Mandu and Pachmahi

The next stop was another small town of Mandu. On the map it was so nearby, but after changing yet again 4 buses, I started banging Andy on the head with an empty water bottle. Why does it take 7 hours to cover 80 kms???? I refuse to believe it !!! The whole bus was laughing at me. I was laughing too. Travel days are part of travelling and part of the whole experience. 
Mandu is surprisingly charming and extremely clean town. I found myself walking with garbage in my hands looking for a garbage can. Usually when you eat something, you just throw it out wherever you finished eating. Few times I gave up, and threw it in the drain on the side of the road. The town is perfect. From our guest house, it's a 10 second walk to the main square which has one of the main monuments, all the restaurants, fruits/veggies are sold there, and the buses stop there. No walking required, everything is located 10 seconds away! :)
We went to the same restaurant the whole time. We tried another one. They sat us down, gave us a big menu. Assured us that their restaurant is always open. We start to order, they say no. I order something else, they say no. I point to next item and next item ... no, no. They can't say that we don't have soups or we don't have tandoori items. They would just shake their head in a no whenever I would point to anything.
- Ok ... what do you have then?
He skips all the pages, and shows us that they have rice. Lemon rice, anis rice. Grrrr ... thank you very much! What's the point of keeping an open restaurant when all you serve is rice??
We went to another restaurant for breakfast. Andy wanted curd. We call the waiter, make our orders, and he said:
A: Small curd please
W: We don't have small, only big
A: No, we want small
W: Small is not possible
A: That's ok ... can we just have a small curd please

I was laughing so hard. Andy said that I must have rubbed it on him :) Like in the restaurant in Omkareshwar, when I only ordered half a portion, cause we couldn't agree on what we want to share, and a whole portion was too much for me. He mimics me:
Y: I want just half a portion
W: Not possible
Y: Everything's possible! I want half, shoo, shoo now :))
Oh Andy, he came a long way from the Andy that I met in Varkala who bought sun bleached/glue stained pants for double the price, and for whom I had to do all the negotiations :)
I don't understand the problem with these restaurants anyway. These are mom & pop restaurants. They don't have a computer that print exact prices. They can do anything you ask them, yet they make a big deal of putting less curd on the plate. Why is that?
This restaurant never had small change. Pretty much all restaurants and stores have big containers of different candies near the counter which cost 1 rp. If the shop doesn't have change, and in quite a few occasions that's the case, you'd get your change back and some candies with the bills. I love these candies, so I don't mind. But in this restaurant they would bring back cookies. They're terrible. I'll send the cookies back. They'll bring me chocolate. I tried it, but it was just as bad as the cookies, next time I sent them back too. I want toffee. I’d just take the chocolate, open the fridge, put it back, open the jar of candies, and take 5 candies out. They just wiggled their heads :)
Next day I was feeling sick the whole day, and didn't get out of bed :(
There was a man outside our balcony. They're all very curious and ask questions even if they don't speak a word of English. He wanted water, and Andy gave him the bottle. It's safe to give locals to drink your stuff because they just pour it in their mouth without touching the bottle with their lips. But just like that girl in the train who asked if she could have some water and ended up drinking the whole bottle, this guy too, drank some, washed his mouth, and pretty much spit half of the bottle on the ground :)
Went to the monuments. These were unbelievable! So many of them! It was some king’s palace and a harem holding 3000 women. He loved water, pools and fountains, and there were uncountable number of them carved in different shapes. The whole place would look completely different if there was water now, and the fountains were working. I liked ruined buildings much more than the ones in good condition. It was like finding gems among ruins, such as faded paintings, carved shapes, some original paint and stone work. I found a baby owl who was moving its head in the same direction as I moved mine :) There were many bats, thousands of them in some room. The noise and the smell was overbearing. I stuck my camera inside, standing beside the wall of the opening, and took a picture with a flash. I thought all of them would go crazy and fly out of the hole, but they didn't. So I took a few pictures, hopefully not disturbing their sleep too much.
On the little bus back, the children in one house stuck their faces through all the windows and were waving us goodbye. We were waving goodbye ... well actually more Andy than me, you know my love for kids. Byyyeeeeee, they're waving, the adults have joined too. Andy put his hat out of the window, and was waving it goodbye. Bbyyyyeee they yell, bbbyyyyyyeee we wave. They must have yelled byyeee at least 20 times before the bus moved. The bus started moving, they started yelling faster. Quick quick Andy wave the hat, quicker, quicker!!!
We took a sleeper night bus, and our sleeper space was at the very back of the bus. I don't think we slept a minute out of the whole night. We were flying and flying. This was definitely a flying bus, not a road bus. I fell asleep a little bit, when got woken up at 1am by somebody playing music on his phone. I picked my head out. "Turn the music off!!!". Where the hell are their brains?? Some times when I was flying, I would land on Andy. oooopppsss ... sowwwyyy. I was trying to hold on to him, thinking that with our combined body mass we would fly less. We would constantly end up in the middle of the bed (length wise), and would have to crawl back up. In the morning, the road became smooth and we finally nodded off. Someone knocked on our cubicle bed thingi, Andy got up in a hurry, put on his shoes, and jumped down. Are we there? Oh no no sir, you can take a picture of this beautiful view! What can I say ... Andy was not too happy :))
By the morning it felt like our brains were smashed into mashed potatoes texture, and then blended just to be sure that it's completely screwed up. We couldn't understand much of what was going on, talk to anybody or do anything that even when the bus went tulululululu, Andy asked me "What did you say?" Me: It wasn't me it was the bus!
Speaking about buses. The buses in India are a whole different set of buses. First of all, ALL the buses, and pretty much all heavy vehicles have a hand drawn flowery "Horn OK" sign painted on the back. People here don't use mirrors, or signals, so when you overtake, you always sound a horn. And it's not just a small beep. It's the longest, the loudest beeeeeeep, and not only beep, most buses are equipped with special beeping sounds like trululu lu lu lu, tra la la pa la la, it's like moving music boxes, not buses. They also have different sounds for more distant objects, they'd be the louder ones, and for the nearer ones. At the bus stations, they yell the destination 100s of times walking around and around the bus. They would stick all body out of the door and yell the destination on a completely empty street, and they would yell it so fast that you would have no idea where they're going. They would whistle to the driver when to stop and when to go, and it would become such a habit, that even when there is only 1 person on the bus, the assistant would whistle as loud as he can to start moving again. These assistants are very helpful though, cause they'll get you to the right destination and would usually show you the next bus.

We arrived at Pachmahi. The only reason we picked it was because it's a hill station, and we were tired from the heat. It also had waterfalls and natural swimming pools, but it was still hot, and there were 100s of people in not something that I would call a pool. As always in non touristic places, it took us forever to find a hotel. They have something against foreigners. I'm sure that not all of the hotels all over the sudden are full. We somehow got out in the afternoon to go for walk. The road along that walk was full of gods, and very very ugly gods too. I think they should take some design courses. We got into some temple on the way, when we walked off, somebody yelled behind us hello, hello, hello. As always we walked off not turning around. They chased us and gave us a coconut. Awwww ... how cute :))
Cars stopped on the way to shake Andy's hand and ask him for his good name :)
Next day we went to breakfast. I couldn't take my eyes off of the video clips that were playing on TV. One thing that Indians can do very very well is music videos. So colorful, the dance combinations are original, unique and fun, they all dance in unison, and I as a dancer can really appreciate it. I even bought a dvd. Hopefully it will be good :)
My video watching was interrupted by one big noisy family. Everybody was screaming at each other. I don't know who was worse, the kids yelling or the parents yelling at the kids. I don't blame the kids anymore, if they misbehave, its parents fault!
We had to rent bikes to see the sights around. We walked in circles and there are no bikes for rent. Finally we found a guy. He said that he'll open in a few hours. No no no, few hours will not do, I tell him. We need a bike NOW! He goes and opens the shop, turns out that he didn't want to open the shop that day cause one of his friends died.  Sorry :(
We needed to get a permit since we were in the national park. At the place, a guide approaches us and tells us that the guide is compulsory. I tell him that no we're fine without the guide. He tries to convince us that we must have a guide. We ask him, what are you gonna run behind us while we ride on the bikes? In LP it says that guides are compulsory for jeep tours, but doesn't mention anything about bikes. We wait in the line to get a ticket. He comes and says to buy the tickets here. Thanks for the info! He asks us where we're gonna go. We say, bee falls, he repeats, aaahhhh beeeee faaaalls, the caves ... aaahhhh the caves. Nice guide. What we need him for again? Andy said that not everything they say is a lie! I would argue otherwise. When we reach the ticket counter, the agent asks us how we're getting around, we said bikes. He gave us the permit not problem. "Oh really, not everything they say is a lie! Just about 99% of it!!"
At the bee falls it was sooo crowded. It wasn't even falls, I don't know what people are doing coming to this place. I had to wait 10 mins for a girl to change back into her sari. Then I had to change into shorts and a t-shirt, cause you can't swim in a swimming suit :S When I got out, there was no line up at all, just 1 girl pushed the door open, and was shoving herself between me and the door. Jesus, chill out, nobody's gonna throw you out of the imaginary line up!!! When I got out, Andy was already surrounded by a few guys staring into his kindle. Every time is the same story. Is this a laptop, no, it's a book. Just a book. Yes, just a book. And then they'll start pushing their fingers at it, to make sure it's not a laptop. Thank god they were ignoring me. I was sitting somewhere on the rocks and watching the fish eating me alive :) There were like 50 fish at each foot, nibbling on the skin. Nice, I'm way overdue on a pedicure! :)
Next we went to some caves and then a fairy pool. This pool was "better" because there was no road leading to it, which means you actually have to walk about a km downhill, and then back uphill, and since most Indians are lazy and hate walking, when we got there, we almost had the pool for over selves :) Indians have this very annoying quality of pressuring you to do something when you don't want to do it. One guy was constantly offering me pepsi, at least 5 times, and that's even after I told him that I don't drink soft drinks. There was this other guy in the pool calling me in to swim. I'm not ready to swim yet, I just want to sit on the rock and splash my feet in the water. Why won't you swim? I don't want to swim. Come and swim! I don't want to swim! Do you know how to swim? Yes. Come and swim ... Jesus, why are you always pressuring people to do something? I said that I don't want to swim!!! Ok, ok, don't get mad. We talked for like 5 minutes, and he said that I'm so beautiful and he wants to marry someone like me. I pointed out that he doesn't even know my name. Anyway, he said that he'll never forget me as long as he lives! How can you say that when my "husband" is only a few meters away? He works in the office for the government, and said that all the politicians are corrupt, and if you are not, everybody will just think of you as a fool. He takes money for every signature, I think he's an engineer.
Another guy said that he hates politicians because they're so corrupt! They ruined the whole country! But who does he want to be? A policeman of course to make more money! You're a hypocrite I say, and he said if in cricket India wins against Pakistan 4 to 1, so 90% of India is corrupt, you can't win against it. Whatever sense that makes!
Even though I'm complaining a little bit, I still like India. I love the dirty but happy children; the food left for the cows to eat; the unending hospitality; the pleasure and laugher in the simple things; the thousand of rituals popping out at random places; for always helping me; for always making space; for accepting; for curiosity.

