I've got a week left until I'm supposed to return to the states. Technically, the US is "home"...it's where I'm from, where I grew up, it's what I know. However, in the last two months, Delhi has become home. You know that feeling you get when you travel somewhere and your heart tells you it's where you belong? I never had that in the Pacific Northwest. It always felt odd. India though, India is where my heart belongs. It's where it will forever stay.
As I've been recollecting my thoughts and looking back through the past couple of months, I've realized I'm going to miss a lot about this place:
1) How they put a green dot on foods to indicate it's vegetarian, and a red to denote non-veg and it's on EVERYTHING. There's no need to guess if it's got meat in it or not...
2) How you can walk anywhere for at least 5 minutes and run into a market...
3) The markets even if they're small, have everything you could need or want on a daily basis...
4) The chemists act as general physician doctors so you don't need to spend extra money if you already know what's ailing you. And then when you need it, the antibiotics or other drugs are really super cheap...
5) Food isn't just a necessity, it's what brings people together. Oh, and as an added bonus, 95% of it is good!!...
6) Vegetarian meals don't seem so odd, you could (at least temporarily) picture yourself not eating meat every again...
7) The lizard(s) that hang out in your room, behind your tube light, and underneath your bed...
8) How people help each other, hidden agendas or not...
9) Seeing children knocking on your car window to buy meaningless crap instead of going to school, and feeling helpless in a messed up world...
10) Getting the material for a shirt for $2.50 and then having a tailor make it to fit your unique body for another $2.50...
11) Nosey Aunty and Uncle who are in everyone's business for the sake of community. Nevermind the fact that they're unfortunately where you live and not down the street...
12) Being stared at like you're some alien from outer space because you're so pale. Then again, the paleness is a sign of beauty so it makes you feel like the prettiest woman on Earth...
13) Driving down the road in a taxi and feeling like you're on Space Mountain in Disneyland, with the lights on...
14) The spirituality India posses, moving you in ways you only dreamed of, making you want to learn more...
15) Never quite feeling as feminine as you did before with the sarees and the jewelry and the bangles and the shoes and everything else that females wear here on a daily basis, because they can...
16) Driving the equivalent of Portland to Seattle for a get-away, but it takes you all day to get there because of the traffic...
17) "Bathing" in the Ganga river and feeling healed although you probably inhaled your fair share of pollutants and deadly diseases...
18) Playing in the Arabian Sea, learning how salty it really is, and watching the sun set over the palm tree lined, white sand beaches...
19) The markets! Ohhhh geez, I'm definitely going to miss the markets! I'm going to miss wandering through the little paths filled with thousands of people looking for good deals. Then haggling prices with the owner who first give you an inflated price because you're white but learn that you've been in the game before and quickly lower their prices so you don't go to the stall down the alleyway which was offering it to you for 200 bucks (Rupees) less...
20) Trying to plan things in advance but having to succumb to the millions of others who will do what they want when they want, and ending up just going with the flow...
21) Learning that even through all of the bad, the good is still 100x better than where you're from...
I really don't want to go back to the US! =(
Showing posts with label Delhi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Delhi. Show all posts
Monday, May 24, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Goa, You Will Be My New Home!
Goa
And here I thought the Taj Mahal was spectacular! Goa was a million times better. The weather was 34-38C compared to 46C. Even though the air was more humid due to the location being on the Arabian Sea, the breeze kept everything cool.
Goa is a tropical paradise. You have a wide variety of cultures (Several Indian cultures, Portuguese, Spanish, etc) and the day-to-day life of the average Goan reflects those differences. The houses are built with concrete terracotta instead of bricks. And they have a unique Spanish architecture to them that you cannot find anywhere else in India! Not only that, the houses are so colorful! When you add the multi-cultural ambiance to the fact that almost everyone (at least those that you would need to talk to) speak English and everything is fairly cheap, you could understand why people flock to Goa from all over the world!
We arrived to Goa directly from Delhi. It was about 3 hours via Go Air. The plane was newer, the staff was friendly, and I don't think I've looked forward to a mini-vacation within a vacation quite like this! We arrived at the airport where a taxi took us to the Alila Diwa Resort about 20km away. The car was old and beat up; judging my the driving, it made sense why the car felt like it would explode at any minute. The driver was driving at 120km through twists and turns, overtaking people on motorcycles left and right. Rahul said he felt like he was in an F1 (Formula One) race and it was exciting, and I felt like the driver wished that was his real profession. I was scared shitless! Once we finally arrived at the Alila Diwa, we were both breathless over it's beauty.
The Alila Diwa is a new resort in Goa which features modern architecture and aroma therapy/aryuvedic inspiration. The place was definitely five star all the way! We got into our room and I couldn't decide what I wanted to do first, fall asleep on the bed or take a bath.
Now, I've been deprived of a couple of things since my arrival to India. One would be a comfortable bed. Second would be the use of a shower and/or bath tub. My bed at home is modest at best and the same goes for the tub even though they're better than none. Really, it hadn't bothered me until we arrived to the resort. You lay on the beds at the Alila Diwa and you instantly sink into the lap of luxury. Same goes for the huge two person tub!
The night that we arrived, there was a cocktail party for the guests of the wedding. There was some singing/dancing from special relatives who put on the performances for the bride and groom. I wore a black and gold Indo-Western kurta that I picked up in Delhi the night before the flight. I didn't have time to have a tailor make a shirt for me that would be appropriate for the party. None of my clothing would have been appropriate either. I was told by several people that weddings are a reason to get fancy and dress up in the Indian culture so while I didn't want to go “all out”, I didn't want to be “dressed-down” either. I received several compliments from guests that night. They said the shirt was pretty and it looked good on me. Honestly, I wasn't sure if it was the booze talking or if they were just being nice because a white girl was wearing an Indian-ish outfit. Rahul got drunk. His boss (the groom) had called him early during the cocktail party to his room so Rahul could help with a tie. After they decided to skip the tie, they downed a couple shots of vodka. He came back about 20 minutes later and was already starting to get tipsy. Then a couple drinks later, he was drunk. It was fun actually. He really let loose and relaxed. Normally I see him some time before/after work and he's all tense and business-like. I tried to get him to dance but all he would do is sway in his chair.
