Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
A Little Overdue
Hello everyone. I apologize for not posting in awhile but things have been crazy so I'll go ahead and cut to the chase.
Travel Break
Well, the plan for our week long travel break was originally to go to the Valley of Flowers but there was a little problem with that. The monsoons had been sooo bad up in the north that buses and cars were sliding off the cliffs and plunging like 3,000ft down. So yea, that was a no go. The next suggestion on the list was Rajasthan aka the Land of the Kings and indeed it was.
When you think of deserts in India, Rajasthan is the place that comes to mind. It's very hot and dry, but incredibly beautiful in its own way. So the game plan was to go from Lucknow to Delhi to Jaipur (pick up two friends from the CLS Hindi program) to Mt. Abu to Jodhpur to Lucknow. Yes, we essentially made this HUGE triangle across the country but it was totally worth it.
The first leg of the journey was by train from Lucknow to Delhi. If you didn't know, India has the LARGEST rail system in the world. People travel by train here like we do by car in the States. The hardest part about traveling in India is that you have to get your plans together early. Tickets usually sell out 2 weeks prior to your travel date, and you really want confirmed tickets. There is a way of traveling on the train without a confirmed seat but it's not the most enjoyable. So our first leg consisted of us traveling in the Sleeper Car aka a very cheap ticket because that was all they had left. This was an overnight train to Delhi so the benches in the sleeper car folded down to make three bunks per side. The only misconception I had was that this car had AC.... it didn't. It really wasn't that bad though. During the day time it was a little warm until the train got up to full speed. Once that happened, there was a lot of circulation throughout the train car. This was one of those train cars where people without confirmed tickets generally cram in and find a seat somewhere. The little area we were sitting in was designed for 6 people and we generally had 6-8 at all times. When the sun went down and it was time to sleep on your bunk, that's when all the interesting things happened.
In this rail car, it is definitely not safe at all to leave your stuff unattended. Especially at night when you are sleeping. I had my big camping backpack with me (the only bag I brought for the week) and had to figure out a way to sleep with it in the middle rack. It was by far the worst spooning session of my life. My problem was minor compared to another counterpart on our trip that had to sleep with another person in her bed!!
In the weeks leading up to this trip, I was booking all the tickets on my card and people were joining our group and leaving our group constantly. This resulted in me not being able to get everyone in our party together in the same seating section. When my friend Tabby told me that she wanted to come with us, the best thing I could do for her was to put her in the all female section. Well, some older women came to that section and took all the bottom and middle bunks. They probably hadn't paid for the tickets but you can't be disrespectful to them. So all the younger girls were pushed to the top two bunks, thus Tabby ended up sharing her bed with another girl for part of the night. I'm kind of glad I had such a big bag with me (even if it was the size of a small person) because no one was going to be able to fit in that bed with me and my bag.
We make it to Delhi and successfully make it to the other tiny station in Delhi to catch our train for Jaipur. Lets just say this train was like night and day. We were in the 3AC class which is the same as sleeper except with AC and it was soo nice. It's cut off from the other cars (ie the sleeper cars) so you don't have as many "lost" people walking around looking for seats. You also don't have to deal with beggars that populate the lower class cars. Anyway, the ride to Jaipur was uneventful and everything is wonderful.
After getting a wonderful nights sleep, we meet up with our friends Rhea and Rachel that are studying Hindi in Jaipur. We do some sight seeing in the morning, Jaipur is known as the Pink City because of all the pretty sandstone used, and met them at their institute for lunch. It was very nice to see all the counterparts we became friends with in DC and Delhi but hadn't seen since we went our separate paths. That evening we get a nice meal and catch our overnight bus to Mt. Abu.
Let me go ahead and say that buses are not fun at all. I've never been able to sleep on a bus, and this remained true here in India. There were so many bumps and things in the road that the constant up and down motion just keeps you awake. I even took a Tylenol PM and it didn't do a thing. I probably should have taken two pills to really knock myself out, but I know now for next time. Regardless, all my grumbling went away once we approached the base of Mt. Abu.
Mt. Abu is one of those special places that I will remember vividly for all of my life. Imagine in the middle of desert a mountainous plateau with rich green foliage, tall trees, and India's largest man made lake on top. The ascent in the bus was mesmerizing. I seriously could not figure out if I was in Jurasic Park, Narnia, or Pandora. It looked and felt like something out of a movie. It was the best decision of the entire trip to spend 3 full days in Mt. Abu so we could truly explore the place.
It's 745am when we arrive and we begin our hunt for a hotel. In these remote locations, hotels are not advertised on the internet so you just have to find them when you arrive. Rachel had a suggestion written down from the Lonely Planet book (a wonderful book about places to see, places to stay, where to eat, etc) and the recommendation was right on. We found a simple hotel that was dirt cheap. The room for Kevin and I was 400 rupees a night. That's $8.90 a night. Oh yea, divide that by two to get the price per person. Besides the cheap prices for the hotel, it's location was superb, right in the middle of the town. It also had a wonderful little restaurant that served breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and had the BEST tour guide ever.
Our tour guide's name was Ashok, and lets just say that Kevin and I will never forget him. The first day we get there, we did his free sunset tour that he leads every evening. Kevin and I did some exploring of the mountains earlier that day and thought we knew where Ashok was going to take us. We were totally wrong.
