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!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Lodi Garden
Well, yesterday started out in a bit of a pissy mood after having done nothing at all for the past few days. So finally I said to myself, ENOUGH!! then promptly hailed a rick and jetted off towards Lodi Garden. What a treat!! It was like stepping into another world! It was spotlessly clean, "dust bins" aka trash cans everywhere with signs saying "please keep park clean and use bins" as well as signs saying "no spitting, using the bathroom, littering, use of narcotics or alcohol is permitted in park" (or something like that) meanwhile I thought to myself, see?? so easy to do!! why not just implement the same rules everywhere else!! India could look gorgeous! The Garden stretched out for miles, trails winding all over the place, green grassy lawns, beautiful flowers, old tombs to walk through, the water areas could have been cleaned a bit as they smelled like stagnant water. But over all it was so pleasant. There were families having picnics, playing tag, playing....frisbee?? Lol Jim had just made the comment the previous day when I asked about Lodi Garden that if they had frisbee here, they would be playing frisbee. Well they do! Then scattered througout the park were couples tucked away in corners canoodling (which surprised me because I had been told that public displays of affection were forbidden here!!) but I as an American thought it was rather cute.
It was starting to sprinkle a bit and wearing a white shirt, I did not want to get caught in a monsoon... so I left the Garden and started walking towards Khan Market. I passed by this gorgeous looking restaurant right next to Lodi Garden, it was called Lodi Garden Restaurant. You walk in and whoa how cool!! it was very asian looking, with bamboo, rocks, very zen looking. Outside they had some tables as well as these little cabanas with sheer white cloth draped on them with benches and pillows for couples to sit on and get fed in!!! I took pictures no worries :-) Then I went inside the restaurant and the ambiance was soooo awesome! I desperately wanted to eat there and relax... but it was definitely one of those places that would have to be like a special occasion... so maybe I'll go right before I leave or something. I did however order a mango smoothie and sat there a little while and read. It was very nice to just get away and enjoy some nice quiet time. After that I continued on towards Khan Market. On my way there I passed quite a few NGO's but of course, it being Sunday, no one was there. Boo!! Finally I got to Khan market and just about everything was closed :-( a few things were still open, so I wandered around window shopping, then started feeling a bit sick, so I hailed another rick and headed home.
Once I got home.... the evil grimlins of the dreaded "Travelers D" flooded my stomach.... NO FUN!!!!!!!!! Raj had been dealing with this for the past three days and I kept making fun of him for having eaten street food.... karma?? Anyway, I spent the evening doubled over in pain with my stomach cramping while intermittently running to the bathroom. However, me being a smart girl I took my medication that my Dr. gave me before I left as a "just in case" thing. Thank God!! It's helpful having your physician be from India. I somehow managed to fall asleep around 9pm, kept waking up throughout the night in pain but over the course of the night, the lovely Cipro worked its magic. Now, please tell me why boys are such stubborn babies when it comes to them being sick?? Raj apparently had the same medication but waited until last night to take it??? He said he wanted to read up on it before he took it... I'm thinking "dude?! you couldn't have done that like 3 days ago and saved yourself some intense agony??" anyway, I am very glad I did not wait that long to take it, with that kind of pain??! are you kidding me?! ahhh boys.... how they mystify me.
So this morning I am so far so good!! I am however, being a smart girl (again) and heading over to the store while I am feeling well enough (just in case!) and stocking up on some coconut water, orange juice, soup and crackers. Trying to stand long enough to make just plain pasta was quite a struggle, had to keep running to my room to lay down, then run back to make sure to not over cook it.
Let's hope I keep feeling good!!!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Slumdog Millionaire
So last night we watched Slumdog Millionaire... well actually it was more like re-watching it since we'd both already seen it. But we had wanted to re-watch it now that we both have spent a few weeks living in India and seeing first hand what we had either heard about or seen in movies. Well.... it was so surreal to watch the movie again only this time it was like watching our day to day lives in India!!! That movie really did portray the real India. While riding around in the ricks we have street children coming up to us trying to sell us things, or women carrying babies trying to get food or money, really young kids coming up doing the hand to the mouth motion meaning "food". When we were on the train back from Amritsar, as I told you in an earlier post, we saw two little kids who were just like Jamal and Salim. The scene where the awful guy comes and takes the kids away to his own little camp where he blinds them and sends them out to be blind singers.... well we thank god didnt see that part in real life, but the scene where he tell the kids to sing for him as he sits and gets fed food, well that exact thing happened at the orphanage... so that part was really creepy. In any case, after the movie i went to my room and had to read for a bit because I just felt really.... sad I suppose.
For those of you reading who think I am really judgmental of my time here, you have to understand that I very much have a love/hate relationship with India. On one hand there are many things that I do like about India, for example their spirituality, the textiles.... perhaps a few more things too. But on the other hand there is just a lot that makes me really frustrated, in the sense that I can see exactly what needs to be done to try and fix what seem like such simple problems, but I can't!! For those of you that know me well, you know how much of an organizer and planner I am so perhaps you now may have a little more insight into where my various "judgemental" statements are coming from. They are not so much judgements but more frustrations at: "ok here is the problem, and there is a very very simple way to fix that problem, which in turn will have a domino effect on other problems and soon, hopefully things will start to turn around and make India a healthier place!!!!" I talked to Jim about this stuff, and he said "well its the issue of India being such an overpopulated place, there are billions of people crammed together, with a Government that doesn't quite know how to utilize their resources. Whereas the states realized that they should bring on board an Architect to help with urban planning.... India hasn't done that yet..." well he didn't say it in those exact words but thats the basic gyst of what he said. But I totally see what he is saying, so man! maybe Amanda could come to India to start helping out!! then Lars could come and work on the water system, I could do the organizing and planning, Anne could work on the vegetable farming, dad you could start working with the builders and teach them to use modern day tools, mom you could help with teaching dyslexics, jaydee could work with anne on the whole vegetable farming... making sure they are safe etc... hannah and amos could work with the kids.... man we could really turn India around!! Meraa pariwaar (my family), helping India!!
Anyway, I'm not in the best of moods today.... I've been extremely bored the past few days, Raj has been sick so he's been sleeping, while I haven't really had much to do. I've seen all that I want to see in New Delhi, and believe it or not I have found it rather difficult to find any yoga studios!!! how can that be!? this is India, birth place of yoga!! I have called a few of the volunteer organizations and they are all full with volunteers. I have a few more people on my list to call, but have to wait till tomorrow since today is sunday and I doubt they will be in their office.
