Family

 

2. Spare Parts ( My job) 

3. HAM!

Its crazy, cause i see this trip as when my life really starts. I think that its going to be a true eye opener, and a chance to gain maturity, this is also a very large relationship test for Vaughn and I. Even though we have been dating for almost two and a half years, the stress of travelling and being in each other's face its going to be hard at times. So many people look at us like we are naive teenagers, but we realize what we are doing. There are bad people in every country, that doesn't mean that we are going to get stabbed, or kidnapped. 


As most of you guys know, one of my other hobbies is jewelry making. 
These are sort of my "Bollywood" inspiration:

Thanks again guys for reading my blog, it will for sure get more interesting when i actually have India pictures/ videos. 

<3

Kassie

This Is For Real..

As this trip gets closer, it makes me realize that it is actually happening;

As i start to gather my things, and prepare for this 3 month adventure, all of this is really starting to sink in. 
There have been so many people full of doubt.
Doubt that my boyfriend and i will even last long enough to go on the trip.
Doubt that we will save up enough money
Doubt that India is the right place to go.
And all of those people, as well as myself at times, are incredibly wrong.