Aw its almost Halloween!

First off, yes there were 13 explosions in the northeast part of india today, they think its related to border tensions up there and i am of course ok, i hate hearing about bombings but i can't think about it, and it was very far away from me thank god.   but anyway... Life is good! Things have been great. The day after I last wrote, Camille and I ended up taking a walk through the main markets of pondicherry... it was a monday, and the day before had apparently been when everyone does the markets, but we were actually glad we went when we did. Most everything was closed but the flower market was in "full bloom". lord i make myself sick. anyway it was awesome. the women wear jasmine wreaths in their hair, i think especially on the holidays, and so there were tons of vendors weaving flowers. we bought some, and some guys working at one of the stalls stopped us and pinned them in the proper way, of course wanting pics with us and giving us addresses to have us send them! we bought little sweets and talked to the vendors and locals, the best thing about it was how friendly everyone was. seriously sweet, and not looking to sell us anything. they seemed pleased we were there, not always the feeling i get in india but very very welcome when i do. camille is so smiley and nice to everyone, full of energy of just arriving here, and a real pleasure to be around. im impressed/happy she is still seemingly not sick of me! haha, we are still travelling together, and her boyfriend is delayed by a few days, trekking in the north, so we might even have a little more time! im so happy to have her here, the days go by so fast and are so much fun (except for today partly but thats not her fault, get to that) and some of the places in the past couple of days i think would have been lonely and tough alone. so thankul for that!! Anyway wandering aroudn that day was the best part of pondicherry i think, and sitting outside a temple with a guy who sold coconuts (mostly for offerings i think but idiot tourist i am had him open one and cut the coconut out for me to eat! but he seemed not to care. some of the people in the south are really sweet and friendly. we had some chai on the street too, the cheapest ever, 3 rupees and just simply the best. im totally totally hooked on chai now and consume more sugar than ever. great.   It was the second day of Diwali, the national festival, and the fireworks were still an issue for a couple of days. literally they look like little bombs about to go off and when they do the sound is unbearably loud, so we were plugging our ears walking down the street and undoubtedly causing a lot of entertainment for the locals, i found myslef actually worrying about the safety of my eardrums and wishing i had some of the custom made earplugs you do, duff! We ended up staying in that terrific apartment for a total of 3 blissful nights, (the "house" we were supposed to stay in with the french girls started sounding sketchier and sketchier and further away so we opted out) but enjoyed meeting up with friends and having a drink overlooking the ocean with our canadian friend Brit. 2 days ago, we took a bus out of Pondi.   Finding the right bus at the main stations is always  a treat, and we had more than a bit of trouble finding the one to trichy... we even got on one as it was moving and hten were told to get off cuz there were no more seats... not a reason any indian has been given thats for sure! but we ended up through a series of things on a deluxe bus for a few hours, in the back (after the man in front told me it was full and we couldn't get on and i saw an open seat and insisted on seeing for myself, just to have him laugh and admit there were two in the back.... WHY? why the constant and seemingly pointless deception? pure pleasure from someone's pain? dunno. james, no offense, but i think you might find this all pretty amusing. no wonder you find my blogs entertaining! ha.)   So there was a constant stream of bollywood movie bliss pumping out from the very very effective speaker system on the bus, loud as anything, and then after the movie some classical indian singing, very high pitched, extraordinarily loud. and people sleeping through it. and BEST of all, a guy about my age that sat right next to me on my left in the back row, and whose arm was constantly drifting over to my leg, and his head over to my shoulder while he was "sleeping". i wasn't convinced then, and i certainly wasn't convinced when he was awake and we were going to be there soon and he literally had his hand on my thigh and moved it up to my stomach and kind of scratched it! i pulled back in shock and said something stupid like "i can't see any reason for your hand to be there!!" and he pulled back. i had told him 3 times through the ride to please move over! unbelievable. and gross.   We found Trichy to be busier than we'd hoped, and kind of with an agressive and loud urgency to it unfamiliar to us after blissful Mammallapurum and pondicherry. However the temples were fabulous! Full on south now, the termples are often wooden or stone and painted in fabulously bright colors, they almost look like set pieces or something oddly disney-like. next to palm trees and lit up by almost constant sunshine (ive only had that raiin in chennai, i lucked out!) its pretty sweet. I had an elephant bless me in a temple! They collect rupees with their trunks and then bop you on the head with their trunk, and then pass the money back to their owner. In return for extra food, I guess. The elephants are all adorned with colored powder designs, and I feel ok about them being in captivity at least becuase they are government subsidized and well looked after because india can only legally have so many in captivity, and I think they are also sacred because of Ganesh, the elephant god.   Anyway, apparently Triichy was the capital for odd tin kitchen goods, so we walked through all of that for a while and climbed 450 steps to the top of a temple summit at dusk and saw some spectacular views. We decided we hadn't been roughing it enough in the past few days so we have gone exclusively indian local restaurants with indian local foods and are staying in non ac rooms and splitting the price which is nice on the ol' wallet. We had some SERIOUSLY spicy crab masala curry, i was thinking the crab would be in pieces in the curry but it was literally a hard shelled crab IN the curry. and no utensils, of course, served on a banana leaf. and in the sort of restaurant where they seat you across the table from locals with your friend next to you, so some guys were watching me intently as i tried to crack the crab legs with my teeth, extract the meat with my hands, and get the curry all over my face. i already do that WITH utensils! imagining what its like here must not be a pretty picture. all i can say is hand sanitizer. camille is adapting to the spicy food but its not her taste buds, so i pretty much devoured it all and then my mouth burned for ages. they have these convenient little cardamon seeds covered with sugar that take the edge off at least!   Walking down the street before the temple we spotted a sign saying "beauty parlor" and thinking we've become pretty hairy... i was getting the very fetching ol' hitler mustache/mcdonalds sign eyebrows combination and was hoping there'd be threading... (ancient indian hair removal technique i do in nyc... painful but so effective!) and we ended up on the 4th floor of an apartment and the woman who lived there ran a salon from her house. not only was she the master threader of the world, we made apts to come back for henna tatoos on our hands and feet, so we came back at 8:30 and shed brought in 2 girls and her son was in and out as an interpreter, as was her daughter by phone who took us through pattern possibilities and asked me if "there was any doubts" about her mothers work. haha. they were really sweet and made us chai and painted our hands and feet for 2 hours and did a wonderful job. we tipped them and then they gave us matching anklets! oh and the neighbors were all peering through the windows at us and all yelled goodbye and waved as we left! we were definately the talk of the building im sure, it was hilarious. but i felt so comfortable in this woman's place, so freindly and welcoming.   This morning we headed out for Tanjore, what we thought was a small town (yeah not too much) and relaxing and friendly. (again, not so much.) we walked for what felt like miles with all of our stuff after a bus ride (the busses play music inside, pretty bumpin'!) and found that our hotel was full. we always make reservations but didn't. and everything is full for diwali. we're dumb. so... the dumpy place next door called "raja's guesthouse"... nothing kingly about it, ill tell you... is our accomodation du jour. i don't even know how to write about this piece of *$#@. except we had to change rooms when we realized there was some, *$#@, literally, in our toilet when we got there, along with a plastic bucket floating in the toilet, and this was after they;d put a lightbulb in there to illuminate it. when i said "please clean the toilet" they said the guy would come tomorrow. too late i said. we moved. dust an inch thick on the "furniture" and a nice huge spider and web. halloween came a day early this year! yay! so thats what we get to go home to tonight, im so happy i bought a little silk sleepingbag/pillow protector thing. basically like an envelope for your body so you don't have to touch the filth. when i told the guy to please clean our sink (there were wrappers from soaps there, etc... he removed the wrappers and threw a bucket of water over the sink. "there" he declared. reminded me of the commercial where the guy says to the waitress "i didn't want mayo on this" and she takes the bread and rubs the mayo off on the side of the table. there was that much care.   It was a harrowing afternoon. every restaurant had just stopped serving for their midday break, and after a quick 2nd dosa of the day, and more chai, we went to a palace where we basically had to buy a new special foreigner entry ticket every time we went into a new room. fed up, after paying a guy 50 rupees so he'd let us take pictures, we hadn't wanted a picture permit in the beginning but after seeing the beauty of this palace changed our mind, and the employee told us the ticket center was closed at  4 30.. so we "bought one" from him, only to go to the next area and take pics where we were literally, verbally assaulted in hindi by a crazed indian raging maniac, tender to the "cafeteria" who lost it because we didn't have the 30 RUPEE picture ticket. though we'd just paid the guy. more. and he LOST IT. we said we wouldn't tae more, pics, that didn't satisfy him and he started screaming for backup, and forced us up the stairs to the museum to be "dealt with"... the guys there were fortunately reasonable, told us he was kind of nuts, and had a huge verbal fight with the guy in the stairwell. he was a maniac. we were escorted out when we were ready to leave by the reasonable guy... i think they were worried about us, rightly so! good grief what a day. we were so irritated by it all.   The best part of the day was the temple this evening, all backlit, with people going for prayer, no other tourists, and we could go into the temple.. usually we can't cuz we're not hindu. but they said we could. a magical, huge, pyramid like thing (but 4 sides, tapering up at the top, what IS that shape?) all done in elaborate sandstone carvings, just natural sand color. really exquisite place that made us happy we'd come here. we bought tix on the train (there is only one class on this train, general class for 6 hours tomorrow, but middle of the day, tell u how that all goes) to madurai... another big city, and then a possible jungle trip in the near future on our way to kerala where i will leave camille! :(.... and i have to find a room with CNN on nov 4! man thats tuesday!   Crossing fingers for my man.... get out there and vote all u Obamans! Killing me i can't be there! Ok more soon... write me! And happy halloween and enjoy your parties and parades and costumes aww i wish i could be there for that one day! and then come back here hahah. ok bye!

