It’s hot and not like the kind of hot that you can bear long enough until AC saves, or can easily be cooled by a breeze. No this is quite like I imagine hell to be like. Good thing though, is that it is dry. If it’s going to be unbearably hot then atleast I shouldn't be too sweaty. Okay, I’m still sweaty.
Today we trekked to a monkey temple. The owner of the hostel – a helpful man named Manoj – told us that we absolutely had to check out this monkey temple. There were monkeys everywhere, they would eat from our hands, they were cute and furry. What he failed to mention however was that the trek to this monkey temple was basically a pilgrimage. We spent about 30 minutes climbing an 800 foot mountain whilst trying to avoid the constantly accosting eyes of various Indian men and children.
The monkeys were indeed adorable, also slightly scary. They were pretty strong and robust, and they do this strange growling type noise that is particularly intimidating.
We also were lucky enough to see a snake charmer. Though I’m fairly certain lucky isn’t quite the correct adjective. Chelsea is deathly afraid of snakes, so seeing a little boy with a snake wrapped around his neck probably didn’t excite her too much.
At the temple I noticed that there were many people jumping into a greenish colored pool. All the men and woman were doing it, usually wearing nothing or next to nothing to do so, and they seemed not at all concerned with the hygienic safety of this whole ordeal.
The walk back was nothing short of life changing - you tend to reanalyze your life when you're on the verge of death. 1.) I realized that I could indeed be a contestant on The Amazing Race and 2.) You walk faster when Indian men want to take pictures of you and stalk you. Suddenly you are filled with this energy you never knew existed when your personal space is about to be violated.
After our trek we headed to Johari Bazaar – the notorious jewelry bazaar in Jaipur. Our rickshaw drive continually asked us to go with him to his jewelry stores but I had already had enough with getting scammed in India.
The stores had some gorgeous jewelery, unfortunately the never ending heat proved to stiffly our ability to bargain, speak, or even walk. It was pretty rough.
Later I had a tasty Rajasthani Thali and after we went to a famous restaurant in Jaipur that had quite possibly the best ice cream I’ve ever had (and it was only 18 ruppees!) If only Jaipur didn’t threaten to kill me with heat, I would definitely enjoy it way more.
Another way in which I would enjoy it more is if people would stop harassing me! I hate being heckled. Absolutely hate it regardless of what country. Today proved to be little exception and I may have snapped back 3 or 7 times.
The favorite lines of today:
“Haaallow Haallow, Madame, madame madame.”
“You have sexy dress, sexy dress” my dress was not sexy
“Pretty like pretty camel” I still don’t understand this one
Monday, June 28, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Jaipur - the city of pretty
Chelsea, a fellow student from USAC, arrived in Jaipur late last night. My flight was delayed an hour and the journey was absolutely hilarious. My pilot sounded like a cracked out Jack Nicolson.
When I arrived in Jaipur my first though was "Shit, it really is ungodly hot here." but after a minute I realized that nothing quite compares to the humidity of Mumbai, so I counted my blessings.
We arrived at the hotel after only a couple minutes and discovered that it does indeed live up to the fabulous reviews. It really is a palace. The place is stunning, the owner is kind and helpful, and the food and fruit are to die for. Our room looks like it should be in a palace...but the architecture here is so stunning thats not suprising.
This morning, after a lovely shower and a good sleep, we decided to take a tour of Jaipur. The owner said "Do not pay more than 250 ruppees for a city tour" so we tried not to and struck a deal after only a short time. Though our drive brought us to some key destinations, the old city (Pink city), city palace, and eventually Amber Fort, I was definitely not getting a good vibe from him. I thought this on 2 occasions 1.) when he brought us to a textile factory, he's clearly commissioned 2.) when he started telling obscure dirty jokes. We had to get out of this.
Luckily, or not so luckily, we ran in to some 20 something Indian guys who unlike the 400 other people at Amber Palace that wanted to take pictures with us, actually asked us to take a picture of them. They seemed pretty nice so we started talking to them, eventually they invited us to a wedding. Me being a little to accepting of people gladly agreed. They said they'd give us a ride back, and asked how we go there. After we told them a driver was asking for 250 they laughed "Everyone loves ripping off foreigners." Awesome.
The boys talked down the drive to 200, when he was actually asking us for 500! Earlier, he said he'd give the tour for 250 - failing to mention that actually meant 250 each. Then we drove away and stopped at a place to eat.
In my limited understanding of Hindi I started to deduce that maybe going to this wedding wasn't the best idea. Don't get me wrong, I would absolutely love to go to an Indian wedding, but these guys were being a little to off putting for my preference, definitely the whole whispering in Hindi thing they had going on. So we thanked them for the ride an ditched them. Happy that we saved atleast 300 + ruppees for the day!
