The Joys of Chai
I was in India three years ago this month. This is a post about that trip and one of the true joys of visiting this vast country–having an early morning Chai. Reposted from May […]
India
Jaisalmer in the Thar Desert
Originally Posted in 2019 When you sign up for a tour, sometimes there are places on the itinerary that you might not choose to visit. Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, an area in the northwest part of India, is one of those places. I couldn’t really see why we were visiting this remote destination...
Jodhpur–Blue City–a photographer’s delight
Originally Posted in 2019 Jodhpur—the second largest city in Rajasthan–has always intrigued me. Not sure why. The color? The name? A whiff of exotic? Last fall I had a very short visit there and was able to see why it has lingered in my mind. Yep, it is blue. The reasons...
” Did you feel like a voyeur?”
Didn’t you feel like a voyeur? This was originally posted July 2017. “Didn’t you feel like a voyeur?” my friend asked me a couple of nights ago when I gathered with a group for a chat, glass of wine and some lovely nibbles. I had shared some of my recent India adventures. I described...
Life on the Streets in India
India is endlessly fascinating to me. All of it. The Taj, the glorious estates of the Maharajas, the camels, the monks. But what sticks in my memory of travel to this exotic and faraway place are the sights and scenes on the streets of life so dramatically different than my own. India is...
Photographing a Festival in the Thar Desert in India
I never get tired of going to festivals. There’s something compelling about people gathering to celebrate something or other. Last November I attended a festival in a small town in the Thar Desert in the Rajthastan region of India on a Jim Cline Photo Tour. To be perfectly honest, I’m not...
Visiting small villages in the desert in India
When I was design writer for the Home and Garden section of the Grand Rapids Press, my job meant touring people’s homes, asking questions and then writing about how they decorated, used space, spent money, collected items and lived their lives. I loved it. I like design and visual things....
Favorite Places in India: Haridwar and Rishikesh
I have a new favorite place in India—actually two places—Haridwar and Rishikesh. These two small towns are located close to each other in north part of India on the Ganges. It’s actually the point where the all-important Ganges River comes down out of the Himalayas. I stayed in Haridwar at...
Experiencing an Ashram and Aarti in Haridwar, India
When I think back about my India trip (November 2018), the destination (Haridwar) at the end of the trip stands out in my mind. Sure, it is probably partly because we tend to remember what we did last, but in this case, it was more than that. Visiting Haridwar on the Ganges River provided...
Pushkar Camel Festival Repeated
Who would have thought that the Pushkar Camel Festival would be the victim of Overourism? You might ask? “Where and what is the Pushkar Camel Festival” and what is Overtoursim. Both are topics of interest to me. I had a chance to go to the Pushkar Camel Festival in 2011 on a tour of […]