so this is my last real day in india... tomorrow i'll be up up early to get a bus back to trivandrum and get myself to the airport. i fly from trivandrum to mumbai. then i'll spend the night at some airport hotel. and bright at early wednesday morning i'll begin my trek back to the US. i'm excited.
i had an ayurvedic oil massage today. it was quite nice and now i smell good. kind of like coconut or some sort of dessert. i couldn't get the woman to tell me what the scent of the oil was. she just kept saying it was ayurvedic oil. i finally got her to say that it was a blend of some kind.
had a minor annoyance with a money exchange man today. at the place i had been doing my e-mail everyday (until today - he pissed me off and lost my business). i knew that they had a not so good rate, because last night susie realized that she had no money and needed to exchange a tiny bit of cash. so i knew i would be getting 42 rupees to the dollar instead of the going rate of 44. he asked me how much i wanted to change, i said 20 dollars (some random cash i had left over from when i originally bought yen in detroit on the way to japan). so he had his little calculator and showed me that it would be 840 rupees. fine. so i hand him my cash, which happened to be 2 fives and 10 ones. then he's plucking away at his calculator again and he tells me i can get 820 for it. so i was a confused, i said 42 rupees, right? and he says there's a different rate for 1 dollar bills. well- i told him that was crap and give me back the ones. so he did, but then some jabbering ensued with the other guy in the shop, and he changed his mind. so i snapped at him and said fine, stop trying to rip me off. so it's really time for me to go, since i'm now yelling at people.
i'm feeling a little nervous about my re-entry into society. first of all the kind of reverse culture shock. and in a social sense, i feel like i've been gone for so long that people are just used to me not being around! so next time i speak/write to you i'll be back on american soil!
:)
Monday, June 14, 2004
Friday, June 11, 2004
the right hand as "the clean hand"
so i've had a terribly relaxing morning. slept until 7:30, stayed in bed until 9:30. haven't done any yoga - but i do plan to. i want to keep with my practice. in the past 2 weeks i've done about 18 yoga classes - an incredible record for me as far as exercise is concerned (well, since my ballet days). i'm feeling really strong now and pretty healthy despite my slide into eating bad foods again (had french fries and paneer masala last night, poached eggs on toast this morning).
so i have been trying to re-train my hands to use silverware once again. and the funny thing, you're only meant to use your right hand when eating. this is "the clean hand". you always give or take things with the right hand. the left hand is your toilet hand, and therefore unclean. but let's be honest.... i use my right hand....
anyhow. it's a sunny day here. we had rain last night, so it's a little muddy now. there's not much in the way of beaches... the water is very high right now. but i may go down later anyway and try to find some rocks to sit on. there are only a few shops and a few restaurants open now. we've got one restaurant which is going to make brownies at our request. v. exciting.
i did have a good time at the ashram, there were some very cool people there. and most of them had the same thoughts as me about the whole ashram experience. we liked the yoga, the controlled feedings had their benefit, but the chanting and lectures were bit much. on friday when susie and i left there were also 3 other people leaving. and many of the others were planning to leave the next day, since there would be only a few people left. (there was about 10 of us doing the yoga vacation)
so i'm de-compressing a little, relaxing my schedule and weaning myself back onto eating animal products. i think today i'll have a beer at dinner. and more french fries. :)
so i have been trying to re-train my hands to use silverware once again. and the funny thing, you're only meant to use your right hand when eating. this is "the clean hand". you always give or take things with the right hand. the left hand is your toilet hand, and therefore unclean. but let's be honest.... i use my right hand....
anyhow. it's a sunny day here. we had rain last night, so it's a little muddy now. there's not much in the way of beaches... the water is very high right now. but i may go down later anyway and try to find some rocks to sit on. there are only a few shops and a few restaurants open now. we've got one restaurant which is going to make brownies at our request. v. exciting.
i did have a good time at the ashram, there were some very cool people there. and most of them had the same thoughts as me about the whole ashram experience. we liked the yoga, the controlled feedings had their benefit, but the chanting and lectures were bit much. on friday when susie and i left there were also 3 other people leaving. and many of the others were planning to leave the next day, since there would be only a few people left. (there was about 10 of us doing the yoga vacation)
so i'm de-compressing a little, relaxing my schedule and weaning myself back onto eating animal products. i think today i'll have a beer at dinner. and more french fries. :)
elvis has left the building
and i have left the ashram. i was skipping most of the lectures, because they were so boring, and i skipped the satsang (meditation, chanting and "talk" - only the head chick talking) quite a few times... plus i was getting tired of the food.
so i'm at varkala beach now, staying at a fabulous cliff top hotel for 80 rupees a night. i'll write a little more tomorrow, right now there's the pressing matter of eating something fabulous tasting!
so i'm at varkala beach now, staying at a fabulous cliff top hotel for 80 rupees a night. i'll write a little more tomorrow, right now there's the pressing matter of eating something fabulous tasting!
Wednesday, June 02, 2004
i've been assaulted by a mango
seriously. i was on my way to the lecture and it just fell out of the tree and landed square on my right shoulder. hurt like hell. i screamed like a girl (but what did you expect). i'll probably have a bruise. my shoulder stands might suffer (and they have been fabulous lately).
so i've just waited 15 minutes to load this page and log in - so needless to say i probably won't be doing it again real soon. i actually wrote a really long post on monday, just before i came to the ashram, but when i tried to post it the browser crashed. i saved the text to a file and re-booted, i ran norton anti-virus (which found hundreds of infected files that it could not fix), i tried saving the text in an e-mail, but i couldn't send e-mail. suffice to say i'm a little fed up with computers right now. computers are stupid.
anyhow- i'm here, at the ashram. the first day i was feeling really lost and confused most of the time. today i'm just tired. it's pretty scheduled, we don't have much free time. which has it's good points and bad points... our daily schedule is generally:
5:30 wake up bell
6:00 satsang (group meditation, chanting, and talk)
7:30 tea
8:00 yoga class
10:00 lunch
11:00 karma yoga (ashram code for chores)
12:00 lecture
1:30 tea
2:00 coaching class (optional- if you're having trouble with a pose)
3:30 yoga class
6:00 dinner
8:00 satsang
10:30 lights out
so the early morning wasn't so bad the first day, but i'd had a good night's rest the night before. this morning i was quite tired. the satsang is an experience... probably my least favorite part of the whole thing. i have a lot of trouble with meditation. i like the idea of it, but mine is a mind that wanders... constantly, randomly, quickly. i tried just sitting there thinking (we meditate for 1/2 an hour) but that makes the time go slower, i think.
the chanting is kind of like singing in church. only i have no idea what the words are. there's lots of clapping and tambourines... classic new-agey stuff. then is a little talk from the head chick (i always think about "the leader" from the simpson's - look! another leader bean!) about whatever. sometimes interesting, sometimes she just rambles on and on.
the best part by far is the yoga class. it's challenging and interesting and we do the class near this beautiful lake. i'm feeling a little sore, but in a good way. we're starting kind of slow, and adding new poses everyday.
though we only eat 2 times a day there is loads of food - they come around like 5 times to see if you want more of this or that (the food is all vegetarian and mysterious - i mostly don't know what things are - but it usually tastes good). and so i eat plenty at every meal (with only my bare hand, i'll have lost all table manners by the time i come home). but i am still hungry later... i think i require more frequent feedings. i'll manage, i'm sure.
the lecture is just more of the "leader bean" talking about random things. i spend most of the time trying to be comfortable sitting on a stone floor. the karma yoga is no big deal. so far i've had to sweep the meditation room and clean the toilets.
so really, i like the yoga. the rest is bit too new age for me. i read that there would be an ayervedic doctor here, but apparently not at this time (it is low season). however, they have a library here. so i'm reading some books about ayerveda and yoga.
well, i've got another hour before yoga, and have barely had time to write in my journal, we are very busy mostly and the "leader bean" is long winded and often runs over. tonight we are going to some sort of local festival in the town, should be interesting. i may post again before i leave, but definitely not this week.
om...
so i've just waited 15 minutes to load this page and log in - so needless to say i probably won't be doing it again real soon. i actually wrote a really long post on monday, just before i came to the ashram, but when i tried to post it the browser crashed. i saved the text to a file and re-booted, i ran norton anti-virus (which found hundreds of infected files that it could not fix), i tried saving the text in an e-mail, but i couldn't send e-mail. suffice to say i'm a little fed up with computers right now. computers are stupid.
