India...

        India. Always on the go. That was pretty much the story of my time there. It was absolutely incredible though. I really had no idea what India was going to be like. I knew it was going to be hectic, but I didn’t really know to what extent. I had an action packed time there. There was little time that I actually got to spend not running around.

        On the first day, I went on the Dalit Work Project with SAS. We went to the Dalit village in Chennai and painted a building they wanted to use as a community center. When we first arrived there, all the village school kids ran out to the bus and greeted us as we got off. They put flowers around our neck, and had boys playing the drums up and down the streets. It was really cool. They made us feel like royalty. When we got off the bus we walked into the village. They had a canopy set up outside the building we were painting. They had a whole introduction welcoming us to the village and addressing the village on why we were there. I couldn’t understand anything they were saying so I just smiled, nodded my head, and clapped when they did.

        When the introduction was over, we were all handed buckets of paint and a brush and we went at it. We only had to paint for an hour or so, but I think I lost about 10 pounds in the process. I have never sweated that much in my life. We were all dripping with sweat. There was no air conditioning and only one little fan. I was inside painting and there was only one window and a small door. We were also covered in paint by the time we were done too. They water down their paint a ton. It was practically like trying to paint with water. There wasn’t a way to paint without getting it all over the ground. They had some of us going around with pads cleaning it off the ground because of that. I did that for most of the time because there weren’t enough buckets of paint and brushes for everyone. After an hour of painting, it wasn’t completely done, but it was so much better than it was before.

        When we were done painting, they took us on a little walking tour of the village. It almost reminded me of Ghana. The kids swarmed around us grabbing our arms. They all wanted us to take pictures of them like the kids in Ghana. It was really fun. They were constantly trying to get our attention and shaking our hands. These kids don’t get to see anyone from outside their village very often. We also got to meet the village doctor and musician on our way around. The village was very small so everyone knew everyone. There were so many goats and cows in the streets. It was so weird to just see cows hanging out in the streets. When we made our way back to the community center, they had another ceremony set up for us. They sang and danced for us. It was a way of saying thank you for coming to the village. We had our own little dance party as well. It was the same cultural thing as my experience in Ghana. They expect singing and dancing in return if they do it for you.

        After we left the village, I took the rest of the afternoon to wash up and rest. That short trip ended up being pretty tiring. A whole group of friends and I planned on going out to have a really nice dinner, so I wanted to be ready to go do that. There were 9 of us all together going to dinner. We convinced our taxi drive to take us all. We crammed into every possible spot in his suv. It was a fairly long ride to The Verandah, where we ate. The restaurant was inside of the Taj Connemara Hotel. This place was absolutely incredible. There was just one extremely long buffet. There were all kinds of Indian and Chinese dishes and tons of fruit and desserts. Everything I had was so good. They had one dessert that I had probably 5 or 6 of as well. It was passion fruit custard. I could have eaten that for the whole meal.

        When we got done with dinner, we all headed back to the ship. We got to take our first ride in an auto-rickshaw. These little vehicles are all over India. They are pretty much a go-cart with three wheels. They are incredible to ride in. They are such crazy drivers in India that we definitely thought we were going to die at some point. You get so close to the other cars in the street that you can touch the other cars without putting more than your hand outside the rickshaw. Once we finally made it back to the ship, it was about 1230am. I decided not to go to bed at all because I had to be up and ready to leave for Delhi at 345am. I have a habit of sleeping through my alarm if I get less than 4 hours of sleep. My trip was so expensive that I couldn’t afford to miss it. I just sat around the ship and made sure I was all packed for a few hours. It went surprisingly quick.

        345am came quick enough and I was off to Delhi. I fell asleep immediately after I got on the bus. It was about an hour to get to the airport from the ship. When we finally made it to the airport, we had to rush through ticketing and security. We were all pretty late. Annie, Gina, and I barely made it on to the plane. They were paging our names on the intercoms for awhile. We luckily made it and were fine. I was awake long enough to know we took off, but fell right back asleep until we got to Delhi. Falling asleep on transportation became a theme for me on this trip. When we got to Delhi, we got on a few busses and headed to do some sightseeing around the city before lunch. We went to a hotel to eat. It was another Indian buffet. It was very good as well. I ate a ton.