That night I slept in and slept like a baby. Rahul woke me up around 1030 to ask me if I wanted to go downstairs for breakfast. I declined. I wanted to sleep more! I woke up a short while after and got ready for the day. We were going to go to the beach. Rahul came to get me after breakfast and some how started working. Three hours later, we finally left for the beach. The hotel brought a car to take us to the beach where we were the only people. We spent a good two or so hours playing in the water. There were millions of tiny little muscles at the edge of the water. Every time the water would splash up to the shore, it would wash away the sand on top of the muscle, which would then proceed to bury itself back under the sand. It was fun playing with the muscles, scooping up the sand around them and seeing if they would continue to bury down. While we were splashing around in the water, we noticed tiny little translucent craps scurrying everywhere on the beach. We tried to catch one but those suckers were too fast.
After two or so hours, we went back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. We ended up being late due to the fact that the original hotel worker which was going to help me with my saree left and then we had to wait until another one could show up to help me. I know how to do a saree (thanks to YouTube) but Rahul wanted me to get help since this was supposed to be a formal function. The hotel staff was absolutely delighted that I was wearing a saree. All the girls beamed smiles from ear to ear.
Some guy that was attending the wedding said I looked much different in a saree. I asked him if that meant it looked good and he said “Yes, the saree looks good on you.” Again, I got stares. It took me a while but I noticed why. Most of the females at the wedding wore very fancy and elaborate sarees. Then there were ones that wore very western dresses. None looked as good as me. I had the right mixture of everything. At least, I think so. Maybe I'm being overly confident. The dress was simple, yet elegant. The jewelry I chose matched the saree perfectly and complimented it. You see the Bollywood actresses and they usually end up choosing similar attire. The jewelry would have been wasted on a saree which had too much detail and sparkles. Bigger earrings and a necklace (or smaller) would have made the saree look to plain. Even the groom commented on the jewelry and how elegant it was. Little did everyone know, I only paid $15.50 for the set hehehe The only problem to the outfit was the fact that the sand made it hard to walk and I'm sure I ended up incurring some damage as a result. I know that by the end of the night, I looked like a mess.
The wedding was interesting. It wasn't a typical Indian wedding. There weren't thousands of people there celebrating. Instead, there was about 100 people. The wedding was mostly watched by relatives and the reception was shared by all, which was right after the wedding. After the couple returned from the beach, there was a band which played some songs which included some Bhangra and Goan styled music. I didn't know that Goan music was so popular and so tropical. I loved it. After there was a guy from either Australia or New Zealand which performed some fire-dancing and breathing tricks. The dude was gay as gay could be but he put on quite the show. Then the band returned for some more tunes as people drank, ate, and danced. Then suddenly, the night was over. The band left and people started to leave.
One of Rahul's coworkers (creepy bugger) wanted his picture taken with me so Rahul, the creepy coworker, another coworker, and I headed down to the sea to take some pictures. I could tell by the way the guy kept looking at me and commenting about my outfits, that he had a thing for me. I told Rahul I didn't feel comfortable alone with him so he stayed near by. While we were taking pictures, I had walked behind him to get to the other side and he leaned back to rub against me. That really ticked me off. I told Rahul about it and I think it ticked him off even more.
Again I slept like a baby. The next morning we woke up to check out from the Alila Diwa and head to the Ramada. I saw the resort on Travelocity and convinced Rahul to check in there. We loved the place so much, we ended up staying an extra night! The resort is spread out and covered in palm trees, unlike the Alila Diwa. Instead of a square modern pool, there was a huge beautiful pool surrounded by more palm trees. The pool was the center of the resort. They also had a variety of activities like badmitton, tennis, golf, para-sailing, jetskiing, etc. We wanted to go jet-skiing so we set off to the ocean which was a short walk away from the room. The beach had a restaurant and a bar. The jet-ski would have cost 800 rupees for 10 minutes. Really, it wasn't 10 minutes, it was a quick ride out and back in, five minutes at most. Not only that, we wouldn't have been able to ride together since the operator required that he be on the ski even though I knew how to drive it. Instead, we went out to catch some big waves and ride them in. Rahul was scared at first since he doesn't know how to swim but I quickly got him to open up the idea of letting the wave push you to the shore. The problem is, the poor guy didn't know how to float. After about 2 hours out in the water, I got frustrated so I took him to the pool to teach him how to float. We stayed until the pool closed and I got him about 90% floating. Then we went back to the room to clean up for dinner and headed down to have a buffet pool side. There was a pregnant stray cat that came up to our table and started meowing at us. I wasn't going to feed it until I saw that it was pregnant, then it had my sympathy. The poor cat was probably 1-2 years old (still a baby!) and too skinny to be pregnant. I fed it some rice then Rahul started feeding it chicken. Then the cat wouldn't eat the rice, it got too picky.
Fell asleep in the comfortable (more comfortable than the Alila Diwa) bed and woke up late. We wanted to wake up to watch the sun rise but I think we were both too tired from playing in the ocean and learning to swim. The next morning we went out to the pool and spent about 2 hours trying to get that other 10% of Rahul to float. It wasn't working so I headed over to the island bar (bar in the middle of the pool) to have a pina colada and take a break from swimming. Then we tried some more but I think we both gave up. Good thing we did too! I got sunburnt again, this time just my shoulders =( We took a nap, explored the resort, had a drink at the bar on the beach, played in the Arabian Sea again, slept some more, watched the sun set, and had dinner again pool side.
I could definitely imagine having my wedding there. Not a beach side wedding, but having it at a tropical place where the beach is near by. It's perfect!
The next morning when we checked out, I inquired about the rates for having a wedding and it's surprisingly cheap! The resort is a 5 star resort for a fraction of the cost of the Alila Diwa plus it included more incentives. The only problem in having a wedding at the Ramada Caravela Resort in Goa is getting all of my family to India.
I swear to all of you, family who is reading this: You better get your passports in order because sooner or later (hopefully the former) I will be getting married and I WILL be having my wedding there. You don't want to miss out because you didn't get your passport in time!
