India is pretty much impossible to describe to an American.If someone would have tried to describe it to me, I know I would not have truly understood. India has 1.3 Billion people, and is the second most populated country in the world. It has 29 states all of which have their own cultures, and own language. It has mountains, rivers, cities, and deserts. English is the most widespread spoke language in the country. South India in fact chooses to learn their state language first, and English second as opposed to learning Hindi (another official language). So, its very convenient as a native English speaker to travel in India. Several random thoughts on India as follows:
1. I see why Asian drivers in the states all drive so horrible. Drivers in India, are very talented, and its a miracle, that there is not more accidents. There's basically no rules. Oh wait, there's one. Make sure to honk when you're driving around a switchback and on the wrong side of the road. 2. Hospitality is, I don't want to say nonexistent, but I'll just have to call it Indian hospitality. When I just ordered a latte which was 1.30$, would have been 5$ in the states, she said come back in like 20 minutes and I'll take your order. I shook my head once to the side, (must google Indian head nod to understand), and she said, "Ok first I must do these oranges", of which she had like 10 oranges on her table, and what she was going to "do" with them I have no idea. Then in 10 minutes time, she knocks on my door with said coffee, and a bright smile.
3. As mentioned before they still love selfies. So weird to me. We are like celebrities. Yesterday at the beach there was a stray dog who made friends with us. The Indians found this very amusing, and took a selfie with us and the dog. Like what do they do with these pictures. We were recently in Kochi, India, where we were asked to take pictures with a family, and oddly enough, ran into them again in Munnar, 1/2 a days travel away, and took some more selfies and family portraits. So funny to run into a Indian family, whom we have no idea their names or who they are, and have a language barrier, but still are amble to take sooo many pictures together.
4. Everything is negotiable, more so than any other developing countries we have been to. Nothing has price tags on it, except for most food menus. These ladies here whom work at local stalls selling clothes etc, are legit. They have this negotiating thing down, and are hard core.
We are adapting to the Indian ways, and what was once shocking, has become expected. It's just the way it is, and is their culture.
Here's a itinerary of our travels since leaving Delhi.
Delhi was a very interesting place, full of lots of culture, and differences from the U.S. There was a lot more things we would have like to see, but the air index quality was at 450, which is considered extremely hazardous for healthy people(BG is <50), and after 3 days, we developed a sort of chest congestion, and sore throat, so when we return we will definitely be wearing masks, and limit our time in Delhi.We flew from Delhi, which is in the North, to the Southernmost point we planned to travel (the state of Kerala), so that we could backpack our way North, since our return flight is out of Delhi. But, India is so large, there's really no direct route to see the places we want to see, so some zigzagging is inevitable. Once arriving in Kochi, Kerala we spent about 5 days here, the first few to get over our jet lag, and recover from the air quality in Delhi. Here, we enjoyed seeing a bit more peaceful side to India, and walking around early in the morning. We were still going to bed quite early, and trying not to wake up before 6am. So one morning we woke up and saw the ancient, greater than 400 year old Chinese fishing nets known to this area. Very cool, and still used, but may not be for much longer.This is where I really discovered Indian hospitality in restaurants. Basically there is none, or very little, definitely not like the states. So, I think you just have to know that going in. On a side note, its not normal to tip for your food, unless you spend over a certain amount, and we've heard similar reports to Europe. I was recently told by some Europeans that their restaurants wait staff is not like the states, because in the states we tip much higher on food. Moving on, we had a cool hostel and stayed at Happy Campers. The big thing we wanted to do was the Kerala backwaters. It was about an hours drive south, and we were taken on a boat, hand maneuvered by a local. These waters were once used quite heavily for trading, and merchant routes, and has limited with time, The benefit of the backwaters was that merchants could get through with there small boats, by using a long branch or stick to push, now it seems to be mostly desolated with occasional tourist boats similar to ours, as well as the occasional local. India is a developing county, and you can definitely see it in areas like this. We saw a woman hand pulling at grass, and taking it back to her village to save away for the animals for monsoon season. We also saw the process of making coconut rope. They take the hairs of a coconut let them dry for 6 months, and then strand them together to make ropes. So, we had a fun day, with a lot of conversation with nice people. We saw a captured Asian elephant with actual tusks too. We were surprise how large it was compared to the elephants we spent time with in Thailand. There are limited bathrooms. once during a tour, a German girl and I needed to go the bathroom. (the tour takes the whole day), and it was like the guides never encountered this before, totally the Indian way. So they were surprised and didn't know what to do. Finally, after several minutes of discussion between themselves, the guide