I'm Back! (in Delhi)

Just got back from visitng Mumbai and various places in Kerala. Boy was it hot and humid - felt like July/August in DC (not nice). Delhi is pleasently cool (spring like). Had a great time - Bombay is very different than Delhi (the contrast is compared to that of DC and NYC but more on that later). The tour in Kerala was amazing. I have to say that of the top five hotels I've stayed in - three were on the tour - much higher levels of luxury than my Motel 6 heritage.

We're unpacking, having a low-key dinner and evening and figuring out our schedule for the rest of the days here. I'm hoping to have some computer time later to flush out the journal a bit more (but Nick's a big computer person too, so there might be a conflict - and this takes time). In the meantime, here is us in Munnar - tea country.

Saturday: Delhi

(temporary notes) Red Fort - Anu came as she hadn't been since a child. Lots of children - school groups, walked down Chow Chuk (?) shopping market - took auto through more specialized market areas - bikes, metal work done on sidewalk - to mosque - had to wait to enter so went for lunch at Moghul restaurant - walked around inside. Walked to the subway - passed sections of market for paper - large groups of men outside certain stalls - watching cricket game. Very new and modern subway - both stations and train were ACed. Walked around Connaught Place - subway station directly below center circle. Went to People's Tree and Cottage Industry than tea and cake at Oxford Bookstore with Shwayda and Thom, than farewells and home to collapse and eat ordered in pizza (slice of italy) and pack. Leave early for the airport - off to Mumbai!

Friday: Delhi

(temporary notes) Tried to go to Haus Kaus (got coffee), clothing market - great deals but have to look bought tons of scarves for people - clothes just hung out w/ Shwayda. Lunch at Khan Market at Side Wok - good food - high end restaurant - toilets fancy but still had moth balls in the sink. Humayan's Tomb - pre Taj Mahal. First auto wanted 100rs, started walking - second one only 20 rs. Low key evening (energy level getting lower now) - made hash browns and omlettes.

Thursday: Delhi

(More notes for now). Rented a car and went to a festival outside of Delhi - not many foreigners. People asked for a pictures - haggled, good prices though, very busy in afternoon. Went to singing and dinner at Moghal restaurant. Came home and watched several episodes of season 3 Arrested Development (it's my birthday).

Wednesday: Delhi

This is a place holder - need to write from today backwards, but want the postings in chronological order. Here are the pictures (not many) and my notes.

Morning:

India Gate (like D.C. mall - but with guns)

National Museum

Afternoon:

Lunch with Shwayda at south Indian restaurant (bit a spicey chili - HOT)

Shopping in Janpath - Shwayda helped bargain - bought an Indian looking shirt - label is Marks and Spencers - made fun of Ganesh sandlewood statue - super skinny

Coffee and cake at Khan Market - shopping at A. Bought a comforter

Delli Hut - rotates every month - special elephant - broken leg - 1000 uses of elephat alive and dead saying w/ Shwayda. Dumplings (dumplings) from Momo

Defence Colony - dinner at Angels in my Kitchen with Anu - got super spicey pasta - crying (garlic).

Monday/Tuesday: Delhi

I realized that this is going to work out great as a way to journal my trip (at least for part of it). We'll see how good I keep it up.

Monday we flew into Delhi - it was nice that Nick was there to pick us up as it would have taken awhile to figure out how to get anywhere, and don't forget that by now I've got about 10 hours sleep in 4 days (I didn't get much sleep before leaving - trying to finish up work stuff).

