Come On Ride the Train

After 2 great weeks in McLeod Ganj (more to come), we just got to Amritsar, Punjab, India a few days ago, which is right on the border of Pakistan and home to the Golden Temple, a major pilgrimage site for Sikhs. Leaving, McLeod Ganj, we woke up at 3am (I actually just never went to sleep and Steph only slept for about an hour) and grabbed a taxi in McLeod Ganj to Dharamsala, and then rode a local bus for 6 hours to get here. Like we told you in a previous post, the busses can be pretty scary (read here), and the ride to Amritsar was no exception. The bus was old and rickety and noisy. We were cold. The bus driver was aggressive (like all Indian drivers), and we didn't enjoy a single minute of our journey. After that experience, I thought it would be good to tell you about our favorite kind of transportation in India; the choo choo.

On the top bunk of the choo choo

The Least Luxurious Night of My Life

Ahhh....how quickly things can change. About 24 hours ago, Tom posted on how much we love train travel (read here). And now, only a day later, we are amending that statement. We love train travel for trips less than 10 hours when we're not violently ill and, preferably, for trips during the day. Sometimes, we hate train travel.

This is me, in simpler days, when I
naively loved train travel

The Post You Have Been Waiting For... (Unless Your Name is Anna L. or Pam M.)

This is the post you've been waiting for. Just admit it. This whole time, we've been posting about diving and yoga and UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and how fantastic life is, you've secretly been waiting for our WTF-This-Place-Is-Awful post, haven't you? Well, here it is, in all its bizarre glory. (Anna L. and Pam M., you probably do not want to read the rest of this post.)

2nd Class (Varkala, Kerala, India)

You've heard Steph's first impressions of India (here). Some of my impressions are the same, such as the burning trash and the happy smiling people. Two of my other first impression were about the heat and the food. Having lived in San Francisco for the past 8 years, we're not used to much heat or humidity. And this place has no shortage of either. So far, at least once a day we have been coming back to our room, stripping down and laying still under the fan for 30 minutes to cool off. We are guilty of ducking into ATM boxes to enjoy the AC for 5 minutes (none of our rooms has had A/C thus far). The one benefit of this humidity is that our balled up clothes unwrinkle about 5 minutes after we put them on. The other thing that we have noticed is that, because we're so hot we are only eating 1-2 meals a day. We're just not that hungry.

Appam with Potato Curry
Photo from Yummy Tummy

Puttu for breakfast
Photo from mydiversekitchen

The first place we stayed, Vedic Hertitage House in Kovalam, is run, and managed by two men who have studied Ayurveda and owned Ayurvedic businesses. The first time we sat down for breakfast we had wheat puttu, which was delicious! It's steamed wheat (though traditionally made with steamed rice powder) and topped with fresh coconut that comes out piping hot. You mush it all down on the plate, toss on some mung beans, crumble on some pappadam, sprinkle on some sugar and then take a boiled plantain and mush it all together and eat it all with your fingers. I know it sounds strange, and Steph and I certainly shot each other some looks while our host explained how to eat it, but it was very filling but also very clean-eating. And really, it was very, very good. It's very high in protein, but has no cholesterol or fat. We both ate it all, and it was a lot of food. Usually when I eat a large meal, I feel overly full or tired. But with the Ayurvedic food, we don't get that at all. Instead, it just fueled us for the day and left us feeling satisfied, but not heavy. Another breakfast we had was appam with curry. They soak cooked rice overnight and then mash it and put it through a sieve so it's a batter-consistency. Then they add coconut milk and some yeast and fry it to make a white, spongy-in-the-middle and crispy-on-the-outside pancake. You dip the pancake in a mild potato curry. It is once again very filling, but in a good way. We haven't found wheat puttu since we left Vedic Heritage, but we've had appam a few other times at other home stays. So far, the wheat putty has been Steph's favorite dish, while I love the appam and would love it regularly for breakfast. Another food that we have fallen in love with his Kerala rice. It is a bigger grain and fluffier than normal rice, but once again isn't too filling. We are thinking about figuring a way to import it. (Puttu Recipe , Appam Recipe)