anyhow- i'm here, at the ashram. the first day i was feeling really lost and confused most of the time. today i'm just tired. it's pretty scheduled, we don't have much free time. which has it's good points and bad points... our daily schedule is generally:
5:30 wake up bell
6:00 satsang (group meditation, chanting, and talk)
7:30 tea
8:00 yoga class
10:00 lunch
11:00 karma yoga (ashram code for chores)
12:00 lecture
1:30 tea
2:00 coaching class (optional- if you're having trouble with a pose)
3:30 yoga class
6:00 dinner
8:00 satsang
10:30 lights out
so the early morning wasn't so bad the first day, but i'd had a good night's rest the night before. this morning i was quite tired. the satsang is an experience... probably my least favorite part of the whole thing. i have a lot of trouble with meditation. i like the idea of it, but mine is a mind that wanders... constantly, randomly, quickly. i tried just sitting there thinking (we meditate for 1/2 an hour) but that makes the time go slower, i think.
the chanting is kind of like singing in church. only i have no idea what the words are. there's lots of clapping and tambourines... classic new-agey stuff. then is a little talk from the head chick (i always think about "the leader" from the simpson's - look! another leader bean!) about whatever. sometimes interesting, sometimes she just rambles on and on.
the best part by far is the yoga class. it's challenging and interesting and we do the class near this beautiful lake. i'm feeling a little sore, but in a good way. we're starting kind of slow, and adding new poses everyday.
though we only eat 2 times a day there is loads of food - they come around like 5 times to see if you want more of this or that (the food is all vegetarian and mysterious - i mostly don't know what things are - but it usually tastes good). and so i eat plenty at every meal (with only my bare hand, i'll have lost all table manners by the time i come home). but i am still hungry later... i think i require more frequent feedings. i'll manage, i'm sure.
the lecture is just more of the "leader bean" talking about random things. i spend most of the time trying to be comfortable sitting on a stone floor. the karma yoga is no big deal. so far i've had to sweep the meditation room and clean the toilets.
so really, i like the yoga. the rest is bit too new age for me. i read that there would be an ayervedic doctor here, but apparently not at this time (it is low season). however, they have a library here. so i'm reading some books about ayerveda and yoga.
well, i've got another hour before yoga, and have barely had time to write in my journal, we are very busy mostly and the "leader bean" is long winded and often runs over. tonight we are going to some sort of local festival in the town, should be interesting. i may post again before i leave, but definitely not this week.
om...
Saturday, May 29, 2004
lane driving is sane driving
so i went to meet the old english chicks at the travel agent place to book the elephant thingy and to ask some questions about the backwater cruise i want to do tomorrow. but they didn't show, so i ran off to pick up my sari - which is super cool, by the way - and waited for them again. *still* they didn't show. but the guy told me there was also 3 young english chicks who were going to do the elephant thing and i could share a car with them (basically what you pay for is a car with a driver to take you to this place).
while sitting and waiting at the travel agent i ran into a canadian guy i had met the day before. he told me he was off to see the kathakali dance performance tonight, so we agreed to go together. well the old chicks never showed, so i told the guy i would stop by after the performance or he could leave a message for me at my hotel.
so brook (the canadian guy) and i went to the show. it was quite groovy. they talked to us about the make-up and the costumes and what the colors signify. then they showed us some of the mudras or hand/face/body gestures that are used in kathakali. then they performed a scene from one full length play (the full length jobby is performed on holidays and lasts for about 8 hours). very cool.
after the show brook wanted to eat and i can always eat something. so we ate at this place near the water. i had a cheese and tomato sandwich. we shared a "special tea". very amusing thing about cochin - many places don't have a lisence to serve beer, but they sometimes will. so last night the guy brought us out some coffee mugs and a tea pot filled with beer. on our bill it said "special tea".
when i got back to the guesthouse the guy there told me the elephant thing was canceled. which i was quite sad about, i had really gotten quite excited about it. so brook and i sat and chatted a bit since i no longer had to be up at 5:45am. then the phone rang and it was for me (i was so confused). it was the travel guy. he said i could go with the young english chicks for the elephant thing. i would be picked up outside my guesthouse at 6:30am. so i was off to bed.
very early this morning i got up, got dressed, and sat outside to wait for my car to arrive. i got in and introduced myself to the girls (cat, hannah, and liz, though i don't think i could tell you which one was which) and we mostly spaced out on the way there. far too early for chat.
a bit of an eventful drive. we nearly killed a man.... we were driving on a divided highway with a median in the center. there were buses stopped on both sides of our side of the road (which in itself seems wrong) so our driver goes plowing through the middle of the buses - and surely hit, but i don't think injured, a man stepping off one of the buses. we didn't stop, he touched the crucifix on his dash and kept going.
the next horrible thing we didn't witness, only saw the aftermath. there was a dog in the middle of the road that looked as though it's head had been run over. and another dog that looked like it might have had it's leg broken. it was so awful. but no one seemed to care.
anyhow. we arrived and they brought the elephants down to the river. 3 big ones and a baby one. so after they all took giant dumps in the water and lay down we started to wash them. basically you just kind of get them wet and scrub with part of a coconut shell. mostly we took a lot of pictures, but i did manage to work up a sweat. but of course we were fully clothed, the elephant guys were wearing their breifs with their little tea towels wrapped around their waists.
after the washing we went for a ride. this was a little more "au naturel" than i expected. there was, thankfully, a big staircase to mount the beast (the guys just made the elephants bend a leg so they could climb up). but there was no saddle or what-have-you. we basically just sat with our legs around the elephants neck, nothing really to hold on to. i couldn't help thinking there is no way this would ever be allowed in america - someone would fall off and sue.
nearly fell asleep on the ride back to cochin... nearly, because we often slammed on the breaks and beeped at other drivers. oh yes - there are some amusing signs posted along the state highway here in cochin, some of which i copied into my little notebook:
lane driving is sane driving
hurry causes worry
dim and bright: do it right
follow line discipline
rash causes crash (or it might have been "rush")
don't zig zag
anyway, this is a super long post today. tomorrow i'm leaving cochin and hopefully doing an all day backwater cruise. so my next post may not be until monday, just before i head to the ashram.
namaste!
while sitting and waiting at the travel agent i ran into a canadian guy i had met the day before. he told me he was off to see the kathakali dance performance tonight, so we agreed to go together. well the old chicks never showed, so i told the guy i would stop by after the performance or he could leave a message for me at my hotel.
so brook (the canadian guy) and i went to the show. it was quite groovy. they talked to us about the make-up and the costumes and what the colors signify. then they showed us some of the mudras or hand/face/body gestures that are used in kathakali. then they performed a scene from one full length play (the full length jobby is performed on holidays and lasts for about 8 hours). very cool.
after the show brook wanted to eat and i can always eat something. so we ate at this place near the water. i had a cheese and tomato sandwich. we shared a "special tea". very amusing thing about cochin - many places don't have a lisence to serve beer, but they sometimes will. so last night the guy brought us out some coffee mugs and a tea pot filled with beer. on our bill it said "special tea".
when i got back to the guesthouse the guy there told me the elephant thing was canceled. which i was quite sad about, i had really gotten quite excited about it. so brook and i sat and chatted a bit since i no longer had to be up at 5:45am. then the phone rang and it was for me (i was so confused). it was the travel guy. he said i could go with the young english chicks for the elephant thing. i would be picked up outside my guesthouse at 6:30am. so i was off to bed.
very early this morning i got up, got dressed, and sat outside to wait for my car to arrive. i got in and introduced myself to the girls (cat, hannah, and liz, though i don't think i could tell you which one was which) and we mostly spaced out on the way there. far too early for chat.
a bit of an eventful drive. we nearly killed a man.... we were driving on a divided highway with a median in the center. there were buses stopped on both sides of our side of the road (which in itself seems wrong) so our driver goes plowing through the middle of the buses - and surely hit, but i don't think injured, a man stepping off one of the buses. we didn't stop, he touched the crucifix on his dash and kept going.
the next horrible thing we didn't witness, only saw the aftermath. there was a dog in the middle of the road that looked as though it's head had been run over. and another dog that looked like it might have had it's leg broken. it was so awful. but no one seemed to care.
anyhow. we arrived and they brought the elephants down to the river. 3 big ones and a baby one. so after they all took giant dumps in the water and lay down we started to wash them. basically you just kind of get them wet and scrub with part of a coconut shell. mostly we took a lot of pictures, but i did manage to work up a sweat. but of course we were fully clothed, the elephant guys were wearing their breifs with their little tea towels wrapped around their waists.
after the washing we went for a ride. this was a little more "au naturel" than i expected. there was, thankfully, a big staircase to mount the beast (the guys just made the elephants bend a leg so they could climb up). but there was no saddle or what-have-you. we basically just sat with our legs around the elephants neck, nothing really to hold on to. i couldn't help thinking there is no way this would ever be allowed in america - someone would fall off and sue.
nearly fell asleep on the ride back to cochin... nearly, because we often slammed on the breaks and beeped at other drivers. oh yes - there are some amusing signs posted along the state highway here in cochin, some of which i copied into my little notebook:
lane driving is sane driving
hurry causes worry
dim and bright: do it right
follow line discipline
rash causes crash (or it might have been "rush")
don't zig zag
anyway, this is a super long post today. tomorrow i'm leaving cochin and hopefully doing an all day backwater cruise. so my next post may not be until monday, just before i head to the ashram.
namaste!
