In Delhi, love it already! I love the traffic even. Maybe because compared to it, I feel so calm. Is traffic the new yoga?
(zero tolerance.)
Konrad says a lot has changed here in the past ten years, but to me things seem very old and like they've been happening forever.
mangoes, not quite ready, even though they promise they are.
pool @ prince polonia hotel, in which, curiously(?) no one ever swam
delhi, up high
the weather in delhi is described as 'smoke' on the weather site. sounds about right. but it's never just grey. they're good at colour here.
view, fourth floor
looking down
'take a picture of my first chai, am!' (first chai in india, of course)
muslim prayers
mangoes yo.
(paraganj...) it is dusty and dirty and my toes get grey immediately upon going outside in flipflops, but the dirt is earthy, grounding dirt. I don't mind it.
we met darren and krista for tea one evening, at our rooftop restaurant, each had a pot of tea and then, unsurprisingly, i didn't sleep the whole night. i heart chai!
grey and pink and awe
I asked someone yesterday where to do yoga in the Delhi. He said: 'why would you want to do yoga? it's for people with psychological problems, isn't it?“ This poster is funny. I didn't see a single person exercising in Delhi. And besides boys and cricket, saw only one person playing basketball, in a sari.
very early walk to the Red Fort and the Mosque: We absorbed more culture here than any other part of Delhi. Where are all the women though? All along the street, we saw men, having communal morning baths.
shanti town market
Look behind this guy: those little shacks are houses! The ladies are just outside of them, cooking over fires. (shanti town market)
Red Fort, in the smokey morning
red fort
couple, outside of the red fort
jama masjid mosque: You can't see, but I'm wearing a fluorescent yellow, orange, pink, and blue, horrible mumu. Foreign women get to wear it, when they go in, for the sake of modesty. It was a horrible site. But the mosque was beautiful. Depsite being open to tourists, it was widely used, and we saw men praying and also just haning out everywhere.
prayers
The energy here was some of the most calm out of anywhere I visited in India. (J.M. Mosque)
We left the next morning for Agra, which houses the handsome Taj Mahal. We had a driver even, his name is Mishra, and he's kind of a cowboy. He asked if we had any single friends in Canada, and asked to be set up. He told us not to tell his wife.
konrad, Mishra, and a guy who showed us around the taj. no one seemed to know is his name.
(shiva, me) Mishra stopped the car on the side of the road, suggesting we pay homage to Shiva, which we did. The statue is beautiful.
on the road
first glimpse of the taj mahal. it literally took my breath away. as the pink-shirt tour guide told us the (tourist version) of the history behind it, i just stared. they said that one ought to go early in the morning to avoid the other tourists, but I liked that part. they added to the beauty. the movement and rushing all around the structure just make it look more stoic and calm.
the elegant and enchanting taj mahal
taj and me. the konrad pics got corrupted.
pretty ladies: we were visting the taj mahal during Indian summer break, so there were many students, travelling from afar.
our tour guide, in the pink shirt, directing traffic. we cut everyone in line about a minute later.
indians go to the taj too. foreigner price is $20 USD, indians Rs20 (which is rougly fifty canadian cents.)
Woman in sari, and man, touching self.
everyone likes the taj!
young tout, working outside the taj mahal.
we spent a bunch of sketchy, creepy hours in a train station, outside of agra. There were two other tourists in the entire place and it was the middle of the night. There were rats everywhere, and millions of birds perched on every up-high available surface. The sound of their collective chirping and the echoes they made were unbelievable. Here's our train: 2AC, living in 'luxury.' We almost slept through our stop. It came earlier than it was supposed to. A worker on the train, saying Mogul Serai! Mogul Serai! That's the name of our station, but Konrad, sleep-drunk, thought he was saying Mimosas! He woke me up suggesting it was time for breakfast, before we were quickly ushered off the train.
first glimpse of varanasi, we arrived when it was still dark, and the sun came up as we settled into our hotel.
rooftop, hotel divya
hotel divya, sunrise, varanasi
holy cow
assi ghat, varanasi: Our ghat (stairway to the water) was far from the main ghat. That was Konrad's idea, and it turned out to be brilliant. The main ghat is cool: vibrant and alive, but loud and crazy. It was enough to walk through there, or take a leisurely boat ride and see it from afar.
cow + me
kon + lurking friend in background
morning boat ride
ram dinesh, boatman
approaching the 'little' burning ghat, for people who don't have enough money to be cremated at the main burning ghat
um. i think it went out.
the usual
boys in their over underwear
big burning ghat.
maybe spellcheck your airport signs?
the life
thomas is a nice christian man
Even the signs are more polite in the south!
varanasi souvenir
using the chinese fishing nets
chinese fishing nets, on the shore in fort cochi
shoreside. fort cochi
fishing
people staring, but also smiling!
a lots of man job
the men
delicious cappuccino!
women artists' collective
indian boys obsessed with cricket and other indian boys
bernadette
We found a school where we donated the money from Bluemoon. It's 'poor school' or a 'free school' and it's for kids who wouldn't otherwise be able to go to school because their families couldn't afford to have them not working. The only thing that gets them here is that one meal is supplied, a meal that they would otherwise not eat. The school runs on very little financial assistance. The government supplies them with a little funding: enough to feed the kids a meal of just rice. Any other little bits of money they get is from donations. The (for us) relatively small amount of money we gave looked like it could keep the school going for months. Thank you for your support!