Parisians, Parties and Police (I love the alliterations (sp?) don't I)

Wow... the last couple of days have been a whirlwind. I have to sit down and think about everything I've done in the past couple of days. First of all, I am travelling with another solo girl! In Mahabalipurum, from where I last wrote, I met Camille, a french girl on her own who just arrived last week in the south. She's awesome, speaks english amazingly well, a real talker, tell it like it is parisian and im sure i will visit her in paris in the next couple of years. We were at dinner togetherand ended up hanging out the next day, wandering the beach the whole day and going into forbidden resorts, swinging in their hammocks till getting kicked out, etc, and eating in weird dark resorts that were hit hard from the tsunami and being rebuilt. we had a great day though,and that night we wereat dinner again and then heard these people singing happy birthday at this upstairs restaurant, so we went to check it out and there were like 30 travelers and indians together and a bday cake and it was a little party! after 11, the curfew hour, the cops went by,and the manager shouted to get down! the lights went out and we all ducked underthe table for 10 min! i was amazed that 25 backpackers whod been drinking beer and whisky could be that quiet! after they passed the party was back full force and we all went to the beach, i met an awesome scotsman named daines who was keen on psycological discussions by the sea with us, truly awesome talks till 3 am!  We had a late night, but Camille and I got up the next day to go move on. Her boyfriend is coming in about a week to join her, how nice, but until then she is alone and covering similar territory to me, so we hit it off and joined up and she was with me yesterday when we came here to Pondicherry, which is the remaining french colonial territory, we are in the french quarter right now and its like this weird other world here, the french quarter looks nothing like india, with its palm tree lined cobblestone streets and big white colonial buildings. Its beautiful! It is next to the ocean promenade, not quite the pretty walking beaches of Mamallapuram but scenic enough, with enough people trying to sell you cheap kitchy things to remind you you are still in india. Im sitting in this cool, hip coffee house next to a huge flat screen tv and an imposing dvd collection, theres a little coffee bar and I'm waiting for my iced vietnamese  coffee made with filtered water! We got here last night, after a truly harrowing bus experience. We were to take the bus here, only 2 hours away, but the problem is that today is the first day of Diwali, a major weeklong holiday throughout all of India. This of course means travelling anywhere here this week is like trying to get through an airport the day before thanksgiving. People were hanging off the sides off the bus. (mmmm just got my coffee. just like vietnam. strong, sweetened condensed milk. absolute heaven. this is my second cup of coffee today! And we're meeting 4 of our other friends in an hour at another cafe for some more! hahaha4 other friends when did this happen) anyway, the busses were so full that every time one would come by, we'd pick up our bags and run, but then weould get pushed out of theway by frantic indians, pushing and shoving and packing in like sardines. An autorickshaw all the way was too much money, so we ended up talking to a tourist car who i bargained down to 500 r for the two of us, although there seemed to be a lot more indians getting in the carand i dind't think they were possibly paying that much. The guys were quite rude to us, and demanding the money. Then a minibus came, special one for diwali, and the guys were like, everyone get on that bus. and i said "this cant be the same price its a bus not a car" and he just wagged his head and stared at me and demanded the money. we were kind of furious, because its not the money as it is the feeling of being manipulated in front of like 20 people who knew full well we were being cheated. so we got our stuff in this minibus, and then i stand up and say "ok, how much are you paying for this bus?" no answer. "how much?" i demanded again. i was frustrated. they all looked at me like they didn't understand, one guy sort of gave us a look like "what do you think" but i was clearly putting them in an awkward position, if they told me, they'd be betraying their fellow indian guy, and why do that for a foreigner. so they banded together. we sat down and told eachother to let it go, nothing we can do. leaves a bad taste in your mouth though. a man who said he was a christian man and showed me his cross told us that he and his wife were paying 500 r... i did'nt get the feeling he was telling the truth. and then he kept throwing his daughter at us, and pointing to my necklaces and gesturing for me to give them to his daughter! who was staring at us the whole time, we were nice to her, and i asked her questions, and all she kept doing was telling me to give her my necklace! and this was a well dressed family that were certainly not begging. it was odd. anyway before she left i gave her one of them anyway and she seemed thrilled. but when we got near pondicherry, this guy who'd given us the look before was about to get off the bus. he stood next to camille, and kind of touched her arm, and hidden away from everyone slipped her a note! She opened it after he left and we saw a phone number. we thought maybe he gave her his number but upon closer look we saw a note that said "the cost for this ride is 100 r. no more. they are cheating you. if they give you trouble here is the number of the tourist hotline!" and he gave that number. and thats all there was to it! he had nothing to gain, but just decided to do the right thing. in the midst of a dishonest busload of people comes a seriously nice guy who redeems the whole situation. a true combination of  polar opposites, just like this entire country. well, thats all we needed, the information. we made up a plan. when it came to our stop, we got our bags, camille went out first and grabbed most of them, ready to make a break for it. i handed over two 100 r notes and said "here you go. I made a phonecall to the national tourist line and they told me that the charge for this ride is 100 r. i know, and you know and this whole bus knows you are trying to scam us. if you dont accept this money and let it be the end of it, i will report you. ive already notated your bus number." and the guy goes "madam, madam, please please madam. no no no" and the other guy is kind of laughing like "guess we didn't fool them" and the bus is clearly entertained by the whole thing, oh gee, guess they do understand english! and im like "why are we still standing here? lets go!" and we took our stuff and walked off, the guy shaking his head and the bus pulled away. Victory! Triumph! The two of us shrieked with delight when we got a block away. And then looked at our hands which were just shaking like leaves. IT was hilarious, but you wouldn't believe how intimidating it is to fight your case in front of a busload of unfriendly people who are cheating you! It felt damn good though, I gotta tell you. Might seem like a very small and pointless victory to those reading this, but however small, it felt really good to win this one. ive been so tired of getting scammed in so many little ways, and we have our angelic indian guy to thank, wherever he is.   Well the adventure yesterday didn't end there! our plan was to stay in this beachside ashram, and though we'd tried to call earlier, the number was wrong in the lonely planet, so we were on our way to the door when we ran into 3 french girls we'd met in mamallapuram! they told us they had a huge room full of 4 beds and room for us. but upon arrival to the place, they wouldnt let us share a room, said we all had to have checked in together, and there was no budging. oh and it was full so we couldn't stay there. great. well, it being the first day of diwali, everything was full. we tried like 6 places, with our heavy bags. i was dying of heat, we ended up at this french restaurant, and this guy had apartments that he rented for nights. so for 1000 r ( a splurge)... 20 bucks for the night! we got a seriously pimped out apartment! Air conditioning, HOT WATER, full kitchen, flat screen cable tv, and a couple that lived in the other bedroom with a laptop computer and internet and two cushiony chairs! our bedroom had this crazy ornate wooden bed and a glass red lantern. it was an old french colonial house with crazy cast iron gate doors and old harry potter type keys which are a serious pain to use. it provided refuge last night fromthe crazy mini-bomb firework weilding maniac hellion children throwing them at each others feet and causing seriously loud explosions, and of course the nightly thunderstorm. it was paradise! and we ate at the french place, and horrror of horrors, i ordered a rocqfurt steak!!! it was amazing! and a glass of french red wine with camille as a celebration for a day well done! of course we met a chinese american girl named anjuna (her new hindi name her guru gave her, she wouldn't reveal her chinese one, and her american one was nicole) and a torontonian named brit, fascinating, smart interesting women, couldn't believe all of a sudden there they were! all these great people! so our new group went to an art cafe where we sipped mojitos ( a little hurridly since we bought them and they promptly closed at 11, like 5 min later and rudely kicked us out, we think they've adapted the parisian rudeness aswell as the food!) and we ran into david and celine (married couple he's german shes french live in germany met in an improv troupe hes getting his phd very cool, he's hilarious) also from mamallapuram and so we're meeting them all for coffee in 20 min!!! craziness. and the first french girls have hooked us up tonight with their indian friend they work with's actual house that's apparently this huge mammoth house they are renting to us for 300 a night for all 6 of us! thats about a dollar a night for me, 5 km out of townbut im ok with it cuz we can take autorickshaws and we are all having dinner out there together tonight. last night i thought to myself... this is the india trip i invisioned! crazy and absurd but so much fun!! im so glad ive had all these different sorts of times and places in one trip, i think about my misery last week with the weird cat in my room, and the excitement of now with new and interesting friends and amazing scenery and good times and i realize it is all part of the general adventure. ok im off for yet another cup of coffee, and i'll let you know how this huge indian house is... write me! oh and a shout out to my pops.... HAPPY 60TH BDAY TOMORROW! LOVE YOU!