Friday, May 28, 2004
i'm sari i didn't write sooner...
so a pretty action packed day today. met the old english girls for breakfast again. two of them wanted to do this elephant thing tomorrow, and i've agreed to go with them. from what i understand we go in the morning and we get to play with some baby elephants, wash and feed them, then go for an actual elephant ride. sounds pretty groovy, i'm pretty excited. so i'm meeting them in a couple hours to actually book it.
after breakfast i went to a shop to look at saris. and i found a shop with a woman salesclerk (buying a sari from a man just seems wrong - what does he know? and i'm not having some random indian guy show me how to put it on) *and* the most lovely sari i've seen so far. it's - can you guess? - blue. silk. so beautiful. i'm very happy. but i needed to get an underskirt (this is essential to the sari staying put - it's basically just a cotton skirt with a tie waist) and a short blouse. so the woman from the shop actually took me to the bazaar and helped me get both things for good prices. so all together i paid about $43 for my sari. which sounds exhorbinant when you think about most hotels cost about $5 a night, but as far as beautiful clothes go, pretty good.
so my blouse is being made, and i'll go back to the shop around 5 and the lovely saleslady will help me put it on. then i'm going to see a kathakali dance performance, all glammed up indian style. so pretty exciting day for me. and best of all i have a pile of clean, laundered clothes in my room. :)
after breakfast i went to a shop to look at saris. and i found a shop with a woman salesclerk (buying a sari from a man just seems wrong - what does he know? and i'm not having some random indian guy show me how to put it on) *and* the most lovely sari i've seen so far. it's - can you guess? - blue. silk. so beautiful. i'm very happy. but i needed to get an underskirt (this is essential to the sari staying put - it's basically just a cotton skirt with a tie waist) and a short blouse. so the woman from the shop actually took me to the bazaar and helped me get both things for good prices. so all together i paid about $43 for my sari. which sounds exhorbinant when you think about most hotels cost about $5 a night, but as far as beautiful clothes go, pretty good.
so my blouse is being made, and i'll go back to the shop around 5 and the lovely saleslady will help me put it on. then i'm going to see a kathakali dance performance, all glammed up indian style. so pretty exciting day for me. and best of all i have a pile of clean, laundered clothes in my room. :)
Thursday, May 27, 2004
the clever ann is on a chai break....
not feeling terribly clever today.... had thought of an amusing subject for todays post before i left the guest house, but now it's gone... anyhow.
went for dinner last night at this rooftop restaurant, which amusingly enough was a french and indian type place. so i had gratin de pommes de terre (it really said this on the menu) and a green salad (which turned out to be a plate of tomato, cucumber and red onion slices, not really a "salad" salad, but whatever). also an indian guy who was with this english chick that i chatted to a little bit spoke to me in french. it took me a minute to realize why i wasn't sure what he said... but then i was actually able to reply in french once i figured it out.
back at the guesthouse i sat around with these 3 irish cats - maeve, babo, and lolly. they were quite amusing and had some interesting stories about their travels, sneaking eggs into some muslim run hotel in rajastan, going to sketchy hospitals for heat stroke and vaccinations... much better than the book i'm reading at the moment (called "random winds", i found it in my hotel in mysore and needed a book...). we went out for food - they hadn't eaten. i, of course can always eat, so i had a chai and some fries.
this morning i met up with the english chick i met at dinner last night for breakfast with these 2 other chicks. older ladies, v. amusing, going on and on about sexy footballers... one of them told me about this woman above her guesthouse who gives cooking lessons. so that could be fun.
i've no big plans for today.... in fact i'm kind of taking my time at the internet cafe today, for 40 rupees an hour, it's quite cheap entertainment. OH! i've remembered my amusing subject:
"haven't you got anything smaller?"
one of the hassles about buying anything here is the money. no one ever seems to have change for anything. if you don't have exact change, they're a little put out. and the thing is it's not huge amounts we want in change. so for example yesterday at this very internet cafe i spent a half an hour here, so i owed only 20 rupees. well, i only had a 100 note, so i used that. and of course i got "do you have change?" and i did, but i lied and said no because if i spend all my change then i don't have change and certain types of places such as internet cafes and flipping restaurants should be able to give out a little bit of change. to put it in perspective, my example is like buying a candy bar with a $5 bill. (though even that's exaggerating a bit - 100 rupees is about $2.50)
so major relaxation today, in fact all days from here on out. lots of reading, web surfing, and eating.
went for dinner last night at this rooftop restaurant, which amusingly enough was a french and indian type place. so i had gratin de pommes de terre (it really said this on the menu) and a green salad (which turned out to be a plate of tomato, cucumber and red onion slices, not really a "salad" salad, but whatever). also an indian guy who was with this english chick that i chatted to a little bit spoke to me in french. it took me a minute to realize why i wasn't sure what he said... but then i was actually able to reply in french once i figured it out.
back at the guesthouse i sat around with these 3 irish cats - maeve, babo, and lolly. they were quite amusing and had some interesting stories about their travels, sneaking eggs into some muslim run hotel in rajastan, going to sketchy hospitals for heat stroke and vaccinations... much better than the book i'm reading at the moment (called "random winds", i found it in my hotel in mysore and needed a book...). we went out for food - they hadn't eaten. i, of course can always eat, so i had a chai and some fries.
this morning i met up with the english chick i met at dinner last night for breakfast with these 2 other chicks. older ladies, v. amusing, going on and on about sexy footballers... one of them told me about this woman above her guesthouse who gives cooking lessons. so that could be fun.
i've no big plans for today.... in fact i'm kind of taking my time at the internet cafe today, for 40 rupees an hour, it's quite cheap entertainment. OH! i've remembered my amusing subject:
"haven't you got anything smaller?"
one of the hassles about buying anything here is the money. no one ever seems to have change for anything. if you don't have exact change, they're a little put out. and the thing is it's not huge amounts we want in change. so for example yesterday at this very internet cafe i spent a half an hour here, so i owed only 20 rupees. well, i only had a 100 note, so i used that. and of course i got "do you have change?" and i did, but i lied and said no because if i spend all my change then i don't have change and certain types of places such as internet cafes and flipping restaurants should be able to give out a little bit of change. to put it in perspective, my example is like buying a candy bar with a $5 bill. (though even that's exaggerating a bit - 100 rupees is about $2.50)
so major relaxation today, in fact all days from here on out. lots of reading, web surfing, and eating.
