Merry Xmas.
Thank you all for the chirstmas emails and greetings, it really means a lot to us!(you can tell because I'm using the blog to reply to every one of those emails right now) Of course I'm being feceious ma, chill(that was also feceious, feces is just flying all over the place today). And thank you SOOOOOOOO much Corrie for the card and gift, we really aprreciate it :)
Christmas itself was fairly uneventful and was spent on cramped train to Mumbai, but we managed to get out for some western comfort food and a pitcher of beer to celebrate. We bought each some little gifts and exchanged them around 3 am while we were waiting for the train. It was really cute, you would have loved it.
As the title may suggest, we've flown to Cambodia for yet another wonderful Christmas abroad. Of course I'm only Joking, we're in Mumbai(Bombay for you colonialists) and having a great time. I haven't actually seen much of the city since we arrived yesterday evening because I just spent the day as an extra in a Bollywood movie. I even got me 500 rupees for my time. We were approched by a man in our hotel not 15 minutes after we arrived and were asked to do some extra work the following day. Mumbai is like LA, it's the headquarters of the movie industry here in India, and they like using westerners as extras, probably because we're so cool. Amelia and Joanna were offered extra duty for Indian TV, but I can't speak on their behalf on how that went, you'll have to ask them yourselves.
The scene of the movie I was in was supposed to take place outside of Toronto University, after a graduation ceremony(go figure it takes place in Canada). I was asked if I could say a line to the main chracter in the movie, something a long the lines of "Here you go dude! this one's for you!" and hand him a framed copy of Time Magazine with him on the front and a headline that read "The most promising man of the year", as our classmates cheered and clapped themselves and us on the back. The picture of the dude on the magazine was hilarious, one of those portraits where the dude has his chin resting on his fist(like my grad photo, if you like to see that, I'm sure my mother would proudly show it off to you. I look like an evil genius...or Draco Malfoy, which ever you prefer.) When the actor saw it he laughed at it, and exclaimed "That's not me, I swear!" I guess even the actors know how cheesy BollyWood can be. They asked me to shave off my beard(three weeks for nothing) :( And then handed me a crappy razor and a bar of fruity soap, and I shaved without even cutting myself twice!. Anyway, the whole thing took about 45 minutes and was cool to be a part of. I didn't get to see any choreographed dancing or singing which was a bummer, but I met some sick travelers who I'm sure I'll run into again. The whole rest of the day was spent sitting around in a lobby talking to the other extras and waiting for the dude with the money. what a day.
That was my fifteen minutes of fame, I think the movie is called "Lucky Charm" or something like that. I do love leprechauns.
-Ben
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
blind willow, sleeping woman
There were a ton more pictures I wanted to post, but the computer just pooped out on me. You'll have to wait. This was taken sitting on top of Jhaiggar Fort in Jaipur. There was a beautiful green, and hidden, garden below us. Spectacular.And yes, Ben is still alive as well.
-Amelia
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Baba
On our last night in Pushkar, we climbed the hill near our guesthouse to get to the little white temple on top. The temple was on a ridge that stood just across from our hostel, and on one of the walls the word "Cafe" was written in big Bold letters. What better way to end the day than to sip chai on top of a mountain. The temple itself wasn't much, and as it turned out, there was no cafe -- it was but another clever Indian ruse -- but the view was superb, and the sun was lowering over the horizon, painting the city a dull orange colour.
There were four holy men sitting on top of the small patio attached the highest part of the temple. They were dressed in bold, yellow robes, sitting on blankets, with their dreadlocked hair pulled up into turbans (which were expertly tied: we watched one man tie his, pulling it tight over his ears, then bringing it around in circles, before finally tucking it in with what looked like great effort).
As Ben brought out his cigarettes, the men motioned as if to ask for some. Ben offered them a few, and though they didn't speak a word of english, they acccepted the gift with a grateful head nod/wobble. They then proceeded to wiggle the tobacco out of the cigarettes and ground it in their palms until it was a fine dust. They had their own bag of tobacco as well, which they mixed into the powder. The concoction was then thrown into a large stone pipe (if you can call it that -- it was more of a tube than anything) which one of the men proceeded to clean with a beat up white cloth. And then they smoked. And we smoked with them as we watched the sun set over the desert.