Anyway, after checking out, we took at taxi to a beach near the airport to drop of my GeoCaching gnome. The taxi driver was very nice and found the beach but unfortunately the bar where the cache was kept was closed down for the season =( Instead, we grabbed a quick snack, a drink, and invited our driver to join us. He talked about the fact that he hasn't always been a taxi driver. He used to work on a ship which transported lime stone from Mexico. After 20 years of working there, he had to quit because the salt water was giving him heart problems. You always hear about people taking taxi rides and the drivers end up being pretty cool. I have been here for almost 2 months and this was the first time, and it wasn't in Delhi. It's neat listening to people's life stories. You don't look at others the same way after.
We bought some Goan cashews at the airport and took a flight back to Delhi with a stop in Mumbai. Mumbai (from the air) is INTERESTING! There are slums surrounding the airport and all over Mumbai. Apparently, the slums aren't really full of poor people, just people that can't afford the high cost of living in apartments in Mumbai. Rahul was commenting that even if he had his current job down there, there would be no way he could afford an apartment. That is why the government won't get rid of the slums and that's why you find the slums in pretty decent condition. I was expecting to see something like Slumdog Millionaire but it was actually pretty decent which scared me a bit.
We arrived back in Delhi around 730. It was 41C (106) after the sun set which made me want to get back on a plane for Goa. The prepaid taxi which took me back to my home in Defence Colony wasn't air conditioned. Luckily, the driver drove like a bat out of hell and was taking weird turns instead of staying on the high way so he was constantly driving. The guy didn't speak English, I don't speak Hindi, but we some how managed to understand each other and I got home at a decent time.
Now, I'm tired but it's too hot in my room. The AC is turned on high and down to 18C yet it still feels like an oven. It's now almost 1AM and it's still 37 (99F) which means I probably won't get a good night's sleep since it's too hot. My room might be 90-95 even with the fan and AC going. I want a swamp cooler so bad! If this were my actual apartment, I would put one in. This AC doesn't cool very well. Well...nothing in this room works quite right, but that's India!
And here I thought the Taj Mahal was spectacular! Goa was a million times better. The weather was 34-38C compared to 46C. Even though the air was more humid due to the location being on the Arabian Sea, the breeze kept everything cool.
Goa is a tropical paradise. You have a wide variety of cultures (Several Indian cultures, Portuguese, Spanish, etc) and the day-to-day life of the average Goan reflects those differences. The houses are built with concrete terracotta instead of bricks. And they have a unique Spanish architecture to them that you cannot find anywhere else in India! Not only that, the houses are so colorful! When you add the multi-cultural ambiance to the fact that almost everyone (at least those that you would need to talk to) speak English and everything is fairly cheap, you could understand why people flock to Goa from all over the world!
We arrived to Goa directly from Delhi. It was about 3 hours via Go Air. The plane was newer, the staff was friendly, and I don't think I've looked forward to a mini-vacation within a vacation quite like this! We arrived at the airport where a taxi took us to the Alila Diwa Resort about 20km away. The car was old and beat up; judging my the driving, it made sense why the car felt like it would explode at any minute. The driver was driving at 120km through twists and turns, overtaking people on motorcycles left and right. Rahul said he felt like he was in an F1 (Formula One) race and it was exciting, and I felt like the driver wished that was his real profession. I was scared shitless! Once we finally arrived at the Alila Diwa, we were both breathless over it's beauty.
The Alila Diwa is a new resort in Goa which features modern architecture and aroma therapy/aryuvedic inspiration. The place was definitely five star all the way! We got into our room and I couldn't decide what I wanted to do first, fall asleep on the bed or take a bath.
Now, I've been deprived of a couple of things since my arrival to India. One would be a comfortable bed. Second would be the use of a shower and/or bath tub. My bed at home is modest at best and the same goes for the tub even though they're better than none. Really, it hadn't bothered me until we arrived to the resort. You lay on the beds at the Alila Diwa and you instantly sink into the lap of luxury. Same goes for the huge two person tub!
The night that we arrived, there was a cocktail party for the guests of the wedding. There was some singing/dancing from special relatives who put on the performances for the bride and groom. I wore a black and gold Indo-Western kurta that I picked up in Delhi the night before the flight. I didn't have time to have a tailor make a shirt for me that would be appropriate for the party. None of my clothing would have been appropriate either. I was told by several people that weddings are a reason to get fancy and dress up in the Indian culture so while I didn't want to go “all out”, I didn't want to be “dressed-down” either. I received several compliments from guests that night. They said the shirt was pretty and it looked good on me. Honestly, I wasn't sure if it was the booze talking or if they were just being nice because a white girl was wearing an Indian-ish outfit. Rahul got drunk. His boss (the groom) had called him early during the cocktail party to his room so Rahul could help with a tie. After they decided to skip the tie, they downed a couple shots of vodka. He came back about 20 minutes later and was already starting to get tipsy. Then a couple drinks later, he was drunk. It was fun actually. He really let loose and relaxed. Normally I see him some time before/after work and he's all tense and business-like. I tried to get him to dance but all he would do is sway in his chair.
That night I slept in and slept like a baby. Rahul woke me up around 1030 to ask me if I wanted to go downstairs for breakfast. I declined. I wanted to sleep more! I woke up a short while after and got ready for the day. We were going to go to the beach. Rahul came to get me after breakfast and some how started working. Three hours later, we finally left for the beach. The hotel brought a car to take us to the beach where we were the only people. We spent a good two or so hours playing in the water. There were millions of tiny little muscles at the edge of the water. Every time the water would splash up to the shore, it would wash away the sand on top of the muscle, which would then proceed to bury itself back under the sand. It was fun playing with the muscles, scooping up the sand around them and seeing if they would continue to bury down. While we were splashing around in the water, we noticed tiny little translucent craps scurrying everywhere on the beach. We tried to catch one but those suckers were too fast.
After two or so hours, we went back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. We ended up being late due to the fact that the original hotel worker which was going to help me with my saree left and then we had to wait until another one could show up to help me. I know how to do a saree (thanks to YouTube) but Rahul wanted me to get help since this was supposed to be a formal function. The hotel staff was absolutely delighted that I was wearing a saree. All the girls beamed smiles from ear to ear.
