Hampi

             Here goes the train to Hampi, a place considered to be the “Rome” of India because of its historical ruins. Its about 8 hours due east of Panaji but the train disembarks at Hospet and then its a 20 minutes rickshaw ride north to Hampi. I made myself busy on the train by reading Newsweek, peering out the window, and listening to music. While I was alone, I noticed a young European couple sitting diagonal from me and had a feeling they too were going to Hampi. So right before we arrived, I asked them if they wanted to share a rickshaw into the city. They obliged and I was extremely happy that I found someone to share the travel cost with.

View from the train on the way to Hampi

The city of Hospet... typical India

            This Spanish duo turned out to be so much more than just a budget saver. We ended up spending almost the whole time together while I was in Hampi. I discovered they were from Barcelona. Iris was a Catalan native but Tzvika emigrated from Israel and was a chef at an elegant restaurant in the city. They were honestly the most adorable couple and were such a blast to hang out with. It was truly a blessing that I met them.

My favorite Spanish couple! Iris and Tzvika

            When we arrived in Hampi, we were taken to the Hampi Bazaar, which really wasn’t a bazaar anymore. Apparently the government bulldozed the main street though we never got a proper explanation to why. It was obviously that people’s homes and business were taken from them just a few days prior to our arrival.

Regardless, we made our way to the river crossing because all the guesthouses are on the other side of the river. There is no bridge and if you want to drive across it; you have to go 50km north to get to the other side. There was however a dinky boat that chauffeurs everyone to and from the other side. It costs 15 rupees but 20 with luggage… kind of a rip off if you ask me, but whatever. Taking the boat was a risk because it had been raining a lot for the region. As a result, the river level was too high and fast for the boats to go across. 2 days ago, the boats started running again after being closed for 5 straight days. I don’t even want to think about those who were stuck across the river…. We took our chances and putted across to the muddy waters of the other side. 

Iris waiting for the river boat to arrive

Looking for the right guesthouse/hostel is really a challenge, especially in India. None of these places are listed online so if you want to pick out a place in advanced, good luck, cause its impossible. There is a method to finding the right guesthouse and price for your needs. Across the river are about 15 different guesthouses with each one with probably about 3-10 rooms. You go to each guesthouse you think you could stay in, and check out their facilities and negotiate a price. There are certain things you should look for when checking out a guesthouse:

-       AC/Fan or neither

-       Mosquito net

-       Attached restaurant

-       A shower head or bucket shower

-       Western toilet or a squatting Indian toilet (huge deal breaker)

-       Hot water or no hot water

-       A sink or just a faucet for your feet that you must use

-       A place to set your things down so its not on the floor

-       Clean sheets cause they don’t always change them

The guesthouse restaurant. Had amazing food and a great place to meet other travelers

Then move onto the next option and do the same thing until you have come to a decision.  It’s quite exhausting when you’re lugging around a huge backpack and then some…. Which comes to my next complaint… I PACKED WAYYYYY TO MUCH STUFF! What was I thinking? Most traveler in India have 3-5 outfits… maybe. But I seem to have like 30, plus a computer. Luckily I always have clean clothes to use but they are not always appropriate. Some of the things I packed are for the beach of Thailand and Bali, which do not have the same dress code as the hill country of India.

As we were looking for a room, we ran into 2 guys (David and Chavi) who were also from Barcelona. While they stayed at a different guesthouse; Iris, Tzvika, and I found the right place and moved in our stuff. I bargained a room that would give me my own room for 3 nights for 450 rupees ($10). Not bad… but I later found out that my bed had bugs in it, the showerhead was a piece of shit, and it was pretty much an awful night of sleep. Luckily they moved me upstairs for the same price and it was a MUCH better room and bed situation so I was happy.

Chavi testing out the mopeds

After showering and getting settled, the Spanish coalition and I met at the restaurant where we had an amazing dinner. I had eggplant masala with chili naan. It was a killer meal. We sat and talked (I mostly listened because I don’t speak Catalan [which is very different then Spanish]) while we enjoyed the scenery of the river and ruins. 

            The following day we all decided to explore our side of the river together. We met at 10am for chai and breakfast. Afterwards, we haggled for some mopeds so we could see the lake and the Hanuman temple (aka monkey temple). Iris and Tzvika opted for the moped while I wanted to save money and also get some exercise so I rented a bike for 40 rupees along with Chavi and David. We rode our bike 7 km to the lake, which was absolutely beautiful! I panicked after going down the first hill cause my antique and squeaky bike chain came off. Luckily some locals were able to fix it and it didn’t happen again (which was a huge relief). You have to go through a couple villages (which no doubt don’t see many tourists) and through acres upon acres of rice paddies. With the sun in the sky, it was a perfect day for a bike ride and a dip in the lake. The water was cool but not too cool. We ended up lounging in the water for an hour because we were so exhausted from the bike ride. The weather was just splendid and we were the only ones for miles. We eventually rode a bit further but there wasn’t much more to see so we headed aback to one of the villages to get some grub. We ended up going to this hole in the wall restaurant that Tzvika picked out. (Clearly the only on in the village. All the locals’ eat/drink here as evidence by the 50 small liquor bottles in the trash can).

Refreshing dip in the lake was much needed!