It was one of those moments that belongs in a movie, or a novel. It was so surreal sitting there on top of a mountain, with four Indian holy men, smoking out of a stone pipe, watching one of the most stunning sunsets of our lives. One of those times when you can't help but giggle in disbeleif at your own circumstance. At the ridiculousness of the things going on around you, and at the same time, knowing that you will remember this moment forever. DEEP.
Your ever hippier and profound friends,
Amelia and Ben.
and Joanna, who was there, but didn't help write this, but wants you all to know she was there too.
There were four holy men sitting on top of the small patio attached the highest part of the temple. They were dressed in bold, yellow robes, sitting on blankets, with their dreadlocked hair pulled up into turbans (which were expertly tied: we watched one man tie his, pulling it tight over his ears, then bringing it around in circles, before finally tucking it in with what looked like great effort).
As Ben brought out his cigarettes, the men motioned as if to ask for some. Ben offered them a few, and though they didn't speak a word of english, they acccepted the gift with a grateful head nod/wobble. They then proceeded to wiggle the tobacco out of the cigarettes and ground it in their palms until it was a fine dust. They had their own bag of tobacco as well, which they mixed into the powder. The concoction was then thrown into a large stone pipe (if you can call it that -- it was more of a tube than anything) which one of the men proceeded to clean with a beat up white cloth. And then they smoked. And we smoked with them as we watched the sun set over the desert.
It was one of those moments that belongs in a movie, or a novel. It was so surreal sitting there on top of a mountain, with four Indian holy men, smoking out of a stone pipe, watching one of the most stunning sunsets of our lives. One of those times when you can't help but giggle in disbeleif at your own circumstance. At the ridiculousness of the things going on around you, and at the same time, knowing that you will remember this moment forever. DEEP.
Your ever hippier and profound friends,
Amelia and Ben.
and Joanna, who was there, but didn't help write this, but wants you all to know she was there too.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Being creepy is part of my job.
I don't think Jo or I have ever said this aloud, perhaps because we're a little sheepish and creeped out by our behavior, but I have to tell you that looking at other people's pictures that they leave on internet cafe computers is somewhat of a habit when traveling, okay definitely a habit. Scott, you would LOVE doing this. Occasionally I come across someone's rough draft for their blog, and since I love reading into other peoples lives that I have never met, and because the person who wrote this doesn't use names, I present to you: Some Random Traveler's Blog Post Draft:
Rishikesh was a nice, relaxing brake in buzzing India…and Yoga helped my back a lot, though it took me major effort to get there. “Relax your mind. Relax your body. Feeeel the energy in your body…” our toned Yoga teacher would not get tired of saying. All I could feel though was pain from my toes up to my roots (yes! I have roots…a horrible thing if you worked 6 yrs in hair colorants!). Talking of Yoga - people sitting in the parks during morning time and laughing off their butt’s did not show symptoms of some BSE-like disease, but rather practiced a very popular kind of Yoga – “Laugh-Yoga”.
Rishikesh became famous in the 60’s, when the Beatles stayed in an Ashram for couple of months, and wrote their “White Album” between their meditations and Yoga sessions.
Relaxed and refreshed, Kate and I headed to busy Delhi to meet Olivia from Italy. By the way, Delhi and India overall are less dirty and smelly than I was told, or maybe it is just because I was prepared for the worst from what others said. Yet what remains a pain in the neck is the acoustic pollution caused by honking cars and a constant stream of voices yelling “Yes. Hello. Beautiful scarfs/ shirts/art. Only looking. No buying, Ma’m. Best Quality”. Extended versions include “Where are you from” or “What is your name?”