That's all for today
For those of you reading who think I am really judgmental of my time here, you have to understand that I very much have a love/hate relationship with India. On one hand there are many things that I do like about India, for example their spirituality, the textiles.... perhaps a few more things too. But on the other hand there is just a lot that makes me really frustrated, in the sense that I can see exactly what needs to be done to try and fix what seem like such simple problems, but I can't!! For those of you that know me well, you know how much of an organizer and planner I am so perhaps you now may have a little more insight into where my various "judgemental" statements are coming from. They are not so much judgements but more frustrations at: "ok here is the problem, and there is a very very simple way to fix that problem, which in turn will have a domino effect on other problems and soon, hopefully things will start to turn around and make India a healthier place!!!!" I talked to Jim about this stuff, and he said "well its the issue of India being such an overpopulated place, there are billions of people crammed together, with a Government that doesn't quite know how to utilize their resources. Whereas the states realized that they should bring on board an Architect to help with urban planning.... India hasn't done that yet..." well he didn't say it in those exact words but thats the basic gyst of what he said. But I totally see what he is saying, so man! maybe Amanda could come to India to start helping out!! then Lars could come and work on the water system, I could do the organizing and planning, Anne could work on the vegetable farming, dad you could start working with the builders and teach them to use modern day tools, mom you could help with teaching dyslexics, jaydee could work with anne on the whole vegetable farming... making sure they are safe etc... hannah and amos could work with the kids.... man we could really turn India around!! Meraa pariwaar (my family), helping India!!
Anyway, I'm not in the best of moods today.... I've been extremely bored the past few days, Raj has been sick so he's been sleeping, while I haven't really had much to do. I've seen all that I want to see in New Delhi, and believe it or not I have found it rather difficult to find any yoga studios!!! how can that be!? this is India, birth place of yoga!! I have called a few of the volunteer organizations and they are all full with volunteers. I have a few more people on my list to call, but have to wait till tomorrow since today is sunday and I doubt they will be in their office.
That's all for today
Friday, July 23, 2010
Things I have learned, observed etc.. so far
During my time here, I have encountered soooo many things that have taken me by complete surprise, or found interesting, or just plain observations. So I figured I would share them with you all.
1) Trash cans do not exist anywhere, when I ask for a trash can to throw something away, they point to the ground
2) The pollution here is like nothing I have ever seen before, to give you an idea: When I blow my nose, black stuff comes out, also I have developed a smokers cough... more so on days when we have been out and about on a rickshaw a lot
3) Stray dogs are like the equivalent of squirrels at home, as in they are everywhere!
4) People seem to have no sense of public decency, they spit everywhere as well as spit their chewing stuff (it isnt tobacco but something like it) everywhere without taking a look to see if they may be spitting on someone....
5) People go to the bathroom everywhere... and I do mean everywhere... while walking I have learned to always look at the ground, since you never know when you may come across a big mound of poo (and you are never sure if it is cow poo, dog poo, or human poo)
6) They love to stare... like really stare, so I have learned to just stare right back :-) They then quickly look away
7) I love bartering at the markets, I have become rather good at standing firm until I get the price I want. I was even told by a shop owner "you are very strong woman" ... why thank you! haha
8) Patience: I have learned to be much more patient, everything here takes an excessively long time. Raj and I have named it "India time". It's interesting though that it is not consistent, somethings are very fast, while others take a very long time, there seems to be no real medium.
9) Carrying the following with you everywhere you go: Toilet paper, wetwipes, antibacterial gel, clorox wipes, vicks vaporub and a towl or bandana to wipe sweat
10) Accept the fact that you will sweat through your clothes everyday, so sweat marks... hah! who cares! everyone has them! and two showers a day (one in the morning and one in the evening) are fabulous, especially using only cold water! so refreshing!
11) There are no such things as traffic laws here, it is a big ass free for all on the streets, no one stops for pedestrians, there are no walk lights, you have to take a deep breath and step out in the street and put your hand out and hope to god they actually stop. Traffic lines mean nothing, in fact they go over the middle lines into on coming traffic to go around cars. And horns.... dear god they are like the vuvuzelas at the world cup!
12) Sidewalks don't really exist. Everyone walks in the streets, there are sidewalks in some places, but only a handful are actually usable, and even if they are they stop and start, so really just walking in the street is easiest, though ya gotta be watching for crazy drivers as well as poo on the ground
13) Sikh's are awesome
14) You bond very quickly with people you just meet when travelling alone, specifically because of everyone being in the same boat but also because of conversations about one's bowel movements and how its all working on a day to day basis Lol
15) I have become a big fan of Amir Khan (a Bollywood actor) as I have been watching a lot of Indian movies the past few nights.
16) With as crazy as they drive here, I am truly shocked and amazed that I have yet to see an accident occur. They weave in and out of one another, drive head on towards one another, cars drive in every which direction, cutting each other off in roundabouts..... but not one accident. It's kind of like a choreographed dance or something
17) The popular brand of men's clothing appears to be that of "Playboy" hahah I have seen guys wearing shirts that say playboy on them with the playboy bunny logo... very strange
,
18) Everyone here is an entrepreneur. From street vendors, to selling stuff at traffic lights, to little shops, to selling things on trains or performing on trains... you see all kinds of little businesses of some sort
19) When negotiating prices: be firm and keep you sunglasses on and never look them straight in the face... this somehow makes quite a difference. And if they give you a high price, immediately say "nahin nahin" and walk away, its amazing how durastically they will lower the price.
20) Drag queens do exist in India, they dress up in Sarees, but definately not as much makeup as back home Lol!!
That's all I can think of right now, I will be sure to post some more as I discover them
1) Trash cans do not exist anywhere, when I ask for a trash can to throw something away, they point to the ground
2) The pollution here is like nothing I have ever seen before, to give you an idea: When I blow my nose, black stuff comes out, also I have developed a smokers cough... more so on days when we have been out and about on a rickshaw a lot
3) Stray dogs are like the equivalent of squirrels at home, as in they are everywhere!
4) People seem to have no sense of public decency, they spit everywhere as well as spit their chewing stuff (it isnt tobacco but something like it) everywhere without taking a look to see if they may be spitting on someone....
5) People go to the bathroom everywhere... and I do mean everywhere... while walking I have learned to always look at the ground, since you never know when you may come across a big mound of poo (and you are never sure if it is cow poo, dog poo, or human poo)
6) They love to stare... like really stare, so I have learned to just stare right back :-) They then quickly look away
7) I love bartering at the markets, I have become rather good at standing firm until I get the price I want. I was even told by a shop owner "you are very strong woman" ... why thank you! haha
8) Patience: I have learned to be much more patient, everything here takes an excessively long time. Raj and I have named it "India time". It's interesting though that it is not consistent, somethings are very fast, while others take a very long time, there seems to be no real medium.
9) Carrying the following with you everywhere you go: Toilet paper, wetwipes, antibacterial gel, clorox wipes, vicks vaporub and a towl or bandana to wipe sweat
10) Accept the fact that you will sweat through your clothes everyday, so sweat marks... hah! who cares! everyone has them! and two showers a day (one in the morning and one in the evening) are fabulous, especially using only cold water! so refreshing!
