Jaipur

We got on our first sleeper train not exactly sure what to expect, bu thanks to the nice Irish 24 year old guy sitting next to us (I think his name was Darragh or something Irish like that) who gave us a little crash course of what to expect and tell us stories of his travels it didn't look like it would be so bad. The next morning at about 8AM we arrived in Jaipur and found an amazing super cheap hotel with a rooftop restaurant. We put our stuff in our room and immediately headed up to eat our first meal of real food in what seemed like forever. We all had survived on no more than a few crackers and almonds since we got on the train the night before at 6PM. After stuffing ourselves we each spent the next few hours by ourselves having some alone time. I spent mine taking a shower, writing, listening to my iPod and walking across the street to the Internet cafe to check my mail and post a blog. At about midday we all got back together to discuss plans for our next 3 days in Rajasthan. First stop- Pink City. We got a rickshaw and headed on our way. Our driver, Salim, turned out to be pretty much the coolest guy ever and our own personal tour guide for the next day and a half. He took us all around from Amber Fort to Water Palace giving us tips and travel advice about India. We were all in agreement that the best part of the day was the elephant ride. We all rode on the same elephant (they are huge, they can handle it) wandering through back rodes into an open field where a group of kids were playing a game of cricket. None of us could get over that fact that we were riding an elephant in freaking India. Epic. At the end of the day Salim took us to another hotel's rooftop restaurant and we all ate and hung out for a few hours.

The next morning Salim met up with us as we were eating breakfast at our hotel. Until about 5 or 6 we rode around town in his rickshaw visiting more sites we missed the day before. At one point I even lost my debit card. That was exciting. I had a small panic attack until Salim pulled it out of his pocket and told me to be more careful with it. Not a funny joke. Lesson learned. Apparently I had forgotten to take it back from the ATM earlier in the day and the lady in line behind me noticed and ran out to give it back to me. Salim grabbed it from her and put it in his pocket before I even noticed anything was wrong. I didn't even notice until an hour later when Salim asked if he could see my debit card claiming he had never seen one before, which was an obvious lie. I questioned him a bit then went to grab it from my wallet and noticed it wasn't there, giving me a small heart attack. I'm so happy it wasn't actually lost. I would have killed someone. Anyway, other highlights of the day included feeding monkeys at the monkey temple and a visit to a jewelry store where Maggie and Steven had personal sessions with a very popular half Canadian half Indian healer man. (astrology, ora, stones, that kind of stuff.) Matt and I got an odd feeling from the guy, plus that kind of stuff kind of freaks us out so we just hung out looking at stuff. We also made a stop at the textile store we had visited the day before to pick up the pants Matt and Steven had made for them. The store was founded by a German, an Australian and an American from Washington DC seven years ago. The money they make go towards helping Indian widows and getting books and things for Indian children's schools. We had a lot of fun hanging out with the men that worked there as they showed us fabrics, Saree's and scarfs. Each of us spent probably a little too much, but it's for a good cause so, it's worth it.

Amritsar

We woke up at about 6AM to give ourselves enough time to get ready, pack up and make it to the train station in time. The next six-ish hours were spent listening to iPods, doing sudoku puzzles, playing Uno, and wishing I could steal the iPad from the rich little Indian boy sitting behind us. Once we got off the train in Amritsar I was immediately reminded yet again of my absolute least favorite part of traveling outside of the US - the insane amounts of people in your face asking for money, if you need a taxi, where you are staying. if you need a hotel, etc etc. For the inexperienced traveler it can be enough to make you want to turn around get right back on the train, and surely give you an anxiety attack. I'm not saying I'm a super experienced traveler or anything, but because of the previous travels I do have under my belt plus the reading of friends travel blogs and the type of books I usually read, I am well aware and prepared for it. You learn quickly the best way to deal with it- pretend you are deaf, maybe even blind and if needed dumb. Some of the people can prove to be quite useful at times though. We made our way through the sea of annoying people and found a nice cheap hotel to set our bags down before heading out in search of an ATM. Once my rupee fund was replenished we found a nice place to eat- a somewhat hidden little outdoor restaurant in the middle of a hotel. This became our own little tranquil hang out/eating area for the next day and a half. After a nice lunch we set out to wander around the garbage filled streets of Amritsar exploring shops, riding a tricycle carriage thing (no idea what their real name is) and getting ice cream before heading back our room to lay down and cool off for a bit. Around seven we took a rickshaw to the Golden Temple, which was one of my main must see Indian sites. We bought bandannas to cover our heads, took our shoes off, rinsed our feet and headed into the area which encloses the temple to take a seat on the floor in perfect view of the temple. (any place is a perfect view really, considering the temple is by itself in the middle of a, I'm assuming, man made little body of water. The temple was so incredibly gorgeous at night so we just sat there enjoying the view and making friends for about an hour or two. We got up to take a walk around and get pictures from all sides. It was actually Ghandi's birthday so there were tons and tons of people everywhere, some stripping down to their underwear to take a dip in the water, others bowing in various locations around the place. We left to get sodas before taking another death defying rickshaw ride back to our hotel. Seriously, I will never understand how there are not more accidents here what with the basically non existent traffic organization. I still can't decide if there is more honking here or in Egypt. It's at least the same- non stop.

