Actually, this is my second time to India

We've returned to lovely India, and as I expected, I felt culture shock all over again. If you hadn't figured it out from my last few posts, I loved Sri Lanka and was sad to leave. However, I am also happy to be back in India and excited for the next few weeks. As we re-entered the country, I realized, technically, this is my second time to India. Sure, its all really in one tour, but now when touts ask ' This first time to India' I can look at them knowingly and reply "No, this is my second time". One thing I discovered during my first visit to India is that answering "yea, its my first time here" while smiling like an idiot is also like saying "please, over charge me for whatever you are selling me!"
The last few night in SL were full of friends, beaches and late nights and one of the brutal side effects is that I am a little under the weather. I have a slight head cold, and was sneezing all day. On the bus out of Hikkadua I could feel the heat radiating from my forehead. I am surprised that they let me back into India as I am suffering from all of the side effects of H1N1. However I don't think its the swine. More likely i have Dengue or Malaria - I have never had so many bug bites in my life. My arms, ankles, knees and neck are totally spotted. Jokes aside, I am on the up and up, feeling much better. Especially after a good rest sleeping in Chennai. At Laurie's apartment I had a bowl of Chicken soup and a lovely sleep and I must say, this morning I woke up and felt so much better.
I have been laughing a lot lately and mostly to myself. The reason is that there are so many signs here that have these sweet little grammar errors that often make the native english speaker have a little giggle. I have started writing them down, because some are so priceless and I would like to share some of my favorites with you now:

Grate sea side view

Sam's Bar, Grrrreat: GET DRUNK!

White Face Tailors

Yours' Bicycle Rental

These are the one's i have seen and can remember off the top of my head. When I remember more I'll have to post them also. We are about to leave Chennai, and head to Bangalore. We are about to meet up with some friends, Meike and Adrian, who we spent time with in Hampi. It is Adrian's birthday and we plan to make it an International 25th Birthday! I am really excited because so often when I meet people I am thinking that I must cherish these moments as more likely than not, I will probably never see this person again. So, it is really great to link up with friends from the road, especially in a busy city like Bangalore!

Until next time, thanks for reading and commenting on posts. It makes writing a lot more fun to think that friends actually care about what is going on here.

Love to you! <3

Sock it to ya in Hikkadua

We in the last leg of our SL trip. Honestly, it makes me a little sad. I have really loved being here. I would come back here in a heart beat and encourage anyone with the inclination to come here.
With that said, let me tell you about the past few days. If any of you read my 'arrack attack' entry, you'll know we attended a party at the Surfcity guesthouse a few days back. It was fun, I think. But while we were there we made friends with two lovely gents, Mike and Pete. Both are surfers, and Pete had a really biting Kiwi sense of humor. Some of the funnier things I have heard in this life came out of his mouth - mostly as he made fun of Aussies.
The four of us were really lucky and scored a cooking class and amazing curry and rice supper with one of the more interesting couples I have met in this life. Dieter, and his wife Bakshi live in Unawatuna. I don't even know how to sum up Dieter, but here are a few fun facts about his life: He is German, left Germany at 16, has lived in South Africa, the Amazon (where he fathered a must sought after blue eyed child in the rainforest), he lived in vietnam during the war, treked the Himalayas for 9 years and also lived as a Buddhist monk for 18 years, learning to paint incredibly detailed and beautiful Buddhist paintings. His wife is an effortlessly beautiful and blissful Sri Lankan who kindly let us watch her prepare dinner and taught us her culinary tricks. Probably one of the highlights of my trip so far.
Now in Hikkadua we are staying at a really swanky hotel. We are the only guests and the young man who runs the place (a friend from a sweet scuba instructor from Unawatuna) is letting of stay there for reeeeally cheap. The room itself is huge. There is a hot water shower and in the courtyard, there is a pool... in the shape of Sri Lanka. It is absolutely amazing. Last night we came home from dinner and found a group of about 13 guys, making bbq and drinking, chilling, listening to reggae and of course they invited us to hang out. Its totally amazing - its sort of like having 12 brothers to hang out with.
Today we went for bike ride to visit some temples. There was a really moving one that was erected in memorium of the 2006 Tsunami. The tsunami is something that when you look around, you don't really notice, except for minor things here and there (such as the receeding look of forest from the beach coast). The development of hotels on the beach begs to differ. But everyone here has been affected. I have heard many people talk of finding their loved ones washed up in the streets - they have lost everything. Its really incredible to think what was indured here only a few years ago.
Soon we leave to Colombo and then back to India. I think we'll be experiencing culture shock all over again.

Arrak Attack

There is a charming little brew made in south asia called Arrak. Its palm booze and its friggin insane. I should know, I drank a lot of it last night.

