in a hurry for curry

last day - what to do?

2005-11-21T09:30:00.000-08:00

well, it's my last day in India. I'm a bit templed, mosqued, forted, and "touted" out, and figured i should spend the day shopping, as I've bought sadly few souvenirs (or gifts....sorry folks). BUT, i would really just love to spend the day eating the indian snacks, breads, curries, and sweets. i'll really miss the (good) food. luckily here in Delhi, it's possible to find non-white indian food, but it's still been hit or miss.

last night, i met a man (swiss) who have been in india / delhi for some time and he promises me a fantastic south indian restaurant. :) BONUS: he's a musician! originally did jazz, but having learned african and now indian music, is doing a fusion kind of music. i was treated to a guitar/sitar concert which was pretty amazing. he taught me things about indian music that i didn't understand when i went to previous concerts. a great way to finish my first trip here. he also will help me buy music CD's so i don't have to choose by cover art.

update - 19 nov 2005

2005-11-19T19:30:00.000-08:00

from agra (taj mahal), i went to Fatipur Sikri for a day, leaving the bulk of my luggage in Agra. from Fatipur Sikri, i wasn't quite sure what to do, where to go, how to spend my last five days.

the hotel man and a local suggested i go to neighboring town of Bharatpur and Deeg and relax my way to Delhi three days later. so, i did.

Went to Bharatpur where there is a Unesco Wildlife Preserve and stayted for three days.

I'm now in Delhi and leave for the states in two/three days.

See you all soon!
thanks for checking in.

335 Rps or a chai and beer

2005-11-19T19:25:00.000-08:00

from Agra, I went to a small town called Fatipur Sikri, which has an enormous fort (well, all the forts are enormous...) which was abandoned after only 7 years of use.
as usual, guides come up and want you to hire them for 85Rp, but i shied away from them. but after entering the huge gates and seeing all these things in the fort, i was wishing for a guide, since there was much to understand.

i approached several tourists to see if they wanted to share a guide, but they all ran away from me. then i knew i was in trouble, since the guides knew i wanted a guide and i had lost all bargaining power.

but then a man with very good english started talking to me and said he's paid by the fort holy family and doesn't need money. i could pay "as i wish". i didn't really believe him, but his english was very good, so i'd be willing to pay something.

off we went, and turns out, he just likes to hang out with tourists. he took me around the fort and showed me great views of the palace (which helped me avoid the special foreigner entrance fee of 250 Rps).

to finish off the evening, we shared a chai then a beer. all was very good.

religion - not a safe dinner topic.

2005-11-19T19:22:00.000-08:00

after Fatipur Sikri I wento Bharatpur, where there is a beautiful bird sanctuary. a native took me around and we spend the days half visiting temples and mosques, and some of the time visiting his friends and family (really enjoyed the family visit. finally met the ladies of india. they are all in the homes!)

anyhow, over dinner, we met a Brit (Theo), Frenchwoman, and Napalese. The conversation turned to religion (bad idea). Theo made the audacious statement that Islam should be obliterated since the Mulsims cause all the trouble. My friend happened to be Muslim so this struck a strident chord. After dinner, Mugeesh was somewhat upset that ignorance can lead to such misunderstanding.

The next day, we met up at his friends store where a local woman came in and chatted. Turns out she's Muslim. When she found out that I was American, she said, "i'll go to America as Bin Landen's sister and blow all the Americans up".

needless to say, it was my turn to be upset and shocked. Mugeesh tried his best to explain why i was upset and talk to the woman. not sure how much got relayed successfully, but we tried.

anyhow, i think that was the shock of my indian experience. hope that's all there will be.

BTW, felling all better. yeah!

bollywood ROCKS!

2005-11-14T12:20:00.000-08:00

last night, i had some time to kill in Jaipur after a day of sightseeing. seems the the cinema there is popular also with the tourists, so a British couple I met during the day and I decided to have a go at it.

the theater was beautiful in a bollywood kind of way. there was assign seating and we sat in the Ruby section, probably the front third of the theater.

the movie itself was really good. we could make out the whole plot and even caught some of the funny stuff. it seemed like it was loosely based on "one flew over the cookoo's nest" with some singing, dancing, and of course, love, thrown in. an interesting twists of plots here and there. very very good.

the audience chatters the whole time and there was never really complete silence, but the sound system blasted loudly enough to compensate. people's cell phones ring commonly, and they answer them! funny.

the thing that took us most by surprise was that at around 8pm (started at 6:30pm), people started leaving and the doors were opened. then the lights came on in hte middle of the film. well, it turns out that the bollywood films are so long (typically 3 hrs), there is intermission!

a great time indeed.