Namaste

Fields of rice paddies

            We all ordered the vegetarian thali. Today’s special was cabbage and it probably was one of the best meals I've had since being here and it only costs 40 rupees (compared to the 140 rupees I spent in Delhi). We demolished our food and then set back out to go to the monkey temple. The road to the this temple was more or less flat as opposed to hilly on the way to the lake. Much easier and a relief because our quads were definitely burning by this point.

When we arrived at the temple, we parked our bikes and had to walk up the 800 steps to the top. We were followed by about 15 pre-adolescent boys badgering us with all sorts of inane questions all the way to the top. They were curious and harmless so we all marched up the hill together. Upon reaching the summit, the views were jaw dropping. There was a 360 degree panoramic view of the rice paddies, the winding river that feeds all the villages, and the Hampi archeological site. Absolutely spectacular. We all enjoyed our 30 minutes in paradise while all the kids were asking for our pictures and going on photo shoots with our cameras.  Not an uncommon occurrence in India.

The Monkey temple

We descended from the hilltop and rode back to our guesthouse. Our legs were involuntarily shaking cause of all the exercise. I have never wanted to take a shower so badly in my life. It was amazing. I relaxed inside for a bit while the mosquitoes roamed (I learned my lesson to be outside and exposed during 5-7pm). I was still severely suffering from the other night’s brutal mosquito battle.

Of course we all met up later for dinner. We went to a different restaurant this time where I ordered a dish that I didn’t know what to expect, and it was equally delicious as all the other Indian meals. 4 French ladies who were studying for a year in Bangalore but were on holiday for the weekend joined us. They were adorable and trilinguists of French, Spanish, and English so we were all able to be involved in the conversation. When it comes to times like these, it makes me so mad that America doesn’t require learning more than 1 language in primary school. Additionally, it makes me mad that I've lost the majority of my French skills.

While some sipped on Kingfisher, others order various lassis… a yogurt milkshake with fruit. Sounds gross but its so good! We later turn them into “special” lassi, which makes a hell of a difference.

The next morning was a bit lazy. Iris, Tzvika, and I said goodbye to Chavi and David after having breakfast. Then our threesome set off to the other side of the river to see the ruins. We go to the boat crossing and have mud up to our ankles while we wait for 30 minutes for the boat to arrive. Mind you, we can see the thing just sitting on the dock about 50 meters away. “Shanti shanti” which mean peace in Hindi. A common saying you must use when in many similar situations in India. Patience is beautiful…

The Hampi Bazaar is like many tourist areas. A lot of people pestering you to buy whatever they have: fruit for sale with flies all over them, quintessential shady street food, etc. Iris and I were going to do a jewelry making class but the guy was charging way too much to do it so we passed. Instead we hiked up to one place where there was a temple and some really cool ruins from about 600 years ago. It really did remind me a lot of the Roman forum.

Tzvika wandering about

We put Tzvika in charge of picking out a place for lunch since he did such a good job yesterday. He picked this street vendor that was selling thali for 30 rupees (about $.80). Tzvika got a “D” today because the food was pretty much awful, and cold. But I ate it anyways because I was starving. Without a doubt, I regret this decision… I also regret getting a grilled corn on the cob later because I was still hungry. It was equally as awful because it was clearly old and underdone. I ate half of it anyways. Why did I do this to myself?

Pretending to enjoy my lunch... Lol

Iris wanted to look at some more jewelry but I wanted to see more ruins since it was my last day there. I just wandered around on foot because there is 26km of ruins. They are everywhere and I was bound to run into a bunch of old temples. I went to sunset point, Ganesha’s temple and Krishna’s temple, among other places. One of the temples I went into smelled like it had been used as a restroom for the past couple centuries. I almost vomited.

Sightseeing is awesome but in India, it definitely gets you dirty and sweaty. So after my shower and chill session, I met back up with my fav Spanish couple for dinner at the guesthouse restaurant. We enjoyed our time with some other Israeli travelers until the power went out. This has happened before but this time it was out for the whole night. We tried to wait it out but the power never came back on. 11:30 rolled around and finally we were all like, “lets go to bed.” So we all used our candles and torches to get ourselves situated for bedtime. Another day in the life of a backpacker…

Woke up early to pack and center my “chi” before my 24-hour train excursion back to Mumbai… but the power was still out. Luckily the water was working. I went down to breakfast and said goodbye to Iris and Tzvika. We also exchange contact info and hopefully they will give me a call when they come to the US.

I crossed the river early because I didn’t want to be in the unfortunate situation of having to wait for the boat for 45 minutes in the mud again. I also wanted to get some traditional Indian henna on my hand. Plus I wanted to have plenty of time to eat lunch before my train. I found a rooftop restaurant on the other side of the river where I was able to enjoy my vegetarian noodles (my staple meal when I don’t want to order Indian). In the midst of my feast, my belly started to rumble. I immediately knew I was in trouble but it was too late. I had to run to the restroom for some relief. I knew it was the damn thali and corn from yesterday. CURSES! Of course I get sick right before my 24 hour train ride, right? Thankfully, I had pills to take for this specific situation, which did me wonders. While I didn’t feel 100%, or eat anything on the train, I managed without being completely miserable if I hadn’t taken any medication.