11) There are no such things as traffic laws here, it is a big ass free for all on the streets, no one stops for pedestrians, there are no walk lights, you have to take a deep breath and step out in the street and put your hand out and hope to god they actually stop. Traffic lines mean nothing, in fact they go over the middle lines into on coming traffic to go around cars. And horns.... dear god they are like the vuvuzelas at the world cup!
12) Sidewalks don't really exist. Everyone walks in the streets, there are sidewalks in some places, but only a handful are actually usable, and even if they are they stop and start, so really just walking in the street is easiest, though ya gotta be watching for crazy drivers as well as poo on the ground
13) Sikh's are awesome
14) You bond very quickly with people you just meet when travelling alone, specifically because of everyone being in the same boat but also because of conversations about one's bowel movements and how its all working on a day to day basis Lol
15) I have become a big fan of Amir Khan (a Bollywood actor) as I have been watching a lot of Indian movies the past few nights.
16) With as crazy as they drive here, I am truly shocked and amazed that I have yet to see an accident occur. They weave in and out of one another, drive head on towards one another, cars drive in every which direction, cutting each other off in roundabouts..... but not one accident. It's kind of like a choreographed dance or something
17) The popular brand of men's clothing appears to be that of "Playboy" hahah I have seen guys wearing shirts that say playboy on them with the playboy bunny logo... very strange
,
18) Everyone here is an entrepreneur. From street vendors, to selling stuff at traffic lights, to little shops, to selling things on trains or performing on trains... you see all kinds of little businesses of some sort
19) When negotiating prices: be firm and keep you sunglasses on and never look them straight in the face... this somehow makes quite a difference. And if they give you a high price, immediately say "nahin nahin" and walk away, its amazing how durastically they will lower the price.
20) Drag queens do exist in India, they dress up in Sarees, but definately not as much makeup as back home Lol!!
That's all I can think of right now, I will be sure to post some more as I discover them
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Amritsar - Part II
Wagah - The India/Pakistan Border Ceremony
After we left the Golden Temple we found a place to grab something to eat, then found a taxi that could take us to the India/Border evening ceremonies. We got thohere, to the border and strolled in to the sounds of fantastic Indian music... which by the way, I cannot stand the old stuff, but the newer stuff, more Punjabi style I do like. Punjabi style music is much more rhythmical and has some great sounds (think Bend it Like Beckham, the wedding scene at the end). So we walk in, and go through quite a few security checks, and since we are foreigners we got to go the VIP seating area! So we sit down and notice our area is predominantly white Lol. People are taking turns running down the street carrying the Indian flag, then a dance party... well a female dance party breaks out in the middle of the street... no boys were allowed, HAH! So of course I had to jump up and run down there and join in!!! duhhhh! so I join in and immediately am surrounded by young Indian girls and women teaching me the Indian dance moves. The ceremony then begins, we all sit down and it certainly is nothing I have ever seen before... first of all the Border Patrols way of marching is absolutely hysterical!!!!!!!! oh my goodness!! they just look so overly dramatic, their legs kick up to their hats and they howl, for a very long extended period of time. They then open the gates between India and Pakistan and all line up on either side and then begin to simultaneously lower the flags. I took an awesome picture of the flags being lowered which I really like
We then left and headed back towards the taxi and waited for the rest of the people who had also been in our taxi. While waiting, this guy who ran the little outdoor cafe came over and started asking me all kinds of questions, then asked if he could take a picture with me, so I agreed, but he like grabbed me really close and put his hand on my stomach, which made me extremely uncomfortable so then I was like "ok great! bye!" and quickly walked back over to where Raj was sitting, the guy followed me and then asked "is this your friend?" so I quickly replied "oh no! this is my husband!" and instantaneously the guy backed off and left me alone. GENIUS!! This then became my safety net, one of the pirks to traveling with a male is that in uncomfortable situations, they can save your butt!!
We headed back towards our hotel, got some dinner then totally crashed, it was a long day!
The Journey back to New Delhi
The next day we got the train back to New Delhi. We were totally prepared this time for a late train, overcroweded mass chaos... to our surprise, the train was there waiting when we got there. We hopped right on, everyone was calm, sitting in their seats, everything was clean... SWEET!! So we found our seats and sat down, then the train took off. There were Sikh's all over the place and they immediately started talking to us, offerring us food, etc.. The Sikh's are just such a sweet, loving and kind culture I discovered while being in Amritsar. They also are a very clean culture. In comparison with the rest of India, Amritsar had very little trash on the streets, which meant hardly any fly's!! That is one thing that is just so gross here are the massive amounts of fly's everywhere!!!!!!!!! I can't even begin to describe it, you just have to be here to really know what I am talking about. Its like you are constantly walking through a cloud of fly's, so being in Amritsar was an extremely nice break. The train ride back was soooo much better then the ride to Amristar. It was still very long, but much more calm, had nice conversations with people, they kept offerring their food to us etc...
Also, there were all kinds of entertainers on the train, including 2 little slum kids who were such clowns!! They were so adorable and totally and completely were like the kids in Slumdog Millionaire. I have to re-watch that movie now that I have seen a lot of what was depicted in the movie. At one point we both got up from sitting as our butts started going numb from the hard seats. So we were standing at the back of the train where the slum kids were hanging out. They started doing all of these flips on the train and hanging out of the car (they keep the doors open and people tend to just sit on the steps as we are flying by at like.... what feels like 200 mph!!! My god this freaked me out, I felt like such a mom wanting to pull the kids back in, but alas I knew that these kids do this kind of stuff all the time... but still, it freaked me out!! I really wanted to take a picture of these guys, but knew as soon as I'd ask, they'd probably say "10 rupees!" so I didnt. Towards the end of the train ride it was late and the kids were trying to sleep in the back, it broke my heart because they were huddled together, with their arms and hands inside their shirts trying to get warm, I didnt have any clothing to give them but I did have my soda, which I'd had maybe one sip of, so I gave that to them and Raj gave them some biscuits, they gratefully grabbed both with wide eyes and were very thankful. By the time we got off the train they were both cuddled up to each other passed out. It's just so heart breaking to see kids that young totally on their own.
We got back to Jim's house, had a snack then passed out. The trip was amazing, and so nice to see such a different culture then what I have been seeing so far. There was still tons of pollution and dirt but at least they are making an effort to put a few trash cans around the town, I hope they keep adding to that!!! It just amazes me when I have some trash and go up to someone to ask where a trash can is, that they point to the ground!! I of course shake my head and say "oh no no no no!!" and walk away and just put whatever it is I had wanted to throw away in my pocket or bag. I'd rather save it then add to the trash that is EVERYWHERE!
