India: the Good, the Bad and the Funny

A few more interesting things I noticed in the last week:

1. I went to a movie and there was an intermission! I saw the movie Kites and the first half was 90% Hindi and 10% English so I was having a hard time following exactly what was happening, but all of a sudden there was a scene that was lasting longer than the others and in the right hand corner it said "Intermission". There was about a 5 minute break to get snacks or whatever. Interesting idea, but I think you can last 2 hours without needing to move or eat.
2. At the movie I heard about 5 people answer their phones and have a conversation after they let them ring out load! Not a welcome difference.
3. We went to pick up food for a lunch and we went to the restaurant and honked outside and they took our order and then brought it out to us! Neat.
4. Questions that you wouldn't ask in the USA or UK, but would look for signs or wait to get to know someone are asked freely such as: Are you married? Do you have a boyfriend? When are you getting married? Can't wait when all someone has to do is check out the ring finger to know the answer again.
5. I think servants are the key to having a great party- no clean-up, food when you want it, ice refills, bed ready when you get home with water next to it, breakfast in the morning... I love it.
6. I was really sick one day and I have gotten used to living alone or with roommates who ask you if you are ok and then feel bad, but don't so anything. I am not sure if it's a difference in culture or having a big family, but at Arush's every single person asked how I was, got me medicine, kept trying to feed me and was genuinely concerned about how I was doing. It was really nice!
7. I haven't had to explain why I am a vegetarian or worry about what I might be able to eat in two weeks!

Amber Fort Jaipur: you enter traditionally on elephants.... for a price of course

Finally, there is a funny story that happened while I was traveling with my driver. On his dashboard he had a picture of a man who is waving and it was obviously a religious symbol. I don't know a lot about Eastern religions and I was curious to learn more about whomever this man was and what religion he represented. I was tired and hot when I asked the driver: "So who is this guy?" pointing to the man in the picture, not meaning to say guy as it is a slang term. He explained that this "guy" is a god of the Sikh religion- the 10th guru and then went on to explain a little about it to me.

It wasn't until 2 full days later that I learned "guy" sounds exactly like gaay, the Hindi word for cow.

Yep I'm petting a cobra

Other Updates:

Today is my last day in India. I am leaving for London tomorrow morning and then I will be there for a few days. Then it's back to the USA! I will be in NYC June 5th! I am going to take a Spanish class and take some time to make sure that moving to Colombia is the definite right thing to do and it seems like wasting a summer in the USA would be a shame since I love the warm weather! I am looking forward to the freedom of NYC and the ability to have anything that you want at anytime of the day! Oh America...

Some of the elephants at the Amber Fort were painted very beautifully!

Oddities of India

Taj Mahal!

I hesitate to call them oddities as they are just differences, but there are things that I find really interesting traveling here.

1. When you eat at a restaurant or hotel that is touristy, you are asked to fill out a review. This is the most biased review I have ever written as the server or hotel concierge is watching you do it and the first time I made the mistake of a somewhat negative comment and not 5 seconds later the manager himself was asking me about it and then yelling at the employees. If you want a real review let me do it alone and read it when I am not there, otherwise I will say nothing bad, even if I am thinking it.
2. American movies are subtitled when they are in English with English as Indians have a hard time with our accents. I am also struggling with theirs, so no big.
3. Honking is it's own language when driving it can mean- get out of my way, you are going to slow, I am going to pass you, I am passing you, I just want to honk, turn signals, I am coming to an intersection... Horns are used more than I knew possible here!
4. There are seemingly no road rules- any lane or middle of the lane is ok, cutting people off is expected, there is no first, turn at your own risk as there are not a lot of lights
5. Roads are filled with people, bikes, rickshaws, auto-rickshaws, motorbikes, large trucks, tractors, cows, camels- anything you can think of and somehow everyone gets where they need to go, but not quickly....
6. There is traffic literally everywhere, you will be in a small town in the middle of nowhere and suddenly there is a traffic jam on the highway
7. Accidents take forever to clear as there is no infrastructure in place to divert traffic and the family of the victims comes to the site before anyone moves (at least this is the gist I got from the driver)
8. Everyone knows the word VIP for something that is very nice or expensive. "Very VIP place ma'am."
9. All of a sudden there will be a camel, an elephant or monkeys and locals think nothing of it, but I obviously think it's super cool
10. Some things are crazy cheap- like a salon haircut for $12 USD (with tip!)
11. The power goes in and out
12. The key to bargaining is that you have to act indifferent to what they are showing you, a few times I literally was indifferent and I have gotten great deals and free shipping! Great presents are coming to your house Mom! I had no idea how amazing shopping was here- jewelry, textiles, clothing.... WOW I wish I could buy presents here for the rest of my life!
13. The airport to go on a domestic flight was the craziest place I have ever been:

• you have to have some kind of flight itinerary and ID to enter the building
• You screen your checked baggage first where it must me tagged before it goes on the plane
• liquids of any kind are not allowed to carry on- no 3 oz. rule in a baggie
• you must tag your carry-on bag so that it can be stamped that it has been screened and they check it before you get on the shuttle to the plane
• security is separate for men and women and the women's side is a mass of children and women pushing to put their bags onto the xray
• the women are checked in a screening room
• all planes leave with stairs, so you take a bus to go get them
• when I told my friend that my flight was at 6:30am, he was said I didn't need to be there earlier than an hour before!
• Oh and did I mention I had to figure this out with 3 hours sleep at 5:00am???

