Ok, so this is sooo waaaay long overdue, but I have been re-adjusting to being back home and what not. Oh also, the second part of that header is primarily so that hopefully my blog will pop up if anyone is searching for IVHQ and complaints... lets hope it works!
So before I head into my conclusion of my India trip, I will preface with a bit about IVHQ. So still have heard NOTHING from them about any type of refund or compensation for our placements totally NOT being anything to what they had promised. I find this extremely odd, because personally if this were my organization, I would want to do everything I could to make sure that this matter was taken care of so that people would not end up being bitter and angry and therefore putting bad news out there. Also, I just spoke with Alice and she said that they deleted the pictures she posted of her placement as well as a review of them. Now, I find this also quite strange that they seem to be going above and beyond to hide all kinds of bad news and reviews but they don't seem to be doing anything at all about actually trying to fix the situation. Instead they seem to just be trying to sweep things under the rug. What.The.Hell?! This organization is seriously mismanaged and seem to totally have their priorities crossed.
So, India.... ohhh India.... it has been interesting this past week with re-adjusting to daily home life and all of it accessibility's as well as now being much more aware of Indian people in my neighborhood. I mean I was definitely aware of the Indian couple that live across the hall from me, but I just seem to see a lot more of them now. Perhaps it is more the fact that I am more aware of what ethnicity they are, where as before it seems that all middle eastern people seemed to blend into one ethnicity. This would be the same for if you were not really aware of the differences of all Asians exp. Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese etc..
Anyway, so that's that.
So back to my whole reflection on India... My time in India was absolutely one that I would not trade in for something else. While it certainly did NOT go as planned, thanks to IVHQ and their inadequacies and poor organizational skills, I did meet some fantastic people, got to travel a bit and more importantly, I learned a lot about a completely different culture in a way that one can't really get unless actually living there. There are certainly many things, which I have mentioned quite a bit, that I will never fully understand, but upon further reflection of them I have come to understand that this is simply how they live their lives, and to them it is perfectly normal... well almost. Not all Indians necessarily agree or find their cultures actions "ok" or "normal" which was nice to hear, mainly so that I didn't feel like I was being overly judgmental. So I guess a good word to sum it all up would be "bittersweet".
I have also been thinking a lot about Africa vs. India, and why exactly my reactions to India were so strong when my reactions to Africa were so not. Africa has just as much poverty as India, yet my reaction to Africa was much more sympathetic. So far, the conclusion I have come up with is this; India overall is much more harsh than Africa. The people are much more abrupt and hostile as well as many of them (them meaning rickshaw drivers, street vendors, beggers etc..) try to cheat you and take advantage of you in whatever way they can. In Africa they are very gracious, calm, and proud of whatever they do have and want to share with you whatever they do have. In India I did come across quite a number of people on the trains who wanted to share their food (well rather they were worried that I wasn't eating...) but this is not necessarily what I am talking about. When I visited the "slums" in Africa, the children came running up to me, smiling, grabbed my hands and pulled me along because they were so excited to show me their home, which was made of tin and billboard signs, but they were so proud that they in fact had a home with 4 walls and a roof. While a few of those kids did try to slip off my aunt's rings, that was about the extent of any type of "thievery". However, I must also take into consideration that the memory I have of Africa was when I was 18. I was much more naive then and had a very different perspective on life than I do now. So there is also that take on things. Back then I was very resistant to any other types of views on life, my view was "save all the children!!! cure AIDS!!" while this is all well and good, it was just very one sided and I refused to see any other types of realistic outlooks on how to go about helping those in poverty.
So I suppose that is the best example I can come up with of trying to compare the two, without rambling on and on. It is really more an experience that you would have to see first hand to fully grasp what I am talking about.
Another really interesting thing was when I was in London and talking to Betsy about my experience there, her comment was "wow..... I never experienced any of that... you saw a very different India." Meanwhile I am thinking "wait.... huh?? how is that possible??" well the difference here was, that she was staying 5-6 star hotels and never walked around, she went from hotel to car to hotel and never really went into the poorer areas. But still, in India it is so very very mixed, you've got 6 star hotels and then a few feet next to it, you'll have a mini slum. In any case, I thought it rather interesting to hear her experience of India in comparison to mine. In a way, it sort of put things into perspective of how mixed our world is and the vast differences in how people see things. This is in no means a negative comment, it is more a reflective comment.
People keep asking me, "so will you go back?" and I kind of pause for a good minute thinking about this and then respond with "if I ever go back, I will avoid Delhi as I have had quite enough of that area and go either to Dharamsala or Goa". I would have liked to have gone up to Dharamsala since it is about as close to Tibet as one could get without actually having to go to Tibet. I would have really liked to actually go to Tibet, however, a special visa is needed and well... I didn't bother trying to go through that process.
I am definitely quite disappointed that the volunteering didn't work out, but another life lesson learned... next time, go through a reputable organization that is big!! Lol I have been looking at various other organizations for my next big adventure, as I am now re-hooked on traveling :-) not that I was ever unhooked, but school kinda took precedence for a while as did not having any money... but now that I am free from school (at least for a lil while until I decide to go to grad school) I want to travel as much as possible!!! I also would like to get that under my belt before I "settle down" and start a family.... HAH! that's quite a ways off though. Annnnd I'm rambling....
So basically, India, an amazing experience in so many many aspects of life. I now have a much higher appreciation for the things that I have in life and the opportunities that I have been able to experience growing up. Viewing such extreme poverty really hit me hard this time, and I had this overwhelming emotion of gratitude. It was a very humbling experience. I for the first time saw first hand what polio looks like. We are extremely lucky to have wiped out polio, it is a devastating disease and truly pained me to see people scooting along on the butts (sounds funny but really it is quite sad). It made me more aware of things, small daily things, that we take for granted... i.e. clean tap water, trash cans, trash service workers, plumbing, less pollution, fresh vegetables and fruit.... just to name a few. There were so many observations I made on a daily basis that could probably fill an encyclopedia, but just basic things that could tremendously help clean up India, and it got me to thinking of how one could do that. I dunno, perhaps start a fundraiser to buy trash cans to put around Delhi?? Lol sure I know it sounds silly, but just little stuff like that can literally make a "world" of a difference.
So there it is folks, the conclusion on my time in India. It has been wonderful sharing all of my adventures and experiences with everyone. I definitely have enjoyed doing this whole blog thing, maybe I'll start up another one!! Just need to find a good topic to write on.... And the next time I travel, I'll be sure to start up another one!
Namaste everyone, take care!
Monday, August 16, 2010
Friday, August 6, 2010
Last day in India
Well, the time has finally come, it is my last day in India... well it's evening now, but today was my last day. It feels very odd, to think I have been here for 5 weeks! it feels like I have been here much longer than that. I am quite ready to leave, but wish I could still travel or stay in London a little longer. But my India funds are just about depleted so can't really do that.
Today was a very successful, well no scratch that, it was about 90% successful. Still waiting on the 10% to make it a complete 100%. Let me explain, since you are probably reading that going "huh??" So I got up, had breakfast, had some tea while having my daily morning chat with Karen. It seems that after breakfast Karen and I end up sitting at the table and chatting for about an hour. I rather enjoy our conversations, as they have totally ranged in topics. Then got ready and headed out to run some errands. I went to Khan Market to go pick up my dress, however..... it was still not ready?! yoooo that so ain't cool!! So I got rather stern with them and they promised it would be ready by tonight, I told them that it was extremely inconvenient for me to have to keep coming all the way over there, spending the money on a rickshaw and then have them say its not ready, when yesterday I was told to come by around noon to get it!! So the guy there said he would drop it off for me tonight around 8-8:30. So they have about an hour to redeem themselves, otherwise I am going to raise hell. I haven't fully figured out how I will do that, but hell will be raised!!!