In Delhi, we minimized our cultural- and maximized our Back-to-civilization-program. The only sight I visited was Humayun’s Tomb (though it is rather a dormitory of corps including 100 single tombs), which was the prototype of the Taj Mahal. Other than that, we pampered ourselves with an extensive beauty- and wellness program, indulging into Café Latte and chocolate brownies at coffee shops. Though we could claim this as store checks as Olivia used to be responsible for coffee shops at Lavazza. In return, I schecked out a posh Wella salon, getting new color on my roots (Thank god!) and a cut…and those guys did a great job!
Next stop was the famous Taj Mahal in Agra, the beautiful mausoleum built of marble and in memory of Jahan’s 2nd wife who died giving birth to their 14th child in 1631. Building the Taj took more than 20 yrs and cost more than 70 m. USD! This must have been love indeed! Getting up at 5.20 am to watch the Taj in the sunrise was rewarded by… a foggy view. I therefore took a single pic of the World heritage site in the afternoon and from the rooftop restaurant of our guesthouse.
Kate left us in Agra, and I guess she will remain the best-in-shape-traveler I met on my trip. She would get up every morning before sunrise to go for a run in a nearby park or simply on the street, or she would practice some yoga, normally both. Incredible.
Olivia and I moved on to Rajasthan’s “Pink City” – Jaipur. The “Ancient Peepholes”, or “Palace of the winds”, which was rather a house façade/ front than a palace, served the court ladies to observe city life without being seen themselves. And city life in the streets of Rajasthan’s capital sure is fascinating – nowhere else I have seen so diverse “vehicles” on the street: Next to the usual vehicles like cars, autorikschas, bikes and bicycles, there were also camels and bullocks pulling carts, horses and even elephants! We did see horses on the street before, but rather serving as a mount of the future groom being part of bachelor parties. This is normally celebrated as a parade through the city, with a small band or a music wagon with huge boxes coming first (depending on budget), a group of the groom’s friends dancing ecstatically behind them, followed by the groom himself riding on a skillfully decorated horse and closed by a carriage with kitschy, colorful flashing lights. In Jaipur, we bumped into 10 of those in one evening, and they have the habit of pulling female tourists into their center…
Right now Olivia & I are chilling in Pushkar, a small village and important place of pilgrimage for Hindus at the foot of the desert Thar. Writing these lines I am sitting on the rooftop café of our charming Hotel “7th heaven”, and the beautiful view on the desert, the soothing music, the oriental decoration and a freshly squeezed Papaya juice make it easy to believe that 7th heaven must be something close to this. Traveling can be so though…
Rishikesh was a nice, relaxing brake in buzzing India…and Yoga helped my back a lot, though it took me major effort to get there. “Relax your mind. Relax your body. Feeeel the energy in your body…” our toned Yoga teacher would not get tired of saying. All I could feel though was pain from my toes up to my roots (yes! I have roots…a horrible thing if you worked 6 yrs in hair colorants!). Talking of Yoga - people sitting in the parks during morning time and laughing off their butt’s did not show symptoms of some BSE-like disease, but rather practiced a very popular kind of Yoga – “Laugh-Yoga”.
Rishikesh became famous in the 60’s, when the Beatles stayed in an Ashram for couple of months, and wrote their “White Album” between their meditations and Yoga sessions.
Relaxed and refreshed, Kate and I headed to busy Delhi to meet Olivia from Italy. By the way, Delhi and India overall are less dirty and smelly than I was told, or maybe it is just because I was prepared for the worst from what others said. Yet what remains a pain in the neck is the acoustic pollution caused by honking cars and a constant stream of voices yelling “Yes. Hello. Beautiful scarfs/ shirts/art. Only looking. No buying, Ma’m. Best Quality”. Extended versions include “Where are you from” or “What is your name?”
In Delhi, we minimized our cultural- and maximized our Back-to-civilization-program. The only sight I visited was Humayun’s Tomb (though it is rather a dormitory of corps including 100 single tombs), which was the prototype of the Taj Mahal. Other than that, we pampered ourselves with an extensive beauty- and wellness program, indulging into Café Latte and chocolate brownies at coffee shops. Though we could claim this as store checks as Olivia used to be responsible for coffee shops at Lavazza. In return, I schecked out a posh Wella salon, getting new color on my roots (Thank god!) and a cut…and those guys did a great job!