So that is my grand story! My pictures are up on Facebook
Namaste
After we left the Golden Temple we found a place to grab something to eat, then found a taxi that could take us to the India/Border evening ceremonies. We got thohere, to the border and strolled in to the sounds of fantastic Indian music... which by the way, I cannot stand the old stuff, but the newer stuff, more Punjabi style I do like. Punjabi style music is much more rhythmical and has some great sounds (think Bend it Like Beckham, the wedding scene at the end). So we walk in, and go through quite a few security checks, and since we are foreigners we got to go the VIP seating area! So we sit down and notice our area is predominantly white Lol. People are taking turns running down the street carrying the Indian flag, then a dance party... well a female dance party breaks out in the middle of the street... no boys were allowed, HAH! So of course I had to jump up and run down there and join in!!! duhhhh! so I join in and immediately am surrounded by young Indian girls and women teaching me the Indian dance moves. The ceremony then begins, we all sit down and it certainly is nothing I have ever seen before... first of all the Border Patrols way of marching is absolutely hysterical!!!!!!!! oh my goodness!! they just look so overly dramatic, their legs kick up to their hats and they howl, for a very long extended period of time. They then open the gates between India and Pakistan and all line up on either side and then begin to simultaneously lower the flags. I took an awesome picture of the flags being lowered which I really like
We then left and headed back towards the taxi and waited for the rest of the people who had also been in our taxi. While waiting, this guy who ran the little outdoor cafe came over and started asking me all kinds of questions, then asked if he could take a picture with me, so I agreed, but he like grabbed me really close and put his hand on my stomach, which made me extremely uncomfortable so then I was like "ok great! bye!" and quickly walked back over to where Raj was sitting, the guy followed me and then asked "is this your friend?" so I quickly replied "oh no! this is my husband!" and instantaneously the guy backed off and left me alone. GENIUS!! This then became my safety net, one of the pirks to traveling with a male is that in uncomfortable situations, they can save your butt!!
We headed back towards our hotel, got some dinner then totally crashed, it was a long day!
The Journey back to New Delhi
The next day we got the train back to New Delhi. We were totally prepared this time for a late train, overcroweded mass chaos... to our surprise, the train was there waiting when we got there. We hopped right on, everyone was calm, sitting in their seats, everything was clean... SWEET!! So we found our seats and sat down, then the train took off. There were Sikh's all over the place and they immediately started talking to us, offerring us food, etc.. The Sikh's are just such a sweet, loving and kind culture I discovered while being in Amritsar. They also are a very clean culture. In comparison with the rest of India, Amritsar had very little trash on the streets, which meant hardly any fly's!! That is one thing that is just so gross here are the massive amounts of fly's everywhere!!!!!!!!! I can't even begin to describe it, you just have to be here to really know what I am talking about. Its like you are constantly walking through a cloud of fly's, so being in Amritsar was an extremely nice break. The train ride back was soooo much better then the ride to Amristar. It was still very long, but much more calm, had nice conversations with people, they kept offerring their food to us etc...
Also, there were all kinds of entertainers on the train, including 2 little slum kids who were such clowns!! They were so adorable and totally and completely were like the kids in Slumdog Millionaire. I have to re-watch that movie now that I have seen a lot of what was depicted in the movie. At one point we both got up from sitting as our butts started going numb from the hard seats. So we were standing at the back of the train where the slum kids were hanging out. They started doing all of these flips on the train and hanging out of the car (they keep the doors open and people tend to just sit on the steps as we are flying by at like.... what feels like 200 mph!!! My god this freaked me out, I felt like such a mom wanting to pull the kids back in, but alas I knew that these kids do this kind of stuff all the time... but still, it freaked me out!! I really wanted to take a picture of these guys, but knew as soon as I'd ask, they'd probably say "10 rupees!" so I didnt. Towards the end of the train ride it was late and the kids were trying to sleep in the back, it broke my heart because they were huddled together, with their arms and hands inside their shirts trying to get warm, I didnt have any clothing to give them but I did have my soda, which I'd had maybe one sip of, so I gave that to them and Raj gave them some biscuits, they gratefully grabbed both with wide eyes and were very thankful. By the time we got off the train they were both cuddled up to each other passed out. It's just so heart breaking to see kids that young totally on their own.
We got back to Jim's house, had a snack then passed out. The trip was amazing, and so nice to see such a different culture then what I have been seeing so far. There was still tons of pollution and dirt but at least they are making an effort to put a few trash cans around the town, I hope they keep adding to that!!! It just amazes me when I have some trash and go up to someone to ask where a trash can is, that they point to the ground!! I of course shake my head and say "oh no no no no!!" and walk away and just put whatever it is I had wanted to throw away in my pocket or bag. I'd rather save it then add to the trash that is EVERYWHERE!
So that is my grand story! My pictures are up on Facebook
Namaste
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Amritsar - Part I
Well hello there everyone!! It's been a few days as I have been in Amritsar, this is going to be a long blog entry since I have so much to tell!!! But no worries, it is all very exciting stuff, and to make it easier to read, I shall divide it up into sections with titles and everything! I'm so nice, I know :-)~ hahaha
The Wizard of Oz - Journey to Amritsar
So, Raj, my most excellent new travel partner, and I set off in the wee hours of the morning on Sunday to head towards Amritsar to see the Golden Temple. We took a rickshaw there and were amazed to actually see the streets of New Delhi totally empty!! Certainly a first since my 2 1/2 weeks of being here (which by the way, it is so crazy to think I have only been here for 2 1/2 weeks, it totally feels like I have been here for at least a month by now). As we travelled through the lovely smog (note sarcasm) we then entered into monkey land!! hahah and no I am so not kidding, it was the craziest thing, there were monkeys EVERYWHERE!!! all over the sidewalks, the streets, sitting on fences..... it was hilarious, cute and also a bit frightening since we were in the rickshaw which has no doors or windows, so they could have jumped in at any moment. But where did all these monkeys come from?? They totally disappear during the rest of the day. Anyway, so we made it through monkey land alive, phew! Then our next mission.... combating the flys and beggers while waiting for our train. By this time is was about 6:30, our train was to arrive at 6:40, we waited... it was already about 70 degrees out and extremely humid, swarms of flys everywhere, people staring (i honestly just felt like screaming out "YES I AM WHITE AND I AM A WOMAN! GET OVER IT!! but I resisted) beggers constantly coming up to us... 7:30 rolls around, still no train and no announcement as to whether it was actually coming. While both my frustrations as well as Raj's began running out, 8:00 rolls around then finally an announcement that our train was approaching, thank god! The train rolls in, WOOHOO!! little did we know what we were about to experience........ COMPLETE AND TOTAL MASS CHAOS!! Literally, before the train was even at a complete stop people were running for the train, pushing theirselves into the train cars, while the people who were still on the train were trying to get off. We locked arms and had to make like a football line up or something like that and pushed our way through, while people were pushing in every which direction, luggage falling off the luggage racks, people screaming in Hindi, I'm trying to make sure I have my bag and that I'm not going to get pick pocketed.... oh my god!! I have never in my life seen such total and complete madness!! Absolutely no order or politeness about anything. We find our seats and there is a family of like 6 sitting there totally unashamed that they had hijacked everyone's seats who had actually payed for a seat. They start screaming at us as if we are in the wrong.... well thankfully a guy who was making sure his mom got on the train ok came on and stuck up for us and got them all to get up and move, he told us "you have to be forceful, otherwise they will take full advantage of you" we were very gracious and promised to look after his mother and make sure she got off at the correct stop. Oh he was also a Sikh (more on that to come). So finally in our seats (after I wipped out my handy dandy clorox bleach wipes to clean off all the gross food that the family had so nicely left behind on the seats) we set off on our 7 hour train ride to Amritsar. It was hot, smelly and since there were no windows, only bars, by the time we got to Amritsar we were totally covered in pollution and dirt.... awesome. But we were just so excited to actually be there that at that point we were over smelling like crap and wanted food ASAP!