Some guy that was attending the wedding said I looked much different in a saree. I asked him if that meant it looked good and he said “Yes, the saree looks good on you.” Again, I got stares. It took me a while but I noticed why. Most of the females at the wedding wore very fancy and elaborate sarees. Then there were ones that wore very western dresses. None looked as good as me. I had the right mixture of everything. At least, I think so. Maybe I'm being overly confident. The dress was simple, yet elegant. The jewelry I chose matched the saree perfectly and complimented it. You see the Bollywood actresses and they usually end up choosing similar attire. The jewelry would have been wasted on a saree which had too much detail and sparkles. Bigger earrings and a necklace (or smaller) would have made the saree look to plain. Even the groom commented on the jewelry and how elegant it was. Little did everyone know, I only paid $15.50 for the set hehehe The only problem to the outfit was the fact that the sand made it hard to walk and I'm sure I ended up incurring some damage as a result. I know that by the end of the night, I looked like a mess.
The wedding was interesting. It wasn't a typical Indian wedding. There weren't thousands of people there celebrating. Instead, there was about 100 people. The wedding was mostly watched by relatives and the reception was shared by all, which was right after the wedding. After the couple returned from the beach, there was a band which played some songs which included some Bhangra and Goan styled music. I didn't know that Goan music was so popular and so tropical. I loved it. After there was a guy from either Australia or New Zealand which performed some fire-dancing and breathing tricks. The dude was gay as gay could be but he put on quite the show. Then the band returned for some more tunes as people drank, ate, and danced. Then suddenly, the night was over. The band left and people started to leave.
One of Rahul's coworkers (creepy bugger) wanted his picture taken with me so Rahul, the creepy coworker, another coworker, and I headed down to the sea to take some pictures. I could tell by the way the guy kept looking at me and commenting about my outfits, that he had a thing for me. I told Rahul I didn't feel comfortable alone with him so he stayed near by. While we were taking pictures, I had walked behind him to get to the other side and he leaned back to rub against me. That really ticked me off. I told Rahul about it and I think it ticked him off even more.
Again I slept like a baby. The next morning we woke up to check out from the Alila Diwa and head to the Ramada. I saw the resort on Travelocity and convinced Rahul to check in there. We loved the place so much, we ended up staying an extra night! The resort is spread out and covered in palm trees, unlike the Alila Diwa. Instead of a square modern pool, there was a huge beautiful pool surrounded by more palm trees. The pool was the center of the resort. They also had a variety of activities like badmitton, tennis, golf, para-sailing, jetskiing, etc. We wanted to go jet-skiing so we set off to the ocean which was a short walk away from the room. The beach had a restaurant and a bar. The jet-ski would have cost 800 rupees for 10 minutes. Really, it wasn't 10 minutes, it was a quick ride out and back in, five minutes at most. Not only that, we wouldn't have been able to ride together since the operator required that he be on the ski even though I knew how to drive it. Instead, we went out to catch some big waves and ride them in. Rahul was scared at first since he doesn't know how to swim but I quickly got him to open up the idea of letting the wave push you to the shore. The problem is, the poor guy didn't know how to float. After about 2 hours out in the water, I got frustrated so I took him to the pool to teach him how to float. We stayed until the pool closed and I got him about 90% floating. Then we went back to the room to clean up for dinner and headed down to have a buffet pool side. There was a pregnant stray cat that came up to our table and started meowing at us. I wasn't going to feed it until I saw that it was pregnant, then it had my sympathy. The poor cat was probably 1-2 years old (still a baby!) and too skinny to be pregnant. I fed it some rice then Rahul started feeding it chicken. Then the cat wouldn't eat the rice, it got too picky.
Fell asleep in the comfortable (more comfortable than the Alila Diwa) bed and woke up late. We wanted to wake up to watch the sun rise but I think we were both too tired from playing in the ocean and learning to swim. The next morning we went out to the pool and spent about 2 hours trying to get that other 10% of Rahul to float. It wasn't working so I headed over to the island bar (bar in the middle of the pool) to have a pina colada and take a break from swimming. Then we tried some more but I think we both gave up. Good thing we did too! I got sunburnt again, this time just my shoulders =( We took a nap, explored the resort, had a drink at the bar on the beach, played in the Arabian Sea again, slept some more, watched the sun set, and had dinner again pool side.
I could definitely imagine having my wedding there. Not a beach side wedding, but having it at a tropical place where the beach is near by. It's perfect!
The next morning when we checked out, I inquired about the rates for having a wedding and it's surprisingly cheap! The resort is a 5 star resort for a fraction of the cost of the Alila Diwa plus it included more incentives. The only problem in having a wedding at the Ramada Caravela Resort in Goa is getting all of my family to India.
I swear to all of you, family who is reading this: You better get your passports in order because sooner or later (hopefully the former) I will be getting married and I WILL be having my wedding there. You don't want to miss out because you didn't get your passport in time!
Anyway, after checking out, we took at taxi to a beach near the airport to drop of my GeoCaching gnome. The taxi driver was very nice and found the beach but unfortunately the bar where the cache was kept was closed down for the season =( Instead, we grabbed a quick snack, a drink, and invited our driver to join us. He talked about the fact that he hasn't always been a taxi driver. He used to work on a ship which transported lime stone from Mexico. After 20 years of working there, he had to quit because the salt water was giving him heart problems. You always hear about people taking taxi rides and the drivers end up being pretty cool. I have been here for almost 2 months and this was the first time, and it wasn't in Delhi. It's neat listening to people's life stories. You don't look at others the same way after.
We bought some Goan cashews at the airport and took a flight back to Delhi with a stop in Mumbai. Mumbai (from the air) is INTERESTING! There are slums surrounding the airport and all over Mumbai. Apparently, the slums aren't really full of poor people, just people that can't afford the high cost of living in apartments in Mumbai. Rahul was commenting that even if he had his current job down there, there would be no way he could afford an apartment. That is why the government won't get rid of the slums and that's why you find the slums in pretty decent condition. I was expecting to see something like Slumdog Millionaire but it was actually pretty decent which scared me a bit.
We arrived back in Delhi around 730. It was 41C (106) after the sun set which made me want to get back on a plane for Goa. The prepaid taxi which took me back to my home in Defence Colony wasn't air conditioned. Luckily, the driver drove like a bat out of hell and was taking weird turns instead of staying on the high way so he was constantly driving. The guy didn't speak English, I don't speak Hindi, but we some how managed to understand each other and I got home at a decent time.
