My initial intention was to write aboutthe beef-n-deets of India, but I kept getting side-tracked (not to be confused with the gay night club in Chicago). Soooo, that's enough of my random stream of consciousness for now. Let's chat about India!! (Don't worry, after I get you guys caught up on my life, my ramblings will continue...so keep your pants on. Or don't, that's your call.)
Liz, Chera and I had to leave our apartments in Seoul around 5:00am on Sunday morning. Luckily it was raining, so that was perfect for walking with my gigantor backpack in the puddles. We had stopped at JJ's the night before (for a final brew and farewell) and I got home around 1:00am with swollen red eyes from the goodbyes. I was a hot mess. I looked like a toddler post-tantrum, snot-stained t-shirt and all. I stopped back in the bar at 5:00am to see everyone still there drinking (that's Korea for ya!). The girls and I (plus Elyse & Sarah) met for 'breakfast' (cheesy ramen, spicy noodles, fried mondu, all the usual suspects) at our favorie Korean fast food place, "Yellow". Open 24 hours, for cheap yummy deliciousness, and friendly old lady workers. What more could a weigooken (foreigner) ask for??
It was a sad morn.Sooooo we take the airport shuttle (a seriously luxurious ride for a mere 10,000 won) and fly to China (Guangzhou) for a few hours, then to New Dehli. BY THE WAY, Korea's airport can be likened to a spa getaway. It's clean and fancy with great food, stores and amenities (free swanky internet lounges anyone??). It's like the rest of Korea : flippin awesome. TAKE NOTES WORLD!
When we arrived in India, our hostel had arranged for a taxi pick-up (thankfully, because airports and transportation in general are efficient CRAZY INSANE in India.) You get completely attacked by rickshaw and cab drivers when you step outside, and you really don't know what anything should cost, let alone where you're really going or if they will really even take you there. It seems like a hundred voices shouting to you at once,
"Taxi, madaaame?"
"Where you going?"
"Very cheap!"
"I take you, Madame. Follow me. This way, ok, ok."
"Rickshaw? Rickshaw? Rickshawwww?"
We stayed at the Nirvana Hostel, and the guy who ran it was hilaaaaarious. His name was Vicki and he was this over-confident, personable guy who lounged on the couches all day chatting in his cell phone. He was the first (of many) people to tell us, "In India everything is possible!" Every once in a while, I would catch him squirting copious amounts of this "oil" onto his hands, and he would proceed to rub it into his (already greasy) hair rather vigorously. It was disgusting interesting...
Here's a couple random photos of our first delicious samosa treat in India. Mmmmmm mmmm good!
Our hostel was a little outside of Dehli, but it had a subway stop about 20 minutes away walking. It was an interesting walk, to say the least. As we ventured down this long dirt road the next morning, dodging cows and stray dogs every 20 steps, leaping over giant 3 feet-deep holes in the ground filled with stagnant trash-water, we first started to feel the burning of HUNDREDS of Indian eyes staring us down. This was the only city where I felt seriously overwhelmed by the staring and attention, but it was something I simply had to accept and embrace, in a weird "this is how it's gonna be" way. If I had let it truly bother me, I probably would have been on the next flight out of that shit-hole place. Based on the stares, I figured I must have grown several alien heads, or perhaps my hair had ignited in a hideous raging inferno, but neither was the case. We were just foreign white girls. "Take a picture, it'll last longer", I said. Most people did. We were an absolute spectacle everywhere we went. Whatevvvvs!
Here's a picture of a barely-congested street in Dehli.
In our days touring Dehli, we started to get a feel for the chaotic city, and saw some pretty crazy shit. We spent a day at the Chandni Chowk (which is a nutty street bazaar) consisting of hundreds of winding, connected alleys full of madness, animals, and shopping, where your nose is continually filled with the aroma of spices and cow shit. It was a straight-up adventure. From the bazaar, we took a bicycle rickshaw (there's one in the picture below on the left)...
to some touristy palace place nearby, and en route, we witnessed a little fender bender between 2 man-pulled carts. One guy took a turn a little too close and brushed against the other guys cart. The bazaar was so packed that we had been at a standstill for several minutes in our rickshaw by this point, so we got to sit back, relax and enjoy the show. The man who's cart got scraped went Tom Cruise crazy. He started shouting at the other guy at the top of his lungs, and although I couldn't understand the actual verbage, I imagine their conversation to have gone a little bit like this:
Indian Man # 1: "You gently scraped my shitty cart with your shitty cart, ya jerk-off!"
Indian Man# 2: 'I didn't do it, YOU DID IT!"
Indian Man# 1: "Me?? Are you INSANE? Who do you think you are, Tom Cruise?"
Indian Man# 2: "Your cow was all up in my junk, now I'm maaaaaaaaad."
[Indian Man# 1 then angrilly removes his sandal and begins jacking Indian Man #2 on the head with it.]
Each irate Indian man's respective friends hold him back, the traffic begins to inch forward in the alley, and all is right in the world once again.
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| Our new buddy, Scooter |
In Dehli, we also had the once-in-a-lifetime (gasp!) opportunity to visit a serious terra-cotta wonderland, AKA the Jantar Mantar Observatory. It has something to do with old school time-telling using the sun, or some other bull crapola. Whatever, it was kind of neat, and then we took a sweet nap on the grass. All-in-all a successsful visit.
We also stopped by "The Taj Mahal of Dehli" which was really beautiful. Not much to say about it, though. Here it is:
More to come later!! <3 Smooches <3
hahaha please never stop writing, tricia! i'm dyin' of laughter over here in dunchon-dong =]]
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