Horn OK Please

Incredible India is the slogan for the official government tourist office here, and it is pretty accurate. India is like no place I have ever been. On arrival in Mumbai we met two American travelers in the customs line. We decided to share a cab into the city and watched in awe as it took 6 Indians 45 minutes to load five people and five backpacks into a minivan (they tried 3 before settling on the one that they thought would be the most comfortable). After arriving at the hotel, we went in search of food and found a local restaurant that was still serving. We didn't recognize anything on the menu, so we randomly selected five entrees and hoped for the best. When the feast arrived, we were unsure about the proper etiquette, so we asked our server, and he was delighted to show us the local style of family style dining and eating with your hands. The food was delicious and cost just over $2 a person. What a deal! The next day we arranged for a bus to Aurungabad, and spent the day wandering around Mumbai. We saw the Gateway to India and the Taj Hotel, the sight of the recent terror attacks. From the outside of the building you would never know that anything had happened, but scars from the attacks are all over the city. There are signs all over Mumbai encouraging citizens to report suspicious behaviour, and you have to provide identification to use computers at internet cafes in an effort of stop cyber terrorism. The people will talk to you about how saddened they were by the days events, and how they support America's efforts at stopping acts of terror.
Our bus to Aurungabad was an overnight sleeper. The seats were comfortable, and if you could ignore the Bollywood movie playing as entertainment you got a great nights sleep. The locals that were on the bus were very friendly, offering suggestions for sights to see as we traveled the country. When we got off the bus, we started the search for a hotel. It turns out that five Americans walking the streets of Aurungabad constitutes a parade. People stopped what they were doing to watch us, and children followed us waving, giggling, and yelling hello! We found a hotel in town that offered a 6 bed dorm room for the five of us for $12 per night. India is easy on the wallet.
We caught a bus for the Ellora caves; ancient Buddhist and Jainist temples carved out of the mountains near Aurungabad. The sight was amazing, and the experience was enhanced by the bizarre events of the day. Upon entering the sight, the first thing we saw was a family of monkeys. Fortunately we had some bananas handy, so we were able to make some new friends. As we ventured into the caves (cue the adventure music here) we we amazed at the detailed carvings and paintings covering the walls of the caves that are almost 1000 years old. The other tourist were mostly Indian nationals, who where happy to explain the different gods to us, in exchange for photographs. By the end of the day I felt like Brangelina and my cheeks hurt from smiling, but how can you say no to taking your picture with babies and primary school classes?
The next day the boys braved the streets of Aurungabad and rented bikes to get around town and see the sights. The roads in India are filled with trucks, cars, bikes, motorcycles carrying entire families, rickshaws, pedestrians, and livestock. There are no traffic lights, and lanes are optional. The trucks honk their horns through intersections to announce they are coming through, the rickshaws and motorcycles blow their horns to tell you to move out of the way, the pedestrians and bikes scramble to avoid all other traffic, and the cows do whatever they want, confident that all traffic will stop to let them pass. Terrified of the bikes, the girls stuck with the rickshaws. We managed to see the "mini-Taj Mahal" and the "Water Wheel" before hoping the bus to the town of Fardupur.
The local bus was a different experience from the tourist bus we had taken from Mumbai. On this bus we were loaded on early to ensure that we got seats, and a place to stow our luggage. During the journey, we talked to the locals sitting around us, and they allowed us to listed to their ipods and get a taste for the local music. At the rest stop outside of Fardupur, everyone filed off the bus and rearranged themselves so that we could be near the front for our stop. The driver, concerned that we would get lost, made a special stop near the town hotel. Instead of being annoyed with the inconvenience, people just smiled, waved, and bobbled their heads as the bus drove off. (The Indian head bobble is a unique thing. When ever they are happy Indian seems to bobble their heads from side to side like bobble heads. The expression is common and seems to be uncontrollable, like they are so happy they can't help it. It is adorable!)