        After lunch we headed to the hotel. We stayed at Le Meridian. It was probably one of the nicest hotels I have ever stayed at in my life. After we got our stuff in our rooms, we had the option of going with our tour guide to some temples or exploring the city on our own. Annie, Gina, and I decided to go off by ourselves. We got a rickshaw and went to some type of market. We were looking for a traditional outdoor market, but the driver took us to a place that was more like a mall. It had stuff that we were looking for, but it was pricier. We shopped around for awhile, and then headed back to the hotel to get some internet before dinner. The internet wasn’t free, but I didn’t care. It was fast internet and that’s all I cared about. The internet has been getting worse and worse on the ship, so we take any opportunity we can to get good internet.

        We ate at the hotel for dinner. It was once again a huge Indian buffet. I think they wanted us to be fat. It was delicious as well. It was much better than lunch. They had this chocolate brownie dessert that I ate a whole plate of. I could have had a ton more, but there was never any left when I went back up there. After dinner I ran into Chris and Shelly from another trip that was staying at the same hotel. I went and talked to them for awhile. We all were exhausted and decided to not do much. We headed to the main section of the hotel. There was a chocolate bar, which sounded much more appealing than the actual bar. I had homemade hot chocolate made with dark chocolate chips and a box full of really good chocolates. After I finished my hot chocolate, I headed back to my room. I lounged around and checked up on some stuff on the internet. My roommate never came back to the room, so I had the whole room to myself. It was pretty nice.

        The next morning came too quick. We had to be on the bus around 5am, so breakfast was at 430ish. I made it there around 445, but that was a struggle. Once we got everyone on the bus, we headed to the train station. We took the train to Agra. I have heard so many stories about the Indian rail systems. This train really wasn’t that bad. It was the nicest trail line though. It was pretty dirty and old, but it could have been much worse. It was comfortable enough for me to fall asleep on the entire way. I think it was about a 2 hour train ride, but I would have been ok with it being a lot longer. That nap wasn’t long enough. When we got to Agra, we headed to a hotel for breakfast. On our way to our busses, we saw some eye-opening things. There were just masses of people begging for money. Some were in wheelchairs. Some had amputated limbs on their bodies. Some had elephantiasis. It was hard to see. It was even crazier when our guide told us that some parents cut off their child’s arms or legs so they can go there and beg.

        After that sight, we were all ready to get away from there. We headed to a hotel that another trip was staying at. Another Indian buffet was waiting for us. This time it was a breakfast buffet. I had some really good bread and sauce. I have no idea what it was called. It was pretty spicy though. I didn’t eat all that much since we did have a breakfast at our hotel before we left. After we ate, we headed to the red fort. I think that was the name. I have a picture of the ticket, but that’s about as interested as I was in it. It was kind of fun to run around and take pictures in it, but other than that I have no idea what was going on there. We went right back from there to the hotel for lunch. This was our third meal in 8 hours. I wasn’t hungry in the least. We again had an Indian buffet. It was good, but I could not eat much.

        After lunch, we headed to Agra Fort. This place was a lot more interesting than the first fort. It was like a huge maze. It just kept on going. There were some really cool looking buildings inside. There was a really good viewing spot from one section to see the Taj Mahal. We roamed around there for awhile and took some more pictures. We then got to finally go to the Taj. It took us awhile to get there, even though it was relatively close to Agra Fort. There are just so many tourists and you only get so close to it by vehicle. They have it blocked off from vehicles from a really far distance. We had to get off the bus and walk to the entrance. We were immediately bombarded by vendors. Everyone was trying to sell us everything. It was quite annoying, but that’s what happens when millions of tourists come here every year.