Henna! Should last about 2 weeks.

Back to Bombay I go for just 2 days until I head to the “Land of Smiles” aka THAILAND! 

Goa part 2: Goa-ing Solo

            Everyone leaves Goa… except for me. I didn’t want to go back to Mumbai since I already have seen the city so I decide to stay in Goa and see where the next week by myself takes me. Luckily, Shia arranges for me to hang out with some of her friends that we met during the first night at Alcove: Aman and Ashneet and Eddie. They are all kick ass and speak amazing English (which is definitely a plus). When Shia ad the twins head to the airport, my new group of friends pick me up at the Taj and I say goodbye to my luxury accommodations before I set off to a shitty guesthouse.

            I thought they were going to just drop me off at my guesthouse (that Id already picked out) and hang out with them later, but they offered to let me stay with them at their hotel in Baga Beach because there was an extra bed in Eddie’s room. JACKPOT! So I got a free nights stay. =)

A beautiful Temple in Goa

            Once I settled into my room, we all went to the hotel bar where there was also Karishma and her husband. The first thing they do is order a round of jagerbombs. Am I on the jersey shore? No, but apparently they love jagerbombs. So we do 2 of those and then order a cocktail, and then do a kamikaze shot. This wasn’t the night I was envisioning in my head but it’s turning out pretty awesome!

Poor quality picture but here is Aman, Karishma's husband, Karishma, and me all doing jagerbombs!

            We then move locations to Brittos on Baga beach. We have some good Goan food and drinks until we move next door to Anthony’s where there was karaoke going on. Of course, I HAVE to sing at least one song, so I choose my staple choice: Nancy Sinatra’s these boots are made for walking. I am a terrible singer but luckily everyone who was before my sucked so I ended up being a hit! Who knew? We decided to go to another bar until Aman got a bit ill from drinking so we called it an early night at about 1pm. Ya, that’s early here… even on a Sunday. To wrap up the night, Karishma and I shared a Dosa, which is a very thin pancake that you dip into sauce. It’s a popular breakfast item as well as late night drunk food and hit the spot.

            The hotel was really comfortable but very basic considering Americans hotel standards but a report compared to the guesthouse that I moved to in the afternoon. I say goodbye to my new friends and they drop me off at Evershine Guesthouse in Anjuna Beach. We drove up and down the main road about 5 times before finding it in the back of another guesthouse. That’s what happens when you go to a country that has no street names.

            As a prelude, let me say that my experience over the next few days at Evershine guesthouse was amazing… However, when I first arrived, I was in total shock that I was going to be staying at this, to put it nicely… dump. It was run down, had very little amenities, a trickling showerhead, and had a long muddy driveway. But it was run by the nicest women ever, Sebastiana, and had plenty of super cool backpackers for me to meet. Oh and did I mention it was cheap? It was about $3 a night to stay there. So it was worth it. I never really spent time at the guesthouse, especially alone. There was always someone there for me to talk to. In fact many of them had been there for weeks so they knew the good places in the area to go to. Definitely a different experience then the Taj hotel huh?

            I arrived in the afternoon so I had the remainder of the day to mosey around to do whatever I wanted. Thought it rained in the morning, can you believe that the sun finally came out to play?! It was beautiful outside and only the second day of sunshine id seen since driving to Rishikesh. So naturally, I ended up going to the beach which was more rocky then a beach. But I found my little corner of sand, broke out my ipod and listened to some jams while I soaked up the first decent rays i've seen since I've been in India. It wasn’t long before I had teenage gawkers interrupt my relaxation time and ask if they could take a picture of me, or just take one anyways. So rude. But I was able to center my chi and enjoy the surroundings.

Peace from Anjuna beach

That night I ended up going to a smoothie bar right next to the guesthouse because I heard they had wifi. I ordered a sandwich (very rare in India) and surfed the web while the cloud of smoke filled the room. What I didn’t know about this “smoothie” shop was the smoothies weren’t their number one product. It was definitely weed and there was a lot of it. One gentleman in particular came up to me just as I arrived and we started talking about life in goa. He moved from Sweden to live the simple life. Facts about this man: 55 years old, professor of hematology (has done research and lectures about stem cell research and patients with cancer), quit his job, has 7 tattoos, unfortunately has multiple sclerosis, smokes A LOT of cannabis (probably a result of his MS), and has lived in Goa for 3 months. So clearly there was plenty to talk about. I ended up staying the “smoke shop” all night. Not to smoke, but because it was the local hippie haven and there were people walking in and out all night. They all seemed to know each other and look and me and say, “Oh hey, there’s a new face! Whets your name? Yadda yadda yadda.” I felt very welcome, and when you’re alone, company is always welcome. Not a bad first day being a single female traveler in India.

The smoothie shop's two kittens that love to snuggle next to me

            I woke up late but there’s no shame in that! I’m living the dream in India. And I can do anything I want today… I take it easy and lay around in the morning talking with a few folk around the guesthouse. Then I had a solo lunch/dinner at this amazing restaurant called Blue Tao. I had chicken tikka which was f%*#ing mouthwatering! Be jealous. Afterwards I discovered some people form the guesthouse went on an acid trip in the jungle, but I chose to wander around the village looking at various shops.