The south! The beach!

I have finally reached the beach. I am in Mamallapuram, or Majabalipuram, there are actually 2 names yet neither of them roll off the tongue. This place was badly hit in the tsunami, but it has been rebuilt rather well I think, there are a couple of tributes and memorials, but it seems to have progressed pretty well, it is a tourist town, but there are not that many tourists! Apparently, basically my whole trip has been one month too early, as all the locals here say the rush will come end of november. Ah well, it does make it pretty quiet and peaceful here though, and upon checking into my hotel (by candlelight, literally, the power is an on and off thing again) I made my way to the rooftop restaurant, I was the only one there and my waiter was playing sax jazz and had an afro. First afro I've seen on an indian and pretty darn hilarious. I knew I was at the beach scene though.   My flight a few days ago to the south was blissfully uneventful, totally on schedule and even getting a prepaid cab into town was a breeze. The breeze ended there however, literally and figuratively, though the whole time in Chennai was a veritable monsoon. It is wet, sticky and hot here, but not as hot as the north. The people look very different and are at times, nicer and a little more tactful than up north. I have heard this is because generally speaking there is more money in the south. However, I can't say I was a real fan of Chennai. A pretty huge city, it lacks the charm and architecture of Calcutta, and some of Delhi's manic colorful "splendor". And gone are the sidewalks, and its a free for all. Sometimes India can be a little much on the senses, the horns on the autorickshaws and buses especially are just piercing to the ears, they are high pitched and make you jump out of your skin. If you add monsoon rain to the equation, it is like the straw that broke the camel's back. I had trouble handling it yesterday, a day where everyone and everything seemed to be conspiring against me. I was staying in this rather odd but full of history/personality colonial house type of place, I was on the top floor and basically had my own cabin like place, with my own rooftop, sounds cool but was kind of eerie, felt a little like I was camping, and the room was about 5 times the size of a normal room. The fan was in the middle of the ceiling so the bed was placed under that and virtually floating in the middle of the room. It was odd. And kind of bare, hard to describe. Big windows with shutters and bars that looked over a leafy courtyard, very pretty. But I came home one night and I heard meowing and I nearly had a heart attack when I saw a stray cat had come in through the window and was sitting on the desk! just staring at me in the dark, its eyes aglow!  I'm a little leery of stray animals around here so I just ran downstairs to see if the guy could help out but he was sleeping on the floor of the office, it was nighttime and this is common practice, and after waking him he just told me to get it out myself. And nodded his head in that ever so common and sometimes frustrating motion where you don't really know what they are saying. helpful. i managed to get the cat out but closed all the shutters!   I had set up an autorickshaw guy to take me around town yesterday, was supposed to pick me up at 10 and when he didn't show I ultimately left to go to the museum, figured I didn't want to pay all that money anyway, and told the guy at the desk to tell him i left cuz he was 20 min late. Well then I went to the (rather odd) museum, filled to the brim with stuffed animals (real ones) and embryos and fetuses preserved in formaldehyde... lovely... came for the paintings but of course that wing was shut down! And I went to the museum bookstore, and then I hear my name and I turn around and theres the driver! Somehow he had figured out I'd gone to the museum, driven across town and basically stalked me, wanting my business! When i told him it was too late, almost 12, he held out his hand and demanded 50 rupees. Why?? I said... he said he'd driven across town to find me! I was like, but you were half an hour late! And I just told him to go, when i got out 30 min later he was creepily waiting for me and demanding money. I hightailed it out of there on another rickshaw and refused his offer to take me to he bus station 20 km away. no thanks. the stalking was super creepy!   so... that was chennai. but i did go to a really really fancy spanish restaurant, a tapas place of all things! they had cocktails on the menu that were 10 US dollars! insane! too much for me to afford so i just had some garlic mushrooms and nachos but it was an odd experience.   Anyway I took the bus to mamallapuram yesterday, and went to the rooftop restaurant and ordered an absolutely fantastic spicy fish curry. man the food is good here in the south! good dosas too, crepe like things stuffed with potatoes and masala spices.... excellent. and knock on wood i haven't been sick in like 2 weeks. awesome. met a cuban girl who was just fantastic and a great conversationalist, hadn't met a girl like that in a while. she was travelling with her french boyfriend and they live together in Barcelona. Further proof (as if i needed it) that I will, without a doubt, move to barcelona for a year or so of my life, further down the line. Everyone I meet that lives there is amazingly cool, open minded, bright personalities, and they sing the praises of barcelona, and i fell in love with it when i visited 4 years ago. Im starting to plan one of the next trips and im not off this one yet! haha... but i certanily have met people around spain and france a lot this time, and im thinking live in barcelona, meighan visit you in paris, take you to my friends vineyards, scoot around spain a little and visit morocco finally... we'll see what happens with time.. gonna be a coupe of years i think. Anyway she invited me to join a bunch of french travellers they'd met and i basically had a second dinner with all of them!   this morning i did a yoga class with a couple of the french girls... it wasn't earth shattering. The guy just kept chanting "inhaaaaaallllle, EXhaaaaaaaallllle...." going up in pitch with his voice with each word, don't know if it was supposed to be relaxing but it was annoying as hell! And I'm the least flexible person ever, but thats no news. Ended up buying Myself! a real and good quality silver bracelet today that i didn't need but it is something i will have forever, it is actually good, got it for half the price he gave initially, because he told me he figured we'd become friends, talking in his store. his stuff was soooooo pricey! unfortunately, the real stuff really isn't as cheap here as id hoped. but i did pick up a pretty skirt for 2 dollars so not too bad.   my day was spent visiting monuments and temples that are really pretty amazing here, the monuments are naturally existing huge rocks, like huuuge boulders, one is called krishna's butter ball and ill post a picture but it is this rock that i tried to look like i was pushing up the hill, cheesy but gotta do it. And had some amazing sweet and sour fish curry today by the beach! Some even better beaches coming up in my trip in the next couple of weeks i think, I'm really looking forward to it and it didn't rain today, but i think it is pretty common down in this part of india.   I think this was kind of a dry, rambly blog, more of a log of events, but writing here is a way I really feel like I am talking to someone! The couple left today unfortunately but i am going to try to hook up with the french girls for dinner. Tomorrow off to Pondicherry, high french influence there... all these french! and apparently a really really decent cup of coffee I will try. Im becoming hooked on the very sweet creamy chai that i detested when i arrived here, thought it was too sweet and now ive sparked a sugar addiction that id never had before! think ive put back on the almost 5-10 pounds  i had dropped in the first couple weeks here! ah well.   Ok im going now. Please comment if you can or send me an email cuz im in the mid-trip semi-slump and miss you all. BTW my ticket home (well to florida) is on Nov 25 now, i think 2.5 months is just right for this trip, anyway ill arrive  just in time to cook (or not?) a turkey with chris, though im super sad i will be missing another thanksgiving at home, but then boston dec 5 in time for mom's 60th! so boston folk, ill be around dec 5-xmas tryin to do odd jobs and maybe a couple caroling gigs. Started looking online for nyc apts just for kicks on craigslist! Getting excited! But for now, more walks on the beach!!