The Golden Temple and discovering a new appreciation for Sikh's
We found a place to sit down, which was air conditioned, got a nice cold drink and a bite to eat. Feeling much more rejuvinated after our long hot journey we set out to find a place to stay. We originally were planning to stay at the Golden Temple itself, but after hearing that we'd have to sleep on the floor (when we were previously told they had beds) and we had no sleeping bags or anything with us, we decided to find a cheap place to crash. A girl we met in the coffee shop had told us about a place we could stay for only 700 Rs. a night with A/C and even cheaper without A/C.... so we went with the no A/C (they had a ceiling fan) and it was 400 Rs. a night!! which split in 2.... thats like $4 a night! granted it wasn't all to glamerous, but it had a bed, a bathroom and was walking distance to the golden temple... when you're traveling on a budget, you learn to adapt rather quickly and luxory isn't really in the forefront of your mind. Anyway! so we dropped out stuff, gave ourselves a quick wetwipe bath (my new most favorite thing EVER!) and headed right on over to the Golden Temple!!! I was actually quite excited to have to use a scarf to cover my head.... not really sure why, but it just felt really cool to be in such a spiritual place and to honor their religion like that. We got there, had to drop our shoes off then as we walked into the temple they had these little rivers that you had to walk through to cleanse your feet. We walked through and there it was, in all of its golden glory, surrounded by holy water. There was a constant surround sound of Punjabi music playing along with prayers, people immediately kneeling down and touching their forheads to the ground.... oh my god... the overwhelming beauty of it all was just so unbelievable. Everything was so pure and clean!!! unlike all of the other places I had seen during orientation week. This by far outbeats the Taj Mahal!! Then within about 5 minutes of having walked in, this woman comes up to me and she is holding a baby, she points to her baby then starts to hand me her baby! I was like "umm.... uhhh Raj?! what is she saying??" she then tells him that she wants to take a picture of me holding her son. What?! I of course knod and take her son, smile, she excitedly takes a picture... unfortunatly I had just been taking video of everything so Raj didn't take a picture :-( booo but anyway this whole being a white girl thing in a foreign country is so bizarre to me! I see so many other white tourists around and have yet to see anyone running up to them to shake their hand or give them a hug or ask to take their picture... Lol who knows. So we continue to walk around, and just take everything in. Raj's family is of the Sikh religion so the experience was just that much cooler since he is also American (and the first one in his family to come to India!) and he is basically discovering his roots. He says he does the prayers at home with his family but it is much more westernized. We then headed over to the kitchen hall where they serve meals 24/7!! and for free!! (yet another clever way of staying on budget! while also taking in the whole experience). We sit down on the ground and get served Chai while waiting to be led into the hall. As we sit there this little girl runs up to me and shakes my hand, then asks me in Hindi what my name is, I respond (yay I'm learning!) then she proceeds to ask me all these other questions, which I'm then like "oh god too fast!" she basically wanted to learn all about me, where I'm from, if I'm married etc.... hahah then she brought over her 2 sisters and their grandma and were so excited to talk to us, then they asked if I had a camera because they wanted to take a picture, although it was on my camera so they wouldn't actually get it, but none the less they basically took my camera hostage for a good 10 minutes snapping away and were so intrigued by the fact that you could take a picture and then immediately see what it looked like. It was so adorable! and extremely amusing just watching them and how fascinated they were by it all. Finally we get led into the hall and again sit on the floor and then down the line they come with these huge buckets of food and drop it onto your plate... they absolutely have this whole operation down pat, a very well oiled machine they have going on there (this excited me greatly to see such a well put together operation). We ate our food, which was really quite good! then went on our way to go walk around a bit more and wait for it to get dark enough to see the Golden Temple all lit up at night time. Just sitting there and watching everyone walk around, praying etc... it truly was just such a fantastic sight to see. I just felt so honored to be able to be there witnessing this spiritual place with this amazing temple which really is like the most amazing work of art I have ever seen.
The next day we got up and made our way back to the temple but this time it was to go inside the actual temple. I was amazed at how quickly the line went, I think we were in line for maybe 30 minutes. We got inside and.... oh how I wish I could have been able to take pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am going to sound like a broken record here but.... oh my god!!!! I just... really like no words.... the intricate art work and detail of this inside of this temple was out of this freaking WORLD!!! I can't even explain it!! Everyone just needs to go take a trip and see this place! There were guru's in every corner of the temple sitting in front of this massive book which was like a bible but like 20 times the size of it, then there were a few guys who were playing the drums and one guy chanting... or praying... or maybe just singing... not sure what but it was in Punjabi and sounded beautiful. I'm also pretty sure that my mouth did not close the entire time I was in there, Lol I was just in pure amazement of the incredible detail of every single inch of the temple, not one space was left untouched. And also to think that this temple is... how old?? no really I actually never did find the answer to that.. but pretty sure its like super duper old and it is still in pristine condition!! whereas most old temples such as that are cracked, tarnished, rusted, mildewed and falling apart... but this one still looks brand new!
