Its been a while since my last post (again). But this will be the last one for my time here in India. We've just spent 8 days on the beach in beautiful Goa. Just relaxing and taking in the sun, the food, the shoping, the people... The four of us have had a great time together and it was difficult to say good bye. However, we have many fond memories and pictures and email and facebook to keep us in touch.
I'm in Mumbai now. Sarah and I arrive two days ago and stayed with my boyfriend's brother, Kris, who lives and works here. Our first night he took us out on the town with his work buddies and we had goat brain masala off the street vendors carts (not bad actually). Sarah's midnight flight got cancelled and so she spent one more night with me before head to London today for an extended layover to visit with friends. This morning I went to Kris's church and had a good morning there. I left soon after it ended but was recognized by some of the members at the place I went to lunch (we ended up in the same area). So I got to spend the afternoon with about 12-15 other Indians and foreigners and had so much fun. We laughed the entire time! They were quite entertaining, goofy, and friendly. A much better way to spend the day than sitting in the apartment alone.
Tomorrow is for relaxing, packing and waiting for my midnight flight (hopfully not to be cancelled). I am ready to be home. Ready to see familiar faces, sleep in my own bed, take a hot shower and be allowed to put the toilet paper in the toilet. Thanks again to everybody who posted comments, emailed, or just thought of us while we were away. It means a lot. I'll be able to debrief more in person in a short time. See you all soon! (smile)
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Beach, boat, bananas, barganing, burglary, and... a fight
Hey there! Its been a long time since I've been able to get on the net for enough time to really do this blog some justice so I hope I will not forget anything too precious.
I left you in Varanasi which seems like forever ago to me now. We trained from Varanasi to Delhi and picked up an additional traveler, Tanja, from Denmark. Now we have been 4 girls wandering southern India for a week plus. We flew to Chennai and took a bus to Pondicherry, a sweet little French colonial oceanside city in the hot, hot south. But get this... we had AC in our room! Not something seen very often for a reasonable price. Highlight in Pondi: renting mopeds! We were four white girls riding motor scooters through Indian traffic and really not knowing what we were doing. If you have never been to a developing country to experience the traffic you can't justly imagine the kind of risk we put ourselves in (sorry parents). But it turned out fine! The only injuries were raw palms from twisting the accelerator and the bicycle Sarah mangled when she ran into it while leaving the gas station....
More trains... The next stop was Varkala. Another beautiful little town (truly little this time) atop oceanside cliffs on the south western edge of the country. Our pictures just can't do this place justice. The plan was to only stay one night but we decided we needed two because of peacefulness of this place. We shopped (of course), sat on the beach, found a couple places with cheap drinks and good food. We have truly hit the touristy section of the country because prices have increased on us. We had to pay $6 each per night for our hotel! (which was right on the promonade which looked over the cliffs into the sunset). Buying peanut butter costs more than that!
And then, Alleppey. The houseboat. The backwaters which are a series of thousands of miles of rivers that stretch across most of southwestern India. This place again can only be marginally appreciated by the photos we take. We rented a boat out of a picture book we saw in Varkala. The agency then picked us up from our Varkala hotel, took us to the train station with our prearranged tickets, picked us up in Alleppey and, almost directly (you can always count on being lost for at least a few minutes) put us onto a two bedroom, wood and thatched houseboat, with a lounging area in front, and three staff members who carried our bags, cooked our meals, and took care of any other needs or wants we had! Needless to say, we arranged for a second night (smile). We sat in the sun, read books, took naps, played cards, ate amazing food (their fruit is fantastic!), and watched a movie (because the boat also has a full entertainment system). The crew docked us for the night in a spot where we could swim. Now, I never had considered actually getting into a river in India. Partly due to the hygiene issues and partly because my mind runs crazy with nightmares on creatures in the water I can't see. But we jumped anyway and I'm so glad we did. The water was warm, like the swimming pool in Phoenix in summertime. The second day we played catch with
each other and the crew from the boat a foam ball I bought at shore. Climbing out the second day was a bit more of an issue. We had to swim through several feet of African Father (I think is what the guy called it), basically river foliage which was long and thick and slimy. I was in the middle of wading through it when Sarah hit the start of it. I've never seen her move that fast. If you could sprint through water this is what she did. Apparently grossed out by the slimy stuff (which is kinda gross), she near ran me over, grabbed the log that was to be our ladder and hauled herself onto it in about 3 seconds. It should have taken 60. She's a determined one!
