MadameReya, dilettante extraordinaire

Kibber is one of the highest villages on earth – close to 15,000 feet up in the Himalayas of Indian Tibet. The town is nestled in a shallow valley amidst snow-capped peaks and yawning chasms, and its inhabitants are friendly (mostly) Buddhists. Kibber’s ancient monastery occupies a high perch above the town.

After arriving by bus, me and my travel companion stayed for a few nights at a guest house run by two brothers…luckily, they had HEAVY down comforters because, although we went in July, it was freezing cold at night. I recall that we had a balcony at the front of our second story room, but it had no guardrails/barriers to protect from falling!

I will never forget standing on that veranda at night. Lamps illuminated the windows of homes without electricity, giving the impression of a medieval European village. And the stars did truly shine.

While in Kibber, we took a fantastic hike above town, which offered great panoramas of the entire village and its surrounding peaks. While hiking, we passed Tibetan women working in little fields that must have been extremely difficult to develop for agriculture, and Buddhist monks cooking lunch around a small pond on the hillside. They invited us to a meal. And, of course, the village children sought candy…a lot. : )

When I was a teenager, I dreamt of traveling to Calcutta. For awhile, I had a Bengali penfriend named Sanjay Churiwal with whom I corresponded for about a year and, later, exchanged letters with S. Banerjee, who I met in DumDum airport upon my arrival in Calcutta in 1999 – and with whom I traveled in northern India for about 2/3 months.

I was in Calcutta for about three weeks – waiting for my friend to finish some exams. The first night, I stayed in an itty bitty room right on Sudder Street, and still recall its coffinesque bed…and the grafitti on the walls – concrete walls that captured the midsummer heat and converted it to a fine, damp steam that made it nearly impossible to sleep there.

The next day, I moved to a small hotel on nearby Free School Street, which provided an interesting view (fourth floor) of the bustling road below. Finally, my friend found me a fantastic room down a little alley off Sudder…I’ll never forget its sparkling black & white floor tiles, fantastic HUGE private bathroom, and lovely toilet.

A good toilet in a cheap Indian hotel is a godsend.

While in Calcutta, we strolled around the Maidan (their version of Central Park), watched a movie (VERY cool experience to watch an Indian flick in an Indian movie theater), and ate pizza (Flury’s) & Chinese almost exclusively, except for the time he invited me to his & his Mother’s flat. THAT was interesting. I think his Mom felt threatened by me because, although she was gracious, I think she suspected I would steal her son away from some nice Indian girl she had in mind : D (she was right to be concerned at the time but he is still single as of now). I also had my hair dyed jet black by some east Asian women in a little salon.

And did you know that Calcutta has a subway system?

One of the more curious things to see in Calcutta is its Portuguese church.

And I personally felt that taking a train out of Howrah station was one of the highlights of my entire trip to India.

_{(I would have more photos, except I made my trip in the pre-digital era of photography…you know, we had to conserve film. :P)}

We visited Bellingrath in 2003 – as we were passing through southern Alabama enroute to Pensacola, Florida. We went during the week, and had the place almost all to ourselves in the midsummer heat.

As gardens go, it was lush and impressive, with a fantastic, impeccably-manicured sloping lawn, reflective ponds, and historic buildings, which enhanced the landscapes’ charm.

At the time we went, the gardens were also home to a good number of bunnies (those garden pests), and we, as bunny-lovers, made a game of spotting rabbits nibbling on the great lawn. : )