India - August to September 2006 At the end of July I flew from Kathmandu to Delhi and had a couple of gin and tonics on the Bhutanese Druk Air flight to prepare myself for the chaos of India. From the airport I met Kris and Kristen near the bus station where we immediately took a 20-hour overnight trip north to the town of Manali on our way to Ladakh in the far north. Enroute to Leh we hit a torrential rain storm that left us stranded on a Himalayan road. Low on food, water and morale, we ditched our seats on the jeep and hitched a ride with an Indian Army transport driven by a friendly officer. We reached Leh, but the trails were too washed out to hike so we did a great home stay with a Tibetan family in a small village. From there, Kris and Kristen went back to the States, and I went on to Dharamsala where I was very lucky to attend a Buddhist teaching with the Dalai Lama. After Dharamsala I went south via a stopover in Shimla to Dehli and then Jaisalmer in Rajasthan. Spent my 31st birthday on a camel in the Great Thar desert sweating like crazy and trying to keep the sand out of everything. Onwards to friendly Jodhpur, touristy Agra and the Taj with the finale in the Holy city on the Ganges, Varanasi. There's lots more shots than just this gallery, so expect some more shots from India sometime in the future.
(Click
here to see the photo essay--75 photos)
