Here are some last little bits from India - more so just random things we found out, saw, did and our final thoughts on the country.
Wipe with the left and eat with the right - haha I don't need to explain more. It was a bit weird the first time we saw people eating with their hands in a restaurant.
They don't use toilet paper - so all of the sudden my first statement takes on a different meaning. LOL. I still can't figure out how it works and how they don't get wet in the process.
The Head wiggle - they do this funny head wiggle and you can never tell if they are saying yes or no. It could mean yes, no or I don't know
We didn't drink once while we were there - not that that is a huge deal, but booze is really hard to come across. Especially in Pushkar.
We learnt a lot about the Hindu religion. Funny that they are ALL so into religion, but then won't bat an eye when trying to scam or steal from you LOL.
India was one of those countries that we will NEVER forget - actually we are STILL talking about it to this day. I would eventually like to go back, but only to see the South. As a women, I found it exhausting and frustrating - even when I did cover up, people would still stare which made it really uncomfortable. The way women are treated or expected to behave was pretty backwards to us, especially since we grew up in North America. Arnold had a really tough time in India - I don't think he will ever go back. For him, people looking at his "wife" like that made him want to fight people. (it was kinda cute, he was VERY protective over me). And secondly, the people - he said they weren't friendly and the only time they were, is when they wanted money from you. He was so happy to get to Thailand - he wasn't on edge and we could walk around without being bothered. I think over time, India could end up being one of those countries that makes you want to go back even though the first time around was intense - sort of like a love hate relationship. For me, my two biggest challenges were being told I couldn't wear something and hygiene haha. India is dirty.
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed our stories from India. I don't think I can really explain India properly - it's very complicated and definitely not something that can be summed up in a couple of sentences. I know I made it sound bad, but it definitely wasn't all bad. (see complicated haha) Every day we would have at least one moment that was just so amazing - it took away any negative feelings we had and put a huge smile on our face. Sort of like "did that just happen to us? wow, we are so lucky to have seen that". It was definitely a challenge and a country that tested your patience :)
One day we will go back (I'll just have to drag Arnold with me LOL). As soon as I can post pictures, I will. I know some of you guys are looking forward to them. Have a couple stories from Thailand coming and then I will let you guys know about our current location - which is and could be, maybe the best place we have been to yet? Okay, well maybe not the best, but definitely top two.
Love Melissa and Arnold
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Mumbai
The reason for us even going to India was because of the book "Shantaram" if you haven't read it, you should, it's really good. The way he describes Mumbai and India in general was very inspiring. Most of the book takes place in Mumbai so we were super excited to finally get to Mumbai and see what we had been reading about. Mumbai is the biggest city I have been to and the traffic there is like nothing I have EVER seen and hopefully will ever experience again. WOW!! It's all I have to say. Our hotel was in Juhu beach and about 25kms from South Mumbai (Colaba) that number could be wrong, but it's essentially not very far. Or so we thought. In reality, it is about a 2 HOUR drive. Traffic is horrible at all times of the day. Like terrible. The most insane traffic I have ever seen. And there is NO order - people are driving where ever they can fit, but this time it is mostly cars and bikes (no random stuff like Varanasi) and the horns - non STOP. We hired a driver for our last day and I swear 6 of the 8 hours we had him were spent just driving. (to put it another way - we had to leave the area we were in at 7pm in order to make it to the airport in time for our 11:35pm flight LOL) You can not get anywhere in Mumbai quickly.
But traffic aside, we LOVED the city. It is really different then Delhi and has some pretty amazing areas - the University, the Train Terminal and Hight Court were sooo beautiful. We drove past the most expensive house in the world. I think it cost 2 Billion to build. CRAZY! In a country as poor as that and someone builds this "house" that is 27 stories for one family is something else. As we were doing what we called "the Shantaram tour" we came to learn that the main bar he hung out in his book was actually the place where the terrorist attacks started last year. They open fired into that bar before heading off to the Taj Hotel. So now they have armed security guards at the entrance of the bar. We went to the place where almost all of the laundry in Mumbai gets done. when you see it, you wonder how clothes can actually get cleaned in that water LOL.
Even thought the traffic made it a tough city to really enjoy, but we were happy to end our tour of India there. They were a bit more relaxed in terms of their views of women and had a different vibe then Northern India. The only thing that put a damper on the city is after we left and had heard about the bombings. It was VERY scary - considering that the day before we had been at each one of those spots walking around. I think we both thought "what if it happened one day earlier". There are soo many people just walking around those areas that it's amazing more people didn't get hurt. I think that was it for Arnold - he's never going back LOL. Bombing attacks and two train accidents while we were there - he's done.