I've read a few books about India. I truly recommend them. For someone who doesn't get the full depth and intensity of India from my blog, these books do an excellent job at it. I give each one of them 5+ stars! :)

Holy Cow by Sarah Macdonald - A true story about a girl who lived in India for 2 years. It's more suitable for females as it is quite feminist. It's very funny and I loved it because I could feel everything she was going through.
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts - Another true story written by a guy who lived in Mumbai slums. Excellent writing style, and you wouldn't believe that all those things actually happened to him.

Pix at https://picasaweb.google.com/100036016632387453128/ManduPachmahi

Omkareshwar

After a hell bus, came a hell of a hotel. The second we stepped out of the bus and took our bags, it started pouring like crazy. We hid in a police station where they kindly provided us with some broken chairs, and we sat in the spot from where it didn't drip too much from the roof. There was no way of going to Omkareshwar that day, even though it was only 6km away. The policemen showed us to the nearest guesthouse. O.M.G!! I don't think I've stayed in the dirtier place than that. All the walls were black with dried up things that spilled on them, the floor was concrete, and there were 2 used condoms in the washroom with a bucket of something black and slimy inside it. I had to take a shower after the journey, but Andy skipped it. I slept fully clothed, cause the feeling of touching the bed with sheets that weren't probably washed in a month just grossed me out.

In the morning we got a short bus ride to Omkareshwar. At the bus station which was huge for such a small town, we were approached by a 15 year old kid who works in the guest house where we were going. He said it's 2 kms away, and I didn't feel like walking that much, so we took a taxi. 500 meters later and we're there. Initially we agreed for 50 rps, which is already too much for that distance, but once we got there, we took our luggage out, and said that it wasn't 2 kms, so we're not paying 50 rps, they argued and we argued, at the end we turned around and walked away without paying anything. The kid run to his father who's the owner of the hotel and was crying to him. I respectfully told him what happened. He took out a 20 rp note, and gave it to his son so he'll pay the taxi and told us that 20 will do. 20 did do :)

We got out of the guesthouse to walk around. What a change! Everybody's super friendly, but mostly people don't know English, nobody's trying to sell us anything or drag us into their shops. Andy said that might as well use the opportunity to actually see what they're selling :) They weren't selling anything exciting, and of course everybody sells exactly the same things as the store nearby, or should I say the same things on the street, or same things in the whole town? … country????

Now is a crop planting season, and it seems that the landscape is filled with dry cow dung patties for fertilization. In the town too, some shops were completely full with a huge pile of dung patties. Andy took a picture of one of them. The woman adjusted her hair, and her sari, and stood very proudly near her big pile of shit ... it was too funny :)

We took a rest day. We were so exhausted from travelling around. We move every second day, and every second day it takes the whole day to get somewhere. We sat at the shaded restaurant in the guest house where they turned a fan above our table and read the whole day. We just got for a dinner.

Next day, same thing. Rest day! The water bottle that we were drinking had just a little bit of water in it, and because of the fan it was moving around the table, it looked like it was dancing. We were singling and clapping to it :) Aaaahh ... the simple joys of life :) We are miserable in the heat, but we're also happy in it. There is no escaping it, so might as well enjoy it in any way we can. I think we started to appreciate small things much much more.

In the hotel, it seems that everybody, including the dog has a full time job of chasing the monkeys away who eat flowers, open sugar, throw everything on the floor, tearing posters, and trying to get into the kitchen. I don't know who does more damage, the monkeys or the staff who throw chairs at them, not hitting the monkeys but breaking the chairs. The dog would be funny. He was so scared of the monkey that while there was nobody around, he would lye lazily and watch monkeys misbehave, but as soon as he'll see someone running with a stick, right away he'd be on all his fours, barking and growling like crazy running the length of the fence back and forth :)

We were eating mangos, when a monkey jumped on the table walked towards us, took a seed and happily ate it. When he came back for another seed, Andy shooed it away with his hand. The monkey got on his 2 feet, growled and showed his teeth. Thank god somebody came running with a stick!

While travelling in the central (and very traditional) part of India, and especially after the Hyderabad incident, we figured out that to say that we're married would be the best choice. They don't understand how a guy and a girl can be together and only be friends, so just to avoid confusion and too many questions, and of course much more for my personal safety, we decided that it's the way to go. Sometimes when I was by myself and some guy would start talking to me, I'd say, sorry got to go to meet my frie ... um ... husband. I'm so not used to being married! :))

At our guesthouse we had a funny conversation. Andy said that we should go and buy some fruits.

Y: Since when did "I" become a "we" ... you know, we're not really married :) And besides you never do anything nice to me, so you go and get some fruits.

A: What do you mean? I'm always nice to you!

Y: You're being delusional!

A: Is that the "best of the best" in Russian?

Y: As a wife I should be supportive of everything you do, and I'm very supportive of you buying the fruits and making the fruit salad :)

A: Fine! ... he gets up ...

Y: *cough" delusional :))

We went to the same restaurant for dinner. It was the best restaurant in town, and it stood out a lot from the other hole in the wall joints. On the sign it said, "Good food for a good cause". We got in, and there were about 10 kids sitting at the table having 1 chapati on their plate. They were given ketchup, and 1 kid started laughing and pouring a lot on his chapati. He was approached by a yelling owner who put a little drop in the middle of the chapati, yelled some more, and the kids just ate it quietly while looking down at their plates. (Chapati is a flat bread like a pita, but a little bit thinner) … hopefully the cause was better than the food!

 The boss took a liking at us, and ordered his staff to serve us like we were kings. He was shouting at everybody, FASTER, FASTER!!!! He demanded that service just for us, while ignoring everybody else in the restaurant. When the food came, he was standing and watching me eat it to make sure that I like it, when I said that I did, and it was one of the best foods I had in a while, he showed up with a team of his waiters and a chef.

"Yana, this is our chef!" he said proudly. One of the waiters patted the chef on the back when they stood there all grinning. The chef came forward and shook my hand. I told him that he did an excellent job with all the meals we've had. The owner translated that to him and he gave me an even bigger grin and bowed down to me. What an honour to serve foreign people! You guys would never understand it :) When we were closer to finish our meal, the owner suddenly reappeared and was humming to his staff. Hm he head pointed to an empty cup. The cup was taken away. Hhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, he head pointed to an empty chapati plate. The plate was taken away. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ... he pointed to something else that was barely visible near the wall and didn't bother us at all. When I got up to wash my hands I heard a yell, I turned around and almost jumped back in surprise. There was already a napkin shoved in my hands, so that I could dry my hands with it. When I got out, the door was held open for me accompanied by a smile, happy head wobble and a bow.

I don't really enjoy that kind of service. I know that in India servers/cooks/maids are not considered to be people, but for me there is only class and status distinction. I'm a human, he's a human. We're all the same and deserve the same treatment!

We didn't come back to this restaurant...

Next day we decided to see the big Shiva statue on the island and walk around it. Apparently the path is shaped like an "Om" symbol. First we thought that the island is shaped like Om, but nope. We walk up the stairs, it's before 9am, and I already have sweat dripping down my back. At the top Andy doesn't have a face on him, he got another heat attack. He went back to the hotel, while I wanted to see some of the island. I started walking, but after walking for a little bit, seeing more steps which I wasn't ready for, and bumping upon guys who couldn't take their eyes off of me (not in a good sense), I remembered my walk in Goa and decided that I walked enough and my daily exercise quota is reached!

Random stuff:

- 100 kgs of sugarcane cost $10, and that's with transportation!!!

