goodbye india, thanks for the laughs...

Pushkar, India
Originally uploaded by ddboo.

I know it has been almost a month since my last blog, I took a 3 week internet hiatus since Martin was here. Anyway we are in Varanasi right now and preparing for a full scale planes, trains and automobiles journey to Africa. Starting in about 4 hours we board an overnight train from here to Delhi, spend the day there, go to the airport and catch a plane to Dar Esaleem, Tanzania. But not without a 5 hour layover in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. So in about 500 hours we should be arriving at the camp Mwanza, Tanzania where we will drop our bags for a month and work. The idea of just dropping my bag for a month is amazing...never mind the experience we are about to have.


Martin has come and gone. We had a great time to say the least. India is a tough place to "pop in" to for a few weeks. It really takes a few weeks to strengthen your nose, stomach and gag reflex. But he did it and did it like a champ. I met him at the airport in Delhi where we stayed at the Sheraton thanks to a deal from my sweet friend Maria. Thanks Marnuuna! It was like HEAVEN to me. I had completely forgotten what it’s like to sleep in a bed with a duvet and crank the AC, I actually want to spend more time on the toilet just because the bathroom is nicer than any room I have stayed in over the last 4 months. So An and I pull up to this beautiful place in a rickshaw (the kind of people who stay at this Sheraton do NOT take rickshaws), filthy fresh off an overnight bus from Daramshala. Oh the bus. This bus was a "sleeper bus" which meant above the seats are rows of beds. We ordered a sleeper booth for 2 and it was the worst experience ever. I can only compare it to being in a paint shaker. We had to take Gravol just to keep from actually being sick all over the place. We had been warned about this before from other travelers, but wanted to experience it ourselves. Needless to say there was no sleeping that night, the entire night was spent trying not to barf and not to fall out of bed. Anyway we are disgusting by the time we get to the Sheraton, we check in (while people stare from all around like "who let the street people in") and head up to the room. The rest of the day included hour long showers, luxurious naps, AC, cable TV (big screen TV!), and room service. Yep, we used every towel, every menu, every station and every pillow. It was great. Later that night around 11pm I tore myself away from the room and went to meet Martin at the airport.

We decided to travel Rajasthan while Martin was with us because we could make a circle starting from and ending in Delhi. We failed to realize that this is slow season in this area due to temperatures averaging around 45, but we toughed it out. Jaipur was the 1st stop. It’s known as the pink city because all the buildings are pink although I am not really sure why. We stayed in a nice place there with AC and a great rooftop restaurant. The first night, Martin and I decided to go for a walk; it was really his first experience with the "real" India. I figured there were probably shops, cafes or whatever nearby and we could just have a nice stroll. We walked out the door and there bums everywhere, men hissing, urinals, no streetlights, blaring horns with no lights on and just a total slum. Whoops. We were obviously in the wrong area, we burned it back to the guest house pretty fast and decided to try again in daylight the following day. What a first experience.

We took out our cameras out and walked the city as well as a fort about 10 km away. The best part was the monkeys that were everywhere, playing and chasing each other around. The monkeys have really long tails, black faces and they make a noise I would picture dinosaurs making. They are everywhere in Rajasthan. Oh..we saw snake charmers too, real ones. I don’t know if the snakes had teeth or not but either way it was scary. It tried to attack my leg. After 2 nights in Jaipur we decided to head out. It’s really a big stinky city and there’s not a whole lot to do besides sightsee and we all know you can only do that for so long without barfing. We did get some good pics though.