Lastly, my friend Arush's family has been incredibly welcoming since I have been here- I have met both Grandma's, been to an anniversary party, been invited to a wedding- it is amazing and welcome change to feel so included! I have been fed some amazing food- south indian, north indian, etc. And I am looking forward to going back to Calcutta on Wednesday to sample some street food and Indian night life! PS I am going to weigh 90000 pounds when I come back as the food is so good and so veg friendly :)

Also not odd, BUT it has been ridiculously hot here- it was 115 F/ 47 C yesterday for sightseeing, if are ever thinking of coming to India come in the winter! I hear it's lovely weather.

World Peace Gong where Ghandi was murdered Delhi. Every religion and every country- really pretty and such a nice thought.

Other updates:

On friday I left to go on a tour of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. Currently I am in Jaipur. I saw the Taj Mahal yesterday- so pretty!

The tour ends wednesday and then I am back in Calcutta. Then back to London on the first of June and then back to the states 5 June! I'm flying into NYC and will be contemplating when my next move will come and what it will be!

Another one of the Taj Mahal- just because it is so pretty.

Crossing the Border

Towards the end of the trip, Josh and I went to Eilat in the Southern part of Israel near the Egyptian border. We decided to visit Petra in Jordan, one of the New 7 Wonders of the World.

View from hostel in Eilat of the Red Sea

It was super easy to cross the border and we literally walked from Israel to Jordan. We found a cab that would take us the 2 hour journey to and from Petra from the border and wait for us while we visited the site for a reasonable price.

When we got to Petra we were told by the cab driver that we should get out our money in advance and to not mention that we had just come from the border that morning as it is twice as expensive to go into Petra if you do not stay in Jordan for a night- they are trying to increase hotel tourism I guess.

We went up to the ticket office and tried to give them the money, but they apparently had decided that we were the people that they were going to give a hard time to that day. They drilled us about what hotel we stayed at in Aqaba (we lied to try and get a cheaper price), where our passports were to check the stamp, that they had a list of numbers people that had come from the border and we were going to get a huge fine if they found out we were lying. All of it was a bunch of false lies and it is unfortunate that we were the people they decided to single out and that we would have saved a lot of money had we known the rules and stayed in Aqaba- which was comparable or cheaper in price than Eilat.

Josh and I on camels in front of the Treasury in Petra

Other than this hiccup at the beginning we went into the park and it was quite scenic. We got back through the border to Israel without any problems.

I thought that since we were let back into Israel so easily that it wasn’t a big deal that we went over to Jordan.

WRONG.

When it came time for me to leave Israel I was already having a hard time leaving as it was Shabbat and that means that nothing runs except for cabs (no trains or buses) and the cab that I paid for refused to drop me off at the terminal that I wanted (no fly there). It was impossible to argue with my non-existent Hebrew skills and his limited English.

I got to the airport 2 hours early (more, but I had to switch terminals) and I was told I was late, which I thought was weird. It made sense after I spent literally the next hour in security. Apparently going to Jordan was not well received by the airport security. I was questioned for 10 minutes, by two separate people about why I was in Israel, who I knew, questions about my name and its origin, why I went to Jordan, who I knew and if it was planned, etc. They even asked me point blank if anyone had given me anything including envelopes in Jordan because it could be a bomb.

Then my clothing and belongings were ripped through for 45 minutes as things were literally triple checked, bomb sniffed and torn through. I sat and watched as most other people, except for the unlucky few, went through to the gate.

I was then asked to go through a special metal detector. By the way this was all before check-in at the ticket desk. After they deemed my belongings safe, I was escorted through to the check-in be security, through passport control, and through the last security.

It was crazy to be an American citizen and treated like someone on a watch list or something. I also thought it was weird that this was the security that I went through leaving the country and not entering. In the end I am glad that they are so focused on security, but it was weird to be on the other side of the strict requirements that we hear about in the news.

By the way, never embark to the Tel Aviv airport hungry. After all the security screening, 30 minute shuttle wait to the main terminal and waiting in EasyJet’s stupid line for 30 minutes, I didn’t have time to get any food!

I really liked Israel and I am lucky that I had someone to visit otherwise I may never have seen it. I think the Jews are really lucky to have a country that is so welcoming to them- I wish it was so easy for me to immigrate to another country!

View of Jerusalem with the Dome of the Rock

Other Updates:

I am in Calcutta India right now enjoying seeing my friend from CU, Arush and eating Indian food! I am going to New Delhi tomorrow and then to Agra and Jaipur to see the Maj Mahal and other touristy sites. I am excited to explore more of India, though I wish someone was able to go with me. I’ll take lots of pictures!