- We start talking in weird English, using phrases like "You like?". I was thinking about it ... is this grammatically correct? I look at Andy, and he looks at me. Would you say that in London? "you like?" ??? I think we started abbreviating sentences so it would be easier for locals to understand :)

pix are here: https://picasaweb.google.com/100036016632387453128/Omkareshwar#

Aurangabad, Ellora & Ajanta

The train to Aurangabad arrived at 3am. Andy and I would take turns who would be awake for the next train ride, since you have to watch the stations and wake the other person up 10 minutes before the arrival to pack everything, wake people up who sleep on the floor to make it to the door and ensure quick exit when the train will arrive at the platform. Unfortunately a lot of times it involves stepping on people and waking up elders and babies. We went into the 1st class waiting room, and because we're white we were let in. We locked the luggage and fell asleep on the leather chairs, until 6am when we were kicked out and told that we can't sleep in there.
There were many roads leading from the train station, and of course we were sent along the wrong one. It took me an hour to walk around the area to find a suitable hotel while Andy waited with the luggage. After Hampi, Hyderabad and 3 sleepless nights, I couldn't stand another boiling night and we treated ourselves to an AC room. We asked how much would a tuk-tuk tour of the sights would be, were given ridiculous price, and happily went to sleep in our cool room. At 3:30 when we woke up and got out of the hotel the tuk-tuk driver was still sitting there in his tuk-tuk calling us in. Are we going for the tour?? No! We only asked for the price! This driver sat in his tuk-tuk from 7am till 3:30 waiting for us! In a city with world heritage site, there are no buses going there. We asked everybody, the only option was to take a taxi or a tour, so we signed up for the tour.
On the street, homeless kids started to follow us, and nothing helped, they would walk, say something, and tug at out shirts. I started thinking of Indian conversations, if they disagree with you, they wouldn't talk to you, they would start yelling. I'm not a yelling person, and "no, no, no, no" doesn't help. I decided to apply the strategy and yelled at them to go away. I felt bad, but they did go away, I haven't used that strategy since. Sometimes you have no choice but to adapt to a local way of life, at other times I'll let my heart decide. It didn't pass long until we were followed by other kids, we decided instead of yelling to find a shelter in a Sony store into which they wouldn't follow. Andy needed to buy a camera. We went into a few stores where he would be offered expensive cameras. When Andy would ask for the cheapest one, they would be very surprised. Why if he's from Australia where everybody's rich, does he want a cheap camera??
We went into a restaurant where we were treated like royalty again. Locals just love foreigners (in non touristic cities). They were at our table the minute I'd look at them, and would try to feed us more and more food (out of sense of hospitality). They were so insistent on deserts and coffee that Andy reluctantly agreed. I look at Andy. It's 8pm, do you really want a coffee? "No, I don't". Sir, we'd love to have a coffee, but some other time. Oh Andy ... it's ok, one day he'll learn :) We were given candies with the bill, I ate one, opened another one, and looked at Andy. "Do you want it?". He gave me a head wobble answer. To his shocked expression, I put the candy in my mouth ... I'm sorry, I just don't know what you meant :))
Early morning we wake up to go to the tour. I notice that every day I wake up with a headache, and I constantly feel sick until I drink at least a liter of water.
Before boarding the bus, we go get a breakfast. I don't think ordering a breakfast requires a lot of processing abilities especially when we order from their menu. Everything we ordered came out to be wrong:
2 eggs -> 1 egg
toast with butter -> warmed up bread
lemon tea -> black tea
a bit annoying... but at least it's food. A lot of the times we go to restaurants and what we get is a complete surprise ... is there a point of ordering at all? I don't drink coffee in the mornings, and Andy doesn't drink teas. He would order a coffee, they would come slowly to the table, hunching down, their face in fear they slowly slowly put tea on the table and run away. Means they don't have coffee, they feel ashamed, but they would give him at least something than nothing at all. Usually it's been followed by a heavy sigh and a mental repetition of "just keep breathing, keep breathing" ... that's in my case, in Andy's case, I'm quick to hold his hand and tell him that it's not a big deal, trying to prevent an explosion. It's ok if they serve tea instead of coffee, but I can't have coffee in the mornings, they go through the trouble of making extra coffee when I can't drink it anyway ... what's the use? Why can't they come to the table and say "excuse me sir/madam, we don't have coffee, would you like to have a tea instead?"
Arrived at the fort. I don't remember much of it except the story of how they broke the fort doors. In all the forts, the front doors are heavily spiked against elephant attacks. Well not in this case. Camels weren't worth much in this part of the country, so they would put a camel in front of the doors, give elephants alcohol, poke the elephant with a spear who would then charge, hit the camel thus opening the door... the camel died from hundreds of stabs that go into him :( Seems to me that the camel should've been given the alcohol instead. We then went to a maze through which the intruders had to wonder through in order to get inside. The maze is full of slides and holes which will lead into the river full of crocodiles and poisonous snakes. We didn't go through the wrong tunnels, but nevertheless a bunch of people were lead into pitch black tunnels (and who knew that kids are scared of the dark?) without lights, with flying bats, stairs and slippery surfaces??!!! Who's stupid idea was that? I kept pushing my camera's shutter button, since it will pre-flash before taking the picture, just to see the next few meters ahead of me.
Next was Ellora caves, it was first build by Buddhist for meditation purposes, then had Muslim additions and finally finished by Hindus. It has a largest monolith temple in the world, and that's all I know about it. These caves were abandoned after a fall of the empire, and completely forgotten. The jungle took over and they became invisible to the outside world. They were just discovered 200 years ago by the British guy who accidently stumbled upon them while hunting for a tiger, so they're in great shape, without bullet or cannon holes and without gods faces removed.
We then went to a mini Taj Mahal. It wasn't too impressive. It's a copy of the real Taj Mahal, but I'm wondering, if you want to build a mausoleum for your beloved mother, why wouldn't you come up with something original? Mostly it's built out of lime stone instead of marble, and hence is in a bad bad shape.
Next was Ajanta caves. They are similar to Ellora caves, except that they have more paintings in them rather than carvings. Ellora caves were abandoned in order to build Ajanta, but when they were discovered, they were both empty, and nobody knows much history about these places. Even though Ellora are considered to be more superior to Ajanta, and lonely planet says that if you have time for only one, Ellora wins hands down ... I liked Ajanta more. But it could've only been for the reason that we had more time to explore without being time pressured by the tour. There were some steps to reach the caves ... not a lot though, and if you didn't want to take the stairs, you can take the ramp, otherwise the path was pretty flat, so I was quite surprised to see an Indian couple sitting on a chair held in the air by 4 men and walked between the caves. I don't understand that, and I refuse to understand it. If you can walk, then walk, regardless of money or status, why make men kneel down to you? They already feel inferior. But there is a caste system that works, and everybody respects it. You can do anything to the lower class/status people, and it's even expected of them to behave in such a way. I understand that I'm being very critical here. For ex. if I go to a spa and get a pedicure, someone is kneeling in front of me and cleaning my feet, but I see it as a choice. They chose to work in this profession, and I pay them money, they don't have to do it if they don't want to ... I guess it's the same with these people porters ... I don't know ... I still don't like it.
Outside the caves we were bombarded with souvenir sellers who I shooed away with NHAI, JAAO! "No, go away!" remark. Seemed to work :)
Went to eat in the restaurant, it was good food, but not so good service. Cricket was playing on TV and every time we needed something, we had to go to the counter and pretty much talk to the back of their heads. When the bill came it was all wrong. I ordered 1 naan, but was charged for 2. Instead of 30 rps (as in the menu) it was 40 and the numbers didn't add up to the final amount. We went to the counter where everybody got a chance to stick their nose in it. I said that I ordered 1 naan, why are there 2 on the bill? He said that there are 2 of us (in India a couple is considered to be 1 entity as opposed to 2 separate people. It's not unusual to order 1 tea, and be served 2). I said that I only ordered 1. He said then why did I eat 2? I said that how do I know it's 2 when they're cut? He said, what if you order 1 and get 10, you'll eat all 10? I said, if I order tea and get served the whole menu, you'd expect me to pay for all of it? We went back and forth about the subject, they tried to recalculate everything again and again. At the end they gave up tore the bill and asked us how much we want to pay. We took the menu, calculated all the items that we ordered and paid that much. I wasn't even angry, I was just laughing at the whole situation.
On the way back to the hotel, the tuk-tuk that we took during the day stopped and gave us a free lift to the hotel. In the country where every cent counts, where you can rip off tourists as much as you want, we get a free lift... very heart warming. Just as I said before, one moment you're pushed into the gutter, the next you're being offered a helping hand.
In the morning we're on the road waiting for a bus. Buses are hungry for people, and would stop and drop you off anywhere you'd like, except it seems that morning. We waited for an hour in a shadow of a tree, with every bus speeding past us.  While every bus speed past, every truck slowed down and honked. Why are they honking? We’re pretty far away from the road? Apparently it was a hello greeting. In lots of trucks, 10s guys who sat in the cabin or on the roof, were waving at us and screaming hello in a bunch of languages. Yell hello a much as you like, but for goodness sake, stop with the honking!!
 One of the motorbikes stopped, they went in 1 direction when we were already waiting. When they went back, we were still standing. They told us that we should go to a nearby town where there is a bus station. What's going on?? Why just when we need to catch a bus in the middle of the road, specifically on that day and a very hot day they decide to pass? Fine, we started walking. Of course just as we walk along a dirty side of the road, sweating, with heavy packs, and every car that's passing us beeping at our ears we get stopped by a group guys asking for a picture. I don't pay attention and keep on walking, but Andy's calm mood doesn't seem to be very calm anymore. How can they think looking at us, tired, hot with heavy packs that to stop for a picture is a good idea!!!!!! What a bunch of knob-heads!! Andy, relax, I try to calm him down again. We both take turns calming each other down, since apparently we get frustrated in different situations, so it works very well :) I don't even know what would've happened if we were both very frustrated and exploding in the same time. I don't think that someone who caused it, or just happened to be in the way would’ve lived to see the next day.
Guess what, a bus stopped on the way while we were walking ... how strange!
The road wasn't that great or maybe it was the bus or the driver wasn't that great, but we hit many bumps, and with every bump, I was almost flying to the ceiling. I tried to sit differently, but the only thing that seemed to work is to hold on tight, and to squat above the seat not touching it, then the legs would act like springs, and I would just rise about the chair without my feet leaving the ground. Of course I can't "sit" like that all the time, and there were times when I missed the bump and was learning how to fly again. At one point a bunch of people left, and the driver was shouting at something while driving. There are no cars at the front, no one beside him, who's he shouting at, very bizarre. Appears that he was shouting at me to move to the front of the bus. Aahhhh ... life became so much simpler after that :)
As it turns out, there is no direct bus (again!), and we had no idea where to go. I go to the information counter, he tells me something, but I can't understand with too many people jamming and pushing and shouting at him when he tries to speak to me. I leave the luggage with Andy, get out of the line and go to the back of the office. I stand at the door, and say "I need help, I don't know where to go". They immediately assigned me one of the officers who explained me everything in a quite space with a patient manner, took me to the bus, told me where to get off, and where to catch the next bus. I sat down at the platform while Andy went to buy some snacks. The officer comes to find me, "Madam, this bus is leaving, you must hurry up!". Was so nice of him to inform me :) Andy came just in time for us to board.
On the next stop someone else volunteered to look after us. He found us the correct bus, sorted out the luggage, told us where to buy water, told us where to sit, showed me the toilet, and then asked politely "May I go now?" :) I wasn't holding him, or asking him any questions. He was just showing me everything around on his own ... that was cute :)
Toilet was disgusting though. They weren’t cleaned in a while I guess, and all the cabins were dirty, so dirty that in fact one woman was doing her business (number 2 business) right in the middle of the yard!!
Waited 2 hours for the bus to go. It was getting very annoying, the journey of ~200 kms, takes us 11 hours! At the front of the bus there was a goddess as usual, and they blessed her with flowers and incent. I was trying to hide my laughter when he knelt in front of her, and with closed eyes said a prayer and moved the incent in circles around his head and around the goddess :) Even though I'm so cynical, I thanked (my) god for that. The driver was absolutely crazy! They hung lemon and chili to take the evil spirits out, but I think they should've hung them on the driver! He ruthlessly moved through the packed bus terminal not stopping or slowing down for anybody, just his hand on the horn. He almost crashed a motorcycle and a person. It was his fault, but while driving forward at a high speed, he looked backwards out of the window and was yelling and cursing the motorcycle driver! It became very crowded and at one point there was a puppy whining, music blasting, honking of the bus, and of the other vehicles on the street, it was a complete chaos! Signs "blind corner, speed 20 km/hr" meant go at least 80, and turn off the lights and speed up through complete darkness, to see if there are lights coming your way and take the corner to test the speed when the bus would flip. He would overtake everybody while holding the horn for a minute, and while he was overtaking, the cars going in our direction would have to go on the side of the road. It was the scariest bus ride ever! I don't know if any of my hair turned white, but I won't be surprised if they did. People were jumping on and off the bus without it stopping, and I was scared that we have to pick our luggage from the back ... would he just take off? I made sure that he would wait, until we picked it up! Andy has a bad knee, and the front compartment of the bus was overfilled with people, he needed to straighten his leg out. Just as he did that, someone slapped his leg and told him to move it! I think Andy by this point run dry of his swearing vocabulary! He then was told by someone that his shoe was too close to the goddess, and if he'll take it off, he could straighten his leg! *#&$(@*$^^#*@!!!!!!
I think that finally after 4 months in India I went through the 3 stages of denial, anger and acceptance. Now that I'm up north, and been to many touristic places, I miss the real India, and real Indians with whom you almost have to mime to understand each other, speak sloooooowly, get frustrated at our misunderstandings and differences, find comfort in their acceptance of all and easy going-ness. They can yell at you, but the next minute will offer you their food or shove you out of their way and then ask with their genuine interest the same 2 questions that seem to be on the mind of every local that we've met, the questions that we've been asked 100s of times "What's your name? Your country?" be very pleased at the response and continue staring and smiling at you, paying attention to every movement that we make as though we come from a different planet. India is hard to love, but once you start to understand it, you love it with all your heart even though at times it's too much to handle, and you feel all the cells of your body screaming, but if you continue to travel, you have no other choice but to forgive and trust that it's not personal ... it's just the way of life.