This hike which was a lot more physically strenuous than I thought it would be, was awesome. While the clouds did not work in our favor to observe the sunset, the view was incredible from the ledge we were sitting on. We could see all of the town, the lake, and even where the mountains drop off of the plateau and back down the plains.
The next day we hired Ashok to take us on a half day hike all in the mountains. It was without a doubt the best part of the entire trip. We climbed all the local peaks, went caving in 3 caves, and visited 4 temples. It was seriously mind blowing. Ashok has been exploring these mountains and caves since he was 8 and he was in his late 20's. On top of teaching us about the land surrounding Mt Abu, Ashok also taught Kevin and I about local delicacies and Indian life lessons. Unfortunately, none of it is information appropriate to share on the internet. Sorry folks.
After the exhausting hike, we take a nap in the afternoon during the warm time of the day and prepare for an evening walking around the town. The climate in Mt Abu was incredible. In the early morning it was actually very cool as the mists/clouds rolled through the town. We were all so relieved to be away from the heat!! That evening we walked around, stopping in a lot of the local shops to see what they had to offer, and enjoyed some wonderful soft serve ice cream. It's funny but I normally don't eat too many sweets when I am at school. Every now and then I may crave something, but here, I've been a wreck. Whenever we go out, all I want is ICE CREAM!! It sucks that it's dirt cheap here too! Something that would be $3-4 is just less than $1 here. How can you say no to that? Haha. I haven't. Every time Kevin and I go to the mall in Lucknow, we always stop at McDonalds and get an ice cream since it is so wonderful and cheap. It also didn't help that there were just as many ice cream shops along the main strip as there were stores.
The next day, we decide to be a little adventurous. We had seen the mountains as the sun was setting so we decided to see the sunrise from the mountain top. We woke up at 430am with flashlights and headlamps in hand and set off for the far side of the lake to a local peak Kevin and I knew about. We get to the top by 530 and plop down to listen to the world wake up. There was a better spot that we wanted to go to but it was too dark to get there so we had to wait until the beginning of the first lights. Sitting in our first spot was incredible though. One of my all time favorite things in life is listening to the world wake up. It truly is a symphony as the sun gets closer to coming over the horizon. The first thing we had that morning were the trees gently swaying in the wind and the constant dripping sound of mist condensing on the foliage. Next came the crickets and other insects. Then the birds, the other animals, and then the humans. It was amazing how you could identify the beginning of each part. Especially when the crickets begin because it's COMPLETELY silent and then
instantly they all start at the same time. I swear it was like the conductor stood up and they all started at once.
As the first light started to come over the horizon, we moved to the higher peak just a few hundred meters away from where we were. This spot was awesome because we were in between two valleys and could see the mist rolling in on both sides. As more and more light began to shine into the valley with the lake, it was awesome to see the town appear and then disappear with the thick shroud of mist.
What a wonderful way to start the day. It was very refreshing to be up there so early. The rest of the day was very interesting. We had discovered while we were there that Mt. Abu is the honeymoon spot in India. It's off the regular tourist path so we were like the ONLY white people there which was awesome for the most part. It was unbelievable how many people asked me to get in a photo with them. That afternoon we took a taxi up to the highest mountain peak in all of Rajasthan (all of Southwest India) and that was awesome. Even though dark storm clouds loomed over us the entire time, the view was awesome. Prior to reaching the peak, we had a first hand taste of a traffic accident in India.
As you can imagine, the roads are small in India, especially going up the mountain and they aren't always the most maintained. Well, there were two guys on a motorcycle and they came around a corner too fast. The driver lost control of the bike and laid it down its side. This was a Godsend for these two gents. The sand/gravel pulled them away from the bike as it was sliding on its side just as we were coming around the corner. I was in the process of taking a picture as our jeep impacted with the motorcycle which was ridiculously scary because everything was happening in my peripheral vision. There was a very loud BANG/CRUNCH and then the screech of our jeep's brakes. The jeeps that they use for taxis here are seriously built like tanks. The metal bumper on the front didn't even have a dent. The bike though... demolished into individual pieces. The driver and passenger were lucky that they were about 12-15 feet from where our jeep impacted with the bike. The next couple of moments happened in a blur of action but exactly how it should have. As our jeep skidded to a stop and I quickly assessed that no one was hurt in our jeep, I was jumping out the back, going to these guys that I had thought were still on the bike as it impacted with us. It's amazing how all those instincts you learn in medical training never leave you. I had seen and worked in a situation very similar to this where a woman riding across a street at the beach got hit by a car, but it wasn't a head on collision like this was and it wasn't at nearly the same speeds. As I rounded the corner of the jeep and saw these two guys like 15 feet away from our jeep, I was very very relieved. They were able to get to their feet which was a good sign. They had lacerations on their heads and all over (neither were wearing a helmet) but were stable. About as quickly as I had jumped out of the jeep and surveyed the situation, a lot of cars began to stop all around us. The driver pulled me back to the jeep very quickly and we hastily drove away. I was very very confused about this and later asked the hotel owner why we did this once we got back. As we drove away though, I had that familiar adrenaline rush/ heart pounding that I got every time we had a real medical call. I missed it. I missed the unknown nature of going on a med call and not knowing what we were getting into it. It was that rare chance to make a significant difference in someone's life and allow them live another day that I lived for.