Ow, Kolkata!

I'm nursing a bee sting. a BEE STING! Thankfully the only insect that doesn't carry some deadly disease, and after a minor panic and causing quite a scene in the restaurant, I was relieved to discover I had not developed some deathly allergy in the last 15 years since I've had one. Right on the underside of my right wrist. And some of you might know how phobic I am of putting on bracelets, let alone having something pierce me right there next to the.... gasp... vein! Arg. anyway it still hurts. So that's what puts the Ow in Ow, Calcutta.

Secondly, I'm here, in Calcutta, Kolkata, whatever you wanna say. And 2 days ago was the 1 month anniversary of being here! Been a long and short time all at the same time. And this time next month I'll be getting to winding this all down. Kolkata, not the city I imagined it would be. First of all, there's a United Colors of Benneton and an Adidas! And tons of old school cars painted yellow, Taxis! Real ones, not white "tourist cars" but actual taxis. This seems to be India's answer to NYC, and I'm sitting in a net cafe that has AC and little cubicles, looks like a call  center. Everything here is more modern, and the stereotype I had of this city, which was everyone begging, peoole lying on the streets, is only somewhat true. The overarching thing about it is the old colonial british archetecture, old relics still standing and leaving their stylistic imprint all over, its not hard to see how this was a colony, here. The old white buildings with palm trees in front, some majestic well laid out parks with actual trashbins, and a fine for litter! This is only in these main parks however but it just blew my mind yesterday.

I volunteered in an orphanage for these 3 days through the "motherhouse" Mother Theresa's organization here in India. I showed up for the meeting for volunteers friday, a few hours after my train finally arrived (3 hours late, didn't get out of gaya till 2 am, that was... fun...) and they briefed us on the different houses we could work in. Some of them have a minimum of one month, but one that didn't was the orphanage, where I'd wanted to work anyway. I asked to be put in a classroom if possible, and I got what I wanted! Saturday morning we had to show up at 7 am for breakfast, and then we all go in groups to our respective houses. There were probably 40 people there this morning, lots of them have been here for at least a week or 2, there were a lot of Americans! First time I'd really seen them. I guess thats kind of nice, that you see Americans out there trying to help out, just wish they would actually travel through these countries as well instead of flying in, helping out, and flying out, which some of them do.  Lots of Catholics of course, and yesterday morning I received a mini-sermon from a westerner guy that had been here 35 years and was preaching on how McCain was the only one to vote for because this man is emphatically pro-life, and talked to us about not voting for someone who kills babies. Yikes. I murmured to the american guy (from brooklyn!) next to me that I came here to volunteer, not to be religiously indoctrinated. He nodded in agreement. 

In any case,  I worked with the kids that morning. SO CUTE! I mean seriously adorable kids, my classroom was 9 kids and they were like 3 years old. As soon as I walked in the room, one little boy just ran up to my legs and threw his arms around them. He was absolutely the cutest boy ever, and I found out later that some Italians are adopting him and coming to get him in a couple of weeks.

Apparently the turnover is really high there which is nice, that a couple of years ago someone worked here and came back and only a couple of kids are still here, they all got placements. It makes it easier to think about it all. The nuns are pretty rough with the kids, pretty strict, saw them just throwing them into the chairs when they were resistant, and slapping them around a bit. They seem to have their best interest at heart but it is different methods. Yesterday I was wearing the same chinese beaded bracelet I always wear and wore before with the kids, and didn't think about it. While two of them were curiously playing with my watch, and I was explaining to them about time, another little hellion went and ripped off my bracelet, breaking it and sending beads everywhere. I freaked momentarily, knowing they could be choking hazards, and thankfully my little ally Deepak went rushing around collecting them all, I was worried he'd cram them in his mouth but instead he picked them all up and came running over to me to return them. So sweet. Unfortunately the nun saw him with one bead as he was returning it to me, and started freaking out and I told her it was from my bracelet and she shook her head disapprovingly and yelled at me in hindi and pointed to her throat and mimed choking. I apologized profusely and felt like crying/guilty/5 years old, that amazing ability that catholic school atmospheres never seem to fail to do to even adults, no offense to anyone.

Anyway the kids are like monkeys, lemme say. They climb the barred windows! Don't know how they get up there and you have to go over and just remove them and put them on the floor again, where they just start re-climbing, and then they hold on with all their might and its like trying to get my cat out of her cage when she's at the vet. Somehow they possess this super human strength. And like all little kids, they crave attention, and I think the hardest part about it is that sometimes they would just look up at you and hold out their arms, wanting to be picked up. It was so cute, and we weren't really allowed to pick them up which was just so sad. Usually a kid would spend all his day with other little kids, sharing the attention, but come home to a family that would show attention to them... well the lucky kids I guess. Just makes you want to take them home. And the nuns are so strict! Some rich Indians came breezing in for acouple of minutes to hand out hard candies (and she was worried about my beads being chocking hazards!) and cookies 5 minutes before their lunch time, which of course made all the kids spit their lunch food back out into the bowl when I was trying to feed it to them later, really great planning) ... ps seeing a lot of class divide here that I haven't seen this plainly before. The cutting edge rich people in the coffee houses that look like starbucks, people riding nice cars, people hiring others to carry their suitcases for them on their heads, etc. Interesting.