As we were heading out the airport, Nick calls the taxi driver - instead of taking one cab to the airport and another back, you use the same one, even though he had been there about an hour due to flight delays. Luckily we took a taxi (more on that later) - although it was an old Ambassador - which only added to the feeling I had as we drove back into the city that I was in some strange period movie. I don't know what I was expecting, but I knew I had no idea what to expect as this is so different from any travel I've done. And yet it wasn't that strange - all thanks to tv and movies. It was stangely familiar (especially since we were just in London) due to the British influence. Plus it was great to have just picked up Dad and Barbro who had just come back from visiting India - they were full of fresh experiences - one being the immense amount of honking that is done. Which frankly is such a good idea. It was so fun driving back - they follow really closely, they don't stay in the lanes, and they honk constantly to let people know where they are (especially for those blind spots). They even have written on the back bumper of many trucks the phrase "please use your horn"! Our taxi driver just weaves in and out of traffic, pushing over against cars, cutting in front - it was aggresive driving (the kind I like) but it wasn't offensive as it was the norm and all the drivers knew. And you have all types - big buses, cars, auto rickshaws, mopeds and motorcycles, and bicycles and pedestrians - all over the place. The driving is much more interactive here - none of that mindless driving you have in the US where you realize you don't remember the last 5 minutes. I kind of wish I could drive here - but would need to know exactly where I was going. The closest I have come to this in the US is not NYC or LA, but Boston - especially in the city - so that's good. And enough about the driving.

Monday wasn't much - we walked to the local market in Nick's neighborhood - it was very shocking in that it seemed a lot poorer than I think it was - lot's of food merchants on the side of the road. We spent the rest of the day hanging around Nick's apartment catching up and even decided in the end to order in some food (was going to write indian food but that's like saying I eat american food at home). Nick let us take a two hour nap in the afternoon, but was good at keeping us up until almost 9 pm (I didn't quite make it as I was soo exhausted - I'm used to being mentally tired, but now my body was just starting to shut down too - physical exhaustion was taking over).

Tuesday we had agreed we would just sleep in, but in retrospect should have agreed on a time as both mom and I slept until 2pm - yes, that's right, we slept for 16 hours! The first 10 hours I had just passed out, and than we had a glorious thunder storm in the early morning hours and from then on I knew I should get up but was just so groggy I couldn't, kept falling back to sleep - it almost seemed like I had been drugged - drifting into and out of consciousness. Plus the rain all morning kept things quiet in the neighborhood, although there were still several dog fights.

Once we were up we had for breakfast - you'll never guess (well maybe dad and barbro will) - Corn Flakes - even here it's amazing what you can buy, although I guess this has only changed recently in the past seveal years. We went to the Craft museum and got to take our first auto rickshaw - the picture above is from one, but will need to take a picture of them - they are these green and yellow vehicles that are ??? - will just take a picture later. The thing is you have to haggle over the price - so far we've been leaving that to Nick.

The Craft museum had an extraordinary textile section - I can't wait to go shopping now! It's amazing how unique the styles are from the different regions in the country. We flirted with the idea of flying up to Kashmir for a few days (I wanted to go for the yarn) but decided against it due to time and money. The museum had a "gift shop" which was basically people selling their wares (so different from the Tate a few days ago). I'm starting to get a sense of the constant demand on you for money - and this was mild to what's to come. Some great stuff - unexpectedly I saw these wonderful paintings - like etchings, so detailed with the finest of pens and wonderous inks. Some great textiles - but they sure love their mirrors. I would find a beautiful piece and then turn it over and there were little mirrors embedded in the fabric. The museum is created out of parts of other temples and other old ruin pieces of history. In one courtyard is this pigeon stand and if you look closely - on the ledge in the distance is a chipmunk! (ok he might have run off when this particular picture was taken as I don't see him anymore) - but a chipmunk - I thought those were North American.

We than visited the Lodi Gardens which are near the embassies and rich neighborhoods - first time seeing more western dressed 'locals'. Really this is when I started to take pictures and realized, that as a family we are bad at keeping our eyes open.

There are two tombs I think the one Nick and I are standing in front of is called Shish Gumbad and the one below is the Bara Gumbad - both from the Lodi period of reign (15th/16th centuries). Wonderful architecture.

In the park there were alot more dogs. That's another helpful hint dad and Barbro passed on - the popultaion of wild dogs is incredible - you seem them eveywhere - very strange. There were about a half dozen in and around this one tomb - just resting and playing. You are in the middle of a lush park with lots of people walking and playing, you almost think the dogs belong to someone, except that you see them on the streets, in the markets, everywhere - they're like squirrels. No one pays any heed to them and they pretty much stay out of your way.