At the guesthouse we are staying at the staff threw a big party. There was a smoke machine, lights, fireworks, hotdogs (wtf?) and sri lanka's 7th best dj. Thats right, 7th! The night was a real treat, but I didn't last long. What with going to bed on a regular basis at about 9:30 I think I made it to midnight. I went for a pee, found my bed, and woke up to Darius who made it to sunset, stumbling in at 7am. I did manage to get my contact lenses out of my eyes, and was clever enough to take some advil but today i feel like someone threw me against a rock. Even writing this is painful. So I am gonna stop and wait until later.

Until then...

SCROLL DOWN

In a mad rush to put some photos up I have tried to give a visual overview of the trip so far. The photos are a bit disjointed so I'll try to explain. From top to bottom the images are as follows:
-Handmade lace in Galle, SL
-Galle viewed from the Fort walls
- Darius walking the train tracks in Ella, SL
- The beginnings of a temple being built a top Ella Rock, SL
- Me infront of Ella Gap, before the hike, SL
- Kandy Lake with Buddha overlooking, SL
- A Sunset in Kandy, SL
- Me and Vanessa, the puppy, Havelock Is, Andamans
- Darius hard at work on a Thali, Andamans
- Darius, charming as ever - with a nice sunset too, Beach 7 Andamans
- Drinking a well deserved coconut (and check that sunburn even with SPF60!), Andamans
- Thats me driving a motorbike
- Fishing boats at our beach, Andamans
- Monsoon streets, Chennai India
- The Colors of Hampi Bazaar, India
- Indian traffic, Hyderabad, India
- Full moon rising over Hanuman Temple, Hampi India
- Hill Country, SL
- Looking down at my feet over the ledge of Ella Rock, SL

Hope this makes sense...

so many pictures, so few words...

A couple thousand more...

A thousand more

A Picture says a thousand words

Swanky Sri Lanky

Its hard to believe that I have been off and away for more than a month. Running around India has been so 'full' that I almost forgot that my itinerary included another country; I am almost embarrassed to say that as we sat in our seats on the flight from Chennai to Colombo, this time I really didn't know what to expect. I thought, 'well the food will be spicier and the weather will be hotter', but that is about as far as my imagination took me.
Our trusty 'Lonely Planet', along with some warnings from Sundar (my little tag along from Hyderabad...) said to be careful of being ripped off. I left the airport with my guard up, but by the time we had been kindly directed to the public bus to take us to Negembo, and cab drivers respectfully backed off when we responded 'no thank you' to their offers of a ride, I tossed whatever guard I had at the airport (I'll pick it up for my flight back to India)!
Sri Lanka instantly won me over and i do love it here. We decided to start our trip in Kandy. We took a public bus for practically pennies and arrived in the dark and rain in town. In the morning we acquainted ourselves with this pleasant town. It surrounds a lake, which has some turtles and what look like mini 'gators that loll about on loose logs and branches. The town has a really fantastic bazaar and we spent some time weaving around on the streets of Kandy. Our first day was pretty lazy. In the evening though, while running around in the rain trying to look for a resto we'd read about, 'Kandy Muslim Hotel' a man sauntered over and told us that our umbrella was far too small for the two of us, let alone three, and he nudged his way in. His English was excellent and as he told us about his love for Sri Lanka and what would we like to know about fine country? We asked where the restaurant was, and turns out we stood right in front of it. We invited him for supper with us. His name is Mike Johnson - that's right folks, the most patriotic and prideful Sri Lankan I've met and his name is Mike Johnson - and he runs the gift shop at the Ceylon Tea Museum. He was a real gem of a man and we enjoyed his company. The next day as we wandered the market hoping to find him, a bunch of his friends found us, knowing that we'd be around and gave us the full tour of the market, filling our bellies with 5 different varieties of mangoes and bananas. It was delicious. Speaking of delicious, can we talk about food for a minute here? Its amazing. And spicy, but not too crazy spicy. Perfect spicy.

Kandy was rainy and we left for Ella. The drive there was spectacular. We climbed through winding switch bac roads, past waterfalls and through tea plantations that have been carved like stairs into the sides of the hills. In Ella, we decided to splurge and stay in the nice room in Hill Top Guesthouse. The view from our front door was of 'Ella gap'; a valley between the two mountains. On a clear morning we could see to the ocean. On the right 'Ella Rock' towered with clouds constantly breezing by and to the left there is 'Little Adam's Peak' - It was really spectacular. We climbed Ella Rock our first day and it was quite the adventure. Wandering through tea plantations, across train tracks, over bridges, and through jungle-esque forest before reaching the ecalyptus trees that line the tops of the mountains. We had a guide take us through the rambling trail and once we reached the top (after saving me from leeches!! twice!) we wandered to a small construction in the distance. At this point, the clouds were beginning to surround us, like we were in the cloud. We came across what I assume is a father-son duo working on building a temple at the top of the mountain. We took some photographs and he asked us to bring them to him the next day. On our way down we stopped at the little house of our guide, had a really fantastic cup of tea, met his daughters and played with their puppies (tarzan and lucky). We decided the next morning would be dedicated to printing photos, getting the girls some school pens and notebooks and colored pencils to bring to them the next day. And that's what we did, then had yet another cup of delicious tea.
Its hard to try and sum up what happened, already it seems like I have missed out important details but when so much happens, in such a different place, its hard to remember it all and then transform it into words. With that said...
We came from Ella, the land of amazing mountains and beautiful curries to Unawatuna yesterday afternoon. Now we are in the south coast. In Hill Country we were 1041m above msl and now we are back at the beach. It feels different to be back to close to the ocean, the air is hotter and salty, but the food is just as tasty.