When we returned to the hotel I asked the owner about the driver quickly hustling me back into the jeep and to my surprise, his answer was this; if we were the ones at fault and killed one of them, we quite possibly could have been killed by the crowd that accumulated around the accident. I was like, "WHATTT!!!!!!" I was prepared to save lives, not defend my own. It was seriously one of the most interesting things I had ever heard but this is a place where stuff like that happens. When you are that far out in the countryside, laws made by lawmaking bodies don't really apply.
While I probably just made that car/motorcycle wreck seem like a huge deal, it didn't really put too much of a damper on the rest of our day. We went out and had a wonderful last dinner and Mount Abu and prepared to say goodbye as we headed out to Jodphur the next day.
We successfully caught the bus that took us down the mountain to the train station and then caught the train to take us to Jodphur. We arrive in Jodphur that afternoon and are greeted with very bleak and dark skies. We were only staying in Jodphur for the night and were leaving the next morning early for Lucknow. After we found another lovely hotel, we started to venture out to see some of the city when the skies opened up. Supposedly, that was the first rains they had received all summer and let me tell you, it rained. It rained and rained and rained. All afternoon and all night. We were in this restaurant while it was raining, which we thought was a good idea since we were out of the rain, but it took forever for them to get us our food. We probably spent 3 hours sitting there, waiting for our food, and talking in the candlelight. It was a great way to spend the evening though, just relaxing since we would have a long day of travel back to Lucknow. The train ride was listed as 17 hours, but trains in India are always late or take longer than they are listed.
The greatest thing about our return trip was that we were able to upgrade and get seats in 3AC. The 17 hour trip in the Sleeper Car would not have been fun. The return journey went without a hitch and we arrived to Lucknow at 4am. I waited till 6am in the train station reading a magazine and then got a rickshaw to my auntie's place.
Without question, this was the MOST successful trip I have ever planned/ executed. Nothing went wrong. We never had to rush to catch a train or a bus. We never felt worried or unnerved about finding a hotel room. It was absolutely perfect. I think it's because it was vacation. We knew we had to be back by Sunday (one week from when we departed) and everything that happened in between were just minor details.
Travel Break
Well, the plan for our week long travel break was originally to go to the Valley of Flowers but there was a little problem with that. The monsoons had been sooo bad up in the north that buses and cars were sliding off the cliffs and plunging like 3,000ft down. So yea, that was a no go. The next suggestion on the list was Rajasthan aka the Land of the Kings and indeed it was.
When you think of deserts in India, Rajasthan is the place that comes to mind. It's very hot and dry, but incredibly beautiful in its own way. So the game plan was to go from Lucknow to Delhi to Jaipur (pick up two friends from the CLS Hindi program) to Mt. Abu to Jodhpur to Lucknow. Yes, we essentially made this HUGE triangle across the country but it was totally worth it.
The first leg of the journey was by train from Lucknow to Delhi. If you didn't know, India has the LARGEST rail system in the world. People travel by train here like we do by car in the States. The hardest part about traveling in India is that you have to get your plans together early. Tickets usually sell out 2 weeks prior to your travel date, and you really want confirmed tickets. There is a way of traveling on the train without a confirmed seat but it's not the most enjoyable. So our first leg consisted of us traveling in the Sleeper Car aka a very cheap ticket because that was all they had left. This was an overnight train to Delhi so the benches in the sleeper car folded down to make three bunks per side. The only misconception I had was that this car had AC.... it didn't. It really wasn't that bad though. During the day time it was a little warm until the train got up to full speed. Once that happened, there was a lot of circulation throughout the train car. This was one of those train cars where people without confirmed tickets generally cram in and find a seat somewhere. The little area we were sitting in was designed for 6 people and we generally had 6-8 at all times. When the sun went down and it was time to sleep on your bunk, that's when all the interesting things happened.
In this rail car, it is definitely not safe at all to leave your stuff unattended. Especially at night when you are sleeping. I had my big camping backpack with me (the only bag I brought for the week) and had to figure out a way to sleep with it in the middle rack. It was by far the worst spooning session of my life. My problem was minor compared to another counterpart on our trip that had to sleep with another person in her bed!!
In the weeks leading up to this trip, I was booking all the tickets on my card and people were joining our group and leaving our group constantly. This resulted in me not being able to get everyone in our party together in the same seating section. When my friend Tabby told me that she wanted to come with us, the best thing I could do for her was to put her in the all female section. Well, some older women came to that section and took all the bottom and middle bunks. They probably hadn't paid for the tickets but you can't be disrespectful to them. So all the younger girls were pushed to the top two bunks, thus Tabby ended up sharing her bed with another girl for part of the night. I'm kind of glad I had such a big bag with me (even if it was the size of a small person) because no one was going to be able to fit in that bed with me and my bag.
We make it to Delhi and successfully make it to the other tiny station in Delhi to catch our train for Jaipur. Lets just say this train was like night and day. We were in the 3AC class which is the same as sleeper except with AC and it was soo nice. It's cut off from the other cars (ie the sleeper cars) so you don't have as many "lost" people walking around looking for seats. You also don't have to deal with beggars that populate the lower class cars. Anyway, the ride to Jaipur was uneventful and everything is wonderful.