Anyway the nuns are not abusing them however, and its a lot better than the alternative for these kids. On sudder street where my hotel is there is a well known sceme where poor adults will pay for kids for the day to use to beg for money. sick. We spent the mornings singing nursery rhymes, even though the kids just sort of stared at us which was a little odd, they didn't speak english at all and i was put in this room with an irish girl about my age that is a teacher at home and she was remarking about certain differences. It is old catholic school style strictness here, they prbably think we're big softies. But trying to feed them was quite hard! They have the same curry potatoes and rice with some chicken every day for lunch and dinner, and I don't think they love eating it. My little boy just kept spitting it back in the bowl, or swatting me away, and ripping his bib off! We tried to do color-matching with them, they seemed to respond pretty well to that, and "head and shoulders knees and toes" they seemed to like. They are 3 years old for gods sake so I guess its ok they aren't writing essays. I immediately felt like writing some sorts of lesson plans and having some curricular guidelines. It didn't seem like the two indian nuns who were there had any particular focus for them... anyway I guess its different here. I wanted to take a couple of those kids home with me honestly, I think it goes to remind us that adoption is such a good option, there really are tons of really little kids that need families, and so many adoption agencies abroad. Certainly a possible option for the future that I would consider maybe. Who knows.

I think this is one of the more organized charity centers, and because of this there seem to be a steady stream of foreign volunteers. They make it easy to sign up, but I feel like I might feel more that I'm really needeed in a smaller town or something, I might see what other volunteer opportunities there are as I head down south. It was not a reality check, I know how it is out there for so many kids, but it was certainly a reminder and some hands on experience helped me to think about how important it is to spend some time doing quality things for people who need your help. I don't know how this will be a part of my career but I am determined to make it one.

Anyway it was really easy to meet people these last 3 days through the volunteering, and at an internet cafe I met someone too. An american couple from texas, a spanish woman from barcelona that i spoke only spanish with for 3 days, i did pretty well if i say so myself! And an american guy volunteering as well. This allowed me to go out to a couple of the restaurants that Kolkata has to offer... there's a park street which is kinda like park avenue (im telling you its kinda like nyc) which had some big fancy restaurants with waiting lists on a sunday night! Greg the american guy (lives in brooklyn actually!) and myself waited last night to go to this india place, when we finally were seated we were taken to the back room which had more cafeteria like lights but everyone was dressed up, there were ugly old 70s light fixtures, sorta like applebees, and the oddest part was we were seated on the same side of the table, there was no other side! Just one bench. Looking out into the restaurant, totally exposed! Good mutton kebabs though, a northern dish. And I thought I'd order the "Brandy Honey Bee" cocktail, not realizing it was just straight brandy! And a chocolate "sundae" which was ice cream and fruit, chocolate ice cream, weird combo. And the waiters were in full regalia, turbans and all. It was funny. And the nights before that I hit up a traditional bengali food place and a tex mex place called Jalapenos! Been quite a good mix of cuisine here.

All in all, I think this is a really cool city, clearly a fusion of old and new, colonialism and indian tradition, big old buildings falling apart, fancy hotels (one of which I went inside just to use their bathroom and their nice handsoap and MOISTURIZER!) ... anyway its a cool place to be. Flying out in a couple hours to Chennai, decided to bypass the 45 hour train ride and just spend the extra 60 bucks for a flight. I'll be in chennai by 8 tonight. Starting the south! 2nd half of the journey begins! I'll keep you posted.

Curry and Camels

Finally - some pictures!  As I post new albums, I'll add them to the Pictures list on the left.

You're never really that far from home...

My god this trip gets odder and odder, and pretty much cooler and cooler. One day since I wrote and I"m not really sure how to start. Im in Bodhgaya, its a full moon, and my day was an eclectic mix of meditating, shopping, and eating expensive yet free buffets with 50 americans.

I'll explain. I woke up this morning feeling a bit disgruntled for no good reason. Maybe the mosquitos coming through the net and biting my butt in the night could have contributed. And the oppressive heat. And the power outages every 5 minutes in this town! With no backup generators, so the TV goes out and the lights and fan. In any case, I had breakfast at the same place I had dinner last night, and when the super nice waiter suggested chai, I finished off 2 huge cups because he brought me the Hindustan times! And I got to almost finish off my Danielle Steele crap I got for free, yet is suprisingly good and readable, kinda replaces (almost) As the World Turns :)

Anyway the day started with pretty much the nicest, most altruistic Indians I've met so far, and it had me thinking, is it the region? Or is it me? Maybe they can sense I"ve turned a corner here, maybe I started out vulnerable but nice, turned into a raging defensive maniac for a while, and then realized I had to submit to this country and now am fairly amiable again? But not as vulnerable? I think its something like that. I realized how long my conversations are with the men, even the women and the village kids. I got nice and lost in some rice fields today and it didn't even worry me. I walked through tiny dirt paths and even in front of some people's huts and after a cordial morning "namaste" they let me pass with minimal hassle. The little kids ran screaming after me and giggling and i had them pose for a picture, smiled at them and said goodbye, and that was that. Some schoolboys followed me down the street, 3 cars and 3 motorbikes offered to take me into town and i smiled and refused, and they left it at that. 

I look at myself in the mirror and see a really really dirty skinned person, with crazy looking hair that can be styled with just my hand, kinda stays in whatever way i mold it ( i do wash it, but the water is hard and usually freezing and i want to conserve shampoo, and well you get the picture) and cleaning under my fingernails is kind of pointless, considering they get dirty in 5 minutes) and the only makeup i ever wear is the faintest hint of eyeliner, i mean my eyes are virtually non-existent without it!!! And i wear these comical "ali baba" pants that no indian would be caught dead in but there is a major market for manufacturing them for foreigners, and a bunch of tibetan jewelry that i bought today. I look at myself, and I guess I look the part. One might cast me in a play about backpackers now.

Maybe this is why they seem to treat me as less of a target and more part of the scenery.... well I woudln't go that far. But I got lost today trying to find the international meditation center, thought id try to "squeeze it in"... not waht you are supposed to do with meditation i fear but ah well... saw it from across an odd park, it ws odd because the park only had one entrance, and the center was over the fence, the fence was too high to jump,  so i had to go around the park, and then i found myself in a tibetan monastary, with 2 asian tour buses full of asians, and the monks even had a laugh as i wandered around somewhat confused. then i was in the fields, and then with the villagers, and then praying for no snakes, and then, totally randomly, i was in front of my hotel when i thought i was on the other side of town. 

I meandered around and found myself at the main temple here in Bodhgaya, and it was AMAZING! This was the temple to commemorate Buddha's rise to enlightenment, right in this very spot! The very tree! Around it were beautiful gardens, a lake with a giant buddha in it, and monks chanting and meditating around the tree. I sat down, near me were women dressed all in white, and lots of monks, and I closed my eyes and sat down for 1.5 hours! Of course I am new at this and thoughts of family, friends, plans, chris, apartments in manhattan, hairspray, drifted through my head. I tried to push them out, i think i was semi successful and at the very least i felt refreshed and very peaceful. Mabye it was the constant asian influence throughout my life, but the surrounding presence of tibetans, burmese, japanese, chinese, vietnamese and thai people and monastaries actually really put me at ease. And every time I see a Buddha I feel that way also. It seems more a way of thinking than the kind of dogma I associate with other organized religions. At least that's how it feels to me, and I like it.

After meditating I was looking at the lake, and a Burmese monk with glasses and a friendly smile asked me where I was from, and for once I was convinced a man wasn't trying to chat me up! He proceeded to talk to me about meditation, how one must shower for the body-cleaning and meditate for the mind cleaning! He talked about breathing, and practicing banishing other thoughts, he was very kind and funny. I politely excused myself after a while walking with him cuz i really had to pee and sometimes don't know where social situations are going, nice man but didn't really want to spend hours with him, im so anti social sometimes.