said, "ok, maybe we can ask the neighbors". So legit, we go to these peoples house, knock on this actually really nice house (even by US standards), and the girl says sure, and points us to the bathroom. Even this really nice house had a outhouse, with squatty pottys. But, the backwaters were enjoyable, and Joshua and I surmised that it would have been significantly more interesting for people who only knew city life. At home, we go out on canoes (granted not hand carved) on the rivers quite regularly. From Kochi we took a 6 hour bus ride to Munnar (this is where we discovered buses do not have bathrooms, nor do they make bathroom stops (unless apparently asked to stop). I sat in the very first seat on this bus, while Joshua sat behind me, in a seat that held 1.5 small people, which of course ended up meaning he had to share. At one point I looked back at him, and all of a sudden there were like 7 Indian women crowding him. He said he leaned down to get something out of his backpack and when he leaned back up some woman had taken his head space with her arm, it was just that crowded. Munnar, India, is so beautiful.The drive up the Western Ghats, was exciting and indescribably beautiful. This is where I saw first hand, the talent of a Indian bus driver. Seriously. Munnar, is quite high in elevation (I got sunburned despite multiple applications of sunscreen), as we hiked above the clouds one day. Munnar is known for their tea plantations, some of which are greater than 100 years old. Although there are only like 38,000 people in the proper city of Munnar, another 30ish thousand people live in the tea plantation houses in their villages. Here there housing, and healthcare etc are free, and I think it was said they got paid 300 rupees/day(which is not even 5 USD), and work 6+ days per week. But, for them it is somewhat decent pay I suppose--considering everything but food is paid for. It was really interesting to see these villages, and learn a little about the way they functioned, and also to see some of the workers trimming the tea bushes, by hand. We saw a lot of Munnar via a personal tuk tuk ride, the day after we arrived. Also, in Munnar we reunited with several friends we had met previously in India. Jamie and Jackie from Delhi, and Tim from Kochi. Our 3 days in Munnar, were spent exploring, and also having our first pizza in India which was quite good. From Munnar we took the bus back to Kochi, and hopped on a overnight train to Goa. We left Munnar at 10am, took a 6 hour bus, after the bus, we walked to the train station where we booked a train, and were so excited that things were lining up well, because up until this point we weren't sure how or when we would make it to Goa, and now travelling plans were just working out. In all of our excitement, we found a nice Air conditioned restaurant to wait at for the 3 hours until our train departed. We had butter chicken, and juice, and it was pretty good, as we had not eaten much at all that day. In fact this was Joshua's first meal of the day. I slightly wondered why there weren't more people at this restaurant as it had AC, and was much more comfortable than waiting outside.Once on the train I wasn't feeling well, and about 9pm started throwing up. I continued to throw up several times until about 2:30am, when I was finally able to fall asleep. Of course at 7am, people start coming through the train yelling "chai, coffee" and getting breakfast orders. We awoke and Joshua told me also started having diarrhea, and went to the bathroom (which was a squatty potty, and definitely not hygenic), and then started throwing up as well-which to me sounded way worse, at least i was able to throw up in the comfort of my bed.We were not feeling well either of us now, and had run into our first sickness--100% from the butter chicken at the train AC restaurant. At about 1pm we made it off the train, where we took a taxi to a hostel, it dropped us off, and they told us they had no rooms. Joshua looked up another place, and we decided to check it out, so walked 10 minutes and found the Hilltop hotel. Upon arrival, we could not find a front desk, and the person who had the room key told us there were no available rooms (via calling a friend who spoke English). We eventually booked online while at the hotel (yay for internet), and showed them our reservation number, and they let us into a room that felt like paradise. Clean, modern, tv with some English movie channels, hot water, and a clean large bed. I was so excited. After we took a nap, we did find some food, of which we could not eat much. We went to bed, and I woke up early in the morning feeling better only with diarrhea, no vomitting to find Joshua sweating, restless, and with a high fever. In 10 years of being together he has never had a fever. This day, I became his nurse. After a dose of Tylenol, probiotics, antibiotics and 2500ml of NS IV (which I was able to hunt down for 7.50$ USD at a nearby pharmacy), he started to feel better by evening, and was significantly better the next day. This was a educational experience for Joshua and I both as we have never been sick like this before, nor at the same time. Fortunately, I was not as sick, which I attribute to throwing up the bad food,several hours sooner than he did. After several days in Goa, we both were nearly back to 100%, and can get back to travelling again. So, here we are now in Goa. Goa is a Indian paradise, with beautiful beaches, wonderful food, and a awesome hostel. Goa has been what most Americans would consider a proper vacation. Basically, it just a chill beach life. We are just a couple of minutes walk from beautiful beaches. Our mornings are filled with coffee, and our evenings filled with many walks for dinner, and watching to see the sunset over the ocean.
