itinerancy - december 23, 2006

two posts in two days. my relationship with this blog is becoming orgiastic.

however, it's been a very action-packed day, filled with preferences, planning and patience.

with the extraordinary effort and cleverness of Guman Singh, of Capital City Travels & Tours at the Hotel Ajanta, i've organized my itinerary for the next couple of weeks and it goes something like this:


The Golden Triangle(+) Road Trip:

December 24: Delhi to Agra, Uttar Pradesh (yes, i will spend christmas eve at the Taj Mahal, a muslim monument to lost love)

December 25: Agra to Jaipur, Rajasthan (so my dream of spending christmas in Rajasthan is realized, not just anywhere, but in the capital, the so-called Pink City *giggle*)

December 26: Jaipur to Pushkar, Rajasthan (Pushkar would be the "+")

December 27: Pushkar to Jaipur (morning camel ride, narrowly missing both christmas and boxing days. oh well, my aim was a little shakey)


Spellunking in Maharashtra:

December 28: Jaipur to Aurangabad, Maharashtra (via Mumbai)

December 29-30: Ellora and/or Ajanta Caves


Goa-ing, Goa-ing, Gone:

December 31: Aurangabad to Goa via Mumbai (ahem, yes, well, after all of my more or less internal "i have no intention of visiting Goa," not only am i going to Goa, i will be celebrating NYE there. how this happened has more to do with the logistics of the next two pieces than anything else, but i admire the forces that have pulled this wriggling rabbit out of the parapatetic hat,)

January 1-2: recovering (hehe) on the beach in Goa

January 3-5: Hampi (my first train trip...from Goa...and back...yikes. but at least i can amuse myself with the pronunciation of the destination, which is close to "humpy")

January 6: Goa to Thiruvananthapuram aka Trivandrum, Kerala

here the details become fuzzy, as well they should. i hope to meet two of the women i was travelling with through india on the child haven caravan, since they will be at the ashram of "the hugging saint", Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, otherwise know simply as Amma. i don't know whether i will join them in the ashram or not, but i've been looking forward just to being in south india for quite awhile. by the time i arrive, i'll have only just over one month left on my india visa and i think i'll be ready to plant myself in Kerala for a week or so.

i'm off.

but then, all of you knew that.

thank you for playing.

namaskahr

(btw, rod is about 3 days ahead of me, assuming he got out of kathmandu on the day of the bandh [general strike] on december 19)