The difference between Sri Lanka and India is a lot greater than I had expected, although as I admitted before, I really didn't know what to expect. For one, the streets are cleaner and people are friendlier. They don't seem to have the same garbage issues here. And when people look at you they smile, instead of just staring. In general SL seems to be free of some of the social and environmental problems that India suffers from, but I know that SL has its own strife. However, Sri lankans seems to really love their country. A few people have mentioned that the political upheavals here has kept people away, and the tsunami kept beach tourism at bay in the last years, but no ones spirit seems to be dampered too greatly. So, in all, I love Sri Lanka.
I wish i could get this computer to read my camera so I could upload some photos but I don't think its gonna happen this time around.

Until next time!

Just back from Vacation from my Vacation...

The last week was spent in the midst of the Bay of Bengal, far closer to Thailand than to India. Being in the Andaman Islands, especially on Havelock Is. (where we spent 7 nights) feels a lot more like the Carribean and a lot less like India. Havelock has no internet connection. There are computers and signs that say 'Internet' but when you go to inquire, someone shrugs their shoulders and responds with a head bobble "no internet today". After a few days, I gave up trying. However, I have been looking forward to seeing a computer and getting connected again - its amazing how much farther I felt without internet. My western ways are showing through...
Because so much has happened in the last week I thought I would summarize with some highlights:
*Havelock Island is a 2 hour jetty from Port Blair. It is a true tropical paradise. The shore is thick groves of palm trees, ripe wiht coconuts, white sands, sea green ocean, puffy white clouds dotting and rolling across perfect blue skies. Inland is jungle, with a cloud of heat and moisture the farther inland you go.
* The lovliest sunsets I have seen at beach number seven (thats the name!)They seem to last forever and then just when you think you have seen perfection at the beach, the sun tinges the windey bike ride home through rice feilds a perfect grapefruit pink.
*Finding Lagoons in the midday heat and discovering the waters are almost hotter than the white hot sands - oh where does one find relief in such paradise?
*Village life: it bustles with travellers, stray dogs, childresn in school uniforms; the smells of thalis and chai fill the midday and the putting of motorbike and rickshaw engines fill your ears. And then, between 1pm or 2pm everything shuts down for an afternoon nap - siesta style - only to resume in full force at about 4pm or 5pm and continues well into the darkness.
*A note on time: The Andamans belong to India and share the same time zone so the sun rises at about 5am and sets at about 5pm; this makes things pretty interesting for your internal body clock. Everything is so laid back that it doesn't really matter though.
*A few evenings we laid out on the beach, the sand cool and damp as the tide had just let out, under a black sky littered with twinkling stars. There are enough shooting stars to solve all of the world's problems ten times over with wishes. My favorite evening was climbing into a fishing boat and laying on the bench, star gazing while the lilt of the ocean hushed my body and thoughts quiet.
*I have never seen so many pregnant dogs in my life; of course it makes sense but I had never thought about it before. Most guesthouses have a few strays that stick around the area which means of course, that there were puppies living at ours! Three floppy and playful little puppies lived at ours and one in particular took to following me around, chewing my sandals and biting my toes. She would regularly fall asleep in my arms. I named her Vanessa because she was adorable and clever.
*Our second or third day in Havelock we rattled our way on a fishing boat to a tiny lump of an island called south button for a really magnificent snorkel. The fish were brilliant and the coral reef was something I had never seen before - deep and surrounding this veritable lump in the ocean. Fish with phosphorescent skins and wild stripes swam and darted centimeters from my body. I literally swam through schools of purple, blue and yellow fish, of many sizes. I think I saw a Baracuda and Nadia, one of our friends, saw a sea snake with white and black spirals.
*And, as per usual, we've met some really spectacular people from all around the world. Nadia and Catrina from Denmark shared our Jetty ride and we had some good laughs over barbeque fish tikka. Lydia and Gemma of London made staying at Pristine guesthouse so much fun; those two have the most amazing sense of humor - and style. Noami and Yaya of Isreal made our last day a fantastic adventure and also gave a unique insight into the ever exclusive and insular Isreali travel scene.

