One never forgets the smell of walking off an airplane in India, I certainly had the memory come flooding back...and despite it not being a great smell, still felt excited to finally arrive! We made it over, and spent the first couple of days in Mumbai. We had a great hotel (read: air conditioning and BBC on the tv) in a great location in Coloba, the main tourist area of Mumbai (where the Taj hotel is). We spent Saturday just walking around and I gently tried to get Ashley acclimated without too much culture shock (current score India: 600 pts, Ashley: 12 pts). I was very upset to learn that upon my return to this store in Coloba that they no longer sold my favorite pants, this is especially unfortunate considering I did not bring said pants for these two weeks because I had planned on buying them...ah well. We had a great time Saturday night, including drinks at the Taj Hotel, dinner at Khybar (a local favorite), and then a visit to the dance club in our hotel - Polly Esters (totally retro). HILARIOUS. Meaning, they played old school Madonna, Michael Jackson, and Ace of Base. That was until it got a little later and the house music started, a mix of indian/us music. Lots of fun.
Sunday we headed to the airport and flew to Chennai, the fourth largest city in India. Known for being extremely p0lluted and having a lot of malaria...awesome. It pretty much lived up to its reputation. But luckily we were not there for long. We met our group last night -- there are 10 of us, one couple and 8 girls. The poor guy! Luckily he is from Austria and we don't think speaks too much english. We are the only Americans, and besides the Austrian couple there are a few from UK (England and Scotland) and one girl from Austrailia. 6 of them were on a similar Intrepid trip to the North for 3 weeks prior, so they all know each other. Seems like a good group. We have 3 leaders (one real leader and 2 in-training, so that is kind of fun). We did a little sightseeing in Chennai last night and went to a hindu temple and the church where St. Thomas is buried, apparently only 3 churches in the world have saints buried or something, its a big deal. So big that there was a man there and his duck. He brought his duck to church and it was following him around like a dog, it was pretty hilarious. We also walked down to the beach and by a fish market (and by market I mean women sitting with lots of fish on little tables). I will not be eating fish for a while.
This morning we came to Mallapuram. Just about an hour from Chennai and also on the water. It is known for stone carvings and a couple of temples. We walked around this morning and spent a little time in a shop in town with a guy from Tibet. He uses "sound bowls" to cure people of all ailments. He did the bowl things on us (we sat and he holds the bowl and hits with a tong and it makes noise) and he told us we both have stress in our backs. Haha, no surprise there, we are Americans who sit hunched over at computers all day. He also told us he could fix our chakras and take the bowl and use it for 21 days...we declined. I was looking into buying this ring made by Tibetan monks that had a mantra on it and supposedly helped cure all ailments, but then I learned it was $400. Those monks must be special.
Tonight we are going for a bike ride to an orphanage, I'm sure it will be a difficult trip. Tomorrow we take a day long train to Madurai.
We are adjusting well, Ashley is a trooper. This trip will definitely be a little "rougher" than my last Intrepid tour. That was "original" and this is "basic." Basic basically means cheaper (read: no ac and no BBC).
That's all for now!
I'll keep you posted.
It is hard to believe how fast the last few weeks flew by! I feel so lucky to have such amazing friends and family, and am happy I was able to spend a lot of great time with people in the last few weeks. Big thanks to everyone for all the great send-offs. I will miss everyone so much!