Now, I'm tired but it's too hot in my room. The AC is turned on high and down to 18C yet it still feels like an oven. It's now almost 1AM and it's still 37 (99F) which means I probably won't get a good night's sleep since it's too hot. My room might be 90-95 even with the fan and AC going. I want a swamp cooler so bad! If this were my actual apartment, I would put one in. This AC doesn't cool very well. Well...nothing in this room works quite right, but that's India!
Sunday, April 18, 2010
The Disgruntled Me
Ugh. I feel the need to vent. Several things are bothering me. While none are pressing issues, collaboratively, they suck! And I feel like listing again.
1) Why the heck are shirts so difficult to find that fit?! Seriously. I've tried finding shirts in the bazaars. They're all weirdly shaped. For 150-325 rupees, I kind of expect it. However, when I go to a department store at a mall, looking to spend 800-1300 rupees, I expect some common sizing.
Now get this: In a bazaar (outdoor market) I found a shirt that was a LARGE. It was just a little small in the chest so the stall owner said if I bought the shirt, he'd extend the size by 2 inches. Cool. So you figure it was now considered an XL, right? Yeah it fit up top but it didn't fit down below due to the high slits on the sides. I went to wear it and I ended up ripping one of the slits. Fudge.
Well I went to a big department store, tried on a couple different shirts. One was too tight in the chest, perfect everywhere else. The other was for obviously narrow shoulder females. I thought I was one...apparently not. Those shirts were by the same vendor and both XXL. What the heck?! All I want is variety. My 5 shirts are getting to me! I also want a long flow-y skirt too but until I find some shirts, I'm not going to even track down the skirt.
1b) To the female who wrote to "Time Out Delhi" (magazine) complaining how Western wear doesn't tailor their outfits to Indian curves: SUCK IT! I have curves and I'm not finding any Indian wear that doesn't need to be independently tailored to fit. I see plenty of chunky chicks here who have clothes that fit. Obviously they're buying cloth and having it hand stitched to fit by some Joe Blow tailor man down the street from their house. While it may be nice to get tailor made clothes, I don't want the hassle. I'd like to simply buy a shirt, have it fit, wear it, enjoy it, the end. That is why Western Wear is so awesome. That is why you want to wear it. You pissed me off to the point where I'm seriously considering sending in a rebuttal to the magazine.
2) The heat is starting to piss me off. I'm handling the 100F+ heat well all things considering. During the day I turn on my AC and all is well. When the sun starts to set I venture out and enjoy the reduced heat and non-glaring sun. Yet it's messing up my plans! Two weekends ago I was supposed to go to Agra. Those plans fell through because of a stupid petrol strike. Whatever! Stuff happens so I can't get mad at that. So, we decided to go this weekend. Then Rahul's car AC went out. Like out out. Not repairable out, has to be replaced for a huge sum out. So out went the plans to Agra (again). If it wasn't so hot, the AC issue wouldn't be an issue. The messed up part is, the Taj Mahal is on my "get it done and out of the way" goals. Seriously, you can't visit India and not see the Taj Mahal! I want to make my way up to the mountains to enjoy the cooler air but I feel guilty at that thought when I should be visiting the Taj.
2b) Then again, if it wasn't so frickin hot I could venture out during the day and not feel pissy about being out instead of in the AC room. I wouldn't have to worry about wiping the beads of sweat off my face/neck/etc. I know I picked the hottest time of the year to visit, but it's also an unusually hot summer. Mother Nature, could you ease up a bit for my sake? Please & Thank you.
2c) Guess this means I need to either stay longer to enjoy this place when it isn't so hot or come back later this year for Diwali and enjoy the "Indian winter"
;)
I feel better. Going shopping again today. Wish me luck! Hopefully I can find something that fits!
1) Why the heck are shirts so difficult to find that fit?! Seriously. I've tried finding shirts in the bazaars. They're all weirdly shaped. For 150-325 rupees, I kind of expect it. However, when I go to a department store at a mall, looking to spend 800-1300 rupees, I expect some common sizing.
Now get this: In a bazaar (outdoor market) I found a shirt that was a LARGE. It was just a little small in the chest so the stall owner said if I bought the shirt, he'd extend the size by 2 inches. Cool. So you figure it was now considered an XL, right? Yeah it fit up top but it didn't fit down below due to the high slits on the sides. I went to wear it and I ended up ripping one of the slits. Fudge.
Well I went to a big department store, tried on a couple different shirts. One was too tight in the chest, perfect everywhere else. The other was for obviously narrow shoulder females. I thought I was one...apparently not. Those shirts were by the same vendor and both XXL. What the heck?! All I want is variety. My 5 shirts are getting to me! I also want a long flow-y skirt too but until I find some shirts, I'm not going to even track down the skirt.
1b) To the female who wrote to "Time Out Delhi" (magazine) complaining how Western wear doesn't tailor their outfits to Indian curves: SUCK IT! I have curves and I'm not finding any Indian wear that doesn't need to be independently tailored to fit. I see plenty of chunky chicks here who have clothes that fit. Obviously they're buying cloth and having it hand stitched to fit by some Joe Blow tailor man down the street from their house. While it may be nice to get tailor made clothes, I don't want the hassle. I'd like to simply buy a shirt, have it fit, wear it, enjoy it, the end. That is why Western Wear is so awesome. That is why you want to wear it. You pissed me off to the point where I'm seriously considering sending in a rebuttal to the magazine.
2) The heat is starting to piss me off. I'm handling the 100F+ heat well all things considering. During the day I turn on my AC and all is well. When the sun starts to set I venture out and enjoy the reduced heat and non-glaring sun. Yet it's messing up my plans! Two weekends ago I was supposed to go to Agra. Those plans fell through because of a stupid petrol strike. Whatever! Stuff happens so I can't get mad at that. So, we decided to go this weekend. Then Rahul's car AC went out. Like out out. Not repairable out, has to be replaced for a huge sum out. So out went the plans to Agra (again). If it wasn't so hot, the AC issue wouldn't be an issue. The messed up part is, the Taj Mahal is on my "get it done and out of the way" goals. Seriously, you can't visit India and not see the Taj Mahal! I want to make my way up to the mountains to enjoy the cooler air but I feel guilty at that thought when I should be visiting the Taj.