So, feeling a bit frustrated and annoyed, I left and went to my little bookshop/cafe and had a most delicious lunch; had the veg lucy juice (tomato, carrot, beetroot, ginger and mint) which was not my fav but I ordered it more for the nutritious benefits. Then I also ended up getting watermelon juice, which I didn't mean to order, but since I asked about it to the waiter he must have thought I wanted that too, so I just went with it and glad I did, cuz it was sooooo good!!!!! Then I had a hummus and veggie sandwich on whole wheat bread, again also amazing. During my delicious lunch I was reading the new Elizabeth Gilbert book "Commited" since I finished Eat, Pray, Love the other day. I really do love her, and can't wait to see the movie next weekend when it comes out!!
So after a nice leisurely lunch (I have really come to enjoy having nice quiet reading time while in a cafe having lunch, or tea or whatever... I shall continue this when I get home, although it won't be as cost friendly as it is here) I started to go find a rickshaw, then saw that the henna person at one of the shops I like was there!!! So I got my hand and foot henna'd so I now have the India look for coming back home!!
I then ventured onto the Hyatt Regency Hotel to stock up on some of the Himalayan products. Success number 1! From there I went over to the VLCC spa to get a facial, but then saw the prices and while still very cheap, remembered seeing cheaper prices at the salon/spa in the D block market. So I continued on towards there. Indeed I found myself a much cheaper facial there, and I also tried out the eyebrow threading, which India is known for (instead of eyebrow waxing). It was a very odd experience, and I wish I knew what they were talking about while doing my eyebrows.... I think they were commenting on how sensitive my skin was, since my skin tends to get very red after any type of rough treatment, such as waxing or now threading. I am not entirely sure how they do it, but they did an amazing job!! much better than waxing! and waaaaay cheaper! though most things are here. Anyway, they then did my facial, and my face feels so much better now and looks much better too!!! yay!!!!! I hope it stays this way! So both of those treatments I got for a whopping $15!!! I am really gonna miss these prices.
I then came back to the house and started re-organizing my stuff and packing some more etc... We just had dinner, which Karen made, a yummy "Sweet and Pungent Curry" dish. That is the name of it, it was quite good. So now I am still waiting on my dress, I said they would be here between 8-9 while Karen says anywhere from 9-10... she's probably right.
I was about to write up a conclusion about my trip, however I still have some packing to do, so I figure I'll save that last entry for when I get home, to sum up my trip and thoughts on it all etc...
I take off tomorrow at 1pm here, then land in London at 6pm there (9 hours of air time) then have a 15 hour layover of which I will stay with Betsy again, so I can actually sleep this time!! Then take off on sunday at 1pm London time and land in DC at 5pm.
So I will write again on sunday or monday, all depends on how energized I am to write!
Namaste everyone!
Today was a very successful, well no scratch that, it was about 90% successful. Still waiting on the 10% to make it a complete 100%. Let me explain, since you are probably reading that going "huh??" So I got up, had breakfast, had some tea while having my daily morning chat with Karen. It seems that after breakfast Karen and I end up sitting at the table and chatting for about an hour. I rather enjoy our conversations, as they have totally ranged in topics. Then got ready and headed out to run some errands. I went to Khan Market to go pick up my dress, however..... it was still not ready?! yoooo that so ain't cool!! So I got rather stern with them and they promised it would be ready by tonight, I told them that it was extremely inconvenient for me to have to keep coming all the way over there, spending the money on a rickshaw and then have them say its not ready, when yesterday I was told to come by around noon to get it!! So the guy there said he would drop it off for me tonight around 8-8:30. So they have about an hour to redeem themselves, otherwise I am going to raise hell. I haven't fully figured out how I will do that, but hell will be raised!!!
So, feeling a bit frustrated and annoyed, I left and went to my little bookshop/cafe and had a most delicious lunch; had the veg lucy juice (tomato, carrot, beetroot, ginger and mint) which was not my fav but I ordered it more for the nutritious benefits. Then I also ended up getting watermelon juice, which I didn't mean to order, but since I asked about it to the waiter he must have thought I wanted that too, so I just went with it and glad I did, cuz it was sooooo good!!!!! Then I had a hummus and veggie sandwich on whole wheat bread, again also amazing. During my delicious lunch I was reading the new Elizabeth Gilbert book "Commited" since I finished Eat, Pray, Love the other day. I really do love her, and can't wait to see the movie next weekend when it comes out!!
So after a nice leisurely lunch (I have really come to enjoy having nice quiet reading time while in a cafe having lunch, or tea or whatever... I shall continue this when I get home, although it won't be as cost friendly as it is here) I started to go find a rickshaw, then saw that the henna person at one of the shops I like was there!!! So I got my hand and foot henna'd so I now have the India look for coming back home!!
I then ventured onto the Hyatt Regency Hotel to stock up on some of the Himalayan products. Success number 1! From there I went over to the VLCC spa to get a facial, but then saw the prices and while still very cheap, remembered seeing cheaper prices at the salon/spa in the D block market. So I continued on towards there. Indeed I found myself a much cheaper facial there, and I also tried out the eyebrow threading, which India is known for (instead of eyebrow waxing). It was a very odd experience, and I wish I knew what they were talking about while doing my eyebrows.... I think they were commenting on how sensitive my skin was, since my skin tends to get very red after any type of rough treatment, such as waxing or now threading. I am not entirely sure how they do it, but they did an amazing job!! much better than waxing! and waaaaay cheaper! though most things are here. Anyway, they then did my facial, and my face feels so much better now and looks much better too!!! yay!!!!! I hope it stays this way! So both of those treatments I got for a whopping $15!!! I am really gonna miss these prices.
I then came back to the house and started re-organizing my stuff and packing some more etc... We just had dinner, which Karen made, a yummy "Sweet and Pungent Curry" dish. That is the name of it, it was quite good. So now I am still waiting on my dress, I said they would be here between 8-9 while Karen says anywhere from 9-10... she's probably right.
I was about to write up a conclusion about my trip, however I still have some packing to do, so I figure I'll save that last entry for when I get home, to sum up my trip and thoughts on it all etc...
I take off tomorrow at 1pm here, then land in London at 6pm there (9 hours of air time) then have a 15 hour layover of which I will stay with Betsy again, so I can actually sleep this time!! Then take off on sunday at 1pm London time and land in DC at 5pm.
So I will write again on sunday or monday, all depends on how energized I am to write!
Namaste everyone!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Back in Delhi, safely!!
So to update, I am back at the Ruperts house safe and sound. But oh what a loooooooooong day it has been!! so very very long.
I woke up this morning at 3:30 am, pulled my stuff together and headed out to find my taxi. As I stated in the previous blog, I was a bit nervous about this walk, since it was still dark out and I'd be walking alone.... boy was I ever wrong!! this seems to be a re-occuring theme in India, you can truly expect to always be surprised. So walking out of the hotel at 4am I hear one of the Ashrams doing their chants, I walk down a side street to get to the main street and whoa!!! it looks just like it does during the day!!! people walking around everywhere, not quite as crowded, but still very crowded for 4am, most shops are closed but quite a few are open. So I picked up my pace to an almost power walk pace and booked it towards the "bridge of death" and damn it! it's crowded, however still enough room for me to walk quickly, and pass the slow walkers so I can just make it over that damn bridge!!