(i'm in Agra now, going to see the Taj Mahal tomorrow!)

putting spice back into my curry - 12 nov

2005-11-12T22:30:00.000-08:00

so, after 5 days of letting the intestinal bug run its course, i decided to try it the modern way, with DRUGS. DRUGS ARE AWESOME. after the third day, things were pretty much all systems go (or rather, stop :) ) and i could eat something other than rice and plain lentils. (the spices and cheese didn't make my life very pleasant for a while.

I'm back in Jaipur, returning from Pushkar. The camel fair was very fun, but only just started to get busy today. i was there for a half day, and that was enough of the crowds. while there, i met many camels (separate posting) and inhaled much desert dust.

i will be here in jaipur for two days, but then off to Agra, where the great Taj Mahal is. I've decided not to visit more of Rajastan, since i don't really want to deal with the dust (and scams). i will visit this area first next time :).

camel experience helpful

2005-11-12T22:25:00.000-08:00

since i was at the Camel Fair in Pushkar, of course, i had to ride a camel.

On the way to Pushkar, i met a wonderful couple from australia (Cheralynn and Chris). they introduced me to their hotel and we spent the days together when we all felt well (they were sick in Jaipur for 10 days!)

yesterday, being my last full day in Pushkar, i figured I had to ride a camel. oddly, this was the idea of all the tourists, as the fair was starting to get really fired up. never mind that camel drivers were begging for business the first two days that we were there, NOOOOO, I waited until my last day, when the crowds started to arrive.

so, charalynn and i ventured down to the main camel drag where we usually are mobbed by camel drivers. "camel for 150Rp?" "you want a camel ride?" but, instead, we walked down and only one person asked "camel? 300Rps only". we contined on, but managed to get one camel driver to take the two of us on one camel for 80 Rps.

we scoffed and continued, sure that we'd find a taker for the 50 Rps we had secured days ago. we walked to the end of the camel road and, despite there being 20,000 camels, NONE were available for riding! we were shocked. we ended up with our tail between our legs, going back, begging for the 80 Rp shared camel. by this time, the man was booked in 10 minutes for a 300Rp ride. He graciously offered a 10 minute free ride (donatation required). We jumped at the chance.

well, we spent probably half of our precious 10 minutes entertaining the locals with our lack of camel mounting experience. we were instructed to "lean back when the camel gets up". well, i didn't realize how much i had to lean back or for how long. before i knew it, i was catapulted foward as the camels rump rised first, and was clinging to the camel's neck. i wasnt' sure if i should let go and fall (it looked like a fair distance down) or try to scamble back to the seat, which also looked hopelessly far away. i was too immersed in my own troubles to realize that cheralynn had popped into my seat and was also struggling to get back to her seat.

there was uch screaming and yelling. the camel driver kept saying "lean back! lean back", but seeing as i was prone on the camel's neck, this was impossible.

we somehow managed to get into the seat an the camel continued to calmly rise.

we fixed our hair and looked around and all the locals had gathered to see our display. the camel driver looked at us and asked "you don't have much experience with camels?"

gee, was it that obvious. :P

ABOUT FACE!

2005-11-07T21:09:00.000-08:00

so after a long long train ride (again) from amritsar, i arrived in jaipur. i was planning to just stay one night and them move further west to Jaisalmer for a few days before heading back this way to catch the famed Pushkar Camel Fair which i've read runs from the 12-15 nov.

imagine my surprise when the taxi driver, Ali, told me that it starts on the 9th! the day after tomorrow! i decided to cancel my onward ticket and will go to Pushkar either tomorrow or the day after, depending on my energy.

since my energy is still quite low, i went around by auto (taxi) today. man, life is easy if you are willing to let go of some rupees. at this point, i could pour out rupees to make my life easy. every day i hope that i feel better, it just hasn't happened. those overnight train rides probably arent' the smartest thing.

since i really didn't see much in Jaipur (the pink city), i may have to come back here after pushkar before i go off for the final push to the Taj Mahal and Delhi.

update - 6 nov

2005-11-06T11:30:00.000-08:00

I'm just about to leave Amritsar, which is a small town in that state of Punjab, close to the Pakistani border. I'm off to the desert and colorful part of India, Rajistan, first visiting Jaipur, the pink city, and then Jaisalmer, where people do camel safaris.

that's just sick!