Romance in India (Udaipur, Rajasthan, India)

Though we had crossed off many Rajasthan destinations of our To Do list because we wanted to travel at a slow pace for our remaining time in India (Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Bundi), we had known for awhile that we definitely wanted to visit Udaipur, which is lauded as India's most romantic city. Though most Rajasthan towns and cities are located around or near a lake (sometimes man-made), Udaipur's lake is one of the most beautiful, and the town surrounds its waters, creating an almost Venice-like feel. So, after our disappointing 4 nights at Ranthambore National Park (read here), we were looking forward to our time in Udaipur.

The first sign that things were going well was when we remembered that, remembering my night from hell in the budget-class sleeper car of a train (read here), we had booked A/C 3-Tier tickets for the overnight (8 hour) journey from Sawai Madhopur to Udaipur. When we got to the train station, we were exhausted and we boarded the train around midnight and found our way to our bunks in the dark (most of the other passengers already sleeping with their curtains drawn). We climbed into our bunks, covered up with the clean sheets, blankets and pillows provided, and both had an amazing night's sleep - no snoring, no vomiting, no crying babies, no singing neighbors - just us, catching some zzzzz's. Though A/C cars cost more, this level of comfort was definitely worth the extra few bucks and we congratulated ourselves on being geniuses (and because we knew that our next and last train ride was overnight from Udaipur to Mumbai and that we had booked A/C 2-Tier for that train ride). We arrived in Udaipur early in the morning, refreshed and ready to see the city and hired a very friendly rickshaw driver to take us to Nukkad Guest House, where we'd booked ahead of time. Though our room wasn't ready when we arrived (check-in isn't until 10am), we sat in the rooftop restaurant, admiring the lake view, having breakfast and taking advantage of the free WiFi. When we were showed to our room, we happily settled in for a quick nap and then spent the afternoon walking around our neighborhood (near the footbridge) and having dinner right on the water.

Dinner on the lake

Udupi'd Your Pants If You Were On This Bus (Udupi, Karnataka, India)

First of all, I'm very proud of this blog post title. Thank you for reading. We mentioned in our posts about Mysore (here, here, and here), that we took a bus to and from Mysore. This was a change from our usual transportation style via train, and it's worth sharing.

By the time we reached Fort Cochin (read about it here), we'd mastered the train system and felt pretty comfortable buying, boarding and riding on India trains. (More on trains later.) We had even started to enjoy them a bit. But there wasn't an easy way to get to and from Mysore via train, so we decided to take the bus instead, having been told that the government-run bus system had Airavat Volvo busses with air conditioning. The ride from Ernakulam (near Fort Cochin) to Mysore was 9 hours long, so we booked a night bus (leaving at 11:45pm) and chose our seats on the online booking system (KSRTC). 

After killing a day of extra time in Fort Cochin, we took a rickshaw to the bus station and found that, unlike the train stations we'd visited, the bus station was not a tourist-friendly place. No one spoke English, we were given lots of strange looks, and we were the only foreigners there. We weren't even sure we were in the right place, but stood around, hoping for the best and trying to come up with a backup plan if we'd really screwed up. As other (local) busses started entering the station, our anxiety levels went higher and higher because IT WAS CHAOS! People would run alongside the busses, fling open the doors, and jump onto the bus long before it was stopped. And I'm not talking about 1 or 2 people…I'm talking about 20-30-50 people all rushing after the bus and clamoring for a spot on the bus, throwing elbows and completely without sympathy. And the busses were in bad shape - only a few seats, spewing smoke, and absolutely packed with people. We started preparing ourselves to do the same when our bus arrived. 

This isn't our video, but I found it on YouTube and it's what the bus station looked like in Ernakulam. Pure chaos.

Dishonest Men in Mumbai (Maharashtra, India)

It feels kind of funny to write a blog post about Mumbai because we were barely there, but we have a few photos, so you get a (short) post! Lucky you!

