Friday, May 30, 2008

Toto, We are Not in Kansas Anymore...




Although I did eat lunch at the Yellow Brick Road...

Made it! The flight was great thanks to a lot of miles and a business class upgrade. I slept over half the flight...and am "pretending" I get to fly back that way. Made it through immigration (finally...) and on to the hotel. Walking out of security there were literally hundreds of people and luckily I had prearranged my hotel transportation so I found the little man (he could not have been more than 5 feet) with my name on a sign and off we went. Driving here is...shall we say interesting. One of the reasons Delhi is such a loud city is that instead of lanes and laws, they use horns to tell another car (motorcycle, rickshaw, person) to get out of their way. Hotel is great and I slept a good 11 hours. Finally on Friday mid-morning I worked up the courage to actually leave my hotel and start this journey. So, I check with the hotel to see what's around and off I go. Let's just say I ended up back in the hotel an hour later SWEATING a great deal and decided that from now on I would take rickshaws. I never actually made it to where I was going because I was afraid to cross the street :) So I decided to regroup and have my first Indian meal at the restaurant in my hotel (the yellow brick road). I was very impressed that I ordered something random and saw that another man ordered it too. Luckily the waiter took pity on me and explained the meal, he was very nice and I'm going back today for breakfast so he can help again.
After I was ready to go and hoped in a rickshaw and was off for an afternoon of sightseeing. Went to the place where Ghandi lived out his last days and was assasinated, went to a museum where another leader (Indira Ghandi, no relation) also was killed (leading seems to be a dangerous business here).
Then went to the Craft Museum where all this art from around India is kept and they have people there making more. Finally went to Humayun's Tomb, my first taste of the amazing architecture here. I had a rickshaw driver who offered to be my "driver" for the afternoon and he just told me to pay him what I thought necessary. In the end it was very convenient and only cost me about Rs300 (less than $10) so I thought it was great. By the end of the afternoon I felt I was melting and my face was purple...so I went back to my hotel room and thought I would cool down a bit and then come find the internet, well cooling down turned into a 2-hour nap...guess I was still getting over jet lag! Last night I had a fixed Indian meal (vegetarian...which I think I am going to remain while here...). It was great (Alison, I had our yummy lentil stuff and the yogurt!). After breakfast at the hotel, I'm off to Connagut Place, which is a big market area.
A few first impressions:
>I have not seen a lot of "white" people...either I'm not hitting the tourist spots or there are just not a lot here.
>A single-woman traveler is rare and people look at me like I'm crazy.
>The poverty is unlike anything I've seen...I was sitting in a rickshaw at a stop light yesterday and on one side was a women with a young baby trying to sell me some magazine and on the other side a young boy who couldn't walk had scooted up beside me in the street. What is most sad is seeing the children.
>The people in my hotel are very polite :)

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Bags are packed...

and I'm ready to go! Leaving on a jetplane tomorrow, for the delightful 14 hour flight to Delhi. Packing has been an interesting experience, but I now feel I can run a good pharmacy out of my backpack. If I need help making friends on my tour I'm pretty sure I can bribe people with my huge supply of handi-wipes or pepto.

I did manage to get everything into my pack (see photo) which is a huge accomplishment. This is it for 2 months, plus a little daypack. For anyone who knows my love of clothes, you can only imagine how I felt about packing only 3 pairs of pants and 4 shirts...

Of course the last few days have flowen by and I have not been able to say goodbye to everyone, thanks for all the messages and well wishes.

That's if for now. Look for my next post from INDIA in a few days!

Monday, May 19, 2008

Countdown begins

So, here I am. Doing something I never thought I would do- blog! But I guess this will be a summer of firsts. In my attempt to document this journey to India and to save time in the 20 emails I would have to write to my friends and family with updates, I thought this might be a better way. Hopefully at least one of you will actually check this once in a while (I know I can count on you Dad).

The basic trip:
  • 3 days in Delhi, adjusting to jet lag after a 14-hour flight and getting used to India
  • 2 week group tour in northern India with Intrepid Travel (an Austrailian based company) that includes Delhi, Agra (home of the Taj), Jaipur, Bundi, among others.
  • 4 week course on Community-Based Health and Development at the Rural Community Health Project - living and working in Jamkhed (south-central India)
  • 10 days - To be Determined! I somehow convinced my friend Kelly to come join me for this part of the trip (thanks Kel!), who knows where we will end up, but we will be trying to hide from the Monsoon.

I have no idea how often I will be posting, but hopefully this will keep anyone interested up to date with my whereabouts.

First stop - After a few days of homecooking and parental love, I leave STL on May 28th to head to Delhi!