We went to a spice plantation two days ago which was wonderful to see the different kinds of spices all around, but i'm pretty sure it was almost identical to the one we happened to walk through in Kerala a few weeks ago. oh well! the elephants up close made it worth the 6 dollars.
Yesterday was Alex's birthday so we went to a south beach in Goa. I'm pretty sure this beach (Utorda beach) will be in the top 5 best beaches I ever go to, if not the best. it was idyllic, hot, free sun beds (with the purchase of drinks) with an umbrella, delicious seafood that i even enjoyed and last but certainly not least the arabian (!) sea was the most comfortable temperature with soft soft soft sand. It was such a lovely day.
More to come soon.
K
Friday 30 January 2009
Tuesday 27 January 2009
Taking photos
On my birthday, Murphy thought long and hard what he wanted when he traveled for 10 months in China in 2002. He decided that it was a sophisticated camera, with more capabilities than a point and shoot. After just buying a beautiful SLR just before he left for India, he SO graciously and kindly offer me his Nikon digital SLR. Alex and I accepted to try it out for a week (Bob, Ashton, Morgan and Davi were leaving in a week and could return it). I taught Alex the basics of an SLR and we each took a number of photos on it. I loved taking night photos with it and motion photos with it. I took an awesome one of a little girl at a reggae concert that we went to. She was dancing around a bunch of dancing adults. but for one moment, long enough for me to take the photo, she stopped dancing while they all continued. I love the picture. It wouldn't have been possible with a little point and shoot. I should mention though that the first night in Pondicherry that Alex and I came uncomfortably close to losing the camera. Thankfully it was India and as usual our stuff was very safe. So we sent home the camera. I think the camera is too big for us to take, but since I really enjoyed the camera for this week, I would like to look into a camera that I could buy in Singapore, if we can find the right one. Here is where everyone comes in to help: perhaps if you like cameras and have done research or know someone who can help, let me know. I was thinking of maybe one that can turn off the auto focus and also open the shutter longer in darker shots. Is this only possible in a SLR or can we find something in between Murphy's camera and a little point and shoot in terms of capability and size? I will arrive in Singapore on Feb 11 and prob leave Feb 13. So that's my timescale.
Lots of love and affection,
Katie
Lots of love and affection,
Katie
Saturday 24 January 2009
My birthday in Chennai
Last I left you we were rushing to the train station in Shoanur in
Kerala to make our way to Chennai. The travel agent we had used had
not secured confirmed tickets for our overnight train from Shoanur to
Chennai. The train we had 4 out of 12 confirmed tickets for was the
17 hour train, despite there also being a 9 hour train! So we went to
the station in hopes that our brilliant driver Sabu could get 8 more
beds for us. When we arrived our train was annouced 25 minutes late.
Sabu assured us that the train would be there for 15 minutes once it
arrived and he seemed very confident that he would be able to get
enough beds/seats. Keep in mind this also meant that he wouldn't have
to make the 16 hour drive there and back. So we waited on the
platform, all a little dismayed at what was to come next. Like a lot
of things in India if I hadn't seen the trains being used with my own
eyes, I would have thought they were completely derelict and hadn't
been used in 25 years. In fact, they seemed to run fine, if not a
little smelly and overcrowded. A train arrived on the platform we
were standing. There were some pretty funny guys who came over to say
hello, ask It wasn't our train. After 1.25 hours and much discussion
and speculation we realised that not only was this definitely not our
train, but ours was actually on the platform over the bridge. We all
hauled ass to the other platform. It was just pulling in. Sabu said
we should get on, so we got on. There were only beds with no doors
separating out the sections or even curtains. Some people were
already sleeping at 3 in the afternoon. We had all of our bags in a
very cramped area. After only a few minutes on the platform and just
as we heard the word from the person closest to the door to abort the
plan and we'll drive, we notice it's moving! Word travels, Sabu: "Oh
shit!" If it weren't for the obvious surprise and the urgency with
which he got off we would have thought it was his plan all along to
dupe us on the train and wave us goodbye.
Kerala to make our way to Chennai. The travel agent we had used had
not secured confirmed tickets for our overnight train from Shoanur to
Chennai. The train we had 4 out of 12 confirmed tickets for was the
17 hour train, despite there also being a 9 hour train! So we went to
the station in hopes that our brilliant driver Sabu could get 8 more
beds for us. When we arrived our train was annouced 25 minutes late.