2b) Then again, if it wasn't so frickin hot I could venture out during the day and not feel pissy about being out instead of in the AC room. I wouldn't have to worry about wiping the beads of sweat off my face/neck/etc. I know I picked the hottest time of the year to visit, but it's also an unusually hot summer. Mother Nature, could you ease up a bit for my sake? Please & Thank you.
2c) Guess this means I need to either stay longer to enjoy this place when it isn't so hot or come back later this year for Diwali and enjoy the "Indian winter"
;)
I feel better. Going shopping again today. Wish me luck! Hopefully I can find something that fits!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Post Arrival Thoughts
I've safely landed in India and have been on a whirl-wind adventure. Sorry I haven't updated, the internet connection is super slow in the hotel. So, where to begin?
Let's start with the flights. PDX to SFO was pleasant but the SFO airport is annoying to say the least. To connect to my next flight, I had to go all the way around to the other side (the airport is a circle) and then re-check-in and go through TSA security again. It was a nuisance. Luckily I had 2 hours, I wouldn't have made it if I had any less time. SFO to EWR was uncomfortable. The airline had to assign my seat at the gate and the lady asked me if I wanted to upgrade to an exit row for more leg room. I accepted, later to find out that there still wouldn't be much room. I was in the middle and there was a bigger man sitting by the window. I had little room and ended up spilling my coke all over him half way to NJ. Oops!
EWR to DEL was good for the most part. Again, I had to go from one side of the airport to the other, in 20 minutes this time. I got there just as they were finishing boarding. There was definitely more leg room but the flight was super long. For some reason I was destined to sit in the middle for all of my flights and when both men on either side fell asleep, I of course had to use the restroom and couldn't get out. Upon landing, everyone in the plane started clapping which made me laugh. It wasn't because the flight was awful, it was because "they were home" hehehe The sucky part was the fact that I forgot to put on deodorant before I left so I felt smelly. Sitting for hours on end and then smelling of body odor too isn't too appealing. However, it wasn't bad like one of the Delhi airport workers who was standing near me at the luggage belt. He needed to invest in a good deodorant and learn to wash his pits. Yuck!
OKAY now on to the important stuff. New Delhi smells. I've heard it's a mixture of spice and pee and while it is an unusual aroma, it doesn't smell like spice and pee. Rahul was a little late picking me up; then again, my flight was early. We set off for my hotel in Noida, on the other side of Delhi. I didn't really get to see much. There's a lot of dust in the air from the heat and with it being dark, it hindered my visibility. Got to the hotel, it's nothing fancy but the sheets were clean, there were no bugs behind the bed, and I was tired!
Next day we set out to find me an apartment. We found a Realtor who said he had a few houses he could show. The first was 4 floors up and the dirtiest shit-hole of a room. There was apparently someone living there still and "the condition of the apartment was due to his standard of living" but I could tell it wasn't just him and the place wouldn't be cleaned when he left. To top it off, they wanted 9k rupees. I didn't think it would be worth it.
So we set off for the next apartment. The Realtor and his Realtor friend on their motor bike and Rahul and I in his car. The next place was nice. A retired software engineer and his house wife had two separate rooms upstairs and a split kitchen which they rent out. There was technically a separate entree too but they wanted me to be home every night by 930. To top it off, they wanted 17k for rent or around $400/mo (2k less if I didn't want to use the AC). I felt like the price was a little steep. I got to experience an Indian housewife hospitality and Indian negotiations. The Realtor would only speak in Hindi which meant I was out of the conversation but he apparently expected 1 month rent commission too. That is common practice if you're finding a 12 month lease, but I laughed at that proposal. We ended up walking away from the deal. The Realtor called back SEVERAL times throughout the day and lowered his commission from 15k to 5k. Since I didn't feel like the room was worth the price, it didn't matter what he lowered his commission too but that's Indian bargaining. The housewife asked where I was from and I said Seattle. Indians know Seattle, they don't know Washington. She became gitty. Apparently they (the husband and wife) had been to Seattle several times and loved it. They have a son in NY and one in Reno (which she thinks is in California)...it was nice to have someone who knew of where I'm from all in all.
After not finding an apartment, we decided to grab a bite to eat and rethink strategy. Off we set to Cafe Coffee Day which is the equivalent of a Starbucks. Next on the agenda was to find a prepaid SIM card for my phone. Found an Aircel nearby but in order to get a card, I would need a passport photo. So we walked around the shopping area until we found the passport guy. 8 passport photos for 50 rupees...that's hella cheap! The photographer ended up taking a pretty good photo of me considering my face was melting from the heat. He was telling me to tilt my chin down and move my head slightly like a photo shoot. After the first photo he said "Wow excellent! Okay one more" haha I was a temporary model in a passport photo shop.
I went back to Aircel to get my card. They handed me a stack of cards with numbers and said I could go through and pick a number. I said it didn't matter and they could just grab one. The replied "You can go through them and find the number you want." So I picked up the card from the top of the stack and handed it to the Aircel people who laughed at me. Numbers are a big deal in India but I could give less since it's only temporary. Got my card and surprise it doesn't work in my BlackBerry. Luckily Rahul had a spare phone and brought it with him just in case. That saved me 300 rupees so I didn't have to buy a new phone. For 120 rupees I got 300 minutes + a bunch of other stuff too. I didn't quite understand what they were referring too but Rahul said it was a good deal and as long as I could make and receive calls, 120 rupees was nothing.
Walking around the shopping area was an experience. Every one was staring at me. I expected it. Some of the stares were of curiosity and others were from obvious perverts. I really need to get some appropriate female Indian wear to cut down on the looks.
We got a call from Sid who wanted to meet up and go out to a movie. Later we met up with him and his girlfriend Shweta. Those two love goofing around and having fun which isn't what I'm used to but it was refreshing. Instead of a movie, we went to Gurgaon to a coffee bar called Mocha. Up on the top floor was a hooka bar so we ordered tapas, a hooka and drinks (Non alcoholic MOM...I had coffee -- I was still exhausted!) and sat around talking until after midnight. Both Sid and Shweta think I should be able to find an apartment, no problem. They had several ideas and everyone kept talking discussing what to do to get me into my own apartment and out of a hotel.