...... to be continued in part 2
The Wizard of Oz - Journey to Amritsar
So, Raj, my most excellent new travel partner, and I set off in the wee hours of the morning on Sunday to head towards Amritsar to see the Golden Temple. We took a rickshaw there and were amazed to actually see the streets of New Delhi totally empty!! Certainly a first since my 2 1/2 weeks of being here (which by the way, it is so crazy to think I have only been here for 2 1/2 weeks, it totally feels like I have been here for at least a month by now). As we travelled through the lovely smog (note sarcasm) we then entered into monkey land!! hahah and no I am so not kidding, it was the craziest thing, there were monkeys EVERYWHERE!!! all over the sidewalks, the streets, sitting on fences..... it was hilarious, cute and also a bit frightening since we were in the rickshaw which has no doors or windows, so they could have jumped in at any moment. But where did all these monkeys come from?? They totally disappear during the rest of the day. Anyway, so we made it through monkey land alive, phew! Then our next mission.... combating the flys and beggers while waiting for our train. By this time is was about 6:30, our train was to arrive at 6:40, we waited... it was already about 70 degrees out and extremely humid, swarms of flys everywhere, people staring (i honestly just felt like screaming out "YES I AM WHITE AND I AM A WOMAN! GET OVER IT!! but I resisted) beggers constantly coming up to us... 7:30 rolls around, still no train and no announcement as to whether it was actually coming. While both my frustrations as well as Raj's began running out, 8:00 rolls around then finally an announcement that our train was approaching, thank god! The train rolls in, WOOHOO!! little did we know what we were about to experience........ COMPLETE AND TOTAL MASS CHAOS!! Literally, before the train was even at a complete stop people were running for the train, pushing theirselves into the train cars, while the people who were still on the train were trying to get off. We locked arms and had to make like a football line up or something like that and pushed our way through, while people were pushing in every which direction, luggage falling off the luggage racks, people screaming in Hindi, I'm trying to make sure I have my bag and that I'm not going to get pick pocketed.... oh my god!! I have never in my life seen such total and complete madness!! Absolutely no order or politeness about anything. We find our seats and there is a family of like 6 sitting there totally unashamed that they had hijacked everyone's seats who had actually payed for a seat. They start screaming at us as if we are in the wrong.... well thankfully a guy who was making sure his mom got on the train ok came on and stuck up for us and got them all to get up and move, he told us "you have to be forceful, otherwise they will take full advantage of you" we were very gracious and promised to look after his mother and make sure she got off at the correct stop. Oh he was also a Sikh (more on that to come). So finally in our seats (after I wipped out my handy dandy clorox bleach wipes to clean off all the gross food that the family had so nicely left behind on the seats) we set off on our 7 hour train ride to Amritsar. It was hot, smelly and since there were no windows, only bars, by the time we got to Amritsar we were totally covered in pollution and dirt.... awesome. But we were just so excited to actually be there that at that point we were over smelling like crap and wanted food ASAP!
The Golden Temple and discovering a new appreciation for Sikh's
We found a place to sit down, which was air conditioned, got a nice cold drink and a bite to eat. Feeling much more rejuvinated after our long hot journey we set out to find a place to stay. We originally were planning to stay at the Golden Temple itself, but after hearing that we'd have to sleep on the floor (when we were previously told they had beds) and we had no sleeping bags or anything with us, we decided to find a cheap place to crash. A girl we met in the coffee shop had told us about a place we could stay for only 700 Rs. a night with A/C and even cheaper without A/C.... so we went with the no A/C (they had a ceiling fan) and it was 400 Rs. a night!! which split in 2.... thats like $4 a night! granted it wasn't all to glamerous, but it had a bed, a bathroom and was walking distance to the golden temple... when you're traveling on a budget, you learn to adapt rather quickly and luxory isn't really in the forefront of your mind. Anyway! so we dropped out stuff, gave ourselves a quick wetwipe bath (my new most favorite thing EVER!) and headed right on over to the Golden Temple!!! I was actually quite excited to have to use a scarf to cover my head.... not really sure why, but it just felt really cool to be in such a spiritual place and to honor their religion like that. We got there, had to drop our shoes off then as we walked into the temple they had these little rivers that you had to walk through to cleanse your feet. We walked through and there it was, in all of its golden glory, surrounded by holy water. There was a constant surround sound of Punjabi music playing along with prayers, people immediately kneeling down and touching their forheads to the ground.... oh my god... the overwhelming beauty of it all was just so unbelievable. Everything was so pure and clean!!! unlike all of the other places I had seen during orientation week. This by far outbeats the Taj Mahal!! Then within about 5 minutes of having walked in, this woman comes up to me and she is holding a baby, she points to her baby then starts to hand me her baby! I was like "umm.... uhhh Raj?! what is she saying??" she then tells him that she wants to take a picture of me holding her son. What?! I of course knod and take her son, smile, she excitedly takes a picture... unfortunatly I had just been taking video of everything so Raj didn't take a picture :-( booo but anyway this whole being a white girl thing in a foreign country is so bizarre to me! I see so many other white tourists around and have yet to see anyone running up to them to shake their hand or give them a hug or ask to take their picture... Lol who knows. So we continue to walk around, and just take everything in. Raj's family is of the Sikh religion so the experience was just that much cooler since he is also American (and the first one in his family to come to India!) and he is basically discovering his roots. He says he does the prayers at home with his family but it is much more westernized. We then headed over to the kitchen hall where they serve meals 24/7!! and for free!! (yet another clever way of staying on budget! while also taking in the whole experience). We sit down on the ground and get served Chai while waiting to be led into the hall. As we sit there this little girl runs up to me and shakes my hand, then asks me in Hindi what my name is, I respond (yay I'm learning!) then she proceeds to ask me all these other questions, which I'm then like "oh god too fast!" she basically wanted to learn all about me, where I'm from, if I'm married etc.... hahah then she brought over her 2 sisters and their grandma and were so excited to talk to us, then they asked if I had a camera because they wanted to take a picture, although it was on my camera so they wouldn't actually get it, but none the less they basically took my camera hostage for a good 10 minutes snapping away and were so intrigued by the fact that you could take a picture and then immediately see what it looked like. It was so adorable! and extremely amusing just watching them and how fascinated they were by it all. Finally we get led into the hall and again sit on the floor and then down the line they come with these huge buckets of food and drop it onto your plate... they absolutely have this whole operation down pat, a very well oiled machine they have going on there (this excited me greatly to see such a well put together operation). We ate our food, which was really quite good! then went on our way to go walk around a bit more and wait for it to get dark enough to see the Golden Temple all lit up at night time. Just sitting there and watching everyone walk around, praying etc... it truly was just such a fantastic sight to see. I just felt so honored to be able to be there witnessing this spiritual place with this amazing temple which really is like the most amazing work of art I have ever seen.
The next day we got up and made our way back to the temple but this time it was to go inside the actual temple. I was amazed at how quickly the line went, I think we were in line for maybe 30 minutes. We got inside and.... oh how I wish I could have been able to take pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am going to sound like a broken record here but.... oh my god!!!! I just... really like no words.... the intricate art work and detail of this inside of this temple was out of this freaking WORLD!!! I can't even explain it!! Everyone just needs to go take a trip and see this place! There were guru's in every corner of the temple sitting in front of this massive book which was like a bible but like 20 times the size of it, then there were a few guys who were playing the drums and one guy chanting... or praying... or maybe just singing... not sure what but it was in Punjabi and sounded beautiful. I'm also pretty sure that my mouth did not close the entire time I was in there, Lol I was just in pure amazement of the incredible detail of every single inch of the temple, not one space was left untouched. And also to think that this temple is... how old?? no really I actually never did find the answer to that.. but pretty sure its like super duper old and it is still in pristine condition!! whereas most old temples such as that are cracked, tarnished, rusted, mildewed and falling apart... but this one still looks brand new!