Oh Amber Fort and City Palace?! Absolutely gorgeous. These structures were strikingly beautiful, and simply took your breath away. This experience is best described through pictures.
When I arrived in Jaipur my first though was "Shit, it really is ungodly hot here." but after a minute I realized that nothing quite compares to the humidity of Mumbai, so I counted my blessings.
We arrived at the hotel after only a couple minutes and discovered that it does indeed live up to the fabulous reviews. It really is a palace. The place is stunning, the owner is kind and helpful, and the food and fruit are to die for. Our room looks like it should be in a palace...but the architecture here is so stunning thats not suprising.
This morning, after a lovely shower and a good sleep, we decided to take a tour of Jaipur. The owner said "Do not pay more than 250 ruppees for a city tour" so we tried not to and struck a deal after only a short time. Though our drive brought us to some key destinations, the old city (Pink city), city palace, and eventually Amber Fort, I was definitely not getting a good vibe from him. I thought this on 2 occasions 1.) when he brought us to a textile factory, he's clearly commissioned 2.) when he started telling obscure dirty jokes. We had to get out of this.
Luckily, or not so luckily, we ran in to some 20 something Indian guys who unlike the 400 other people at Amber Palace that wanted to take pictures with us, actually asked us to take a picture of them. They seemed pretty nice so we started talking to them, eventually they invited us to a wedding. Me being a little to accepting of people gladly agreed. They said they'd give us a ride back, and asked how we go there. After we told them a driver was asking for 250 they laughed "Everyone loves ripping off foreigners." Awesome.
The boys talked down the drive to 200, when he was actually asking us for 500! Earlier, he said he'd give the tour for 250 - failing to mention that actually meant 250 each. Then we drove away and stopped at a place to eat.
In my limited understanding of Hindi I started to deduce that maybe going to this wedding wasn't the best idea. Don't get me wrong, I would absolutely love to go to an Indian wedding, but these guys were being a little to off putting for my preference, definitely the whole whispering in Hindi thing they had going on. So we thanked them for the ride an ditched them. Happy that we saved atleast 300 + ruppees for the day!
Oh Amber Fort and City Palace?! Absolutely gorgeous. These structures were strikingly beautiful, and simply took your breath away. This experience is best described through pictures.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
24-6-2010: This is from Friday
Finals Tea Break
Today was my last day in India. The past two nights have been nothing short of a dream. I’m buzzing around India in the Hyundai of a lovely Turkish boy whom for some odd reasons absolutely adores me, and we’re heading to a Lebanese lounge and restaurant.
Early that day I had taken my first and last final at Christ college. In all honesty I wasn’t really trying, I wasn’t here to relearn everything that I had been learning about for years, so I didn’t really study or try particularly hard. What truly encapsulated Indian education system, and India in general, was half way through when beloved Jacob John stopped us and said “You’ll have somosa’s and tea now?” In came a boy carrying a bag of somosa’s and a thermostat of tea. Only in India.
Aftter that we climbed to the top level of the building to watch a dance performance going down in the hallway below, then we decided that since it’s our last day we’re just going to climb on the roof. The view was spectacular. The sky looked better than a painting, and you could see the tops of all the exotic and colorful trees that lined the walkways and paths of our school. I couldn’t possibly imagine a better way to end my time in Bangalore. Everything about this day is beautiful.
Today was my last day in India. The past two nights have been nothing short of a dream. I’m buzzing around India in the Hyundai of a lovely Turkish boy whom for some odd reasons absolutely adores me, and we’re heading to a Lebanese lounge and restaurant.
Early that day I had taken my first and last final at Christ college. In all honesty I wasn’t really trying, I wasn’t here to relearn everything that I had been learning about for years, so I didn’t really study or try particularly hard. What truly encapsulated Indian education system, and India in general, was half way through when beloved Jacob John stopped us and said “You’ll have somosa’s and tea now?” In came a boy carrying a bag of somosa’s and a thermostat of tea. Only in India.
Aftter that we climbed to the top level of the building to watch a dance performance going down in the hallway below, then we decided that since it’s our last day we’re just going to climb on the roof. The view was spectacular. The sky looked better than a painting, and you could see the tops of all the exotic and colorful trees that lined the walkways and paths of our school. I couldn’t possibly imagine a better way to end my time in Bangalore. Everything about this day is beautiful.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Beginning to say goodbye
Yesterday we had our goodbye lunch with Florence and Jacob John. The lunch solidified that I was indeed leaving India in a week...I can't believe it has already been a month! I think about being here a couple weeks ago and how I was homesick, concerned about money, missing my friends - now I don't even want to think about leaving! I'm finally settled in India and I have to be stripped away!
As to distract myself from my slight depression over leaving I'll talk about the goodbye lunch.
