I'm squished shoulder-to-shoulder in a crowd of native Tibetan Ladakhi people, packed neatly next to fellow onlookers. We are all patiently waiting to hear a mystical proclamation about the future. Today, of all days, two oracles—Tibetan monks who have been meditating in an isolated trance for the past year—will emerge from their stillness in order to predict the future of the village.
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Filtering by Category: Snapshots
Exploring the Khajuraho Temples of India
"There are no mistakes. Only new paths to explore."
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Surviving Agra to Visit the Taj Mahal
"There are three things you need when driving in India," says our rickshaw driver after nearly colliding with another taxi. "A good horn, good brakes, and good luck!"
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Camel Trekking in Rajasthan, India
About two hours north of Jodhpur, the roads are unkempt, bumpy and uneven. We are on our way to the Thar desert in Rajasthan, India to ride camels.
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The luxurious palaces of Mehrangarh Fort overlooking Jodhpur, India.
Visiting Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur, India
Long term travel may sound glorious, but in practice, it can be hard.
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Colorful spices found in the Jodhpur street market.
The Seasons of Things + Visiting Jodhpur, India
Everything has it's season and right now, I'm travel worn. I kind of just want to sit bundled up in one place and not move. Is that bad? We are almost four months into our 13-month long journey, but travel in India is hard. Seriously.
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Dust storm and desert flowers in Black Rock City, Nevada
A Journey Home: Stunning images of Burning Man 2014
We need to be reminded that amazing places such as this can and do exist—communities where creativity, innovation and art come together to inspire humanity. This is Burning Man, 2014.
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Cows at a farm along the road in Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary, India
Jungle Leopards + Adventuring in Goa, India
Goa is where we motorbike through dry rural winding country backroads, weaving past gypsy camps filled with colorful Rajasthani women who wear brilliant red orange saris and layers of silver jewelry. Tents line the road where these workers from the north live temporarily doing hard construction labor, carrying bowls of rock on their head. Yaks and cows lazily wander, oblivious to the cars and motorbikes that zip past. The farther away from the beach we get, the more worn and dry the landscape becomes. Yellow haystacks á la Monet and brown rice paddies void of crop or water fly past as we move deeper inland.
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Docked houseboats on the backwaters in Alleppey, India
Houseboating through the backwaters of Kerala, India
Dawn is breaking, soft and blue. The river and I are just rousing from sleep. Gazing out the window, a placid bed of water gently ripples beneath me as a bird dips down in search of breakfast.
I have spent the night on a houseboat in the famous Kerala backwaters. Here, a web of about 500 miles of lagoons weave between barrier islands inland from the Arabian sea on the western side of southern India.
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Holy men sitting by the Ganges river in Varanasi
How to find something to believe in: the search for a guru in India
Searching for a guru is trendy in India, especially if you're a Westerner. I've begun to theorize that this eternal quest is driven by what is lacking back home in the West––a culture with belief in something more meaningful than the self.
India is the perfect place to visit, then, because spirituality is so omnipresent in a non-preachy sort of way. I should have known of its importance months prior to arrival, simply from the visa application. Halfway down the form I was required to check a box indicating my religious affiliation. For the record, agnostic and atheist weren't even listed as options.
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A hand-painted semi truck hauling goods in southern India
Hand-painted semi trucks of India
India is a land of beauty and adornment with colors, textures, and patterns abound. It's also a place of curiosities. Mash these two things together, the surprising with the decorative, and you'll find some pretty unique things.
One of my favorite examples of this is the beautifully incongruous hand-painted semi truck.
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A working elephant at the sanctuary carries palm branches near Trivandrum, Kerala
A theater of humanity, images of village life in Kerala, India
"In the West, you save up all your money in order to spend it on an experience. You are searching for something," our Indian travel agent winks at me. Her sparkly nose ring catches the light and her bangles jingle as she hands us our train tickets. "Us Indians, we think you're a little bit crazy; we would never travel like you. We'd rather spend our money on gold jewelry, land, or a new house." This explains her inability to tell us more about popular sights at our next destination in India.
In the West, we do believe in the almighty experience. And for me, like many, the ultimate coveted experience has always been to travel.
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