The Ajunta Caves are in far better condition than the caves at Ellora. This means the paintings are more beautiful, but there are more people, and more restrictions on your movements as a result. We met a group of four young Indian women on the bus into the caves, and they offered to spend the day with us and act as our guides through the caves. It was helpful to have them around to explain the significance of the art. India is very religiously tolerant, and prides itself on being accepting of all religions. There were symbols in the caves representing most major religions, and a common image was that of four elephant bodies sharing one head. The idea is that the four elephants represent the major religions, all have different bodies, but all think with the same thought of honoring God. Pretty interesting.
We left Fardupur and the Ajunta Caves and headed north. We caught a bus to the big city of Jalgoan. As usual, the bus was stuffed to the limit. There was not room for our luggage, so they threw it on the roof, and we looked anxiously out the window at each turn expecting to see out luggage go flying. Instead, it was Leon who went flying off his feet as we rounded the first turn only to land in a heap on the three Indians crammed into the seat on his right. He felt terrible, but in typical Indian fashion they just laughed, offered to let him sit down, and then spent the next two hours trying to teach him Hindi. He was the most popular guy on the bus, and everyone was sorry to see him get off. One of his new found friends bought us a treat of paan when we got off the bus. We had no idea how to eat it, but thanked them just the same, and headed to the train station.
At the station in Jalgoan we bought tickets for the 1:30 am train to Wardha. We had two hours to kill, and we found ourselves a nice patch of sidewalk outside the station to wait it out. As we sat at talked we began to notice that we were attracting attention. First people were looking in our direction, and then slowly then started to move closer until eventually we were surrounded by a crowd of curious onlookers. Not quite sure what to make of it, we decided to try and find someone in the crowd who spoke English. Two men stepped up and took turns asking us questions and translating our answers to the crowd. Our friend Mike wears a charm necklace with charms collected during his travels. He saw a boy in the crowd with a similar necklace, and arranged a trade, one charm for another. Another man, gave Mike a bracelet to wear and insisted that he never remove it from him arm. We got a slew of e-mail addresses, and phone numbers, and were told that we were invited to dinner and tea the next time we came through town. Finally the crowd got so big that it attracted the attention of the local police. They asked us to please sit in the first class waiting area to avoid blocking traffic. :)
When the train finally arrived, we were dismayed to find that there were no seats available for our overnight journey. One ticket-taker suggested that we get off at the next stop, and head down to the sleeper car section where we could pay extra for a bed. We willingly went from car to car, only to find that there were no sleepers available either. We ended up sitting on the floor, near the doors, using our backpacks as cushions the entire night. We managed a few hours sleep, but our first order of business after arriving in Wardha was to find a hotel and crash.
From Warha, we headed 9km south to the town of Sevegram. Located there is the ashram founded by Gandhi, and the base for his peaceful resistance movement. The ashram is still functioning today, and they allow visitors who are interested in learning about Gandhi and his teachings to stay a few days, living the life of the ashram follows. We moved to Sevegram the next morning, and stayed for three nights. The schedule was as follows: Wake up at 4:30 for morning prayer. Yoga from 5:30-6:30 followed by an hour of community cleaning. At 7:30 we ate breakfast, and then we had an hour of free time and two more hours of community work before lunch. After lunch we rested until 3, worked for two more hours, until dinner at 5. Evening prayer was at 6 and then lights out around 9. The boys spent their work hours in the fields, helping to plant an organic garden, and the girls worked in the kitchen, cleaning grain and helping to serve meals. During our free time, we took naps, did laundry, or bathed using buckets of water set out in the sun to warm. There was an old woman at the ashram who had attended school there as a child, and was a teenager during Gandhi's final years there. She would sit with us in the afternoons and tell us stories about the man and his mission, and about life on the ashram. After three days, the schedule was beginning to wear on us, and we decided to move on. We left to head toward Goa and the beach, and our second week in India.