Jacob John brought us to one of his favorite restaurants for a buffet called Mustard. The buffet had my favorite chat type nachos - you cannot imagine how tasty. They also had Bengali fish (9/10), Bengali style Paneer (8/10), yellow daal with chili (7/10), and assorted fried rice, basmati, rasham, and mung. The desserts were definitely the highlight of the buffet...an unbelievable kiwi souffle (10/10), carrot halwa (9/19), and the best mango ice-cream I've had in India. Great going away lunch.
After we headed back to campus and got some comfy Christ University sweatshirts, how I'm going to squeeze that in my bag I have no idea. Next came class then a Crafts Bazaar with some friends. The Crafts Bazaar hosted crafts from all over India, mostly from Rajasthan. Since I'm going to Rajasthan I didn't want to buy too much, I just got some shoes, a little jewelry, and some gifts for friends. I'm pretty sure (absolutely sure) I got ripped off on the shoes, he orginally tried to sell them to me for 400 ruppees (asburd! That's about $8 USD), but I got him down to 300 ruppees...still over priced but what the hell they're pretty.
The day ended fantastically with USA beating Algeria by 1 which means we are first in our bracket and moving on to the playoff rounds!! U S A
As to distract myself from my slight depression over leaving I'll talk about the goodbye lunch.
Jacob John brought us to one of his favorite restaurants for a buffet called Mustard. The buffet had my favorite chat type nachos - you cannot imagine how tasty. They also had Bengali fish (9/10), Bengali style Paneer (8/10), yellow daal with chili (7/10), and assorted fried rice, basmati, rasham, and mung. The desserts were definitely the highlight of the buffet...an unbelievable kiwi souffle (10/10), carrot halwa (9/19), and the best mango ice-cream I've had in India. Great going away lunch.
After we headed back to campus and got some comfy Christ University sweatshirts, how I'm going to squeeze that in my bag I have no idea. Next came class then a Crafts Bazaar with some friends. The Crafts Bazaar hosted crafts from all over India, mostly from Rajasthan. Since I'm going to Rajasthan I didn't want to buy too much, I just got some shoes, a little jewelry, and some gifts for friends. I'm pretty sure (absolutely sure) I got ripped off on the shoes, he orginally tried to sell them to me for 400 ruppees (asburd! That's about $8 USD), but I got him down to 300 ruppees...still over priced but what the hell they're pretty.
The day ended fantastically with USA beating Algeria by 1 which means we are first in our bracket and moving on to the playoff rounds!! U S A
Summary of this past weekend...kind of
Tuesday June 22, 2010
Okay, back to this weekend. This weekend was by all standards completely absurd. Beginning with Friday.
So Friday I had promised a fellow USAC student that I would go out with her to some club or lounge with her and some friends. By 7:30 there were about 12 people attending this gathering. This figure was fine until we had to catch a rickshaw. Four people squeezed into individual rickshaws – similar to our 6 rickshaw excursion a couple nights earlier. Though this time our rickshaw driver was absolutely insane. First, he almost hit Aleisha before we even got on the road, then he almost hit every other car or truck on the road. Quite the frightening experience.
We finally arrive outside the club, which is actually a hotel (in true Indian style), and the first thing I do is fall out of the rickshaw. I hadn’t even started drinking…this would be bad.
As to not bore you I’ll do a summary of the club. It was absolutely gorgeous. Easily a high end bar/lounge in America. Drinks were around $10-$15 USD, but in all honestly that kind of atmosphere would be around $30 a drink. Yes, that is how nice and immaculate the location was. I brushed off the absurdity and decided to do as Lady Gaga does and just dance. It’s always better that way. The DJ proved to be amazing by the way...
Eventually I met a guy who bought me and my friends some drinks, he was nice, worked for JP Morgan & Chase (didn’t find that out till I looked at his card later). Then I meant a nice Turkish boy. He seemed sweet and harmless, he was with his two Turkish friends. We talked for the rest of the night, them in their broken Turkish English, me in my broken drunk English.
At one point the club/restaurant/hotel set up a tasty looking buffet. At the time I ha d yet to become drunk hungry so I didn’t gorge, but some other USACers went up and started grabbing things. We kept asking if the buffet was free/complimentary and we kept hearing that indeed it was, so I ate a really tasty carrot truffle and some chat nachos - by far one of my favorite snacks in India. It was probably some of the best food I’ve had in India so far…side note. Well, in true Bangalorian fashion the club closed at 11:30 sharp. The Turkish boys asked to get coffee, but seeing as we just meant them in Bangalore and we were naïve Americans we declined.
At that point I realized that I had left my scarf inside, I went to go grab it from the bar area and when I stepped back out through the door Nick (a USAC student) grabbed my arm and said “We have to go now!”. Apparently the buffet was not free at all. In fact, it was 650 ruppees each. I didn’t even have 650 ruppees in my wallet. Apparently, neither did anyone else, so we were trying to skip out on the bill. We all ran outside, but of course we were stopped by the servers. Everyone had to dish out some cash for the tricky buffet and then the hotel manager said he would help us get a cab home.