I finally make it to my taxi and off we go. It is truly amazing as we drive to see all of these people walking through the night just to come to Rishikesh to worship Lord Shiva. I did a bit of investigating on this event and it is apparently called "Kanwar Mela" where about 7 Million people come from all over making voyages as long as 120km on foot!!! (either barefoot or in flip flops) where they collect holy water from the Ganga river (or as we call it "the ganges") and to pay tribute to Lord Shiva. I found some pictures since I didn't want to draw attention to myself by taking pictures of them.
They all carry these contraptions which I figured out may possibly resemble the Lakshme Jhula (aka bridge of death as I call it) and on each end are baskets which they put the containers of holy water that they collect. The other picture is exactly what I saw while driving to the train this morning, trucks loaded with people, people walking, on motorcycles, bicycles etc.... every mode of transportation possible! I even saw them riding on top of the trains on my way up to rishikesh!!
Anyway, so I made my train, and arrived in Delhi around 12:30 or so, I got a rickshaw and headed over to Khan Market to go to my new little favorite bookstore/cafe and got some fresh juice!! oh how I love my fresh squeezed juice mixes. I then got a "greek salad" their version is slightly different, they use green olives and add green peppers... and also got some hummus and pita. I was quite starving as I only had a granola bar around 7am and a few oatmeal cookies... which weren't really cookies, i happened to find some rather healthy flax,oatmeal raisen cookies, which could have actually been a granola bar. Anyway! so yea, I was quite dizzy with hunger. I finished my meal then quite happily stuffed got another rickshaw and headed back to the house. After showering and unloading my stuff, i promptly fell asleep for a good 3 hours, ahhhh actual sleep!!!! I basically have not slept since sunday night. Not on purpose by any means, but I just couln't sleep monday night, then tuesday my stuffy nose made it hard to breathe and couldn't fall asleep till like 3am, then got up at 7am for yoga, then last night I again couldn't fall asleep till about 1am, then got up at 3:30am to head out. Soo.... yea, just a tad exhausted.
So this evening has been very low key. I have my day planned for tomorrow, going to go pick up my dress that I had made out of some gorgeous sari fabric. Then want to find the Himalayan skin care line that I got up in Rishikesh, I really like it and it is extremely cheap, whereas I would assume they probably jack up the price back home. So I want to stock up. Then perhaps I'll go have lunch at the bookstore/cafe and have my last yummy fresh juice before I leave to come home on saturday. I will miss my fresh juice!!! I think my next big kitchen appliance may just be a juicer, cuz I have become rather fond of fresh squeezed juice, as I am sure you are now aware of seeing as how often I have mentioned it in this blog alone! Lol Then I am going to head over to the VLCC spa to see if they can perhaps suggest some type of herbal remedy for this stupid rash/allergic reaction thingy.... was going to do that today, but just didnt have the energy to move. I wish I could figure out what on earth this is?! so strange.
Anyway, I am heading to bed now to get some actual sleep!!!!!!!!!
I woke up this morning at 3:30 am, pulled my stuff together and headed out to find my taxi. As I stated in the previous blog, I was a bit nervous about this walk, since it was still dark out and I'd be walking alone.... boy was I ever wrong!! this seems to be a re-occuring theme in India, you can truly expect to always be surprised. So walking out of the hotel at 4am I hear one of the Ashrams doing their chants, I walk down a side street to get to the main street and whoa!!! it looks just like it does during the day!!! people walking around everywhere, not quite as crowded, but still very crowded for 4am, most shops are closed but quite a few are open. So I picked up my pace to an almost power walk pace and booked it towards the "bridge of death" and damn it! it's crowded, however still enough room for me to walk quickly, and pass the slow walkers so I can just make it over that damn bridge!!
I finally make it to my taxi and off we go. It is truly amazing as we drive to see all of these people walking through the night just to come to Rishikesh to worship Lord Shiva. I did a bit of investigating on this event and it is apparently called "Kanwar Mela" where about 7 Million people come from all over making voyages as long as 120km on foot!!! (either barefoot or in flip flops) where they collect holy water from the Ganga river (or as we call it "the ganges") and to pay tribute to Lord Shiva. I found some pictures since I didn't want to draw attention to myself by taking pictures of them.
They all carry these contraptions which I figured out may possibly resemble the Lakshme Jhula (aka bridge of death as I call it) and on each end are baskets which they put the containers of holy water that they collect. The other picture is exactly what I saw while driving to the train this morning, trucks loaded with people, people walking, on motorcycles, bicycles etc.... every mode of transportation possible! I even saw them riding on top of the trains on my way up to rishikesh!!
Anyway, so I made my train, and arrived in Delhi around 12:30 or so, I got a rickshaw and headed over to Khan Market to go to my new little favorite bookstore/cafe and got some fresh juice!! oh how I love my fresh squeezed juice mixes. I then got a "greek salad" their version is slightly different, they use green olives and add green peppers... and also got some hummus and pita. I was quite starving as I only had a granola bar around 7am and a few oatmeal cookies... which weren't really cookies, i happened to find some rather healthy flax,oatmeal raisen cookies, which could have actually been a granola bar. Anyway! so yea, I was quite dizzy with hunger. I finished my meal then quite happily stuffed got another rickshaw and headed back to the house. After showering and unloading my stuff, i promptly fell asleep for a good 3 hours, ahhhh actual sleep!!!! I basically have not slept since sunday night. Not on purpose by any means, but I just couln't sleep monday night, then tuesday my stuffy nose made it hard to breathe and couldn't fall asleep till like 3am, then got up at 7am for yoga, then last night I again couldn't fall asleep till about 1am, then got up at 3:30am to head out. Soo.... yea, just a tad exhausted.
So this evening has been very low key. I have my day planned for tomorrow, going to go pick up my dress that I had made out of some gorgeous sari fabric. Then want to find the Himalayan skin care line that I got up in Rishikesh, I really like it and it is extremely cheap, whereas I would assume they probably jack up the price back home. So I want to stock up. Then perhaps I'll go have lunch at the bookstore/cafe and have my last yummy fresh juice before I leave to come home on saturday. I will miss my fresh juice!!! I think my next big kitchen appliance may just be a juicer, cuz I have become rather fond of fresh squeezed juice, as I am sure you are now aware of seeing as how often I have mentioned it in this blog alone! Lol Then I am going to head over to the VLCC spa to see if they can perhaps suggest some type of herbal remedy for this stupid rash/allergic reaction thingy.... was going to do that today, but just didnt have the energy to move. I wish I could figure out what on earth this is?! so strange.
Anyway, I am heading to bed now to get some actual sleep!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
A day of yoga - plus a cold and a rash??
Well.... in the past few days I have been sneezing a lot, scratchy throat and runny nose... however since yesterday it has developed into a full blown cold!! In India?! how can this be?! to make things even better, I woke up this morning with a rash all over my face!! I can't for the life of me figure out how in the world I developed a rash :-( It would seem to me that my body is now rejecting India, saying "ok, we've had enough, time to go home now!!" and quite frankly, I do agree with my body, only 2 more days though, lets hope I don't wake up tomorrow with a full body rash!! Please Lord Shiva, be nice!!