India Gate, Mumbai

Feeling Beachy in Karnataka (Gokarna, Karnataka, India)

Sneak Peek of McLeodGanj

Writing to you today from McLeod Ganj (near Dharamsala) in the state of Himachal Pradesh in northern India. This is where the Tibetan government-in-exile resides, including the Dalai Lama. It's a very special place. We are LOVING it. Hampi (which we'll tell you about soon) and McLeod Ganj have been our two favorite places in India, so look forward to those posts. We are seriously behind on blogging because, in stark contrast from the beginning of our time in India, we've been quite busy - 2 weeks of yoga in Goa, followed by flying to Delhi to meet up with Tom's mom, attending a friend's wedding there and then heading up to the mountains, we haven't had a lot of free time on the internet to post. So...here we are now, with lots to tell you - some bad (India really is a fickle b!+@#), but mostly good. Stay tuned.

Cocktails & Dreams in Palolem, Goa, India

While we got our first glimpse of the long-term, hippy-twirling, dreadlocked, bare-footed, San Francisco-esque travelers in Gokarna (read about it here), we knew the patchouli-scented masses were waiting for us in Goa, so we took a quick train ride up the coast to Palolem in south Goa. (Get ready for a tutorial on Indian train travel soon...Tom's working on a post.) Our main plan was to do nothing and, after our first few weeks in India, which were great, but certainly an adjustment, we were thinking of our time in Goa as a true vacation. Now, I know most people think of what we're doing as a year-long vacation, and I understand what you're saying. But most people go on vacation so that life is easier, and most of our days in India have been more difficult than our days at home, so I'm not sure most of this trip qualifies as "vacation," but more as "traveling." So we were looking forward to some beach time and I, specifically, because Goa is a little tourism bubble where customs and traditions aren't as conservative (like most beach destinations around the world), was looking forward to wearing less clothing in the sweltering heat. I'd been promised I could wear a swimsuit on the beach without being hassled and even a sundress in the town without being ogled. 

In a bikini and free of ogles

India: The Good, The Bad, The "Are You Effing Kidding Me?!?!"

Have you read my final thoughts on India? They're here.

And, as promised, here's our first official country wrap-up, where we'll share the best of the best, the worst of the worst, and the things we still can't reconcile in our heads. We're calling this, 'The Good, The Bad, The "Are You Effing Kidding Me?!?!" But, we'll start with "The Bad," then move on to "The 'Are You Effing Kidding Me?!?!'" and end with "The Good." You should always end things on a high note, right?

Pushkar - A "Special" Place (Pushkar, Rajasthan, India)

You can find a variety of "special" things in Pushkar. Special pizzas. Special lassis. Special chocolates. But "special" doesn't mean it's the day's unique offering. In Pushkar, "special" is code for "loaded with marijuana" (which is called 'bhang' in India), so order carefully and never eat anything a hippie hands you. What you won't find in Pushkar: alcohol and meat. Pushkar is a very holy Hindu town, and these two things are strictly prohibited. Of course, I was still sick (beginning with the train ride from hell and continuing with the Best Guesthouse EVER), so I was happy to do without beer and chicken. We had heard about Pushkar from a few different people, all of whom had said it was a great place to spend a few days and that it was some of the best shopping in all of India. (crazy, crowded, chaotic Delhi markets excepted...except, who wants to mess with that?!?!) So, as December was nearing an end, we decided that "Christmas in Pushkar" had a nice ring to it and we took the train from Jaipur to Ajmer, and then a bus from Ajmer to Pushkar. As a Christmas treat, we decided to splurge a bit on a room, and we spent our first 2 nights in Pushkar at the beautiful Inn Seventh Heaven ($36/night). Click to read about our Christmas celebration.

Pushkar Sneak Peek!