On to Pushkar. This is a religious town surrounding a lake. Hindus believe that a lotus flower was dropped to earth by the gods and created this lake. Many Hindus come here to bathe in the water and pray at the temples, including a Brahman temple which is rare. Here we witnessed our first Sadhus (holy men). Sadhus are spiritual men who leave their families and homes forever to pursue a life of holiness, trying to escape reincarnation and create good karma for India. They live in temples, at ghats (where people bathe in holy waters), and wherever they can. They live off donations from Indian people who believe that donating to them will create good karma for themselves and the India. We learnt a lot about Hinduism and all the gods, karma, dharma...It’s really interesting. There are many different gods and depending on personality and preference (whatever god they relate to) the Hindus choose one, or more, to worship. There is Ganesh (the elephant) who represents wisdom, Shiva the god of destruction, Brahma the creator, Vishnu the god of preservation and Hanuman the monkey god, to name a few. So you can Imagine, its kind of like New Kids on the Block or Spice Girls, everyone has their favorite, they hang posters and pictures, they have trading cards, statues, jewelry all representing their god. There are temples everywhere, in people’s houses, shops, restaurants and on the side of the road, each with a Hindu god in it. We learned allot in Pushkar, but we also got royally ripped off. Well... Martin did (but he was new here, everyone has to get ripped off once...). The scam is this: Some “priest” tells you to take flowers and put them in the lake and it will bring good luck to your family. Every faux priest is trying to sell them to tourists. This guy actually got us, took us for the tour of the Brahman temple, buttering us up the whole time. Then he took us to the lake, separated us and gave us flowers (of course we would want to ensure the health and happiness of all our family members!). They gave us each a speech about saving our families... then demanded $30US per family member! By demanding I mean getting rather aggressive and telling us that we can afford it cause were westerners and to show him how much money we have in our wallets and of course that my family is doomed if I don’t hand it over. They even asked Martin for his camera, saying that a "gift" would ensure his family is safe. All the while we are unable to consult each other on the situation. Luckily I had only 10 rupees on me but Martin paid about 2000 (about $50US). I got away without paying, I figured Martin got bullied into shelling out enough for his family and mine, cest la vie! In India, you win some and lose some. The funniest part was later in the day when we were reading the lonely planet book; it warns readers about that scam, step by step, exactly as it unfolded. Besides that Pushkar was good, we saw a cow with 5 legs, which makes it a holy cow, and spent the last day by the pool due to unspeakable temperatures.

Andrea decided to stay in Pushkar and do yoga for a few days, so Martin and I had some time to catch up. We headed off to Jodhpur, the blue city. Which was really blue, again, I don’t know why. We decided after spending a day taking photos to book a two day camel safari. I didn’t want to leave Rajasthan without riding a camel. The night before the camel safari we went out to an amazing restaurant for dinner, it was on the roof of a palace overlooking the whole city. The palace was built by a maharaja back in the 1600's and is now a main attraction of the city and a great restaurant. We got up there at around 8 and there were bats everywhere and live music and candlelight (have you barfed yet?). Anyway it was a very cool dinner with an amazing view and definitely one of the highlights of Rajasthan. Our jeep came at 10am the following day and drove us 2 hours into the desert. We stopped to visit a Jain temple (where there was a large sigh, clearly posted that menstruating women are NOT allowed?!) and arrived at our camels just as the afternoon heat was at its worst. 1pm, perfect time to ride a camel in the desert for 2 hours. The camels were so cool - they reminded me of star wars characters. The way they move and noises that they make.. they really are straight out of star wars. When they trot your butt just slams on the seat and it can become quite painful after an hour (and a few days following..) but its amazing the way these animals move through deep sand in 40 degree weather like its no problem. We stopped for lunch at a family’s house in the desert and they sat there and watched us eat like we were zoo animals. They were giggling and talking to themselves about our every move. Then we rode again until sunset and went back to the family for dinner. The daughter had just gotten married and the kids decided to dress me up in all her marriage gear, about 10 pounds of jewelry and scarves. After they were satisfied, they called in gramma, mom, grampa, dad, uncle, cousin, baby brother and the family’s pet goat to come have a good laugh at me dressed up like an Indian woman about to get married. We ate the same thing we had for lunch, again, with the family closely examining our eating habits... then slept under the stars in cots. Sleeping was pretty scary at times, we would hear weird noises or forget that there were four camels right beside us and one of them decided to hok a loogie (sp?) or belch at 2am and scare the crap out of us. All in all, a really fun experience and the family were so hospitable, despite the fact that we could not communicate at all past "Namaste".