So anyway, besides all that, I after a momentary freak out over my rash, I pulled on my yoga clothes, grabbed my mat and headed down stairs and over to the hotel which has the yoga class. It was 2 hours of "oh my god I dont think I could possible twist any further" awesomeness. It is such a treat to be taught yoga by a real yogi!! He was so kind and helpful and the way he talked along with his accent was so great. If your feet weren't quite far enough apart and would look at you, look down with a furrowed brow type of look and move his hands in the motion signifying "feet farther apart". Then if he came over to you to correct your form he would go "tailbone down, back straight, straight straight! now feet move tiny bit.. yes! This is!!" anytime you got the pose right he'd go "this is!!". Throughout the class we also did some meditations, he would chant the mantra, then we would recite back... everyone else seemed to know it, so I would kind of recite back what I could then hum along the rest. After class I asked the teacher if he could write down the mantras and their meanings, and his response? "how about you can e-mail me and I can e-mail you back" in my head I was thinking "well now isn't that just the sheer sign that everyone, even yogi's are in the modern world of technology." It made me laugh a little, after being all stretched out and serene from meditation to have your yogi instructor tell you to email him.
So then I went and got some breakfast, then set off to find the Maharishi Mahesh Ashram, where the Beatles stayed 42 years ago. After quite another long uphill hike I found it, this guy hobbled over to the gate as he saw me walking up to it and immediately says "The Beatles palace?" laughing I said, "uhh yea" thinking, they call it the beatles palace??" anyway, so he asked for 50 rupees, which I gladly gave, and walked through. Feeling extremely giddy inside I begin up towards the Ashram, thinking all the while "The Beatles walked these very same steps!!!!!" it was very surreal. Then I got there!! and funny enough the gate into it looked exactly like the gate that is in the photograph for strawberry fields. The Ashram looks very much like an old ruins site of some old century village, all over grown, the buildings totally fallen apart etc. But still I was so excited. So I, very wide eyed and in total awe, walked around taking pictures and trying to find the spot where one of the famous pictures of the beatles from their Ashram time, with the Maharishi, Mia Farrow and Prudence (mia farrows sister and also the inspiration for the song Dear Prudence). Since everything was so overgrown, I couldn't find it, but I'm pretty sure it was perhaps one of three places which looked like it could have been the place. Oh, it was just so wonderful!! I'm such a nerd when it comes to The Beatles, I so wish I could have lived during their hayday, and maybe meet them!!!!
So that killed a good 45 minutes of my day, then I trekked back down and had no idea what to do next. I didn't really want to walk around just with all of the massive massive amounts of people here right now, it's impossible to walk around, plus because they are all from villages they end up just surrounding you and staring so your stuck, or they follow you.... not very relaxing to say the least. So I went to one of the bath and body type shops here that are all herbal and ayurvedic type stuff, and got some stuff to hopefully fix this rash/allergic reaction...thing that is on my face. They were very helpful and very kind. I then went and found some lunch, and then made my way back to my hotel room to wash my face and contemplate what to do next. This is so not what I was hoping would happen here. But every hotel manager and shop owner keeps saying the same thing "you came at really bad time!! so crowded, hard to relax" meanwhile I'm thinking "yea great!! thanks!" sigh...... I then ventured off to find a bookshop to see if I could find a good book on meditation or something like that, well the number of books on that stuff is a tad overwhelming, so I figured perhaps I'd ask someone later what they might recommend... or better yet, they could teach me!! so then I went to one of the travel agencies to see about moving my train up to leave in the morning as opposed to the evening. Because I can't possibly see what I could do with my time all day tomorrow seeing as how I had quite the difficult time today trying to fill my time until the evening yoga class. So thankfully I was able to cancel my ticket and get another one for the AM. Thank god!!!
So finally I made to 5:30!!! yoga class #2 time!! However, by this point my nose was even more sniffly, eyes watering, nose tingling... great! haha Anyway, I got my fresh papaya juice, as I did before the morning class (that is something I definitely love love love about India, fresh squeezed juices everywhere!!) So the second class was just as wonderful, oh and I forgot to mention, the class room had windows all around it which looked right out to the Himalayas!!!! talk about getting into the serene state!! so lovely!! anyway, the class was wonderful like I said, except for my stupid nose!!! plus with my cough, breathing deeply was a bit difficult.
After class Rita and I went and grabbed something to eat and now we are both in this cafe e-mailing away.
So.... I am certainly glad that I at least came to Rishikesh, and got to take a couple yoga/meditation classes as well as getting to see "The Beatle Palace!" haha but I am sad that I came at the worst possible time. But, I definitely want to come back here sometime and next time I'll know when to NOT come, as well as maybe staying at an acutal ashram which has a daily schedule which you can follow as you wish. Oh that's another phrase my yogi teacher says which makes me giggle; "as you wish" it just sounds so formal!! Yesterday when I was inquiring at the front desk about where things were and what I could do, he was sitting in the lobby and overheard me and jumped in and drew me a map and numbered which order I should do the things I had written down. So then afterwards I was sitting there trying to figure out what I wanted to do, meaning should I take the yoga class now? or go eat since I hadn't eaten anything since the morning. His response "as you wish" Lol so great!
Anyway, so I have to leave the hotel at 4am to go trek back to across the "bridge of death" (thats my name for it) then through the village and to the first bridge to meet my taxi which will take me to Haridwar (an hours drive) to catch my train which leaves at 6am. I am a bit worried about making this voyage to the taxi alone when it is still dark out.... more so about crossing the "bridge of death" in the dark... thank god I have a "torch light" (aka flashlight) on my phone!!! You can bet I'll be praying to Shiva the whole time I'm crossing, and at least i'll be able to quickly cross it this time!
Make sure you all pray to Shiva for me too!!!
Subha Raatri :-)
So anyway, besides all that, I after a momentary freak out over my rash, I pulled on my yoga clothes, grabbed my mat and headed down stairs and over to the hotel which has the yoga class. It was 2 hours of "oh my god I dont think I could possible twist any further" awesomeness. It is such a treat to be taught yoga by a real yogi!! He was so kind and helpful and the way he talked along with his accent was so great. If your feet weren't quite far enough apart and would look at you, look down with a furrowed brow type of look and move his hands in the motion signifying "feet farther apart". Then if he came over to you to correct your form he would go "tailbone down, back straight, straight straight! now feet move tiny bit.. yes! This is!!" anytime you got the pose right he'd go "this is!!". Throughout the class we also did some meditations, he would chant the mantra, then we would recite back... everyone else seemed to know it, so I would kind of recite back what I could then hum along the rest. After class I asked the teacher if he could write down the mantras and their meanings, and his response? "how about you can e-mail me and I can e-mail you back" in my head I was thinking "well now isn't that just the sheer sign that everyone, even yogi's are in the modern world of technology." It made me laugh a little, after being all stretched out and serene from meditation to have your yogi instructor tell you to email him.
So then I went and got some breakfast, then set off to find the Maharishi Mahesh Ashram, where the Beatles stayed 42 years ago. After quite another long uphill hike I found it, this guy hobbled over to the gate as he saw me walking up to it and immediately says "The Beatles palace?" laughing I said, "uhh yea" thinking, they call it the beatles palace??" anyway, so he asked for 50 rupees, which I gladly gave, and walked through. Feeling extremely giddy inside I begin up towards the Ashram, thinking all the while "The Beatles walked these very same steps!!!!!" it was very surreal. Then I got there!! and funny enough the gate into it looked exactly like the gate that is in the photograph for strawberry fields. The Ashram looks very much like an old ruins site of some old century village, all over grown, the buildings totally fallen apart etc. But still I was so excited. So I, very wide eyed and in total awe, walked around taking pictures and trying to find the spot where one of the famous pictures of the beatles from their Ashram time, with the Maharishi, Mia Farrow and Prudence (mia farrows sister and also the inspiration for the song Dear Prudence). Since everything was so overgrown, I couldn't find it, but I'm pretty sure it was perhaps one of three places which looked like it could have been the place. Oh, it was just so wonderful!! I'm such a nerd when it comes to The Beatles, I so wish I could have lived during their hayday, and maybe meet them!!!!