The inside lobby of Inn Seventh Heaven

The Best Guest House in India (Jaipur, Rajasthan, India)

If you haven't read about our train trip from Amritsar (read here) to Jaipur, you should. It's a doozy. (read here for the story). While the 14 hour overnight train was horrific for Steph we couldn't have picked a better guesthouse for her recovery. When we arrived in Jaipur, the pink city, we headed to Rajputana Paying Guest House, where we were greeted by Papa, the father of the house, and one of his daughters. We were whisked off to our gorgeous, clean room and crashed for the rest of the morning. Later that morning they brought toast, bananas, and tea up to our room for breakfast. I went down and chatted with Mama and Papa. They have four grown kids (two of which help with the guesthouse) and are some of the kindest people we have met. Papa is a tiny man who fixed typewriters for 50 years to support his family. I would run into him on the roof when I would go there to read. He would be up there smoking his beedis (Indian cigarette) and through minimal English he would give little insights on his life, and give me suggestions. Papa was obviously very well respected by his kids but they also ribbed him about not knowing his age. Papa was born in Ajmer, a much smaller town a few hours from Jaipur, and when he was born his family didn't get a birth certificate for him. It became obvious that an ongoing family joke was making fun of Papa that he didn't know his age. He would get worked up and then smile, shrug and give a little head bobble. He was very sweet and when I think of the Indian the head bobble, I will picture Papa and his bobble.

Not the family at Rajputana...but some smiling women at Hawa Mahal

I Love Hampiiiii! Hampi, I Loooove Yooooou!

First - we need to clear something up. We're a bit behind on the blogging, but we're still presenting it in chronological order for the most part. Right now, we're in Jaipur, Rajasthan, and it's December 22, 2012. We were in Hampi in mid-November, 2012. So we're not there now. We're trying to catch up now on blogging and you'll probably read about where we are now in a few weeks time!

Get ready for a love fest, folks. We love Hampi. Big time. If they had a Nordstrom shoe department and good whiskey, I might spend the rest of my life there. But, alas, the shoe shopping options are limited and the bourbon is crap, so I find myself still searching for mecca.

This is us, loving Hampi

Riding Roller Coasters in India

Of all the forms of transportation we've hopped on and off in India - taxis, auto rickshaws, bicycle rickshaws, canoes, trains, busses, airplanes, ferries - the most consistent mode of movement we've ridden is a roller coaster. We ride it every single day.

And while I would be hesitant to ride any actual roller coasters I found in India, we've basically accepted the inevitable emotional roller coaster we board each and every day just by being here.

The Taj (Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India)

Obviously you can't spend 3 1/2 months in India and not go to the Taj Mahal, and we finally did in early January. Throughout our time in India we met so many other travelers who had visited Agra (the city where the Taj is located) in Uttar Pradesh, and picked their brains for their advice on the best way to visit this world landmark. In our 3 months in India, over and over, backpackers gave us the same advice: get to Agra, see the Taj, and get out. Everyone told us that Agra, other than having the Taj, was less-than-impressive. However, because of where we were coming from (Pushkar, read here and here) and where we were going next (Ranthambore National Park, coming soon), we knew we would actually be spending 2 nights in Agra.

Taj Mahal Sneak Peek

Last Stop in Vietnam (Hanoi, Vietnam)

People - we LOVED Vietnam. Loved it! ADORED it! We're ready to go back. For this reason, our time in Hanoi was bittersweet because it was our last stop. The dive boat in Thailand (read here) and Vietnam were the only two places where I actually felt myself mourning for leaving. But, alas, with flights awaiting us from Bangkok to Australia and because we still wanted to visit Laos, we had to push off from Vietnam.

Chowing down on some spare ribs (I think) in Hanoi

We actually visited Hanoi twice. First, we took a train from Phong Nha (read here) to Hanoi and spent a few days enjoying the city. After that, we took a bus to the mystic Cát Bà and Ha Long Bay region (read here) before returning back to Hanoi for three more days of urban exploration.

On the train from Phong Nha to Hanoi. This guy crawled up in our bunks to take photos with us. Love the friendliness!

Vietnam: The Good, The Bad, The "Are You Effing Kidding Me?!?!"