Wardha

Ajanta Caves

Aurungabad

Mumbai

It's a Small World...

After leaving Cape Town, we decided to change our flights to spend two days in Hong Kong instead of one. Since we weren't able to visit mainland China due to visa issues, I was really excited to see what Hong Kong had to offer. In some ways, it was just what I expected, it was a chain of islands with more skyscrapers crammed on it than one would think humanly possible. In other ways it surprised my with it's charm and quirky systems. Like New York, Hong Kong is a huge commercial center with wide boulevards and towering skyscrapers. Unlike New York, the people of Hong Kong are some of the friendliest and most helpful people I have ever seen. Everything is very organized (throught security at the airpot you get a laminated piece of paper with a number that matches the number taped to the bucket that your hand luagge goes through the x-rays in) and clearly marked to cut down on confusion, and if you show the slightest hesitation about direction a local would stop to ask if you needed help or directions. It is also spotless. There are trash cans everywhere, people with colds were face masks to avoid infecting others with their germs, and there are regular announcements at the train station reminding you that littering and spitting are prohibited.

We stayed on the island of Kowloon, just across the harbor from Hong Kong island. Our tiny guesthouse was one of many located in a building called Chungking Mansion, a HUGE shopping and commercial center filled with restrants, currency exchanges, and every type of retail outlet you can imagine. The room itself was incredibly clean, but was about 12 square feet large (including the bathroom). The owner, Simon was helpful and friendly, just like everyone else that we met, and went about and beyond to make sure that all of our needs were met.

Our first day we took the ferry boat across Victoria Harbor to Hong Kong island to explore Victoria Peak. There is a cable car that runs up the mountain and offers extrodinary views of the city and water below. The tram ride was quick and uber effiecient like everything in Hong Kong, and at the top we found a shopping mall, just like everywhere else in Hong Kong. :) The views and the tram ride were worth the trip though. On the way back down we decided to find lunch, and thought we would have no problem finding a place to eat near such a major tourist attraction. Instead we walked for blocks, confounded that there were no eateries amid all the shopping. Finally we were clued into the fact that all the resturants are located, where else, in the shopping malls. We found a lunch spot, but since we were so late she was nearly out of food. Our only option was to try the local specialty, fish ball soup. We decided just to dive into the deep end of Chinese cuisine and we pleasantly surprised. Fish ball soup is yummy! We spent the evening wandering through the evening street markets, looking at the junk and haggling with the shop owners for the best prices. We bought a small jade buddah from one vendor whose only English was, "Cheap price for you, cheap price for you".

The next day we took the train out to the small and relatively undeveloped islant of Lantau. From the metro station you hop on a cable car (gondola for all you skiers) that would take us across the island to the Golden Buddah. The cable car seemed to stretch on forever across the mountains, and in all the trip took about 30 minutes. We got off and walked through a small village to the base of the Golden Buddah (actually brass) and then up the stairs to the foot of the statue. What an impressive sight! Amidst the only remaining natural area of Hong Kong, a huge buddah and a quiet monastary. While we weren't allowed to enter the monastary, we were allowed to walk around the outside and peek in the doors to see the ornate areas reserved for the prayer and meditation of the monks; while outside the inscense sticks lit in prayer by the faithful scented the air with their thick spicy aroma. Exhausted from our long walk, we decided to splurge on on the the tourist traps, massages. We each got a 45 minute back message, and then went to sleep and prepared for our flight the following afternoon to India.

Hong Kong

Cape Town, Part Two

Our last two weeks in Cape Town were just as enjoyable as the first. My birthday was on the 29th and the day was great. Leon made me breakfast in bed, and then we drove down the road to Constantia to go wine tasting at some of the local vineyards. With the exception of one vineyard, the wine tastings are free, which is great. It allowed us to try some wines that we wouldn't have ordinarily purchased, and we were pleasantly surprised by some of the local whites. We ended up buying a few bottles of wine to drink with dinner over the course of the next two weeks, and some local champagne to help us ring in the new year.

For New Year's we got dressed up and hit the town. There was a local bar in Cape Town that was hosting a New Year's Eve party, and we danced the night away. We enjoyed cheap drinks (less than $1), a big dance floor, and the vocal styling of the latest winner of South African Idol. We were a little disappointed that they don't do the traditional countdown to the New Year though. We did it ourselves, but it just wasn't quite the same.

Our last big trip around the city was to take the Cable Car up to the summit of Table Mountain. The trip up was beautiful, and there were some short hikes up at the top of the mountain that allowed for spectacular views of the city below. We had spent the last week just relaxing, and thought the exercise would be refreshing. Unfortunately we got a little carried away. We bought tickets down the mountain, but when we realized there was a trail we passed them to some nice Brits and decided that a nice walk down would be just right. Going down is supposed to be easy right? Well our "easy" trip down ended up being three hours down a steep, slippery rock face, and by the time we got to the bottom we weren't sure our legs would work to drive our manual car home. The next four days we went back to just laying by the pool. Anything else was sheer agony.

After a month of resting up, we were ready to tackle the world again, and we left for Hong Kong excited to explore a new city and culture. More to come soon...

South Africa