How to quit your job and travel around the world

Wow. I actually managed to sort, edit and upload some of the
3,000-plus photos from the trip in record time. Check them out at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/64207697@N00/collections/

Ok, so I managed to get this down to like 300 photos for your viewing
pleasure. However, this still does not excuse me from not having made
a proper presentation of all my pictures from last year's trip. I
swear, on Ganesha's fat belly, that I will get those up soon. Please
leave comments on any of your favorites! I have a big blank wall in my
apartment that I would like to put some of the greatest hits on.
Enjoy.

Re-entry day. My friend David, who has been living in India and is blogging about it, recently posted some great thoughts on why we travel…I feel rather bored with myself to reiterate what he and Pico Iyer articulate so much better, so instead I am giving lots of thought to re-entry. Or re-re-entry as it were. As I have often said about New York, the best thing about it is leaving and then coming back.

I am the lucky New Yorker who is completely in love with my apartment. When I return, it feels (is) all clean and different again. Almost, but not quite, like someone else’s apartment. When I first get home I pretend it is either a hotel room or I am house sitting. I loll on my bed and stare at my radio, thinking “this person has such a nice radio!” and I notice that the dial is on a new station that I have never really listened to. The apartment smells different. Like other people (I have had friends stay here while I was gone.) Clean and well soaped. Slightly dusty and hot as the windows are nearly shut. I notice their habits – the small stool which I keep by the stove is now by the window. The container for holding cooking spoons is now by the sink, not the stove. What do they know that I don’t? Like a detective, I roam my new turf and take notes. Then after I have entertained myself like this for awhile, I make a nest. I would shred paper into a million bits if I had it, but instead I unpack in a fury. I eviscerate my luggage in the hallway. Bits of sari hanging out; sandal detritus; business cards from establishments in far away places.

After a good nap and some leftover juice from those Other People Who Have Lived Here Once or a bite of the Kozyshack pudding that I would never buy but find so delicious, I go into another type of frenzy. A pack-it-up-and-throw-it-out frenzy. So far: two jackets, unworn since college; too-tight running shorts and all the singleton earrings from my dresser. Make way for new stuff! STUFF! Let’s face it. We travel for ALL THE GREAT STUFF. Kidding! But really, my next big challenge is where to hang the resin-and-paper-mache Buddhist mask I brought home from Tibet. Sigh.

I told aforementioned David that I will try and approach New York like I have never been here before. Like I am still traveling! Last year I tried to pretend it was an old shoe that I had missed. But it wasn't. It felt all alien and weird. So this year, I will treat it as alien and weird. Huzzah. And dear reader, it's a win-win situation. If I have "never been" to New York, then I better keep blogging! Stay tuned for the continued adventures.

At the Lahore Fort with a family. Note the lipstick, which the woman insisted on applying to my mouth and as eyeshadow.










Guards waiting before beginning flag lowering ceremony at the Pakistan-India border in Wargah.









In one of my new saris!



We are back in New York City, which seems remarkably cool at 87 degrees after Karachi. This morning I decided to get some chicken and marinade it in yogurt now that I am all about All Things South Asian…so I flipped open my only Indian cookbook. It opened to the page for Lahori Chicken and the author introduces the chicken by saying that 1) you haven’t been 'born' if you haven’t been to Lahore (Check!) and 2) Lahore is ‘Paris of the East’ (which I thought was Beirut, but whose counting) … anyway, this reminded me that I have yet to write about our visit to Lahore.

Lahore in the summer is about a million degrees. That’s the most salient point. It is also beautiful in a way that Karachi (sorry) is not. While Karachi seems to be in a permanent state of being ‘dug up’ (there are seemingly hundreds of unfinished buildings, on account of land poaching,), Lahore is all polished and pretty, in an Indian way. Colonial architecture, a gorgeous mosque, havelis and the Lahore Fort are all pretty impressive. One amusing thing is that I was sort of an attraction myself on Friday – there were a lot of villagers at the fort and zoo, where we went on Friday, and all the kids wanted to shake my hand. One woman in particular, see photo, followed me around the fort and wanted all sorts of photos with me. She even went so far as to whip out her makeup bag and doll me up.

One of the most interesting/fun things in all of Pakistan is in Wargah, the border crossing between India and Pak. Part sports match, part political theater – the border guards go through this insane pomp every night to take down the flags. It’s all the more impressive because while Pakistan has lost every war it takes on with India, all the locals get rowdy like they have never lost a fight in their lives….there are two court jesters who vigorously rouse the crowd with chants of ‘Zindebad Pakistan’ (Long Live Pakistan) to the point where even I was whipped into a little chanting fury myself. The guards themselves are pretty much the biggest men in all of the country while on the Indian side, the guys are real pee-wees, which is sort of funny. They goose-step, snort at each other, glare, etc … it’s all very machismo and excellent.

A few final thoughts on Karachi…what the city lacks in scenery and cosmetic charms, it makes up for in sea breezes, eating and shopping. I brought home a whole new wardrobe. People devote serious time to running around to the tailor, the fabric shop, the embroidery shop, the sandal shop, etc…I love it. In between all of it, they eat! If you’re even in Karachi you must eat at BBQ Tonight, possibly the most delicious, succulent chicken you’ll ever taste.

So now we’re home, I am unpacking all my goodies….our flight from Dubai flew across Iran and Russia, so the scenery was new and interesting for me on the way home.