The last time I wrote, I had just gotten to Goa.
Wed, April 30:
I walked around Panjim--the town in Goa where I was staying. Mainly, I walked up the hillside to the old, Portuguese part of town. It was very nice--lots of big, sprawling, crumbly buildings. They all looked like they had been abandoned for about 10 years, but true for practically all buildings in India--even the ones that don't look 10 years old. These buildings actually had lots of land around them as well as old stone walls and stairways.
Thursday, May 1:
I took the bus tour of north Goa. Goa is known for its beaches, and this tour hit a bunch of them. And, well, they're beaches. I enjoyed the ride in the bus through the countryside more than the beaches--not that there is anything wrong with the beaches.
I was the only white person on the tour, and I always had to ask the tour guide when I needed to get back on the bus, since he was not speaking in English. He would repeat in English for me, but I only cared about when I needed to be back.
There was one odd incident on the tour. This man and his wife came up to me with a camera and asked if I would take a picture. I said sure, expecting him to hand me the camera. Instead, he handed it to another guy, stood next to me with his wife, and we had our picture taken. He didn't want me to take a picture OF them, he wanted me to take a picture WITH them. Very strange.
Friday, May 2:
Took an autorickshaw to Vasco de Gama so I could fly out of the airport nearby on Saturday. I spent the afternoon chatting with a local who then gave me a ride on his motorcycle around Vasco. There is not much to see in Vasco-- it's kind of unpleasant--but the ride was cool. We rode up on the hills around town, overlooking the harbor.
Saturday, May 3:
I went to the airport and (barely) got my Discover India Pass, which lets me fly anywhere I want in India within a two week period. It's cheaper than taking the individual flights I had planned and lets me add a few.
I flew to Cochin in the state of Kerala. Kerala is known for its natural beauty and laid back atmosphere. It has become quite a tourist destination, with the most popular activity being backwater tours. (If you have read Arundati Roi's The God of Small Things, this was set in a town in Kerala near Cochin.)
When I got to Cochin, I could not get a taxi from the airport. This I could not believe--for the entire time I was in India I could not walk 10 feet without half a dozen taxi drivers asking me if I wanted a taxi. The reason I could not get a taxi is because there was a strike that day. Not a taxi driver strike, but a political protest strike where everyone is on strike. (Some people were killed in some clash, and this resulted in the strike.) So I got to Cochin, and could do nothing. I wanted to take the backwater tour that day, but it wasn't running. I wanted to use the internet, but they were closed. I ended up wandering around Cochin.
While wandering around Cochin, a guy named Prathish came up to me and said "Hi", asked my name, and tried to talk to me. If you've travelled at all, you know that no one ever walks up to you in the street and talks to you unless they want something from you. I was giving him one word answers, giving him the cold shoulder, waiting for the sales pitch so I could say "no". After several minutes, I just flat out asked him what he was after. He said he was just talking, that he had never talked to a white person before, and there was nothing else to do. I didn't believe him, but it turned out to be true. We ended up hanging out all afternoon, talking for 5 hours. He took me on the ferry to show me the old part of town (which was, unfortunately, pretty dead when we got there.) He later confessed that he initially wanted to talk to me to practice his English. Had he told me this at first, I wouldn't have believed him, since that is a common line that a lot of people use when trying to con you. Anyway, we are now in e-mail contact.
Sunday, May 4:
Didn't feel like doing much, so chilled out and used the internet. Chatted with some people in Bangkok so I would have more people to visit when I go back. I watched a cool Indian movie on TV-- "Everybody Says I'm Fine". Check it out if you get a chance. (It is not a typical Indian flick--more of an artsy independent style movie.)
Monday, May 5:
It was pouring rain in Cochin when I woke up. It cleared up by noon, but the backwater tour I wanted to take was cancelled anyway. I went to the tourist office and got a different backwater tour. Since no one else wanted to go, and the minimum number of passengers was two, I bought two tickets and took the tour by myself. This was a little wierd--I had my own guide who was with me the whole time, plus a driver, plus the guy punting the boat. All just for me. Kinda makes you self-conscious. This splurge cost me about as much as a movie back home.
