Has it really been three weeks since I last composed an entry!? Since it is not possible to relate everything I have done, consider these exerpts or highlights from my adventures.
Escape Mumbai by plane. Passed through the dense brown haze and smog at about 20,000 feet and finally saw blue sky. Burning trash, polluting vehicles and too many people all contribute to the constant layer of particulates that covers the city. If there is a reward, it is the few minutes in the evening when the sun, a giant red ball, disappears over the bay and the string of lights called the "Queen's necklace" illuminate the promenade along the waterfront. Mumbai, in spite of its challenges, can provide experiences to last a lifetime, even during a brief visit. I replaced my plans at the last minute from a foray to the south to a flight north to Jaipur. A couchsurfing host responded to my appeal and how could I pass up someone with the same name as a famous golfer, Vijay Singh! Although I stayed with Ankur Sharma and his family, I was really hosted by he and his two best friends, all in their twenties. The village where I stayed, Amer, is about 10 miles from Jaipur and has one of the region's most famous attractions, a beautiful castle, a fort and stone walls snaking their way over the surrounding hillsides in the style of the Great Wall of China. Ankur gave up his bed and bedroom so I could be part of the family; mom, dad, 2 sisters, one brother, Ankur and me! Tea with milk for breakfast, rice with a vegetable sauce for lunch and a similar meal for dinner, all accompanied by freshly made flat bread or nam. The cast system is alive and well in India- Ankur and his family are Brahman, his friend Abhay is of the same cast and his family are the priests in charge of the largest and most historic temple of the village, and Vijay who is Rajistani has other obligations and traditions. Each morning, Ankur went to the temple, usually before I got up, and then came to his room to pray before his personal alter. He answered many of my questions about Hinduism and I shared trips to the temple. Other than local excursions, walks on the surrounding walls, a tour of the palace, visits to an astounding observatory created hundreds of years ago in Jaipur, trips to the market and time on the roof watching children fly kites in preparation for the kite festival that I would miss by one day, the experience that is most vivid is a trip to see the Taj Mahal!
I had not planned to go to Agra since it was about 4 hours from Amer, but Vijay saw this as an opportunity for an outing with his friends. He borrowed his uncle's car, I paid for the gas, and the four of us headed to the Taj Mahal. Originally planning to share driving responsibilities on a divided highway, I soon changed my mind. Divided highway yes, but that has a different meaning in India. There is no limited access, so you share the road with camel carts full of short logs or bulging with giant bags of hay that obscure the roadway, buses in various stages of disrepair and trucks- yes, fully loaded trucks coming directly at you on the wrong side of the highway!!!! It was an exhausting experience for both driver and passengers, but we managed to survive. Honking is a national pasttime. It took all day to drive the 150 miles, so we arrived just as the last tickets were being sold to enter the Taj Mahal complex; closing in 10 minutes! We paid for a tuk tuk to get from the parking lot to the ticket booths, changed vehicles when the first one wouldn't start, had a guide who rushed us to the booth, paid another person to insert us at the head of the line, bypassing at least 200 people, and then ran for the entrance arch to take photos before sunset. Worth the effort? Yes! It was one of those breathtaking experiences, unexpected beauty in a park like setting. The sun was low in the sky, a slight misty haze filtered the sunlight and out came the cameras. Even though it was crowded, I think there were fewer people than earlier in the day. Reflecting ponds mirror the symetrical architecture of this amazingly beautiful white building. We agreed on a meeting place and I was off to capture the atmosphere of this world class wonder. Find the perfect angle, adjust the lighting, fight for position with other photographers, enter the mosque at the side in order to frame it through a doorway and then hurry to the end of the queue of people entering the building. Daylight is fading, there are no lights inside, be pushed by the crowd, stumble on the raised steps, follow someone with a lighted cell phone, give up on taking photos of the interior and find the exit. The post card photos of the inside confirm that I really did not miss the best part of the Taj Mahal. Sunset, fading light, a few last photos and taking one last glance over our shoulders, we are among the last visitors to leave.
Where to spend the night? Ask for directions, find a cheap guest house and then get something to eat . We parked while Ankur and Abhay wandered the streets near the railway station to find a suitable place. When they returned, we found out there is an additional cast in India, the foreign tourist. I was not allowed to spend the night in a guest house, and none of them was allowed to share a room in a hotel with me; result, they checked me into the inexpensive hotel room before going around the corner to their guest house. We then met at the "cafe" in front of the hotel for something to eat. The weather is cooler in the north of India than in Mumbai and none of us was prepared for the cold night. I slept in my clothes and piled the three available blankets on top of me. Even then, I didn't get a good nights sleep because I was freezing.
At 8:00 am, my three friends knocked on the door, entered wearing hoods, hats and all of the clothes they had brought, we ordered hot tea delivered to the room and all crawled under the covers to watch TV while we warmed up. The crazy photo taken by the delivery boy will be a treasured memory. The Monday morning traffic was slightly less hectic than what we experienced on Sunday, but we did meet trucks on the wrong side of the highway once again and plenty of camel carts. My three new friends continue to call me "dada" (grandpa) and to me they have become "beta" (grandsons)! We all agreed that we had shared a unique and memorable experience. Ah, this is India.