After getting a wonderful nights sleep, we meet up with our friends Rhea and Rachel that are studying Hindi in Jaipur. We do some sight seeing in the morning, Jaipur is known as the Pink City because of all the pretty sandstone used, and met them at their institute for lunch. It was very nice to see all the counterparts we became friends with in DC and Delhi but hadn't seen since we went our separate paths. That evening we get a nice meal and catch our overnight bus to Mt. Abu.
Let me go ahead and say that buses are not fun at all. I've never been able to sleep on a bus, and this remained true here in India. There were so many bumps and things in the road that the constant up and down motion just keeps you awake. I even took a Tylenol PM and it didn't do a thing. I probably should have taken two pills to really knock myself out, but I know now for next time. Regardless, all my grumbling went away once we approached the base of Mt. Abu.
Mt. Abu is one of those special places that I will remember vividly for all of my life. Imagine in the middle of desert a mountainous plateau with rich green foliage, tall trees, and India's largest man made lake on top. The ascent in the bus was mesmerizing. I seriously could not figure out if I was in Jurasic Park, Narnia, or Pandora. It looked and felt like something out of a movie. It was the best decision of the entire trip to spend 3 full days in Mt. Abu so we could truly explore the place.
It's 745am when we arrive and we begin our hunt for a hotel. In these remote locations, hotels are not advertised on the internet so you just have to find them when you arrive. Rachel had a suggestion written down from the Lonely Planet book (a wonderful book about places to see, places to stay, where to eat, etc) and the recommendation was right on. We found a simple hotel that was dirt cheap. The room for Kevin and I was 400 rupees a night. That's $8.90 a night. Oh yea, divide that by two to get the price per person. Besides the cheap prices for the hotel, it's location was superb, right in the middle of the town. It also had a wonderful little restaurant that served breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and had the BEST tour guide ever.
Our tour guide's name was Ashok, and lets just say that Kevin and I will never forget him. The first day we get there, we did his free sunset tour that he leads every evening. Kevin and I did some exploring of the mountains earlier that day and thought we knew where Ashok was going to take us. We were totally wrong.
This hike which was a lot more physically strenuous than I thought it would be, was awesome. While the clouds did not work in our favor to observe the sunset, the view was incredible from the ledge we were sitting on. We could see all of the town, the lake, and even where the mountains drop off of the plateau and back down the plains.
The next day we hired Ashok to take us on a half day hike all in the mountains. It was without a doubt the best part of the entire trip. We climbed all the local peaks, went caving in 3 caves, and visited 4 temples. It was seriously mind blowing. Ashok has been exploring these mountains and caves since he was 8 and he was in his late 20's. On top of teaching us about the land surrounding Mt Abu, Ashok also taught Kevin and I about local delicacies and Indian life lessons. Unfortunately, none of it is information appropriate to share on the internet. Sorry folks.
After the exhausting hike, we take a nap in the afternoon during the warm time of the day and prepare for an evening walking around the town. The climate in Mt Abu was incredible. In the early morning it was actually very cool as the mists/clouds rolled through the town. We were all so relieved to be away from the heat!! That evening we walked around, stopping in a lot of the local shops to see what they had to offer, and enjoyed some wonderful soft serve ice cream. It's funny but I normally don't eat too many sweets when I am at school. Every now and then I may crave something, but here, I've been a wreck. Whenever we go out, all I want is ICE CREAM!! It sucks that it's dirt cheap here too! Something that would be $3-4 is just less than $1 here. How can you say no to that? Haha. I haven't. Every time Kevin and I go to the mall in Lucknow, we always stop at McDonalds and get an ice cream since it is so wonderful and cheap. It also didn't help that there were just as many ice cream shops along the main strip as there were stores.
The next day, we decide to be a little adventurous. We had seen the mountains as the sun was setting so we decided to see the sunrise from the mountain top. We woke up at 430am with flashlights and headlamps in hand and set off for the far side of the lake to a local peak Kevin and I knew about. We get to the top by 530 and plop down to listen to the world wake up. There was a better spot that we wanted to go to but it was too dark to get there so we had to wait until the beginning of the first lights. Sitting in our first spot was incredible though. One of my all time favorite things in life is listening to the world wake up. It truly is a symphony as the sun gets closer to coming over the horizon. The first thing we had that morning were the trees gently swaying in the wind and the constant dripping sound of mist condensing on the foliage. Next came the crickets and other insects. Then the birds, the other animals, and then the humans. It was amazing how you could identify the beginning of each part. Especially when the crickets begin because it's COMPLETELY silent and then
instantly they all start at the same time. I swear it was like the conductor stood up and they all started at once.
As the first light started to come over the horizon, we moved to the higher peak just a few hundred meters away from where we were. This spot was awesome because we were in between two valleys and could see the mist rolling in on both sides. As more and more light began to shine into the valley with the lake, it was awesome to see the town appear and then disappear with the thick shroud of mist.