2005-11-06T11:29:00.000-08:00

so i think i've hit my low point. I managed to get sick from the lunch on the train from Varanasi to Amritsar. It was already a tough trip, being a good 23 hrs, and having food poising didn't help. All the other meals on the train have been excellent, but i guess my luck ran out. to top it off, i also got sick, as I've been fighting the onset of a cold since Kajuraho. i was not a happy camper on the train. I basically lived in the toilet. i'm pretty good at the indian way now though!

Amritsar is primarily Shiek religion state (Punjab state). It's an interesting religion which was born out of a distaste for the caste system and privelages of the higher caste.

After arriving in here, I saw the spectacular Golden Temple, but was feeling worn out so returned to the hotel at 3pm. I konked out and woke up at 11pm! only one thing to do at that hour, go to sleep! so i went to bed for real and slept until morning.

I could have seen more of Amritsar, but me energy was pretty low. It's been three days now, though, and I am finally starting to feel better. yeah.

can i have some bread with my butter?

2005-11-06T11:28:00.000-08:00

while i have really enjoyed the food (for the most part) here in india, i've had some difficulty in Amristar. Aside from dealing with food poising from before, i found it really hard to deal with how much butter they use in their dished here.

I had one meal that tasted only like butter, and everything glistened with oil. i understood why, when i walked out on the street and saw people melting slabs of butter on their nan bread. It must be about a tablespoon per piece of nan. with my unhappy digestive system, all this grease didn't appeal to me.

it's odd, since punjabi food is kind of famous. in fact, it's where most of the indian food we get n the states comes from. like chicken tikki masala, palak paneer, aloo gobi. I think these are all punjabi cuisine. well, i guess they've americanized it back in the states, and I'm thankful!

i bought some fruit this morning. the oranges were like heaven.

Happy Divwali!

2005-11-02T10:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Divwali, which is a day that I think all Indians celebrate. It is celebration of the return of the god Rama from a 14 year exhile. I'm not sure, but seem that they celebrate Laxsmi, his wife, instead of him.

i managed to snag a fellow tourist into taking a boat ride with me and we had a wonderful view of the ceremony from the river.

the ritual of the dead is simple yet ornate, and having the dead all around is "normal". thankfully, they cover the bodies as they are taken through town. my husband from Khajuraho mentioned that if i take a tour of the cremation area, you can see the bodies burnt, which is fine, but apparnetly the feet don't get cremated well.....

** somehow i've managed to post even though i thought Google discontinued this service..... maybe i just have to access this blog differently. glad i can still post **

nutshell update - 1 Nov 05

2005-11-01T14:30:00.000-08:00

well, i think i'm spending more time in train and busses and stations than i am at sites....

i just arrived in Varanasi, in middle India. I'm about 12-16 hrs (by train) away from Delhi. I am fine and have not been affected by the bombings.

From Hyderahbad, I ventured up to Khajuraho, which was rather painful to get to and away from. After one evening in Khajuraho, I came here to Varanasi, a very sacred place for Hindu's, since it is on the Ganges River.

I will be here for two nights, then travel way way north to Amritsar (20 hrs by train).

I'm starting to cram tour, as I realize I have less than three weeks to see so many things. I have already cut out some things. India is just so big, to see it one almost would have to fly around, or just have a lot of time (and patience). I can't believe the time has gone so quickly.

married (twice) for a day

2005-11-01T14:28:00.000-08:00

on the bus to Khajuraho, I met a lad from London. We got along fine and decided to pal around in Khajuraho. The natives assumed that since we were walking around together, we were married. It got to the point where it was just easier to say we were married, and no one seemed to be bothered that we didn't live on the same continent. it was funny because if i went to a shop without Mark, people would ask, "where is your husband?". wow, is that what married life is like?

then i married shortly again while at the train station in Satna. This time, I married a Korean doctor. He has already left me, so that was a short marriage indeed. :)

nutshell update - 27 oct 05

2005-10-27T20:30:00.000-07:00

wow, can't believe it's been a week since my last posting. i think i was in ft. kochi (aka Cochin in british days) on my way to Bangalore last. Here is the itinerary:

went to Bangalore and stayed just one day. didn't see much. moved on to Hampi which was WONDERFUL, I couldn't have stayed there a week or two. but moved on to Badami (rhymes with labodamy), then Bijapur, and am now in Hyderabad. Tomorrow evening I start my trip to the north, going to Khajuraho. It will take about 33 hrs to get there I think. ~28 hrs by train then a 5 hr bus ride.

ok, details about different places in the other posts.
time is flying (but not this internet connection: here in "Cyberbad" city, it's a poor 64kbps).