After paying 625 for a drink and throwing in money for a buffet, I was not about to pay another cent for anything this hotel had to offer. I saw one of the Turkish boys getting into his car, thought to myself “fuck it, if you die atleast you didn’t have to pay 200 ruppees for a cab.” I asked him if he could take me to Kormangala, he said yes, and I beckoned for my friends to come with me.
Thus began our friendship with Fatik, Emri, and Hiyati! My favorite Turkish friends (only Turkish friends) and our guides for the rest of the time in Bangalore. We got coffee with them that night at a 24 hour rooftop restaurant and we hung out with them again on Sunday.
In between that time I had quite the reality check. Some students traveled to a nearby village, Hospote. The village as a whole compromised about 14 smaller villages – communities anywhere from 300-1000 peoples. We went to one of these 14 villages to meet the kids, see the programs that particular NGO is developing. The long and short of it, it was absolutely amazing and if I could drop everything I’m doing right now and move to a village and just play and teach adorable kids every day I would do it in a heartbeat. The children were fantastic! They were so excited to see us and play with us, they brought us to their homes and showed us around the village. No, we couldn’t speak the language at all so communication was mostly transmitting through hand gestures, hugs, and behavioral keys. I think that added to the enjoyment of the trip,
Recently I had lost faith in NGO's, most of the time the money donated and raised by the organizations just goes into paying the salaries of the college junkies - those kids who didn't quite know what they wanted to do after college so they settled for an NGO. The money rarely ever goes to actually helping anyone or the betterment of a program. However, this NGO actually had results. You could see it in the health of the families and children, and in the village as a whole. The organization we worked with was the same one Bill Gates and his wife donate to. I can imagine why. It's run flawlessly and the people who work there are truly dedicated to there work.
I hope to sponsor a family in the slums or the village when I return to America. Definitely a life changing experience. Definitely.
Okay, back to this weekend. This weekend was by all standards completely absurd. Beginning with Friday.
So Friday I had promised a fellow USAC student that I would go out with her to some club or lounge with her and some friends. By 7:30 there were about 12 people attending this gathering. This figure was fine until we had to catch a rickshaw. Four people squeezed into individual rickshaws – similar to our 6 rickshaw excursion a couple nights earlier. Though this time our rickshaw driver was absolutely insane. First, he almost hit Aleisha before we even got on the road, then he almost hit every other car or truck on the road. Quite the frightening experience.
We finally arrive outside the club, which is actually a hotel (in true Indian style), and the first thing I do is fall out of the rickshaw. I hadn’t even started drinking…this would be bad.
As to not bore you I’ll do a summary of the club. It was absolutely gorgeous. Easily a high end bar/lounge in America. Drinks were around $10-$15 USD, but in all honestly that kind of atmosphere would be around $30 a drink. Yes, that is how nice and immaculate the location was. I brushed off the absurdity and decided to do as Lady Gaga does and just dance. It’s always better that way. The DJ proved to be amazing by the way...
Eventually I met a guy who bought me and my friends some drinks, he was nice, worked for JP Morgan & Chase (didn’t find that out till I looked at his card later). Then I meant a nice Turkish boy. He seemed sweet and harmless, he was with his two Turkish friends. We talked for the rest of the night, them in their broken Turkish English, me in my broken drunk English.
At one point the club/restaurant/hotel set up a tasty looking buffet. At the time I ha d yet to become drunk hungry so I didn’t gorge, but some other USACers went up and started grabbing things. We kept asking if the buffet was free/complimentary and we kept hearing that indeed it was, so I ate a really tasty carrot truffle and some chat nachos - by far one of my favorite snacks in India. It was probably some of the best food I’ve had in India so far…side note. Well, in true Bangalorian fashion the club closed at 11:30 sharp. The Turkish boys asked to get coffee, but seeing as we just meant them in Bangalore and we were naïve Americans we declined.
At that point I realized that I had left my scarf inside, I went to go grab it from the bar area and when I stepped back out through the door Nick (a USAC student) grabbed my arm and said “We have to go now!”. Apparently the buffet was not free at all. In fact, it was 650 ruppees each. I didn’t even have 650 ruppees in my wallet. Apparently, neither did anyone else, so we were trying to skip out on the bill. We all ran outside, but of course we were stopped by the servers. Everyone had to dish out some cash for the tricky buffet and then the hotel manager said he would help us get a cab home.
After paying 625 for a drink and throwing in money for a buffet, I was not about to pay another cent for anything this hotel had to offer. I saw one of the Turkish boys getting into his car, thought to myself “fuck it, if you die atleast you didn’t have to pay 200 ruppees for a cab.” I asked him if he could take me to Kormangala, he said yes, and I beckoned for my friends to come with me.