What a wonderful way to start the day. It was very refreshing to be up there so early. The rest of the day was very interesting. We had discovered while we were there that Mt. Abu is the honeymoon spot in India. It's off the regular tourist path so we were like the ONLY white people there which was awesome for the most part. It was unbelievable how many people asked me to get in a photo with them. That afternoon we took a taxi up to the highest mountain peak in all of Rajasthan (all of Southwest India) and that was awesome. Even though dark storm clouds loomed over us the entire time, the view was awesome. Prior to reaching the peak, we had a first hand taste of a traffic accident in India.
As you can imagine, the roads are small in India, especially going up the mountain and they aren't always the most maintained. Well, there were two guys on a motorcycle and they came around a corner too fast. The driver lost control of the bike and laid it down its side. This was a Godsend for these two gents. The sand/gravel pulled them away from the bike as it was sliding on its side just as we were coming around the corner. I was in the process of taking a picture as our jeep impacted with the motorcycle which was ridiculously scary because everything was happening in my peripheral vision. There was a very loud BANG/CRUNCH and then the screech of our jeep's brakes. The jeeps that they use for taxis here are seriously built like tanks. The metal bumper on the front didn't even have a dent. The bike though... demolished into individual pieces. The driver and passenger were lucky that they were about 12-15 feet from where our jeep impacted with the bike. The next couple of moments happened in a blur of action but exactly how it should have. As our jeep skidded to a stop and I quickly assessed that no one was hurt in our jeep, I was jumping out the back, going to these guys that I had thought were still on the bike as it impacted with us. It's amazing how all those instincts you learn in medical training never leave you. I had seen and worked in a situation very similar to this where a woman riding across a street at the beach got hit by a car, but it wasn't a head on collision like this was and it wasn't at nearly the same speeds. As I rounded the corner of the jeep and saw these two guys like 15 feet away from our jeep, I was very very relieved. They were able to get to their feet which was a good sign. They had lacerations on their heads and all over (neither were wearing a helmet) but were stable. About as quickly as I had jumped out of the jeep and surveyed the situation, a lot of cars began to stop all around us. The driver pulled me back to the jeep very quickly and we hastily drove away. I was very very confused about this and later asked the hotel owner why we did this once we got back. As we drove away though, I had that familiar adrenaline rush/ heart pounding that I got every time we had a real medical call. I missed it. I missed the unknown nature of going on a med call and not knowing what we were getting into it. It was that rare chance to make a significant difference in someone's life and allow them live another day that I lived for.
When we returned to the hotel I asked the owner about the driver quickly hustling me back into the jeep and to my surprise, his answer was this; if we were the ones at fault and killed one of them, we quite possibly could have been killed by the crowd that accumulated around the accident. I was like, "WHATTT!!!!!!" I was prepared to save lives, not defend my own. It was seriously one of the most interesting things I had ever heard but this is a place where stuff like that happens. When you are that far out in the countryside, laws made by lawmaking bodies don't really apply.
While I probably just made that car/motorcycle wreck seem like a huge deal, it didn't really put too much of a damper on the rest of our day. We went out and had a wonderful last dinner and Mount Abu and prepared to say goodbye as we headed out to Jodphur the next day.
We successfully caught the bus that took us down the mountain to the train station and then caught the train to take us to Jodphur. We arrive in Jodphur that afternoon and are greeted with very bleak and dark skies. We were only staying in Jodphur for the night and were leaving the next morning early for Lucknow. After we found another lovely hotel, we started to venture out to see some of the city when the skies opened up. Supposedly, that was the first rains they had received all summer and let me tell you, it rained. It rained and rained and rained. All afternoon and all night. We were in this restaurant while it was raining, which we thought was a good idea since we were out of the rain, but it took forever for them to get us our food. We probably spent 3 hours sitting there, waiting for our food, and talking in the candlelight. It was a great way to spend the evening though, just relaxing since we would have a long day of travel back to Lucknow. The train ride was listed as 17 hours, but trains in India are always late or take longer than they are listed.
The greatest thing about our return trip was that we were able to upgrade and get seats in 3AC. The 17 hour trip in the Sleeper Car would not have been fun. The return journey went without a hitch and we arrived to Lucknow at 4am. I waited till 6am in the train station reading a magazine and then got a rickshaw to my auntie's place.
Without question, this was the MOST successful trip I have ever planned/ executed. Nothing went wrong. We never had to rush to catch a train or a bus. We never felt worried or unnerved about finding a hotel room. It was absolutely perfect. I think it's because it was vacation. We knew we had to be back by Sunday (one week from when we departed) and everything that happened in between were just minor details.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Monsoon season is officially here
I think the best purchases I made in the States before I came over were my waterproof sandals and Marmot rain jacket. It is so light weight and seriously perfect for the sporadic rains that we are now having. I'm in love. Especially because I can continue walking home from school while the rest of India has to find a dry spot under a tree or overhang.
Agra over the Weekend
Over the weekend, ten of us decided that we wanted to do some tourist activities here, so we hired a car service (a must in India because 95% of Americans or really like 80% of the world wouldn't be able to handle the driving here) and drove 8 hours to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. We drove throughout the evening and checked in to our hotel by 1 am after having to ask local rickshaw wallas where this place was. Before we dispersed for some shuteye, the BEST possible idea arose. Why don't we wake up at 5am and go see the Taj?