Flash Flood - but i'm dry

2005-10-27T20:29:00.000-07:00

ok, i saw on the news, and Ted (from Chennai) confirmed, that Chennai is completely flooded. I guess this is just another sign that my time here in the south is up. I have been uneffected by the rains, except for slightly cloudy skies, which my just be normal for this time in Hyderabad.

on a side note, while in Bangalore, I went to confirm my bus ticket, and while there, it began to rain like crazy. within 10 minutes, the road was a river, with water overflowing the curbs (and all sorts of stuff spewed out too. a bit yucky). the little taxis (called "autos") started taking on water, but they fearlessly continued to try to swim upstream. sadly, i had left my camera in my hotel room, thinking that i'd only be out for a minute. it was unbelievable.

that comes to 11 Rp and half a lunch

2005-10-27T20:27:00.000-07:00

Hampi is great, but as with any tourist place in India, foreigners have to pay up to 20x what locals pay for services. for example, to enter the temple, it's 10Rp ($0.20) for locals, and 250Rp for foreigners. this is common.

well, same was true for a trip across the river in Hampi a coracle, which is basically a big shallow basket that takes on water just slowly enough to make it to still make it across the river without sinking. locals pay 3 Rp, they want 50Rp from foreigners (this is what some Americans I hung out with told me).

While on my own, i decided to walk along the river and find a good place to enjoy my simple lunch (3 bananas and a packet of cookies). while finishing my second banana, i saw a coracle coming across the river, but this wasn't a coracle crossing that was publicised (sp?). since these coracle workers weren't used to dealing with tourists, they just were charging me 3 Rp for a crossing. so we worked it out, there and back, and i'd give them 10 Rp. midway across, i gave the woman's son a banana.

when we reached the other side, to my horror, they wanted another 10 Rp to return. The smallest bill i had was a 50Rp, which i'm sure they would not provide change for. i insisted we had worked out the fare beforehand, and i already was paying more than the locals (ok, not by much). i could not (would not) pay more. they backed down (though I was completely at their mercy, seeing as I could not possible swim across and there was no other way across that i knew of), and instead asked for a banana. since i had no more, i gave them my cookies. after a brief lesson in Kanata(their local language), we headed back across.

i was glad to be dry and on the right side of the river. :)

** side note: Even Jackie Chan likes Hampi (Hampi is a small village in the Karnataka state which is truly magical, filled with ruins from from days when Hampi was a capital of Hindu ruler, but met with a quick demise when the Muslims came and destroyed much of it.). His recent movie, The Myth (pronouce Deemeeth here in india) was filmed in Hampi.

for american dollars, we DO have a seat!

2005-10-27T20:26:00.000-07:00

I went to the Hyderabad train station this morning to buy my ticket for tomorrow's trip to the north. When I wanted to pay in Rps, there were no tickets. He asked if I had american dollars, and when i said yes, he said, "oh look, we DO have a seat!".

i was pleasantly surprised, but should have known, there was something amiss. He gave an exchange rate of 40Rp = $1 (way below the market 44Rp = $1) and then the ticket man tried to shortchange me 50Rp additional.

oh well, i lost 80 Rp in the deal, but got my ticket.

such is the way in India, apparently. Several people told me this, and one even gave me tips on how to make it work for me, if ever I were in need.

the good ol' american dollar!

holy flying suitcase!

2005-10-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

the roads in india sometimes are not maintained well (often they are just dirt roads), making bus rides a bit bumpy.

on one trip (going from Badami to Bijapur), it was particularly bad, and we all jostled in our seats. one suitcase flew from the luggage rack on the opposite side of me and hit me in my cheek! luckily, it's just a small scrape, but i'll be on the lookout for untied luggage in the future!

one heavy spice girl

2005-10-19T10:33:00.000-07:00

well, maybe i love the curry too much:

went to a spice preparation plant yesterday and popped onto the spice scale :(
looks like i'm 54 kg! i'm not sure exactly how much that is (2.2 lbs ?= 1 kg) but i think i'm a little bigger. maybe gravity is stronger here in india....