...... to be continued in part 2
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Chandni Chowk and more IVHQ headaches
So.... it has been a few days since I last wrote, and I am sure you are all wondering what in the world is going on!! Well to begin, I want to add in what I forgot to add in last blog entry. In my title I mentioned "Celebrity Status" and I totally forgot to mention that part!! It's rather amusing and quite flattering Lol, so while at the Taj Mahal groups of guys (and some girls) kept coming up to me as well as the group I was with and asking if they could take a picture with me or all of us. At one point, it literally was about every 5 or 10 minutes that they would come up to us, or if they weren't coming up to us they were standing near by staring and trying to work up the courage to ask us. It very much gave us all a glimpse into what it would be like to be a celebrity with paparazzi and fans following our every move.
Anyway, so moving onto the present time, so yesterday Alice, Sam and Nicola took off for Thailand to go and work at the volunteer project which Alice was previously working with before coming to India. It sounded like quite a neat program and is free! but I decided to stay here, plus couldnt afford another plane ticket. So it is now just Richard, Catalin, Raj, and I who are here. Raj and I braved the mass crowds at Chondni Chowk Market/Bazaar today, and were quite successful in barganing for various gifts to bring home :-) and no I am not saying what I got because then it wouldnt be a surprise!! Lol I actually bargained myself for one item and was quite proud of myself, the rest I left up to Raj since he speaks fluent Hindi (very very helpful!!) So then we came back to Jim's, I made dinner (well part of it, it was an addition to the many leftovers we had in the fridge). Then we checked our e-mails to see if there were perhaps any good news reply's from IVHQ about this whole mess of a situation. Wishful thinking....
In the past couple days emails have been flying back and forth between our whole group and IVHQ and it has turned into the biggest case of "nuh uhhhh!!! ya huh!!!!!". So not amusing, at all. Basically, they are saying they cannot refund our money because they have paid each of our programs in full.... well here's the thing. They also keep saying "if you would like to switch to another program we can certainly assist you with that." But wait... didn't you guys already pay our programs in full?? So, if you cant refund us our money because you have already paid them... then with what money exactly are you going to use to put us into a different program?? Also they told us that they don't like to give us our placements until we arrive so that they can meet us and figure out what the best placement will be.... ok well first of all, we didnt get our placements until like the day of our departure to them... plus! they never actually gave me an exact placement, it kept changing up until I made the executive decision to go with Nicola to her placement. So where exactly did my money go??
AHHHH!!!! This whole situation is so completely frustrating and agonizing. The responses that we keep getting back from IVHQ keep beating around the bush and dodging our points or questions. They keep telling us "well we like to always tell people that volunteering in New Delhi (which actually none of our placements were in New Delhi, in fact that were very far away from there) during the summertime is hard because of the heat and not having any A/C" ................ No one, not once, ever made any type of complaint regarding the heat or lack of A/C!! Who cares!! yes it is really really hot, but I have no qualms with taking 2 showers a day, in fact I rather enjoy taking a nice refreshing cold shower in the evening to cool off, its quite soothing. Yes it is uncomfortable at times, but that in no way has ever been an issue, I was quite aware of what I was coming into weather wise when I signed up. RAWR!! Ok, sorry guys, I am going to stop venting now, but I... well actually all of us just get so angry when we talk about this because we all feel like we were taken advantage of or have had the wool pullen over our eyes or something...
So, tomorrow I am making my many phone calls to the various organizations that Jim and his wife have graciously provided me with (total god sends they are!!!) and hopefully I'll be able to set up some lunch dates or something like that for next week. This weekend I am going with my new travel buddy Raj to Punjab to go see the Golden Temple. So excited!! I think we are going to end up staying at the Golden Temple (which is a Sikh temple) as all Sikh temples provide free food as well as free lodging! It will be quite an experience for sure! But I am excited, and have no idea what to expect. I will of course update when I get back since I highly doubt they have internet.
That's all for now, cross your fingers everyone for all of us that we get some type of supportive news or positive news from IVHQ. I am just hoping for some type of compromised resolution out of all of this.
Namaste
Anyway, so moving onto the present time, so yesterday Alice, Sam and Nicola took off for Thailand to go and work at the volunteer project which Alice was previously working with before coming to India. It sounded like quite a neat program and is free! but I decided to stay here, plus couldnt afford another plane ticket. So it is now just Richard, Catalin, Raj, and I who are here. Raj and I braved the mass crowds at Chondni Chowk Market/Bazaar today, and were quite successful in barganing for various gifts to bring home :-) and no I am not saying what I got because then it wouldnt be a surprise!! Lol I actually bargained myself for one item and was quite proud of myself, the rest I left up to Raj since he speaks fluent Hindi (very very helpful!!) So then we came back to Jim's, I made dinner (well part of it, it was an addition to the many leftovers we had in the fridge). Then we checked our e-mails to see if there were perhaps any good news reply's from IVHQ about this whole mess of a situation. Wishful thinking....
In the past couple days emails have been flying back and forth between our whole group and IVHQ and it has turned into the biggest case of "nuh uhhhh!!! ya huh!!!!!". So not amusing, at all. Basically, they are saying they cannot refund our money because they have paid each of our programs in full.... well here's the thing. They also keep saying "if you would like to switch to another program we can certainly assist you with that." But wait... didn't you guys already pay our programs in full?? So, if you cant refund us our money because you have already paid them... then with what money exactly are you going to use to put us into a different program?? Also they told us that they don't like to give us our placements until we arrive so that they can meet us and figure out what the best placement will be.... ok well first of all, we didnt get our placements until like the day of our departure to them... plus! they never actually gave me an exact placement, it kept changing up until I made the executive decision to go with Nicola to her placement. So where exactly did my money go??
AHHHH!!!! This whole situation is so completely frustrating and agonizing. The responses that we keep getting back from IVHQ keep beating around the bush and dodging our points or questions. They keep telling us "well we like to always tell people that volunteering in New Delhi (which actually none of our placements were in New Delhi, in fact that were very far away from there) during the summertime is hard because of the heat and not having any A/C" ................ No one, not once, ever made any type of complaint regarding the heat or lack of A/C!! Who cares!! yes it is really really hot, but I have no qualms with taking 2 showers a day, in fact I rather enjoy taking a nice refreshing cold shower in the evening to cool off, its quite soothing. Yes it is uncomfortable at times, but that in no way has ever been an issue, I was quite aware of what I was coming into weather wise when I signed up. RAWR!! Ok, sorry guys, I am going to stop venting now, but I... well actually all of us just get so angry when we talk about this because we all feel like we were taken advantage of or have had the wool pullen over our eyes or something...