Song that I like that is very popular in here: one of the guys (who's the cuter one :) ), it's the actor from the movie which I've been an extra in, in Mumbai.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7G-tYRzwYY

pix are here: https://picasaweb.google.com/100036016632387453128/AurangabadElloraAjanta

Hyderabad

We had to make a stop somewhere in between Hampi and Aurengabad, it's two long trains which I wasn't ready for. We picked a random, strategically fit city in between with good train connections, and it happened to be Hyderabad. For some reason, non touristic cities are always so expensive in terms of accommodations and the quality is not good at all. Although restaurants are cheaper and better ... weird! Rickshaw driver took us to some hotel which was "cheap". It was called dreamland. Not sure about a dream, I think it came closer to a nightmare. "Modern amenities" didn't even include running water. When I told them there is no water, they came into the room, grabbed a bucket and filled it up from a big bucket which was outside. Andy said he's not touching it. Locals probably splashed around in it and washed their hands (and you know what that means)!
We went for breakfast. On the way some guy came talking to us. Meanwhile I'm sleepy and grumpy. According to my rule of "not talking to Indian men" I ignored him as much as I could. Andy gave him some answers while I tried to persuade Andy to stop talking to him. Complete ignorance is what I was going for. But nope, he followed us and followed us. Said that it's a hobby to talk to foreigners, he gets to learn from them about culture and all. He asked me what's in my opinion the main difference between cultures. I said that Indians are liars, cheaters and keep following you when you tell them that you don't want to talk to them! He was like a leech stuck to us, and we gave in. Fine, you can have breakfast with us, but after that you go! Ok? - ok, ok. We couldn't find any breakfast places open, it was still too early in the morning. One hotel was open, and it was a nice looking hotel. We went in, and he got scared. - Ok, when we get in, you say that I'm your friend ... ok, ok? They only served a buffet, and I wasn't hungry for a buffet, so we found some local joint. There was only us in the whole restaurant. He kept asking us questions. What we do, what we studied, how much we make. Then he said, you're rich, I'm poor, give me money. We're said that we can buy him a samosa. He said samosa is not enough, why if we have money we can't give it to him? I said that money doesn't grow on trees, and we have to work hard to get it. If he wants money, he should go and earn it. Every time he was saying or asking something he would touch my hand. I told him another difference between cultures. In Canada we don't touch people we don't know. We respect personal space and I don't appreciate him touching me. Friends are ok, strangers are not. Then he switched the topic and started asking about relationships in Canada. I told him that people usually have a few bfs/gfs before they get married. He asked me if I'm married. No I'm not. Am I a virgin? No I'm not. He asked a few more questions then he reached over the table towards my shoulder. I'm thinking, if there a bug on my shoulder. It was like slow motion ... did a filling from a samosa fall on my shoulder? His hand is coming closer and closer, I don't understand what he's doing, and then he grabs my breast! I slap him hard! (first time in life that I slapped someone). Andy (who was sitting next to me) jammed himself between me and him and was yelling at him to get the hell out. I'm in shock, Indian is in shock, Andy's in shock. The guy doesn't move, Andy keeps on yelling, I'm in too much of a shock to understand what's happening. He left, and I was left trembling. Andy said the guy was lucky to leave alive since he's not violent. Some of his friends would just beat the hell out of him.
We went to a Golconda fort. We didn't know how to get there. People don't really speak English. They just look at you when you speak to them, or first look, then turn away. It's not rude, it's just they're too shy to speak, so they pretend you're not there. After waiting for half an hour for the bus that didn't show up one local told us to catch another bus that will bring us closer. At that point we gave up and when the bus stopped, we took a tuk-tuk to the fort. It was beautiful, very big, half broken half intact. Some king in the late 16th century built this fort to be a new capital on India, and marched 300,000 people from Delhi to Hyderabad thousands of kms. The journey took 4 months, a lot of people died, a lot stayed somewhere on the way. The fort was built on a good strategic location, however there were water shortages and a few years later, the 4 months journey was made back to Delhi.
I didn't like the first half of the day, the Indian/buses/heat, not only that, I started to get my heat death panic attacks again. We were going up the stairs, when we run out of water, with no shade and still a lot of steps to climb, my heart was racing and I thought I'll collapse and roll all the way down. I hid somewhere behind a wall away from the sun, but the heat from the rocks was doing just as a great job as the sun. When I finally climbed to the top, a huge tour group on a company function day caught up to us. There were hundreds of them, and they all had cameras and cell phones. There were so many pictures taken of us. When I sat on the stairs to relax, I lifted my head and there are 10 cameras in my face of people sitting beside me and someone taking a picture of me and "him" while I'm not even looking. I hate that!!! I started yelling at them. I pose for Andy to take my picture, and while he does, so do other 20 people! Till the end of the fort I was walking with my head down and covered by either Andy's hat or my hands. When we were at the top, hiding in the corner, we heard another voice from behind the wall "Ok, guys, no more pictures". A British guy stood up "you feel like a celebrity in here too?" I asked him. That was also the time when I stopped being in shock from the morning incident and actually started laughing ... I was thinking how stupid can you be to act that way?
The guy’s name is Carl, he loves India and comes here all the time for long vacations, he stays at nice hotels, always eats at good restaurants and always has a driver or a guide. He's like a guide himself. While we were walking in the fort, he was telling us all the history and important architectural nuances. For a long time he didn't meet any tourists, and spend these 2 days with us. We didn't mind at all. I like it when Andy finds a friend. They have fun, and I get to go where I want on my own, but with them as my security :) Carl is just as stubborn as me. First he tried to argue what's right, what's wrong, where are things located, how to get there. We ate at the restaurant and he told me where the train station is, pointing in a wrong direction. I said that it's not there, it's the other way. He told me that he's in Hyderabad not the first time. I told him I'm good at reading maps. We argued more and more, by the end he gave up and didn't argue with me anymore. I was thinking about it. Why is it so important for me to prove that I'm right. Who cares where that train station is? But how can I give in when I know it's not in the direction where he's pointing at?
Sometimes I let them lead. But after I asked them where we are or where we're going, and didn't receive an answer, no more leading for them. I do not want to get lost in a 45 degree heat. The walk has to be planned. We only have 1.5 days, we have to crumble all the sights that could be seen in a week in such a short time, and it has to be balanced between heat/shade/AC and be made in the shortest and most efficient way possible.
We later went to a health museum which was cool. It had a lot of info, how to stay clean, how to fight diseases, how viruses/bacteria work, different properties of fruits/veggies/vitamins and minerals, but the most interesting things were fetuses in different development stages and canned babies who were born with deformities. They looked like they belonged in the horror movie. I haven't seen anything like that in my life, and it was quite unbelievable. We then went to a beautiful modern art gallery. One of the things I'm waiting for when I'll return to some stable form of life is to start painting again. I discovered that I like to create things ... I think I'll be making my own cloths too :) Maybe jewelry as well, but it might require too many tools.
Then we went to a beautiful temple made out of white marble, and inside it had buddism, judism and christianity quotes all talking about the same things. How to be good and how to lead a happy life without sin. Very clever.
Next was a beer at best western hotel which was built like a castle. I remember in Canada, Best Western was one of the worst hotels, in here it's one of the best. It was built out of stone with knight statues inside and a medieval feel. I didn't drink beer, but I enjoyed the AC feel at the underground bar which was barely lit with nice cushiony sofas. The beers were expensive, and Carl sensing our secret budget calculations offered to pay the bill.
We then went to an amusement park (after taking 10 mins to cross the road!) to take the boat to the buddah statue in the middle of the lake. But it was overcrowded, the lineup was huge, and the statue wasn't impressive. We didn't go on any rides, but it was worth to pay 10 rps to see local kids have fun. I didn't understand why there are so many people at that park, or why 100s of kids splash in shallow brown water, but then I remembered that I didn't see any amusement places in India at all. No nice green parks, no attractions for kids. So I guess anything is better than nothing at all.
Later we went to a very nice "Waterfront" restaurant which is the best restaurant in Hyderabad. "The best" doesn't mean expensive at all. We didn't know how to take a tuk-tuk there without being ripped off. Just like we couldn't take a tuk-tuk from Carl's hotel, we had to come up with some other attraction that's nearby. "You stay at this hotel? You go to this restaurant? I'll charge you triple the price!"
The atmosphere in the restaurant was amazing. It was dome shaped, with pot lights, a server per table, and right on waterfront overlooking the buddah statue. But still they managed to mix the orders and gave us 1 menu less. They always do it. Why can't they have enough menus in restaurants? Every single time when we eat out (and that's breakfast, lunch, dinner every day), no matter how many people we are, we usually get 1 menu.
It was quite intimidating to eat when you know you're being watched by your waiter who'll appear in a split second when he'll see that your glass needs to be refilled or not enough rice/curry is left on the plate.
We arrived to the hotel early in the morning, and this was a 24 hr check out hotel. We barely convinced the manager for the permission to check out at 7am. Too bad for Carl ... that means very early breakfast for him as well :)
At night I couldn't sleep at all. It was just too too waaaayy tooo hot! It's not only that the air was hot, and it felt like the fan spinning the boiling air in circles, it's also that the bed absorbed all the heat and sleeping on it was like sleeping in an oven.  I got tired of getting up and taking showers, it didn't help, and only when I took the whole bucket of water and poured it on the bed could I fall asleep. Our hotel was right on the main road, and at 6:30 there was so much noise that I couldn't hear what Andy's saying who was only 1 meter away from me. We get outside, and there is no traffic on the streets! Those Indians, the horn is the best feature in their car!
I think Andy has a heat stroke. He looks barely alive, he doesn't talk, has hard time moving or keeping his eyes open. When Carl saw him, he kindly offered his AC room where Andy could come back from the dead.
Carl and me had breakfast in a rather broken down dining room. He said that every time he comes to this hotel, year after year the quality just goes worse and worse. Most of the chairs have oil stains on them, the paint is peeling off the walls, and half of the lights don't work. For a 4 star hotel, I would give this dining room a motel rating. And that's not even including the lack of English of hotel staff. Carl ordered black coffee and was served tea. We called the waiter, and told him that we ordered black coffee. The waiter took it away and we were waiting while Carl's eggs were getting cold. After a while I told him, I hope you know that your coffee is not coming because he has no idea what you want. He called the waiter back and asked him if coffee is coming. Yes yes ... the waiter came back in half a minute with the same pot of tea that was served to Carl the first time. Not tea, B L A C K   COOOOOOFFFFEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Finally another waiter heard who understood English.
After taking a tuk-tuk to the center, we were already ready for coffee day. I convinced the guys not to have it just yet. It's still early in the morning, and it's good to sight see for a bit while it's still "cool". We weren't let in into the mosque because my hair wasn't covered. I pointed him to the women who were inside without anything, but the guys pulled me away. You know it's pointless to argue with them, they'll just come up with other reason not to let us in. Fine! We then went to a palace. This palace was actually nice inside. It consisted of 4 buildings, had a nice collection of neatly arranged weapons, very old family photographs, china and antique cars. After that we walked for a while just to get hot and dehydrated enough to crawl into the coffee day ... just in time! :) We order the coldest most frozen drinks while hanging our tongues out underneath the AC. Coffee day didn't have any change at all and we were a bit stuck until Andy pulled out a huge stack of 10s! Me and Carl were yelling at him ... what a traitor!!!! (jokingly). It's IMPOSSIBLE to get any change in India. And apparently when Andy gets a few 10s, he would put some away to be used in emergency case. It should be illegal for bank machines to dispose 1000 rupee notes. Nobody would accept them. Change is so rare in India that 10s and 50s are worshipped. If you get into a tuk-tuk without exact change, 95% you'll have to run around begging store people to change your money. Something that I think a tuk-tuk driver should do. The problem is that they don't make enough money to save, and everything they make, they spend right away.... although mostly on the useful things like alcohol and tobacco.
We later took a walk around the bazaar which was filled with all sorts of bling and skin whitening powders/creams. A lot of cosmetics in India in filled with whitening products. Usually the whiter people are from higher casts and westerners are considered to be gods. All the commercials of expensive real estate, diamonds or electronics are filled with smiling white people. It's very very rarely that Indian faces appear on the huge billboards. And so all India tries to be white. They really don't understand when we tell them that in the west people are sunbathing to be dark. Oh the horror!! They're shaking their heads in disbelief. I think all the people try to be someone they're not. White people want to be darker. Brown eyed people wear blue lenses, curly haired people straighten them, and straight haired people curl them. Why can't people just accept and love the way they were born?
We entered some college. We just entered, and Carl is waving for us to keep on moving? What's going on? We get out, and he said that guys surrounded them and started asking questions about me. What's our relationship? We're all friends. Then they proposed to share me. Creepy!
We then went to one of the best lamb restaurants in the city, and man it was good. First we had to wait about an hour to be seated. We didn't mind, since the restaurant was AC'd. In the waiting area it a chaos full of people and running waiters, but at the table it was like a little oasis of nice furniture, good and friendly service accompanied by the best lamb ever, nyam nyam :) Which btw reminds me of a fruit seller lady in Varkala, who went around the beach singing a nyam nyam song.
Pinapple cut cut cut
Watermelon cut cut cut
Banana cut cut cut
Nyam nyam nyam nyam nyam
:)
We told Carl about the breast grabbing incident and he told me that next time any harassment would happen, I should take my shoe off and wave it near his face. It's considered to be the sign of utmost disrespect and shame, and if other women would see that, they will all come to the rescue. It would take me a while to take my sneakers off, but maybe I should carry a spare flip flop in my bag, and if waving won't help, then I could smack him with it :)
We wanted to go to a snow park, but if turned out to be way too expensive. It would've been so so cool :(( They give you warm and waterproof clothes in there. There is actual snow, and you could snow fight and slide down the hills on tubes ... it cost $8/hr... sounds funny how little it is say in Canada, but travelling in India it means breaking the budget. well, it's that and taking a tuk-tuk there and back. Oh well, we're going to the real mountains soon anyway.
Goodbye Hyderabad. For an unknown/random intermediate location it surprised us quite a bit, so we were happy with our choice.. and we got to meet Carl!
In the station I was ready to put my suitcase in the wagon when with a half a meter space, 3 girls jumped in front of me while they clearly saw that my suitcase is already up and ready to be put on the train. I got fed up with that, put the suitcase down on the platform and quickly put my arm on the train as the other girl was ready to push in front of me again. She bounced back from my arm. That's the only way they get it. I already understood, when you need something you either have to use force or yell at them, common sense and manners just don't work in here. Why if they have reserved seats which are booked and waiting for them can't they wait 5 seconds in line??
Random memory: just remembered how one girl in Delhi said that the locals probably think how boring westerners are with all of their plain clothes, when the Indian women all dressed in a rainbow of colors with as much jewelry as can fit on their hands/fingers/feet/face ... I'll have to disagree. While it could be beautiful and exotic in the center of Toronto, I've been to India 4 months already and absolutely ALL women are dressed exactly alike. The only thing that's different is the color of the sari ... what's so interesting about that?

Voluntary donations for adventure are most welcome :)