So that killed a good 45 minutes of my day, then I trekked back down and had no idea what to do next. I didn't really want to walk around just with all of the massive massive amounts of people here right now, it's impossible to walk around, plus because they are all from villages they end up just surrounding you and staring so your stuck, or they follow you.... not very relaxing to say the least. So I went to one of the bath and body type shops here that are all herbal and ayurvedic type stuff, and got some stuff to hopefully fix this rash/allergic reaction...thing that is on my face. They were very helpful and very kind. I then went and found some lunch, and then made my way back to my hotel room to wash my face and contemplate what to do next. This is so not what I was hoping would happen here. But every hotel manager and shop owner keeps saying the same thing "you came at really bad time!! so crowded, hard to relax" meanwhile I'm thinking "yea great!! thanks!" sigh...... I then ventured off to find a bookshop to see if I could find a good book on meditation or something like that, well the number of books on that stuff is a tad overwhelming, so I figured perhaps I'd ask someone later what they might recommend... or better yet, they could teach me!! so then I went to one of the travel agencies to see about moving my train up to leave in the morning as opposed to the evening. Because I can't possibly see what I could do with my time all day tomorrow seeing as how I had quite the difficult time today trying to fill my time until the evening yoga class. So thankfully I was able to cancel my ticket and get another one for the AM. Thank god!!!
So finally I made to 5:30!!! yoga class #2 time!! However, by this point my nose was even more sniffly, eyes watering, nose tingling... great! haha Anyway, I got my fresh papaya juice, as I did before the morning class (that is something I definitely love love love about India, fresh squeezed juices everywhere!!) So the second class was just as wonderful, oh and I forgot to mention, the class room had windows all around it which looked right out to the Himalayas!!!! talk about getting into the serene state!! so lovely!! anyway, the class was wonderful like I said, except for my stupid nose!!! plus with my cough, breathing deeply was a bit difficult.
After class Rita and I went and grabbed something to eat and now we are both in this cafe e-mailing away.
So.... I am certainly glad that I at least came to Rishikesh, and got to take a couple yoga/meditation classes as well as getting to see "The Beatle Palace!" haha but I am sad that I came at the worst possible time. But, I definitely want to come back here sometime and next time I'll know when to NOT come, as well as maybe staying at an acutal ashram which has a daily schedule which you can follow as you wish. Oh that's another phrase my yogi teacher says which makes me giggle; "as you wish" it just sounds so formal!! Yesterday when I was inquiring at the front desk about where things were and what I could do, he was sitting in the lobby and overheard me and jumped in and drew me a map and numbered which order I should do the things I had written down. So then afterwards I was sitting there trying to figure out what I wanted to do, meaning should I take the yoga class now? or go eat since I hadn't eaten anything since the morning. His response "as you wish" Lol so great!
Anyway, so I have to leave the hotel at 4am to go trek back to across the "bridge of death" (thats my name for it) then through the village and to the first bridge to meet my taxi which will take me to Haridwar (an hours drive) to catch my train which leaves at 6am. I am a bit worried about making this voyage to the taxi alone when it is still dark out.... more so about crossing the "bridge of death" in the dark... thank god I have a "torch light" (aka flashlight) on my phone!!! You can bet I'll be praying to Shiva the whole time I'm crossing, and at least i'll be able to quickly cross it this time!
Make sure you all pray to Shiva for me too!!!
Subha Raatri :-)
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Rishikesh - The Journey and Lord Shiva
So I left bright and early this morning to head off to Rishikesh, got my rickshaw, got to the train station well.... got almost to the train station, then my rickshaw broke down. But another one came along and I hopped into that one and got driven the next .8 meters to the train station. He then tries to charge me 30 rs. I go "oh nuh uhhh it's under 1k it's 20 rs" so then he goes "ok 25 rs." looking at my watch I say "fine whatever, but I only have 15 rs. or I need change for a hundred" he says "oh I no have change, but give me and I go find change" I look at him with the evil eye and say "umm.. yea no, you go find change then I'll give you the hundred" so he half heartedly looks around at the ton of people at the station, meanwhile two men come up to me and ask me where I'm going, I ignore them, then he comes back and starts talking to the guy there who was trying to talk to me, and he starts pulling money out, then oh wouldn't you know it!! the driver pulls out this HUGE wadd of cash out of his pocket!!! I smirk and go "yea that's what I thought, you can't get away with that with me, nice try" then get my change and push my way out of the rickshaw passed the now crowd of men around it. Travelling alone has definitely toughened me up!! I'm a bit proud Lol
Anyway, so I find the platform, and yay!! the train is there waiting, find my seat, settle and breatheeeee. I get out my book and continue reading. Then they bring tea and a package of biscuits (not American biscuits, but like cookie/cracker type). Then they bring breakfast around.... very glad I packed my own snacks, because an Indian breakfast is rather interesting. They were like spicy veggie "cutlets" which are like whats inside of a samosa but fried. I took a bite and immediately wanted to spit it out, but figured I better not so as to not offend my neighbor. But had to take a bite out of the white bread they served along side. 4 1/2 hours later I arrive in Haridwar where I get off the train then set out on my search for the bus I was told I had to catch up to Rishikesh. I found the "enquiry" desk and inquire about a bus. There is another woman there who was inquiring about the same thing. So I ask if she is headed to Rishikesh, she says yes, then we immediately bonded and set out to find the next desk to get our ticket for the train to Rishikesh, which was... a whopping 4 rs.!!! Lol that is like.... not even a penny... if there is such a thing. Gotta love India for their fares for getting around India. So we find the counter and are in line and... well this is another thing about India which I just can't get over (and there are MANY!). Rita (my new friend, she is from Portugal, I am so loving meeting new people from all over the world!!) gets in line, and I am behind her to get our tickets, and this older Indian woman just starts pushing me, then squeezing her way (and she wasn't all that small) past me with this expression like "excuse me, i'm more important, this is totally normal, why do you look so shocked" which she probably was thinking. Then all of a sudden about 5 other Indian woman come out of nowhere and start squeezing me and Rita out of the way, but Rita wasn't havin that so she pushed her way up to the window and got both of us a ticket, which I of course payed her my half for, meanwhile as she is trying to just get our ticket, 3 of the women start shoving their hands through the ticket window waving money in the poor guys face. I mean, come on!! what exactly is that going to do?? sure you can push your way up front, but dropping money?? do they really think that by just doing that a magical ticket will appear in thin air?? Seriously?
So then we wait for an hour, and get on our train and choo-choo off towards rishikesh. As we travel up, its nothing but green!!! and the air already felt so much cooler and clearer, ahhhhhh.
Btw... side note, I would like to point out 2 things here.... call me crazy, but... a) the reason I wanted to go to Rishikesh in the first place was because its where the beatles came b) I meet a woman on the train whose name is Rita, she is from Portugal, therefore speaks portuguese c) The beatles have a song called Lovely Rita d) I just read the part in Eat, Pray, Love where Elizabeth Gilbert meets a young Brazillian woman e) Brazillians speak portuguese............ weird??? maybe I looked too far into that one, but I thought it was odd... ohhhh Lord Shiva, how you have amused me this trip!! Another side note: Lord Shiva is the god, or one of the gods that Indian's or Hindu's pray to here. Throughout my trip, while hanging out with my IVHQ group, Catalin (the one who had me always in tears with laughter) would constantly refer to Lord Shiva, anytime anything might or could go wrong, or anytime anything good happened, or anytime he or we were wishing for something good to happen. He would, in his adorable Romanian accent go: "oh we must pray to Lord Shiva to bring us good things!!" or "Thank you Lord Shiva, I kiss your feet!!" so this is now something which has stuck with me as a happy memory which makes me laugh.
