My three month rotation has come and gone, and just about all of my traveling buddies have already headed back to the States. Now that my erstwhile companions have left me behind, it's the perfect time to reminisce about our adventures. The last weekend in March, I went to Thekkady with Lauren (secondee from Baltimore working in Bangalore), Guy (rhymes with key- French expat who normally works in Switzerland but is currently on a short term assignment to India).
By the way, just a note for ease of reading, almost all of the places here are pronounced with no emphasis on any of the syllables. For example, I live in the building called the Link Horizon, pronounced the Link Hor-ee-zohn. The Hotel Casino is actually the Hotel Cass-ih-no. And so on and so forth. This never fails to amuse me. Ok, one more. the language they speak in my state of Kerala is Malayalam which is really fun to say (Ma-lay-ah-lahm), and just about the only word I know.
Anyway, back to Thekkady. The main reason for going there is the Periyar Tiger Reserve, where there is virtually no chance of actually spotting a tiger. But we did go on a guided tour to see what wildlife we could. Our outfits were accessorized with some always stylish leech guards, as it had rained the day before. As we began our hike, there was an audible rustling from the brush up ahead. Our guide cocked his ear, and was off like a shot! We took off after him, running through the trees and undergrowth. After about a minute of pursuit, he stopped at a clearing, pointed to a tree, and said in a hushed tone, "Look- an iguana!" As I turned to look at Lauren incredulously, it took all of my willpower to keep from cracking up. We did end up seeing a family of elephants- including a baby elephant. There were also some monkeys, as well as hundreds of tiny toads. The toads blended in so closely with the foliage covering the ground that you couldn't even see them until they all hopped at once, which made it look like the ground was moving.
The next day, we went to a place where they train elephants for manual labor and to participate in temple processions for the Hindu festivals. We chose the deluxe pachyderm package (not actually what it was called), and got to ride, feed, witness verbal and non verbal commands, bathe, and be bathed by the elephants. It also included a complimentary cup of tea, as all activities are wont to do in India. It was impressive watching the elephant eat an entire pineapple- spiny bits and all. They bathe the elephants for two hours each day- an hour on each side, and scrub them with coconut shells. The best part was being bathed by the elephant, and it produced my favorite picture from the whole trip (in which I am on the elephant's back being deluged with water). Afterwards, we went to a cafe for lunch, and it started to downpour, but it didn't matter to us as we were already drenched.
We lodged at a homestay, and the house and grounds were beautiful. The owner, Mathew (yup, one "t"), is Indian, but left as a teenager with a few hundred dollars and a knapsack, and performed a variety of jobs in a number of countries before returning to his native place. He was quite interesting to talk to, and stayed with us the entire time and acted as a tour guide.
If you like elephants, you'll love these pictures:
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=222601287/a=123174408_123174408/t_=123174408
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Farb in Indian garb
Last weekend, I finally picked up some Indian duds. Kerala is a very conservative state, and I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen a woman other than a tourist wearing jeans. My guess is I'm still going to get stared at, but ideally not as much...
So I'm bad enough at shopping in the US- 40% of my wardrobe consists of concert t-shirts, and the remaining 60% comes from three different stores that are most likely all owned by the same company. Pete only knows what I'd come home with if I went out here on my own! Thus, I enlisted the help of one of the co-workers I'm friendly with.
To get our strength up for shopping, Rekha invited me over to her parents' home for lunch. This was very fortuitous- the other secondees and I had been talking earlier about how we might solicit such an invite. Apparently, the last ones in our position gave up on being invited and simply told people from work that they were coming to their home. Needless to say, the guys were jealous that I would not have to resort to that method. Our secondee handbook (written by people on past rotations in Kochi) warned that going to someone's house can turn into an "all-day event." They weren't kidding...
Lunch was served in the traditional way, on a banana leaf, and was veg (veg = vegetarian, non-veg = meaty goodness). It was good, but they heaped food onto my plate, and added more before I could finish what was there. I literally had to cover the banana leaf with my hands and plead with them to stop serving me!
The house was really nice- made of marble, rooftop garden, Western-style bathroom. I was especially happy about the last bit, because the Indian bathroom is essentially a hole in the floor.
Apparently Rekha's no better at shopping than I am, so her mom came along to assist. We were very successful, and picked up many churidhars (known as salwaar kameez in northern India). No saris though- apparently they can get complicated with the wrapping and whatnot, and I'm not brave enough for that.
The hospitality here is incredible. They picked me up and dropped me off at my apartment, fed me lunch, spent all day shopping, and took me to dinner while the clothes were being adjusted despite my protestations that I would come back for them myself later. The clothes were a big hit at work- the bathroom attendant even said I was beautiful. And I'm happy because they're insanely comfortable. It's kind of like wearing pajamas to work, but socially acceptable.
Of course there are a few pictures of me in my new attire, and I've also included some miscellaneous shots of the view from the balcony of my apartment. Depending on the treatment of the sewage on any given day, it may not always smell pretty, but at least it always looks pretty. My place is on the 10th floor, and has two bedrooms as well as a room with a bar. Yes, the bar has its own room, and a balcony that connects to my room.
Pictures are provided for your viewing pleasure here:
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=217559738/a=123174408_123174408/t_=123174408
So I'm bad enough at shopping in the US- 40% of my wardrobe consists of concert t-shirts, and the remaining 60% comes from three different stores that are most likely all owned by the same company. Pete only knows what I'd come home with if I went out here on my own! Thus, I enlisted the help of one of the co-workers I'm friendly with.