Sabu assured us that the train would be there for 15 minutes once it
arrived and he seemed very confident that he would be able to get
enough beds/seats. Keep in mind this also meant that he wouldn't have
to make the 16 hour drive there and back. So we waited on the
platform, all a little dismayed at what was to come next. Like a lot
of things in India if I hadn't seen the trains being used with my own
eyes, I would have thought they were completely derelict and hadn't
been used in 25 years. In fact, they seemed to run fine, if not a
little smelly and overcrowded. A train arrived on the platform we
were standing. There were some pretty funny guys who came over to say
hello, ask It wasn't our train. After 1.25 hours and much discussion
and speculation we realised that not only was this definitely not our
train, but ours was actually on the platform over the bridge. We all
hauled ass to the other platform. It was just pulling in. Sabu said
we should get on, so we got on. There were only beds with no doors
separating out the sections or even curtains. Some people were
already sleeping at 3 in the afternoon. We had all of our bags in a
very cramped area. After only a few minutes on the platform and just
as we heard the word from the person closest to the door to abort the
plan and we'll drive, we notice it's moving! Word travels, Sabu: "Oh
shit!" If it weren't for the obvious surprise and the urgency with
which he got off we would have thought it was his plan all along to
dupe us on the train and wave us goodbye.
So we all sat down, with a little help from our Indian compartment
mates, and hoped for the best. I would be lying if I said there
weren't some very nervous people in our group that thought we might be
sitting all night. There were about 8 areas with beds in them in each
car. Each area had 8 beds: two tiers of three and 1 tier of 2 along
the length of the car. The middle bed came down to make seats on the
bottom bed. We were a little spread out at first, but everywhere in
the car everyone made a huge effort to help us. Some moved to make
room for us and many made conversation where possible. I was really
touched and surprised how little they were annoyed by our crowding in
when we so clearly didn't have seats. Although they didn't know this,
we had paid for all the seats, we just didn't have them, we were
numbers 1-8 on the waiting list. There were many stops all the way up
to 10pm and even a few through the night. The ticket man, who was
called TT, knew about us and was extremely gracious about finding us
seats. There were three TTs through the night. The second one gave
us four more beds at about 9pm. Then at about 11.30 we recieved 3
more. Morgan and Davi were able to share a bed until 3am when the
(most dapper) TT gave us our final 12th bed! Just as we were all
getting in to bed and about to fall asleep Morgan, Davi, Murphy,
Ashton and Alex all came to my bed and sang Happy Birthday to me. We
spent the night of the 18th on the Train. At 6am we pulled into
Chennai. Even though it was a little scary that we wouldn't have the
beds to sleep on and it was pretty stressful, the whole experience was
amazing. The people were kind and really pleasant to talk to, the TTs
were helpful, and it was my Birthday!
I scoped out a breakfast place in Chennai. We went to a restaurant
called Saravana Bhavan. There are 17 of them in Chennai and a few
around the world, including one in Sunnydale, CA. Their food was
fantastic. They have huge dosas about 2 feet in diameter, and
everything we ordered was super tasty. Despite having Indian food for
the last 3 weeks, I still enjoy all the tastes. I'll probably be sick
of it after 6 weeks, but at the moment I'm still loving it. And for
someone who wouldn't eat it as a child, I think I've come a long way.
It's late but a quick update on the other places we have been. After
one day in Chennai, Murphy, Heidi, Luke and Liz went home to NY. The
remaining people went to Mamallapurim the next day for two nights.
Georgous stone temples and bas-reliefs but a little too many hippies
for me. Lovely little town and nice to be in for a little time,
especially nice to see the Ocean. Hilarie left to go home to LA the
same day the remaining 5 travelled to Pondicherry. After three nights
here (I am about to go to sleep on the 3rd night) we head back to
Chennai where Bob, Ashton, Morgan and Davi will be going back to NY.
Then there will be only three!
This was very quick and I certainly haven't shared all my thoughts,
but I wanted to get the basics down to let everyone know what's going
on. Please get in touch about specific things if you are interested.
I'd be happy to write more, even if it takes me a while to respond. :)
and as always, I'll try to write more as soon as I can.
Lots of love,
K
Thursday 22 January 2009
First Email
Hello All!
Below is the first email about our travels. I have put everyone I could think of with the little time I have. If I have forgotten someone (it's not personal) or I didn't have their email, please pass this on to them.
Finally we have a moment (with Internet) for me to share with everyone what is going on over on the other side of the world. Internet has not been universally available and we have been on a strict/busy schedule with Air Bob. Hopefully Alex will clue me in to where our blog is soon, but for now, I will share a few thoughts about our trip so far.
First stop was Kolkata (pronounced: KOHL cutta). The best word I found to describe this city was overwhelming. It was also chaotic and dusty and warm at high 20s centigrade during the day and low 20s in the evening (although to the locals it was chilly in their winter and a lot were wearing sweaters and earmuffs!). Most of our time was spent walking around. There were taxis which were pretty cheap but rather scary to be in and no contact with other people. The metro was also an experience. For the price of 10 cents we could ride the metro up the major vein of Kolkata. There was only one line, pretty easy to navigate. There was a space in the middle of the car that was reserved for 'Ladies'. Men were expected to get up for women in this section. Although the separation of the sexes was apparent, it was not oppressive nor was it imposed on us, it was only a cultural preference. Even when you got off the metro you had to walk a while to get where you wanted to go. Also, the walking was a major part of our experience. We probably saw only a handful of foreigners in the whole week we were there. And even then they were at the major sites like the Victoria memorial and the New Market. The hotel was often shocked when we would ask about things like the local flower market and that we wanted to walk there. One of the women in the hotel said, 'you can take a taxi from here' we said no we'll take the metro. "oh, but you'll HAVE to take a taxi from the metro". No, we've already walked there, we can do it again. "Impossible!" She was so surprised that we had walked there that she thought it was impossible!