Thus began our friendship with Fatik, Emri, and Hiyati! My favorite Turkish friends (only Turkish friends) and our guides for the rest of the time in Bangalore. We got coffee with them that night at a 24 hour rooftop restaurant and we hung out with them again on Sunday.
In between that time I had quite the reality check. Some students traveled to a nearby village, Hospote. The village as a whole compromised about 14 smaller villages – communities anywhere from 300-1000 peoples. We went to one of these 14 villages to meet the kids, see the programs that particular NGO is developing. The long and short of it, it was absolutely amazing and if I could drop everything I’m doing right now and move to a village and just play and teach adorable kids every day I would do it in a heartbeat. The children were fantastic! They were so excited to see us and play with us, they brought us to their homes and showed us around the village. No, we couldn’t speak the language at all so communication was mostly transmitting through hand gestures, hugs, and behavioral keys. I think that added to the enjoyment of the trip,
Recently I had lost faith in NGO's, most of the time the money donated and raised by the organizations just goes into paying the salaries of the college junkies - those kids who didn't quite know what they wanted to do after college so they settled for an NGO. The money rarely ever goes to actually helping anyone or the betterment of a program. However, this NGO actually had results. You could see it in the health of the families and children, and in the village as a whole. The organization we worked with was the same one Bill Gates and his wife donate to. I can imagine why. It's run flawlessly and the people who work there are truly dedicated to there work.
I hope to sponsor a family in the slums or the village when I return to America. Definitely a life changing experience. Definitely.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Village life
We went to a village outside Bangalore this weekend. It was probably one of the greatest experiences of my life. I'll write about it more after class because I'm definitely late!!
Here's pictures
me and some village kids
cow
Here's pictures
me and some village kids
cow
Monday, June 14, 2010
This is what Happened 6/8/2010
Aleisha and I decided that it was a good idea to leave our apartment and go search for some fellow USAC students. This simple decision would have been quite the norm if not for the following:
• Neither of us have keys to our apartment
• The door automatically locks once closed
• Neither of us have cell phones
• Neither of us have internet
• We knew that everyone else was going out to dinner
• We secretly had a feeling that noone would be home
So we were locked out of NGV, completely abandoned and homeless. I am wearing black tights and a USAC t-shirt that doesn't quite cover my ass. My hair is in pigtails and I’m carrying around my laptop. Not an ideal situation.
After walked around the streets of Kormangala for a bit we decided to hang out in Kiwi Kiss/Booster Juice…the Indian idea of a Jamba Juice.
Being stranded has given me some time to catch up on my blogging, so good news you get to hear about some observations I have made about India.
If I had more than $10000 to my name, I would be investing in Indian businesses in a heart beat. India is on the verge of booming - if not already there. Its rate of development is startling, its middle class finally making a name for itself. Take for instance the frozen yogurt and juice bar I’m sitting in. It’s impeccably clean, a cup of frozen yogurt cost me 67 ruppees (about $1.50), and the service is on point, this place would be booming back home. And as soon as the middle class begins to make a dent in the Indian economy places like this will constantly be in demand.
Obviously the population is the first factor that ensures economic success, Bangalore alone has 6.5 million people and it’s not even the largest city in Indian. The market is so vast that even if you get 20% of the population in Bangalore you’re still getting over 10 million consumers. It’s almost impossible to fail here, that is why investing in any business would most likely prove lucrative. Me…I’d probably choose some type of F&B chain, though I adamantly oppose this in the states.
In India though, everything is different. Regardless of expansion and constant changes in supply and demand, everyone still makes everything fresh at probably 95% of its restaurants.
The thing I love about Indians is that they are stubborn, they like their food a certain way and if it’s not that way then they simply won’t buy it. The market has no choice but to conform to THEIR need, rather than the population conforming to the markets.
That's all I got right now sorry!
• Neither of us have keys to our apartment
• The door automatically locks once closed
• Neither of us have cell phones
• Neither of us have internet
• We knew that everyone else was going out to dinner
• We secretly had a feeling that noone would be home
So we were locked out of NGV, completely abandoned and homeless. I am wearing black tights and a USAC t-shirt that doesn't quite cover my ass. My hair is in pigtails and I’m carrying around my laptop. Not an ideal situation.
After walked around the streets of Kormangala for a bit we decided to hang out in Kiwi Kiss/Booster Juice…the Indian idea of a Jamba Juice.
Being stranded has given me some time to catch up on my blogging, so good news you get to hear about some observations I have made about India.
If I had more than $10000 to my name, I would be investing in Indian businesses in a heart beat. India is on the verge of booming - if not already there. Its rate of development is startling, its middle class finally making a name for itself. Take for instance the frozen yogurt and juice bar I’m sitting in. It’s impeccably clean, a cup of frozen yogurt cost me 67 ruppees (about $1.50), and the service is on point, this place would be booming back home. And as soon as the middle class begins to make a dent in the Indian economy places like this will constantly be in demand.