Love Melissa and Arnold
But traffic aside, we LOVED the city. It is really different then Delhi and has some pretty amazing areas - the University, the Train Terminal and Hight Court were sooo beautiful. We drove past the most expensive house in the world. I think it cost 2 Billion to build. CRAZY! In a country as poor as that and someone builds this "house" that is 27 stories for one family is something else. As we were doing what we called "the Shantaram tour" we came to learn that the main bar he hung out in his book was actually the place where the terrorist attacks started last year. They open fired into that bar before heading off to the Taj Hotel. So now they have armed security guards at the entrance of the bar. We went to the place where almost all of the laundry in Mumbai gets done. when you see it, you wonder how clothes can actually get cleaned in that water LOL.
Even thought the traffic made it a tough city to really enjoy, but we were happy to end our tour of India there. They were a bit more relaxed in terms of their views of women and had a different vibe then Northern India. The only thing that put a damper on the city is after we left and had heard about the bombings. It was VERY scary - considering that the day before we had been at each one of those spots walking around. I think we both thought "what if it happened one day earlier". There are soo many people just walking around those areas that it's amazing more people didn't get hurt. I think that was it for Arnold - he's never going back LOL. Bombing attacks and two train accidents while we were there - he's done.
Love Melissa and Arnold
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Airport Security
Is tight in India. They don't mess around. Just to get to the check in counter you have to go through two security check points (sometimes 3). First guy looks at your boarding pass and passport, second one looks at your boarding pass, passport and then screens your bag. And they don't just glance at your passport, they study it. If you don't have a flight booked then you aren't going into the airort. It is actually pretty intense, but we both thought it was good. Once you check in, it's off to security - one line for girls, one line for guys. Every bag you bring onto the plane has to have a bag tag (just like the ones AC gives you) because at security they scan your bag and if everything checks out okay then they stamp the bag tag. Everyone
gets the full pat down. When it's time to board the plane they don't have airline crew checking you in, but armed guards. If your bag doesn't have a stamped bag tag you aren't allowed to get on the plane - you have to go back to security and have it re-checked to get the approved bag tag. If your bag tag falls off and you have it in your hand, you aren't allowed on the plane. I watched as this older lady tried to get onto the plane, but her purse bag tag had fallen off and the guard wasn't having any of it. The airline crew tried to talk him into letting her on, but he refused so she had to go back to security. Obviously, they have reasons for the security and they make no exceptions to the rules.
Love Melissa and Arnold
gets the full pat down. When it's time to board the plane they don't have airline crew checking you in, but armed guards. If your bag doesn't have a stamped bag tag you aren't allowed to get on the plane - you have to go back to security and have it re-checked to get the approved bag tag. If your bag tag falls off and you have it in your hand, you aren't allowed on the plane. I watched as this older lady tried to get onto the plane, but her purse bag tag had fallen off and the guard wasn't having any of it. The airline crew tried to talk him into letting her on, but he refused so she had to go back to security. Obviously, they have reasons for the security and they make no exceptions to the rules.
Love Melissa and Arnold
The Final Straw
Arnold wasn't enjoying India and was starting to lose his cool with everything related to India. He hated the heat and the non stop sweating, hated the humidity, hated the people staring at me, hated that I couldn't wear the clothes I wanted to because of the attention, hated how everyone was just trying to take your money. Everything - he was sick of it. BUT the breaking point for him was this (which is so funny that I couldn't stop laughing).
We got back to our hotel in Jaipur and headed to the cafe style restaurant at the hotel. I wanted to save our table outside so I told him to leave his "hanky" (aka sweat rag/bandanna) and newspaper on the table. I wanted him to leave the water, but he ended up taking inside when we went to order. Now, first, the hotel was nice, not Four Seasons nice, but it was okay. Mostly families or couples like us. Definitely not a low budget backpackers place. Anyway, we came back outside after ordering - we were gone for maybe 6 minutes and when we got back his hanky was gone. HA HA.
First off, who steals a sweat rag, like really?? And it wasn't even nice looking, plus it was wet from him using it all day. OMG, honestly, I thought Arnold was going to lose his mind right then and there. He was like "I knew that was going to happen, I knew I should have just taken it with me". He was so mad - like if he could have he would have left India in that second and never came back haha. I tried not to laugh because in my mind the whole situation was hilarious, but I kept it together for about 10 minutes until I burst out laughing. The whole situation was so funny and couldn't help bug him about his lost hanky. That was it for him though,
he wanted nothing more to do with India after that. We laugh about it now ;)
India as you can tell by posts, is a very, very tough. While you are there, you want to leave, but looking back maybe it wasn't so bad.