When my boat got on the water, we came across other boats full of tourists, but they were all Indians. When the punters greeted each other and chatted a bit, I heard "American" a few times, but resisted the temptation to ask just what they were saying about me. :)
The tour was very scenic and relaxing. The had me, my guide, and the punter for the boat. (For those not familiar, the punter is the guy that pushes a boat with a pole--like in the canals in Venice.) There were no motor boats allowed on the water. We went down a river and into a series of tree-lined canals, making stops for the prawn farm, some mussel fishers, and the fish market. On the way, we ran across several of the locals moving their wares down the river, saw the Chinese fishing nets, and watched a woman making coir rope. There were several kids on the shores, amused to talk to the white guy, and a couple of kids lying in the water with their elephant. All in all, a pretty cool trip.
Tuesday, May 6:
I took the bus from Cochin to Trivandrum, down the coast of Kerala. This required going to the flooded bus station in Cochin. (My waterproof hiking boots held up.) It was an old, open window bus, which was really cramped at times, but the ride was one of the most enjoyable thing I had done in India to that point. At one point, we drove through a parade, complete with floats and elephants in headdresses.
The bus drivers are insane. We saw the aftermath of a few accidents on the drive. A bus and a car with smashed front driver's sides. Another car on a bridge, on its top.
Trivandrum is nothing special, but it has an airport. I wanted to take a bus to Panmudi--a hill station nearby--but the last bus had already left.
Wednesday, May 7:
I missed the bus to Panmudi--the tourist info people gave me the wrong time, and bus stations in India are not exactly a wealth of information.
I took a flight to Bangalore. When I got there, I called Sandy whom I had met in Mumbai and was visiting friends in Bangalore. I walked around Bangalore, but just the area where tourists and yuppies go.
Thursday, May 8:
I hung out with Sandy all day and we did a little clothes shopping so I would look presentable for the birthday party that he had invited me to the next evening.
Friday, May 9:
Stopped by the tourist info office, found out there was no tour that would get me back in time for the party, so I had a huge, long lunch instead, and bought some cheap pants.
Sandy picked me up for the party, which was in a hotel close to mine. The party was a "sweet 16" party for twin girls. The girls are members of a family of which Sandy is a friend. Being the only white person there, I garnered a bit of attention. It was a little awkward in that most of the party consisted of a bunch of people getting up on the stage and dancing while everyone else watched. Naturally, I got dragged up to dance as well. This wouldn't have been bad except for people looking. And trying to get me to dance some steps I've never done before. At least the music was very dancable. In the end, I stopped dancing their way and danced my own way, and that made things much more comfortable and I had a lot more fun. People kept dragging me out to dance--it was like being at a family wedding--only no polkas.
Saturday, May 10:
Sandy and I hung out again, eating Indian junk food and pizza. We went to a travel agent so I could book the rest of my flights, but a pivotal flight was full, screwing everything up.
Sunday, May 11:
Since I could fly anywhere for free with my pass, and since I couldn't go where I intended to go, I flew back to Pune to hang out with Amar again.
Monday, May 12:
I flew to Delhi and spent the night. I didn't want to, but to get to where I wanted to go, I had to.
On my way to Delhi, I had planned a walking tour when I got there. When I stepped out of the hotel, I realized that there was no way I was ever going to be able to navigate that mess. Delhi was hot, crowded, chaotic, and smelled like a urinal--and I don't mean the good urinal-soap smell. It put me in a foul mood.
I walked to the main touristy shopping area where the touts were in full force. A tout started talking to me, and I tried to give him the brush off, but I discovered that I was having more fun talking with this tout than I had been when walking around Delhi by myself. So, I cut to the chase, asked him where and how much commission he got, and told him I had no intention of buying anything, but I would fake shopping for him to get him his commission for bringing me in. We did this for about 5 stores. It was actually kind of fun in a ridiculous sort of way. I was totally amused, and when it started getting old, I just told my tout (his name was Bippin) that I was done. He invited me for a cup of tea--on him--but I kind of wanted to get back to the hotel and crash, since I had to get up at 3:30 in the morning for my next flight. One good thing about having Bippin around--he fought off all of the other touts for me. :) He also gave me directions back to my hotel.
On the walk back to the hotel, I walked through Main Bazaar. The walk down Main Bazaar almost made it worth going to Delhi. It was just so India. If I had to shoot a movie scene and wanted it to represent the stereotype of India, I would shoot it there. It was choked with people, cows, and carts of every kind. Every inch of the road was lined with stalls and people on the ground selling their wares. It had a few people trying to get through on motorcycles and scooters. It was dirty, it stank, it was in complete chaos. It was business as usual. Man, I wish I had my camera with me.
Strangely, when I took out my map in Main Bazaar and looked at it, some one walked up to me, asked me what I was looking for, gave me directions--and that was it! He didn't try to sell me something, or beg for money, or otherwise try to get something from me. I knew when I pulled out that map that I was a beacon for every opportunist within sight. I was just stunned that the person who spoke to me only wanted to help. Amazing.
