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
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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
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