paypal.com - yanasizonenko@yahoo.com

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Hampi

I love overnight trains. I save on accommodation, it's comfortable, you get to meet normal Indian people who can actually afford sleeper class ticket, you can chat with them and eat with them. They would always offer you whatever they're eating. They're usually pretty happy, will always help you with luggage, stations, will wake you up if necessary. But more importantly you go far during the night without spending all the day moving around. But for some reason I can't sleep when the train is not moving ... maybe because I'm impatient, or maybe because the rocking motion helps me sleep. I arrived in Hampi completely sleep deprived, got the worst and the most expensive room and felt like a zombie for the rest of the day. I couldn't go to sleep because I had to find out good accommodation and a popular spot that every tuk-tuk driver would know so that I could write an email to Andy (from Varkala) who would be arriving the next day.
Finally a cheap place to do laundry. South America was so cheap, they were charging about 80 cents per kilo, here they charge from 30 - $1 per item!! In Hampi it was 10 cents, so I just handed my entire suitcase in for a wash. It wasn't much cleaner when I got it back. My pants still had mud stuck to them, and my shorts and Adidas t-shirt magically disappeared :(
The whole time after Madurai I was on my own in completely non touristic places, and I missed some human interaction. I went for breakfast to the most packed cafe so that I could meet someone. Apparently I wasn't the only one missing talking. Maria, the girl on the next table started talking to me the second I sat down. I ordered tea, but when I put honey in it, it was overflowing with ants. I didn't look at the honey bottle which was half honey/half ants. Maria said that the black ones are ok, they do no harm, it's the red ones that have some acid in it ... oooooh, ok... well if black ones are ok, I'll guess I'll add some protein to my diet! Naaaaaahh :))
Maria is from Germany, but lived in Indonesia for a while. She built a house there, said it was beautiful, relaxing, like a paradise. Then a lot of her friends started to come for vacation and her house was always full of guests. Her neighbours got jealous because they thought that she opened a hotel and was charging people, and look how much money she's making, meanwhile she didn't charge anybody anything. They started accusing her that she's dealing drugs, it got worse and worse, and one day she just took the next flight out, since having drugs in possession (which they could've hid anywhere in her bike or a house) in Indonesia means death sentence.
I have no idea why we met at 8am in the morning for breakfast, since I still didn't accumulate enough hours of sleep from the night before. I usually work with averages. If I sleep 4 hours one night, I need at least 12 hours the next night, so it would average out to 8 hours/night :) In the morning Maria brought James a funny British guy who would say fantastic, amazing, smashing, intriguing, and thrilling to any small phrase.
- It was a pretty good tea we had at the train station the other day
- Wow! brilliant !!
James was late a few times, just by a few minutes, but Maria was joking that he's the girl of the pack, that we're always waiting for him. I'm German, I'm never late! She said.... But then every time we met, she would always set up a range. "Let's meet for dinner between 7 - 8". Why between 7 - 8? Who sets up time like that? What if I get there at 7, and then I have to wait for another hour for her to show up? It took me a few times to make sure that she will arrive there at 7. I don't understand that logic at all ... but then it hit me: Germans are never late, so instead of being late, they just make up this huge range to accommodate for their "perfection".
Maria decided to have bong lassi for breakfast (lassi mixed with marijuana), and she peered pressured James to share it with her. Hampi is a holy city, so no alcohol is allowed, as pretty much in most places in India. They actually went as far as having dry states. But in touristic places they would serve beer in a tea pot, and marijuana mixed with lassi, and would have funny names on the menu. Bong lassi was called lassi.com. What you have to look out for are the prices. If a regular lassi costs 20-30 rps, and lassi.com costs 300, then you know you hit the target. Peer pressure doesn't work on me, and I only had a small sip. Man it was strong! Ok to share this cup between 5-6 people, but not between 2! At first they had a lot of energy, and couldn't sit still. We decided to rent bicycles to cycle around Hampi. We made it to the nearest temple which was a 2 minute ride. Climbed inside, and they crashed to sleep for 5 hours. I didn't mind it at all, because my sleep accounting was not yet in order. Their happiness and over-hyper-activeness turned into exhaustion and paranoia (when James thought that the temple would collapse on us, and that the police would suddenly find them and put them to Indian jail). They started feeling extremely sick and were barely able to move. James said that 4 days later he still felt it. Their munchies came just in time for me to meet Andy in the restaurant. I couldn't help but laugh when Maria ordered tomato soup, and chapati, and french fries and oh, don't forget the double burger!! :)
Andy came !!! YEEIII :))
We went to the town temple where the temple blessing elephant shook Andy's hand. The temple was called “sri sri sri virupaksha”. “Sri” means something like “respect to”. There are a lot of names of restaurants/ tour companies/buses that are called Sri/Shree Krishna (god’s name)… another example is Sri Lanka (respect to Lanka (king’s name)). We were laughing. It’s triple respect as in: re-re-re-spect! Temple’s in the house!!! :))
 Then went to the nearby ruins for the amazing sunset views. I think this is the best sunset I've seen in a while, and definitely the best sunset pictures! This is where James got scammed by the local police for drinking in a holy city. James is a nice guy. Him and a few more guys took 1 beer each to the ruins to watch the sunset. The police fined them 1000 rps each!!!! Poor tourists ... or poor James. It should never cost this much, and you can ALWAYS get away with not paying. The police is very lazy, and they would've gotten away with 100 rps fine in total if you demand to be taken to the police station and pay the fine properly. This means that they have to walk, miss the opportunity of "fining" someone else, fill out forms, and actually not get any money out of it. They would accept any amount if you know that it's the case.
In the morning met James and Robert for breakfast. Robert is 20 years old, and came to Hampi to volunteer for 4 months with the kids teaching them English. I would’ve loved to do something similar and actually get close to Indian people instead of just seeing one side of them, which is usually not that good.
They didn't have change in the restaurant, gave me more money and asked that I'll give them 55 rps later! 55 rps??!! That's a lot of money! I've never encountered that in India before. Change is always a problem in India, since the ATMs always give either 500s of even worse 1000s out, and nobody ever has any change. The best bets are hotels, expensive restaurants, and train stations. Sometimes I would walk with a 500 ruppee note for days and wouldn't be able to change it anywhere. We came back to the restaurant for dinner, next breakfast/lunch, and I still didn't have 55 rps to give them. They haven't said a word. Very surprising!
We then went for the walk to the other side of the river. On the map it looked like 6kms, in reality it was more than 20! We left in the morning and came back at 9 at night! There is a big problem with Lonely Plants maps. Things look close, but end up being almost always twice the distance. I think India is so big, it just doesn't fit on the map :)
Everybody we met on the way run up to us. Hi, your name? Your country? That's all they want to know, or that's all the English they know, and it's usually as far as the conversation goes. Sometimes it's so bad, you say it 100 times a day. Sometimes I don't even look at them, keep walking ... Yana ... Canada. But then I feel bad, it's not their fault that they're hundredth person to ask me that in a day, and not the first one, or even the tenth one, when I still have the energy to sound enthusiastic or friendly. Everybody's taking our pictures, or if they don't have a camera, their pictures on our camera (which at the end of the day we delete ... they're just way too many). I don't think even if I'll stumble across a famous person on the street, I would say anything to him/her. Let them have their peace and quiet, they deserve it!
I'm not irritated by their sneaky pictures as much, I just put my hand in front of my face and look down.