I ended up in a tibetan jewelry store... dear lord I think I might even like it better than indian jewelry. I bought 5 pieces for 20 dollars! I had to sit the boy down and talk to him, down to business. I sat in the store for almost 2 hours! We finally settled on the deal and i walked out, triumphant, as they were shaking their heads and doing figures on the calculator when i left. Came home to try to check if the tv was working, it was, for 5 minutes  i watched 13 going on 30 and then out again. Briefly thought my hidden stash of money and debit card was stolen, luckily I overlooked my locked pocket in my bag. 

Out the door to the free zen meditation session at 5 in the japanese monastary, and arrived 10 min late, sat in the back of all the meditators, noticed there were tons of foreigners! where had they all been? there were like 60 of us. I had no idea what the procedure was and at times felt like i was at a dance class at broadway dance center clueless as ever. which way to bow? to sit? to file out? to walk around the perimeter of the temple? the chants, the gongs, the silence, while the sun set and the full moon came out over the japanese temple and i felt like i was in a tropical palm tree laden japan, we even had a japanese monk. It was cool. And coming out at the end i took a pic of the full moon and heard some americans talking about dinner and sounding really nyc... lingo and all. One had a shaved head so i assumed she was really hard core buddhist... turns out there are like 40 americans in this monastary program for a study abroad intensive thing, and they are here for 3 months! They have mixed feelings about all of it and the girls i met were ready to go home. It was an american dynamic that made me feel instantly like i was home, and when they said they were getting a free buffet with the program, i hopped on the backpacker freeloading bandwagon and even got approved to eat with them in the tablecloth, full silverware, 3 course dinner buffett! It was delicious and free and we talked about everything, I even have tentative plans for a kingfisher with one of the girls tomorrow night; she said she knows ways around the rules they have for them! Ha.

So i got really fortunate tonight, the whole day was good and I'm up early tomrrow to switch hotels cuz this one is full, and finally go to the meditation center. i think thurs i will go to the caves where buddha spent years becoming enlightened. I'm actually relieved I have 3 full days here, this place is wicked. And I've lots of temples and monastaries to visit tomorrow too. 

Ok back to my hot dark electricity-less room! Goodnight all.

Holy Varanasi!

Wow... so after I wrote the last entry in Satna, I was groped by about 15 men in the span of 2 minutes, when I had to walk to the train station through the festival,the streets jammed with people. Luckily for me the indian woman who ran the internet store with her husband proudly showed me off to her family and children who were in the parade, and then helped me get back, elbowing the ogling Indian men in the ribs, as she cleared a path for me. It didn't help the guys behind me though, I breathed a heavy sigh of relief as I clamped the lock shut on the door of the dingy "hotel" i paid for for 6 hours while i waited for that night train to Varanasi. I think that experience woudl have done me in a month ago, but I just sighed and moved forward, hungrily devouring 3 slices of white bread, two bags of chips and a mineral water... the only food they were selling at night there. I did walk into a shady restaurant, and promptly walked right out. Sleeping on the train was, happily, uneventful. I was in a 2ac class compartment (the best you can get, a few dollars more than the 3ac class, and quite a bit more than the general class, but i don't want to skimp out on overnight train rides, don';t want to wake into the night staring into the face of an awestruck local, you know?) And in any case, I was with more families than random men which was nice.  I slept mostly through the night, and then walked into the mess of the train station to be met with 25 rickshaw drivers trying to get my money. so i stood there and said "ok, which one of you wants to take me to my hotel for 25 rupees?" to which they argued it was too little, and i declared, forcefully "i didn't just get to india yesterday. which one of you will it be? or i will take my business to someone who will." and someone did, and then there i was on an old school cycle rickshaw driven by an old man who had to get out and push me up a hill, sweating. i ended up giving him 50 anyway. My hotel in Varanasi overlooked the ghats, for those of you that don't know, Varanasi is the holiest city in india, it is where people take the bodies of their dead and cremate them, and send them down the ganges river. It is also where they themselves bathe in the river, sometimes even drink the water. Lucky told me that a Japanese tourist man was hospitalized for 2 weeks after drinking the water, trying to be "indian." wow. In any case, my hotel had balconies that were attached to each room, and out the back entrance, cages around the hallways to prevent the masses of monkeys from getting in. at night we were told to make sure we shut our balcony doors for that reason. i stepped out last night and heard and saw about 30 monkeys on top of the caged in gates. they are everywhere. I had heard Varanasi would be the most difficult of all of the cities I would visit. This is already untrue, even before I go to Calcutta. Varanasi was beautiful, old looking, but beautiful and pretty serene down in the area of the ghats where i was staying. The people didn't hassle as much, where i was staying was a very holy area, the cremation taking progress 24 hours a day virtually outside my window. apparently they burn the bodies for 3 hours each, costing the family a lot of money, and the boy who described it all to me, who wanted me to see his shop but seemed to genuinely want to educate me, said that 250 bodies are burned there a day, and that the mens chests dont burn because they are hard workers, and the women's pelvis bones dont burn because they are strong to have babies. interesting.The viewing area where i went with the boy was a kind of hospice, people waiting to die there in this room, and i gave some rupees to the woman maintaining it all. Pretty intense place.  people would be chanting late into the night, ringing bells, and doing ritualistic ceremonial lookig things with torches and fire... there were paddle boats going down the ganges by night, candles floating on the water, and an almot full moon (it is full toniht) to complete the picture. I took a sunrise boatride on 2 hours of sleep, it was spectacular. Besides all of these beautiful things the highlight had to be the friends I made while there. 3 french guys and a lovely french couple. The guys I spent the most time with, for 3 days, we were inseperable friends. I met thm as soon as I walked in the door of my hotel that morning, sweating buckets as I had climbed about 6 flights of stairs. Their names were Didier, Romain and Nico. What awesome guys. Gentleman, super funny, so nice, and really made my life a breezy vacation for 3 days. They are just 3 guys that seem to really enjoy life. During the winter they work in the north of france on the ski slopes, and in the summers they work in the south of france in a vineyard. Quite a beautiful life! One was always whistling, The others joking around... Nico's English was the best but I also got to talk to the others a ton as well and after a few days their english was so much better! The 4 of us took autorickshaws for the day to see all the sights, some temples (a couple that didn't let non hindus inside so we couldn't see) and a buddhist neighboring town, and a not so hot lunch that took 2 hours to come out! typical.  That night we joined the couple and went to a music venue literally on a pitch dark tiny side street i never would have been able to go to on my own. We saw a simple sitar/tabla (drum) performance for about 2 hours which was peacful and lovely. On the way home we ran into a festival on the main street with a man breathing fire! And little boys dancing to this bumping bhangra music and dancing like they are literally possessed, almost like a mosh pit for children. kinda terrifying! And all these statues being pushed through the streets, lit with candles and tons of people clustered aroudn tem. i was happy to be able to hold on to the arms of my friends, felt so much safer in a crowd with them. Those tiny little streets are like nothing I'd ever seen before. Just the smallest maze-like alleyways, totally dark! With cows! And cow poop that i stepped in, and then felt it squish between my toes with every step and i couldn't properly clean it up till i got home! ugh! Before we set out we set up a deal with a wheeler dealer type indian guy who ws asking us "hash"? and i said "kingfisher?" (beer) and he looks at me and says, "is possible." so we arranged to meet him at 9 pm in front of this hut where he'd bring the beers for us. beers are not so easy to come by in india, especially in a holy city, but they are not illegal there, just impossible to find a store. but someone will do anything for you for payment. Though he got us small "godfathers" instead, not the deal, but hey whatever. We had some beers in my AC room, the other rooms were full, so i lived it up in style, and all 6 of us had a party! It was so much fun, I hadn't felt that happy in a long time and it just felt so good to be social and to be able to let my guard down with some friends. Yesterday they all left, to go trekking in Nepal, and in a month they might be down my way in the south, we will see, but yu never know. Saying goodbye to them made me absolutely gutted, and when they sped off in a car to take them to the train station, i just cried, i felt so lonely again! Nothing looked the same with them gone.  But I got some dinner at the backpacker friendly restaurant and this morning was led to my rickshaw by a really honestly helpful indian boy who'd helped square away my very difficult to obtain train tickets. because of this 10 day festival it is really impossible to get any seats on trains, so i bought my ticket to calcutta in advance. unfortunately, they had no tix in AC classes till thursday night, so thats when its for. upon arriving today in bohdgaya, however, i think i may try to change it to an earlier day trip instead of overnight, because this place is really small and unless i really get into the meditation thing (this is buddha's town and i htink im gonna do a day meditation tomorrow if i can) im peacing out. it is cool though  because tomorrow i will see the different monastaries of several different countries, there are a lot of asian tourists here and tons of monks everywhere. tonight for dinner i had japanese okonomeyaki! There are tibetan specialties  i will try tomorrow. And i had romy and michelle's high school reunion playin on my tv today! i went back to non-ac accomodation becasue this town is pricey! but i have a tv. and i had the hotel roomboys put up a mosquito screen on my window, threre are bars there for safety but the bugs could still get in. so they got outside my window and actually nailed a net up there for me! so nice. Talked to some old french men tonight at dinner for a few, so many french! But quite alone again here in bodhgaya. hope the meditation works out tomorrow,  and if all else fails ill be out on an overnight train to calcutta thrus. friday afternoon im going to go over to the mother theresa house and see if i can help out at the orphanage for a couple of days. we'll see. and then heading down south! so ready. people say its a lot easier, and not as poor either which might be easier. but boy am i seeing some fantastic and amazing things, and im hoping to meet more amazing people like my french buddies. and Meighan, if you go to school in paris next year, we have invites to go visit them at the wineries! or the slopes, but i don't like to downhill ski! I think i could get into the wineries! Ok well hope everyone is well miss you all! Love Arj

