Nostalgia is already firmly rooted after only two weeks at home. Happily I have photos up now so that I revisit the India experience whenever the needed presses.
To access the photos, simple click on the India photo on the right. Oddly, sometimes the link takes me directly to the India photo album, and other times I'm directed to my gallery. If you find yourself in my gallery, you can then click on the India Photo album. Hope you enjoy viewing the marvelous people and places of India.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Heading to Bangaluru
Stephanie and I are spending a lazy day by the beach and pool on our last day in Goa. After all the running around we did, it has been just the break we need. This area is pretty prosperous as they have a thriving agricultural industry, booming tourism and gold too. It was a Portuguese colony up until 1961. There are lots of crumbling and fading Portuguese homes and churches, and they make a pretty good port wine here too. The weather is gorgeous - in the 80s with lovely sea breezes. We may go out to the next town this afternoon to have lunch and get a Tarot card reading and maybe a quick yoga class.
Tomorrow we head for Bangaluru where I'll spend a few days before we go home. This is a big modern city and I'm looking forward to spending some time hanging out there. Then I'll be home! Pictures will loaded then, so stay tuned!
Tomorrow we head for Bangaluru where I'll spend a few days before we go home. This is a big modern city and I'm looking forward to spending some time hanging out there. Then I'll be home! Pictures will loaded then, so stay tuned!
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Fun Times at the Airport
Generally speaking, I think the Indians have mastered security protocol better than we have in the States. Upon entering the airport the carry on bags are scanned and locked with a little plastic device, so one doesn't have to worry about losing one's things to inscrutable airline employees. Then after checking in and getting a boarding pass, you pass through another security area where they scan the carry on bags and do a body search of each passenger. They do this in a little covered area with a metal dectator baton. It appears that the they hire the most depressed and disgruntled women they an find for this job, but that's fine - it's not the most interesting job after all.
You are allowed to bring water into the secure area, the only thing is that you have to take a sip of it in front of a security officer to make sure that it's not toxic or dangerous in other ways. All of the carry on bags are tagged and they check the tags carefully when boarding. I did have one rather hilarious experience at the airport in Bangalore yesterday when the young female security officer looked through my bag and found my medicine cache (two kinds of antibiotics, anxiety meds for the plane, malaria meds, cholesterol, pain killers, to name a few). She then asked me to taste them all! Happily, after I patiently explained that I could go into cardiac arrest if I tried them all at once, she relented and let me through.
At the Chennai airport, we enjoyed the digital monitor at the check in counter which itemized a long list of items that are not allowed in the carry on bags.
We were cautioned, for example, to take out any dynamite, machetes, explosive devices, bombs, hand guns, automatic weapons, anthrax, axes, swords, brass knuckles, knives that we may have inadvertently packed.
You are allowed to bring water into the secure area, the only thing is that you have to take a sip of it in front of a security officer to make sure that it's not toxic or dangerous in other ways. All of the carry on bags are tagged and they check the tags carefully when boarding. I did have one rather hilarious experience at the airport in Bangalore yesterday when the young female security officer looked through my bag and found my medicine cache (two kinds of antibiotics, anxiety meds for the plane, malaria meds, cholesterol, pain killers, to name a few). She then asked me to taste them all! Happily, after I patiently explained that I could go into cardiac arrest if I tried them all at once, she relented and let me through.
At the Chennai airport, we enjoyed the digital monitor at the check in counter which itemized a long list of items that are not allowed in the carry on bags.
We were cautioned, for example, to take out any dynamite, machetes, explosive devices, bombs, hand guns, automatic weapons, anthrax, axes, swords, brass knuckles, knives that we may have inadvertently packed.
Kerala Backwaters
We've just finished our two day houseboat tour of the Kerala Backwaters. Forty rivers converge in this area to flow into the Arabian Sea, so the whole area is filled with lakes and canals and rivers for miles and miles and miles. Rice paddies are ubiquitous here as are fishermen. We cruised down the lakes and canals watching people live out their daily lives on the banks as they have done for centuries. There were very few other boats in the water with us on the second day, so it felt like a journey into prehistory.