I was surprised at the amount of people on the streets. They seemed to do everything on the streets from eating and hanging out to bathing. I was very overwhelmed by how much we were looked at (we were often photographed by mobile phones) and how many people were surprised to see us. Granted, we were 12 white people walking where most Indians didn't walk if they didn't have to.
Next we flew to the state of Kerala. Immediately, it was more beautiful, warmer and clearly more wealthy. We stayed one night in a beautiful resort by the beach. I don't have much info on this place because I was sick and slept the entire time we were there. The next day we drove through Cochin and saw Jew Town (actually) and the old fort. Then got onto two houseboats with three bedrooms each. So relaxing and beautiful in the backwaters, with delicious food, it was a welcome relief from the grime and chaos in Kolkata.
Then up to Wayanad nature preserve. Again, totally beautiful. We climbed up caves and down to waterfalls (a very energy exerting day, that we weren't expecting), with amazing open expanses that compared to Macchu Picchu. The nature preserve included a 2 hour jeep tour. On the tour we saw about 8 elephants, a Malabar squirrel, spotted dear and tiger prints!
I'm out of time, gotta run to see if we can get on the train to Chennai/Madras, which was our original plan, but our travel agent messed up, or if we have to drive the 16 hours there instead.
More to come when I get a chance.
Miss everyone lots, and I expect that to grow when my family leaves!
Katie
Below is the first email about our travels. I have put everyone I could think of with the little time I have. If I have forgotten someone (it's not personal) or I didn't have their email, please pass this on to them.
Finally we have a moment (with Internet) for me to share with everyone what is going on over on the other side of the world. Internet has not been universally available and we have been on a strict/busy schedule with Air Bob. Hopefully Alex will clue me in to where our blog is soon, but for now, I will share a few thoughts about our trip so far.
First stop was Kolkata (pronounced: KOHL cutta). The best word I found to describe this city was overwhelming. It was also chaotic and dusty and warm at high 20s centigrade during the day and low 20s in the evening (although to the locals it was chilly in their winter and a lot were wearing sweaters and earmuffs!). Most of our time was spent walking around. There were taxis which were pretty cheap but rather scary to be in and no contact with other people. The metro was also an experience. For the price of 10 cents we could ride the metro up the major vein of Kolkata. There was only one line, pretty easy to navigate. There was a space in the middle of the car that was reserved for 'Ladies'. Men were expected to get up for women in this section. Although the separation of the sexes was apparent, it was not oppressive nor was it imposed on us, it was only a cultural preference. Even when you got off the metro you had to walk a while to get where you wanted to go. Also, the walking was a major part of our experience. We probably saw only a handful of foreigners in the whole week we were there. And even then they were at the major sites like the Victoria memorial and the New Market. The hotel was often shocked when we would ask about things like the local flower market and that we wanted to walk there. One of the women in the hotel said, 'you can take a taxi from here' we said no we'll take the metro. "oh, but you'll HAVE to take a taxi from the metro". No, we've already walked there, we can do it again. "Impossible!" She was so surprised that we had walked there that she thought it was impossible!
I was surprised at the amount of people on the streets. They seemed to do everything on the streets from eating and hanging out to bathing. I was very overwhelmed by how much we were looked at (we were often photographed by mobile phones) and how many people were surprised to see us. Granted, we were 12 white people walking where most Indians didn't walk if they didn't have to.
Next we flew to the state of Kerala. Immediately, it was more beautiful, warmer and clearly more wealthy. We stayed one night in a beautiful resort by the beach. I don't have much info on this place because I was sick and slept the entire time we were there. The next day we drove through Cochin and saw Jew Town (actually) and the old fort. Then got onto two houseboats with three bedrooms each. So relaxing and beautiful in the backwaters, with delicious food, it was a welcome relief from the grime and chaos in Kolkata.
Then up to Wayanad nature preserve. Again, totally beautiful. We climbed up caves and down to waterfalls (a very energy exerting day, that we weren't expecting), with amazing open expanses that compared to Macchu Picchu. The nature preserve included a 2 hour jeep tour. On the tour we saw about 8 elephants, a Malabar squirrel, spotted dear and tiger prints!
I'm out of time, gotta run to see if we can get on the train to Chennai/Madras, which was our original plan, but our travel agent messed up, or if we have to drive the 16 hours there instead.
More to come when I get a chance.
Miss everyone lots, and I expect that to grow when my family leaves!
Katie
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