After we walked through the gates, all I could say was wow. It was truly a spectacular sight. Our guide was awesome and took us to all the great photo locations on the grounds. He was also super knowledgeable. Something interesting was that we had to either go barefoot or wear shoe covers while we walked immediately next to the monument. I wasn't really expecting that but it was great to see the government trying to preserve this historical gem. I was pleased to say the least.
Our tour continues and then some friends ask me if I can take one of those cool pictures where everyone is jumping in the air. Ironically enough, I had just read something in one of my books on how to setup the camera to get a shot like that. It was quite easily a photographers dream moment. I'm glad I read that tidbit in my book or else I would have missed out on a cool photo opportunity.
It's now 845ish and I can now put a check in the box for seeing the Taj Mahal. We thank our tour guide profusely for his help, and then he surprises us with a wonderful place to eat breakfast called Joney's Place. This place was unreal. A hole in the wall diner with 4 tables that could probably sit 16-18 max. The food at this place was to die for though. They had omelets the size of the entire plate, dessert pancakes, lassis, french toast, and best of all egg sandwiches which were the biggest hit amongst the group. And did I mention that it was CHEAP!?! The egg sandwiches were only Rs20. That's like 44 cents by the way, and we ordered soooooo many. Travis alone had 4 sandwiches all to himself. Can you really beat being stuffed beyond imaginable for only $1.76? My order kind of went down like this. First I had two honey dessert pancakes. Then an omelet and finished it off with an egg sandwich. Not too shabby for $2. We definitely made it a point to come back again on Sunday.
So we go back to the hotel, get our stuff and walk to the other hotel that we would be spending the night at Saturday night. We took a nap during the hottest part of the day (in which everyone thought it would be funny to get a picture of me dozing in and out, curled up on my bed with my shoes on) and then visited Agra Fort. This fort was bigger than anything I had ever seen. We drove around it the night before and it seriously took like 5 solid minutes to drive around the entire thing and the road was right next to it. The history of the fort was very interesting because I would have never thought that it was captured by another group because of its vast size. I was wrong though. The fort was actually captured after they ran out of water because of the duration of a siege.Well, we ended our day in Agra by exploring a local market (it was pretty comparable to the one's in Lucknow) and then called it quits for the day.
The next day we ventured to Joney's Place for breakfast and then headed back to Lucknow. Agra = total success. The journey back was pretty interesting too. I was fully indoctrinated to Indian culture.... yes, you can let your imagination run wild with this one. Now it's time to get prepared for school which I really really enjoy. I'm learning so much. I personally can't even believe it.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Custom Made Clothes
So India is definitely known for its wide availability of custom made clothes and tailoring. Well, my auntie told me today that she has a tailor who can make me a suit from scratch if I provide the fabric. Here is the look that I'm going for... if I can find the fabric.
First two days of class and the first Saturday adventure
The first two days of have been incredible. They don't call it an "intensive" course just because it sounds good. I have four 1 hour classes Monday through Friday with two teachers that alternate each class. One of them is back from Columbia for the Summer and he says that my class of 3 people has made more progress in two days than he normally covers in 3 weeks at Columbia. Granted, I think it's because we only have 3 people in my Advanced Beginner class. It is going to be a shock when I get back to school and have 20 people in my class. I truly think I'm going to be upset about that. I really like the personal attention you get in a small class.
After school, the true adventures begin. The best have been shopping excursions for traditional garb (Kurtas) and a Tendulkar cricket jersey. My friend Kevin and I accidentally stumbled onto this place called Prince Market which was a big mistake. It's an inside market with tons of vendors selling nothing but men's clothes. Ridiculous. We couldn't walk anywhere without the entire row of vendors yelling in English, "Sir Sir, I have very nice thing for you. Just your size. Please come. Please Please come buy." Thankfully we made it out of there alive.
Then, we discovered the gold mine of all places in the basement of a store. When shopping for kurtas in India, you walk into a place, tell them your size and they start pulling down all sorts of interesting fabrics and patterns. So we are looking at all sorts interesting things, and then this one manikin catches my eye. It was dressed in wedding attire (I think), but it had this awesome hat on. So of course I ask the old man helping us about it and he asks, "Want to try it on?" Heck yes I want to try it on!!! My friend had told me earlier to shop for something Raja Joey would wear and this was definitely it. After looking at more kurtas that I didn't really like, I realized that the shirt I liked best was the one on the manikin. I try it on to make sure it fits (and it does. Perfectly), and then the old man says, "Another picture." This time I have the complete outfit on and look ridiculous.
On the way home from our shopping adventure, Kevin and I walk through this narrow streets lined with shops and vendors. Definitely what everyone associates as the epitome of Indian shopping/markets. As we are walking, we find a shop with cricket bats. We were shopping for them at a dedicated sports shop but decided to pass on the ones they had. Basically there are two types of cricket bats. Regulation ones and street ball/pickup game ones. The difference comes from the ball that you use. Regulation uses the hard ball while street games use tennis balls. We find an awesome bat for pickup games in this side shop and were able to negotiate a pretty good deal. We were definitely super excited about the purchase because it would open up a lot of opportunity to play with the local kids.