There were no restaurants in the area and we ended up in some local bar where the ground is filled with broken bottles and the locals are driving away on their bikes drunk. They don't have coke, or don't want to pay for coke, so instead of drinking rum and coke, they drink rum and water. They had some snacks to go with their drinks and that's what we had for lunch, which was not good and over spicy. We didn't have anything to wash it down with. We ordered sprite, and they said yes it's coming. It wasn't coming for a while. We saw the guy running around. "Is the sprite coming?" - Yes, yes. And then we don't see him again. What does that mean? It means that they don't have sprite and they're now too embarrassed to say that they don't have it, even though they can have fanta or coke or pepsi, and they would rather disappear than admit their mistake.
Also "I don't know" doesn't exist in Indian language. When you ask for directions, they would rather send you somewhere rather than say "I don't know". I already learned how to differentiate between the two. When they just point somewhere, it means they don't know, if they point and say something like 2nd left or give a landmark, then it's a sure bet. They would also say "yes"/"no" if they don't know. That could be annoying at times.
- Can I have sunny side up eggs please?
- Yes, yes!
All the orders come, my eggs don't come ... GRRR ...
- Are my eggs coming?
- What eggs?
-----
They sold whole walnuts at the shop. I'm not sure if we wanted any, but I asked them if they have a nutcracker.
- Yes
We later decided that we do want walnuts. We waited until all the Indians were served that were now in front of us. Finally it came our turn.
- Can we have nuts and a nutcracker?
- We don't have a nutcracker
... but I already knew it. I somehow learned to differentiate when their yes means an actual yes ... just like a head wobble.
570 steps up to the hanuman (monkey god) temple. At the bottom we bought a bag on bananas to feed to the monkeys on the top, but were almost attacked by a huge monkey on the bottom who saw the bag and was sure it was all for him. We would've given up if it wasn't for the brave local with the stick who came running and yelling at it and waving the stick up in the air.
On the top there were lots of monkeys. I'm scared of monkeys because I know what they can do. They can be cute and fuzzy until they want something from you, then they're gonna gang up on you and scratch your eyes out. Although they are my favourite animals just because how smart and human like they are. At first Andy was throwing the bananas to them, but then the locals said just to hold the banana in his hand, and the monkey would come by, stand on his feet and calmly take it from the hand. Or he would hold it up, and they would jump to get it :)
We were getting late for the last boat across the river, but when we got to the bottom, we were offered a tuk-tuk for 300 rps for 6 kms!! Hampi is a very touristic place very near Goa. So stupid tourists come for a vacation and do a quick jump to Hampi, and pay these prices because they just don't know any better. Tuk-tuk should cost 10 rps per kilometer. We told them that we're even ok with paying 100. They didn't barge, and we didn't either. They told us that we'll miss the last boat across the river unless we take a tuk-tuk, but according to LP we already missed it. We couldn't pay even if we wanted to. If we allow them to use us, they would use the next tourists as well. It's the principle of backpackers "inc". Sometimes I wouldn't even pay 5 rps extra. Just because I'm white, it's not a reason for me to be ripped off! I met a lot of backpackers who wouldn't give in as well... "Pay it forward"!!!
They were desperate for the money, and kept driving by our side trying to negotiate. But our theory goes like this: if the price it too high in the beginning, no further negotiations are possible even if you give us a fair price. They have to learn their lesson not to be greedy! They actually did get down to 100, but we declined. We had no idea how to cross the river. The guys being all macho wanted to cross the river in complete darkness with day packs and cameras/iPods/phones and we heard that they're crocodiles in there! No thank you, I'm not crossing, I'd rather pay $2 and stay in the accommodations on this side of the river and will cross in the morning with the boat.
We reach the river, it's dark and there is no living soul in sight. We yell "heeellllloooo", and after a few minutes heard a "heeeelllooo" from the other side. The small round shaped bamboo boat thingi was coming to the rescue. We knew that he would give us a crazy price because he have no other choice but to take his boat. And it was a very slippery situation trying to negotiate when we knew that he could just paddle back to the other side and we would be stuck. That's where principles do not work well at all :)
At the guest house they promised us electricity 24 hours, maybe with 10 minute outages, which seemed reasonable. But this night it went off for 2 hours! I couldn't sleep at all. I was covering myself with a wet towel to cool off a bit, and also somehow I managed to get a bottle of water at 2:30 in the morning. It's all about stupid room construction. It's actually quite nice outside, but the rooms are boiling hot. If they would put 2 windows on both sides, there would be a breeze and an outside temperature.
Hampi is gorgeous. It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in the world. The scenery is magical and almost unreal with thousands of giant boulders somehow lying on top of each other for miles and miles. (LP) Hampi was once Vijayanagar's capital in 1336, which grew into one of the largest Hindu empires in Indian history. By the 16th century, it was a thriving metropolis of about 500,000 people, with busy bazarrs dabbling in international commerce, brimming with precious stones and merchants from faraway lands.
Hundreds of temples that are scattered everywhere around the region add a fairytale feel to the place. I have no idea how it's so unknown to the world, I don't think places like that exist anywhere else!
The problem with it though is that the locals started using the structures of the temples to build their houses/stores! … in the world heritage site!! UNESCO started destroying some of the houses, and promised to bulldoze all houses which are not cleared out, so now locals started to take down all the valuable pieces of their houses like roofs and doors and moving somewhere else. The town of Hampi is half in ancient ruins and half in modern ruins. Walking in some parts is like walking in a war zone.
We rented scooters for the day. They were ok, though the steering was misaligned, they had problems starting, and oh, the breaks didn't really work. We drove around the whole day from temples to temples, exploring them all. We saw so much, queen's bath, elephant enclosures, cart, wedding temple, and 100s of other temples, statues, holy men bathing and chanting in the water. Absolutely beautiful!
It felt like the whole day I was just saying: Lets go here, lets go there, lets have a coconut, take a break. It occurred to me that no one really objected. At one moment I decided that I won't say anything for the suggestion of the next place to see. We get out of the temple, I'm quiet. Everybody else is quiet. We stand in silence for a few minutes. "Where do you want to go ?" finally someone says. I pretend I don't hear. We are not moving ... I don't understand why doesn't it bother anybody? After maybe 10 minutes of indecisiveness, I get back into my role. I'm wondering ... am I a natural leader or people don't want to make decisions for others, or people in general just don't want to think at all?
In Hampi my bag tore, and I had a hole in my jeans. I gave them to a tailor without asking for the price first. I wonder what's gonna happen when I'll come to pick them up? I come to the tailor, she shows me everything, then she shows me the jeans, I fixed it here, and a bit here, and here and here ... oh, oh I think! I ask her how much. She says that I should give her how much I think is a good price. I hate when they do it. I usually give them how much I think and they start yelling at me that it's not enough. And it's not because I gave them not enough, is because it's a technique they use to get more money out of tourists. I tell her that she should give me a fair price ... she thought for a bit and told me 50 ($1). I was in shock and gave her 100 for excellent job and honesty!
Next day we went for a walk on the river to a small lake. We had to jump over boulders (which I love!) except that my shoes are slippery, and it's not that I don't trust myself, I don't trust the shoes. I would stand there, look at the next rock, make a little whine sound, and would have 3 pairs of hands helping me :) Once we were at the bottom, and had to go to the next set of rocks, and I was literary flown to the top.
The lake was cool, it was just for us. We had to go through a little cave to go in and out. There was water very deep to swim in some parts, at other parts the rocks would be a few cms from the surface where we could chill in right in the middle of the lake. There was also fish that would nib at us, and occasionally one of us would scream like a girl (and it wasn't me :) ) when the fish would suddenly mistake a toe for a worm :)
The whole day we sat in the restaurant, sat in the sun, in the shade, in the lake and at 8pm I'm so exhausted I couldn't keep my eyes open.
Hampi is great! It's sad to say goodbye, but great adventures await!