Obviously the population is the first factor that ensures economic success, Bangalore alone has 6.5 million people and it’s not even the largest city in Indian. The market is so vast that even if you get 20% of the population in Bangalore you’re still getting over 10 million consumers. It’s almost impossible to fail here, that is why investing in any business would most likely prove lucrative. Me…I’d probably choose some type of F&B chain, though I adamantly oppose this in the states.
In India though, everything is different. Regardless of expansion and constant changes in supply and demand, everyone still makes everything fresh at probably 95% of its restaurants.
The thing I love about Indians is that they are stubborn, they like their food a certain way and if it’s not that way then they simply won’t buy it. The market has no choice but to conform to THEIR need, rather than the population conforming to the markets.
That's all I got right now sorry!
Monday June 7, 2010
Today we learned about how silk is produced. Millions of silk worms die in order for silk to be produced. Did you know that hippies?
Monday, June 7, 2010
Ooty - land of tea plantations and a thread garden
In the past 24 hours (Saturday night 10:00 PM - Sunday night 10:00 PM) I have been to the Western Ghats, slept outside an elephant reserve, ate street corn and a street carrot, got whipped in the face with a horses tail, saw the most beautiful scenery in all of India, as well as the most bizarre, and jammed to '90's music through most of it.
Let's begin on Saturday. Two boys and myself had been planning on traveling to Ooty for the whole week. They had told me that not only was it absolutely gorgeous, but it was where many Bollywood movies where shot. Needless to say, I was sold.
First things first, I googled the town to get the low down, see if it was worth the trip. Everything checked out, and I then googled bus tickets, bus leaves at 10:18 Saturday night, 8.5 hour trip. Perfect.
Then comes Saturday. Suddenly our trip of 3 people had grown to about 11. We had no real idea who was going, I just knew when we had to leave and where our destination was. Come 8:30 when we were all supposed to move out, Hari, Aleisha, and myself were told that we were not taking a bus to Ooty. In the passed couple of hours it had been decided that we were now taking a van, it would be 1050 Ruppees each (the bus ticket was 300), and we were leaving at 10:00. Okay. What could we do though? It’s India! I just went with the flow.
In true India fashion our driver didn’t show up till 10:45, I didn’t quite mind, I had just taken a Benydryl I expected to be out within the hour. What I did not expect, however, was that India loves speed bumps. See, in order for the Bangalore police force to do as little work as possible in enforcing the speed limit, the city instead puts literally thousands of speed bumps throughout and around the city. The benydryl may have made me incredibly drowsy, but every speed bump left my wide-eyed and confused. Every. Single. Speed bump.
If the speed bumps were not hell bent on denying me sleep, the 1998 Britney Spears in Hawaii video proved even more determined. At some point between Bangalore and Mysore the movie changed to Ratatouille then to Meet the Robinsons. Thankfully, the movie cut off close to the end, finally leaving us with a fair amount of silence.
I had no idea what time it was, about a week ago I decided to abandon the luxury of knowing the time, and opted out for merely knowing in passing or simply not knowing at all. All I know is that it was extremely dark outside when we drove up to a closed gate. I realized that it was extremely late when the van backed up. I realized that I would not be sleeping ever when the van was shut off and the driver dozed off.
Manny Moon, our beloved Hispanic study abroad bhai, somehow interpreted that we were outside of an elephant reserve and the gate would not be open till 6:00 AM. He assured us that this “is a once in a lifetime experience” and that “this is unlike any slumber party” that he has ever been too. Those comforting words helped me fall asleep immediately.
Unfortunately I didn’t. Did I mention that we stopped around 3:30? For 2 and a half hours I had to somehow situate myself in an uncomfortable van seat that though reclined, somehow always ended up in the upright position in 2 minutes time.
During the 8-14 minutes that I estimate I slept, I had a strange dream about being on the van. Looking back, it may or may not have been a dream – the dream was about the van we were currently in. I think I was just hoping it was to trick myself into thinking that I slept.
When I did “wake up” I saw Manny outside with about 6 Indian people. I mumbled that Manny had run of with some guys, but no one responded, In actuality I probably A. mumbled the words so low rendering them unrecognizable or B. said it in my head – I was slowly losing touch with reality. I knew that sleep was not an option, so I grabbed my camera and followed Manny. I found him surrounded by around 15 people, who subsequently asked for me to take their picture with Manny. Suddenly he was surrounded by 20+ Indians all posing thug life style.
After the picture we peaced out immediately. The sun was rising so it had to have been around 6:00, we still had another 10 minutes but we needed to be ready…and away from the group of people who were now following me.