The next morning we headed to our favorite restaurant to eat breakfast and figure out how to spend the rest of the day until our 6PM train ride to Jaipur. What basically happened was a lot of wandering around looking in more shops, buying bangles, strolling through various street markets, sweating to death and taking rickshaw rides. I'm really going to miss rickshaw rides, they are like nothing else. We ate lunch in a 4th floor restaurant in some hotel we found before heading back to check if our bags were still safely stored in the lobby of our the hotel our little hang out spot was located at. The nice reception boy had offered to watch our bags all day for free. He was rad. We still had an hour or so before our train so we settled in our spot, ordered some naan and beer (the latter obviously not for me. I'm always the token sober Mormon girl, and very glad to be) and played a few rounds of Uno.

New Delhi

After an infromative discussion with one of our hotel's tour organizer people (whatever you call them) we had a set plant for the next few days, which only slightly strayed from our original plan. At about 11AM we set out with our driver covering a lot of ground within new and old Delhi. We spent an hour at the Red Fort, which probably could have been successfully visited in 15 minutes, before heading to an incredible Indian restaruant to eat ourselves sick. Garlic naan and butter chicken curry with a dessert of brownies, ice cream and phirni (some Indian pudding like dessert that I think is actually quite good). Please try to tell me something that is more delicous. (I don't expect you to actually try, because you won't be able to.) Next we headed to Qutab Minar, which turned out to be our favorite picture taking place of the day. A few unsuccessful jumping pictures for Maggie and a few successfull yoga pose puictures for myself later (yoga started in India so it only makes sense to me to do yoga poses in my pictures, even if they do look awkward and result in getting laughed at by my travel partners for specific poses.....ha good times by the fountain.) we were on to our next location, Lotus temple. I'm not sure if that's the real name. We wandered around shoeless and learned the purpose of the architecture and abit about all the religions taught about inside. Mostly I think the place looks sweet and it should be my house. I would totally be OK with living in a house shaped like a flower with like 5 pools. I could be a hippie, that'd be fine. By this point we were all nearly ready to head back to the hotel. A quick stop at the India Gate and the president's house for a few photos ended our days tour and we happily found ourselves back in our air conditioned hotel room watching ridiculous Indian music videos.

Um yah, India

After an 11 hour flight to Korea and another 7 hour flight into Delhi, Matt, Maggie, Steven and I finally got to our hotel at about 2AM on... Thursday? I think actually Friday, who knows it's all the same. We traveled in time, we're rad. Either way, we wanted nothing more than to pass out and not be on a plane again for a really long time (which translates to two weeks when we have to so we can go home). We all woke up with the rising of the sun and a bunch of monkeys crawling around the buildling right across from our window. (Even though they are surely covered in diseases I kinda want to bring one home) We just finished eating a pretty amazingly delicious buffet breakfast, and now Matt and I are hanging out in the lobby waiting for Maggie and Steven to get ready for the day. Then we are off to basically wander around and do whatever we want until we start heading north to Shimla.

They were just giving them out at the record store...in exchange for money.

The search is over. I fell in love. For the past few years now people have been telling me that I would really really love this band, and I just didn't listen to them (my friends or the band). Well, as of a few weeks ago I was on a hunt that seemed to be never ending. I needed new music in my life more desperately than almost ever before. Too many things in my life are up in the air,  I didn't need the added stress of no new album to be obsessed with. In my many visits to various CD stores (which is a common event for me, I probably go every week to see what new previously owned CDs will be there) and searching different internet websites like this, showing me what bands are similar to other bands I already love, I kept seeing this band that my friends had been telling me about. I have had one song of theirs on my iPod for a long time, but I was always too busy with other music to listen to it. Well, I decided that now is the time I should probably take a listen. Also they were having a new album come out in a few days (from when I found them) so they were being advertised everywhere. I listened to tons of their songs on youtube, and realized my friends had been right. I fell in love with them. I will forever regret letting so much time go by that could have been spent loving them. Oh Arcade Fire, please remain in my life forever. Since I have full control over whether or not they will, it's safe to say they will. The Suburbs is one of the best albums I have heard in a while. I would tell you which song is my favorite, but that's not physically possible. If I HAD to, I might say "We Used to Wait". It changed my life completely, but so did the rest of the album. (please note the adorable kitten at the end of that video. Will someone just please give me a kitten! this is getting ridiculous)