Love Melissa and Arnold
We got back to our hotel in Jaipur and headed to the cafe style restaurant at the hotel. I wanted to save our table outside so I told him to leave his "hanky" (aka sweat rag/bandanna) and newspaper on the table. I wanted him to leave the water, but he ended up taking inside when we went to order. Now, first, the hotel was nice, not Four Seasons nice, but it was okay. Mostly families or couples like us. Definitely not a low budget backpackers place. Anyway, we came back outside after ordering - we were gone for maybe 6 minutes and when we got back his hanky was gone. HA HA.
First off, who steals a sweat rag, like really?? And it wasn't even nice looking, plus it was wet from him using it all day. OMG, honestly, I thought Arnold was going to lose his mind right then and there. He was like "I knew that was going to happen, I knew I should have just taken it with me". He was so mad - like if he could have he would have left India in that second and never came back haha. I tried not to laugh because in my mind the whole situation was hilarious, but I kept it together for about 10 minutes until I burst out laughing. The whole situation was so funny and couldn't help bug him about his lost hanky. That was it for him though,
he wanted nothing more to do with India after that. We laugh about it now ;)
India as you can tell by posts, is a very, very tough. While you are there, you want to leave, but looking back maybe it wasn't so bad.
Love Melissa and Arnold
My story about the cow
I wasn't even going to share this story, but my sister found it sooo funny, that she started telling everyone about it. So I guess I will share it.
We were walking around the narrow streets in Old Town in Jaipur one day (they weren't as narrow as Varanasi, but definitely not big by any means) and I could see a cow (or maybe a bull) walking towards me, as I went to move out of the way a man came up beside me and sort of cut me off so I couldn't go around the cow as I had planned. For whatever reason, I stopped and was waiting for him to move a bit more so I could get out of the way, but I was too late. The Cow/Bull put his head down and rammed his head into me. He made like that bucking motion with his head- put it down and then pushed up. Right into my body. I FREAKED. Honestly, freaked out LOL. Threw the stuff I had in my hands, screamed and jumped into the first store I saw. haha.
All I could see were the cows horns and all I could think of was getting trampled like they do at the Rodeo. Overreacted, maybe? but I was terrified. Like shaking. Of course everyone around is looking at me like I'm mental and looking back it's pretty funny. I like to call it a very low speed head butt haha. I wasn't hurt (maybe just my pride). I think anyone watching from the outside would have been on the ground laughing - I pretty much had a yard sale with my stuff, was screaming my head off and running around like an idiot haha.
Needless to say, Arnold had a lot of good material for the weeks to come. And now I have a new fear for cows haha.
Love Melissa
We were walking around the narrow streets in Old Town in Jaipur one day (they weren't as narrow as Varanasi, but definitely not big by any means) and I could see a cow (or maybe a bull) walking towards me, as I went to move out of the way a man came up beside me and sort of cut me off so I couldn't go around the cow as I had planned. For whatever reason, I stopped and was waiting for him to move a bit more so I could get out of the way, but I was too late. The Cow/Bull put his head down and rammed his head into me. He made like that bucking motion with his head- put it down and then pushed up. Right into my body. I FREAKED. Honestly, freaked out LOL. Threw the stuff I had in my hands, screamed and jumped into the first store I saw. haha.
All I could see were the cows horns and all I could think of was getting trampled like they do at the Rodeo. Overreacted, maybe? but I was terrified. Like shaking. Of course everyone around is looking at me like I'm mental and looking back it's pretty funny. I like to call it a very low speed head butt haha. I wasn't hurt (maybe just my pride). I think anyone watching from the outside would have been on the ground laughing - I pretty much had a yard sale with my stuff, was screaming my head off and running around like an idiot haha.
Needless to say, Arnold had a lot of good material for the weeks to come. And now I have a new fear for cows haha.
Love Melissa
The Golden Triangle
After leaving Varanasi we were off to the "Golden Triangle" to see the Taj and the cities in the surrounding area. We hired a driver who picked us up from the Delhi Airport and then drove us to Agra, Jaipur, and Pushkar (plus some small towns on the way to our destinations). Looking back, hiring a driver was great, but how we survived the driving is beyond me. I couldn't watch, honestly, it's that bad or should I say scary. One time I was sleeping and our driver hit his breaks so hard we started skidding and I woke up with a bit of a
scream haha - He was just slowing down for a speed bump, but I had no idea what was going on. People are crazy drivers. We had to slam on the breaks hard a couple of times in order to dodge a cow on the road.
