Get us out of here
September 08, 2005
Bangkok, Thailand
We made it back to Chennai just in time to go straight to the airport and check into our flight to Bangkok. And let me tell you, we were both very ready to get out of India.
Getting from Goa back to Chennai was a rather difficult 36 hour journey. It began with an overnight sleeper bus from Goa to Bangalore. The bus itself was rather nice, but what we were told would be a 12 hour trip actually ended up taking 16.5 hours, which left us with just barely enough time to buy tickets for the 6 hour train ride to Chennai. On the advise of the travel agent in Goa, we hadn't booked our train ticket in advance. By the time we got to Bangalore, we only had one option for trains to take, and since the reserved seats were already sold out we had to go in the unreserved cabin. This was about the most authentic Indian experience you can have. These are the cheapest tickets and they sell as many unreserved tickets as people will buy, so the cabin is overflowing with dirty, smelly people. Thankfully, Emily and I were able to find seats. When we originally thought all the seats were full, people just kept coming. A family of 3 somehow squeezed in on the seat and more people sat above us on what we thought were luggage racks. Other less-fortunate people had to stand or sit in the aisle for the ride. After six long hours, we finally arrived in Chennai, only to find that someone had gone through my bag (which was right above us on what we thought were luggage racks) and taken all of my prescription malaria pills (around $400 worth). While obviously not happy about being robbed, I was very grateful that nothing else was taken.
By the time we arrived in Chennai, we had to go directly to the airport to catch our flight. Being some of the only white people on the train, the taxi touts latched onto us and would not leave us alone. We had gotten used to this in our time in India, but after just having someone go through my bag, I was not in the mood to deal with these people. So we decided to go with the safe option - the government run pre-paid taxi service, but even this proved to be a challenge. One of the touts blatantly bribed the official to get our business and then proceeded to try to overcharge us. By this point, I had had enough and was ready to get the hell out of India.
But luckily we made it out with no permanent damage. While I don't think I'll be going back to India any time soon, it was definitely an eye-opening experience. I have never seen such poverty in my life. It is hard to fathom the existence that many of these people live. After just a few hours in the unreserved section of the train, we were ready to leave and get back to our "normal" lives, but that is not an option for the people living there. That is their reality that they must face everyday. It is a very sad, tragic sight that is you can't really understand until you have seen it with your own eyes.
Posted by tim at 10:00 AM | Comments (0)
Hippies Unite
September 03, 2005
Goa, India
India is a mecca for hippies; hippies of all ages and nationalities seem to congregate here.
Being Americans, Emily and I may never fit the backpacker stereotype, but in India we stand out even more. The typical backpacker in India is a hippie through and through. They have completely embraced the Indian culture, perhaps even more so than the locals themselves. Long hair is mandatory, dreadlocks are common, and washing is optional. All clothes worn must have been purchased in India. It's funny to see the majority of tourists wearing typical Indian clothes while the majority of Indians are wearing Western style fashions.
I don't really have a point here, just an observation. I'll leave you with a quote from Southpark:
"Hippies. They're everywhere. They want to save the world but all they do is smoke pot and smell bad."
Posted by tim at 09:10 AM | Comments (3)
Pure Relaxation in Goa
When people talk about "getting away from it all", I'm pretty sure this is exactly what they are talking about. A beautiful, palm tree lined beach completely empty except for sandcrabs and a few fishermen (and the occasional wandering cow). Our $5 hotel room is 10 feet from the beach and right next to internet and 2 restaurants. The restaurants are also right on the beach with beautiful views of the sunset and great, cheap food. This has been our little paradise for the last week.
We left Delhi last Friday on a whopping 41 hour train ride to Goa (that's 2 overnights and 1.5 full days on the train), but it actually went by rather quickly. We splurged for the nicest AC sleeper car, and shared our compartment with 2 nice Iranians who used us to practice their Engish. When we finally got here, we decided to go to Arambol beach, the most northern beach in Goa, and have been here ever since.
Since it is still monsoon season here until next month, most everything is shutdown and there are very few tourists (I would guess around 20 total in Arambol). Luckily, the weather has been fine for us; it has only rained lightly twice and we haven't experienced the torrential monsoon downpours we had heard about. The quiet peacefulness of being here offseason combined with the natural easy-going nature of Goa has made Arambol a very laid-back, relaxing place...quite a contrast to our experiences is the rest of India. There are other notable differences between Goa and the rest of India, too. First of all, Goa is much more green. Also, since Goa was originally a Portuguese colony, the architecture is somewhat different and Christianity is much more popular here.
We have definitely enjoyed our week of relaxation, and now we are excited to get to Thailand. We leave for Bangkok in a couple days.
Posted by tim at 08:09 AM | Comments (0)
Taj Mahal
August 27, 2005
Delhi, India
We took a day trip from Delhi to Agra to see the legendary Taj Mahal....and it actually lived up to the grandiose expectations. The steep entry fee of 750 rupees (about US $18), more than our average entire daily expenses in India, was well worth it. The grounds provided a quiet and peaceful retreat from the surrounding chaos that is India. We spent two hours walking around, relaxing, and taking it all in. The Taj is surrounded by well-kept gardens with several scenic views and plenty of other tourists vying for position for the perfect photo. The building itself is beautiful from afar and surprisingly intricate up-close; it is all made of white marble with inlaid jewels and much of it covered with arabic writing. Appu, our auto-rickshaw driver for the day, told us that they say the whole Quran in written on its walls.