We took a frightening 8 hour bus ride to Udaipur. In Udaipur we splurged. Martin was only here for 2 weeks, we just decided to go for it. We stayed in a nice hotel, ate at all the best restaurants in town, took Indian food cooking classes, swam at the best pool in town, went shopping and even drank beer! For me it was like a vacation from the trip. We just slept in, ate, strolled the town and chilled out for once. It was great and I think I needed it more than I realized! There are amazing hotels here and the town surrounds a lake with a giant palace in the middle of it. The palace is now a hotel which is about 300$ US per night. There were allot of high end hotels, many of which we would got to for a drink, sunset, or lunch. We spent a wad but it was well worth it.

We met back up with Andrea in Bundi. Bundi is a small town with (again) a great fort overlooking it. We had only 2 nights here. The coolest thing was that we happened to be here during a period when it’s lucky to get married. Hindu wedding processions are such a production. You can hear them coming from a mile away and it’s like a parade. It’s led by a large noise machine with a marching band (dressed in proper marching band outfits) surrounding it banging out all Hindi wedding classics as well as whatever chart toppers are cool at the time. There is a man who walks beside this machine (that is pushed along by people) and belts out the words to all these songs at the top of his lungs through the completely distorted speakers of the noise machine. I hope you are following and I can imagine this is all probably hard to picture. I do have pictures of it and a video but the internet it deathly slow and who knows if I will ever be able to upload them. Anyway behind the noise machine is a swarm of men and boys all busting out their best dance moves and going nuts. There dancing like there is no tomorrow, screaming and smashing into each other. In the middle of this dance party is the groom on a white house, heavily decorated in Hindi wedding dress (the groom and the horse). The groom sits with a child and throws money into the crowd of dancers. Behind the men are the women and the bride. Their faces are covered and they just watch the whole thing go down. I don’t know how they can resist joining the dancing; even we were having a hard time. Surrounding this procession are young boys, each holding up a large fluorescent light, there are about 20 light holders, depending on the size of the party. But here is the kicker: Behind all this is a guy pulling a huge generator on a wagon to power the whole ordeal, talk about getting the short end of the stick. This was happening all the time in Bundi, if we couldn’t see it, we could hear it going on in the distance.

There were nearly no tourists in Bundi. We had a good dinner at the guesthouse An was staying at, served by the kids of the owners who were keen to read to us from there guest comment book and show us there pet tortoise. Everyone in Rajasthan has a comment book. Each restaurant, even the lassie shops (lassies are yogurt drinks), guesthouses, jewelry stores, tour operators... and as soon as you are done your meal, lassie, tour, whatever you can bet you will find a comment book in your face and someone watching over your shoulder eagerly awaiting approval.

We had the day from hell trying to get to Ranthamborne Wildlife Park for our tiger safari. It was one of those days where anything that could go wrong...did. We were 15 minutes late for the 1st train; the second train was like trying to get on to a cattle car with Indian people hanging off the sides. There was no way in hell we were getting on that with our backpacks. It was SO hot. 4 hours later we were still sitting at the train station trying to figure out if the next train is coming or if we have we missed it. I know it sounds easy, but nothing is posted, no one speaks English, you get 10 different answers from the "information" booths and so on. We end up missing the 1st day of safari and splurging on a car to get us there. The next day we got up at 5am to go on safari. We had missed our safari the day before and to make matters worse our guide was telling us how that group was so lucky they actually got to see tigers…BUT..it was our lucky day too cause we saw a momma and 3 babies. This really made the previous day’s hassle all worthwhile. We also saw a crocodile, exotic birds whose names I cannot remember, samba deer (otherwise known as tiger chocolate) and antelope. I think that’s it. It was a fun safari, our guides got so excited when we saw something, even more than the tourists.