First Saturday Adventure
We had heard that everyone goes to the stadium to play cricket on Saturday's so Kevin and I meet up at the local stadium around 9. To our surprise, there were a TON of kids there, but they weren't playing cricket. They were practicing. When two white guys walk up holding a bat, all activity stops and everyone comes rushing over to us. We were overwhelmed. We learn that this is a club team and that they practice there on Saturdays from 6-12 and then 4-7. Yes, 9 hours of practice on Saturday. That's because cricket is now the fastest way to become a millionaire, and everyone dreams of the life cricket could afford them. Since they were a club team, they played with regulation balls so Kevin and I were unable to use the bat that we had just bought, but they showed us an area where we could practice. After about 2 hours of practicing, we get a call from Travis who wants to meet up and tour some of the sights.
Kevin and I get auto rickshaw and ask him to take us to Bara Imambara. We make it there successfully even though we didn't know it at first. Travis on the other hand got taken to some other Imambara. While we are waiting, we find out how much it is to tour the site. Rs. 300 for foreigners while it is only Rs 25 for natives. WHAT!!! We were shocked that it cost 12x more for foreigners. Travis got there shortly after we did and by that time we were starving. Rain was on its way so we were also keen on finding shelter. A security guard pulled us aside to sign a visitors log, and then pointed us towards the Chowk (market) to find food. Well, we needed shelter before we found food. So where did we go? The Lucknow Medical University.
It was a long shot, but we were like, "What the heck. It's worth a shot." So we are walking along the row of buildings and manage to walk straight into the Admin building. There, we ask a security guard where a nearby restaurant is. He walks inside a room and motions us in. Inside, we meet a man who happens to be one of the head administrators of the college. Super nice guy. We have tea with him and talk all about religion with him because he was a devout Christian looking to move to the states. You definitely don't meet many people like that.
After the rain was over, we were famished. We saw in a tourist brochure that there was a Pizza Hut! Unlike Pizza Hut in the US, Pizza Huts around the world are actually very nice sit down restaurants, so we decided we needed to visit. We find the main road and start walking towards the local shopping district where the Pizza Hut is when we decide to take a detour to see a monument by the river. This was probably the best decision we've made yet. We pull out our camera to take a picture of it, and then all of a sudden we see these kids rushing towards us. We were completely taken off guard, but all they wanted was to have their picture taken!!! So we take turns getting pictures with them, and then showing them what it looks like. They were having such a blast. It was funny how they kept shoving each other trying to become the center of attention in the photo. After a few minutes of photos, we decide to pull out the cricket bat. They go NUTS. Everyone here loves cricket. It's awesome. We begin to play with them until this one random dude walks up and takes the bat from one kid and they all run away as fast as they can. We were completely blown away. He had to be their boss, and he didn't seem happy that they weren't working. He spoiled our fun, so we decided to continue on to pizza hut.
We are back on the road walking to pizza hut when the rain begins to start again. This time we are without cover. So we find a rickshaw who is willing to take us and has a cover. The first problem was that our group consisted of three grown boys. Typically, you only fit two people in a rickshaw so kevin was squished in between/on top of me and Travis. The next problem was that our driver was old. We felt so bad for the guy. He struggled to move us. He only wanted Rs 30 (less than a dollar to take us about 15 min down the road), but we felt so bad that we gave him Rs 100. Definitely an unexpected surprise for him. We had made it to the mall and subsequently pizza hut.
Pizza hut was fabulous. Ridiculously cheap ( my medium pizza was only $3) and incredibly tasty. I thought it tasted better than it does in the states, but that's probably because I haven't had pizza in weeks. It was a great way to end an exhausting but awesome day in Lucknow.
After school, the true adventures begin. The best have been shopping excursions for traditional garb (Kurtas) and a Tendulkar cricket jersey. My friend Kevin and I accidentally stumbled onto this place called Prince Market which was a big mistake. It's an inside market with tons of vendors selling nothing but men's clothes. Ridiculous. We couldn't walk anywhere without the entire row of vendors yelling in English, "Sir Sir, I have very nice thing for you. Just your size. Please come. Please Please come buy." Thankfully we made it out of there alive.
Then, we discovered the gold mine of all places in the basement of a store. When shopping for kurtas in India, you walk into a place, tell them your size and they start pulling down all sorts of interesting fabrics and patterns. So we are looking at all sorts interesting things, and then this one manikin catches my eye. It was dressed in wedding attire (I think), but it had this awesome hat on. So of course I ask the old man helping us about it and he asks, "Want to try it on?" Heck yes I want to try it on!!! My friend had told me earlier to shop for something Raja Joey would wear and this was definitely it. After looking at more kurtas that I didn't really like, I realized that the shirt I liked best was the one on the manikin. I try it on to make sure it fits (and it does. Perfectly), and then the old man says, "Another picture." This time I have the complete outfit on and look ridiculous.
On the way home from our shopping adventure, Kevin and I walk through this narrow streets lined with shops and vendors. Definitely what everyone associates as the epitome of Indian shopping/markets. As we are walking, we find a shop with cricket bats. We were shopping for them at a dedicated sports shop but decided to pass on the ones they had. Basically there are two types of cricket bats. Regulation ones and street ball/pickup game ones. The difference comes from the ball that you use. Regulation uses the hard ball while street games use tennis balls. We find an awesome bat for pickup games in this side shop and were able to negotiate a pretty good deal. We were definitely super excited about the purchase because it would open up a lot of opportunity to play with the local kids.