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
hooray for hassle-free!
so yesterday was quite a long day of travel for me. i took a train from mysore to bangalore - 3 hours. then arsed about at the bangalore train station for about 2 hours. and i was only hassled by beggars, not sleazy men, not annoying kids, it was quite refreshing. then my train journey. i was happy to see there was a list posted outside the train car with the names of people with reservations, so there was no confusion this time on which bunk was whose. and through the whole journey no one hassled me. i could barely believe it!
but now i'm done with long, uncomfortable (well, not compared to a bus - that is the ultimate in discomfort) train rides. from here on out my train journeys will all be under 2 hours. then of course is that fabulous 18 hour flight on june 16...
so today i arrived in cochin, and managed to get to the jet airways office to book my flight back to mumbai (with some trouble, the rickshaw driver was a little lost - luckily it was a set rate based on my destination, not how long/far it was). money well spent, i think, when you compare to the agony of a 48 hour train ride from the ashram back to mumbai.
so i'm settling in here, figuring things out, finding places to eat, and internet cafes to surf at. (this is the second one, the first one with the appealing "broadband" sign out front was having some difficulty).
so no big plans for my time here in cochin. some wandering. will probably go see a kathakali dance performance (this is traditional keralan dance). some shopping. and chill. :)
but now i'm done with long, uncomfortable (well, not compared to a bus - that is the ultimate in discomfort) train rides. from here on out my train journeys will all be under 2 hours. then of course is that fabulous 18 hour flight on june 16...
so today i arrived in cochin, and managed to get to the jet airways office to book my flight back to mumbai (with some trouble, the rickshaw driver was a little lost - luckily it was a set rate based on my destination, not how long/far it was). money well spent, i think, when you compare to the agony of a 48 hour train ride from the ashram back to mumbai.
so i'm settling in here, figuring things out, finding places to eat, and internet cafes to surf at. (this is the second one, the first one with the appealing "broadband" sign out front was having some difficulty).
so no big plans for my time here in cochin. some wandering. will probably go see a kathakali dance performance (this is traditional keralan dance). some shopping. and chill. :)
Monday, May 24, 2004
clean cup, clean cup, move down, move down...
had two quite interesting experiences yesterday that i think illustrate the india experience rather well... one amusing and one annoying.
so amusing first. i went to the train station to make a reservation for my train tonight. first i went to the inquiry desk, to find out what train i actually wanted because in order to get a train ticket reservation you must fill out a form. so once i had figured that out i went into the actual reservation room. there are always loads of signs about queuing (only it usually just says "Q") - a throw back from the days of british rule, i imagine. and there are benches, which have numbers painted on the backrest. people are sitting in the first 2 rows. then in the third row is one guy sitting way down at one end and a woman sitting at the other end. so i sit behind the woman, in the seat with the number after hers, and wait. then a man from one of the first 2 rows indicates to me that i should be sitting in next to the man and the far end. so i check with the woman and she is not actually in the Q. so i slide in. and people are being helped at the windows. and as people leave the man is making sure that we are all moving forward to the next number seat everytime someone goes to the window. and all i can think about through all this is the mad hatter's tea party....
so the annoying experience (and this is by no means the only one i had yesterday, my days are filled with them). i went to the maharaja's palace. i bought my ticket and went in through the outer gates. to my right i see a place to deposit your camera. and i'm thinking to myself 'why on earth would i want to deposit my camera?'. and i wander the grounds a little bit. take some photos. then i head for the entrance to the actual palace. just before the entrance there was a shoe check counter. so i take off my flip flops and pay my 50 paise to have them kept behind the counter while i go into the palace. not so surprising, india is a very shoes optional kind of place. at the entrance to the palace is a metal detector and some security guys. so i walk through and they look in my bag and tell me no cameras. i must put it in the camera depository. so i trudge back to the entrance - barefoot - to check in my camera for another 5 rupees (why they don't have some sort of sign to the effect of "if you're going in the palace, you must check your camera" i'll never understand). so back to the entrance of the palace, feet thoroughly filthy at this point, and the security guard now wants to see my key from the camera check - because i'm probably lying and just tucked the camera deeper in my bag....
anyway. the palace was really quite cool. beautiful stained glass, great tiles on the floor, intricately carved wood and silver doors, and many portraits of indian royalty. i wander through and am only harassed a couple of times. once i'm back outside the palace i'm ushered towards a museum, which my book describes as "disappointing". but i thought it was included in the ticket, so off i went. but no. so i started looking for the shoe check counter. i wandered, and wandered. found some elephants and camels wandering in a bit of the gardens.... and eventually found my shoes. and then i went to retreive my camera.
i wanted to take a few more pictures, so i went around to the front of the palace. the sky was starting to get dark and then it began to rain. i took cover under part of the palace where i imagine that the maharaja might sit to address the people. and many other people are taking cover there as well. i sit myself near a family (always a better chance i won't get harassed) and begin to write in my journal. so i can see this kid out of the corner of my eye, standing about 5 feet from me and just watching. i was still wearing my hat, which limits eye contact, and therefore unwanted conversation. but i can see this boy moving closer. and soon he is standing right next to me while i scribble madly in my journal, hoping to be left alone. eventually i let him ask me the usual questions (what's your name? what is your country?) and i continue writing. then he's got a small gang of his friends/siblings/whatever standing next to me. one girl asks me what i'm writing and i explain what a journal is. she starts to read over my shoulder and then i have to explain it's private.
a series of creepy men also came and sat beside me (have never been so happy to have my hat on, pulled down low). after i'd written all that i possibly could in my journal and it was still raining i pulled out my guidebook and began reading through that. i had one obnoxious guy who was reading over my shoulder, shouting out phrases from what i was reading. "chinese fishing nets" "kathakali dance". very annoying. eventually the rain stopped and i was able to escape.
i think the most annoying thing about india is all the hassle. i just can't understand... i mean, i know maybe a lot of indians have never seen a white person, and it's quite interesting, and maybe they want to have a bit of a stare. sure, whatever, the japanese are quite fascinated as well. but surely there are americans who have never seen an indian person, and if they saw one in their town they might stare a bit. but i just can't imagine them reading over this persons shoulder, crowding around them, asking to take a photo of them. i'm really at a loss to describe the behavior here.
anyway. so i've got to get a train to bangalore now where i'll change trains and attempt sleep on a train bunk en route to cochin.
so amusing first. i went to the train station to make a reservation for my train tonight. first i went to the inquiry desk, to find out what train i actually wanted because in order to get a train ticket reservation you must fill out a form. so once i had figured that out i went into the actual reservation room. there are always loads of signs about queuing (only it usually just says "Q") - a throw back from the days of british rule, i imagine. and there are benches, which have numbers painted on the backrest. people are sitting in the first 2 rows. then in the third row is one guy sitting way down at one end and a woman sitting at the other end. so i sit behind the woman, in the seat with the number after hers, and wait. then a man from one of the first 2 rows indicates to me that i should be sitting in next to the man and the far end. so i check with the woman and she is not actually in the Q. so i slide in. and people are being helped at the windows. and as people leave the man is making sure that we are all moving forward to the next number seat everytime someone goes to the window. and all i can think about through all this is the mad hatter's tea party....
so the annoying experience (and this is by no means the only one i had yesterday, my days are filled with them). i went to the maharaja's palace. i bought my ticket and went in through the outer gates. to my right i see a place to deposit your camera. and i'm thinking to myself 'why on earth would i want to deposit my camera?'. and i wander the grounds a little bit. take some photos. then i head for the entrance to the actual palace. just before the entrance there was a shoe check counter. so i take off my flip flops and pay my 50 paise to have them kept behind the counter while i go into the palace. not so surprising, india is a very shoes optional kind of place. at the entrance to the palace is a metal detector and some security guys. so i walk through and they look in my bag and tell me no cameras. i must put it in the camera depository. so i trudge back to the entrance - barefoot - to check in my camera for another 5 rupees (why they don't have some sort of sign to the effect of "if you're going in the palace, you must check your camera" i'll never understand). so back to the entrance of the palace, feet thoroughly filthy at this point, and the security guard now wants to see my key from the camera check - because i'm probably lying and just tucked the camera deeper in my bag....
anyway. the palace was really quite cool. beautiful stained glass, great tiles on the floor, intricately carved wood and silver doors, and many portraits of indian royalty. i wander through and am only harassed a couple of times. once i'm back outside the palace i'm ushered towards a museum, which my book describes as "disappointing". but i thought it was included in the ticket, so off i went. but no. so i started looking for the shoe check counter. i wandered, and wandered. found some elephants and camels wandering in a bit of the gardens.... and eventually found my shoes. and then i went to retreive my camera.
i wanted to take a few more pictures, so i went around to the front of the palace. the sky was starting to get dark and then it began to rain. i took cover under part of the palace where i imagine that the maharaja might sit to address the people. and many other people are taking cover there as well. i sit myself near a family (always a better chance i won't get harassed) and begin to write in my journal. so i can see this kid out of the corner of my eye, standing about 5 feet from me and just watching. i was still wearing my hat, which limits eye contact, and therefore unwanted conversation. but i can see this boy moving closer. and soon he is standing right next to me while i scribble madly in my journal, hoping to be left alone. eventually i let him ask me the usual questions (what's your name? what is your country?) and i continue writing. then he's got a small gang of his friends/siblings/whatever standing next to me. one girl asks me what i'm writing and i explain what a journal is. she starts to read over my shoulder and then i have to explain it's private.
a series of creepy men also came and sat beside me (have never been so happy to have my hat on, pulled down low). after i'd written all that i possibly could in my journal and it was still raining i pulled out my guidebook and began reading through that. i had one obnoxious guy who was reading over my shoulder, shouting out phrases from what i was reading. "chinese fishing nets" "kathakali dance". very annoying. eventually the rain stopped and i was able to escape.
i think the most annoying thing about india is all the hassle. i just can't understand... i mean, i know maybe a lot of indians have never seen a white person, and it's quite interesting, and maybe they want to have a bit of a stare. sure, whatever, the japanese are quite fascinated as well. but surely there are americans who have never seen an indian person, and if they saw one in their town they might stare a bit. but i just can't imagine them reading over this persons shoulder, crowding around them, asking to take a photo of them. i'm really at a loss to describe the behavior here.
anyway. so i've got to get a train to bangalore now where i'll change trains and attempt sleep on a train bunk en route to cochin.