I won't say that I liked Delhi--I certainly won't go back if I can help it--but I ended the day in pretty good spirits, in a bizarre sort of way.
Tuesday, May 13:
I woke up at 3:30 to catch my early morning flight to Bagdogra. This is the nearest airport to Darjeeling and Gangtok. I wouldn't know until I landed which I would go to. To go to Gangtok, I would need a permit, which I didn't have. And I would need transport.
I saw the peaks of the Himilayas from the plain. For some reason, I found this really cool--not because of the sight (I had seen similar things before), but just because it was the Himilayas.
I talked with the guy next to me on the plane--politics, business, SARS...stuff.
I found out that I could go to Gangtok and get my permit on the way. Unfortunately, I could not take the helicopter like I wanted because it was taken out of service the previous day. I took a taxi instead--for 4 hours. This ride cost USD$33--a huge amount. The ride was really cool--West Bengal and Sikkim (the states we went through) are beautiful, mountainous areas. Just a little ways out of the airport we drove past a forest, and I saw a monkey on the side of the road. I think it was the first monkey I had ever seen outside of a zoo. I was to see many more on the way.
When I got to Gangtok, I checked into a hotel and walked around. Gangtok is the first place in India that I can actually say that I liked without qualification. It is beautiful. The city is built on the side of a valley, with amazing views. It is criss-crossed with stairways and concrete drainage ditches which make little waterfalls. You can hear the sound of running water all over the city. The people are friendly--especially the kids. Several of them would say "hello", amused when I responded, and just tickled to death if I shook their hands. I took a picture of a couple of girls while climbing a particularly ferocious set of stairs, and they were excited to see themselves on the LCD screen of the camera. And Gangtok is not covered in garbage like the every other city I had seen in India. No beggars. No touts. No one trying to sell me things. I even went so far as to carry around a backpack and a camera and nobody targetted me! It was like going to a completely different country. (This isn't so far from being the case--Gangtok is the capital of the state of Sikkim, nestled between Nepal and Tibet. You only have to look at the people to know that they are not the typical people of India.)
Wednesday, May 14:
I got to use a squat toilet for the first time today. :) This is the first hotel room that had one. I'm amazed that I got this far without encountering one.
I was going to head to Darjeeling today, but wanted to do stuff around Gangtok first. I went to the tourist office. I asked about the sky tram that I had seen the day before--and was told it wasn't open yet. I asked about the helicopter rides--and was told they were temporarily shut down. I asked about transport to Darjeeling-- and was told that Darjeeling was on strike, so no transport was going to or from there.
Yes, another strike foiling my plans. Again, someone was killed and the strike was a protest. So if you get a job in India and don't feel like going to work, don't call in sick--just kill someone.
In the end, I was glad that I couldn't go to Darjeeling. I had a great time in Gangtok. I just hiked around town. I found some stunning viewpoints. (At one, yet another person asked if he could take his picture with me.) I kept going up, and up. Through village paths. Through woods. Past Buddhist monestaries and temples. Up to the highest lookout point, surrounded in prayer flags.
Most of the routes I took are not ones a typical tourist would take--they didn't really go anywhere of interest--but the best part of India so far was just that bit of wandering.
On my way down, I took a little path that went behind a primary school. The kids were at lunch or recess inside the school, and I knew they had noticed me. When I waved they went crazy.
Gangtok is definitely a place to go. Anywhere else in India and I would say "well...I don't know" but I would heartily recommend Gangtok. Very serene. Gangtok is a Buddist enclave. If you want serenity, follow the Buddhists. Those guys are the kings of relaxation. ;) Ok, maybe not Bangkok. :)
Thursday, May 15:
I took a shared jeep from Gangtok to Darjeeling. I got stuck in the back. Not the place to be. Great scenery, but I didn't get to see much of it.
In Darjeeling, I got lost trying to find my hotel and wandered around with my big backpack for about an hour.
Darjeeling is also nestled among hills and is very beautiful, but not as "pure" as Gangtok. It is chock full of tourists, but like Gangtok, is not full of the people preying on tourists. It's foggy today, so no views of the Himilayas. Still, very cool. So far, I would recommend it.
Hello? Still there? Are you still reading this monstrously long e-mail? If so congratulations. Hopefully, I won't take so long to right the next one. Or at least I'll learn to summarize better. :)
Till next time,
Sid
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