Next stop was the famous Taj Mahal in Agra, the beautiful mausoleum built of marble and in memory of Jahan’s 2nd wife who died giving birth to their 14th child in 1631. Building the Taj took more than 20 yrs and cost more than 70 m. USD! This must have been love indeed! Getting up at 5.20 am to watch the Taj in the sunrise was rewarded by… a foggy view. I therefore took a single pic of the World heritage site in the afternoon and from the rooftop restaurant of our guesthouse.
Kate left us in Agra, and I guess she will remain the best-in-shape-traveler I met on my trip. She would get up every morning before sunrise to go for a run in a nearby park or simply on the street, or she would practice some yoga, normally both. Incredible.
Olivia and I moved on to Rajasthan’s “Pink City” – Jaipur. The “Ancient Peepholes”, or “Palace of the winds”, which was rather a house façade/ front than a palace, served the court ladies to observe city life without being seen themselves. And city life in the streets of Rajasthan’s capital sure is fascinating – nowhere else I have seen so diverse “vehicles” on the street: Next to the usual vehicles like cars, autorikschas, bikes and bicycles, there were also camels and bullocks pulling carts, horses and even elephants! We did see horses on the street before, but rather serving as a mount of the future groom being part of bachelor parties. This is normally celebrated as a parade through the city, with a small band or a music wagon with huge boxes coming first (depending on budget), a group of the groom’s friends dancing ecstatically behind them, followed by the groom himself riding on a skillfully decorated horse and closed by a carriage with kitschy, colorful flashing lights. In Jaipur, we bumped into 10 of those in one evening, and they have the habit of pulling female tourists into their center…
Right now Olivia & I are chilling in Pushkar, a small village and important place of pilgrimage for Hindus at the foot of the desert Thar. Writing these lines I am sitting on the rooftop café of our charming Hotel “7th heaven”, and the beautiful view on the desert, the soothing music, the oriental decoration and a freshly squeezed Papaya juice make it easy to believe that 7th heaven must be something close to this. Traveling can be so though…
sometimes a fire
A list of some the ridiculous things I want to buy for you:
-Krishna lunchboxes.
-Crazy pop-up cards with greetings written in broken English.
-Psychedelic T-shirts depicting Hindu gods, in tie dye.
-Creamsicle flavoured cookies and "Mystery Masala" chips. Along with the grand Maharaja Mac from Mcdonalds.
-Gold shoes with curly toes.
-Bags with vintage bollywood images printed on them.
-Hot oil to make your hair silky smooth.
-love from Amelia
-Krishna lunchboxes.
-Crazy pop-up cards with greetings written in broken English.
-Psychedelic T-shirts depicting Hindu gods, in tie dye.
-Creamsicle flavoured cookies and "Mystery Masala" chips. Along with the grand Maharaja Mac from Mcdonalds.
-Gold shoes with curly toes.
-Bags with vintage bollywood images printed on them.
-Hot oil to make your hair silky smooth.
-love from Amelia
The Land of Death.
Right now we're in Rajasthan, which is the desert province, and we're heading more and more into the desert as we go. Right now we're in a valley that is surrounded by some small mountains, no snow or anything, like a little higher than Mt. Doug. There are tree's here, but they're more like those little african tree's if you know what I mean. The town we're headed to in a week or so is on the edge of the Thar Desert aka "The Land of Death" to do some camel treks around the desert. I'm AMPED. The camels are SO much bigger than any of us thought they'd be, and they just walk through the city streets with their owners along elephants and the omnipresent cows. We leave Pushkar tonight on a Sleeper! bus. I've been told that bunks fold down at night above the seats, should be an adventure. We're headed to Udaipur, the "City of Romance" it's another small city only 250,000 people, TINY for India.
This is Pushkhar. Our Hostel is just off screen to the right, on the far side of the lake.
This is Pushkhar. Our Hostel is just off screen to the right, on the far side of the lake.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Hindininjas
what's uuuuuuuuuuuuuup?