Sunday, May 23, 2004
flip flops: *the* mode of transport
so my birthday dinner turned out to be much better than my birthday lunch. the hotel where i'm staying has a restaurant downstairs. it's an open air place (most restaurants in india are) with a vine canopy covering the entire place. so in the evening it's dark and candle-lit. also they have live music in the evenings.
so i went down and took a table. and since it was my birthday and i was alone i decided to splurge a bit. for a starter i had french fries. and they actually had *real* ketchup! (it's very common for them to give a immitation ketchup that is perhaps more similar to chinese duck sauce than to true ketchup) i had a beer. i ordered my dinner - palak paneer and garlic naan - and a pack of cigarettes (marlboro lights which cost me 45 rupees - that's about $1 folks) just as the band started to play.
the band consisted of 3 guys, one with some little bongo-style drums, one with itty-bitty guitar, and one with some sort of flat looking thing that i couldn't quite figure out. they played sort of traditional indian sounding music which was very groovy. so they played and i ate. and i had another beer and they played more. all in all this meal cost me (including the cigarettes and a bottle of water to take up to my room) 300 rupees.
so then i went back up to my room to read and was pleased that i could still hear the band since my room is right above the restaurant. when the band stopped they started to play U2's pop album - from the beginning - and i nearly died! it was like the knew it was my birthday! however, they stopped about 3 songs in and put something else on.
so today my plans are to sort out a train to cochin for tomorrow (mysore is much like every other city i've seen so far...), see the maharaja's palace and buy a sari. i think i'll definitely be eating at the hotel restaurant again tonight.
so i went down and took a table. and since it was my birthday and i was alone i decided to splurge a bit. for a starter i had french fries. and they actually had *real* ketchup! (it's very common for them to give a immitation ketchup that is perhaps more similar to chinese duck sauce than to true ketchup) i had a beer. i ordered my dinner - palak paneer and garlic naan - and a pack of cigarettes (marlboro lights which cost me 45 rupees - that's about $1 folks) just as the band started to play.
the band consisted of 3 guys, one with some little bongo-style drums, one with itty-bitty guitar, and one with some sort of flat looking thing that i couldn't quite figure out. they played sort of traditional indian sounding music which was very groovy. so they played and i ate. and i had another beer and they played more. all in all this meal cost me (including the cigarettes and a bottle of water to take up to my room) 300 rupees.
so then i went back up to my room to read and was pleased that i could still hear the band since my room is right above the restaurant. when the band stopped they started to play U2's pop album - from the beginning - and i nearly died! it was like the knew it was my birthday! however, they stopped about 3 songs in and put something else on.
so today my plans are to sort out a train to cochin for tomorrow (mysore is much like every other city i've seen so far...), see the maharaja's palace and buy a sari. i think i'll definitely be eating at the hotel restaurant again tonight.
why would she choose a sitar player over the *maharaja*?
so i thought i was all sorted out with my train ticket for last night. the guy at the guesthouse gave me the ticket which said that the train was to leave at 9:25. my book said 8:10, but schedules change, whatever. i had planned to be back in hospet (the town where the train station is) by 7. but as often happens dinner took a little longer than i imagined (the service is very "shanti, shanti") and i didn't get the bus back to hospet until 7.
my auto-rickshaw pulled up to the station around 8 o'clock. i got out, asked the man where the train for bangalore (where i change trains for mysore) was. he said here. i sat and read for a bit and a train pulled up. so i got on, and crawled into my bunk, thinking we would be there for a while. but instead we pulled out of the station really quickly. so i'm sitting. thinking. on the outside of the train it said "hubli <-> bangalore". then panic took over, i was thinking oh-no... i'm going to hubli... so i asked a girl sitting near me, and she assured me the train was going to bangalore. i asked if we had left early. she said no. so upon closer inspection of my ticket i noticed that the part with the departure time was for boarding in another town - so stroke of luck that i caught the bus i did out of hampi, got to the station when i did..... i would have been one un-happy hippie.
of course the hassle didn't end there (but honestly, i don't think it ever ends here...). a family of people got on and i can see them looking at their tickets, looking at my bunk, looking at their tickets. so we compare tickets, and while mine is an actualy computer printout of the seat number, his is written on in pen. so i'm thinking there's no way in hell i'm giving up this bunk. but in the end it turned out that they had been given one seat in the next car with the same bunk number. so they asked if i minded using the other one, and i didn't, whatever.
so a long night on the train, not sleeping much. then a short ride from bangalore to mysore where i nearly fell asleep sitting up. and now i'm here, in the presence of the *maharaja's* palace. and it's my birthday. so since i'm on my own i decided to take myself out to eat (like i don't do that everyday...). i also decided to go a little crazy and get some chinese food, as i have my very own sit down toilet in my room here.
so i've had my lunch and i'm feeling another nap coming on... overnight trains take a lot out of me. my hotel has a restaurant downstairs that looks quite cool and apparently has live music in the evenings, so that's my plan for my birthday dinner. i also am going to buy myself a birthday sari, though i don't think i'm quite up for it today. it'll have to be a belated birthday sari.
actually, besides the palace i'm not that impressed with mysore, it's pretty much like every other place i've been... i'm really starting to look forward to the ashram.
my auto-rickshaw pulled up to the station around 8 o'clock. i got out, asked the man where the train for bangalore (where i change trains for mysore) was. he said here. i sat and read for a bit and a train pulled up. so i got on, and crawled into my bunk, thinking we would be there for a while. but instead we pulled out of the station really quickly. so i'm sitting. thinking. on the outside of the train it said "hubli <-> bangalore". then panic took over, i was thinking oh-no... i'm going to hubli... so i asked a girl sitting near me, and she assured me the train was going to bangalore. i asked if we had left early. she said no. so upon closer inspection of my ticket i noticed that the part with the departure time was for boarding in another town - so stroke of luck that i caught the bus i did out of hampi, got to the station when i did..... i would have been one un-happy hippie.
of course the hassle didn't end there (but honestly, i don't think it ever ends here...). a family of people got on and i can see them looking at their tickets, looking at my bunk, looking at their tickets. so we compare tickets, and while mine is an actualy computer printout of the seat number, his is written on in pen. so i'm thinking there's no way in hell i'm giving up this bunk. but in the end it turned out that they had been given one seat in the next car with the same bunk number. so they asked if i minded using the other one, and i didn't, whatever.
so a long night on the train, not sleeping much. then a short ride from bangalore to mysore where i nearly fell asleep sitting up. and now i'm here, in the presence of the *maharaja's* palace. and it's my birthday. so since i'm on my own i decided to take myself out to eat (like i don't do that everyday...). i also decided to go a little crazy and get some chinese food, as i have my very own sit down toilet in my room here.
so i've had my lunch and i'm feeling another nap coming on... overnight trains take a lot out of me. my hotel has a restaurant downstairs that looks quite cool and apparently has live music in the evenings, so that's my plan for my birthday dinner. i also am going to buy myself a birthday sari, though i don't think i'm quite up for it today. it'll have to be a belated birthday sari.
actually, besides the palace i'm not that impressed with mysore, it's pretty much like every other place i've been... i'm really starting to look forward to the ashram.