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Mysore & Bangalore

Went for a walk. As usual one guy started to talk to me and as usual I ignored him. He kept following me telling me that he's not a rickshaw driver (they always use the same phrases in different cities ... can't they come up with something original??) and started telling me where to go what to see. I said that I don't need any help, I'm just walking around. He smiled at me with him toothless smile, and kept helping me. I don't need any help, thank you very much! Guys in India do not help anybody. Either they want money, or to take you to their shop, or to try and have sex with you. That's guys in the weird age of about 17 to 30 when they're still unmarried virgins, and their hormones shoot through the roof. He wouldn't get away from me, I kept walking in my direction and he kept following me. All I did was say aha to all his commentary without hearing much of what is being said. Finally he said that he has a shop where he sells aurvedic oils. I'm not interested. He said that my ego is too big. I said that it's not big, I don't want to talk to him, I don't need any help, and I don't want to go to his store. He started to blame me that we white girls treat them like shit, and what we think we're so much better than them on and on and on ... Aha! Finally I reached a market, said goodbye and went inside. He asked me what's going on, am I not going to his shop? I said no, I'm going to this market and started walking. I heard something like fuck, fucking, ass ... I did make a right decision of not talking to him. I've been too long in India now to learn not to talk to Indian men!
In the market, I peaked inside. All seems to be normal, sellers selling fruits and lots of flowers for their gods. I took a deep breath and started walking along one alley. The second I put my foot in the alley, madam, madam, look, look here, flowers, colors, flowers, flowers, flowers??!!! I walked less than 50 meters and run out the small side exit to the street. It was less than a 20 second walk and inside I was boiling. I wonder how long it will be till all the water boils out? Will I get more understanding or will I just explode?
In the evening it started to rain. I hid in a small shop that doesn't really sell much. There are a lot of stores like that where you can buy 1 or maybe 2 things. What's the point of it? I asked the owner if the business is doing well ... he said not so much. Maybe he should buy more inventory. I read a newspaper, and came across 2 interesting articles. In one, a Muslim father sues his daughter’s Hindu bf's family. The couple went for a trip and the father filed a police claim that his daughter was abducted. When the court dismissed his claim, the father exclaimed "Oh god, see what has happened!", the judge said "God will look after everyone". Big enough to hit the news! It's a little bit understandable though, because when British gave India independence in 1947… “the muslim party wanted a separate state and Indian party campaigned for a greater India. British couldn't bring two sides together and a civil war emerged with Hindus and Muslim being slaughtered. More and more violence happened and a decision was made to divide the country. The division was extremely tricky and some areas were clearly muslim or Hindu, but most of areas were mixed. The resulting bloodshed was far worse than anticipated. Trains full of muslims fleeing westward, were held up and slaughtered by Hindu mobs. Hindus fleeing to the east suffered the same fate at Muslim hands. By the time chaos had run its course, more than 10 million people had changed sides and at least 1 million had been killed” (LP).
Hindus and Muslims are still in conflict till present day. I heard on numerous occasions that in a state of Gujarat, Muslims bombed a train of Hindu holy man, in response the government(!) gave order to local population to freely shoot and kill any muslims they saw on the street for 3 days! I love religion. It brings so much peace and happiness. It's like it's not enough all the separations that are inevitable such as countries, race, gender, color, let’s throw religion into the mix as well so that everybody could hate everybody else.
Going back to the newspaper, the next article was from Los Angeles where they came up with dogTV, so that your dog will be entertained, relaxed and stimulated for 8 hours, while the owners are at work.
Mysore is big, and a taking a tour was a good idea. A whole day tour from 8am to 9pm was $3 so why not? This time I was relaxed. Learning from a previous tour that most of the time it takes to wait for people to get on the bus. I took my book, and was happy. The French girl who was on the tour wasn't as relaxed as me, and swore she would never take a tour again. The “organization” is just not an Indian word unless it's used in a phrase "organized chaos" which I read in a book, and it's exactly what I think of India. The guide said that it's 500 entry to all the sights, and we should give money to him now. I said that I want to pay for everything myself, but he said that this way we'll get a group discount. Well, we didn't get any discount, had to wait until he gets all the tickets, and at the end everything added up to 400! Not only that, at every entrance he tried to get money from us for that entrance. You give me 100; But we already gave you 500; oh, ok, ok. Like that every time!
The art gallery was very nice, but the French girl didn't like ... she's from Paris, it's understandable.
Next was the zoo. It was a very nice zoo, very big, very clean, not too many people, looked after animals, and a huge variety of them too. We were given 1.5 hours to see it all. First half we looked around, 2nd half we were constantly looking at the watch and running towards the exit.
Saw a temple ... another temple ... yeeiii !! :S
The royal palace was beautiful. We took a useless (but free) audiotour. We didn't have passport or enough money to give as a deposit, which was $20. I tried to convince him to take my Ray Ban sunglasses which worth $200, but I guess he thought nobody would be that crazy to pay so much for sunglasses. Every time I'm more and more convinced that palaces are more beautiful on the outside than on the inside. In the court yard a little girl came running towards me and offered me her hand to shake. I'm in my usual zone "No!", she run away. I have to differentiate between cute kids who want to shake your hand ask for your name and country, and dirty kids who ask for your name and country and then for some rupees. My chilled out mood of Munnar has been long gone. The girl clung up to her mother. Matilda (the French girl), said "look you made her cry". I felt bad, and outstretched my arms to her. She run up to me. I picked her up. Asked her a bunch of questions, played with her hair and dress, and let her go. We walked off ... Gosh, I really don't like kids I tell Matilda. She started laughing at me ... for sure it didn't seem like it while you were playing with her. Well, I had to compensate for making her cry!
Matilda wanted to explore the palace more and told our guide that she won't be coming back, but 1 hour proved to be enough. We come to our guide. He looks at us and starts trembling.
- Where is your bag?
- On the bus
- You're staying on the trip?
- Yes
- Oh no, no, no, no, no
He covered his face with his hands shaking from side to side "no, no, no, no, no, no, no"... "ok, no problem!"
What??? :))) We just transferred to another bus, where they had to squeeze people in for us to sit. Never a problem in India, people always seem to find space, and even if there isn't any space, others will squeeze in without any complaining or show off discomfort.
Saw a temple ... another temple ... yeeiii !!
Went to gardens which were very pretty. Lots of Bollywood video clips are made there. There are fountains, and dancing fountains and lights. Very nice! I was pleasantly surprised. In this part of India, they compensate cheap entrances by expansive camera charges. I just kept on walking with my camera hanging off my shoulder. They were screaming at me, camera ticket, camera ticket. I said "no camera" and walked passed them. I had to wait for Matilda to pay for hers. Common, she was travelling quite a lot, I don't understand what got into her. I don't mind paying camera charges when I'll actually take pictures. But now it was already getting dark, so what do I have to pay for?
While we were walking and talking, 1 guy was walking beside us with his ear almost at my mouth. "May I help you?" I asked. He said he wanted to hear what language we're speaking. Doesn't he know that it's rude to listen to somebody else's conversations?
We were very hassled by the kids to buy something. Madam, eat, food, food, his hand with the palm up, food, food. I looked at him and he was chubby. I don't give money to beggars, hope he'll have better luck with someone else. Another one selling postcards. Please madam madam madam, I need for school, please take, almost crying x 100 times in a never ending loop. We walk off, he comes with us repeating the same sentence without any breaks in between with super speed and a very whiny voice. The locals beside us just stood there. It continued for 5 minutes until I asked one of the locals to shoo him away. One hand gesture with mahalahabahala yell, and the kid was off. Next time I will time how long it will take them to go away if I'll just ignore him. After a while he came back with the same broken record of a whine. I imitated him, he looked at me and walked away.
At night I did reiki. This time it was super cool, I did all the 7 chakras, and tried to concentrate on my 3rd eye because I was eager again to see the color, I didn't :( But I did manage to stop my thoughts. I was noticing what I was thinking and it was "Ok, relax now, breath, stop thinking", Oh damn it, I'm talking, not not thinking, let’s try again "do not think, do not think" ... I'm talking again!!! But I did manage to see and feel emptiness, although I was still humming something. I was concentrating so much that I was forgetting to breathe. It was a very nice experience. Then when I lied to sleep, and I couldn't sleep cause I had too much energy, I would feel that me and my body are separate, I could observe it from outside, nothing needed to move, to be scratched, I was perfectly comfortable. Then there was some laser vision that drew a shape of a sand watch with green laser color which started spinning extremely fast, and while it was spinning it was growing bigger and bigger, and then my body was jerking on its own. Pretty cool stuff!! :))
