So, I've decided to give Yoga a second shot. The last time I tried a class was about ten years ago. Right off the bat we were shifting through poses every 15 seconds for an hour and a half. Upward dog, downward dog, sun salutation. Lotus poses. I was sweating within 3 minutes. Tamara was consoling me after the class saying "it was a more aggressive form of Yoga". Even so it still made me feel more out of shape than I already thought I was. At least I got the "shoulder stand-foot behind head" move. Not very graceful I should add.
The lessons here are fairly reasonable at 150 Rs, about $3.80 Canadian. The local teacher helps people achieve the harder poses by forcing his entire body weight on the area to be squished.
Finally finished Shogun! This 1152 pager is centered around 1600 Feudal Japan v.s. European explorers. Great characters and fun cultural differences make for a good read. Kinda lost me at around p1050 tough...and the end kinda sucks...oh wait there's a sequel.
I'm trying to wrap my mind around extending this adventure into Autum 09 and possibly into 2010. Australia seems like a good place to look for some work for a bit. Living in India is easy. I'm spending 500 Rupees a day here or 12 bucks but you could do it for 8 no sweat. The problem is the more expensive countries like New zealand, Australia and Japan. Time to start looking for some investing ideas that pay!
I met a farmer from Manitoba while traveling in Uganda last year. He told me about this "crazy" Canadian trust company that pays out a "mind boggling" 25% in cash every year on a monthly basis. Problem is the stock decided to jump off a cliff. I checked up on it recently and its looking even more battered every week. "Don't catch a falling knife" and "Yield trap" are ringing in my mind, but with some research I figured it'll be able to weather the credit crisis and also happens too be one of the largest oil trusts in Canada. What about that old saying "The bigger they are the harder they fall"? Maybe solar panels are the way to go? This ones going right through $10 fo sho!
In 3 days Tamara heads to Chennai to catch a fight to Australia. Mikhail heads for Toronto and I head for Delhi-belly
Mikhail and I were thinking of moving around but the three-fifty-each-room we're splitting is too good to abandon! He also got a small case of sunstroke, so were going to take it easy for a while...
View from Yoga torture center.
Alternate view from joint popping center.
What?
Tamara took a few good shots of the Maharajahs palace.
Fight the corporations maaaan...
....through beach fire juggling and stuff.
...and its off!
Mmm.. butter toes!
The Tourista. It was hell to get down here. 12h bus ride for marble? Still debating..
Well here it is, the Mughal masterpiece, flanked by Muslim monuments. What a marvel....Mahal
One of two identi-mosques
great marble work fo sho.
We stopped outside Agra for the elephant festival.
take my piteur.
Jaipur, the pink city. We chilled out here for a few days.
The palace is pretty decked out here!
This is the largest SILVER object in the world... my quest has ended :)
Within the Maharajahs palace walls.
We were both looking a little dorky wearing the audio guides.
Water palace outside of Jaipur.
The average rickshaw seat. He let me ride it uphill for a bit.
Local talent.
ah.. good ol Million Juice.
Our backyard in Pushkar.
Its getting to be Monsoon season here soon so we had the whole place to ourselves.
Getting the tan on yeah!
Great beats...trust me!
A festival every night in holy Pushkar it seems.
It was so loud and crazy that you just kind of stand there, zone out, and take it all in.
These men carry around their lights all attached by wires and a generator.
The moving band. The dude in the middle is singing and playing keys while walking sideways through this mosh pit.
Don't feed the animals.
Chillin'
The monkeys took over the truck.
We're off to Udaipur or Jaisalmer or Amritsar? Who knows!