Its hard to sum up what just happened in a week. There was a lot of sun and beach and laughter. I got one of the worst burns of my life on my nose - I look like a clown right now. I am recovering slowly with the help of Aloe, 60SPF and a new (but ugly) hate.
I don't know whether it was feeling so small on those little islands under all of those stars, or if it was being disconnected from the internet, but I haven't felt so far from home like I have here. Back in Port Blair it feels more like India at least - I am oddly comforted by the honking horns, the empty plastic bottles on the roadside and a dish of Dhaal. Maybe the next spot will have a similar effect. I'll have to wait and see...
Up next: Sri Lanka!

The Charminar Express

So, Hyderabd did make me a little cranky - it is a tough town, what can I say? Between the lack of sidewalks, the pollutions, greasey food, noise, annoying tagalongs it wasn't my favorite. However, all in all, there were some sweet moments.

Yesterday, Darius and I visited Golconda Fort. The fort established the city in the 1500's and is a testament to the amazing military and civil accomlishments of the time. It was really amazing. The fort was incredibly restored and from the highest point (a climb of about 300 stairs) we could see a really spectacular view of the city. We were really surpised at the amount of green space. The almost all white architecture gave the city a middle eastern feel and minarets and Mosque temple tops that dapple the sky line were very picturesque.
Another great thing Hyderbad offered was this one amazing meal. We ate off a banana leaf several helpings of delicious rice, vegetable dishes (spiced to perfection) and sweets all for about $1.50 CAD. Pretty sweet.
And as we left I think I saw one of the more incredible city sunsets of my life: the blue sky backdropped the light and dark blue India rail cars and then the setting sun changed the sky from blue to yellow to orange and pink. The marble platform was glowing and just when I thought it couldn't be sweeter, a little floppy puppy appeared and plunked himself at my feet, splaying himself and wagging his tail in the most adorable way! *sigh*
We took the Charminar Express from Hyderabad to Chennai. This morning, after our arrival and some help from Sundar (my chatty India tag along - who, btw chatted what seemed like the whole way to Chennai) we made it to the public transit to Lauri's neighborhood. It was raining pretty hard so when we got into a rickshaw to find her house, it was as if we were in a boat - the streets were like canals in Venice. Cars splashed their way through and we received tidal waves of spray into our open rickshaw. We made it to Lauri's, had a breif sit and then went for a delightful breakky and tea, then this internet fix and we'll soon be off to buy some sweets. I am feeling much cheerier here in Chennai. Mostly I am looking forward to our stay with Lauri and hearing about her adventures here in India.
So, until next time friends...

Bad bad Hyderabad

On David Bedards recommendation I put Hyderabad on my itinerary. We arrived after 5 amazing days in Hampi, and honestly Dave, I don't see what the fuss is about. I think I knew this would happen eventually. That I would arrive somewhere and just would not like it. But in the spirit of being open to new places and trying new things I gave Hyderabad a shot today. Alone. Darius is ill (I told him not to drink that water at the table last night...)and stayed in the hotel so I ventured out in the morning to buy train tickets to chennai and then later in the afternoon I went to Salar Jung Museum and Charmahalla Bazaar. I met a strange and very annoying Indian fellow who followed me around all day. This is when my faux wedding band came is really handy. But it was nice to have company and he did help me cross the insanely frightening streets. He seemed to be curious about me, as he asked a million questions, however he didn't really wait for any answers, just simply continued talking and telling me insightful info such as "In India, many people are Hindu". Now I know.
The museum itself was really beautiful and the items within were a strange mix of artifacts. Some exhibits were better than others. After I went to the Bazaar which was an exhausting strip of Saris, garments, Bangals, shoes and everything and anything else you could want. From the top of the Charmahalla I got a great view of the city. There are minarets sprinkling the city scape and you can see the avenues weave, the hundreds of yellow and black rickshaws, motorbikes weaving and dodging their way through the streets.
Making my way through the city without Darius was a real challenge. Not only did I have this annoying tag along (who I found out is also on the same train as me tomorrow!) but trying to get anything done, find directions, etc, without a guy is a challenge. The stares are more intense and linger longer than I care for.
Oh, here is a nice tid bit: the hotel we are staying at is in a bit of an alley. Which I have named 'Airconditioning Alley' because every other place is either a shop of air conditioners, fans, refridgerators, or repair shops for said items. In 'Ariconditioning Alley' there is 'public pee corner'. Upon a huge heap of garbage, which is sometimes delightfully set on fire, I have seen about 6 men peeing. Not all the same time. No, just pretty much any time I pass by, some one is peeing there. So, as I said, I look forward to Chennai (and maybe not the train ride there...)because I'll see Lauri (Julia's Mom) and we are then soon off to the Andaman Islands for some beachy laid back fun in the sun.

Looking forward to a more chipper post!
xoxox