Arrival in Hong Kong. At the airport information booth, I met a young man from the UK who had just experienced India and the countries I was about to visit. With the smell of India still in our clothes, we bonded immediately. He had a general neighborhood in mind for finding a cheap guest house and since I had made no previous plans, we figured out transportation to the center of the city and to the guest house where we ended up getting rooms. You wouldn't believe this massive, complicated building and the variety of things it housed. Only describable in person. Stephen and I shared the Hong Kong experience. I later spent two nights couchsurfing with Ian, another young Englishman who is teaching in Hong Kong, and he showed Stephen and me places we had not yet visited. Hong Kong, what a contrast to Mumbai. Clean, efficient and organized, we were able to get everywhere either on foot or by using public transportation. I had no preconeived notion of what Hong Kong would be like, and had only considered it a stop over on my way to Thailand. What a pleasant surprise- a little bit of San Francisco, New York, Cape Town, Istanbul. We never ran out of things to do and interesting places to visit. One day we walked the city for fourteen hours, almost non-stop, including climbing long stairways, the steep winding streets leading to the observation areas above the city, taking the longest complex of escalators in the world, and descending in a cable car that sometimes hits a 45 degree angle. It was absolutely spectacular looking down on the mass of high rise building clustered around the busy waterways. We lingered in a traditional neighborhood full of street markets and watched live fish swimming in tanks become still breathing segments on a well worn chopping block and attempted to identify strange looking and smelling foods displayed everywhere. There is the challenge of ordering food when everything is written in Chinese and no photos- we just pointed to something identifyable on a neighboring table and laughed with the locals who tried to assist us. All of this is just down the street from gigantic modern shopping centers filled with designer shops, Prada, Chanel, Louis Vuiton, Versace and surrounded by banks and investment firms known around the world. Money! there must be lots of it here. Rich Chinese from the mainland come here to shop. For a contrast, we sought the calm and isolation of Lamma Island; a short ferry ride and a world away from the bustle of the city center. A fishing village with leaning houses built on stilts, trails leading to isolated and deserted beaches, pathways ending at mountain shrines and small restaurants displaying live lobsters, crab and fish in tanks near the entrance. Only the passing of huge ships loaded with containers gave a hint of the 7 million inhabitants living just around the corner. Farewell Hong Kong, hello Thailand.
Escape Mumbai by plane. Passed through the dense brown haze and smog at about 20,000 feet and finally saw blue sky. Burning trash, polluting vehicles and too many people all contribute to the constant layer of particulates that covers the city. If there is a reward, it is the few minutes in the evening when the sun, a giant red ball, disappears over the bay and the string of lights called the "Queen's necklace" illuminate the promenade along the waterfront. Mumbai, in spite of its challenges, can provide experiences to last a lifetime, even during a brief visit. I replaced my plans at the last minute from a foray to the south to a flight north to Jaipur. A couchsurfing host responded to my appeal and how could I pass up someone with the same name as a famous golfer, Vijay Singh! Although I stayed with Ankur Sharma and his family, I was really hosted by he and his two best friends, all in their twenties. The village where I stayed, Amer, is about 10 miles from Jaipur and has one of the region's most famous attractions, a beautiful castle, a fort and stone walls snaking their way over the surrounding hillsides in the style of the Great Wall of China. Ankur gave up his bed and bedroom so I could be part of the family; mom, dad, 2 sisters, one brother, Ankur and me! Tea with milk for breakfast, rice with a vegetable sauce for lunch and a similar meal for dinner, all accompanied by freshly made flat bread or nam. The cast system is alive and well in India- Ankur and his family are Brahman, his friend Abhay is of the same cast and his family are the priests in charge of the largest and most historic temple of the village, and Vijay who is Rajistani has other obligations and traditions. Each morning, Ankur went to the temple, usually before I got up, and then came to his room to pray before his personal alter. He answered many of my questions about Hinduism and I shared trips to the temple. Other than local excursions, walks on the surrounding walls, a tour of the palace, visits to an astounding observatory created hundreds of years ago in Jaipur, trips to the market and time on the roof watching children fly kites in preparation for the kite festival that I would miss by one day, the experience that is most vivid is a trip to see the Taj Mahal!