I
1. I see why Asian drivers in the states all drive so horrible. Drivers in India, are very talented, and its a miracle, that there is not more accidents. There's basically no rules. Oh wait, there's one. Make sure to honk when you're driving around a switchback and on the wrong side of the road. 2. Hospitality is, I don't want to say nonexistent, but I'll just have to call it Indian hospitality. When I just ordered a latte which was 1.30$, would have been 5$ in the states, she said come back in like 20 minutes and I'll take your order. I shook my head once to the side, (must google Indian head nod to understand), and she said, "Ok first I must do these oranges", of which she had like 10 oranges on her table, and what she was going to "do" with them I have no idea. Then in 10 minutes time, she knocks on my door with said coffee, and a bright smile.
3. As mentioned before they still love selfies. So weird to me. We are like celebrities. Yesterday at the beach there was a stray dog who made friends with us. The Indians found this very amusing, and took a selfie with us and the dog. Like what do they do with these pictures. We were recently in Kochi, India, where we were asked to take pictures with a family, and oddly enough, ran into them again in Munnar, 1/2 a days travel away, and took some more selfies and family portraits. So funny to run into a Indian family, whom we have no idea their names or who they are, and have a language barrier, but still are amble to take sooo many pictures together.
4. Everything is negotiable, more so than any other developing countries we have been to. Nothing has price tags on it, except for most food menus. These ladies here whom work at local stalls selling clothes etc, are legit. They have this negotiating thing down, and are hard core.
We are adapting to the Indian ways, and what was once shocking, has become expected. It's just the way it is, and is their culture.
Here's a itinerary of our travels since leaving Delhi.
Delhi was a very interesting place, full of lots of culture, and differences from the U.S. There was a lot more things we would have like to see, but the air index quality was at 450, which is considered extremely hazardous for healthy people(BG is <50), and after 3 days, we developed a sort of chest congestion, and sore throat, so when we return we will definitely be wearing masks, and limit our time in Delhi.We flew from Delhi, which is in the North, to the Southernmost point we planned to travel (the state of Kerala), so that we could backpack our way North, since our return flight is out of Delhi. But, India is so large, there's really no direct route to see the places we want to see, so some zigzagging is inevitable. Once arriving in Kochi, Kerala we spent about 5 days here, the first few to get over our jet lag, and recover from the air quality in Delhi. Here, we enjoyed seeing a bit more peaceful side to India, and walking around early in the morning. We were still going to bed quite early, and trying not to wake up before 6am. So one morning we woke up and saw the ancient, greater than 400 year old Chinese fishing nets known to this area. Very cool, and still used, but may not be for much longer.This is where I really discovered Indian hospitality in restaurants. Basically there is none, or very little, definitely not like the states. So, I think you just have to know that going in. On a side note, its not normal to tip for your food, unless you spend over a certain amount, and we've heard similar reports to Europe. I was recently told by some Europeans that their restaurants wait staff is not like the states, because in the states we tip much higher on food. Moving on, we had a cool hostel and stayed at Happy Campers. The big thing we wanted to do was the Kerala backwaters. It was about an hours drive south, and we were taken on a boat, hand maneuvered by a local. These waters were once used quite heavily for trading, and merchant routes, and has limited with time, The benefit of the backwaters was that merchants could get through with there small boats, by using a long branch or stick to push, now it seems to be mostly desolated with occasional tourist boats similar to ours, as well as the occasional local. India is a developing county, and you can definitely see it in areas like this. We saw a woman hand pulling at grass, and taking it back to her village to save away for the animals for monsoon season. We also saw the process of making coconut rope. They take the hairs of a coconut let them dry for 6 months, and then strand them together to make ropes. So, we had a fun day, with a lot of conversation with nice people. We saw a captured Asian elephant with actual tusks too. We were surprise how large it was compared to the elephants we spent time with in Thailand. There are limited bathrooms. once during a tour, a German girl and I needed to go the bathroom. (the tour takes the whole day), and it was like the guides never encountered this before, totally the Indian way. So they were surprised and didn't know what to do. Finally, after several minutes of discussion between themselves, the guide said, "ok, maybe we can ask the neighbors". So legit, we go to these peoples house, knock on this actually really nice house (even by US standards), and the girl says sure, and points us to the bathroom. Even this really nice house had a outhouse, with squatty pottys. But, the backwaters were enjoyable, and Joshua and I surmised that it would have