The early mornings in Karnataka/Tamil Nadu Elephant reserve was rather beautiful. Seeing the ecological variability was like experiencing an episode of Earth. Laugh if you must but let me explain myself, I’ve seen places like these on television and in National Geography, and it’s an amazing feeling to actually see that places like this do exist. I could hardly believe there existed sites this naturally beautiful and breathtaking. From this moment till the scary Boat Lake in Ooty, I had this reoccurring feeling.
We first went to this lookout that had a gorgeous view of the Ooty. The valley looked like a cross between Switzerland, the smokey mountains, with the colors of India thrown in. It was vast and wonderful. While waiting in line I was asked if someone could get a picture of me, this would happen again and again as the day went on…
Next we traveled to a tea factory, where we also discovered that the strange noise that sounded like our right tire going flat was actually the sound of our right tire going flat. As we went to explore the tea factory our trusty guide changed the tire right quick.
At this point everything sort of went down hill. We ended up at Ooty’s version of a tourist trap. The Thread Garden. This place, and experience, was equivalent to seeing the World Largest Ball of Yarn (why did I capitalize that?), I refused to pay the entrance fee – if they kick me out so be it. They didn’t even ask for it, we were just show a very strange garden that was apparently made out of thread. It looked cool. I wanted to leave.
We couldn’t leave though, the boys had decided to rent paddle boats
Let's begin on Saturday. Two boys and myself had been planning on traveling to Ooty for the whole week. They had told me that not only was it absolutely gorgeous, but it was where many Bollywood movies where shot. Needless to say, I was sold.
First things first, I googled the town to get the low down, see if it was worth the trip. Everything checked out, and I then googled bus tickets, bus leaves at 10:18 Saturday night, 8.5 hour trip. Perfect.
Then comes Saturday. Suddenly our trip of 3 people had grown to about 11. We had no real idea who was going, I just knew when we had to leave and where our destination was. Come 8:30 when we were all supposed to move out, Hari, Aleisha, and myself were told that we were not taking a bus to Ooty. In the passed couple of hours it had been decided that we were now taking a van, it would be 1050 Ruppees each (the bus ticket was 300), and we were leaving at 10:00. Okay. What could we do though? It’s India! I just went with the flow.
In true India fashion our driver didn’t show up till 10:45, I didn’t quite mind, I had just taken a Benydryl I expected to be out within the hour. What I did not expect, however, was that India loves speed bumps. See, in order for the Bangalore police force to do as little work as possible in enforcing the speed limit, the city instead puts literally thousands of speed bumps throughout and around the city. The benydryl may have made me incredibly drowsy, but every speed bump left my wide-eyed and confused. Every. Single. Speed bump.
If the speed bumps were not hell bent on denying me sleep, the 1998 Britney Spears in Hawaii video proved even more determined. At some point between Bangalore and Mysore the movie changed to Ratatouille then to Meet the Robinsons. Thankfully, the movie cut off close to the end, finally leaving us with a fair amount of silence.
I had no idea what time it was, about a week ago I decided to abandon the luxury of knowing the time, and opted out for merely knowing in passing or simply not knowing at all. All I know is that it was extremely dark outside when we drove up to a closed gate. I realized that it was extremely late when the van backed up. I realized that I would not be sleeping ever when the van was shut off and the driver dozed off.
Manny Moon, our beloved Hispanic study abroad bhai, somehow interpreted that we were outside of an elephant reserve and the gate would not be open till 6:00 AM. He assured us that this “is a once in a lifetime experience” and that “this is unlike any slumber party” that he has ever been too. Those comforting words helped me fall asleep immediately.
Unfortunately I didn’t. Did I mention that we stopped around 3:30? For 2 and a half hours I had to somehow situate myself in an uncomfortable van seat that though reclined, somehow always ended up in the upright position in 2 minutes time.
During the 8-14 minutes that I estimate I slept, I had a strange dream about being on the van. Looking back, it may or may not have been a dream – the dream was about the van we were currently in. I think I was just hoping it was to trick myself into thinking that I slept.
When I did “wake up” I saw Manny outside with about 6 Indian people. I mumbled that Manny had run of with some guys, but no one responded, In actuality I probably A. mumbled the words so low rendering them unrecognizable or B. said it in my head – I was slowly losing touch with reality. I knew that sleep was not an option, so I grabbed my camera and followed Manny. I found him surrounded by around 15 people, who subsequently asked for me to take their picture with Manny. Suddenly he was surrounded by 20+ Indians all posing thug life style.
After the picture we peaced out immediately. The sun was rising so it had to have been around 6:00, we still had another 10 minutes but we needed to be ready…and away from the group of people who were now following me.
The early mornings in Karnataka/Tamil Nadu Elephant reserve was rather beautiful. Seeing the ecological variability was like experiencing an episode of Earth. Laugh if you must but let me explain myself, I’ve seen places like these on television and in National Geography, and it’s an amazing feeling to actually see that places like this do exist. I could hardly believe there existed sites this naturally beautiful and breathtaking. From this moment till the scary Boat Lake in Ooty, I had this reoccurring feeling.