Adventures in International Road Trips: Israeli Addition

The first week that I was in Israel Josh and I decided to go on a little road trip to the north of Israel. Car rental was cheap for 3 days and we had unlimited mileage to go and explore the country. Oh and an automatic shift! Which is actually unimportant since Josh is an excellent stick driver.

One problem was that neither of us had a guidebook for Israel. We thought it wouldn't be too big of a deal to go and find one in an english bookstore, turns out we were wrong and we ended up buying one that was 7 years old- I mean how much can change in 7 years right?

Armed with our Budget road map, guidebook and sense of adventure we set out on the road.

Everything on the map comes up so quickly since Israel is a small country. In no time at all we were at the Caesaria ruins located between Tel Aviv and Haifa. After Caesaria, we continued north to the next highway that we wanted- and we missed the turn-off. Then there were no exits for the next 10 minutes. The next road was a smaller road that winds around in the Carmel mountains and ends up back at the road we wanted, so we decided to be adventurous and take it.

All was well until we came to the first T in the road. And all the signs were in Hebrew.... hmm. This is not what I had expected as I had asked Josh's roommate if this was going to be a problem and the answer was "No, all the signs are in hebrew, arabic and english."

Have a look for yourself:

English what?

Luckily the wrong way was immediately evident as it went into a nature preserve so we went on our way. Then we immediately got lost in the next bigger town. The signs for the road just disappear sometimes and it's anyone's guess which way to go. This was the first of several times that this happened.

The first day we finally settled into our hostel overlooking the Sea of Galilee- you know where Jesus walked on water.

The next day we were recommended some good places to see by daughter of the woman who owned the hostel. We made our way as far north as we could go so that we could wave hello to Lebanon. Afterwards we wanted to go to Banyas because we had heard that it was a "must-see" by several different people. We drove through the Golan Heights on our way to Banyas.

Of course we got lost and because of the lack of detail, road numbers, mileage or anything useful on the map. We asked for directions and the woman asked us if we wanted to go "north or south" on the main road- interestingly enough it ran east and west. We told her we wanted to go to Banyas and she said go right and then under the bridge and right and then 10-15 minutes later we would see it. The problem was that you couldn't go right at either place... After one wrong turn and a 15 minute detour we found our way again.

It was on the way to Banyas that I noticed that the english spelling on the map is different from the road signs, such as Banias and Banyas are the same and Kalya and Qalya are the same. But then some places with double rr were not the same as the single r. Thanks Israel!

After Banyas we travelled to Mt. Hermon (getting lost once) and then south towards the Dead Sea. We waved hello to Syria on our left on the way down and then to Jordan.

Dead Sea on the drive in

We stayed the night near the Dead Sea and with the plan of heading to Ramallah in the West Bank because it is safe and has amazing hummus (according to Josh's roommate who is a self-proclaimed expert and who I am pretty sure could point you to a hummus place anywhere in Israel).

We passed through the check-point and into Palestine.

We drove through Jericho and of course couldn't exactly find our way. We ended up missing the important things and then driving north out of the city towards Ramalla. Roads in Palestine were even worse than the roads in Israel. Road signs came and went, roads got small and disappeared and the kicker is we could see an Israeli highway we wanted to go on, but it was literally blocked and fenced from the use of Palestinians. It was insanely frustrating.

Entrance to the Israeli highway from the West Bank

Finally about an hour of being lost and attempting to ask for directions and understand directions from people who spoke only Arabic, we made it to Ramallah. Which by the way, had the best hummus ever!

After Ramallah we passed back into Israel via the Jerusalem entrance and then back to Tel Aviv. Where we got lost trying to get home and drove around the city for an hour! Overall it was a good introduction into Israel and a good first week!

Things I learned about Israeli roads:

1. Not all the signs are in English
2. Not all roads have signs
3. Q=K, I=Y in spelling
4. You will get about 30 seconds of warning when you need to turn
5. Israelis are bad with directions
6. Israel apparently doesn't pay attention to street numbers either as we were looking for number 7 on a road and when we asked what number a store was located at they couldn't answer
7. 7 year old guide books are not helpful
8. Most streets you will be hard-pressed to find a name, let alone a name in English
9. Just go with your gut that you are going the right way, because that might be all you have

Other Updates:

I am currently in London again near Gatwick airport. My flight was cancelled today, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that tomorrow I will get out on my flight to Dubai and then to Calcutta! I have decided to not only go to Calcutta, but also Rajasthan on a tour that will include the Taj Mahal and stuff.... should be some good photos!

I was very sad to leave the beach and 80-90 degree weather for the rain and clouds of London. I was so cold waiting for buses and trains on Sunday! Luckily I have 100 degree, humid weather ahead of me for the next two weeks.

I am planning on coming back to the USA and staying in NYC for a little while before going to Colombia. I just have to figure out where to live and what to do... I am thinking about taking some classes and trying to shadow some genetic counselors or something.

Me in Banyas