been significantly more interesting for people who only knew city life. At home, we go out on canoes (granted not hand carved) on the rivers quite regularly. From Kochi we took a 6 hour bus ride to Munnar (this is where we discovered buses do not have bathrooms, nor do they make bathroom stops (unless apparently asked to stop). I sat in the very first seat on this bus, while Joshua sat behind me, in a seat that held 1.5 small people, which of course ended up meaning he had to share. At one point I looked back at him, and all of a sudden there were like 7 Indian women crowding him. He said he leaned down to get something out of his backpack and when he leaned back up some woman had taken his head space with her arm, it was just that crowded. Munnar, India, is so beautiful.The drive up the Western Ghats, was exciting and indescribably beautiful. This is where I saw first hand, the talent of a Indian bus driver. Seriously. Munnar, is quite high in elevation (I got sunburned despite multiple applications of sunscreen), as we hiked above the clouds one day. Munnar is known for their tea plantations, some of which are greater than 100 years old. Although there are only like 38,000 people in the proper city of Munnar, another 30ish thousand people live in the tea plantation houses in their villages. Here there housing, and healthcare etc are free, and I think it was said they got paid 300 rupees/day(which is not even 5 USD), and work 6+ days per week. But, for them it is somewhat decent pay I suppose--considering everything but food is paid for. It was really interesting to see these villages, and learn a little about the way they functioned, and also to see some of the workers trimming the tea bushes, by hand. We saw a lot of Munnar via a personal tuk tuk ride, the day after we arrived. Also, in Munnar we reunited with several friends we had met previously in India. Jamie and Jackie from Delhi, and Tim from Kochi. Our 3 days in Munnar, were spent exploring, and also having our first pizza in India which was quite good. From Munnar we took the bus back to Kochi, and hopped on a overnight train to Goa. We left Munnar at 10am, took a 6 hour bus, after the bus, we walked to the train station where we booked a train, and were so excited that things were lining up well, because up until this point we weren't sure how or when we would make it to Goa, and now travelling plans were just working out. In all of our excitement, we found a nice Air conditioned restaurant to wait at for the 3 hours until our train departed. We had butter chicken, and juice, and it was pretty good, as we had not eaten much at all that day. In fact this was Joshua's first meal of the day. I slightly wondered why there weren't more people at this restaurant as it had AC, and was much more comfortable than waiting outside.Once on the train I wasn't feeling well, and about 9pm started throwing up. I continued to throw up several times until about 2:30am, when I was finally able to fall asleep. Of course at 7am, people start coming through the train yelling "chai, coffee" and getting breakfast orders. We awoke and Joshua told me also started having diarrhea, and went to the bathroom (which was a squatty potty, and definitely not hygenic), and then started throwing up as well-which to me sounded way worse, at least i was able to throw up in the comfort of my bed.We were not feeling well either of us now, and had run into our first sickness--100% from the butter chicken at the train AC restaurant. At about 1pm we made it off the train, where we took a taxi to a hostel, it dropped us off, and they told us they had no rooms. Joshua looked up another place, and we decided to check it out, so walked 10 minutes and found the Hilltop hotel. Upon arrival, we could not find a front desk, and the person who had the room key told us there were no available rooms (via calling a friend who spoke English). We eventually booked online while at the hotel (yay for internet), and showed them our reservation number, and they let us into a room that felt like paradise. Clean, modern, tv with some English movie channels, hot water, and a clean large bed. I was so excited. After we took a nap, we did find some food, of which we could not eat much. We went to bed, and I woke up early in the morning feeling better only with diarrhea, no vomitting to find Joshua sweating, restless, and with a high fever. In 10 years of being together he has never had a fever. This day, I became his nurse. After a dose of Tylenol, probiotics, antibiotics and 2500ml of NS IV (which I was able to hunt down for 7.50$ USD at a nearby pharmacy), he started to feel better by evening, and was significantly better the next day. This was a educational experience for Joshua and I both as we have never been sick like this before, nor at the same time. Fortunately, I was not as sick, which I attribute to throwing up the bad food,several hours sooner than he did. After several days in Goa, we both were nearly back to 100%, and can get back to travelling again. So, here we are now in Goa. Goa is a Indian paradise, with beautiful beaches, wonderful food, and a awesome hostel. Goa has been what most Americans would consider a proper vacation. Basically, it just a chill beach life. We are just a couple of minutes walk from beautiful beaches. Our mornings are filled with coffee, and our evenings filled with many walks for dinner, and watching to see the sunset over the ocean.
I
No comments:
Post a Comment