I really want to learn Hindi so I can follow conversations. Everyone apparently speaks English, but they enjoy speaking Hindi. There is a course I could take for 6k but it's 4 or 5 months long. I would sign up for the class if I were staying longer. Hopefully in time I can learn more words and start speaking a bit!
Driving is like the scariest roller-coaster ride. There are lines painted on the road but it doesn't mean shit. You're driving at 60khm with another car 2 feet in front of you and one inches from you on either side and speeding around corners which you can't see, laying on the horn and flashing your lights, and then have to swerve and miss the rickshaws and people riding bikes or walking (yes, walking in the middle of a crazy busy road!) and then you end up swerving to the other side because there's a huge group of cows eating garbage. Now I know why everyone honks their horns. It's a "I'm nearby so either get out of the way or don't move" signal, depending on if you're to the right or left of the overall lane. Amazingly, there have only been near misses and not actual accidents. However, it makes sense why the Indian government has banned talking on the mobile phone while driving. Dad had called to discuss my BlackBerry and while we talked, I was screaming and freaking out. Dad could hear the horns and laughed at me. I'm definitely not used to it but will think nothing of the near misses in the US when I get back.
At one light a little beggar girl in the most beautiful, and obviously expensive, sari came up to my window and kept tapping at the door asking for money for food. It's hard to ignore that but I kept telling myself "A clean beautiful sari equals money. Money equals food." Rahul kept motioning to her to move on but I think she saw me as a foreigner and a sucker. After 2 minutes of repeated tapping she finally left. While we were driving away I swear I saw a dead kid on the divider of the intersection. That, is the shitty part of this country. The extreme difference in wealth is sad. I feel like a bad person for not caring more but I have to remember whats common in the US is definitely not common here. Kids here exploit the fact that they're kids in order to make money for their family. It's sad.
I haven't taken pictures yet. I'm still soaking in the atmosphere. I will have to take a quick video and upload it of the driving. Every time I think of it while driving, I get side tracked by the fact that we almost got hit or someone almost hit us and filming seems so unimportant. Rahul laughed and joked that my imaginary brake is getting worn down too quickly from my repeated foot slamming on the floor =/ The crazy part is, they replace their brake pads about once a year. And no matter HOW expensive the car is, there are dings and scuff scratches from being hit or hitting someone. Makes no sense why there are Mercedes and BMWs on the road but to each their own.
Overall, I feel like I have a good group of friends here who care about my safety and well-being and are doing their best to make sure that I am taken care of. This place is definitely crazy but I'm enjoying it. Then again, I'm protected by said friends and haven't had to experience doing anything on my own yet. If I didn't have them, I wouldn't survive here. I'm too big of a wuss!
Today I'm chillaxing in the hotel watching Indian Serials (soap operas) without closed captioning. The hotel staff speak next to nil English which sucks because a sweet Lassi sounds so appealing! The AC in the room has no freon and I'm relying on a high powered ceiling fan to circulate air. A Lassi would be just the treat to cool me down while I wait for news. In the mean time, Shweta and Sid are working their connections in order to find me an apartment. Rahul had to go in to work for a bit. If the websites will load, I need to search for apartments in Noida or Gurgaon. After, it's more searching until we find something. I would like to see more of Delhi but I'm not in control of this adventure...it's being planned out for me.
Noida has no real sights even though it's different than back home. It's just a bunch of old looking buildings, and building in the process of being built, and building being remodeled, and dirt and garbage piled up in the road. Oh, and cows eating the garbage cause its tasty apparently. Now I know why cows are sacred, they're the universal garbage disposal! ;)
I'll update again with pictures and video in due time.
Let's start with the flights. PDX to SFO was pleasant but the SFO airport is annoying to say the least. To connect to my next flight, I had to go all the way around to the other side (the airport is a circle) and then re-check-in and go through TSA security again. It was a nuisance. Luckily I had 2 hours, I wouldn't have made it if I had any less time. SFO to EWR was uncomfortable. The airline had to assign my seat at the gate and the lady asked me if I wanted to upgrade to an exit row for more leg room. I accepted, later to find out that there still wouldn't be much room. I was in the middle and there was a bigger man sitting by the window. I had little room and ended up spilling my coke all over him half way to NJ. Oops!
EWR to DEL was good for the most part. Again, I had to go from one side of the airport to the other, in 20 minutes this time. I got there just as they were finishing boarding. There was definitely more leg room but the flight was super long. For some reason I was destined to sit in the middle for all of my flights and when both men on either side fell asleep, I of course had to use the restroom and couldn't get out. Upon landing, everyone in the plane started clapping which made me laugh. It wasn't because the flight was awful, it was because "they were home" hehehe The sucky part was the fact that I forgot to put on deodorant before I left so I felt smelly. Sitting for hours on end and then smelling of body odor too isn't too appealing. However, it wasn't bad like one of the Delhi airport workers who was standing near me at the luggage belt. He needed to invest in a good deodorant and learn to wash his pits. Yuck!
OKAY now on to the important stuff. New Delhi smells. I've heard it's a mixture of spice and pee and while it is an unusual aroma, it doesn't smell like spice and pee. Rahul was a little late picking me up; then again, my flight was early. We set off for my hotel in Noida, on the other side of Delhi. I didn't really get to see much. There's a lot of dust in the air from the heat and with it being dark, it hindered my visibility. Got to the hotel, it's nothing fancy but the sheets were clean, there were no bugs behind the bed, and I was tired!
Next day we set out to find me an apartment. We found a Realtor who said he had a few houses he could show. The first was 4 floors up and the dirtiest shit-hole of a room. There was apparently someone living there still and "the condition of the apartment was due to his standard of living" but I could tell it wasn't just him and the place wouldn't be cleaned when he left. To top it off, they wanted 9k rupees. I didn't think it would be worth it.
So we set off for the next apartment. The Realtor and his Realtor friend on their motor bike and Rahul and I in his car. The next place was nice. A retired software engineer and his house wife had two separate rooms upstairs and a split kitchen which they rent out. There was technically a separate entree too but they wanted me to be home every night by 930. To top it off, they wanted 17k for rent or around $400/mo (2k less if I didn't want to use the AC). I felt like the price was a little steep. I got to experience an Indian housewife hospitality and Indian negotiations. The Realtor would only speak in Hindi which meant I was out of the conversation but he apparently expected 1 month rent commission too. That is common practice if you're finding a 12 month lease, but I laughed at that proposal. We ended up walking away from the deal. The Realtor called back SEVERAL times throughout the day and lowered his commission from 15k to 5k. Since I didn't feel like the room was worth the price, it didn't matter what he lowered his commission too but that's Indian bargaining. The housewife asked where I was from and I said Seattle. Indians know Seattle, they don't know Washington. She became gitty. Apparently they (the husband and wife) had been to Seattle several times and loved it. They have a son in NY and one in Reno (which she thinks is in California)...it was nice to have someone who knew of where I'm from all in all.