None the less, we had a great time. Jaipur is probably my second favorite city - we liked it so much that we ended up spending a lot of time there. The Taj, well I don't think I need to even explain that - it is STUNNING. Wow, we were more then impressed by it, plus we saw a couple get engaged there - it was so cute and you couldn't pick a better spot to do it. The one thing that we didn't like though was the intensity of the touts. They are bad in this area - as soon as they saw you they would swarm you and they weren't
all that nice either. Just in your face all the time. I think that was starting to wear Arnold down and he would just get more annoyed by the day.
Pushkar was a little bit weird at first - when we first got there and went for a walk, we had a bit of a group following us. There was about 6 adults (my mom's age) giggling behind us and finally they pointed to my camera and asked me to take their picture. Then as soon as I did - they wanted to see it. They started laughing again and then were on their way - it was hilarious. I think they liked seeing themselves on the screen. (A LOT of people had those old school film cameras haha).
I even went for a camel ride haha - now that was scary, I was worried it was going to take off running. Like I said before, the streets in India are like a circus - they have everything there.
The place that we are currently at doesn't have the best wifi - it's slow, so there is no way I can add some pictures. But I think next time we get to somewhere that has really good wifi, I'll just do a post of pictures from India so you can see a bit of what we saw
Love Melissa and Arnold
scream haha - He was just slowing down for a speed bump, but I had no idea what was going on. People are crazy drivers. We had to slam on the breaks hard a couple of times in order to dodge a cow on the road.
None the less, we had a great time. Jaipur is probably my second favorite city - we liked it so much that we ended up spending a lot of time there. The Taj, well I don't think I need to even explain that - it is STUNNING. Wow, we were more then impressed by it, plus we saw a couple get engaged there - it was so cute and you couldn't pick a better spot to do it. The one thing that we didn't like though was the intensity of the touts. They are bad in this area - as soon as they saw you they would swarm you and they weren't
all that nice either. Just in your face all the time. I think that was starting to wear Arnold down and he would just get more annoyed by the day.
Pushkar was a little bit weird at first - when we first got there and went for a walk, we had a bit of a group following us. There was about 6 adults (my mom's age) giggling behind us and finally they pointed to my camera and asked me to take their picture. Then as soon as I did - they wanted to see it. They started laughing again and then were on their way - it was hilarious. I think they liked seeing themselves on the screen. (A LOT of people had those old school film cameras haha).
I even went for a camel ride haha - now that was scary, I was worried it was going to take off running. Like I said before, the streets in India are like a circus - they have everything there.
The place that we are currently at doesn't have the best wifi - it's slow, so there is no way I can add some pictures. But I think next time we get to somewhere that has really good wifi, I'll just do a post of pictures from India so you can see a bit of what we saw
Love Melissa and Arnold
Delhi Belly
I tried my best to be careful, but no matter how careful I was, I still got a case of Delhi Belly. I think within 4-5 days of getting to India I was sick. I was on a rice and naan bread diet for a couple of days until "my instrument" sorted itself out. I call it my third world diet - I would have toast for breakfast and then rice for the rest of the day. And this time I wasn't alone, finally, Arnold got sick too haha. His iron gut wasn't strong enough against the grime of the Indian Restaurants. It just took him longer to get sick, by the time I was feeling better, it was his turn. Which probably worked out best because we didn't have to fight for the washroom. Arnold and I have crossed some new boundaries yet again.
Delhi Belly aside, India has incredible food. We never had a bad tasting meal there - if I could have, I would have had street meat in a second, but I wasn't going to push it. The great thing about India is that they have a lot of vegetarian options - poor Arnold lost a lot of weight because it was hard for him to find meat dishes.
Okay, almost caught up now. I wrote 11 posts today for the blog, but I'm too tired to finish posting the rest. The past two days have been travel days for us, so I am sleepy. I will add the rest tomorrow morning once I get up. Sorry for slacking, but India was non stop go with no time to write and Thailand was a lot of the same. I posted 5-6 stories for you guys so lots to read :) I needed some time for India too. Happy Reading. Sorry for the grammer errors too LOL
Love Melissa and Arnold
Delhi Belly aside, India has incredible food. We never had a bad tasting meal there - if I could have, I would have had street meat in a second, but I wasn't going to push it. The great thing about India is that they have a lot of vegetarian options - poor Arnold lost a lot of weight because it was hard for him to find meat dishes.
Okay, almost caught up now. I wrote 11 posts today for the blog, but I'm too tired to finish posting the rest. The past two days have been travel days for us, so I am sleepy. I will add the rest tomorrow morning once I get up. Sorry for slacking, but India was non stop go with no time to write and Thailand was a lot of the same. I posted 5-6 stories for you guys so lots to read :) I needed some time for India too. Happy Reading. Sorry for the grammer errors too LOL
Love Melissa and Arnold
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