We left the comforts of our awesome hotel in Jaipur yesterday to head to Pushkar, a small mountain town about four hours away.
Pushkar is the site of the only Brahmin Temple in all of India, and as such, is a very holy city. There is no alcohol here, and the poulation is only around 14,000. VERY small for India. We LOVE it here. The town surrounds a small lake who's water is said to clean away bad karma, and is surrounded by mountains. This place really caters to tourists, and is so small that you can walk everywhere if you wanted, we didn't want to so we rented scooters, and have spent the day exploring the farm land and mountains that surrounds the town. It's so peaceful, definitely weird for what we've come to expect from India. It's a bit chilly here at night, get's down to like, 10-15 degrees or so. I know I know, not very cold at home, but cold for India, and cold for us. The town is very picturesque, and it knows it, because almost every restaurant here is on the roof of a building. So whenever we have a meal we can gaze at the beautiful Rajisthani mountains. I'm so content here, nothing moves very quickly and there aren't very many cars, just tractors and motorbikes.
I think that's enough from me, I've got to go back to doing nothing :)
We miss you all very much, I hope you know that.
Goodnight,
-Ben
We left the comforts of our awesome hotel in Jaipur yesterday to head to Pushkar, a small mountain town about four hours away.
Pushkar is the site of the only Brahmin Temple in all of India, and as such, is a very holy city. There is no alcohol here, and the poulation is only around 14,000. VERY small for India. We LOVE it here. The town surrounds a small lake who's water is said to clean away bad karma, and is surrounded by mountains. This place really caters to tourists, and is so small that you can walk everywhere if you wanted, we didn't want to so we rented scooters, and have spent the day exploring the farm land and mountains that surrounds the town. It's so peaceful, definitely weird for what we've come to expect from India. It's a bit chilly here at night, get's down to like, 10-15 degrees or so. I know I know, not very cold at home, but cold for India, and cold for us. The town is very picturesque, and it knows it, because almost every restaurant here is on the roof of a building. So whenever we have a meal we can gaze at the beautiful Rajisthani mountains. I'm so content here, nothing moves very quickly and there aren't very many cars, just tractors and motorbikes.
I think that's enough from me, I've got to go back to doing nothing :)
We miss you all very much, I hope you know that.
Goodnight,
-Ben
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
McAloo Tikka Burger
We have made a most delicious discovery.
Here in India they serve something called Thali. Now maybe I'm way behind the times, but I had no idea this miracle existed. Thali is a meal made up of many dishes prepared on a plate with built in compartments. It's sort of like the Indian version of a Japanese bento box... except huge. For just over a dollar, you get all you can eat EVERYTHING! You start out with a few dishes, maybe some daal, a couple curries and one or two chapatis, and then as you eat, waiters walk by with more food and refill your plate. They give you rice, pickles, chutney, veggies, yogurt dishes, chillies, MORE CURRIE AND CHAPATIS!
Really. There is nothing so wonderful as having to fight off the legions of Indian men trying to give you more food for free.
After dinner last night, we all laid around in our room comparing our full bellies. We're definitely going to come home fat.
[Note: If you'll notice at the bottom of each post there is a small tag saying what city we are in at any given time. The only exception is with photos. The tag will say the places where the photos were taken.]
-Amelia
Here in India they serve something called Thali. Now maybe I'm way behind the times, but I had no idea this miracle existed. Thali is a meal made up of many dishes prepared on a plate with built in compartments. It's sort of like the Indian version of a Japanese bento box... except huge. For just over a dollar, you get all you can eat EVERYTHING! You start out with a few dishes, maybe some daal, a couple curries and one or two chapatis, and then as you eat, waiters walk by with more food and refill your plate. They give you rice, pickles, chutney, veggies, yogurt dishes, chillies, MORE CURRIE AND CHAPATIS!
Really. There is nothing so wonderful as having to fight off the legions of Indian men trying to give you more food for free.
After dinner last night, we all laid around in our room comparing our full bellies. We're definitely going to come home fat.