To get our strength up for shopping, Rekha invited me over to her parents' home for lunch. This was very fortuitous- the other secondees and I had been talking earlier about how we might solicit such an invite. Apparently, the last ones in our position gave up on being invited and simply told people from work that they were coming to their home. Needless to say, the guys were jealous that I would not have to resort to that method. Our secondee handbook (written by people on past rotations in Kochi) warned that going to someone's house can turn into an "all-day event." They weren't kidding...
Lunch was served in the traditional way, on a banana leaf, and was veg (veg = vegetarian, non-veg = meaty goodness). It was good, but they heaped food onto my plate, and added more before I could finish what was there. I literally had to cover the banana leaf with my hands and plead with them to stop serving me!
The house was really nice- made of marble, rooftop garden, Western-style bathroom. I was especially happy about the last bit, because the Indian bathroom is essentially a hole in the floor.
Apparently Rekha's no better at shopping than I am, so her mom came along to assist. We were very successful, and picked up many churidhars (known as salwaar kameez in northern India). No saris though- apparently they can get complicated with the wrapping and whatnot, and I'm not brave enough for that.
The hospitality here is incredible. They picked me up and dropped me off at my apartment, fed me lunch, spent all day shopping, and took me to dinner while the clothes were being adjusted despite my protestations that I would come back for them myself later. The clothes were a big hit at work- the bathroom attendant even said I was beautiful. And I'm happy because they're insanely comfortable. It's kind of like wearing pajamas to work, but socially acceptable.
Of course there are a few pictures of me in my new attire, and I've also included some miscellaneous shots of the view from the balcony of my apartment. Depending on the treatment of the sewage on any given day, it may not always smell pretty, but at least it always looks pretty. My place is on the 10th floor, and has two bedrooms as well as a room with a bar. Yes, the bar has its own room, and a balcony that connects to my room.
Pictures are provided for your viewing pleasure here:
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=217559738/a=123174408_123174408/t_=123174408
Friday, March 7, 2008
Greetings from India
Upon my arrival in India, one month ago this Sunday, I felt a sense of calm and well-being wash over me. And I thought, wow, I haven’t even hit up a monastery or done anything spiritual yet. But it turned out my brief euphoria was actually jet lag. I am safely over that now, and have spent the majority of my time here… working. But that’s not particularly interesting.
I have gotten to do a bit of traveling, namely going to Goa. It used to be chock full of hippies partying on the beaches, but now it is overridden with tourists (much like myself). So we went to the beach, which was pretty much like any other, except for the cow strolling through the sand. And I just can’t help myself, every time I see one, I get this incredible urge to shout, “Holy cow!”
The other thing that made this beach different from all other beaches was that every few feet someone was persistently trying to sell us something- jewelry, wall hangings, fruit, nuts, clothing, ice cream, massages, manicures, pedicures, water sports, henna tattoos, etc. As I passed one guy, he said to me, “Would you like to buy my child? I give you a very good price.” The kid was really cute with curly hair and ice cream smeared across his face. Let me tell ya, if the whole thing wasn’t in jest, I would’ve made him a pretty good offer.
Tried the local liquor called feni. There’s two kinds- one distilled from cashews and the other from coconuts. Even after the alcohol was mixed with an entire bottle of 7-Up (or whatever the Indian lemon-lime soda equivalent is), it still tasted like the wrong end of a horse and gave me an instantaneous headache. I guess you get what you pay for (one drink of feni = 35 rupees = 90 cents). We stayed at the Casablanca, which had many charming features including padlocks to lock our doors. The best part about the place was the sign by the pool that read:
12) In case of emergency contact barman or waiters
13) No lifeguard or duty
All in all, good time in Goa. Pictures can be found here:
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=217334268/a=123174408_123174408/t_=123174408
I have gotten to do a bit of traveling, namely going to Goa. It used to be chock full of hippies partying on the beaches, but now it is overridden with tourists (much like myself). So we went to the beach, which was pretty much like any other, except for the cow strolling through the sand. And I just can’t help myself, every time I see one, I get this incredible urge to shout, “Holy cow!”
The other thing that made this beach different from all other beaches was that every few feet someone was persistently trying to sell us something- jewelry, wall hangings, fruit, nuts, clothing, ice cream, massages, manicures, pedicures, water sports, henna tattoos, etc. As I passed one guy, he said to me, “Would you like to buy my child? I give you a very good price.” The kid was really cute with curly hair and ice cream smeared across his face. Let me tell ya, if the whole thing wasn’t in jest, I would’ve made him a pretty good offer.
Tried the local liquor called feni. There’s two kinds- one distilled from cashews and the other from coconuts. Even after the alcohol was mixed with an entire bottle of 7-Up (or whatever the Indian lemon-lime soda equivalent is), it still tasted like the wrong end of a horse and gave me an instantaneous headache. I guess you get what you pay for (one drink of feni = 35 rupees = 90 cents). We stayed at the Casablanca, which had many charming features including padlocks to lock our doors. The best part about the place was the sign by the pool that read:
12) In case of emergency contact barman or waiters
13) No lifeguard or duty
All in all, good time in Goa. Pictures can be found here:
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=217334268/a=123174408_123174408/t_=123174408
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