The last and final stop in Rajasthan was Agra. Martin and I booked a nice hotel there for a couple nights since they were his last days in India. The Taj Mahal is in Agra. We spent the following 2 day soaking up the luxury of the hotel (again) and got massages, cocktails, buffet breakfasts...the works. Although the massage was more like an awkward full body rub down with waaaay to much oil and waaay to much being exposed, but hey - Indian style, nothing shocks me here anymore. The Taj was amazing, you just cannot believe how white and massive it is until you see it. The sky was dark and there was lightening; it really added a cool atmosphere to the whole experience. Took a ton of pics of course. It was built by a maharaja for his second wife who died giving birth to their 14th child, there is also a beautiful mosque right beside it.

Then back to Delhi for Martin to catch his flight and An and I to head to Varanasi. Martin and I had a quick drive by goodbye and I headed back to town all teary eyed. The next night we were on the overnight to Varanasi, where I am now. For 3 more hours. Varanasi is the holiest city in India and some say the oldest city in the world. This is the place where many Indians come to die. They are hoping that dying by the Ganges (the holy river) will end the cycle of reincarnation or allow them to come back as a higher being then what they are now or in a higher cast, the women hope to come back as man as that is the only way to end the cycle of reincarnation (?!). This morning we took at sunrise boat ride down the Ganges. There are many ghats with people bathing and swimming and burning sites. There are 2 places along the river where they burn the bodies of those fortunate enough to have died near the Ganges. I actually saw them burning bodies today, which at 5am was pretty nauseating but also very moving as this is a very spiritual ritual. They do not burn pregnant women or babies who die, instead they send them floating down the river. We saw a pregnant woman today who looked as though she had been floating down the Ganges for awhile, I was almost sick. I could have had something to do with the fact that it was 5am and I was up too late last night getting my palm read. But it was probably the body; I have never seen a dead person like that before. There are many people in the water praying and dunking themselves in and out, mostly the elderly waiting for their turn. Many kids swim and play in this river as well, people do there laundry.. and the towns sewage dumps there. It’s extremely polluted and really sad because it is the lifeline of India. There are many Sadhus here as well.

So that brings me to now. I am getting ready to leave India and take on a whole new continent. I am kinda sad to be leaving India but ready to go all at once. I have stepped in enough cow poop, seen enough people having a Sunday afternoon nose picks that drag on forever, heard enough horks splat on the ground right in front of me, enough 24 hour honking, constant cow dodging and had enough curry. I haven’t had enough of the incredible Indian spirit, hospitality, willingness to share even though they have nothing, eagerness to help, curiosity about my life and openness about theirs, Hindu religion, traditions, the bright saris, fresh chapatti, masala chai and all the other constant contradictions that are India. Constantly grosser than you could ever imagine and constantly more beautiful and moving than you could ever imagine. Oh no I am going to cry, wait, no I'm not. I only hope that my next stop will touch me as India has, I feel like I have gotten to know this culture and these people more than anywhere else, even though I have barley scratched the surface. It must be the most frustrating and rewarding place in the world. Well this is my goodbye to India and I am actually pretty sad. Namaste India! (I know I am totally being melodramatic, but I am sad!)

Wish me luck in Tanzania!

P.S. I would like to send a special should out to my boy Cameron who did an amazing job raising money for the orphanage in Tanzania! He decided that he didn’t want birthday presents this year (did I mention that he is 4 years old?) and instead raised a whopping $370 for the kids I am going to work with next month. Thank you so much Cameron, that was an amazing thing you did and it means a lot to me and the kids. There should be more boys like you in this world! I will keep you updated on what happens with the money and send many pictures from the orphanage! Thanks again...and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!