India is everything you have heard it is: colorful, crowded, luxurious, squalid, busy, sensual, chaotic. It's impossible to describe, or to reduce to random words and images on a blog, but I'll try to provide a glimpse of our 5-day experience. Day 1: The Interport Lecturer, Dr. Meera Ramanathan, invited Janna and me to her home for lunch. After dealing with Indian security (high alert) and bureaucracy (high pain)
we headed to her lovely home in Chennai for a delicious meal with her son (PhD-educated at UT Austin). One of their treasures is a signed photo of Mahatma Gandhi, whom her father met in the 1940s.
Then, we took a car and driver and spent the day in the ancient area called Mamallapurem, chock-a-block with temples, carvings (which recount foundational myths) and monkeys.
Days 2-5: Janna and I led a 68-person, four-day trip to Northern India (Delhi, Taj Mahal, Varanasi). Just the hassles of moving around nearly defeat you: security, traffic, noise, crowds, but the contracted tour operators are terrific, so we managed to fly to Delhi in time for visits to many of the sites of the capital (New Delhi is monumental, spacious, and "modern"). Shah Jahan built what turned out to be a precursor to the Taj:
From there we visited the serene and moving memorial to Gandhi (this all fits together: remember, Archbishop Tutu won the Gandhi Peace Prize in 2005)
before returning to the five-star Le Meridian Hotel. An early call (4:15 am) got us up for the fast train to Agra and an excursion to the Mughal fort called Fatehpur Sikri and the Agra Fort. The bus ride through villages and local markets left a deep impression, and once we got there, the snake charmer became one of the highlights!
From the fort, you get your first tantalizing glimpse of the Taj, hazy in the distance along the river.
And then, it's there: one of the most exquisite buildings in the world, more beautiful than you can imagine, serene and stately and elegant and majestic. You never want to leave.
After a second night at the hotel, we flew to Varanasi, the most ancient and holy city of the Hindus, where the Ganges River curves back northward after flowing down from its source (the source of life) in the Himalayas. This spot is sacred to millions of believers, who come on pilgrimage to celebrate the circle of life (birth, death, cremation). After a harrowing bicycle rickshaw ride to the banks of the river, you take in the joyful, hour-long ceremony of life and creation (aarti).
The next morning is a wholly different matter, as dawn awakens to find some families celebrating the dawn of life, purifying themselves with ritual baths, washing clothes, or conducting services for their departed relatives on the ceremonial cremation ghats.
How does one take all of this in? From there, we drove to Sarnath, where Siddhartha (Buddha) spent much of his time and preached his first "sermon"; we walked in the footsteps of Buddha. I'm overwhelmed.
How can a country that suffered so much at the hands of American military policy be so warm and welcoming to Americans? That's the anomaly of Vietnam, a truly wonderful country, full of lovely people, delicious food, low prices, stark contrasts, and an entrepreneurial spirit (growth rate this year, 8.4%). I am Duty Dean for two days here (meaning, on-call for any emergencies), so we've decided to hang out in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) the entire time to relax and get to know it more deeply.
First, the food. Everyone knows Pho, but the complexity of the ingredients and sophistication of preparation are revelations. Every single meal has been memorable
OK, not all the menu items have a delicious ring about them (we passed on the "false dog" dish).
How friendly are the Vietnamese? Coming back from dinner one night, we stopped to watch a bride and groom pose for their pictures. We wished them luck, and they then insisted we join them in the wedding party photos!
More food. One place, rated #1 on TripAdvisor (Guc Gach Quan), lived up to billing even a second time, although getting anywhere around Saigon is a major challenge. The motorcycles come at you from all sides, even on the sidewalks.
We went to dinner following a performance of the Vietnamese Water Puppets, a wholly original show of hand-controlled puppets that takes place with live music in a pool of water. They were charming, engaging, and thoroughly entertaining.
This has to be the oddest Communist state in existence because it is a Capitalist's dream. Stuff, stuff, stuff, stores, markets, sell, sell, sell, high-end, low-end. From embroidered T-shirts (3 for $8) to peacock shoes ($2200; thankfully, they didn't have Janna's size).
We got caught in a torrential downpour after leaving the heart-wrenching War Remnant Museum (images that we remember from the sixties on TV).
On the day before we sailed, the Archbishop and Leah took us (along with our friends Jeremy, Liz, and Becca) to a spectacular lunch at, you guessed it!, Cuc Gach Quan.
+++++++++++++++And most importantly, Krista and Austin (now about 6 weeks old) are doing fine!
We sail on to China.