Thursday, May 20, 2004
they say it's your birthday....
so yesterday i was sitting in a cafe, drinking chai, trying to read a book while being harrassed by boys selling postcards and creepy men wanting to take my photo (seriously - this is the second time random creepy guys have asked to take their photo with me, and as much as i love having my picture taken, that is completely dodgy and i always say no and pull a face) when an english guy named alex came up and started chatting to me. so we sat and drank tea and he was telling me how he was looking for this other guy and they were going to get a chicken and cook it on their little stove for dinner.
so we left the cafe to wander down near the river and we ran into the other guy - mike - and the three of us went down to the river and crossed it in what looked very much like a wicker basket with tarp on the outside. a little scary, but we made it across. so mike was actually staying at a guesthouse on the other side of the river, and it was an amazing place. there was grass everywhere surrounding these little huts. there were hammocks and swinging beds hanging from everywhere. very beautiful.
so alex went off on a mission to find a chicken, which i was starting to doubt was really going to happen the more i got to know him.... but in the end he managed to pull it off. so we chopped up some veg and made a lovely chicken stew as a sort of joint birthday feast (alex's birthday is today, the 22nd, and mine tomorrow for anyone who forgot...). very lovely.
so this morning i finally picked up my train ticket, so i'm just kicking around hampi until about 6 o'clock and then i'll go to the train station and try to find my train.
mike and i are going to go see the most famous temple in hampi shortly with this south african guy who we met at breakfast. he's taking pictures of india for a book he's putting out.
so the next time i write i will be a quarter century old... a very strange thought. perhaps it's time for me to start taking responsibility, living a normal life.... or not. :)
so we left the cafe to wander down near the river and we ran into the other guy - mike - and the three of us went down to the river and crossed it in what looked very much like a wicker basket with tarp on the outside. a little scary, but we made it across. so mike was actually staying at a guesthouse on the other side of the river, and it was an amazing place. there was grass everywhere surrounding these little huts. there were hammocks and swinging beds hanging from everywhere. very beautiful.
so alex went off on a mission to find a chicken, which i was starting to doubt was really going to happen the more i got to know him.... but in the end he managed to pull it off. so we chopped up some veg and made a lovely chicken stew as a sort of joint birthday feast (alex's birthday is today, the 22nd, and mine tomorrow for anyone who forgot...). very lovely.
so this morning i finally picked up my train ticket, so i'm just kicking around hampi until about 6 o'clock and then i'll go to the train station and try to find my train.
mike and i are going to go see the most famous temple in hampi shortly with this south african guy who we met at breakfast. he's taking pictures of india for a book he's putting out.
so the next time i write i will be a quarter century old... a very strange thought. perhaps it's time for me to start taking responsibility, living a normal life.... or not. :)
the worst thing about showering
so had a completely lazy day yesterday, arsing about, fending off little boys trying to sell me postcards, and doing a little shopping. bought myself 2 anklets from a little shop. it had never occured to me to have more than one, but the women here usually have one for each ankle (sometimes 2) and i think it looks really cool. so now i look really cool. (or let's say cooler, i'm already pretty cool ;P )
had a bit of a fright yesterday afternoon. was sitting on the balony at the guesthouse reading and all of the sudden 3 monkeys scampered along the rail of the balcony. BIG monkeys. and i was reminded of the (little) monkey in mumbai that bit that kid on the leg, so i went inside my room and shut the door. the owners of the guesthouse got out their little air rifles and shot at them.
i've taken to showering in the evening. mostly because of the amount of filth you pick up on a daily basis here. but lately i've been dreading my daily shower. no, i'm not giving in to my hippie tendencies, it's the blisters. the creepiest, crawliest feeling i have ever felt is the huge pockets created by the dead skin on my legs filling up with water. blech. and then trying to get it out and only spreading it into other pockets of skin. gag.
so i think i have booked a train ticket through my guesthouse... they told me someone would bring the ticket last night. but the 2 times i went to see, there was no ticket. i went to check on my way here and they were busy, so i just left it. it's probably not even there yet. but anyhow, i'll hopefully be taking (another) overnight train to mysore, city of silk and sandalwood, on saturday, arriving on sunday morning - my birthday. my plan is to buy myself a nice sari for my birthday. man, i'm good to me. :)
was going to see the ruins here today, but i couldn't find the tour man last night and the tourist office is closed today. so maybe tomorrow. anyhow.
had a bit of a fright yesterday afternoon. was sitting on the balony at the guesthouse reading and all of the sudden 3 monkeys scampered along the rail of the balcony. BIG monkeys. and i was reminded of the (little) monkey in mumbai that bit that kid on the leg, so i went inside my room and shut the door. the owners of the guesthouse got out their little air rifles and shot at them.
i've taken to showering in the evening. mostly because of the amount of filth you pick up on a daily basis here. but lately i've been dreading my daily shower. no, i'm not giving in to my hippie tendencies, it's the blisters. the creepiest, crawliest feeling i have ever felt is the huge pockets created by the dead skin on my legs filling up with water. blech. and then trying to get it out and only spreading it into other pockets of skin. gag.
so i think i have booked a train ticket through my guesthouse... they told me someone would bring the ticket last night. but the 2 times i went to see, there was no ticket. i went to check on my way here and they were busy, so i just left it. it's probably not even there yet. but anyhow, i'll hopefully be taking (another) overnight train to mysore, city of silk and sandalwood, on saturday, arriving on sunday morning - my birthday. my plan is to buy myself a nice sari for my birthday. man, i'm good to me. :)
was going to see the ruins here today, but i couldn't find the tour man last night and the tourist office is closed today. so maybe tomorrow. anyhow.
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
"sorry, i'm kind of a big person"
so yesterday was the longest day in history. well, perhaps i am exaggerating. but close. i was up early to catch my 9:30am bus. picked up some lunch to take with me. thought i might have the 2 seat section to myself on the bus (though i must have been delusional or still in some sort of pre-caffeine absorbtion haze - this is india after all), but my seat mate was an young, indian, nun-in-training. she was nice and we chatted a little bit during the trip.
so we sat. for a long time. and more and more people get on the bus every 10 minutes or so. sometimes we stop, for no apparent reason. we're never sure how long we have when we do stop, the driver says nothing to anyone. at some point a family gets on and there are no seats. so they're standing in the aisle, looked like a grandmother, mother, and 2 daughters. so the grandmother indicates that she wants us to scooch in so she can sit on the edge of our seat. so the american in me says (silently) "no flippin' way, i paid for this seat, i'm sitting on it by myself". but then i think okay, this is india, it's about the experience, blah blah blah. and the girl i'm sitting with moves closer to the window.
so i try to move over. and now there's about an inch of free space for her to sit. let me tell you about these seats - they are *just* the width of my arse. when i'm standing, not when i'm sitting down and it spreads out. "sorry, i'm kind of a big person" i say. anyway, she sits on the floor.
i actually had a bit of an epiphany on the bus about why india is so dirty. people just chuck rubbish everywhere. out the windows of buses. this is normal, perhaps even expected. while i put all my garbage back in my bag everyone else pushes it out the window.
we eventually arrive at our destination and i am pooped. i decided to treat myself a little bit and get a room with tv. so i go to this place from my book, ask for a single with a tv. right away the guy is trying to get me to go for a bigger room. what do you want to watch? he says. single rooms have bad tv's, double rooms, have lots of channels. so they show me both. and i take the single, even though he's tried to offer me a deal on the double room. and the tv was fine. in fact i had the star movie channel. so i got some food and a beer and sat in my room watching tv. a lovely evening.
actually, i'm annoyed. when i got into my room i noticed that my right foot looked like a sausage and was very swollen. and i thought maybe it was from the toe ring, it had pinched or something.... so i took it off and now i can't get it back on. (it's kind of a coil shape, but i can't seem to reform it).
well today i'm in hampi, staying at a guesthouse with a nice courtyard in the middle. i've seen my first elephant. i'm off to get some lunch.
so we sat. for a long time. and more and more people get on the bus every 10 minutes or so. sometimes we stop, for no apparent reason. we're never sure how long we have when we do stop, the driver says nothing to anyone. at some point a family gets on and there are no seats. so they're standing in the aisle, looked like a grandmother, mother, and 2 daughters. so the grandmother indicates that she wants us to scooch in so she can sit on the edge of our seat. so the american in me says (silently) "no flippin' way, i paid for this seat, i'm sitting on it by myself". but then i think okay, this is india, it's about the experience, blah blah blah. and the girl i'm sitting with moves closer to the window.