Hakkan (the turkish) departed yesterday, and our little international troupe is disbanding, as we all head separate ways. it was quite a nice experience. Domenico, the jovial big-hearted Italian, has a way of infecting everyone with his good nature. whoever we met seemed to be a good person. i don't think he realized it was because _he_ brought it out of them. i was lucky to have met them.

quick recap

2005-10-19T10:20:00.000-07:00

nutshell recap: my last posting was from Kollam. i stayed two nights, leaving on a boat trip to Allepey. overnighted there, and then came to Cochin. I'll stay tonight and leave tomorrow on an overnight train to Bangalore then hopefully onto Hampi.

slealth bar

2005-10-19T10:18:00.001-07:00

despite india having it's own beers being exported internationally, it's rather difficult to find a beer here, and bars are few between too.

yesterday, we went around with a local for a bit here in Cochin and we talked about the strong behavioral line between men and women here (women don't drink, smoke, go out a night, or have access to a local medicine.) he asked if we liked beer, and then took us to this place which looked like a church with a metal picture depicting a woman pouring some water for Jesus.

but, when you enter, it's a bar, just like at home with bar stools and everything. we had a nice cold beer and then went on our merry way. it was niiiiice.

when i exited, i looked back for some sign that it was a bar and there was none to be seen. turns out, you have to look for an sign with "MTB" on it. go figure --- maybe MTB is "golden soup" in Malayaman.

house (or boat) of babel

2005-10-19T10:18:00.000-07:00

on the boat trim from Kollam to Allepey, I met two itanlians an one turkish who were travelling together, and also two women (a German/Londoner and Brit) who are travelling together. the women deboarded early, but the others stayed for the duration and invited me to join their clan for the stay in Allepey, which i gladly accepted.

Now here in Cochin, we have all met up one, so the six of us have been doing a few things together. One of the italians, Domenico, speaks limited english, so i've pulled out my very dusty italian and have been having fun trying to speak italian again. i think he is having more fun playing jokes (as italians do). The Londoner also speaks some italian, so we manage all right. sometimes we start talking to the waiters and rickshaw drivers in italian! it's been a good time and molto confusato!

ciao! namaste!

just a little snake

2005-10-19T10:16:00.000-07:00

as mentioned in another post, i met some travellers on the boat from Kollan to Allepey. they invited me to join their clan for the stay in Allepey, which i gladly accepted.

when we deboarded in Allepey, we were swarmed by hotel operators trying to woo us into their lair (much like what happens after deboarded ferries in Greece). Mauricio worked an excellent deal, and "andiamo!", we were off to the hotel. of course, after we got there, they didn't want to honor the 80Rp / single and 150Rp/double (43Rp = $1) price, but they gave in at last, reluctantly.

all went well for the night (ok, there was the 4AM call to prayer blasting from the nearby mosque...), but in the morning, i went to the bathroom and there was a snake in there! at first, i thought maybe i could co-exist with it and still take my shower, but that idea went quickly down the drain when it started slithering around and coiling back as if to strike. not good.

sadly, the hotel worker ended up killing the snake....but i'm cleaner for it (or rather, less skanky).

and back (con't from "back and forth")

2005-10-15T20:13:00.000-07:00

in case you ar dying to know....Laura found the germans much more helpful and was sent to berlin to get her passport and indian visa re-issued. she should be in Dehli on Thursday, with 1 1/2 weeks more of her indian vacation. i will try to catch her last couple of days in the north.

back on the mainland

2005-10-15T20:04:00.000-07:00

i returned from the maldives today, where the islands were picturesque. however, it is LOW LOW season, and for a good reason. the maldives is known as a world class dive place.....when the right season. right now is not the season, we found out, with visability a poor 5 ft, maybe 10ft if lucky! so i didn't go. also, since laura, my sub-in dive buddy, of course is still in berlin, diving was even less appealing.

becky (laura's cousin) and i lazed around and got dumb in the sun. amazing how the time can fritter away. we ate like queens despite it being ramadan (which just made the staff low energy). we also canoed around the sland (the canoe was half filled with water, it was like going around in an innertube).

next time, i'll have to come in season.

i'l here in Kollam now, probably heading to Alleppuzzah (Allepey (British name)) tomorrow. had trouble getting on the right bus, since when I say Kollam which is to the north, people think i say Kovalum which is south. made it though.

ciao (oh, the maldive island we chose was filled with italians! how lucky of me!)

back and forth :(

2005-10-11T09:22:00.000-07:00

i'm off to the airport soon to head for the maldives.

unfortunately, my friend Laura, who i was supposed to meet in the maldives, lost her passport (or perhaps it was stolen?) in Germany. when she got here, immigration wouldn't let her in and she was sent back to Germany/NYC. :(

everyone, please pray to the visa / passport gods / spirits to bring Laura back to india.