[Note: If you'll notice at the bottom of each post there is a small tag saying what city we are in at any given time. The only exception is with photos. The tag will say the places where the photos were taken.]
-Amelia
Saturday, December 1, 2007
mother cow.
aIt's 7:30pm and je suis tres fattigue. I'd forgotten how far you walk everyday traveling, we must have walked 10km today alone.
The train ride was an adventure, let me tell you about it....later. I'm way too tired to tell that story right now, so Instead I'll tell you about today.
We spent the day walking through Old Jaipur, the walled pink city, well more of an orange city actually. The city is split into four very neatly seperated quarters. We wandered around and stumbled up some stairs and found ourselves in a Hindu Temple of Lord Krishna. A preist greated us, and after showing us around the little temple he invited us in for tea with his wife. His wife spoke amazing english and we had loads of questions to ask the both of them. We ended up talking for a couple of hours and they filled us in on Indian culture. So here's some of What we learned today, and what we've gathered in the last few days:
1. The only people that wear nose rings in India are married women, aka NOT ME. Everyone here finds it very puzzling at first, then they find it hilarious. The number of times today alone I had to explain that in Canada, it's normal for men to have nose piercings are inumerable.
2. Everything else about my appearance is also hilarious.
3. The checked scarves we've been wearing are muslim, and different colours tell people where you're from, but everyone seems to be confused by the purple one Amelia wears.
4. Cows. Cows are holy for three reasons:
The train ride was an adventure, let me tell you about it....later. I'm way too tired to tell that story right now, so Instead I'll tell you about today.
We spent the day walking through Old Jaipur, the walled pink city, well more of an orange city actually. The city is split into four very neatly seperated quarters. We wandered around and stumbled up some stairs and found ourselves in a Hindu Temple of Lord Krishna. A preist greated us, and after showing us around the little temple he invited us in for tea with his wife. His wife spoke amazing english and we had loads of questions to ask the both of them. We ended up talking for a couple of hours and they filled us in on Indian culture. So here's some of What we learned today, and what we've gathered in the last few days:
1. The only people that wear nose rings in India are married women, aka NOT ME. Everyone here finds it very puzzling at first, then they find it hilarious. The number of times today alone I had to explain that in Canada, it's normal for men to have nose piercings are inumerable.
2. Everything else about my appearance is also hilarious.
3. The checked scarves we've been wearing are muslim, and different colours tell people where you're from, but everyone seems to be confused by the purple one Amelia wears.
4. Cows. Cows are holy for three reasons:
- Cows symbolize the mother. They give and give all their lives. Even in death their bodies are used for various purposes (medicines(their poo mainly), clothing, etc.). Oh, and they give milk. That's a big one.
- Krishna grew up among cows and said that they are beautiful, peaceful creatures and should be revered above others.
- Cows are simple animals. They are vegetarian, non-violent, and ask nothing of others.
Also, it should be noted that the cows have homes. Not too long ago, every family had a cow living with them in their house. Now you are still expected to feed the cows, but they are allowed to roam the streets during the day. Apparently they return to their homes at night.
5. Most women don't smoke. Seeing a girl smoke, especially a western girl, is reason to stare and whisper amongst your friends. Although, being a foreigner is enough for people to stare, and they do. All the time.
6. Bindis are traditionally red. All the colourful, sparkly things you see the women wearing are merely for fashion. The men don't wear red bindis. Small children sometimes have a black spot painted on one side of their forhead. This is to ward off bad energy and jealous thoughts of others'. This idea extends to buildings as well. People will sometimes put something black around their home for the same reason. This object could be anything, the preists wife mentioned black shoes being popular.
7. Tibetan tea is salty. And gross.
8. If someone is too enthusiastic about giving you a good deal, it's a sham.
9. It is incredibly easy to be a vergetarian here. The simplest dish packs a ton of flavour.
10. Don't try to understand how you got somewhere, just be happy you did. We somehow made it through a train ride without being able to read any Hindi, which seems to be mandatory since they don't announce the stops or the train numbers.
That's all we've got right now, we need to pass out. We love and miss you.
Goodnight.
-Ben and Milly.
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