Monday, February 1, 2010

off to India

Much to the dissapointment of the people in Sri Lanka who have now become my family away from home, I am heading to India for three weeks.  After giving me a perplexing look which translates to something like, "Why would you ever want to leave Sri Lanka?" they are usually somewhat appeased when I tell them I will be back.  This trip marks what has started to become a mental "beginning of the end" of my asian adventure.  Once I get back from India, I will have a week and a half in Sri Lanka before I fly back to Canada on the 9th of March. 

As for India, it is kind of an extension of what I have been doing here.  Another chance to see a different culture and observe the role that religion has in the lives of its people.  India is a much more religiously diverse country and the Hindu dominated majority will definitely give me a different experience than Buddhist dominated Sri Lanka.  I will be using the trains extensively to get a pretty diverse cross-section of Indian culture in the Northern part of the country.  I am trying to hit up some of the major religious cities to see what makes its inhabitants tick.  Lots of train time, but hopefully I meet some interesting characters on the long rides!

Hopefully I will find some time at an internet shop somewhere in India to give you a little update of how India is shaping me, but if not, I will hit you with a post in three weeks!