Bit of History - The Taj Mahal is one giant tomb. It was built as a memorial to the Moghul ruler's favorite wife, who died giving birth to her 14th child (in their 18th year of marriage).
Sightseeing in Delhi
In addition to the Taj Mahal, we have also done some sightseeing around the capital of India, Delhi. First, we went to the Qutb Minar complex, ruins from the Persian empire, I believe, that includes the tallest stone tower in India. We drove by the India Gate, Bahi'a Temple (also called the Lotus Temple because it looks like a lotus flower, somewhat similar to the Sydney Opera House), and the Friday Mosque. We also walked around the Red Fort, named for its giant red sandstone walls, and Raj Ghat, a memorial to Mahatma Ghandi in the spot where he was assassinated.
Posted by tim at 05:07 AM | Comments (0)
The Real India Experience
August 26, 2005
Delhi, India
After escaping from the meditation camp, we wanted to get out of Chennai ASAP, so we got on a flight to Delhi the next morning. We are enjoying ourselves a lot more here. This is a much more tourist-friendly area than we were in before...although that isn't saying much. Walking through the crowded streets is still a challenge here.
Travelling through India definitely does not count as a relaxing vacation. India is in your face everywhere you go. It is an assault on all of your senses at once. Your nose is bombarded by a variety of smells from nice Indian curries and incense to vile smells of air pollution, urine, and cow patties (Cows are sacred in the Hindu religion and they roam the streets freely here...which is a strange site). While trying not to step in said cow patties (or any of the spit or trash on the ground), you have to constantly be alert to avoid being run over by the manic auto and cycle-rickshaws zipping through the crowds. It's hard to miss the rickshaws, though, since they make liberal use of their ear-splitting horns. Meanwhile, you are constantly being haggled by every single person you walk past to buy some piece of crap. These people are remarkably persistent, saying no or ignoring them completely has no effect whatsoever. Finally, you have the constant stream of decrepit beggars asking for your change. All of this combines to make the average walk down the street an intense, and at times rather trying, experience.
If I had one word to describe India, it would have to be dirty. The next word that comes to mind is poverty. It is hard to imagine the living conditions that the majority of the people here have to endure. For the most part, personal hygiene seems to be a foreign concept. Also, many aspects of common decency and respect seem to be missing but that may just be a byproduct of the harsh living conditions.
On the bright side, everything is dirt cheap here. We have been stocking up on cheap souveniers and eating like royalty for about $3-4 US. Our favorite is still the butter chicken and naan, but most of the Indian food has been good so far. While it is definitely still challenging, we are becoming more acclimated to India and have started to develop a necessary callousness to the haggling.
Random note - Pepsi seems to be more popular than Coke here. This is the only country I've seen that before.
Posted by tim at 12:08 PM | Comments (0)
The Meditation Experiment
August 20, 2005
Chennai (Madras), India
On our very first day in India, Emily and I decided to embark on a 10 day Vipassanna meditation course. We had read about some different meditation and yoga courses in our guidebook and thought it could be interesting. We were able to find one course available while we were in India, which just happened to start on the day we arrived here. The course description online sounded a bit intense and scary, but we still thought it might be worthwhile. In the end, we flipped a coin to decide whether or not to go, and wouldn't you know, the coin made us do it.
The thing that made the course so intense was its very strict code of discipline. Let me highlight a few of the rules:
- Nobody is permitted to leave before the 10 days are completed
- Noble Silence - No communication (including verbal, hand gestures, and eye contact) with anyone during the 10 days
- Complete separation of the sexes
- You cannot kill another living thing during the course
Also, the daily schedule was followed to the minute and included waking up at 4 am and meditating for a total of 11 hours everyday. Oh, and all meals were vegetarian with only chai tea and fruit served after noon.
Most people probably think we are crazy for signing ourselves up for a course like this, but we somehow convinced ourselves that it would be a unique, interesting experience. As you may have figured out already, since I am writing this just 2 days after we arrived in India, we obviously didn't make it through the whole 10 day course. After just a day and a half in this strange cult, we were both miserable and couldn't bear another 9 days.
The Escape
With all of these rules in place, it felt more like we were trying to break out of prison than out of a voluntary meditation course. After spending most of the first day unsuccessfully trying to get Emily's attention to see if she was as ready to leave as I was, I finally ended up sneaking into the women's quarters (Mission Impossible style) after everyone had gone to bed. In the process I ended up breaking at least three of the rules (noble silence, separation of sexes, stay on the grounds at all times). When I was finally able to talk to Emily, we agreed to break the #1 rule - Nobody is permitted to leave early. They made us wait until the morning when we could speak to the teacher, who reluctantly agreed to let us leave (probably because we had already broken so many rules).
We ended up getting a very unique experience...but not really what we had in mind. On the bright side, our newfound freedom gives us a lot more time to travel throughout India. We are busy planning it all out right now.
Posted by tim at 05:04 AM | Comments (3)