so i try to move over. and now there's about an inch of free space for her to sit. let me tell you about these seats - they are *just* the width of my arse. when i'm standing, not when i'm sitting down and it spreads out. "sorry, i'm kind of a big person" i say. anyway, she sits on the floor.
i actually had a bit of an epiphany on the bus about why india is so dirty. people just chuck rubbish everywhere. out the windows of buses. this is normal, perhaps even expected. while i put all my garbage back in my bag everyone else pushes it out the window.
we eventually arrive at our destination and i am pooped. i decided to treat myself a little bit and get a room with tv. so i go to this place from my book, ask for a single with a tv. right away the guy is trying to get me to go for a bigger room. what do you want to watch? he says. single rooms have bad tv's, double rooms, have lots of channels. so they show me both. and i take the single, even though he's tried to offer me a deal on the double room. and the tv was fine. in fact i had the star movie channel. so i got some food and a beer and sat in my room watching tv. a lovely evening.
actually, i'm annoyed. when i got into my room i noticed that my right foot looked like a sausage and was very swollen. and i thought maybe it was from the toe ring, it had pinched or something.... so i took it off and now i can't get it back on. (it's kind of a coil shape, but i can't seem to reform it).
well today i'm in hampi, staying at a guesthouse with a nice courtyard in the middle. i've seen my first elephant. i'm off to get some lunch.
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
channa masala
so i'm starting to feel like a bit of a pro on the local buses now... they always have someone outside shouting to everyone where they are going and ushering people in. you find a seat and as the bus rolls away the door man comes around and collects your money. and usually for obvious out-of-towners (such as myself) they give you a little nod where you should get off.
today i visited old goa where there are 2 very old churches from when the portugeuse were in charge. actually - i didn't realize, but goa has only been independent of portugal since 1961. and also there were a couple little museums that i visited, more out of boredom than anything. i went to the christian art museum (claims to be the only one in asia) and to the archeological museum.
am starting to get annoyed with the people... i was feeling really chilled in arambol, there were some locals i "knew" and chatted to when i saw them. people said hello to you when you walked by. now in panjim i only get 'hello' in that creepy way. why is it that the good-looking indian guys in their suits never try to talk to me, only the sleazy ones? so i've gone from chilled mode to tunnel mode where i ignore everyone. v. sad.
in the morning i will catch a bus to hampi where there are some ruined, ancient, world heritage site temples. and i'll be on that bus aaaaaalllllllllllll dddddaaaaaaaayyyyy..... 9 hours. should be a blast.
i'm getting a little worried about my sunburn, and i think it may actually be a burn-burn. some patches are still bright red and i'm starting to bubble in a serious way.... so i'm off to find a pharmacy to get some sort of burn salve.
today i visited old goa where there are 2 very old churches from when the portugeuse were in charge. actually - i didn't realize, but goa has only been independent of portugal since 1961. and also there were a couple little museums that i visited, more out of boredom than anything. i went to the christian art museum (claims to be the only one in asia) and to the archeological museum.
am starting to get annoyed with the people... i was feeling really chilled in arambol, there were some locals i "knew" and chatted to when i saw them. people said hello to you when you walked by. now in panjim i only get 'hello' in that creepy way. why is it that the good-looking indian guys in their suits never try to talk to me, only the sleazy ones? so i've gone from chilled mode to tunnel mode where i ignore everyone. v. sad.
in the morning i will catch a bus to hampi where there are some ruined, ancient, world heritage site temples. and i'll be on that bus aaaaaalllllllllllll dddddaaaaaaaayyyyy..... 9 hours. should be a blast.
i'm getting a little worried about my sunburn, and i think it may actually be a burn-burn. some patches are still bright red and i'm starting to bubble in a serious way.... so i'm off to find a pharmacy to get some sort of burn salve.
Monday, May 17, 2004
"close the windows so the monkeys don't get in"
so i would like everyone to know that i was co-habitating peacefully with a lizard in arambol. he sat on the wall in my room sometimes. we enjoyed the breeze of the fan together. then yesterday i was lying on my bed under the fan (as i often do) with my legs hanging over the edge of the bed and the cheeky little bugger jumped on my leg. scared the crap out of me. i brushed him off and heard the as he hit the floor. *then* he tried to sneak up on me, walking very close to my bed. so i chucked some bottle caps at him and was generally a little freaked out for a while. then we went back to the original arrangement, which was fine.
so i left arambol today and am now in panjim, the capital of goa. i was a little sad to see arambol go - i was living with some cool people, near the beach, eating good food.... but since my sunburn i haven't really been taking advantage of the prime beach location. so i've moved on.
was finally feeling *really*, 100% better by late yesterday, as far as my stomach is concerned. went to the same restaurant again (choices are limited in off season, but they do have a big menu) and had a plate of french fries, chicken masala, plain naan, and 2 beers. most amusing was this guy who showed up alone with a bandage on his foot. he sat down alone. ordered a drink from the guy. then started to go off on one - how long does it take to make one drink, i live here, i've been coming here for five years.... then his drink finally comes and he starts chattering on to us (and we are actually having our own conversation) about how he lives alone and he has an infection in his foot and he's from denmark and his grandmother is a gypsy and he has a dog and two cats and a tv and sometimes he talks to himself too much, so he has to go out and talk to other people...... and so on. was terribly amusing, if not a little difficult to escape.
i just ate lunch in a rather posh restaurant (for india) - right on the water. had *just* enough money left on me to pay for it... but it was very good. now i'm off to see the "sights" of panjim (a few old portugeuse style buildings and churches), though it looks like it might rain.
oh yeah - so when i checked into my hotel here in panjim the owner said to me "make sure you close the windows when you leave or sleep because sometimes the monkeys try to come in.". so i'll be monkey watching behind closed windows tonight.
:)
so i left arambol today and am now in panjim, the capital of goa. i was a little sad to see arambol go - i was living with some cool people, near the beach, eating good food.... but since my sunburn i haven't really been taking advantage of the prime beach location. so i've moved on.
was finally feeling *really*, 100% better by late yesterday, as far as my stomach is concerned. went to the same restaurant again (choices are limited in off season, but they do have a big menu) and had a plate of french fries, chicken masala, plain naan, and 2 beers. most amusing was this guy who showed up alone with a bandage on his foot. he sat down alone. ordered a drink from the guy. then started to go off on one - how long does it take to make one drink, i live here, i've been coming here for five years.... then his drink finally comes and he starts chattering on to us (and we are actually having our own conversation) about how he lives alone and he has an infection in his foot and he's from denmark and his grandmother is a gypsy and he has a dog and two cats and a tv and sometimes he talks to himself too much, so he has to go out and talk to other people...... and so on. was terribly amusing, if not a little difficult to escape.
i just ate lunch in a rather posh restaurant (for india) - right on the water. had *just* enough money left on me to pay for it... but it was very good. now i'm off to see the "sights" of panjim (a few old portugeuse style buildings and churches), though it looks like it might rain.
oh yeah - so when i checked into my hotel here in panjim the owner said to me "make sure you close the windows when you leave or sleep because sometimes the monkeys try to come in.". so i'll be monkey watching behind closed windows tonight.
:)
Saturday, May 15, 2004
"i'm not hungry" and other things i may never say again....
so after no dinner and puking all the night before last, all i could manage to eat after my last post was half a peice of toast w/ jam and a little bit of watermelon. all very depressing with all this wonderful (cheap) food. most depressing was going to this restaurant with karin and drew last night (where i ordered a very boring spaghetti with tomato sauce and cheese) and being nauseated by the *smell* of their food. i had to take a walk away from the table and couldn't even manage one bite of my spaghetti.
but when i woke up this morning, all was right with the world and i went down to our guesthouse restaurant for an omelette and tea. and still i'm hungry for more!!!
i'm still avoiding the sun, sadly. but am spending lots of time lying under my fan on my bed with a wet sarong draped over me. did some laundry today. in a bucket. not sure how clean the stuff is. maybe next time i will have my things washed by some kind of laundry person.
so i'm off to the same restaurant from last night - but this time i'm going to eat something!!! hurrah! not eating doesn't suit me...
but when i woke up this morning, all was right with the world and i went down to our guesthouse restaurant for an omelette and tea. and still i'm hungry for more!!!
i'm still avoiding the sun, sadly. but am spending lots of time lying under my fan on my bed with a wet sarong draped over me. did some laundry today. in a bucket. not sure how clean the stuff is. maybe next time i will have my things washed by some kind of laundry person.
so i'm off to the same restaurant from last night - but this time i'm going to eat something!!! hurrah! not eating doesn't suit me...
