Tag Archives: india

Kashmir On My Mind

A few months ago, Katie and I met Pradeepika Saraswat while traveling in Hampi, southern India. We hit it off and she later invited us to visit her in Delhi, where we recorded this podcast. Pradeepika is a journalist who has spent much time living in Kashmir, a region over which India and Pakistan have fought multiple wars. I also visited Kashmir a few years back and became very interested in the region, so naturally, this was the main focus of our discussion.

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AtW #77: India Roundup

With only a few days left in our ten-month trip, Katie and I recapped our time in India and discussed how travel has changed us. Lots of good philosophical advice in this one.

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Around the World #38: Sean Kelly

My guest today is Sean Kelly. He's an art teacher in Beijing, China. He has also lived in Shanghai and Costa Rica. We talked about life here, living on campus, travel and a few interesting movies that remind us of China.

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Around the World #31: Arthur and Xiao Ni

This is my continued discussion with Arthur and Xiao Ni. (To listen to my first podcast with them, click here.) Xiao Ni continued to impress me with her stories. Unfortunately, as she sojourned through Turkey and Lebanon, she was plagued by misfortune and people of ill repute. Maybe the theme for this show should be “That which does not kill you makes you stronger.”

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Around the World #30: Arthur and Xiao Ni

My guests for the next two podcasts are Arthur and Xiao Ni. After a long career in Seattle, Arthur came to China to volunteer with the Peace Corps. Nowadays, he spends large portions of his time volunteering at a university in Guiyang, a “small city” of 3 million in Guizhou province. Xiao Ni is Arthur's former student. She didn't want her whole life to be planned for her, so after college, she decided to go on a long journey around Tibet, India, Turkey, Lebanon and Egypt. All she needed was a way to pay for it.

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2016, What the Year! Part III: India

The Dalai Lama spoke for an hour; his message was mostly about creating peace on Earth. He seemed to be winding down his time on this planet – he made it clear that he was from the twentieth century and now it was time for the twenty-first century folks to take over. He was humble, too. At one point he said that if he thought of himself as the Dalai Lama, he felt lonely. But if he thought of himself as a human, then he had seven billion others to share this life experience with. He spoke in English for this whole hour. During his speech, monks walked through the crowd, passing out bread rolls and pouring cups of yak milk tea. It was savory, not sweet, but still delicious, and a nice gesture.

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Around the World Podcast #26: Kathy McGowan

My guest today is Kathy McGowan. When I met her, she had just finished a three-year stint of living in a “small” city in China (population 3 million), and was relaxing in Shaxi for a few days before heading to New Zealand. The thing that struck me about Kathy was her willingness to just pick up everything and move. She's lived in over fifty houses, and counting. We talked about a few of her former homes (including India and Malta), as well as what's up next for her.

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2016, What the Year! Part II: India

This is part II of my “2016, What the Year!” series. I'm recapping some of my travel memories from the year that was...2016.

I spent about five weeks in India. It was an incredible country, with never a dull moment. This is a long post, but trust me, it's just a brief summary of my time in India. In fact, this entry will only cover May, so there's more to come.

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AtW Podcast, Episode 15: Honey Sherma

My guest for this episode is Honey Sherma, from Jaipur in Rajasthan, India. He has traveled to every continent except Antarctica on cargo vessels. We discussed his life, both on the high seas, and in small towns in India. A large part of our conversation was focused on dhabas, those wonderful shops/guesthouses that always seem to pop up in the middle of nowhere in India. I like the concept of the dhaba, and the conversations that take place in them, so much that I even considered changing the name of this podcast to “Chai and Chat with Dan”.

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