So, tomorrow I am making my many phone calls to the various organizations that Jim and his wife have graciously provided me with (total god sends they are!!!) and hopefully I'll be able to set up some lunch dates or something like that for next week. This weekend I am going with my new travel buddy Raj to Punjab to go see the Golden Temple. So excited!! I think we are going to end up staying at the Golden Temple (which is a Sikh temple) as all Sikh temples provide free food as well as free lodging! It will be quite an experience for sure! But I am excited, and have no idea what to expect. I will of course update when I get back since I highly doubt they have internet.
That's all for now, cross your fingers everyone for all of us that we get some type of supportive news or positive news from IVHQ. I am just hoping for some type of compromised resolution out of all of this.
Namaste
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
The Taj Mahal, celebrity status then...... ohhh emmm geeee
To start off with, "ohh emm geee" for those of who aren't hip to the lingo is a spelled out version of "OMG" which stands for "oh my god". Ok, now that we are clear on that, onto the good stuff.
So here are some pictures of the Taj Mahal of course.
Sunday morning we all got up around 5:00am, got all of our stuff together and headed off to Agra to go and see the Taj Mahal. Most of us slept in the car or listened to music on our ipods.
Notice everyone wearing ipods... i thought it was kinda funny
We finally got to the Taj Mahal after about 4 hours, we had to get onto a battery powered bus and get taken closer to the Taj then walk the rest of the way. They are doing this now to try and lessen the amount of pollution around the the Taj to try and preserve the color. It apparently used to be a pure milky white color as opposed to now where it is a slightly yellow color from all of the polution. While its a great start, they have a long way to go before pollution is anywhere near eliminated in India. I'll talk more on that later. Anyway, so we walk towards the Taj and are again bombarded by street vendors trying to sell us snow globes with the Taj in them or picture books or this and that, all small trinkets which non of us had any interest in, but my god they are persistent!!!! I just kept looking forward and walking and not paying attention to them and eventually they lost interest. Then we walk into the first part, we get a little story from our guide then continue on. Oh also, Sunday was a big celebration so entrance was free (woohoo!!!) but that also meant that the entire world was there (booo). So there were musicians playing everywhere which sounded pretty cool and the actual tombs inside the Taj were open. We walked through the passage way and BOOM!! There was the Taj Mahal!! such an amazing and surreal sight. After all these years of seeing pictures, to actually be standing right there in front of it was just like.... WOW! No other words can really describe it.
Pretty amazing huh?!
So then we actually walked in and it was shear madness!!! but we managed to get a group shot then a couple of me
So here are some pictures of the Taj Mahal of course.So, now onto after we left.
We left Agra and headed back to where the program coordinators house was in Faridabad. We got there around 7pm then had to wait for our various taxi's to come pick us up to take us to our placement. I was supposed to go to an orphanage that was near a hospital where I'd be working with the children on health related issues. Sam and Alice's taxi (aka rickshaw) came and got them then it was Nicola and I left waiting for another 30 minutes. Then Nicola's taxi came, she got her stuff and headed out, as I was sitting there my stomach started doing flips and I started thinking in my head "oh my god, I can't do this! I can't go by myself into some place where I don't know anyone.... everyone is at least paired up with someone else from orientation week, Sam & Alice, Megan and Jeni, and Nicola is going to meet Richard..." So I jumped up and ran out of the door just in time to catch Nicola as she was about to leave, and I yelled out "ok wait! I'm coming with you!!" I grabbed my stuff and jumped in the taxi and felt remarcably better. We headed towards our placement in our little rickshaw, It took about 30 minutes to get there, as we went from paved streets to dirt roads to then feeling like we were suddenly on a motorcross sport course with bumps and divets in the road, getting bumped around all over the place. We finally arrived to our placement, in the middle of nowhere, in a place basically a step above being called the slums. Back home it would have been called the projects area. We walked in, there was a sweet looking family with 5 kids, and only 2 bedrooms, and there were already 3 other volunteers there, plus the two of us who just arrived.... can you do the math in this equation?? The bathroom.... well there was no toilet seat, just a toilet, no shower, just a spout and a bucket.... mind you we had also just spent all day in 105 degree weather in Agra, so my clothes were somewhat dry now from sweating through them and had, had high hopes for taking a shower once I got to what I was imagining would be like our orientation week house. From all of the wonderous information we had gotten about our "volunteer house". Oh the LIES IVHQ has told us. There was no volunteer house, instead it was a bunch of volunteers, in a "house" which had a family already living in it. The area around it was not what we might consider to be so safe. So, after trying to contain my freak out inside my head, along with the tears that wanted to come flooding out. We socialized a bit with the other volunteers. Finally Catalin, one of the volunteers who had been there for a week, said that he hated it there, he hadn't been out of the area for the whole week he was there and he had tried everything he could to leave. So I burst out, "oh thank god, thats exactly how I am feeling right now, I don't think I can stay here". So we talked a bit more, then finally headed off to "bed". When I say bed, really I mean a plank board with a sheet over it. Awful. I managed to finally fall asleep. Then at about 2am my phone kept ringing, finally after about the 7th time calling, I answered, it was Alice calling from her and Sam's placement. They were leaving their place in the morning, cuz their place was even worse. They were staying at an orphanage that was about 60 kilometeres away from Delhi, and absolutely nothing else near them. There was another volunteer who had been there for 8 days already who was so thankful to have other people there to help save him. The guy who ran the place walked around with a gun, and a chain of bullets around his chest, he also had a machine gun in his room. There were rats and mice all over the place along with slaves........... need I say more? So the next morning we arranged for a taxi to come pick up me, richard, nicola and catalin, Lauren was the only one who wanted to stay for some reason. I called Jim and told him what happened and asked if we could all come and congregate at his place till we figured out what to do. He of course said yes, so we all waited around until about 2pm when the taxi came to our rescue. Sam, Alice and Raj also got a taxi and went to the YMCA near by and then came over to Jim's to have a pow-wow. We all sat around and just talked about how crazy this all has been and how we need to contact IVHQ to get our money back. We all then decided to go get a drink to wipe off the stress, which actually turned more into hanging out in Richards lavish 5 star hotel room (ahh richard and his posh lifestyle living Lol) then later nicola and I headed back to Jim's house to crawl into our real beds and drift off to a real and comfortable sleep!!! I woke up this morning around 11 then nicola came blearly eyed out of her room around noon. We both definitely had the same expression on, which was that of an actual rested one.
So now.... I am going to contact another family friend who lives here who has done work with other charities and will know of some safe legit volunteer work that I can do for the remainder of my time here. For now I am going to be crashing here at Jim's house until I figure out what all is going on. But, just know, I am safe!! and I am so incredibly glad that I had my friends here with me and that we all went through that experience together and not alone. Another incredible life experience for the books for sure!
Hugs and Kisses everyone
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