I had not planned to go to Agra since it was about 4 hours from Amer, but Vijay saw this as an opportunity for an outing with his friends. He borrowed his uncle's car, I paid for the gas, and the four of us headed to the Taj Mahal. Originally planning to share driving responsibilities on a divided highway, I soon changed my mind. Divided highway yes, but that has a different meaning in India. There is no limited access, so you share the road with camel carts full of short logs or bulging with giant bags of hay that obscure the roadway, buses in various stages of disrepair and trucks- yes, fully loaded trucks coming directly at you on the wrong side of the highway!!!! It was an exhausting experience for both driver and passengers, but we managed to survive. Honking is a national pasttime. It took all day to drive the 150 miles, so we arrived just as the last tickets were being sold to enter the Taj Mahal complex; closing in 10 minutes! We paid for a tuk tuk to get from the parking lot to the ticket booths, changed vehicles when the first one wouldn't start, had a guide who rushed us to the booth, paid another person to insert us at the head of the line, bypassing at least 200 people, and then ran for the entrance arch to take photos before sunset. Worth the effort? Yes! It was one of those breathtaking experiences, unexpected beauty in a park like setting. The sun was low in the sky, a slight misty haze filtered the sunlight and out came the cameras. Even though it was crowded, I think there were fewer people than earlier in the day. Reflecting ponds mirror the symetrical architecture of this amazingly beautiful white building. We agreed on a meeting place and I was off to capture the atmosphere of this world class wonder. Find the perfect angle, adjust the lighting, fight for position with other photographers, enter the mosque at the side in order to frame it through a doorway and then hurry to the end of the queue of people entering the building. Daylight is fading, there are no lights inside, be pushed by the crowd, stumble on the raised steps, follow someone with a lighted cell phone, give up on taking photos of the interior and find the exit. The post card photos of the inside confirm that I really did not miss the best part of the Taj Mahal. Sunset, fading light, a few last photos and taking one last glance over our shoulders, we are among the last visitors to leave.
Where to spend the night? Ask for directions, find a cheap guest house and then get something to eat . We parked while Ankur and Abhay wandered the streets near the railway station to find a suitable place. When they returned, we found out there is an additional cast in India, the foreign tourist. I was not allowed to spend the night in a guest house, and none of them was allowed to share a room in a hotel with me; result, they checked me into the inexpensive hotel room before going around the corner to their guest house. We then met at the "cafe" in front of the hotel for something to eat. The weather is cooler in the north of India than in Mumbai and none of us was prepared for the cold night. I slept in my clothes and piled the three available blankets on top of me. Even then, I didn't get a good nights sleep because I was freezing.
At 8:00 am, my three friends knocked on the door, entered wearing hoods, hats and all of the clothes they had brought, we ordered hot tea delivered to the room and all crawled under the covers to watch TV while we warmed up. The crazy photo taken by the delivery boy will be a treasured memory. The Monday morning traffic was slightly less hectic than what we experienced on Sunday, but we did meet trucks on the wrong side of the highway once again and plenty of camel carts. My three new friends continue to call me "dada" (grandpa) and to me they have become "beta" (grandsons)! We all agreed that we had shared a unique and memorable experience. Ah, this is India.
Arrival in Hong Kong. At the airport information booth, I met a young man from the UK who had just experienced India and the countries I was about to visit. With the smell of India still in our clothes, we bonded immediately. He had a general neighborhood in mind for finding a cheap guest house and since I had made no previous plans, we figured out transportation to the center of the city and to the guest house where we ended up getting rooms. You wouldn't believe this massive, complicated building and the variety of things it housed. Only describable in person. Stephen and I shared the Hong Kong experience. I later spent two nights couchsurfing with Ian, another young Englishman who is teaching in Hong Kong, and he showed Stephen and me places we had not yet visited. Hong Kong, what a contrast to Mumbai. Clean, efficient and organized, we were able to get everywhere either on foot or by using public transportation. I had no preconeived notion of what Hong Kong would be like, and had only considered it a stop over on my way to Thailand. What a pleasant surprise- a little bit of San Francisco, New York, Cape Town, Istanbul. We never ran out of things to do and interesting places to visit. One day we walked the city for fourteen hours, almost non-stop, including climbing long stairways, the steep winding streets leading to the observation areas above the city, taking the longest complex of escalators in the world, and descending in a cable car that sometimes hits a 45 degree angle. It was absolutely spectacular looking down on the mass of high rise building clustered around the busy waterways. We lingered in a traditional neighborhood full of street markets and watched live fish swimming in tanks become still breathing segments on a well worn chopping block and attempted to identify strange looking and smelling foods displayed everywhere. There is the challenge of ordering food when everything is written in Chinese and no photos- we just pointed to something identifyable on a neighboring table and laughed with the locals who tried to assist us. All of this is just down the street from gigantic modern shopping centers filled with designer shops, Prada, Chanel, Louis Vuiton, Versace and surrounded by banks and investment firms known around the world. Money! there must be lots of it here. Rich Chinese from the mainland come here to shop. For a contrast, we sought the calm and isolation of Lamma Island; a short ferry ride and a world away from the bustle of the city center. A fishing village with leaning houses built on stilts, trails leading to isolated and deserted beaches, pathways ending at mountain shrines and small restaurants displaying live lobsters, crab and fish in tanks near the entrance. Only the passing of huge ships loaded with containers gave a hint of the 7 million inhabitants living just around the corner. Farewell Hong Kong, hello Thailand.
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