Chicken Tikka = amazingness

Then the evening rolled around, bringing the mosquitoes out to life. Oh and did they LOVE me. I had been pretty lucky and had only been bitten a few times since arriving in India, but this evening was absurd. I sat in the hammock outside my door and I thought that my mosquito cream would be sufficient for my exposed areas. Boy was I wrong. I thought my pants were very itchy because I just changed form my shower. But no, I apparently was being annihilated by mosquitoes through the hammock. My legs and ass looked like I had herpes there were so many bites! Embarrassing? Yes. Painful? Yes. Fun? No. So I sat in my room and sulked for the next hour and a half while I thought about revenge and tried not to itch. I wanted to do one of those moves that dogs do and scrape my butt along the carpet. Ugh!

Eventually I got the nerve to open the door and resume conversation with the others. They were off to get some food and beers. I followed suit and joined Tatu from Finland, Siyuri from Japan, and Stacy from the UK. We all shared stories about our travels and talked about the life we escape when we backpack for long periods of time. After, some of us go off to Curliest for some more beers and meet up with another Evershine resident, Tal from Israel. We throwing some brews back with the locals until we hear about a trance party going on at Primrose, which is a Russian bar in Vagator beach. When we arrive, there’s not many people there, but the music is raging so we jump on the dance floor. It ended up being a blast though there were only a few of us. The only bubble buster was the Aussi who was the most obnoxious person I've ever met. He talked in length about how he was wanted for a felony charge in Australia and has been on the run since he was 19. During his one of his many tangents, he proceeded to whip out some cocaine and do a couple of lines on the table in the middle of the restaurant. I suspect he won’t be around for much longer… Strange I’ve never seen so many drugs then I have in Goa. Group evershine survived the crazy night and headed back to the guesthouse shortly after.

My final day in Goa I went out with a bang. Tal, Tatu, Stacy and I went to the beach and got a couple lounge chairs in the sun. We drank some chai until we got hungry so I got the seafood soup. It was the worst thing I've had in India. It was about a tablespoon of over cooked seafood in hot water… plus sand. It was gross but we managed to bask in the sun for a few hours on the Arabian Sea. We eventually got really hungry cause the seafood soup really didn’t satisfy our aching bellies. We went to another beach restaurant and I devoured some hummus with pita bread and an order of vegetable noodles. (I needed a change of pace in cuisine) Tal was then nice enough to buy me my first coconut... I hadn’t had one since id been in India! And it was oh so delicious.

Tatu, me and Tal at the beach

Chilling in my room was the next order of business while talking to Sabastiana who arranged my taxi and train ticket to Hampi for the next day. She honestly was such a doll for helping me in every way possible.

That evening, Tal was jamming at the Sea Rock, which is a bar down the road. A bunch of us went to go check out the live show and it was amazing! I would have gladly paid to listen to the tunes. We threw back some more beers while some drank complimentary tequila shots. I passed, not only because just the thought of drinking low-grade tequila after a few beers makes me want to vom, but I also had to wake up at 5am to catch my 7am train to Hampi. At the end of the night, we all exchanged contact info and whatnot. I look forward to hopefully seeing some of them in California or elsewhere. 

Goa! Part 1

While Im thankful India provides meals to its passengers on planes, even on 45 minutes flights, I would prefer them to at least serve food thats at least edible. All the meals on our flights within India have been dreadful.Good thing I was so tired and delirious from staying up all night that it really didnt matter.

We land in Goa at about 6am and its time to party! Just kidding.... its time to sleep. We were staying at the Taj Vivanta in Panaji, the capital and biggest city in Goa. Its about a half hour drive from the airport but the hotel has complimentary pick up so it was a piece of cake getting to the hotel. However, my Delhi belly was coming back with a vengance so the trip was somewhat comparable to a roller coaster ride. Show me the loo immediately!

Fun fact: Goa was colonized by the Portuguese and were ousted from the area only 50 years ago. Consequently, there is a huge Portuguese influence on the food, religion and culture here.

Portuguese cathedral in Panaji

The Taj is a chain of very luxurious 5 star hotels in India and this one was no exception. It was catered to business men but still had amazing gym, pool, and spa facitilites. Shia, her finace Hoff, Jamie, Michelle, and I all check in and we get 2 rooms. The rooms are absolutely phenomenal! I feel like a queen, but also a bit out of place because we just spent the past week staying at guesthouses that cost $3 a night. Regardless, we all hit the bed face first a take a snooze before we get our first day in Goa started!



I only slept 3 hours because I know if I slept too long, I would totally screw up my sleeping pattern for the rest of the trip so I woke up at 11 and went to the gym. It was nice to work out again but it had felt like weeks with all the paneer, masala, naan, and dont forget the endless amounts of chai with extra milk and sugar! (So worth it) I was the only one in the gym except for one employee that hovered over my shoulder just in case I got confused about the machinery. I got it dude.... Haha.

I went back to the room where Jamie and Michelle were just getting up and showering. We went down to the hotels restaurant where we have free meals the whole duration of our stay. SWEET! And may I mention the quality of food? Holy crap, lets just say I wanted to eat everything on the menu. It was served buffet style but its definitely a 5 star buffet. I had a huge selection of food and desserts which I inhaled. When you finish, you just ask yourself, whens the next meal?