Now it's time for the Vietnam version of 'The Good, The Bad, The "Are You Effing Kidding Me?!?!" But, like before, when we reviewed India, Burma, and Cambodia, we'll start with "The Bad," then move on to "The 'Are You Effing Kidding Me?!?!'" and end with "The Good."

Wind Surfing on a Rickshaw

Auto rickshaws are a really common and cheap way to get around in India. We take them to and from train stations and around larger cities. When we were in Mysore (read about it here and here) we met a young rickshaw driver, Aslam, who took us to a couple of places around the city. He spoke great English, despite never having been to school, and was a great tour guide. We decided to hire him the next day to go see the Keshava Temple, a temple about 40 km outside Mysore that was built in 1268. After we visited Aslam's house (tea and henna), we headed out into the country. We were enjoying being in the fresh air and quiet and seeing local village life without other tourists. After about 30 minutes, a motorcycle passed us and yelled something to Aslam. He quickly pulled over and realized we had a flat tire in the left rear. We weren't really sure what we would do, because we were in the middle of a rural area - no shops in site. Aslam had a plan, though.

"Holy Cow! Do You Use Toilet Paper?" And other reader questions...

We've been on the road now for about 4.5 months, and we've had a lot of questions from our friends and family - so we thought we'd write a post answering some of the more common questions. If you have others, send them to us at stephanieswain2010@gmail.com

"Do you miss cozy bedding?" - Question from Lauren Funk

You have no idea. Honestly, this must rank with one of the top things we miss. But it's less about "cozy" and more about "clean." We use our sleep sheet almost every night because the sheets and beds don't meet our Western standards of cleanliness. 

Incredible India! (Delhi, India)

We knew that when we decided to stay in Arambol a second week (read here) and fly to Delhi, India's capitol, we were going be in both ends of the India spectrum in the same day. It was very surreal to spend the morning doing yoga in Arambol and have a comfortable day among hippies and then arrive that late afternoon in the madness of Delhi. We met my mother at the airport, who had just arrived from North Carolina- she has always wanted to come India and decided to join us for a few weeks before heading off to Thailand and Australia. We had decided to stay in a few nicer places in Delhi because the cities can be intense and because we wanted my mom's first exposure to India to be comfortable, so we hopped in a taxi and headed to our home stay, K-One-One, in a nice neighborhood called the Defence Colony. After a good night's sleep, we ventured out into Delhi to explore. Since we were attending Nakul and Kunjan's wedding in a two days we knew this first day in India would be spent getting clothes for the wedding. While the neighborhood and the guest house were nice, the metro station is on the other side of an 8-lane highway that had to crosswalk/subway/overpass, so we had to make a terrifying trip across two four lane highways to get to the subway station. It was a real life game of Frogger. Going forward one lane while a rickshaw zooms by and stopping in the road because we didn't know if a motorcycle bearing down on us was going to going in front of us or behind us. This first day, a young Indian man saw our confusion and fear and stepped out in the street to and helped my mother cross the chaos of the street. We made it across, sighed in relief and then headed for the subway into downtown. Everything in Delhi is draining- crossing the street, haggling with a shop keeper, getting on the subway, getting OFF the subway, waiting in line for a restaurant, shirking beggars. As a tourist - it is all so overwhelming. 

Once we made it to the subway our battle had just begun. The subways are packed, and even when an empty subway car pulls up, Indians rush on and off the trains, pushing, elbowing and clawing to be the first on or off the train. Once we had fought our way into the city center we headed to a government emporium for Indian clothes so we could get saris for the ladies and a suit and kurta pyjama for myself. This took most of the afternoon, but the staff was very helpful and got us set up for the wedding. After hours of shopping and struggling with the crowds we decided to head back to the rooftop of the guesthouse (surviving the 8 lane highway again on our return) and drink some of the whiskey my Mom brought from duty free, and prepared to take on Delhi the next day. 

Mom and Steph in a bicycle rickshaw