I rarely write travelogues as I travel so much, but I’ve been to so many exotic places lately and there is so much I want to share!

It’s been several weeks since I first hit the road. London was my first stop and it was great. The weather was unusually mild and when I wasn’t doing interviews I walked all over the place. I saw two new London stage musicals; Priscilla Queen of the Desert and a show about the Rat Pack’s performance in Las Vegas. They were both wonderful!

From London I went to Mumbai to meet my boyfriend Harsha who picked me up at the airport. You only have to walk outside of the Mumbai airport to know you are not in Kansas anymore! The rush of people, cars, and heat overwhelms and astounds you from the get-go.

For the first few days in Mumbai I spent most of the time sleeping (I was exhausted) and spent some time with Harsha’s mom (we actually got along nicely). I took her and her best friend out to dinner and while I barely understood a thing they said (the Indian accent is still tricky for me), they were a hoot and we laughed and laughed (of course I have no idea about what).

After our time in Mumbai we went to Goa, just south of Mumbai. Goa is one of India’s coastal resort areas. It is a small state, only 1.3 million people and has a strong Portuguese history. There are lots of churches and people who have Christian names instead of traditional Indian names. The beach there was lovely and our room at the Hyatt postcard-perfect. Restaurants in the hotel were pricy but the beach shacks (a short stroll down the shoreline) served really cheap, but really great, seafood. The downside? The weather was just toooooo hot and muggy for me. I mean really, really hot and muggy. Thankfully there was a good storm one day which was gorgeous. The seas changed from a calm pool to turbulent crashing waves and the air cooled a bit!

The beginning of the second week we left for Udaipur which is the desert region of India where most of the palaces of the Rajahs were built. It was fascinating and magnificent to see a completely different facet of the country. The weather was perfect! Dry, warm, desert air, along with incredible views. All of this amidst a thriving small town that, while still impoverished, is beautifuly rich in tradition. With village life all around, our hotel at the Oberois was truly magnificent! Truly one of the most beautiful hotels I’ve ever been in.

It was hard to leave Udaipur but we packed up three days later and were on a plane to Delhi. Delhi is a completely different part of India and 180 degrees from Mumbai (think New York in comparison to Washington D.C.). Delhi is the seat of parliament so it’s organized around huge, magnificent embassies, hotels, and government offices. The mall area is definitely reminiscent of D.C. Once you pass through the area known as New Delhi, you head into the old city where the small crowded streets, outrageous traffic, crowds, and village life begin again.

Delhi proved to be too much city life for us (as did Mumbai) so one day later we departed for Agra to see the Taj Mahal. We hired a car and driver to get us there on one of the most tumultuous road trips ever. The 6 hour trip, including brief stops at a couple of shrines, was one of the most mind-boggling experiences ever. The same madness and turmoil of the city streets are on the main roads and highways that link cities together. It is a never-ending game of dodging hordes of every obstacle imaginable and some I never knew existed.

The most intriguing site during this 6-hour road trip was the Hari Krishna temple in the town of Mathura. While there, we were met by pleasant devotees in orange saris and pantaloons who wanted us to buy their books and yes, they chanted on and on. It all felt very San Francisco, circa 1970. The town of Mathura is thought to be the birthplace of Krishna and temples punctuate the landscape like a series of rolling hills and mountains.

Late in the morning the next day, we saw the Taj Mahal which was just astounding. One of the most pure, colossal pieces of architectural precision I’ve ever seen. The turrets, domes, mosques, and white stones merge in a flawless feat of engineering triumph that is both jaw-dropping and awe-inspiring. Flawless in almost every respect it is a stunning work of art. The passionate brilliance becomes etched in your mind starting at the very first moment it comes in to view. It is an enduring image, completely penetrating in a mystical way that isn’t easy to explain.

An hour outside Agra is a town called Fatehpur Sikri where the capital of the region moved to after being centralized in Agra. Fatehpur Sikri is an astounding walled city dating from the 1500’s complete with a moat and royal residence. Inside the imposing red sandstone walls are ramparts, palaces, homes, and apartments built for a completely unique style of court life. The palaces included a home for the king’s three wives, one who was a Hindu, the other a Muslim, and the other a Christian. This Muslim king believed we should all live together as one religion sharing one air to be close to the one Lord. He actually gave each of his wives the ability to follow their beliefs with complete freedom. This king is know for trying to create a single religion that incorporated the belief in one God, fairly radical for the time, or any time for that matter.

Today, we drove back to Delhi and caught a plane to Kathmandu in Nepal to see the Himalayas and Mt. Everest. It was only a one hour flight from Delhi. I can’t begin to explain my excitement. The idea of seeing the Himalayas and Mt. Everest made me feel giddy like a teenager. Shortly after takeoff in the distance, appeared the towering, exalted, picturesque mountains of the Himalayas. Barely able to breathe I could hardly believe what I was seeing. I live in Seattle surrounded by mountains but these jagged, monoliths etched from God’s hands made everything else seem insignificant. Tomorrow we are off for some sightseeing and a plane ride over Everest.

Harsha and I travel great together. It has been an open-ended kind of schedule where we literally take it one city at a time and then we decide whether we want to stay or go. Once we determine where we want to venture next we make the necessary reservations. Making it even more wonderful is that we tend to have the same pace. We seem to have the same need for down time and naps and little need to see everything at each stop along the way. He is also completely accommodating when I’m not comfortable about something and I do the same for him. He also can take charge in a way that makes me feel safe and protected and he doesn’t mind when I need to take charge. That is just the best!