The school was empty of kids, because it was india summer break. Way too hot for school.
old and rickety, but filled with light
more rickety, more light
thomas (our homestay guy), his sister (a teacher at the school), the headmistress, amanda
kon, teacher, headmistress, amanda
Kon + me @ school
schoolwork
record of donations and financial assistance
school work
real nice ladies!
little meowing bear that konrad wouldn't let me touch. and then the waiter brought him over for me to hold, and i had to pretend i was allergic.
sweaty.
in cochi, people even recycle!
north american dog? as sweaty as me, probably.
umbrellas, of which i was jealous, to shield the sun.
A road being built just at the end of the street where we stayed. A good demonstration of all the old-new contrast of India: One day, labourers would be carrying rocks in metal bowls on their heads, the next day, a brand new machine would be there doing the work.
kids in awe
bananas, almost ready!
The ferry. There was a ladies side and a gentlemen's side. Pictured here: some gentlemen. And Konrad.
Leaving Cochi- catching a bus to Munnar
Scary skinny road to munnar... Do you see how narrow this road is? A foot over was a gazillion foot drop... into rocks. The buses were all named after saints or hindu gods. Except this one: called PMS?
Worth it though: These are the cool and crisp rolling hills of Munnar. Those are tea plants and the place smells like Darjeeling!
So refreshing, we could move around a bit. What a luxury! The temperature was 'only' 25-29 Celcius during the day. The british (or Britishes, as Indians say) would come to these cool hill stations when they couldn't stand the heat any longer. I hear you, Britishes.
The streets of Munnar.
India is not known for its production of wine for a reason. This was our most expensive purchase of our trip. $25 USD, but we had to try it. With much anticipation, we opened it up, and the room filled with the scent of vinegar. Actually undrinkable.
Desperate holy cow. Kinda makes you wonder about our place on the food chain.
Pedal boat. Rain started four minutes after we got in.
Beautiful Munnar
Best Thali of our trip. This one even had kitcheri in it. A ton of little curries to try. And a waiter, who couldn't stop watching us eat it.
Goats. One was being bad. When we walked by after breakfast, he was tied up outside of the truck while the rest hung out together.
On the road in Munnar.
Landscaping business. So incredibly out of place.
On the busride out of Munnar. Crazier even than the busride in. This guy was jammed into us by the hoards of people surrounding him. He didn't seem to mind.
Arrived in Alleppey to meet our fellow Canadians!
We took a long and lazy ride on the backwaters.
Feet up on the back waters.
The Indian back waters...Where the houseboats go to die.
Rickshaw ride back to our guesthouse. Darren + tuk tuk driver = Best friends forever. (There were seven of us in one rickshaw.)
Last dInner after a lazy day on the water.
Rode from Alleppey to Varkala Beach. Varkala used to be a best-kept secret. Now it's full of tourists, but still very beautiful and laid back. It's built along the top of the cliffs of Varkala, and there are a thousand store fronts and restaurants and guesthouses.
Namesake.
Om mani padme hum: I bow to the jewel in the lotus.
enso (Zen: a single full movement, showing the expressive moment of the spirit.)
Dancing girl along Varkala Cliffs
The only yoga
Varkala Cliffs, looking down on the beach with yellow flowers. “Greetings from Varkala. The beach is gorgeous, the skyline-infinite, and we wake up hearing the waves lap up against the shore each morning. In fact, everywhere you go: each open-air restaurant, each hammock outside a guesthouse, even the internet cafes, and the only yoga studio, has this soothing soundtrack of waves.”
Really cute family.
Hanuman!
Walking down to the beach
Varkala beach
Indian ladies, in their beach attire.
Exploring the town of Varkala.
Tandoori. A big ticket item in Varkala. Partly because there are many Nepalese guys working there and they know the tandoori.
On our way out of Varkala to Mumbai
Arrival, off the plane and into the buzy-ness of Mumbai. This beautiful sunset welcomed us.
Aren't city sunsets gorgeous?
Six lanes of highway or more: it's hard to tell; people don't care about the lines on the road.
We met D and Krista in Mumbai, and walked and explored the city the night we arrived.
Gateway to India
taj hotel at night, at least as enchanting as any statue or monument or temple i have seen here.
uber weird bombay hotel where we stayed.
Mumbai by day. “Some places feel instantly familiar, don't you think? Mumbai is like that for me. I'm quite certain that it's my favourite place in India.”
The paradox of this city is more apparent here than it has been anywhere else: Falling apart- but still beautiful old colonial buildings, modern business women, old men sleeping on the street, a market down the street from where we're staying complete with caged chickens, and finally-ready mangoes! Had idly and masala dosa for breakfast in a grungy Indian hole-in-the-wall, then walked down the street to a Barista coffee chain place, to have a cappuccino (blush blush blush!)
for dave
Market
Puja'd on the street by a holy man. Also- drinking cappuccino.
dosas that we were missing in the south
cappuccino store (blush)
gateway to india
leopold's where some of the attacks took place. Lots of tourists and lots of security.
Konrad, taking a break from our exploring.
taj hotel + pigeons
Taj hotel
me + gateway
chai wallah!
beautiful taj hotel
Man with scale. 1 Rupee to find out your weight. We thought he was guessing weights, so it seemed like cheating when he made us get on the scale.
temple tree
Break time.
elusive keneseth eliyahoo synagogue... we searched for this place for HOURS! We must have gone in circles around it. Anyway, when we got there, we weren't allowed in, so we hung out outside for awhile. The blue was spectacular, beside all the grey. It is a mystery that we missed this place so many times.
End of a long day of exploring and checking out the Colaba Markets. Last dinner.
Happy Kon + Last Thali
Sweets!
Kids + Candy Shop
Cab ride to the airport. Quite an ordeal, really. India lesson # 397: Always confirm the price in advance. Three times.
Petrol station, gridlocked with cabs.
Our midnight ride to the aiport.
The moon in India, from plane heading home!
Goodbye India!
