Very Near, Not Very Far

On Tuesday evening, I returned from my first adventure in India.  While the students at Madhi High School wrote their first term examinations,  I travelled through four states in India for twelve days, exploring cities and ancient architectural wonders, meeting people from all over the world and of course relaxing over ice cold beer.

Party in Bombay

My trip began on Friday September 10^th.  I decided to commence my tour of Western India in Bombay (Mumbai) for the weekend because my friend Carrie was returning to St. Louis permanently and I wanted to wish her farewell.  After another action movie scene of running after the moving train (sadly, this is becoming normal for me), four hours later I arrived in sunny Bombay.  I hadn’t seen the sun in a couple months so I was ecstatic!  That night, Carrie’s friends threw her a huge farewell party.  Over fifty people showed up- many other Americans who live and work in Bombay as well as all of her Indian friends.  After an hour or so, the party was dying because someone was playing soft rock music.  We were talking about playing more party-friendly music, but no one knew how to work the sound system, so I went for it.  As some of you might know, I have some experience as a DJ, so one thing led to another and I became the official DJ of the night.  It turned into an awesome party and finally started dying down at 5:00 AM.  I had an awesome time DJing and everyone seemed to like my music selections.  Anytime someone had a request, they approached me and asked, “Miss DJ Emily, can you please play....”  It was quite a fantastic night!

Spinning cotton at Gandhi's house

After a relaxing weekend hanging out in Bombay, late Sunday afternoon I hopped on a train to Ahmedabad, the capital of Gujarat, not far from the state of Rajasthan, my destination.  I arrived in Ahmedabad at midnight and the city was wide awake, celebrating another festival, Ganesh.  I definitely should have booked a hotel, but the procrastinator and poor planner that I am thought I could find something when I got there.  Thankfully, my rickshaw driver spoke English and drove me all over the city until I found an available room at Safar Inn.  (A note about rickshaw drivers in India- their favourite phrase is “Very Near, Not Very Far” when you ask for directions anywhere).  The manager, Francis, is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.  He is Indo-Portuguese and has been to over one hundred countries around the world.  He and his wife own a medical tourism business and travel frequently to promote their work.  He was so happy to talk to a foreigner and we actually spent most of the day talking about our experiences in Africa while he gave me a personal tour of the city on the back of his motorcycle. 

Francis took me to Gandhi’s house where I learned to spin cotton just as Gandhi did every day.  We also went to the best ice cream parlour for mango lassis, to a famous textile museum, and a night market where I shopped for beautiful and colourful Gujarati fabric.  We finished our evening with a delicious dinner from McDonald’s.    I look forward to going back to Ahmedabad again and spending more time with Francis and his family.

Udaipur

The next day, I arrived in the lake city of Udaipur in Rajasthan.  Immediately, I knew I was in paradise.  This small, quiet European-like city surrounds a large lake.  The weather was excellent and in no time I fried in the sun that I hadn’t seen in so long.  I spent my time exploring the ancient lakeside palaces where famous Indian kings had once lived.  I even took a boat to the palace located in the centre of the lake. Udaipur is unique because every building has a rooftop restaurant and bar overlooking the city and the lake.  I spent each night leisurely enjoying Rajasthani thali (small samples of several kinds of food) and sipping ice cold Kingfisher beers with other travellers from all over the world.   One night, Zach met me in Udaipur and we had dinner with an older British couple who is driving around the world.   Norman and Barbara spent 25 years working six days a week at a convenience store to save up for a trip around the world in their Land Rover. They had arrived from the Middle East and Iran was actually their favourite country they’d visited thus far.  A year earlier, Barbara was diagnosed with Huntington’s Disease and they decided to speed up the trip so she could enjoy it before her disease progressed.  They were fascinating to talk to and had so many great experiences and words of wisdom to share.  Another day, I spent the whole afternoon walking around the city with Joe, a graduate of a school, just outside my hometown, St. Louis.  We took an electric cable car to the top of a mountain that overlooks the whole city.  At the top, we talked about the Cardinals and St. Louis,  as well as our travels, while drinking ice cold beers.  It was a great afternoon.

Wearing a snake

Snake charming

After a few days on the lake, I hopped on an overnight bus to Jaipur, the pink city and capital of Rajasthan.  Eric met me here and together we walked around the city where all buildings are a light shade of pink.  We explored ancient forts and climbed to the tops of mountains all over the city.  At Amber Fort, we met a group of snake charmers (snake charming was outlawed several years ago) and learned how to play the wooden instrument that makes snakes rise up from their sleep.  The charmers then wrapped the black python around my neck which was an incredibly strange feeling.   At Sun Temple, nicknamed Monkey Temple, hundreds of monkeys roam the hills.  Here, we fed them peanuts which they took straight out of our palms.  We witnessed a macho monkey grab a dog and continue to punch it until it limped away.  We also spent a good half our throwing peanuts high into the air, making the monkeys jump for them so we could try to get a mid-air shot with our cameras.  Unfortunately, the city of Jaipur was slightly overcrowded and much polluted.  People all over the city try to take advantage of tourists and we had our fair share of run-ins with scam artists. Nonetheless, we enjoyed everything we saw and still managed to have a great time.

Monkey training

At night, in Jaipur, we ate delicious tandoori chicken at rooftop restaurants.  One night we ate with a couple, Holly and Adam, from London.  After dinner, they taught us some famous British drinking games and we continued on to a few more pubs.  After two days in Jaipur, we’d felt we seen it all, so we impulsively decided to hitch a five-hour ride to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal.  What can I say? The Taj Mahal is just as magnificent as you imagine it to be.  This massive monument is positively stunning and I could just stare at it for hours. I would like to go back in the future because you are supposed to go at sunrise and unfortunately it was pouring when Eric and I visited and our visit was slightly tainted.

The Taj Mahal and I

Royal Rambagh Palace courtyard

We returned to Jaipur for one more day before the long journey back to our village.  On our last day in Jaipur, we hung out with a couple from the Vermont, Julia and Tom, who are also travelling around the world.  We found out that the best hotel in the world is in Jaipur, so we made reservations for high tea at the Royal Rambagh Palace, once home to a king but was converted to a hotel in 1950.  It was exquisite as we snacked on scones and tasty pastries while sipping the “champagne of tea”.   I then pretended that I was touring hotels to find one suitable for my parents and we asked to see a room.  The cheapest room runs $2000 a night, in case you’re planning a visit!

Late Monday night, we ended our journey as we boarded our night train back home.  All in all, I had a great time and enjoyed travelling by myself much more than I expected.  I met so many interesting people and saw a much different side of India than I experience in the village.  Fourteen noisy and uncomfortable hours later, we arrived home in the village.  While we were gone, the monsoon ended and now it’s scorching hot and sunny once again.  I knew I was back in the village when I walked into my house and went to my cupboard and found a rat inside.  While I was away, a rat managed to break into my cupboard and ate my year’s supply of DayQuil and NyQuil, of all things.  There is one very medicated rat somewhere in my house right now.   I think I’m ready for another vacation.