        We finally made it to the gate and got in. The second we walked through the huge entryway, we were in awe. It is just one of those places that are incredible to see in person. The building just seems flawless, and the color of the marble during the sunset was awesome. We first tried to fight all the crowds to get some good pictures. We also had to fight off all the “professional” photographers that want to take your picture and sell it to you. We then walked around the grounds by the reflecting pool. While this is a really cool place, there isn’t much to do there other than take pictures to have proof that you have been there. I am glad I got to go, but I have no reason to ever go back.

        After the Taj, we got to stop at a marble store to check out some handmade goods. They were incredible, but insanely pricey. There wasn’t any way I could afford anything there, so I just looked around. We then headed back to the train station. We caught a late train back to Delhi. When we got back, I was way too tired to do anything. I just went back to my room and lounged around again. My roommate once again didn’t stay in the room, so I had it alone again. We got to “sleep in” till 6am this time, so we were all excited.

        The next morning we all got herded back up at 6am to head to the airport. We caught a mid-morning flight to Varanasi. All of our flights in India were on Kingfischer Airlines. They were probably one of the nicest airlines that I have ever flown on. Every flight had satellite tv, comfy leather seats, and really good Indian meals. Two of our flights even had cameras on the bottom of the plane so you could watch what was going on outside. The Varanasi airport, however, was the worst airport I have ever been to. That kind of set the mood for what Varanasi would be like. Varanasi is the most traditional and unchanged place I have ever been to. It really feels like you go back in time when you go there. They have electricity and vehicles and that stuff, but it still seems like it is very old.

        Varanasi was by far my favorite part of India. It really felt like I was seeing the real culture there. When we got there, we checked into our hotel and got situated. We then had lunch in the hotel. The hotel was owned by the same chain as the hotel I ate at the first night in Chennai. The meal was fantastic as usual, but I was getting sick of Indian food. It is great food, but I get sick of any type of food that you feed me for 4 days straight, every meal. After lunch, we headed to Sarnath. Sarnath is the place where Buddha gave his first sermon. It was a really cool area. We went to the museum first to look at all the old statues that they had preserved. We then went outside to the grounds that he gave his first sermon in. We saw all the stupas surrounding where he would have stood. That was a pretty surreal feeling knowing that he gave his sermon right where we were walking.

        We then headed to a silk factory. We got to watch as the workers made the silk scarves and other products. It is quite a process to actually make one scarf. I would have bought some from them, but their prices were insane. Some people were dropping close to a grand there. I’m on a bit more of a tight budget than them. After we got that tour, bike rickshaws were waiting outside to take us to the Ganges River. These were so cool. They are a 2-seater cart thing with a bike in the front. We had a convoy of about 40 of them going through the streets. We were also heading to the river during rush hour, so traffic was insane. We finally made it as close as the rickshaws could get, we hopped off and walked to the end of the road. When we got to the end, we looked down at the river and it was just filled with people. They were standing all over, sitting in boats, sitting on buildings…people were everywhere. Every night, there is a ceremony at the river to thank it for the day. It is a ritual that has been going on for hundreds of years. There are 6 guys that dance on platforms to traditional music. It was a really cool thing to see. It was even more exciting to think that we would be back at this same river in a few hours to see it at sunrise.

        Once the ceremony was over, we headed back to the hotel. We had to take the rickshaws back to a certain spot to meet the busses. There was so much traffic that the busses couldn’t get through. We got back to the hotel and ate dinner. They once again had a huge Indian buffet ready for us. I was still full from the million other pounds of Indian food I had eaten in the past few days. I didn’t eat much, and headed back to my room to go to bed. I called it another early night because we had to be up around 4am to get to the river before sunrise.