We first went to this lookout that had a gorgeous view of the Ooty. The valley looked like a cross between Switzerland, the smokey mountains, with the colors of India thrown in. It was vast and wonderful. While waiting in line I was asked if someone could get a picture of me, this would happen again and again as the day went on…
Next we traveled to a tea factory, where we also discovered that the strange noise that sounded like our right tire going flat was actually the sound of our right tire going flat. As we went to explore the tea factory our trusty guide changed the tire right quick.
At this point everything sort of went down hill. We ended up at Ooty’s version of a tourist trap. The Thread Garden. This place, and experience, was equivalent to seeing the World Largest Ball of Yarn (why did I capitalize that?), I refused to pay the entrance fee – if they kick me out so be it. They didn’t even ask for it, we were just show a very strange garden that was apparently made out of thread. It looked cool. I wanted to leave.
We couldn’t leave though, the boys had decided to rent paddle boats
Saturday, June 5, 2010
I still love mangos
Wednesday June 2, 2010
I have two library books due in 2 days. They’re sitting next to me right now, in India. Probably should have thought this through a bit more, I can renew the books. If I renew them Friday I’ll have 3 weeks to return them. To bad in 3 weeks I’ll still be in India. I can try to renew them again after that, but I’m assuming there’s probably some type or restriction there. Looks like I’ll be a little in the hole when I get back to the states.
Today I finally got internet access at Christ University! Bad news, Christ University does not allow you to go on facebook (seriously? Is this high school), but hell atleast I can go on twitter, check my e-mail, see that I have late fees slowly accumulating…and of course discover that I’m allergic to the sap on mango skin! For the past two days there has been this strange, bumpy, rash around my mouth causing my already large lips to swell to duck like proportions – try to imagine that shit. I thought about everything I have eaten or drank in the past couple of days, trying to pinpoint anything out of the ordinary that would have caused this type of reaction. I deduced that it was probably the banana chips I had eaten the other day, either the Indian bananas or the coconut oil that were fried in. Secretly I wished neither because A. I love bananas B. I love coconut everything more than I love bananas.
Well thankfully I got the interenet and the power of google was in my hands. I googled “itchy, red rash around mouth India” the first site said “mango allergy”, I thought this was absurd I had been eating mangos like candy since I had arrived in India. However, after reading though the site I found that many people whom are allergic to poison ivy (hey, that’s me!) are also allergic to the skin of mangos. The same type of chemical is found on both. Who would of thought? Most people would have been pissed, definitely when someone had told them about her mom being allergic to both mangos and poison ivy 2 days previously, but me. No. It’s going to take more than allergic reactions, two days of 101 temperature, mosquito bites, lower back pain, bad hair days everyday, and cockroachs to make me hate this place. I still love it here. I can’t wait till I wake up with no ailments so I can fully appreciate it.
I have two library books due in 2 days. They’re sitting next to me right now, in India. Probably should have thought this through a bit more, I can renew the books. If I renew them Friday I’ll have 3 weeks to return them. To bad in 3 weeks I’ll still be in India. I can try to renew them again after that, but I’m assuming there’s probably some type or restriction there. Looks like I’ll be a little in the hole when I get back to the states.
Today I finally got internet access at Christ University! Bad news, Christ University does not allow you to go on facebook (seriously? Is this high school), but hell atleast I can go on twitter, check my e-mail, see that I have late fees slowly accumulating…and of course discover that I’m allergic to the sap on mango skin! For the past two days there has been this strange, bumpy, rash around my mouth causing my already large lips to swell to duck like proportions – try to imagine that shit. I thought about everything I have eaten or drank in the past couple of days, trying to pinpoint anything out of the ordinary that would have caused this type of reaction. I deduced that it was probably the banana chips I had eaten the other day, either the Indian bananas or the coconut oil that were fried in. Secretly I wished neither because A. I love bananas B. I love coconut everything more than I love bananas.
Well thankfully I got the interenet and the power of google was in my hands. I googled “itchy, red rash around mouth India” the first site said “mango allergy”, I thought this was absurd I had been eating mangos like candy since I had arrived in India. However, after reading though the site I found that many people whom are allergic to poison ivy (hey, that’s me!) are also allergic to the skin of mangos. The same type of chemical is found on both. Who would of thought? Most people would have been pissed, definitely when someone had told them about her mom being allergic to both mangos and poison ivy 2 days previously, but me. No. It’s going to take more than allergic reactions, two days of 101 temperature, mosquito bites, lower back pain, bad hair days everyday, and cockroachs to make me hate this place. I still love it here. I can’t wait till I wake up with no ailments so I can fully appreciate it.
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