The park was a welcome break from the city - quiet, cleaner air (the pollution is amazing, I have an itch in the back of my throught - as if I'd been smelling paint fumes or something - and it's been raining which makes the pollution less).

For dinner we went to Khan market near by - one of the more upscale places. I should have taken a picture but it was getting too dark - but it doesn't seem upscale at all - crowded, poorly kept it seems like a denser strip mall - but here is where you find Cartier watches and other high end shops - very strange. We might go to a Sahri shop tomorrow to buy clothes - I'm still torn on whether I will or not. Maybe one outfit, Nick has a friend that will help us with what to buy. So for now, I need to go to bed (it's 11 pm, and not too tired - I wonder why?:) Don't know what is in store for tomorrow, but it will be adventure - I am itching to go shopping.

I'm in the Future!

I always think it's so funny when you travel and you are almost a day ahead of home. We made it to India (mom and me) yesterday and before I head for bed, thought I'd upload some pics. The times have certainly changed since I traveled (which really was just two years ago). I still think that you are cut off from the world. And frankly, if we weren't staying at my brother's it's not likely I would search out an internet cafe... but while I have internet, here are some pics from our journey so far.

Flew out Saturday night and got into London around 8:30 am. The flight was good, but I always have trouble sleeping upright. This part of the leg was on British Airway and there were three different levels of first/business class - most of which had full like beds - I was definately tempted to sneak up and snag a bed. We took the subway into town and made it to the Tate Modern, just as planned. It's a great museum - had some wonderful Barnett Newman's and a whole room of Rothko's (although dimmly lit). Saw pretty much everything although I did loose mom at one point.

We still had a little time to kill so walked across the Millenium Bridge - great view and it rained while we were in the museum, so it was that wonderful after rain, sun out and shining type of afternoon. On the other side of the Thames we were able to see St. Paul's Cathedral (which on a side note was the first place I visited when I was in London years back - they have since done an extensive and expensive cleaning - it's gone from black to white).

I had been worried about what to pack for the day trip in London as it's colder there than in India. Just did the layers and it worked out well - much warmer than back in Boston. As you can see though, we are still bundled up as it was windy.

We grabbed a bite to eat and started walking south along the Thames. Passed the Blackfriars (got to love this guy - I think the camera took off 10 pounds or more). Eventually though we ran out of steam and frankly London is expensive. Since we had run out of energy and money we headed back to Heathrow. We got there early, but amazingly it's not the best airport - no great places to sit and kill time - there was a shortage of seats for such a large airport. We flew Virgin Atlantic which had much smaller and tighter seats (con), but had tivo like tv - you could choose to watch when and pause whenever you needed (pro). Except, of the 300+ seats on the plane, it seemed like my seat had the only broken screen. So ended up snagging a spare seat farther back so all good. Again, not much sleep. The upside was that we were well fed, so my past exerience of travel sickness never once reared it's head. Landing in India went smoothly and before you knew it we were hugging my brother in the lobby of the airport Monday morning. Before I end this post, I just want to remember that I do not do two red eye flights back to back well - in other words, don't do it again. Even though time might dull the memory, it is recorded here that paying a little more for a direct flight is well worth the money!

See you in March

I'm off to India shortly. Strangly, I think I am packed for the trip (since three weeks ago when my father and Barbro headed over), but work has been crazy, trying to wrap things up. And then today, has been unproductive, as it's been a lot of calls, meetings, and... I forgot, my Birthday celebration - it's next week, unbelievably - snuck up on me. I'm starting to get excited, but think I am nervous as I only have 5 more hours at work (before I pick up people at the airport) to get abour 24 hours worth done.

So, I'm off to India, have a side trip to London and just got a phrase book from my coworkers, so at least the plane trip won't be too unproductive. I'm sure I'll have tons of pictures (maybe even a few of finished projects). I'll see you all in March!