        4am came way too quick. It felt like I had just fallen asleep and I was back up ready to get on the bus. We were coming back to the hotel for breakfast, so we didn’t have to be packed or anything. Once we got everyone rounded up, we headed back to the river. We got fairly close this time on the bus. We walked the rest of the way. We went right back to where we were the night before. It was a completely different feeling. It was very quiet. There were people bathing in the river. Others were praying or meditating. Others were getting their heads shaved. It is tradition that if you are the one bringing a deceased family member to the river, you are to shave your head before you take the body. We walked around for awhile, and then got into a little boat to go up and down the river. When we first got in, they gave us a little votive candle. We all made a silent prayer or wish and let the candle go down the river. It was a really cool sight to see them all float away. After that we just started going in the boat. Our guide pointed out all the different people along the river. He pointed out the ones meditating, the ones bathing to wash their sins away, and the ones bathing just to bathe. It was a really cool sight this early in the morning. Then the sun began to rise. This was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. As the sun began to rise more and more people came to the river to pray. They have prayer beads with 108 beads on it. We saw many people in the water praying and counting the beads. After the sun rose, we headed over to the main crematorium. This was very interesting. We got to see the whole process. It is crazy to see how they deal with death compared to our culture. Once we were done seeing the cremation, we headed back to dock and walked back to the busses.

        We headed back to the hotel to grab some breakfast. On the way back we drove through the largest university in Varanasi.  It is called Banares University. I don’t know if that is how it is spelled. They had everything there. It was a huge college. They were telling us to come back to study there after SAS because it was only $2,000 for everything for an entire year. That would be very cool, but I don’t think I could spend an entire year in Varanasi. After the drive through of the university, we stopped at Mother India Temple. It is a small temple, but it has a whole map of India made out of marble on the ground. It is one of the original maps of India. It included Pakistan and that area, since that once was all India. After we took some pictures we headed back for breakfast. We grabbed a bite to eat, packed our stuff, and headed to the airport.

        When we got to the airport, we had hardly any time to get to the plane. We took up most of the plane, so we knew they wouldn’t take off without us. They were not happy though. They rushed us all through security, but about 5 of the students about didn’t make it on. They were already playing the safety videos when the last kid got on. We all made it and got to Delhi safe. We had 8 hours to do some more sightseeing when we got back to Delhi. We went to a large Hindu temple and walked around for awhile, then went to a market nearby. This market was interesting. They had a lot of stuff that we hadn’t seen before. That’s because it was all stuff made by Tibetan refugees. I didn’t end up getting anything, but I thought it was pretty cool. We stopped shopping pretty early because we had nothing to get, and we went to McDonald’s across the street. McDonald’s in India was interesting. Since they don’t serve beef, their menu is completely different. I had a Chicken Maharaja Mac. It was like the Indian Big Mac. It was…alright. Probably the worst thing I have ever had at Mcds. However, Annie had a wrap that was delicious. It all tasted like what we had been eating at our other Indian meals, but McDonald’s style.

        After everyone was done shopping, we headed to a hotel to have some ice cream and tea before we headed to the airport to catch our flight back to Chennai. We ran back into some of the other SAS kids and talked for awhile. This was our first time that we had plenty of time to get to the airport. It was nice to not have to rush for once. We got to the airport and had an hour and a half before we had to board. Annie, Gina, and I went to get some coffee and a dessert while we waited. We finally got on the plane and I went to bed. I woke up when we landed and fell right back asleep on the bus. It was about 2am when we finally made it back to the ship.

        On the last day in India, I went shopping around Chennai with Amanda and Gina. We didn’t get much time the rest of the trip to get many gifts, so we did some shopping. We spent most of our day at Spencer’s Plaza. It is just a huge mall with market type stores. It was great. I also had Pizza Hut there. It was a lot different than Pizza Hut in the states, but it was still good. I had had enough Indian food that pizza sounded great. Once we were sick of shopping, we tried heading to a movie theater to see if we could catch a Bollywood movie before we left. We had missed the only one we could see before the ship left by about a half hour, so we went to the post office to grab some stamps and headed back to the ship.

        YAY. I finally finished this blog. I am sooo behind on writing. I only have 3 more days on the ship between now and when we leave Japan, so I probably won’t get Singapore through Japan blogged about until I am on my way to Hawaii. Expect quite a few blogs between Japan and San Diego! I hope everything is well at home. See ya.