Back to the journey. So we arrive in Rishikesh. Now during our journey we kept noticing all these people dressed in orange, carrying these odd contraptions that were all decorated and what not, and they would spontaneously break out in some strange chant of "OOOOAAAPP!!!! Bombala bombala bom bom BALA!!!" or something like that, I haven't fully distinguished what they are yelling or what it means. Anyway, so we get to Rishikesh and TONS of people everywhere!!! but wait... isn't Rishikesh supposed to be a place of serenity and yoga and meditation?? I had this wonderful picture in my mind if it being all quiet, and everyone is peaceful and smiling as you walk by and everyone dressed in Yogi attire.... yea no, not so much. So we find a rickshaw and tell him where we need to go and he says he can't drive us all the way there because of the festival. Again, wait what?! Festival you say??? what festival?! I still haven't yet figured out what the festival is about exactly except for everyone is wearing these orange shirts with...... LORD SHIVA'S FACE ON IT!!! ahhhhh Lord Shiva!! again you play with me!!! So he agree's to drive us as close as he can then we must walk the rest of the way. So we walk, and walk, and walk, and walk, through the mass crowds of orange shiva faces, and the stares and hollers of "hi hello!! miss! hello! yes miss I have for you here!!" this for some reason they think will get me to spin around and run towards their shop of little trinkets. It amuses me. Anyway, so after about 2 miles of walking, dripping in sweat/dirt and my bag now painfully digging into my shoulder, I find my hotel. Rita decides she wants to shop around a bit for hotels to see if she can find the best one for her money. So, I decide why not and join her. So we find a hotel finally, which i am glad I joined her cuz the one we ended up with is much bigger and cleaner and for the same amount of money as I was going to pay at my original place.
I settle in, give myself a wetwipe bath, figured i'd save myself the hassel since I was going back out anyway and would get just as sweaty and dirty again. So I wander around, find the place to take yoga and meditation the next day. I still had not had any lunch and was starving! it being now 4:00pm in the day. So I wander around the shops, and mass crowds. Oh btw... on the way here we had to go over this bridge, which oh holy hell I swear i saw my life flash before my eyes crossing it. There were so many people on that bridge, and it was swaying, and there were gaps in it where I could see the Gangas racing past me below. All I wanted to do was race across that bridge and be on the other side, yet I was stuck behind this slow moving procession line of orange. I finally after a couple hours of just trying to walk aruond and see the town, stop at a nice little Italian restaurant. These types of places may say Italian, but really its just a mass fusion of everything on the menu, they tend to be the best places to find a wide assortment of items, so I got falafle and hummus with salad and naan. Like i said, fusion. It's so funny because being here, there are so many white people (of all over Europe and the US) and they are all wearing harem pants, which I won't be caught dead in, sorry but to me it looks like your wearing an adult diaper which is full.... sorry for the image, but thats what they look like!!!
Anyway, so I am sitting there salavating over the menu, since the last time I ate, was at 8am!! and it was now 7pm..... yes I had quite a few grimlins in my stomach that were not happy. Then a young woman sitting at the table next to me leans over and asks "would you like to join me?" surprised I go "oh!! well... yea sure!" so I get up and sit down at her table (it was all so movie like! Lol). Turns out she also is from the US from California (odd how I keep meeting Californians, seeing as how that is where I want to move to.... shiva???) and is also traveling alone. Its funny when us traveing Americans respond to someone asking us where we are from we go "from the United.....uh from America" which to me just feels weird saying that, since I'm used to saying "The US" or "DC". So we talk for a bit, again another "hmmm" moment for me, she went to UC Berkley, which is where I was looking when I started looking at grad schools, then she needed to head off to find the Ashram she is supposed to be staying at, and it was starting to get dark. So I eat my meal, and during my meal some more white travelers came in, couldn't exactly detect their accents, then another group came in who were all french. I finished dinner and headed towards my hotel.
Have you ever run into this problem before.... your walking back home from dinner or whatever you may have been out doing, and its dark, not real street lights around, you turn down a side street and uh ohhh better watch out so you don't bump into or step on a cow!!! Well, I have, tonight, thank goodness I have a "torch light" aka flashlight on the phone I'm using, because I certainly would not want to tip over a cow!! There were probably 7 or 8 of them laying down, standing, grooming each other in the middle of the side street. In fact if I were to look outside to the right a little bit out of this little cafe I'd probably see them. Just thought I'd add that fun little tid bit.
So, my plan for a relaxing serene few days here up in Rishikesh is not quite how I'd fantasized, though I should really be used to things not quite going as planned by now in India. As is another one of our IVHQ motto's "Anything is possible in India" and ohhhhhh how very very true that is!!!
Namaste everyone
Anyway, so I find the platform, and yay!! the train is there waiting, find my seat, settle and breatheeeee. I get out my book and continue reading. Then they bring tea and a package of biscuits (not American biscuits, but like cookie/cracker type). Then they bring breakfast around.... very glad I packed my own snacks, because an Indian breakfast is rather interesting. They were like spicy veggie "cutlets" which are like whats inside of a samosa but fried. I took a bite and immediately wanted to spit it out, but figured I better not so as to not offend my neighbor. But had to take a bite out of the white bread they served along side. 4 1/2 hours later I arrive in Haridwar where I get off the train then set out on my search for the bus I was told I had to catch up to Rishikesh. I found the "enquiry" desk and inquire about a bus. There is another woman there who was inquiring about the same thing. So I ask if she is headed to Rishikesh, she says yes, then we immediately bonded and set out to find the next desk to get our ticket for the train to Rishikesh, which was... a whopping 4 rs.!!! Lol that is like.... not even a penny... if there is such a thing. Gotta love India for their fares for getting around India. So we find the counter and are in line and... well this is another thing about India which I just can't get over (and there are MANY!). Rita (my new friend, she is from Portugal, I am so loving meeting new people from all over the world!!) gets in line, and I am behind her to get our tickets, and this older Indian woman just starts pushing me, then squeezing her way (and she wasn't all that small) past me with this expression like "excuse me, i'm more important, this is totally normal, why do you look so shocked" which she probably was thinking. Then all of a sudden about 5 other Indian woman come out of nowhere and start squeezing me and Rita out of the way, but Rita wasn't havin that so she pushed her way up to the window and got both of us a ticket, which I of course payed her my half for, meanwhile as she is trying to just get our ticket, 3 of the women start shoving their hands through the ticket window waving money in the poor guys face. I mean, come on!! what exactly is that going to do?? sure you can push your way up front, but dropping money?? do they really think that by just doing that a magical ticket will appear in thin air?? Seriously?
So then we wait for an hour, and get on our train and choo-choo off towards rishikesh. As we travel up, its nothing but green!!! and the air already felt so much cooler and clearer, ahhhhhh.
Btw... side note, I would like to point out 2 things here.... call me crazy, but... a) the reason I wanted to go to Rishikesh in the first place was because its where the beatles came b) I meet a woman on the train whose name is Rita, she is from Portugal, therefore speaks portuguese c) The beatles have a song called Lovely Rita d) I just read the part in Eat, Pray, Love where Elizabeth Gilbert meets a young Brazillian woman e) Brazillians speak portuguese............ weird??? maybe I looked too far into that one, but I thought it was odd... ohhhh Lord Shiva, how you have amused me this trip!! Another side note: Lord Shiva is the god, or one of the gods that Indian's or Hindu's pray to here. Throughout my trip, while hanging out with my IVHQ group, Catalin (the one who had me always in tears with laughter) would constantly refer to Lord Shiva, anytime anything might or could go wrong, or anytime anything good happened, or anytime he or we were wishing for something good to happen. He would, in his adorable Romanian accent go: "oh we must pray to Lord Shiva to bring us good things!!" or "Thank you Lord Shiva, I kiss your feet!!" so this is now something which has stuck with me as a happy memory which makes me laugh.