(oh, found out, there IS a Navarathri festival going on here, so will be able to catch some dance / music when i return on the 15th).

another festival

2005-10-10T18:01:00.000-07:00

made it to Trivandrum where there is either a festival that just ended a week ago, or it just started today - Navarathri. depends on who you ask. if there is a festival, it's very underground.

i'm off to the maldives tomorrow, where i'll meet up with my friend laura and her cousin, becky.

here in trivandrum, everything was closed. i just went to the store and got some Tiger coconut biscuits. i'm hooked.

sorry, boring post.

update

2005-10-09T13:48:00.000-07:00

Kanniyakumari is very relaxing. i've taken to doing things in the morning, and then resting for the afternoon siesta, then heading out just bfore sunset.

on my way down from Chennai, my eagle eyes spotted a fellow backpacker dashing for the train. i was determined to stalk him down when we arrived in Kanniyakumari. I found Toko at the train station, wondering if it were indeed the last stop, so it was easy to stalk him.

we went to the elephant festival, and yesterday we went off to the Suchipram Temple. these temples are enormous, enough to house whole villages. it's a shame that no pictures are allowed inside. a real shame.

this morning, i went out to Thukkalay (40km northwest of here) to see the Pabmanabapuram. nice piece of architecture with fine fine Chinese influences :)

i spy an elephant (again)

2005-10-08T12:01:00.000-07:00

I made it to Kanniyakumari (or Kanyakumari, depending on which billboard you are looking at), the southern most part of India, where the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, and Bay on Bengal meet. it is gorgeous here. very relaxing.
turns out there is a festival of sorts here. it is pretty tame, and not many people seem to know about it. i asked some people on the train if there was a festival in town (seems to be festival season for much of India), but no one had heard of anything.

but, while walking around the big temple in town, i spotted an elephant! someone came up and started up a friendly conversation (key signal for someone wanting money) and told me the 4th night of a 9 day celebration was happening that evening. the elephant would come out and there would be festival-ing.

i wandered down to the temple around 10pm but the elephant was no where to be seen. but INSIDE the temple, there was much rejoicing. i peeked in and saw the elephant in decoration, leading a parade of people, fire, and flowers around the inner perimeter of the temple. as they walked, a holy many threw flower petals on the Kanyakumari statue that was in the parade. in the middle of each hallway, they would all stop, music would be played very loudly, and a huge basket of petals was thrown onto the statue, handful by handful. we followed the elephant for one round of the temple (this took about 40 minutes).

it was quite amazing...the first time.

we thought something different would happen after we completed one round, but the parade just proceeded exactly as before. around the temple. then we thought maybe something big would happen when all the flower petals had been thrown in which case, we'd stay. we asked a holy man, and he said they go around three times and that's the end. it would finish as 1:30am. no, 1am. no 11pm. no 11:30pm. we didn't stay for all three rounds, but the round that we witnessed was a splendid enough of the experience.

off to the cape

2005-10-06T13:09:00.000-07:00

heading to Kanniyakumari tonight. it's the southerm most tip of India, where one can see the sun rise and set the same day.

caught a spectacular sunset a few days back in Pollachi. words and pictures cannot possibly describe (but i'll try anyway). bright red sky with mountain ranges one could just descry in the background. swaying palm trees gracing the foreground. i fear my pictures are equally inadequate, but you will have to look at them anyway!