random city

Wow... so I'm writing again the same day from Satna, a fairly large city though waaaaay off the tourist map. only reason any foreigners are ever here is to go to Varanasi, and the only reason they are here for that is because it is on the train line, it is 4 hous from the city where i am this morning, or the town rather. you know the most interesting thing about this place is it is a regular city; quite bright decked out in xmas lights, there is a hindu festival going on for the last 10 days. so all these women and children are out with everyone else, the shops are closing, but the random little convenience stores are open along with some electronics stores. I seem to have stumbled upon the one hole in the wall internet cafe here, its like some woman's house with 3 nice computers in the back and one really hot indian guy (watch out chris!) who's talking to me right now, first attractive one i've seen, to be totally honest. anyway, i bought some bangles here, and have been looking at the shops, the people here are not really hassling me, which is pretty funny. they are looking at me wide eyed and talking about me, like im the first foreigner they've seen. one boy called out to me and his friends were laughing, thats about it. i bought some toothpaste and electolyte powder (yum) with minimal hassle and gentlemanly service. It was a fairly pleasant (?) bus ride here, bus only stopped running twice, they opened up the insides of it and were doing something with the oil? dunno but it smelled foul. but, it kept running and soon i was walking 20 min down the road with my bags and some korean girls and we found the station. there was no proper waiting room, so i figured out i could put my stuff in a "hotel" room for about 4 bucks, with a shower and all, from a man who spoke no english. a punjabi business man helped me out with translations, and my stuff is locked away in a room for the next 5 hours till this train leaves! what i thought was going to be a boring 6 hours hasn't been half bad. prob kill some more time online and then get some food. craziness! but im enjoying it.

Kujuraho to Varanasi

Just a short note to say I just finished a perfectly refreshing yoga class at 8 this morning in a peaceful garden in Kujaraho! Sat up in the garden with this yogi and he gave me a 1 hour course, all these pressure points for different health issues, and positions I couldnt quite get, but he was very patient and very wise-yogi type and very smiley. Nice refreshing way to start the day, and now he assures me of no ailments, so if that is true it will be a nice change from my nausea and some stomach issues ive had in the last couple of days here.  I got a ride here in an Indian Mercedes from an old (well parents age, not old of course) couple and their driver, they were from Holland. Just so nice to offer that to me so I didn't have to take the bus... today I do, for the first time, at 4:30... they say its the most hardcore experience of travel here so we shall see, glad i did the yoga! My hotel here has been very friendly and hospitable, got to see the fascinating and fairly risque kama sutra carvings in the temples yesterday, and the temples themselves are incredibly ornate, just the carving into this sandstone is really unbelievable. I think I forgot to tell you last time about my cell phone fiasco... in Delhi (which was so much better the second time around with the german girls, and we hired Lucky for a day to drive us around to see all teh major sights!) we were not supposed to bring cell phones in but I forgot mine was in my bra, so i can feel it vibrate if someone calls, and it went off in the metal detector! So I figured I'd better not say anything and she thought it was my keys so let me though. Well I went to the bathroom, and the toilets are the hole-type ones and after I peed my left foot fell right in!!!! So they have these faucets on the walls and so I rinsed it off and was kinda laughing and trying to pull up my pants (which were the indian punjabi suit drawstring kind, you know the ones of course :) ) when my cell phone jumped out of my bra and into the unflushed toilet!! so i did what i had to do, and just stuck my whole hand down in there and fished it out, after a couple days of sometimes working sometimes not, i have enough keys that work that i can actually use it to call pre-existing contacts! Ridiculous. Karma almost, since i wasn't suposed to have the phone in there anyway! Just thought it was a funny story. Yesterday a 20 year old boy who looked 15 and maybe was followed me forever, talked to me nonstop and i finally decided just to talk to him, we took a walk, and i told him after 20 minutes no i wouldn't go have tea but i did enjoy talking to him. Told him not to follow me down the road because it would creep me out if he knew where i was staying, and seemed to be semi effective. I also told him I was married, but he seemed to genuinely want to talk. This town is particularly bad for the man-followers, even for a "married" woman! I have to craft this whole made up life for myself sometmes, scarily but funnily enough I am getting better at lying! ha. I have also taken up talking to myself when I am lonely, and talking into my cell phone while walking down the street, guys start to talk and then i point to the phone and they say "oh, sorry madam"... its funny. I just talk about the day, or whatever's on my mind. I think I may have gone legitimately insane. One guy I just ignored started yelling at me for ignoring me, saying "she doesn't like Indians. She only likes white skinned people. she thinks she's better than us." And i whipped around and told him that was bull and yelled at him not to speak to me like that. And he shut up. Some people here are so rude if you dont talk to them, and you can't talk to all 200 who try to talk to you all day or you'll go nuts. ah well. At any rate, more temples today and then at 4:30 the bus for 4 hours to mahoba, then 4 hours to kill and then 1 am overnight train to Varanasi. I'm doing 2nd class AC, best class they have on this train, 4 to a compartment, kinda excited to see what its all about. So next time I write I will be in the Holiest city in India, on the Ganges river with a hotel that looks over the ghats. Please write me at arjanavizulis@yahoo.com if you get the urge or just comment on this thing. Hope you are all well!

Adapting

My god its been a long time since I've written. Been meaning to and meaning to and then something always comes up. Thanks for reading these and leaving comments! I love to discover someone has written me!

I'm writing you now from Orcha, a small town outside of not the biggest town of Jhansi, south of Delhi by about 8 hours on a train (so probably 5 miles, har har) and I've really started the "me" part of the trip now! I'm off on my own, said goodbye to Lucky in Delhi yesterday as he kindly drove me to the train station after helping me get my first train ticket, for which I'm really grateful. The last days in Rajastan were good, and I found myself really sad to say goodbye to him, he was a great guide and driver and I will recommend him to anyone who visits India. Though the whole experience was not without its hassles! 