As long as I'm discussing Sarah, she is not fond of crawly things either. She had one of the crew members search her room for a cockroach the first night and the next night our entire crew came running when she screamed after a gecko fell from the ceiling directly into the middle of our card deck. Both events were well worth laughing over. I have since been looking forward to more of them (smile).
We woke up for the sunrise on the boat. Thats all I need to say.
Our most recent travel has been from Alleppey to Kochi (which is just an in between city for us on our ways to the beaches in Goa). This was not our best day. We took a bus which we took too far and had to pay a taxi driver to backtrack us to the hotel. Someone stole Sarah's scarfs out of her bag while we were on the bus. Not cool. We arrived at the hotel I had just called to inquire about vacancy and were given a room which was too expensive and too small. Tanja was going to sleep on the floor because there were only three beds. Nothing else available or cheaper near by they said. So we dropped off our stuff, signed in, and went to find lunch. On our way we found another place significantly cheaper and still in the good part of Fort Kochi. I stayed there and had a lovely chat with the woman giving us new rooms while Tanja and Sarah went to arrange to move from the other hotel. 20 minutes later they came back very upset. The staff at the first hotel had been so angry that we were leaving that they yelled at the two girls and demanded to speak with me because I had made the booking. Long story short... Sarah, Ellen and I went back, took a verbal beating for about an hour, I broke down in frantic tears, and we paid them a large fee for the hour and a half that our bags were in their room. Lessons learned here: they weren't bad guys (the staff at the first place). They just didn't want to lose money, understandably, and didn't want to get in trouble with their boss, also understandable. A culture difference that went over the top, as I can count on one hand the number of times in my life when someone's words to me have made me cry in front of them. I felt bad because I knew we hadn't honored our commitment. They felt bad because they knew their words were too much (Sarah had begun to tear up and left before she fell apart). Culture: they had to prove a point; we wanted a settlement. They wanted to know why we weren't honoring our reservation; we wanted to save some money. By the end it was not about money for either party. With sincerity, they would not accept the fee we wanted to pay for using the room, but we gave it anyway. Everyone was apologizing to each other when we left, though still a little shaken from the experience. We would never have even asked to leave if we knew what upheaval it would bring. Lessons learned, cultures accepted.
So today is a new day. Tomorrow we fly to Goa and spend a good week with the beach. And hopefully it won't be so long before I send updates again. We only have two weeks left!
I left you in Varanasi which seems like forever ago to me now. We trained from Varanasi to Delhi and picked up an additional traveler, Tanja, from Denmark. Now we have been 4 girls wandering southern India for a week plus. We flew to Chennai and took a bus to Pondicherry, a sweet little French colonial oceanside city in the hot, hot south. But get this... we had AC in our room! Not something seen very often for a reasonable price. Highlight in Pondi: renting mopeds! We were four white girls riding motor scooters through Indian traffic and really not knowing what we were doing. If you have never been to a developing country to experience the traffic you can't justly imagine the kind of risk we put ourselves in (sorry parents). But it turned out fine! The only injuries were raw palms from twisting the accelerator and the bicycle Sarah mangled when she ran into it while leaving the gas station....
More trains... The next stop was Varkala. Another beautiful little town (truly little this time) atop oceanside cliffs on the south western edge of the country. Our pictures just can't do this place justice. The plan was to only stay one night but we decided we needed two because of peacefulness of this place. We shopped (of course), sat on the beach, found a couple places with cheap drinks and good food. We have truly hit the touristy section of the country because prices have increased on us. We had to pay $6 each per night for our hotel! (which was right on the promonade which looked over the cliffs into the sunset). Buying peanut butter costs more than that!
And then, Alleppey. The houseboat. The backwaters which are a series of thousands of miles of rivers that stretch across most of southwestern India. This place again can only be marginally appreciated by the photos we take. We rented a boat out of a picture book we saw in Varkala. The agency then picked us up from our Varkala hotel, took us to the train station with our prearranged tickets, picked us up in Alleppey and, almost directly (you can always count on being lost for at least a few minutes) put us onto a two bedroom, wood and thatched houseboat, with a lounging area in front, and three staff members who carried our bags, cooked our meals, and took care of any other needs or wants we had! Needless to say, we arranged for a second night (smile). We sat in the sun, read books, took naps, played cards, ate amazing food (their fruit is fantastic!), and watched a movie (because the boat also has a full entertainment system). The crew docked us for the night in a spot where we could swim. Now, I never had considered actually getting into a river in India. Partly due to the hygiene issues and partly because my mind runs crazy with nightmares on creatures in the water I can't see. But we jumped anyway and I'm so glad we did. The water was warm, like the swimming pool in Phoenix in summertime. The second day we played catch with
each other and the crew from the boat a foam ball I bought at shore. Climbing out the second day was a bit more of an issue. We had to swim through several feet of African Father (I think is what the guy called it), basically river foliage which was long and thick and slimy. I was in the middle of wading through it when Sarah hit the start of it. I've never seen her move that fast. If you could sprint through water this is what she did. Apparently grossed out by the slimy stuff (which is kinda gross), she near ran me over, grabbed the log that was to be our ladder and hauled herself onto it in about 3 seconds. It should have taken 60. She's a determined one!