Back to the journey. So we arrive in Rishikesh. Now during our journey we kept noticing all these people dressed in orange, carrying these odd contraptions that were all decorated and what not, and they would spontaneously break out in some strange chant of "OOOOAAAPP!!!! Bombala bombala bom bom BALA!!!" or something like that, I haven't fully distinguished what they are yelling or what it means. Anyway, so we get to Rishikesh and TONS of people everywhere!!! but wait... isn't Rishikesh supposed to be a place of serenity and yoga and meditation?? I had this wonderful picture in my mind if it being all quiet, and everyone is peaceful and smiling as you walk by and everyone dressed in Yogi attire.... yea no, not so much. So we find a rickshaw and tell him where we need to go and he says he can't drive us all the way there because of the festival. Again, wait what?! Festival you say??? what festival?! I still haven't yet figured out what the festival is about exactly except for everyone is wearing these orange shirts with...... LORD SHIVA'S FACE ON IT!!! ahhhhh Lord Shiva!! again you play with me!!! So he agree's to drive us as close as he can then we must walk the rest of the way. So we walk, and walk, and walk, and walk, through the mass crowds of orange shiva faces, and the stares and hollers of "hi hello!! miss! hello! yes miss I have for you here!!" this for some reason they think will get me to spin around and run towards their shop of little trinkets. It amuses me. Anyway, so after about 2 miles of walking, dripping in sweat/dirt and my bag now painfully digging into my shoulder, I find my hotel. Rita decides she wants to shop around a bit for hotels to see if she can find the best one for her money. So, I decide why not and join her. So we find a hotel finally, which i am glad I joined her cuz the one we ended up with is much bigger and cleaner and for the same amount of money as I was going to pay at my original place.
I settle in, give myself a wetwipe bath, figured i'd save myself the hassel since I was going back out anyway and would get just as sweaty and dirty again. So I wander around, find the place to take yoga and meditation the next day. I still had not had any lunch and was starving! it being now 4:00pm in the day. So I wander around the shops, and mass crowds. Oh btw... on the way here we had to go over this bridge, which oh holy hell I swear i saw my life flash before my eyes crossing it. There were so many people on that bridge, and it was swaying, and there were gaps in it where I could see the Gangas racing past me below. All I wanted to do was race across that bridge and be on the other side, yet I was stuck behind this slow moving procession line of orange. I finally after a couple hours of just trying to walk aruond and see the town, stop at a nice little Italian restaurant. These types of places may say Italian, but really its just a mass fusion of everything on the menu, they tend to be the best places to find a wide assortment of items, so I got falafle and hummus with salad and naan. Like i said, fusion. It's so funny because being here, there are so many white people (of all over Europe and the US) and they are all wearing harem pants, which I won't be caught dead in, sorry but to me it looks like your wearing an adult diaper which is full.... sorry for the image, but thats what they look like!!!
Anyway, so I am sitting there salavating over the menu, since the last time I ate, was at 8am!! and it was now 7pm..... yes I had quite a few grimlins in my stomach that were not happy. Then a young woman sitting at the table next to me leans over and asks "would you like to join me?" surprised I go "oh!! well... yea sure!" so I get up and sit down at her table (it was all so movie like! Lol). Turns out she also is from the US from California (odd how I keep meeting Californians, seeing as how that is where I want to move to.... shiva???) and is also traveling alone. Its funny when us traveing Americans respond to someone asking us where we are from we go "from the United.....uh from America" which to me just feels weird saying that, since I'm used to saying "The US" or "DC". So we talk for a bit, again another "hmmm" moment for me, she went to UC Berkley, which is where I was looking when I started looking at grad schools, then she needed to head off to find the Ashram she is supposed to be staying at, and it was starting to get dark. So I eat my meal, and during my meal some more white travelers came in, couldn't exactly detect their accents, then another group came in who were all french. I finished dinner and headed towards my hotel.
Have you ever run into this problem before.... your walking back home from dinner or whatever you may have been out doing, and its dark, not real street lights around, you turn down a side street and uh ohhh better watch out so you don't bump into or step on a cow!!! Well, I have, tonight, thank goodness I have a "torch light" aka flashlight on the phone I'm using, because I certainly would not want to tip over a cow!! There were probably 7 or 8 of them laying down, standing, grooming each other in the middle of the side street. In fact if I were to look outside to the right a little bit out of this little cafe I'd probably see them. Just thought I'd add that fun little tid bit.
So, my plan for a relaxing serene few days here up in Rishikesh is not quite how I'd fantasized, though I should really be used to things not quite going as planned by now in India. As is another one of our IVHQ motto's "Anything is possible in India" and ohhhhhh how very very true that is!!!
Namaste everyone
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Eat, Pray, Love
So i've been flying through the book Eat, Pray, Love after just starting it about a week ago... well maybe I started it a few days ago... can't remember. No wait, yea about a week ago, started it on tuesday. Anyway, I am totally in love with this book!! Just started the India section yesterday, I so wish I could take a year off and travel like Elizabeth. I am now totally inspired to do something like that, however I would have to find a way to take my cat with me, because I just don't think that I could leave my little daisy for a whole year!!!
Does anyone know of a way that I could fund my trip?? any backers?? anyone? anyone?? I truly admire people who can just pick up and take off on these world adventures and not have any cares in the world, they just kind of go with the flow. Picking up odd jobs here and there to help fund their trips along the way. Does anyone know how I might acheive this new dream?? to just kind of backpack through?? I think I am way too much of a planner to ever do such a thing. While yes, to some extent I can certainly just go with the flow, however I also like to have a plan of some sort, to know where I am going, and I far too much enjoy the process of researching places before I go to them to see what all there is around the area and close by to make sure I see all that I can while I am there!! oyy veyy... I think I just answered my own question.... I do not think I can be one of those backpackers who live care free.... what a shame...
As you can clearly see by the vast difference in tone with this particular entry, nothing of any sort has occurred today.... it rained heavily almost all day long, which wiped out my plan for venturing out and exploring. Now you might say "its just rain!" however, rain here is much different, when it rains it also quickly floods and the streets become lakes. There are no drainage systems like we have back home, so the streets quickly become lakes and therefore you could find a canoe of some kind and row through it, but then become stuck when it stops or drive and get stuck.... sooooooo i did nothing all day, and was extremely bored. I am trying to not finish my book too fast because I am enjoying reading it too much to just be done with it already. So I am pacing myself.
Back to traveling, so I want to go to Bali as my next adventure, either Bali or Spain. I would like to do as Elizabeth did and go to Spain to improve my spanish, I love speaking it, but it is a tad rusty. And I want to learn other languages as well, not sure what, perhaps French... and I also would like to travel along the mediterranean and soak up the sun and eat lots and lots of incredible mediterranean food, my absolute fav!!!!! after being in India, I have affirmed that I really actually do not like Indian food, I am not a fan of spicy food as I in fact like to actually be able to taste my food, not ruin my taste buds so that the rest of the meal is extremely hot and tasteless. I do enjoy naan.... and an okra dish that I had, and then happily replicated myself!! those are about the only two things I do like.