Last time I wrote I believe I was going to Jaisalmer for my camel safari. Well.... I got into the desert town of Jaisalmer, there were literally tumbleweeds. And I go to my hotel, which I got for free as part of my super expensive safari that I got swindled into buying my first panicked day in Delhi. I spend 125 usd, at least. So we get to the hotel after a long and sweaty drive all day (its literally over 100 every day I am not kidding, I sweat buckets) and I discover that the hotel is more or less deserted, didn't see any other tourists, and I get into my room and hear hammering over my head. They are doing construction right above me. So... already disenchanted with the package of the safari I asked the guy to tell me how many people were going... well I was joking before when I said hopefully I don't find myself on this camel alone, and well... he said "right now, there is actually just you. but do not worry, i will take very good care of you at night in the desert when we are sleeping together under the stars" or some other melodramatic statement. 

so i politely told him that this was not going to work out for me, and a few minutes later i was worriedly trying to figure out what i was going to do while ordering food at a restaurant... when 3 blonde german girls walked in, and i literally made a b-line over to the table and asked if they were going on a safari... they were in fact, the next day, and so in a matter of 2 hours i had booked it into their hotel, made a deal with the hotel owner for his safari, managed to argue my way into getting my money back (?! how i did it i don't know) from the delhi company, so now i can't really complain about them anymore, and joined up with a tour of 6 others, a great group, for one of the highlights of my trip. Unfortunately got wicked sick the night before, after all the hassle and everything, first time i was really ill while here, though for the last 2 days i haven't been able to shake nausea and feeling kinda weak and shaky. oh well.

At any rate, the safari was awesome. absolutely. my camel's name was Johnny Walker, the others were Michael Jackson, and something else, i can't remember. we each had our own, and for all i'd heard about camels being difficult and stubborn, these ones were fantastic! I'll tell you though my legs hurt for literally days after, by the second day i almost had to get off, until they conveniently told me that there were stirrups the whole time! made it easier.  We would stop in the middle of the day for a couple hours both days, while they made us stewed vegetables and chapati (a flat bread) for every meal! The dunes were picturesque, at moments you felt like you were in the safari desert. The sunset was spectacular, and at night it got dark so early and they made a small fire to cook our dinner but we didn't have any light and there were dung beetles everywhere! The stars were unreal, you could see all of the milky way, i don't know if i've ever really seen stars quite like that. We didn't even use tents to sleep, they put out blankets and we just slept on those, right in the middle of the sand! There was sand in every single possible place on my body, seemingly for days after. But waking up in the sand, though really disorienting, was pretty darn cool. 

And the people were a lot of fun. The three germans, who i ended up meeting up with in delhi for the past couple of days, a british couple, and a swiss guy who'd gotten his girlfriend pregnant in south america earlier in their travels and so she'd gone home, she's 6 months pregnant now, and he's still travelling! yeah we'll see if my husband gets away with travelling the world while i'm sitting at home some day craving ice cream and pickles. dream on. anyway he wants to get it all in before he's a dad, and he's my age! happily for him already engaged to her before, so its what he wants. just unexpected!

Oh ... and one other thing about the camel safari.  Turns out we were pretty close to the Pakistani border - about 20 miles!  Not real comforting.  On the roads we saw quite a few military vehicles, tanks etc.  But the desert was quiet.

It was lovely to actually spend time talking to people, and since i've really been on my own its gotten much easier. Where I am now in Orcha, not only is it picturesque, with a palace and spiraly temples, amazing architecture, but it is serene and the people are only somewhat out of control. They haggle and hassle but they don't follow you down the street as much and there are fewer beggars. Getting here yesterday was the first train trip I took, i had invested in the padlock and chain i'd seen other backpackers with, hooked my bag to a rack above my seat, much to the indian local onlooker's amusement, and sat there for 8 hours in sweltering heat. in the future for longer trips i think i will opt for the AC for a bit more money.

Upon getting to the train station i was accosted as always but realized i can't even trust people when I'm asking where the bathroom is, because there are schemes with that too.  Everything. it is very very hard to trust locals, because although of course there are great and trustworthy people out there, there seem to be a lot more that aren't that claw their way to your side, and i am beginning to get angry now, no more mr nice... girl, i suppose.  yesterday 5 men jumped into my autorickshaw hoping for a free ride, obvously friends of the driver, my ride was like 20 minutes, and i screamed at them to get out!! like, really screamed, dripping with sweat w/ my bags next to me, anyway they got out. sometimes you gotta do it.

Since getting to orcha i have met literally at least 6 travellers. i haven't had a meal alone! everyone is out and about with different stories, just met an american girl thats signed up for the meditation course i was thinking about taking (yes it was a thought) and she also saw me in hairspray!! crazy! somewhere in california. can't believe someone i met here saw me on stage. anyway i am not sure i will be able to fit in the meditation course, as it starts later than i am getting to that town, and i had been thinking i may return at the end of november, right before thanksgiving which is a couple of weeks early, just because i penciled in what i think i want to do and that gives me enough time. However, today it is becoming increasingly apparent that i should hold off and see what happens, things kind of change by the day here. The girl i met is also volunteering in an orphanage, and currently she is with a travel group called Intrepid which has some really well priced group tours, where you still stay where you want, etc... possibly an idea for me for south india. although by then i think ill probably be really used to being alone. who knows. i will keep my mind open to all things, although I would love to be home for my mom's birthday, my family's early xmas celebrations, and thanksgiving, and it would give me a chance to see chris on the way home. but, we'll see.

today i met a british guy who i actually more or less spent the day with, we met at lunch and i ended up going to his very nice hotel and swimming in the pool! had to pay them of course, but it was a nice relaxed day, and he was also an actor, waiting to move in with his girlfriend, here for 2 months, so much like me! it was funny.

I think that  I am learning in fact to adapt better, finding that it is easier at least here to meet people, and learning to ignore the kids wanting money, the old beggars, etc, though that is a very sad reality. i have to operate on the kind of "every man for himself" survival method, that dominates here. if you can't beat'em, join'em. though the roughest culture shock i've ever experienced, i am hopeful that my time will continue to improve and that i can start to see more of the good things, "incredible india" say all the brochures, and that i can feel good and healthy and keep at it.  I was going to cut calcutta out of my itinerary, but i think it is being added back in on the recommendation of the british friend i met today. there are also some volunteer work programs through mother theresa foundation in calcutta i may see if i can help out with. 

Last week before arriving in jaisalmer for the safari, i went to see some ruins on the outskirts of town. a little boy followed me all around as i looked around it for myself, and for some reason, it got to me, his asking for money, and when i got back to the car i started to cry, only to Lucky's frustration. "You have a weak, weak heart", he denounced, "you'll never make it through 3 months here. you must not cry. no crying in my car or i will kick you out".... so that's how they feel here. or at least some, the numbness, the understanding that t his is the way it is, its not a shock for them like it is/was for me.

I am happy and relieved that I made it through Delhi with no problems, and that even though i was there on a saturday, a week after more of the bombings, that  I was ok. And only 2 days after I was in Jodpur, from where I last wrote, there was a stampede at the temple where I was during prayer, that killed 190! Crazy tragedy, and again, not something that fazed Lucky. Guess that's it again, something I am getting used to. 

Soo... pardon all the typos and the patchy nature of this blog, just trying to get it all down in a few minutes time. Next up is Kujaraho, where apparently the kama sutra is carved into ancient rocks. should be interesting, and then varanasi which i hear is the "toughest" city in India. Will try to write again soon. Thanks for reading and miss you all.