First Saturday Adventure
We had heard that everyone goes to the stadium to play cricket on Saturday's so Kevin and I meet up at the local stadium around 9. To our surprise, there were a TON of kids there, but they weren't playing cricket. They were practicing. When two white guys walk up holding a bat, all activity stops and everyone comes rushing over to us. We were overwhelmed. We learn that this is a club team and that they practice there on Saturdays from 6-12 and then 4-7. Yes, 9 hours of practice on Saturday. That's because cricket is now the fastest way to become a millionaire, and everyone dreams of the life cricket could afford them. Since they were a club team, they played with regulation balls so Kevin and I were unable to use the bat that we had just bought, but they showed us an area where we could practice. After about 2 hours of practicing, we get a call from Travis who wants to meet up and tour some of the sights.
Kevin and I get auto rickshaw and ask him to take us to Bara Imambara. We make it there successfully even though we didn't know it at first. Travis on the other hand got taken to some other Imambara. While we are waiting, we find out how much it is to tour the site. Rs. 300 for foreigners while it is only Rs 25 for natives. WHAT!!! We were shocked that it cost 12x more for foreigners. Travis got there shortly after we did and by that time we were starving. Rain was on its way so we were also keen on finding shelter. A security guard pulled us aside to sign a visitors log, and then pointed us towards the Chowk (market) to find food. Well, we needed shelter before we found food. So where did we go? The Lucknow Medical University.
It was a long shot, but we were like, "What the heck. It's worth a shot." So we are walking along the row of buildings and manage to walk straight into the Admin building. There, we ask a security guard where a nearby restaurant is. He walks inside a room and motions us in. Inside, we meet a man who happens to be one of the head administrators of the college. Super nice guy. We have tea with him and talk all about religion with him because he was a devout Christian looking to move to the states. You definitely don't meet many people like that.
After the rain was over, we were famished. We saw in a tourist brochure that there was a Pizza Hut! Unlike Pizza Hut in the US, Pizza Huts around the world are actually very nice sit down restaurants, so we decided we needed to visit. We find the main road and start walking towards the local shopping district where the Pizza Hut is when we decide to take a detour to see a monument by the river. This was probably the best decision we've made yet. We pull out our camera to take a picture of it, and then all of a sudden we see these kids rushing towards us. We were completely taken off guard, but all they wanted was to have their picture taken!!! So we take turns getting pictures with them, and then showing them what it looks like. They were having such a blast. It was funny how they kept shoving each other trying to become the center of attention in the photo. After a few minutes of photos, we decide to pull out the cricket bat. They go NUTS. Everyone here loves cricket. It's awesome. We begin to play with them until this one random dude walks up and takes the bat from one kid and they all run away as fast as they can. We were completely blown away. He had to be their boss, and he didn't seem happy that they weren't working. He spoiled our fun, so we decided to continue on to pizza hut.
We are back on the road walking to pizza hut when the rain begins to start again. This time we are without cover. So we find a rickshaw who is willing to take us and has a cover. The first problem was that our group consisted of three grown boys. Typically, you only fit two people in a rickshaw so kevin was squished in between/on top of me and Travis. The next problem was that our driver was old. We felt so bad for the guy. He struggled to move us. He only wanted Rs 30 (less than a dollar to take us about 15 min down the road), but we felt so bad that we gave him Rs 100. Definitely an unexpected surprise for him. We had made it to the mall and subsequently pizza hut.
Pizza hut was fabulous. Ridiculously cheap ( my medium pizza was only $3) and incredibly tasty. I thought it tasted better than it does in the states, but that's probably because I haven't had pizza in weeks. It was a great way to end an exhausting but awesome day in Lucknow.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Meet and Greet / Institute Visit / Moving In
6/14/11
So I met my host family, actually host grandmomma, and she is totally sweet. She is an older Muslim lady that loves to COOK, and supposedly her cookin is awesome. She doesn’t know it yet because we only got to talk for about 3minutes but we are going to be spending a lot of the time in the kitchen together aka me learning how to make awesomeness.
Her apartment isn’t in the nicest part of town, but I’m definitely cool with that. There is a lot of local happenings going on all around with the street venders and shop owners. It will be fun to practice my Urdu with them and begin the quest of becoming master bargainer since everything is negotiable.
After I met with my host, we went back to the hotel and a few friends asked me to walk with them to the mall again. This time, I was able to find some helpful material to assist in my learning… KIDS MOVIES!! Haha. They are in Hindi with English subtitles. Even though I’m studying Urdu, the only glaring difference is in the script. Orally, Hindi and Urdu are essentially the same. I got a lot of weird looks from a little kid who was also looking around in the Kid’s movie sections but I don’t care. I get so many stares and looks with my long blonde hair that I’m used to the awkward attention now.
6/15/11
Today we had orientation at the institute. Finally, the last orientation I’ll have to sit in here. Of the 20 of us here, 8 will be in my beginning class. After lunch, we get to move in with our host families and then regular classes begin tomorrow. My biggest fear is that I have no idea where the institute is and where my host g-momma lives. Haha. The taxi drivers have been driving us around under the direction of people from the institute, but hopefully I figure it out pretty quickly. Tomorrow morning will be my first test, getting to school so I’ll write something about that because I’m sure it’s going to be an experience.
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