Anywayzzzzzzzzzz so now that I have totally rambled away (I hope I was at least mildly entertaining today) I am going to go make my makeshift bed aka sofa and read until I fall asleep. Then dream away about traveling the world and eating scrumdidlyumtious food!!!
Ciao!!
Does anyone know of a way that I could fund my trip?? any backers?? anyone? anyone?? I truly admire people who can just pick up and take off on these world adventures and not have any cares in the world, they just kind of go with the flow. Picking up odd jobs here and there to help fund their trips along the way. Does anyone know how I might acheive this new dream?? to just kind of backpack through?? I think I am way too much of a planner to ever do such a thing. While yes, to some extent I can certainly just go with the flow, however I also like to have a plan of some sort, to know where I am going, and I far too much enjoy the process of researching places before I go to them to see what all there is around the area and close by to make sure I see all that I can while I am there!! oyy veyy... I think I just answered my own question.... I do not think I can be one of those backpackers who live care free.... what a shame...
As you can clearly see by the vast difference in tone with this particular entry, nothing of any sort has occurred today.... it rained heavily almost all day long, which wiped out my plan for venturing out and exploring. Now you might say "its just rain!" however, rain here is much different, when it rains it also quickly floods and the streets become lakes. There are no drainage systems like we have back home, so the streets quickly become lakes and therefore you could find a canoe of some kind and row through it, but then become stuck when it stops or drive and get stuck.... sooooooo i did nothing all day, and was extremely bored. I am trying to not finish my book too fast because I am enjoying reading it too much to just be done with it already. So I am pacing myself.
Back to traveling, so I want to go to Bali as my next adventure, either Bali or Spain. I would like to do as Elizabeth did and go to Spain to improve my spanish, I love speaking it, but it is a tad rusty. And I want to learn other languages as well, not sure what, perhaps French... and I also would like to travel along the mediterranean and soak up the sun and eat lots and lots of incredible mediterranean food, my absolute fav!!!!! after being in India, I have affirmed that I really actually do not like Indian food, I am not a fan of spicy food as I in fact like to actually be able to taste my food, not ruin my taste buds so that the rest of the meal is extremely hot and tasteless. I do enjoy naan.... and an okra dish that I had, and then happily replicated myself!! those are about the only two things I do like.
Anywayzzzzzzzzzz so now that I have totally rambled away (I hope I was at least mildly entertaining today) I am going to go make my makeshift bed aka sofa and read until I fall asleep. Then dream away about traveling the world and eating scrumdidlyumtious food!!!
Ciao!!
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Rishikesh is a GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh my goodness guys, I am so freaking excited!!!!! as well as totally freaked out hahah I finally found a train that was available and reasonably priced (for India standards) to go to Rishikesh!!!! ohhh this just makes me so happy and it will be at the end of my trip, so I will come home totally relaxed and serene! (I hope). Rishikesh, for those who don't know, is the most famous destination for Yogi's. It is where the Beatles took their spiritual journey in 1968 when they studied with Maharishi Mahes. So yes that is the main reason I want to go, but also I want to learn how to meditate, and fully relax. I will be staying at a nice hotel which offers yoga twice daily, morning and evening as well as meditation classes and massages etc.... I also plan to do some nature walks and perhaps even a Jungle Safari!! (farrari safari maybe?? Lol only my cousins, Lars and Hannah will get that one). Ohhhhh goodness am I just jumping for joy right now!!!
I will be leaving on this journey bright and early Tuesday morning and will return late Thursday night. I am a bit nervous about the journey getting there, hoping I can make my way ok. I will take the train from New Delhi (ugghhhh!!!) to Haridwar. Then I have to take the local bus from Haridwar to Rishikesh. Then I have to find a taxi from there and go a couple Kilometers to Ram Jhula. Then will have to walk across the bridge to the hotel... PHEW!!! I will for certain be gripping my handy language book which Val gave me (thank you val!!!!!!!!) to help me with the necessary phrases. I know enough already but just in case!
Anywho, as you can clearly see, I am like super super happy right now. I feel like such a big girl for arranging all of this myself! hahaha mainly because it really wasn't that easy to do. It is definitely rather difficult trying to arrange a trip in a country which you are not familiar with, not knowing where things are in proximity to one another and making sure you understand everything ok so that you don't end up somewhere not remotely close to where you wanted to be and are then stuck. Know what I mean??
So on a slightly less frantic note, I am meeting up with Anita this evening to have coffee or tea and chit chat, so that is going to be nice. I believe now I am going to walk over to Choko'la (my new fav cafe) and read for a bit... I had attempted an outing earlier but when I went to get cash all of the ATM's were down... that is something I am finding happens frequently here are various power outages. At least a couple times a day the power goes out for anywhere from a minute to 15 minutes. Not entirely sure why this happens, but Karen (Jim's wife) told me that what also happens is the link from American credit cards or debit cards to here sometimes goes down so you can't get cash out.... which is slightly annoying. I was on my way to go to Khan market to go find a tailor to get my dress made for Jessica's wedding!! :-) oh well I shall try this outing again tomorrow. Gives me something to do for tomorrow. I am also slightly sad, Raj left last night to move on to the rest of his travels in India. So now, it is just me, the last one of the group left in Delhi. However, Raj and I were talking about trying to get a reunion trip pulled together with everyone sometime next summer. IVHQ may have let us all down, but the one positive thing out of this whole thing was that we all got to meet each other and become great friends which hopefully will last a long time! and we are all over the world, so whenever we travel we will have someone to stay with! Very cool indeed.
Ok, well so long! hope everyone has a great day!
I will be leaving on this journey bright and early Tuesday morning and will return late Thursday night. I am a bit nervous about the journey getting there, hoping I can make my way ok. I will take the train from New Delhi (ugghhhh!!!) to Haridwar. Then I have to take the local bus from Haridwar to Rishikesh. Then I have to find a taxi from there and go a couple Kilometers to Ram Jhula. Then will have to walk across the bridge to the hotel... PHEW!!! I will for certain be gripping my handy language book which Val gave me (thank you val!!!!!!!!) to help me with the necessary phrases. I know enough already but just in case!
Anywho, as you can clearly see, I am like super super happy right now. I feel like such a big girl for arranging all of this myself! hahaha mainly because it really wasn't that easy to do. It is definitely rather difficult trying to arrange a trip in a country which you are not familiar with, not knowing where things are in proximity to one another and making sure you understand everything ok so that you don't end up somewhere not remotely close to where you wanted to be and are then stuck. Know what I mean??
So on a slightly less frantic note, I am meeting up with Anita this evening to have coffee or tea and chit chat, so that is going to be nice. I believe now I am going to walk over to Choko'la (my new fav cafe) and read for a bit... I had attempted an outing earlier but when I went to get cash all of the ATM's were down... that is something I am finding happens frequently here are various power outages. At least a couple times a day the power goes out for anywhere from a minute to 15 minutes. Not entirely sure why this happens, but Karen (Jim's wife) told me that what also happens is the link from American credit cards or debit cards to here sometimes goes down so you can't get cash out.... which is slightly annoying. I was on my way to go to Khan market to go find a tailor to get my dress made for Jessica's wedding!! :-) oh well I shall try this outing again tomorrow. Gives me something to do for tomorrow. I am also slightly sad, Raj left last night to move on to the rest of his travels in India. So now, it is just me, the last one of the group left in Delhi. However, Raj and I were talking about trying to get a reunion trip pulled together with everyone sometime next summer. IVHQ may have let us all down, but the one positive thing out of this whole thing was that we all got to meet each other and become great friends which hopefully will last a long time! and we are all over the world, so whenever we travel we will have someone to stay with! Very cool indeed.
Ok, well so long! hope everyone has a great day!
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