Shia likes to sleep in so she awoke at 3pm and thats when Pauvan arrived. He is a friend of Hoffs and stayed in another room next to ours and joined us on all the activites thoughout the trip. Once we were all feeling up to going out, we rented a car, which Shia and Hoff had already arrangd, we took off to north Goa, where all the action is. Depending on what beach you go to (Anjuna, Baga, Calangute, etc) its about a 20-30min drive. Even though it was cloudy with scattered showers, it was still beautiful.

They gave us a small driving tour of the area before we got hungry. We went to Alcove where they are famous for their Goan seafood. Seafood is the main diet of a normal Goan, and believe me, its delicious! We sit down where Shia orders a grip load of food. In fact, wayyyyy too much food but its hard to complain when you eat it all. Some friends arrive, including 3 other coulpes so theres even more to our party. It was also one of the girls birthdays so she orders a cake to top off the meal for us. For starters we had prawns masala and fried calamari. And if your mouth isnt already watering, just wait till you hear about the main course. There was a spicy crab curry and a butter crab curry from what has to be some of the biggest crabs Ive ever seen! All the while chasing our succulent meal with some Kings... the quintissential beer of the area.

After dinner and celebration (which mind you took about 3-4 hours), we got some road beers and headed back to the hotel. The party followed us so when we got back it continued as a dance party in Shia's room and then up to the pool deck on the top floor of the hotel. Michelle and I however, missed the after party because we were so bloody tired from not having properly slept in days. So we passed out while Jamie and the others took advantage of the evening hours. When we woke up (from our 12 hour slumber), we heard all the stories from last night and how one of the guys had split open his toe from trying to jump the fence around the pool. He had to leave to go to the hospital with his wife apparently hysterically crying. Everyone apparently partied till 4am. While it sounded like it would have been an unforgettable time, Im glad I got my much needed beauty sleep.

The next day was a recovery day (for a particular group of people.... ahem). I myself woke up refreshed from an amazing nights sleep. After eating breakfast and then taking advantage of the lovely room amenities, we got the energy to go to another Taj resort in north Goa so we could go in their pool thats basically on the beach. It was the afternoon but it was still coudy. We got to the pool and ordered plenty of drinks to last us the next couple hours. We splashed about with pool toys and all the little kids were envious. We took plenty of pictures when my camera mysteriously stopped working. I thought it was out of battery but upon later inspection, it was full of water. I bought a waterproof camera that aparently leaks water. Awesome.... Like I said before, all my pics are safe cause its on my SIM card but I cant access them without my camera working. So I sent it back to the states. Im definitely depressed I cant share the majority of my pictures with you from this time. My appoligies. But they will be up for viewing sometime in the future..... Pool time was a blast but pretty soon its time to go to back to the hotel for dinner. And just like before, the food was uh-mazing! We got some road beers and continued drinking until the wee hours of the morning.



Anjuna Beach

The next day is more of the same. Workout, eat breakfast and later get in the car for more adventures. We went to Brittos, a famous bar/restaurant on Baga beach for a late lunch. This place was really cool and the beach is phenomenal. You could tell how busy it gets during peak season. We parked ourselves at a table that overlooked the beach. We again ordered the staple Goan appetizers of fried calamari and prawns masala followed by squids in chili sauce and a few other items.

This is a good moment to talk about the driving and mopeds. Pauvan and Hoff were very nice and drive the entire time we were in Goa, but let me just say, they need some major lessons in the accelerate and decelerate department. Jamie got car sick while she was in the back but I think most of us felt a little queezy at least once during some point of the drive around Goa. I understand the road arent good and theres hella mopeds but seriously, it was scary 100% of the time being in a car with them. Not to mention, we were lost most of the time. I lost track of how many times we did a u-turn (in particular trying to find a famous German Bakery). Eventually it turned into a drinking game where you had to drink at every u-turn. The mopeds are another story. You can rent one for 200 rupees or roughly 5 dollars a day. Pretty sweet since this is the only efficient way to get around these parts. But its once again frightening to be on these roads as no one knows how to drive. AT YOUR OWN RISK! I even saw a moped accident where this guy slid accoss an intersection. Fortunately, he was able to walk away but his bike wasnt so lucky.

Happy to be in Goa! 

Before we know it, its time to party like the real Goans do because its Saturaday night! And also our last night all together. We head up to Curlies on Anjuna beach, where we were a few days ago for drinks. But this time, they are having a big trance party. Trance is a type of music thats seen in most raves and very popular around the area. Jamie is a big fan of trance so she was a happy little clam. We arrive and go upstairs where the bass is thumping and order a round of drinks and a sheesha. There are all sorts of people in this place from Indians, to foreigners to younng old, hippie, posh, drunk, high, whatever. Once we relax and get into the mood, we hit the dance floor for hours (or at least until we sweat our faces off). It was such a great time and definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

Jamie is so photogenic!

Jaipur

            We arrive at the train station and its complete chaos. Absolute madness. We immediately have 15 men surrounding us asking us, wait, telling us they can take us to our hotel for only 10 rupees each. Special deal for you. We were badgered for 20 minutes until we found a guy to take us. We get in his 1950s car and he turns on some music. What does he play? Barbie girl by Aqua… and he knows every word. One of the most hysterical things that’s happened to us so far.