"tomorrow is elephant day"

2005-10-06T09:12:00.000-07:00

I decided to head to the Indira Ghandi Wildlife Preserve in pursuit of elephants. (in retrospect, going back to Mudumalai or Bandipur would have been better I think).

but still, i managed to get a night stay at the preserve, and after the smog in Ooty, the fresh air was very welcome. i arrived on Monday evening andi was hoping that i avoided the crowds, but to my surprise, the reception center was bustling with activity and busses of people were arriving. upon inquiring, i learned that "tomorrow is elephant day". sounded pretty fine to me!

turns elephant day is when they bring out their 23 forest (tamed) elephants and let people meet them (at least this seemed to be the case). it wasn't the same as seeing them in the wild, but it was great to be so close to them.

i've decided to relax my pace (i'm spending many hours on busses it seems) and heading down to Kanyakumari (Cape Comorin) tonight or tomorrow night and relaxing with the sunrise and sunsets (can see them both there) until i head off to the maldives on the 11th.

that's it. pretty tame. thanks for tuning in.

happy birthday Ghandi

2005-10-02T13:42:00.000-07:00

it's Ghandi's b-day today. nobody here seems to care.

they also eat beef here!

coincidence?

Ooty is a bit sooty

2005-10-02T13:40:00.000-07:00

after a 11 hr bone jarring bus ride, i made it from Madikeri to Ooty. it's not that it's far, but Ooty is in the hills, and it took us 4 hours to travel the last 67 km. yep. cows were passing us.

ooty itself is a big town with lots of visitors (and smog). i've seen a few whities but not many. i've gotten my picture taken with a clan of boys travling from the neighboring state of Karela. i felt like giving out autographs too but refrained.

on the way here, we passed through a few national parks (called "forests" here) - Bandipur and Madularai (sp?). just inside of Madularai i saw an elephant grazing by the road, just like the cows, but bigger and grey. they are such beautiful animals. i am tampted to backtrack and stay a night in the park, but the 4 hr bus ride back and then return is making me hesitate.....

soon, there will be celebrations all over india to celebrated the decorated elephants, called Desara Elephants. the big shbang happens on Oct 12 or 13 (after 9 - 10 days of festivities), with a big one in nearby Mysore. I will be in the Maldives, so will miss it. can't complain, though, as i'll be diving in warm clear waters with my friend, Laura. yeah!

what's is called in english?

2005-09-30T17:44:00.000-07:00

real question: sometimes the trail was pretty slippery, and it turns out that we were walking on a recently dried river bed. it was slippery because of the green creek slime that is slippery that covers rocks. well, it's still slippery when semi dry.

question: what's the green creek slime called? apparently there is a word for it Hebrew and in the local languages, so there MUST be an English word for it.

ideas?

it's confirmed: i don't like leeches

2005-09-30T09:30:00.000-07:00

i left Mysore (which was no eyesore) earlier this week and came to Madikeri, a small village in the hills close to the state, Karela (so i'm close to the western coast of India). It's much cooler here and i've actually had use for my jacket.

i went on a guided two day trek with a great Israeli couple (the Israeli's know how to snack! i'm impressed and thankful. i've been holding back from buying Indian snacks and bought some accidently once by by pointing at it. it was like indian potato chips / trail mix.colorful, crunchy, and spicy)). yum.

the trek was beautiful, and we walked through the forest and were shown the different spices and flowers, learned about the alchohol they make from palm trees (bummer, i didn't get to taste any), and saw bugs and snails on major hormones.

the worst part of the trek was the fact that it's leech season. yep, get out your warm feet and go hunting for leeches. we had to do leech checks several times, and, given my intense phobia of worms, this was pretty unpleasant. they move surprisingly quickly and are VERY sticky (gives new meaning to the word"leech".) the only way to get them off is to tug on them, and they stretch and resist. then you have to roll them in your fingers and flick them away. Y-U-C-K!!!! i don't ever need to do that again.

tomorrow i'm off to Ooty.

dollar store

2005-09-26T18:47:00.000-07:00

i've decided that India is one huge Dollar Store! with everything being so cheap, it's easy to just buy a dollar of this, a dollar of that. a little too easy perhaps.

the touts are everywhere, and i believe i have have been duped
several times already. so with them, it's here $5 there $5 instead of $1. I think i'll have to be on a rupee diet. i've been
out of the safe guidance of Ted for two days and i've spent probably nearly as much.

rats, the stuff i wrote about mysore just got lost....will have to post later.

onward ho! (short)

2005-09-24T19:17:00.000-07:00

managed to get out of chennai and down to Mamallapuram (the Indian version of the simplified British name - Mahabalipuram. go figure). was great, cute little town. no time to post details now.

off to Mysore on an overnighter. (skipping Bangalore. Chennai has been great, as i've had the best host, but enough big city experience for now)!

hope to post every 3-4 days (Indian time).

(i'm finally correcting posting time.)

21 sept: did you mean to ask me to lunch?