The boats are larger verions of Kerala rice barges (pictures to follow soon). Our boat had a staff of three charming men --a cook, a driver, and a third guy who did a little of everything. We had a enclosed deck with chairs and a chaise lounge for reading and viewing and also a small table for dining. And we enjoyed the languid drifting of the boat, the sunsets and the peace and quiet...during the day.
At the first place we docked for the night, a boat across the way began to play loud music, hip hop and lots of garish American pop. Stephanie and I grumbled quite a bit about that, but eventually they quieted down and the night became peaceful again. That's until we went to bed. I was so tired the first night aboard that I didn't hear the river rats scurrying around the rafters until I woke up in the middle of the night. Stephanie,who had been reading late, said they had been quite active and she was pretty sure that she heard them in the walls too. It was a creepy sound, and I was glad that I hadn't slept outside on the deck, which I had wanted to do until I remembered the that mosquitos are everywhere there. The second day, I began to feel ill from food or water bacteria, so went to bed early after taking my antibiotics and though I woke up a number of times at night and heard the critters above, I was too sick then to care. Happily the antibiotics did their work and I felt considerably better the next day to enjoy the breakfast and our last little tour of the backwaters.
Kerela is an interesting state in that it is the only state in the world where a communist party has been elected into power. The CP in Kerala has ruled on and off, mostly on, for 50 years. This party is currently in office, but our driver suggested they may not win the upcoming April elections.
I've read that the 100% literacy rate in the state (the only such rate in India...the world?)is their doing, and we noticed that the state is practically trash free -- remarkable to behold after having spent four days or so in the Tamil Nadu area on the Bay of Bengal which is a considerably poorer state. Kerala looks cleaner and more prosperous than other areas we have seen. There are a lot of Christians in this state, the second largest group after Hindus, so we saw lots of chruches and shrines to saints and the Sryrian apostle that brought Christianity to India. It's a wonderful place and I wish we had had more time to explore it. Next time.
The boats are larger verions of Kerala rice barges (pictures to follow soon). Our boat had a staff of three charming men --a cook, a driver, and a third guy who did a little of everything. We had a enclosed deck with chairs and a chaise lounge for reading and viewing and also a small table for dining. And we enjoyed the languid drifting of the boat, the sunsets and the peace and quiet...during the day.
At the first place we docked for the night, a boat across the way began to play loud music, hip hop and lots of garish American pop. Stephanie and I grumbled quite a bit about that, but eventually they quieted down and the night became peaceful again. That's until we went to bed. I was so tired the first night aboard that I didn't hear the river rats scurrying around the rafters until I woke up in the middle of the night. Stephanie,who had been reading late, said they had been quite active and she was pretty sure that she heard them in the walls too. It was a creepy sound, and I was glad that I hadn't slept outside on the deck, which I had wanted to do until I remembered the that mosquitos are everywhere there. The second day, I began to feel ill from food or water bacteria, so went to bed early after taking my antibiotics and though I woke up a number of times at night and heard the critters above, I was too sick then to care. Happily the antibiotics did their work and I felt considerably better the next day to enjoy the breakfast and our last little tour of the backwaters.
Kerela is an interesting state in that it is the only state in the world where a communist party has been elected into power. The CP in Kerala has ruled on and off, mostly on, for 50 years. This party is currently in office, but our driver suggested they may not win the upcoming April elections.
I've read that the 100% literacy rate in the state (the only such rate in India...the world?)is their doing, and we noticed that the state is practically trash free -- remarkable to behold after having spent four days or so in the Tamil Nadu area on the Bay of Bengal which is a considerably poorer state. Kerala looks cleaner and more prosperous than other areas we have seen. There are a lot of Christians in this state, the second largest group after Hindus, so we saw lots of chruches and shrines to saints and the Sryrian apostle that brought Christianity to India. It's a wonderful place and I wish we had had more time to explore it. Next time.
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