Our hostel was already picked out but the driver had never heard of the place before so he had to stop and ask some police people, though he was recommending that we stay in a different hotel. The police thought the driver was cheating us and took his license away. It all happened so fast but we thought the guy was legitimate and convinced the police that he was being fair. The police were so sure and escorted us to our hostel, but it was fully occupied. We then decided to go to the hotel the driver suggested and got a pretty good deal there for a king bed for all of us. The only unfortunate part was we couldn’t figure out how to turn off the fan in the room. It made it freezing in there because there were no covers. (This is a tip for those of you traveling to India: bring your own towel, toilet paper, and bed sheet/covers cause none of that shit is ever supplied.) So we froze and hardly slept again but we wanted to get up early cause we only had a half a day in Jaipur before our flight back to Mumbai.

We took a tuk tuk to the Amber fort for 400 rupees. Jaipur is the capital city of Rajasthan, which borders Pakistan. This means it’s pretty much a desert. Its nickname is the pink city because all the buildings are a soft shade of red. Our tuk tuk driver is Max and he is hilarious. He speaks amazing English and shows us a bunch of sites on the way while making all kinds of animal noises. Very random.

            Max drops us off at the bottom of the hill at Amber fort and we take an elephant ride up to the top! So cool, and Jamie in particular was freaking out cause she’s obsessed with elephants. She was in heaven, even when they sneeze on her.

            On our way up, the elephant conductor asked Michelle and I if we were from Japan. Wtf? How do you think were from Japan? But we said yes anyways, we’re from Tokyo. It took about 20 minutes and 500 rupees each but it was so worth it. Except that when an elephant poops, it looks like he dropping coconuts from his bum. Ew. You have to make sure you don’t step on the coconuts.

The amber fort was built in the 1500s and took only 20 years to build, which is remarkable considering how big it is. We all made our separate ways and did our own tour. The fort was Persian inspired so it was a change of pace from all the Hindi temples we’ve been seeing. The fort was definitely a highlight of the trip.

We got back to the hostel and quickly packed our bag to head to the airport. We checked into the only terminal they had and waited for our flight as we reminisced about the past week of anarchy.

            Because nothing runs on time in India, we waited an extra 45 minutes to board the plane. When we did get to line up for the plane, the ticket scanner spontaneously stopped working just as I was giving my ticket. Everyone was staring at me if I had something to do with it. After about 15 minutes of random typing and phone calls it started working again.

We sat in our seats and proceeded to laugh continuously for the 2-hour flight. We thought for sure that the flight attendant was going to come on the loud speaker and oust us by saying, “could the ladies in row 26 please shut up. You’re disturbing all the passengers.”

We got to Mumbai and our driver, courtesy of Shia, picked us up and took us back to Shia’s apartment. She was in the middle of a private waxing session when we arrived. Where do I get one of those? We were starving because the food on the plane was atrocious so Shia’s servants brought us some fresh coffee, chai, and a traditional Indian lunch. So bomb! Then we all showered because we were mountain women for the past week. It’s amazing how much filth and soot there was on us. A proper shower and shave did us wonders and we felt like new women. I seriously wouldn’t complain if I never left Shia’s apartment.

            Although we hadn’t slept in forever, we pulled an all nighter cause our flight to Goa left at 5am which means we had to leave for the airport at 3. I occupied myself with my computer reconnecting with the world until it was party time. Michelle passed out but Jamie, Shia, her fiancé, and me Hoff went to a local bar called the Ghetto. It was a super rad bar that was glow in the dark. All the walls were graffitied with neon paint. My favorite was the Van Morrison mural on one of the walls. We got a couple pitchers of Kingfisher (a local brew) before heading back to her apartment. 

Agra

Bad news…. My camera broke. While I didn’t lose all my pictures because they are saved on my ISM card, I can’t access them because the camera won’t turn on. So unfortunately, I wont be able to share my pictures from Agra, the Taj Mahal, Jaipur, and Goa. Such a shame I know! I’m honestly depressed about it, however, when I meet up with Heather in a week and a half, she will have her camera so all hope will be restored once I get to Thailand.

           We woke up at 5am so we could hit the road by 6 to go to Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal. However, Sadhir was late and didn’t arrive until 6:30, putting us in a bad mood. But we loaded up the car and attempted to sleep on the way. But if you know anything about driving in India, you know that it’s impossible to sleep with the mass amounts of swerving, honking, and breaking. We made much better time heading back south so it only took us 6 hours to reach Delhi again as opposed to 8. Sadhir had to make a stop so we could get our train tickets from Agra (which he should have done before) but whatever. We then continued our way down to Agra but there was definitely so more holiday traffic since it was officially Independence Day! We missed the festivities cause it took us so bloody long to get down there but we also missed the majority of the traffic, however the opposite side of the road was ridiculous.

This is a good time to talk about how popular we are in India. Yes, we look different from everyone else so we were expecting to get stared at, but we had no idea the extent people we going to get a glimpse of the western girls. Traffic in particular makes a great excuse to stare. We got many looks on the road. One guy even got in a fender bender because he was staring at us! LMFAO!