After not finding an apartment, we decided to grab a bite to eat and rethink strategy. Off we set to Cafe Coffee Day which is the equivalent of a Starbucks. Next on the agenda was to find a prepaid SIM card for my phone. Found an Aircel nearby but in order to get a card, I would need a passport photo. So we walked around the shopping area until we found the passport guy. 8 passport photos for 50 rupees...that's hella cheap! The photographer ended up taking a pretty good photo of me considering my face was melting from the heat. He was telling me to tilt my chin down and move my head slightly like a photo shoot. After the first photo he said "Wow excellent! Okay one more" haha I was a temporary model in a passport photo shop.
I went back to Aircel to get my card. They handed me a stack of cards with numbers and said I could go through and pick a number. I said it didn't matter and they could just grab one. The replied "You can go through them and find the number you want." So I picked up the card from the top of the stack and handed it to the Aircel people who laughed at me. Numbers are a big deal in India but I could give less since it's only temporary. Got my card and surprise it doesn't work in my BlackBerry. Luckily Rahul had a spare phone and brought it with him just in case. That saved me 300 rupees so I didn't have to buy a new phone. For 120 rupees I got 300 minutes + a bunch of other stuff too. I didn't quite understand what they were referring too but Rahul said it was a good deal and as long as I could make and receive calls, 120 rupees was nothing.
Walking around the shopping area was an experience. Every one was staring at me. I expected it. Some of the stares were of curiosity and others were from obvious perverts. I really need to get some appropriate female Indian wear to cut down on the looks.
We got a call from Sid who wanted to meet up and go out to a movie. Later we met up with him and his girlfriend Shweta. Those two love goofing around and having fun which isn't what I'm used to but it was refreshing. Instead of a movie, we went to Gurgaon to a coffee bar called Mocha. Up on the top floor was a hooka bar so we ordered tapas, a hooka and drinks (Non alcoholic MOM...I had coffee -- I was still exhausted!) and sat around talking until after midnight. Both Sid and Shweta think I should be able to find an apartment, no problem. They had several ideas and everyone kept talking discussing what to do to get me into my own apartment and out of a hotel.
I really want to learn Hindi so I can follow conversations. Everyone apparently speaks English, but they enjoy speaking Hindi. There is a course I could take for 6k but it's 4 or 5 months long. I would sign up for the class if I were staying longer. Hopefully in time I can learn more words and start speaking a bit!
Driving is like the scariest roller-coaster ride. There are lines painted on the road but it doesn't mean shit. You're driving at 60khm with another car 2 feet in front of you and one inches from you on either side and speeding around corners which you can't see, laying on the horn and flashing your lights, and then have to swerve and miss the rickshaws and people riding bikes or walking (yes, walking in the middle of a crazy busy road!) and then you end up swerving to the other side because there's a huge group of cows eating garbage. Now I know why everyone honks their horns. It's a "I'm nearby so either get out of the way or don't move" signal, depending on if you're to the right or left of the overall lane. Amazingly, there have only been near misses and not actual accidents. However, it makes sense why the Indian government has banned talking on the mobile phone while driving. Dad had called to discuss my BlackBerry and while we talked, I was screaming and freaking out. Dad could hear the horns and laughed at me. I'm definitely not used to it but will think nothing of the near misses in the US when I get back.
At one light a little beggar girl in the most beautiful, and obviously expensive, sari came up to my window and kept tapping at the door asking for money for food. It's hard to ignore that but I kept telling myself "A clean beautiful sari equals money. Money equals food." Rahul kept motioning to her to move on but I think she saw me as a foreigner and a sucker. After 2 minutes of repeated tapping she finally left. While we were driving away I swear I saw a dead kid on the divider of the intersection. That, is the shitty part of this country. The extreme difference in wealth is sad. I feel like a bad person for not caring more but I have to remember whats common in the US is definitely not common here. Kids here exploit the fact that they're kids in order to make money for their family. It's sad.
I haven't taken pictures yet. I'm still soaking in the atmosphere. I will have to take a quick video and upload it of the driving. Every time I think of it while driving, I get side tracked by the fact that we almost got hit or someone almost hit us and filming seems so unimportant. Rahul laughed and joked that my imaginary brake is getting worn down too quickly from my repeated foot slamming on the floor =/ The crazy part is, they replace their brake pads about once a year. And no matter HOW expensive the car is, there are dings and scuff scratches from being hit or hitting someone. Makes no sense why there are Mercedes and BMWs on the road but to each their own.
Overall, I feel like I have a good group of friends here who care about my safety and well-being and are doing their best to make sure that I am taken care of. This place is definitely crazy but I'm enjoying it. Then again, I'm protected by said friends and haven't had to experience doing anything on my own yet. If I didn't have them, I wouldn't survive here. I'm too big of a wuss!
Today I'm chillaxing in the hotel watching Indian Serials (soap operas) without closed captioning. The hotel staff speak next to nil English which sucks because a sweet Lassi sounds so appealing! The AC in the room has no freon and I'm relying on a high powered ceiling fan to circulate air. A Lassi would be just the treat to cool me down while I wait for news. In the mean time, Shweta and Sid are working their connections in order to find me an apartment. Rahul had to go in to work for a bit. If the websites will load, I need to search for apartments in Noida or Gurgaon. After, it's more searching until we find something. I would like to see more of Delhi but I'm not in control of this adventure...it's being planned out for me.
Noida has no real sights even though it's different than back home. It's just a bunch of old looking buildings, and building in the process of being built, and building being remodeled, and dirt and garbage piled up in the road. Oh, and cows eating the garbage cause its tasty apparently. Now I know why cows are sacred, they're the universal garbage disposal! ;)
I'll update again with pictures and video in due time.
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