As long as I'm discussing Sarah, she is not fond of crawly things either. She had one of the crew members search her room for a cockroach the first night and the next night our entire crew came running when she screamed after a gecko fell from the ceiling directly into the middle of our card deck. Both events were well worth laughing over. I have since been looking forward to more of them (smile).
We woke up for the sunrise on the boat. Thats all I need to say.
Our most recent travel has been from Alleppey to Kochi (which is just an in between city for us on our ways to the beaches in Goa). This was not our best day. We took a bus which we took too far and had to pay a taxi driver to backtrack us to the hotel. Someone stole Sarah's scarfs out of her bag while we were on the bus. Not cool. We arrived at the hotel I had just called to inquire about vacancy and were given a room which was too expensive and too small. Tanja was going to sleep on the floor because there were only three beds. Nothing else available or cheaper near by they said. So we dropped off our stuff, signed in, and went to find lunch. On our way we found another place significantly cheaper and still in the good part of Fort Kochi. I stayed there and had a lovely chat with the woman giving us new rooms while Tanja and Sarah went to arrange to move from the other hotel. 20 minutes later they came back very upset. The staff at the first hotel had been so angry that we were leaving that they yelled at the two girls and demanded to speak with me because I had made the booking. Long story short... Sarah, Ellen and I went back, took a verbal beating for about an hour, I broke down in frantic tears, and we paid them a large fee for the hour and a half that our bags were in their room. Lessons learned here: they weren't bad guys (the staff at the first place). They just didn't want to lose money, understandably, and didn't want to get in trouble with their boss, also understandable. A culture difference that went over the top, as I can count on one hand the number of times in my life when someone's words to me have made me cry in front of them. I felt bad because I knew we hadn't honored our commitment. They felt bad because they knew their words were too much (Sarah had begun to tear up and left before she fell apart). Culture: they had to prove a point; we wanted a settlement. They wanted to know why we weren't honoring our reservation; we wanted to save some money. By the end it was not about money for either party. With sincerity, they would not accept the fee we wanted to pay for using the room, but we gave it anyway. Everyone was apologizing to each other when we left, though still a little shaken from the experience. We would never have even asked to leave if we knew what upheaval it would bring. Lessons learned, cultures accepted.
So today is a new day. Tomorrow we fly to Goa and spend a good week with the beach. And hopefully it won't be so long before I send updates again. We only have two weeks left!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Thanks everyone!
Hi Friends! I just wanted to say a quick thank you to those who have been following with us and commenting on the blog. We both really enjoy it! I post 4 new ones just now so don't miss them. Love from India--- Nicole and Sarah
Varanasi
Varanasi is amazing. Our hotel is near the main burning ghat. We walked down to it today and watched the body cremations for about an hour. They have been cremating bodies at this place 24 hours a day for over 3500 years. There is a temple near by where a continuous fire has been burning for that long as well. It is incredible. There is a very lengthy ritual that goes in the purification process of each body. They are first washed at the home with 7 natural substances (everything from honey to lotus oil). Then the body is wrapped in colorful cloth and foil. Gold, orange, red, and decorated with flowers. Then the men in the family take the body down to the Ganges on a bamboo stretcher. The closest male relative has already shave his entire head and face (like in Namesake) and is wearing all white. The body is dipped in the river for the final bathing. Then the body is taken to a individual wooden alter and more spices are poured on top. Then the man who has shaved himself for the ceremony goes to the temple near by and return with a stack of hay with a not coal on top. He and other men walk circles around the body. When the hay catches fire the man embeds it underneath the wood pile. The purchase price for the wood is between 150 and 340 rupees per kilogram (approx. US $4-$9 per kilo), depending on the type of wood. A total of 250 kilograms of wood is needed to burn one body. The body burns for 2-3hours. Some people are not burned. Holy men are not burned because they are already pure. Children are not burned because they are innocent. Pregnant women are not burned because they represent the mother goddess and because of their innocent unborn child. Instead their bodies are purified and then tied to large stones and sunk in the river.