We reach the city of Agra after 12 hours on the road. Oh but wait… we got a flat tire as son as we get off the man highway. Great... so Sadhir changes it in within 15 min while the sun goes down. But to those of you who are unaware, sunrise and sunset are the prime times for the mosquitoes to start swarming. Awesome…

We get to Nirvana hostel and we are straight up exhausted. Luckily they serve free dinner so we chow down, shower, email, and talk to this really cute girl, Paola, also staying at the hostel from Equator. She’s traveling by herself for 2 months in India while she on break from teaching English in Thailand. She’s super cool and gives me plenty of advise about Thailand since that’s my next destination.

Despite being completely worn out, we decide to get up early, like super early (5am) so we can see the Taj Mahal at sunrise. We get up and pack our stuff to load back onto Sadhir’s car. We head to the Taj but it’s really cloudy and sprinkling so it was kind of a waste to get up that early because you couldn’t even see the sunrise. Regardless, we got some really cool pics, spent at least 2 hours wandering around the grounds. It was really spectacular sight but I have to be honest, the one temple in Delhi completely blows the Taj Mahal out of the water. The Taj is really just a big tourist trap. It costs almost $20 for foreigners just to go inside. What a rip off.

While Michelle was busy with her audio tour, Jamie and I took a seat in a prime spot before the Taj. In a matter of 30 minutes, we had 3 people ask to tae pictures of us. This is a completely bazaar concept to us but we oblige when they ask. Its when they deviously snap photos of us that gets my pissed off. And trust me… this happened often. But we enjoy the scenery, as we can’t believe we made it to the Taj.

View of the Taj Mahal from the Agra Fort

            Afterwards, we went to an Indian restaurant for breakfast before going to the Agra fort. This is a world heritage site and has amazing views of the Taj and the whole city. We even ended up running into Paola so we were able to enjoy the site with her.

Inside the Agra Fort

The Newlon seesters!

            We wanted to go to Akbar’s tomb but the traffic was so horrific and it was on the other side of town, that we decided to just skip it. We ended up going to the train station early and hanging out before our 5:30 train to Jaipur.

We sat in the ladies first class lounge, which basically meant that there were only a few seats with some air conditioning and a table. Not exactly “first class” but trust me, it was better then sitting in the fly infested area of the trains food court. Sick… oh and this was a fabulous time to start experiencing my first case of Delhi belly. Perfect.

Our train was an hour late, yay, but it was a surprisingly easy process. We found our platform and our car and our seats with ease. I thought it was going to be a little more disorganized but I was wrong. First class is filled with Indian families and travelers just like us so we were in good company. Definitely worth $20. The seats weren’t exactly comfortable but Michelle was lucky enough to sleep. Jamie and I were not as lucky cause we had a guy next to us that smelled like he was bathing in garbage for the past month. This made our 6 hours travel to Jaipur miserable. But Check out what we do in our spare time at the train station to keep the mood light. Haha!

Rishikesh and Haridwar

8/13/11. 6am. Went to bed at 2am. Tired? Oh yes…. But we have no option, we hired a driver to take us up to Rishikesh and then down to Agra for a few days. Rishikesh is a city in the Himalayas, north of Delhi in the Uttarakhand territory, which borders Tibet (China) and Nepal. It’s a relatively small city though made famous by the Beatles in the 60s who went there for a spiritual journey and later inspired their album: Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. It’s also India’s yoga epicenter and a spiritual haven for Hindis as its located on the Ganga River (not Ganges as we found out).

We gathered our backpacks (that already reek mind you) and met up with Sahdir, our driver. He put our belongings up on his beat up car and strapped them down covered by a bright orange tarp to protect them from the monsoon rains. However, we had sunny skies the whole 8 hour drive up to Rishikesh though we were told it would only take 6-7. What we didn’t realize, it was a holiday weekend ending in India’s independence day on Monday.  Everyone was taking off work and traveling just as we were. As if there weren’t enough people in India (approx 1.2 billion people), everyone and their mother though it would be a good idea to hit the road and travel this weekend too, making traffic f*@$ing ridiculous. To make matters worse, the AC didn’t work and we were sweating our faces off in the blistering sun.

We wanted to maximize the day in Rishikesh but we didn’t end up getting there until just after 3pm (partially due to the excessive random stops by Sadhir where he’d get out of the car and leave us waiting for 5-10 min and then return). Upon arriving, we decided to stay across the river from main part of town where most of the temples and ashrams are, and only accessible by a footbridge. 

Rishikesh footbridge over the Ganga with the famous Swarg Niwas Temple in the background

So we took our backpacks and went across the bridge and ended up staying at the Hill Top Hotel. It looked nice from the road but the entrance was definitely on a hilltop, which we immediately regretted as soon as we commenced our steep journey up the road. By the time we got into our room, we all desperately needed a shower and park ourselves in front of the AC for a half hour. 