Friday, May 14, 2004
lyin' on some 3rd world beach...
so while sitting in the "ladies lounge" at the mumbai train station, waiting for my very late train i met a french girl named karin, who had been talking to this indian woman who was on the same train to goa. and lucky for me they showed me where it was, otherwise i would have been pretty lost.
the train left something to be desired, one of the crappiest trains i've ever been on. my "bed" in the sleeper car was more like a shelf with a little padding on it. but luckily with the fans and the open windows it wasn't too hot and i actually slept a little.
so in the morning karin and i got off at the same stop and decided to go to the beach at arambol together. when we finally arrived (after about an hour and a half on packed buses) we started to look for a place to stay. we ran into a guy (i still want to say "gaijin" which is what you call foreigners in japanese) named drew who told us about this place he knew of, and the rooms were 50 rupees.
so we hopped on the back of his bike (both of us and our backpacks...) and he took us to piya's guest house. we took the rooms - which are quite big, with a shared bath (though only shared w/ 5 rooms instead of 50 random indian men at the hotel in mumbai), and a big ceiling fan.
we walked out to the beach - which is about 3 minutes from where we are staying - and walked a bit, swam a little and went to a cafe filled w/ (seemingly) pseudo-hippies, trying to be deep. very amusing. so i managed to get a tank top burn that day- very unattractive with a high, square necked top.
we chilled on our balcony in the evening and met the other guest at our guesthouse, a belgian girl named ann.
the next day we all went to the beach for a lil sun 'n' swim. got a little henna "om" done. we walked into this forest to find some banyan tree (and supposedly there is a snake in this tree, so i think it was quite brave of me to go at all - luckily the snake was otherwise engaged) and we met a naked man who is living in the forest, eating only fruit, and not speaking. very interesting....
when we got back to the guesthouse i realized just how much sun i had actually got, and put on some after-sun. then it was downhill from there... i started to feel nauseas and then spent most of last night puking *and* not being able to move w/o pain from my sunburn.
so the sunburn is STILL killing me, it hurts to walk because when my muscles move it disturbs my skin and is quite painful.... so today i'm pretty much taking it easy, probably will go for a swim around sunset.
so i'm a lot happier about india now that i'm here. mumbai was filthy and crowded and hot and not very interesting. arambol is (well, still pretty dirty, but -) not crowded, not as hot, and very relaxing despite my sun stroke.
the other strange thing about india is the animals.... everywhere. in mumbai i saw cows and monkeys on the streets, and here also cows - and pigs, and chickens, and loads of dogs that follow you around and just want to be your friend. they're actually very good for "wild dogs" - 2 came in to the forest with us yesterday to protect us.
so yeah, this is really long... but a chilled out day today. might stay in arambol for another day or 2 and then head to another beach for a few days.
i wish i had time to reply to all the e-mails people have written, but internet time is money... but i love hearing from you, so keep writing!
the train left something to be desired, one of the crappiest trains i've ever been on. my "bed" in the sleeper car was more like a shelf with a little padding on it. but luckily with the fans and the open windows it wasn't too hot and i actually slept a little.
so in the morning karin and i got off at the same stop and decided to go to the beach at arambol together. when we finally arrived (after about an hour and a half on packed buses) we started to look for a place to stay. we ran into a guy (i still want to say "gaijin" which is what you call foreigners in japanese) named drew who told us about this place he knew of, and the rooms were 50 rupees.
so we hopped on the back of his bike (both of us and our backpacks...) and he took us to piya's guest house. we took the rooms - which are quite big, with a shared bath (though only shared w/ 5 rooms instead of 50 random indian men at the hotel in mumbai), and a big ceiling fan.
we walked out to the beach - which is about 3 minutes from where we are staying - and walked a bit, swam a little and went to a cafe filled w/ (seemingly) pseudo-hippies, trying to be deep. very amusing. so i managed to get a tank top burn that day- very unattractive with a high, square necked top.
we chilled on our balcony in the evening and met the other guest at our guesthouse, a belgian girl named ann.
the next day we all went to the beach for a lil sun 'n' swim. got a little henna "om" done. we walked into this forest to find some banyan tree (and supposedly there is a snake in this tree, so i think it was quite brave of me to go at all - luckily the snake was otherwise engaged) and we met a naked man who is living in the forest, eating only fruit, and not speaking. very interesting....
when we got back to the guesthouse i realized just how much sun i had actually got, and put on some after-sun. then it was downhill from there... i started to feel nauseas and then spent most of last night puking *and* not being able to move w/o pain from my sunburn.
so the sunburn is STILL killing me, it hurts to walk because when my muscles move it disturbs my skin and is quite painful.... so today i'm pretty much taking it easy, probably will go for a swim around sunset.
so i'm a lot happier about india now that i'm here. mumbai was filthy and crowded and hot and not very interesting. arambol is (well, still pretty dirty, but -) not crowded, not as hot, and very relaxing despite my sun stroke.
the other strange thing about india is the animals.... everywhere. in mumbai i saw cows and monkeys on the streets, and here also cows - and pigs, and chickens, and loads of dogs that follow you around and just want to be your friend. they're actually very good for "wild dogs" - 2 came in to the forest with us yesterday to protect us.
so yeah, this is really long... but a chilled out day today. might stay in arambol for another day or 2 and then head to another beach for a few days.
i wish i had time to reply to all the e-mails people have written, but internet time is money... but i love hearing from you, so keep writing!
Monday, May 10, 2004
Day 2 - Mumbai
so i've taken the *easy* way... as i'm having trouble connecting w/ spacekitty from here i've opted to use this pre-packaged format to post a travelogue of india. and that's an embaressing thing to say as a web programmer... but i don't have the time or patience for it right now.
anyhow. today is my second day in mumbai, and my last for now. tonight i'm taking a train to goa to spend a week on the beach. so my plans for today are to see a few museums and maybe do a little shopping.
i arrived yesterday morning after way too much time in airports and on planes. took my pre-paid taxi through the slums and crowds into the city and was able to find the hotel i wanted w/o much difficulty. "my room", if you can call it that was a little cubby with a bed and a ceiling fan. it also had a tv, though i didn't seem to get any channels....
i spent a lot of the first day napping on my bed under the fan in my underwear. i went out for a wander and some food. came back to my cubby for a little more napping. ate at the little restaurant upstairs and went to sleep.
at about 5 o'clock this morning i heard someone's alarm go off and then lights and tv come on. and of course the tv has to be loud to be heard over everyone's fans. so i dozed on and off for a while, trying to move out of my own sweat pools and finally got up around 7:30.
so i went to the train station to buy my ticket for tonight, a man out front told me i had to buy the ticket the day before and there was a bus i could take that would take the same time. i decided to check out the trains anyway, and shockingly was able to buy my ticket for tonight. when i came out of the station the same man tried to sell me a tour of mumbai.
but i've got my own plans.... and they include going to places that aren't filthy (art musuems must be a little clean, right?) and mostly sitting around in the shade.
anyhow. today is my second day in mumbai, and my last for now. tonight i'm taking a train to goa to spend a week on the beach. so my plans for today are to see a few museums and maybe do a little shopping.
i arrived yesterday morning after way too much time in airports and on planes. took my pre-paid taxi through the slums and crowds into the city and was able to find the hotel i wanted w/o much difficulty. "my room", if you can call it that was a little cubby with a bed and a ceiling fan. it also had a tv, though i didn't seem to get any channels....
i spent a lot of the first day napping on my bed under the fan in my underwear. i went out for a wander and some food. came back to my cubby for a little more napping. ate at the little restaurant upstairs and went to sleep.
at about 5 o'clock this morning i heard someone's alarm go off and then lights and tv come on. and of course the tv has to be loud to be heard over everyone's fans. so i dozed on and off for a while, trying to move out of my own sweat pools and finally got up around 7:30.
so i went to the train station to buy my ticket for tonight, a man out front told me i had to buy the ticket the day before and there was a bus i could take that would take the same time. i decided to check out the trains anyway, and shockingly was able to buy my ticket for tonight. when i came out of the station the same man tried to sell me a tour of mumbai.
but i've got my own plans.... and they include going to places that aren't filthy (art musuems must be a little clean, right?) and mostly sitting around in the shade.
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