Halfway Through the Tour

Well, Jaipur was just okay. I think if I return and do this same tour, I will eliminate this part. Even though I am fascinated with this city and it's history, my groups don't seem to be except for the Kali Temple inside the Amber Fort. I think we could find another Kali Temple somewhere to satisfy the need to commune with Kali. I will look into it. Even the elephant ride doesn't seem to be a highlight for people, so hey, why fight it?

Agra was another story altogether. People loved the Taj Mahal. They wanted to stay there longer although I find this city to be wretched. Just goes to show that different people see things differently.

There has been a noticeable lack of complaining on the part of the group this year. Instead, there's been an open and energetic experience of embracing everything, even some Delhi Belly and some constipation. People are feeling the food to be excellent and have mostly liked the accommodations. Maybe you don't know this, but on my tours people play musical rooms quite like musical chairs so that nobody gets stuck with anyone that may be disagreeable. This strategy also prevents clicks from forming. This keeps everything fresh. Every time we stop at another city, people change roommates. So far so great this time around - a very agreeable bunch.

I'm having the thought that I may have prepared this group for this trip better than I did the last. I based a lot of my pre-trip communications on the feedback from last year. I must admit that one thing that still sticks in my craw about the tour last year is that I think people still haven't taken full responsibility for their share in creating some of the difficulties. As spiritual beings, I believe we are responsible for everything that happens and everything that doesn't happen in our lives. And even though I know a few of the tourists from the past adhere to this paradigm, they have not demonstrated fully getting it at least to me. I may still have some completing to do on a deeper level with a few folks.


One of the great blessings for me on this trip is to have Deborah Anapol along. We are bonding nicely with each other and I am quite happy about it after knowing of each other for so long. There's a lot we have to share and lots of time to do it in.