We stood at this ghat for long time. The air is smokey and you can imagine the smell. We were standing on a building above the ghat. Watching the whole process with extremely moving and emotional. This has been going on constantly for centuries. It is a normal everyday scene and yet the scaredness of the situation was profound. My eyes burned and watered, partly from the smoke constantly blowing in my face, partly from the intense emotions triggered by the scene. The details began to stepped out in front of me. The dozens of flower garlands floating in the river. The enormous piles of wood stacked all around and the many barges full of wood in the water. The beginning of a flame on the man in white's stack of kindle. The look on the man's face. And another man's. His bare feet. There are only men. The crashing of fire wood being tossed down from high stacks. The crackle of fire. The smell in the air. The ash blown onto my shirt.
This place, Varanasi, is intense, dirty, beautiful, sacred, other-worldly. I look at it and love it each time. I really do feel like I am finally here, in India. Getting on the train yesterday, getting into the auto rickshaw to the hostel, walking through the city's narrow alleys and then down the steps of the ghats. Now I feel here in my spirit and soul. It is incredible.
We stood at this ghat for long time. The air is smokey and you can imagine the smell. We were standing on a building above the ghat. Watching the whole process with extremely moving and emotional. This has been going on constantly for centuries. It is a normal everyday scene and yet the scaredness of the situation was profound. My eyes burned and watered, partly from the smoke constantly blowing in my face, partly from the intense emotions triggered by the scene. The details began to stepped out in front of me. The dozens of flower garlands floating in the river. The enormous piles of wood stacked all around and the many barges full of wood in the water. The beginning of a flame on the man in white's stack of kindle. The look on the man's face. And another man's. His bare feet. There are only men. The crashing of fire wood being tossed down from high stacks. The crackle of fire. The smell in the air. The ash blown onto my shirt.
This place, Varanasi, is intense, dirty, beautiful, sacred, other-worldly. I look at it and love it each time. I really do feel like I am finally here, in India. Getting on the train yesterday, getting into the auto rickshaw to the hostel, walking through the city's narrow alleys and then down the steps of the ghats. Now I feel here in my spirit and soul. It is incredible.
Last night in Faridabad and then trains, trains, and trains
On Sarah and I's last night in Faridabad (where we are volunteering) our host mom, Reena (who is 27) and her sister (23 years old) dressed up in Indian clothes. And I mean everything. The Indian suit, earrings, necklaces, heals, and bindis. They even gave each of us a set of wrist bangles that I will not be able to take off without breaking my wrist (but they are beautiful). We went out for a special dinner and then the 4 of us stayed up until 2am talking and finishing off a forty of scotch wiskey. So much fun!
The train ride to Varanasi was a great experience. We were fortunate to have plenty of space in our section. They bring chai and snacks down the isle about every 20-30 minutes. You can also open the train car doors and hang out the side (a bit of a risk when street poles are too close to the tracks--- just keep your eyes forward). And aside from the few dozen cockroaches which live in the walls, the squat toilets that are simply a hole which dumps onto the tracks below, 16 hour ride was delightful! (The roaches tend to keep to themselves and you get used to the toilets-- an sore thighs.... (smile)).
The train ride to Varanasi was a great experience. We were fortunate to have plenty of space in our section. They bring chai and snacks down the isle about every 20-30 minutes. You can also open the train car doors and hang out the side (a bit of a risk when street poles are too close to the tracks--- just keep your eyes forward). And aside from the few dozen cockroaches which live in the walls, the squat toilets that are simply a hole which dumps onto the tracks below, 16 hour ride was delightful! (The roaches tend to keep to themselves and you get used to the toilets-- an sore thighs.... (smile)).
Unclaimed
Over the weekend a baby was born prematurely and sent to Kalra Child Care Centre where we are volunteering. The baby is 27 weeks gestation and just over 1kg. He is breathing on his own with supportive oxygen but the doctors here say he will likely need ventilation eventually and likely experience other complications, of course. To disturb the situation further, he has been abandoned by his family. They gave him up because he is too small and they are unwilling/unable to pay for his care. They will give him to anyone. But there is no one. The little sweetheart probably will not survive. This is the hardest reality we have encountered so far on this trip. Abandoned human beings. And always for reasons outside of their own control. Deformity, insanity, helplessness, caste too low,..... I was never nieve to these realities. But touching Reality's small little hands and watching his rapid paradoxical breathing hits deep in the soul. Praying for Sovereign Kindness for this child.
Speaking of prayers (and answers). The baby in a previous entry is improving wonderfully and going home tomorrow (smile).
Speaking of prayers (and answers). The baby in a previous entry is improving wonderfully and going home tomorrow (smile).
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