View from our hotel's rooftop

We didn’t have much time before we wanted to go to an aarti down the road so we quickly freshened up and head out the door just in time for it to start raining! Of course right…. The whole time we were driving it was amazing and then as soon as we start to do activities it downpours. Whatever, so we have to walk a bit and then go across another footbridge to the Parmarth Niketan Ashram located on the holiest river in India, the Ganga. People were packed elbow-to-elbow, locals and foreigners alike, to witness this daily ritual. For those of you who are unfamiliar of what an “aarti” is (as I was un till recently), it’s a religious ceremony for the Hindi gods. Each temple’s aarti is different and conducts a service according to the people from that particular area but usually involves offerings such as lamps and flowers. Additionally, there are people bathing, splashing, and even drinking the water. I merely stuck my toe in the water as the Ganga reportedly has 1,500 bacteria particles per drop. Of course, I was eagar to scrub my foot when I returned to the hotel however, that doesn’t mean much in India because after only a few days of walking around, my feet were permanently stained with filth.

Lord Shiva

On the Ganga ghat for the aarti

Band playing at the aarti

After the ceremony, we were starving and headed back to our side of town and ate some Tibetan food. I had the momo, which is kinda like pot stickers, and Jamie and Michelle each got their version of a thupka, a traditional soup.

Tibetan Dinner

The next day, we got an early start and decided to trek to a waterfall in the Himalayas! Sadhir took us to a trail where we paid our 30 rupees and took an hour-long hike, climaxing with the largest waterfall at the top that had a wadding pool as a reward. It was absolutely, brilliantly gorgeous. There were only a few other local Indians hiking so it was pretty tranquil, which were now unaccustomed to. It was an easy hike up but as it went on, it got steeper, which wasn’t a big deal except it was hotter then blazes, and we were utterly dripping with sweat. So when we reached the apex we had a sigh of relief when we got to jump into the water. 

We weren’t the only ones, but we were the only ones clothed as the locals were only in their skivvies. It was a little… ahem… awkward as you can see by the pictures. After cooling off, we trekked back down the mountain where we found out from our driver that the day before, there was a murder from an altercation where a guy got his throat cut. Oh snap! Thank god we found out about that AFTER!

I know you're focusing on the waterfall

Though soaking wet, we got back in the car and headed to Haridwar, a city not far from Rishikesh, but took FOREVER to get to courtesy of the holiday traffic once again. We arrived at Chandi Devi Temple which is on top of a hill overlooking Haridwar. Rather than hike again, we channeled our inner child and opted for the ropeway, which is the Indian version of the Disneyland skyway. The line for tickets took FOREVER and was infested by flies. So gross. But after an hour we were able to get into our gondola and were carried up the mountain in a matter of minutes… coincidentally just in time for it to start raining again! Lol. We walked around and took a lot of great pics but the temple was completely packed and everyone was chanting a hymn, which we obviously didn’t know. Moreover, while the temple was surrounded by beauty, it most certainly wasn’t due to all the trash, street vendors, beggars, and monkeys. So we skipped it.

The monkeys are rabid and pester everyone, especially those with food. Michelle happened to be eating some sliced cucumber with salt, pepper, and lemon (her favorite thing in the whole world as she had 6 of them that day), when a monkey came out of nowhere to grab it from her. The monkey proceeded to pull on her shirt, however she had both hands occupied with her cucumbers and ended up taking down her skirt in the middle of the plaza! So hysterical until we realized we had to shoo away the monster so she could readjust herself. Classic…

On our way back down the mountain, Jamie had to sneeze so she turned her head and did so. However, it was perfect timing for the opposite gondola to be going up and sneezed right in their faces and scared the crap out of them. We were hysterically laughing for 10 minutes.

Our final activity of the day was another aarti but in city of Haridwar. We got there a bit early so we walked around the shops and bazaar. There were some cool items but I was so distracted by the rancid stench that it was hard to enjoy. On a lighter note, because the city was so packed with people on holiday, it made for excellent people watching and a magical atmosphere for the aarti. Before the ceremony started, we got amazing seats across the levied off section on the Ganga Ghat (a ghat is a stairway down to the holy river Ganga which was designed to give increased across to those who want to use it for bathing, cleansing, drinking, whatever). Oh and by seats, I mean a 3x3 square box to sit on what has to be the grimiest cement in India. Luckily we were separated by a thin piece of plastic and surround by thousands of people who smelled worse than we did. One man in particular sat right next to me and slowly kept creeping closer to where he was eventually sitting on my lower leg. I couldn’t do anything about it because there was literally nowhere else for me to go. Since I cant speak Hindi, I made it clear that I was pissed and kept trying to move my incarcerated leg to get the point that he was sitting on top of me.  He then proceeded to do the unthinkable…. A 6 second fart. All my senses were being activated: ears, nose, the hot breathe on my skin, my gag reflex was kicking in, and the sound of laughter from this asshole (pun intended) was clearly identifiable. I was so dumbfounded that the only reaction I had was, “Are you f$#*ing kidding me?” But I still couldn’t move my leg! I felt like I was in purgatory… son of a bitch.

The ghat in Haridwar

Shopping in Haridwar

Namaste

I did my best to think of the ancient Hindi philosophy: Karma, and move on to focusing my attention on the stunning aarti that was beginning. It was honestly too beautiful for words. The steady flow of drums was mesmerizing. The audience was so into it, chanting and throwing their arms in the air in unison. I cant give it justice here. Its truly an experience that makes it worth your trip to India.