We also love food (that isn’t the best, at least not for my hopes to lose the weight I’ve gained, but damn it is fun). Eating has been a delightful, exceptionally spicy, aromatic adventure. We eat different styles of Indian cuisine wherever we go, though now we are looking forward to Nepal cuisine. Wherever we go we prefer local places serving hot, pungent dishes (well, relatively local; so far my tummy and, well, the rest of me is doing pretty good).

India is an amazing part of the world! One of the most distinctive, unique travel experiences I’ve ever had. Some of it is being with Harsha (it helps having someone who speaks Hindi—not to mention someone I love) but mostly it is a country with little parallel in the world. The main cities are a confluence of the modern business world, vibrant young people along with a huge film industry as pervasive as Hollywood is to the United States (ergo the name Bollywood). All of this is inextricably mixed with rampant extreme poverty and rural, archaic, village life.

Outside of Mumbai there really are cows in the street (lots of cows and big bulls with horns) along with goats, camels, donkeys, pigs and the occasional family of monkeys. Elephants too (well, one elephant) along with wild boars and their baby boars in tow. Sadly, there are also way too many stray dogs. Staggering destitution is everywhere (though particularly sickening in Mumbai where vast slums of the most inhumane conditions abound).

No matter where you go, you see a procession of mismatched, endless buildings; some new, some decaying, flanked by small, closet-sized shops crammed together between food stands and abandoned shacks. On top of this, the meandering streets have the most insane traffic I’ve ever seen. Everyone and everything in the streets are jockeying around the animals, cars, bicycles, motorbikes, buses, trucks and farm equipment. All of this along with small motorized cars called rickshaws which are stuffed with passengers, vendor carts that are pulled by horses or camels, and endless parades of people punctuated by women dressed in bright colorful saris. It is all utter chaos that absolutely no one reacts to other than with a cacophony of incessant horn blasts. I mean no one bats an eye or even grunts at the infinite number of times they come within millimeters of hitting someone or being hit (well except for me that is, my startle response is being exhausted).

I have one more installment after I leave Nepal. But for now that’s all the news fit to print. Thanks for joining me on my journey!

My phone doesn’t work well here at least as far as messages are concerned. I’m doing great though: no mosquito bites, no problems from the malaria pills, and no stomach upset from all the shots and immunizations required before traveling to this part of the world.

It has been a fascinating learning experience and I mean really, really, really fascinating. On some level I could just be in New York or Hong Kong or Sydney, but then on a closer look the poverty and the plethora of buildings that are falling apart just takes your breath away and overwhelms your heart. I have never seen poverty like this. And the heat in their spring!  You can barely walk outside without melting. It is almost painful!

The business meetings have been incredible but not what I expected in the least. From a business perspective this country seems simultaneously behind the times and up to speed in the millennium. From an Internet perspective they are somewhere in the mid-90s. But the economy is growing by leaps and bounds and as a result there is an amazing amount of progress and development but there is also an immense amount of confusion, political turmoil, unbelievable unemployment, there is need for far more development, and bribery is still a way of doing business. So why am I bothering? Because feedback from businesswomen in India and from consumers has been loud and clear that they want Paula’s Choice products available locally. How amazing!

In order for me to sell Paula’s Choice here I would need to manufacture my products here. I’m trying to figure out how to do that, which has been a 180 degree shift from what I originally thought (meaning my plan was to ship my products here from our Seattle warehouse). Importing is beyond costly (duties, special regulatory requirements that don’t apply to local products) and there are skin care products in this country selling for $3 U.S. funds (they are really awful formulations but they are cheap to make).

My boyfriend who hails from Mumbai has been helping quite a bit. He has been coming with me for most of my meetings. His being able to speak the local language (either Hindi or Marathi) is extremely helpful. There are many times that English just doesn’t work despite the fact that everyone speaks English for the most part. The fact remains that many people are still most comfortable speaking their native tongue. Sometimes it is word choice but often it is just pronunciation; sometimes it is the way they shake their head (I think they are saying no and they are just shaking their heads—imagine the comical situations that can lead to!).

I find the Indian people quite formal and extremely polite and considerate. They also have a great, quirky sense of humor which is wonderful (everyone gets my jokes and they are willing to laugh out loud which is just great).

I’m still not sure I can do business here with the same high standards I hold myself to in other countries, but I am convinced that it is so worth it to continue the investigation and give it a try. The emerging middle class and the desire for information is a pulse you can feel. Women here are amazing. I’ve met with many female business owners or in high-level mid-management positions. They are assertive, smart, savvy, and intense but very service-oriented. They hold to tradition but long to be global. And it is interesting to note that no matter where I travel, the demand for effective, well-formulated skin-care products remains a universal desire.

On a side note, other than culture shock, one particularly unique aspect of Indian society is that everyone (and I mean everyone) lives with their parents until they get married, and often even then they remain with their parents, never moving out.

I clearly stand out here like a sore thumb (at least when I’m dressed up for meetings and wearing full makeup), not in the hotels, but in meetings or driving through the city. The people seem to think I’m a Bollywood celebrity. I went to a Hindu temple last week. They have separate entrances for men and women I went up to the altar and handed their “priest” money and received Darshan (candy, a coconut, and a flower—I have no idea what the coconut was for but the candy is something very typical) he also put a bindi on my forehead (a red dot made of some mixture of seasonings). I wore it all day! It looked great. A gorgeous fashion statement!

On Saturday I’m off to Korea. That should be fascinating as no one speaks English there and I have a big presentation I’m doing for the media and then to a group of over 400 Korean women!

Namaste!