In the morning went to a Tibetan colony. India gave land to Tibetan refuges in 1959 after Chinese invasion. There are posters everywhere "Thank you incredible India for generous support towards Tibetan causes". The settlement was a nice change from the rest of India where everything was tidy and clean and not broken. There were monks everywhere with maroon and yellow robes. I went inside one monastery, it was extremely beautiful with three 18 meter high golden plated status. 1 of Buddha, and 2 I already forgot who. I went inside the temple and read a book, but every time I lifted my eyes up, I was again and again and again mesmerized by its sight. I couldn't believe the beauty of it, and if it weren't for the noisy gangs of Indian tourists, I would've been in heaven.
I remember on the tuk-tuk drive we passed a lake, which seemed as a nice place to spend a few hours. It was really hot, and I wasn't sure in which direction to go. I didn't have much water left, and I was walking for a long long time. I thought I'm gonna get a sun stroke. I don't think I made a right turn at some junction and was walking maybe for an hour under a blazing sun before giving up on the lake idea and taking a tuk-tuk to the bus station. The tuk-tuk turned around and we drove all the way from where I started walking :(( I was devastated ... all this effort for nothing. I started being philosophical, forget about an hour spent walking in the wrong direction ... what about life choices that we make. How long do we stay at a destructive relationship, a bad job, making wrong life choices, going in a wrong direction before realizing what we're doing and turning back. It must be hard to realize that the further we are in a wrong way, the further we have to go back, just to start at zero again. How many people turn around???
At the bus station 1 guy asked me where I go. I usually rely on local information, otherwise there is no way of knowing anything. The problem is choosing the right candidate for my questions. This wasn't a candidate, and I made a mistake of telling him Mysore. He then didn't get away from me. He was coming back and back, pointing me to the right bus. I thanked him but continued sitting and reading a book, I wasn't ready yet for another hectic bus ride, I needed to get my senses back together after the walk. He didn't board the bus until I did. He kept me a seat and told me to sit beside him, I really didn't want to, I wanted to be left alone at peace, and he looked suspicious to me anyway. I reluctantly sat, but continued to read the book and to ignore him. Thank god a middle aged man shooed him off, since for a single man and a single woman to sit next to each other is almost forbidden. He was standing behind me in a packed bus, talking and talking and talking, I wasn't listening, and wasn't replying to him. He kept on talking. I heard him make a phone call and saying "Mysore" ... this can't be good. The book I was reading was in Russian, at some point a finger was jammed into the pages with some question, I slapped his hand hard and told him to move away. He was saying a lot of "ok-ok" phrases, very popular in here, which doesn't really mean anything. He finally said that he gets of here "ok-ok?". I kept on reading. He didn't go to Mysore as he said, I didn't really know what he wanted from me. Really annoying!
I'm thinking a lot these days. I can't change this place, this culture of 1.2 billion people. I try to change things, and I try to tell people what I think. But how can you fight something that is?? Especially as an outsider?
Again I notice more and more that there are no women outside, especially walking. If there are women, they are usually either travelling somewhere (very small amount) or selling some fruits/veggies. I was walking for hours in the city, and after getting tired of constant stares, I put my head down, and was looking into the ground, a habit that still stays me with. It keeps my nerves in a better shape. I got a little headache from my sunglasses, and hung them on my shirt. One old man, short, traditionally dressed, was walking towards me, and grumbling something. Once he got near me, he started spitting on me. What's going on?? I have long pants on, covered t-shirt, I look down and the sunglasses went a little bit too low and about 1 cm of my cleavage was showing ... oh the drama!
And now for the famous head wobble. Every Indian wobbles his head probably 90% of his waking life. At first I was very confused by this concept. The different meanings I found throughout my journey are: yes/no/maybe/it's nice/no thank you/you're welcome/I like it/I don't know what you're talking about/aha. So pretty much it means everything and nothing at all. What I think it means is just an acknowledgement of what you said was being heard.
In the restaurant one evening, an Indian family sat at my table. As usual they initiate conversation, they want to know my good name (or sweet name), everybody's name is "good" in India. Where I come from, why I came to India, how long I stay here, and what I think of India. After a few minutes I was invited to stay at their house. I didn't really want to, but how do I say "no"? An idea kicked in!! I wobbled my head and got away with it :) I was so happy with myself, I managed to generate a response without giving an answer :)
Went to Bangalore especially to see the aerospace museum … I'm such a girl!! :)
I asked a tuk-tuk driver to take me to a specific hotel. He stopped at some other hotel, and said it was the cheapest one for $16/night. Take me to the other hotel I said. But madam, this is the cheapest hotel you'll find. It's good, family oriented.
- Take me to the hotel in the book
- But madam, this is a good one, go take a look
- Take me to my hotel
- But mad...
- Start driving
- Madam, this hote...
- Stop talking, start driving!
I must have said "Take me to my hotel" at least 10 times. I'm learning not to give up! Hopefully it will become useful in real life, although I'm not sure if my defense will kick in unless I'll have an annoying tuk-tuk driver to combat.
"My" hotel was perfect. It was nice, modern, clean with excellent service at the reception, well minus 1 guy. It was in a very good location, and for $10. I had to wait an hour until someone checked out, because single rooms are unheard of in India, who in their right mind travels on his own? My computer's battery was dying and I asked the guy at the reception to plug it in. He said no. Look at all these cables, and they will go from a reception desk all the way to me. No madam, I'm very very sorry, but it's impossible! I got so angry! In my mind I thought, maybe your country wouldn't be such a shithole if not everything would be impossible!!!!!
Overall I've been to 3 different internet places. All have the same rules that you need passport info to use the internet. Some require an actual passport, some would do with a photocopy, and some would just let you write the number which I remember by heart. Same things, different rules. We all live in the walls that we build ourselves!
It took me an hour to get a train ticket with only 3 people in the line. Why do things in here take so long??
And on I went for a day of adventure. I only had 2 days in Bagalore and tons to see. I was taking tuk-tuks all the time, which was a bit uncomfortable since the maps in LP on different areas weren't connected, and I had no idea where I am and how far places between each other are. I overpaid by a lot these days, but at least I got to see everything.
Went to a sultan's palace which was very boring and really not worth at all. Nearby was a temple. I'm not too excited by temples anymore, but this time there was a 10 year marriage ceremony which was fun. They took 2 gods which symbolize man and woman, carried them all over the temple, put holy water on them, some flowers, walked around with the fire. Then took offering plates, and put some flowers, powder, fruits on a plate. Put them on, took them off, put them on, took them off. Then made people pray to bananas and coconuts, repeat some chants while constantly ringing a bell. The holy men didn't look too holy, they stood there bored with their hands crossed, looking somewhere to the side and chanting and chanting.
Then I took a bus to see 2 more temples. It's never possible to get lost on the bus, absolutely everybody will look after you, ask where you're going, and will make sure that you get there. In the Ganesh temple, the Ganesh was huge and fat, and with so many flowers around him that you couldn't see him at all. Nandi (Shiva's bull) temple was a bit better, and you could actually take pictures in there. Bangalore is a modern city, and pretty big on steakhouses. How could I miss such an opportunity? I went to the most recommended steakhouse. The meat was good, but they put too much black pepper on it, and I spent a lot of time scrubbing it off. Nevertheless it was great to eat steak in the middle of India where you say "Holy cow" as the juices tingle your taste buds :)
The center of Bangalore is very modern. It's one of the Indian software capitals, and you would see posh modern buildings on one side with men dressed in business suits caring suitcases and iPhones, and garbage rotting on the other side of the road. I went to a very nice coffee house, where I had one of the best coffees ever. It was packed, and I was sitting there people watching. One girl caught my attention. She wore tights, tight t-shirt that showed a cleavage, ballet shoes, modern short(!) haircut (Indians are very proud of their long hair), and she was smoking! I got so excited, I almost asked the permission to take her picture :)
There were different coffee facts written on the walls of the cafe. One of them was "Turkey passed a law that a woman can divorce her husband if he doesn't provide her with cup a coffee each day".
I then went to a technology museum and a very expensive mall that's full of Rolex, Luis Vitton, Armani brands. Beautiful mall, no customers :( I wished I had a date with me in Bangalore. The restaurants were extremely beautiful! 5 star decor and atmosphere with the most expensive dishes going for $10 ... if even.
Was a bit disappointed by aerospace museum because I wanted to see space shuttles, but there were mainly planes :( Although MIG was on display and a heat shield for a satellite. Except the models, there were mostly pictures of different presidents who came to see India's space program. See ... we can be important too!
pix are here: https://picasaweb.google.com/100036016632387453128/MysoreBangalore