I guess to be honest, I would have to say I fell in love twice. In my extensive search for new music I also found another band that I have become fully obsessed with. A little less than the level of obsession with Arcade Fire, but very close. They also had a new album come out a few months back and I kept seeing it at the store. It always caught my eye because of the album cover, which I personally think is quite clever and definitely something I would do. So, I decided if they are cool enough to have that as their album cover, they are cool enough for me to take a listen. So, I did. I found their song "Tighten Up" off the album on youtube and immediately became obsessed, such a rad song. Also the video is funny, and I love that the singer looks a lot like Conan to me. (Team Coco for life). Also, that little brown haired boy in the video is the cutest little boy I have ever seen. I better have sons that look exactly like that. I saw the album on sale for $8 the next time I was at the record store, and of course bought it. Right from "Everlasting Light" I was just giddy. Amazing album. Oh, "they" are The Black Keys, if you haven't clicked the links and figured out by now. (which you should do so immediately if you have not, your life will change for the better)

These two albums have been ruling my life. It just seemed important that everyone know that. (I have faith someone, somewhere feels the same extreme joy and excitement about new albums as I do. And yeah, enough to continuously write descriptive blogs about how good they are. To the rest of you, I advise you to get more excited.)

My mountain won't hurt me.

I'm sorry, but when someone in Utah tells me to look at the beautiful "mountains" I have a hard time not questioning that persons knowledge on the definition of mountains. To me they just aren't mountains and they never will be, they are just glorified hills. Yes, they are gorgeous though. (In their own special, handicapped way) Don't start your arguing, I just feel like when you are used to looking at this

I stole this from a Seattle photographer's blog, Robert Wade.

and someone tells you these are mountains

I just feel like they don't know what they are talking about.


Now I understand that Rainier is only like 1000 ft higher than King's Peak, but Utah's elevation is like 3000 ft or something higher than WA to begin with, so just shut up and deal with the fact that the Cascades are better than the Uintas and forever will be. And be prepared to fight me if you want to talk about this. Sure hiking trails in the Uintas are perfectly good and I'm always up to hike them, but again they just don't compare to this

In my last year and a half in the Seattle area, and now being back in Utah, I have come to even more fully realize my need to live in the forest by mountains and lakes, but yet miraculously still be in close proximity to incredible cities, like say, oh I don't know, Seattle. Nothing is better. I'm accustomed to it, I've spent more than half of my life doing so. I miss it so. One of my main life goals is to own a house on a lake, preferably Lake Sammamish or Lake Washington. I used to go running on the Lake Sammamish trail all the time. Every run I would just stare at the lake the whole time with a big stupid smile on my face because it is just so incredibly gorgeous. I mean seriously,  look at it...

It's somewhat hard to go from this being your driveway

driving over those potholes is "fun"

to well not having a driveway (or a house, for that matter). But if I did, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't look like that here.

Dear Washington,
I promise I will return to you one day. No, I don't know when, but rest assured our time apart is only making me love you more.
Love,
Mal

(If you must know, the title of this post is from an old man that lived in a cabin by Mt St Helen's. He was told to evacuate his cabin because the mountain was going to erupt and he told the rangers "My mountain won't hurt me" and didn't leave his house. His mountain killed him.)

For the past few months I haven't had too much time to work on my artwork, and I'm not OK with that. It's for legitimate reasons that I haven't started anything new though, so I guess I am OK with it. The itch to start something new has been just raging lately, and it must be cured. So I went to my mom's house and dug around in her closet and found some of her painting stuff. I've been wanting to try some new mediums, so I thought I would mess around with some watercolor for a bit. I haven't used watercolor since my senior year in high school, and apparently forgot how freaking hard it is. One painting that I did in my senior year won in the art show and made me an All State Artist, so I figured I would probably be able to do something somewhat decent. Well, apparently not. After like five hours I had nothing good to show for myself. My watercolor skills are pretty much gone. I was really wishing my mom wasn't out of town on one of her many river rafting trips (I swear she goes every weekend, she's so rad) because I really REALLY could have used her help. She is an insanely good artist and watercolor is her medium of choice, she could have given me some very useful tips. I guess, in my own defense, I wasn't really trying that hard either. Also I hadn't properly prepared my paper for painting, I didn't have 12 hours to soak it and let it dry. But those are hardly excuses. Although, unless I'm super into the piece I'm working on, I've noticed I do considerably worse on it than normal. And I wasn't super into the ones I was doing. But I am so excited for this semester be over in like 2 weeks, then I will have lots of time to work on my art. I already have so many things I want to draw, I can't wait.

Also, lately I haven't had hardly any time for my own personally reading (aside from scriptures), or I guess I haven't made time. It's been a few months since the last book I read for myself, and I remember that the one I read kind of made me angry. It was Tears of Blood: A Cry for Tibet, a good read, but sad. The other day Kelly and I spent way too long at DI perusing the bookshelves and I found a couple good ones for like two bucks each - A Passage to India, and A Map of the World. That second one has an Oprah's Book Club sticker on it, so you KNOW it's good...I guess. I started reading A Passage to India, then about two days later I lost it somehow. I thought it was lost to the world until today I found it hidden under a pair of running shoes and one of my drawing boards that were in the trunk of my car. I'd like to know how it got there, but I've come to terms with the fact that I probably never will. I was saddened that I didn't find the one I was searching for at DI though, but eventually I will find me a cheap copy of a bio on Caravaggio to suffice my needs. Oh, that will be the day.