2005-09-21T20:07:00.000-07:00

communicating with people around here is a bit difficult.

Ted's complex has cleaning people who come daily to, well, clean. turns out, they also will bring you lunch (for 20Rp ($0.50)) if you want. i did not know this.

so Saagen (sp?) apparently asked if i wanted lunch brought to me. but, if he knows English, i don't understand any of it. we communicated through random gesticulations and head nodding. our conversation went something like this

gesticulate
am i eating soon? yes.
head nod and expecting look
ummmm, yes, i will eat.
head nod and expecting look. more gesticulating
ummmmm, yes, i am hungry. yes. you're hungry too. i see. you can eat. that's fine. yes, you eat.
head nod and expecting look. more gesticulating and waiting.
ooooh, you can show me someplace to eat! yes . i pay, we eat. ok yes yes. (vigorous head nodding)
synchronous head nodding

off we go. it was very confusing, as he was assuredly wondering why i was walking with him; after all, he thought he was just going to bring me lunch. much confusion. rest easy --- we did manage to get food: dosai at a little shop. yummy.

Ted told me about the lunch arrangement when he got back. and there was light.

aside: my luggage is here!

21 Sept - "baby gone" and "golden soup"

2005-09-20T21:26:00.000-07:00

ted has taken me to some restaurants and it's been GREAT! my fears of missing out on the indian cuisine for fear of fire-level hot-ness are quelched.

a few nights ago we went to one restaurant called "miami" which sits (stifflely enclosed) on the beach. as usual, the menu had little meaning to us, and the explainations from the waiters even less. we still tried to some vegetarian suggestions. after elevated levels of talking, we nodded to two dishes. when the first arrived, he presented us with it: "baby gone" (I am amazed that Ted could decipher this).

Ted joked, "baby gone? where's the baby?"
smiling, the waiter acknowledged, "baby gone. baby gone"

as usual, more nonsense questioning and answering of sorts lead to no more enlightenment, but we were happy to have "baby gone" and our other dish.

the dishes were great, and after a bit of poking at (and a lot of eating of) the "baby gone", i realized what we were eating --- "baby corn"

the golden soup is code word for beer, because Miami doesn't have a liquor licence. clever fellows. thank Shiva.

addendum: Ted and I were at a very cool temple (Mahundeeswarar (say that three times fast, just dont' ask me to spell it again), and met a man there who had fine english, but Ted had to translate my questions for him.

20 sept 05 - i made it

2005-09-19T22:01:00.000-07:00

i made it to chennai on monday. my luggage is still at the eiffel tower, or perhaps at the hermes shop in dubai. it will join me on thursday. ted patiently waited for me to fill out paper work and gather my daily compensation for lost luggage (a generous $50 / day. so i got $50 total. i think it's indian math.)

ted lives in a mansion with fast internet connection, so i can pop on pretty easily for a few days.

haven't seen to much of chennai itself yet, but already the experiences are many. ted took me to the hospital where he works where we had many conversations in english which might as well been in tamil, since i could understand nothing. i knew he was saying something in english, and he wrote down the addresses in english, but understanding what he was saying was just impossible. (diane mentioned this would happen, but i didn't realize that she really meant it was impossible to understand). surreal.

gotta go for now, more later. off to get a sari or sarton (sp?) with my daily comp money!

first entry - 28 hrs : on my way!!!!!!

2005-09-18T14:07:00.000-07:00

hi folks,

ok, here's my first attempt at "blogging". let me know if this post works...

so, it's now 1am on Monday morning (17:00 Sunday in Miami, FL), and i'm in Dubai. yep. after a late departure from miami on saturday, i arrived in paris at 10:55, which was just too tight to catch my 13:10 flight out to Chennai (it was a mad house in Paris, and i received the typical french nose treatment at my first attempts to make my flight. a foolishly futile attempt, as anyone can attest to if they have flown in/out of paris and know i had to switch terminals).

i have a 2:45 departure and Ted, the oh so gracious cousin of my friend Laura, is meeting me at the airport when i arrive at 8:30 Monday. thank you Ted!!!

i had the good fortune of sitting next to a man from India on route to paris, and he has the meals all lined up in my head starting with idli and "south indian coffee" for breakfast. he also cautioned that the food may be too spicy for my western wimpiness, so this may be all that i can eat for a while. i will work on it, as mastering eating the cuisine of india is a goal.

ok, better test out this posting.