Confessions

Two confessions: the first has to do with the stash bust a long. I was working away at my sweaters, somewhat, but recently switched gears to get some projects started for my trip to India (that's three weeks of traveling = many yarn projects). The lace scarf mentioned earlier, half way through a sock already (got carried away), and realized I needed more. While keeping that in mind, yesterday, I had a project meeting in Northampton. If you are in the yarn world, that name means only one thing - Webs. A great yarn store, but with the added bonus of the warehouse in the back with super discounted yarns. It's hard to walk out empty handed. I've never been able to and this time was no exception. I ended up only getting cotton yarn (don't know if that counts as not buying yarn, as I mainly only have wool yarn - so it's not that I was adding to my stash, but starting a new division in my stash - a whole new department). My downfall was that I picked up a book that I bought with tons of great patterns. It's Jaeger Book 34 and I'm starting this pattern - using Jaeger Roma yarn (on sale!) It's for the trip, so hopefully it will travel well.



Second confession is that I think I found a guy! I had a great time on my second date with Chris. We went to the MFA and than a great dinner at the Squealing Pig - great pub and wonderful mussels. I can't get over how much we overlap - on everything. I'm starting to think he's my doppelganger (just read the wikipedia definition and realize I didn't know what the word meant - I mean he's similar but not in the evil way). This week I've been trying to figure out a way to get together one last time before I leave, but it's been too busy. So, will have to see where things stand when I get back. I'm just happy to know there are people out there still - was starting to think all the good ones were taken!

Craziness

This week has been a roller coaster (do you know that I've never been on one, besides the small kiddie kind) of all types of extremes. I've been in a strange cloud were things are working out even if not so great things are happending. For instance, last week I had friday off and had the day planned running around town for errands. Get to the first store and my monthly cramps hit - there's no way I can go on, so quickly get the essentials and run out. But realize I need to go to the pet store as we have no more wet cat food, so go there, and then on my way home, muster up some more strength and knock out a few more stores. Somehow, I get home and there were only two things I didn't get done - it all worked out.



This week I was pushing through work stuff. Late Tuesday night after a work event I end up finally throwing it down with my boss (we are both non-confrontational, so it was short, but it happened). Left me emotionally drained that night, but suprisingly in a better place which got topped off the next day in that we both took the high road, and it seems to have greatly strengthed our work relationship (even though there are still a ton of things to get worked out).



Lost one thing, but found another this morning- my favorite hat I had written off as long gone. Missed my second date with Chris last friday (damn afternoon naps that are four hours long instead of one), and thought that got written off, but out of the blue I have a date at the MFA this friday (with the same guy) that I am more excited about than the last one. Really upset with the false promises of snow they keep predicting, but stumbled upon pics from the summer of the wonderful gardens outside my windows. We're crazy busy with our grand opening of our offices tonight - long hours and late nights, but don't really feel stressed. I've learned to let go of things that aren't my responsibility. I heard a FDR quote the other day that seems to work for me, "Remember you are just an extra in everyone else's play." It just all seems to be working out. I don't seem to get snagged up as much right now. If only I could keep it this way - I'm doomed now that I've said it out loud.



I've been reading The Immortal Class that is about bike messengers in Chicago. It was the book Chris had on his eharmony list. It was due yesterday (at the library) so am trying to quickly finish up. But I'm starting to blur the boundary between the author and the person that recommended it - starting to think they are one and the same - probably because I don't really know either. Strange in a way.



And finally, I'm stuck, yet flying on my knitting projects. Found yet another almost done sweater. I can only get them so far and than I stop - I loose interest, or maybe I just don't want to find out that they might not fit that well, even if they do work out. They've all gotten big enough that I can't throw them in my bag and work on them during the commute. Instead I've started a lace scarf/shawl from Interweaves Spring 2006 - Trellis Scarf. It's for the trip - wanted to get a few projects started instead of starting dry over there and realizing I don't have the right gauge or something. Well, I've started it, and everytime I look down at my hands it seems that I've picked it up and am knitting it - even at work. Need to start a set of socks too - can't decide on yarn, but think I will go simple and have a stockinette pattern that I might use and make striped socks.



Well, one more weekend until my trip- tons to do and lunch is over, so am off.