Hi there everyone! Well, we've left India and we arrived in Singapore today...what a drastically different world it is here compared to India! It is so clean, and the public infrastructure seems so well developed - the public transit system is FAR better than toronto and much cheaper also - for Jenny this is an urban planners delight! It is a nice change to be able to cross the streets without fear for your life (compared with India where the purpose of crosswalks are just - to quote Jen - "decorative paint on the road"). Of course, we've only been here 2 hours so these are preliminary impressions. Waiting for our hotel room to be ready, and seeking refuge in the air-conditioned internet cafe (SOO humid here)....so we thought we'd take a moment to share some long-promised pictures from Jenny's "near-death" experience, and other post-recovery adventures! [Hi, this is Jen - just want to assure all parents and other concerned individuals that she is joking about the near-death business!]
Jenny gets an IV in our hotel room - note the highly sophisticated contraption we designed! I never knew that it could be so difficult to poke someone you love with a needle...my hands were shaking so much it took me 3 tries!
I made Dr. MacGyver swear on her life she wouldn't go anywhere near the switch for the fan.Now.... some pictures from the non-medical part of the trip....
Traditional Keralan dance - Kathakali. It involves enormous amounts of makeup, very precise eye movements, and exaggerated facial expressions. The dance generally depicts various stories from religious texts such as the Bhagavad Gita:
Moving along to the Periyar Wildlife Reserve... It was nice to get away from the craziness of the cities for awhile and get into peaceful nature. We took a couple excursions in search of animals. Neither was terribly successful, but we had fun. One was a boat ride with a couple hundred of our closest tourist friends. Everyone got all excited at one point - all cameras were trained on a spot on shore... we got excited... and... it was a deer. I'm sure this is really cool if you're from Mumbai or something, but for us, not so much. Our other journey was the day-long trek Shifi mentioned in the last post.
Elephant foot-prints: 
The mountainous area where the wildlife preserve is located is also known for tea and spice growing, and is actually called the Cardamom Hills (and it smells quite nice for this reason). One day we took a tour of a spice plantation and tea plantation. We also got to tour the tea factory, where we got to see the process by which tea goes from freshly picked (see below) to ready to drink in 36 hours - cut, torn, crushed, oxidized, wet, dried, roasted, sifted, sorted, and packaged. 
Jen "swims" off the houseboat:
Another major difference in Kerala is their economic philosophy. While the rest of India is unabashedly capitalist, Kerala is proudly governed by the Communist Party of India (CPI). West Bengal is another state which is also communist, however the (positive) impact of communism is seemingly much more apparent in Kerala. While other parts of India see a large number of homeless people, a large number of unfairly paid labourers, a moderate (but rapidly growing) number of middle class people, and a very small but very rich upper class - such disparity is not nearly as noticeable in Kerala. Furthermore, it is reputed to have the highest literacy rate in India - the only place where we saw people like rickshaw drivers and other labourers reading the newspaper. In our week in Kerala, I think we were approached by 2 beggars altogether...to put this in perspective, in Delhi or Calcutta we'd be approached by about 15-20 per day! It appears that people are proud of this heritage and equality (or perhaps the CPI makes it appear that way?) - it is not uncommon to see these hammer and sickle flags flying everywhere - from the tiniest village to the largest urban center: 
Monkey watching the sunrise over the ruins in Hampi (seriously, an entire monkey-family assembled to watch it and then left once the sun was up!):
Gokarna beach - not your average sight on a Canadian beach, but fairly normal here in India! The woman who was next to us on the beach went for a dip in the water when this wayward cow decided to poke its nose into her bag to look for treats! Fortunately we've developed good cow-shooing techniques and managed to convince the cow to move onto greener pastures.
Colourful market in Mysore:
Traditional Keralan dance - Kathakali. It involves enormous amounts of makeup, very precise eye movements, and exaggerated facial expressions. The dance generally depicts various stories from religious texts such as the Bhagavad Gita:
Moving along to the Periyar Wildlife Reserve... It was nice to get away from the craziness of the cities for awhile and get into peaceful nature. We took a couple excursions in search of animals. Neither was terribly successful, but we had fun. One was a boat ride with a couple hundred of our closest tourist friends. Everyone got all excited at one point - all cameras were trained on a spot on shore... we got excited... and... it was a deer. I'm sure this is really cool if you're from Mumbai or something, but for us, not so much. Our other journey was the day-long trek Shifi mentioned in the last post.
It IS a tiger preserve after all, so one does need to find places to hide just in case! This huge Banyan tree seems to do the trick!
Jenny preferred to hide within the tall elephant grass - named so because it is the staple of any healthy elephant's diet!
The ever-abundant elephant poo...this is what the grass looks like when it comes out the other end:
Elephant foot-prints: Our trekking group consisted of us, a couple from Germany, two guides, and the guard. Here you see three essentials for any trek in India - the gun, the tiffin of curry, and the teapot!
The mountainous area where the wildlife preserve is located is also known for tea and spice growing, and is actually called the Cardamom Hills (and it smells quite nice for this reason). One day we took a tour of a spice plantation and tea plantation. We also got to tour the tea factory, where we got to see the process by which tea goes from freshly picked (see below) to ready to drink in 36 hours - cut, torn, crushed, oxidized, wet, dried, roasted, sifted, sorted, and packaged. We spent our last days in India on an overnight houseboat excursion in the area called the "backwaters" near Alleppey. The backwaters are a series of canals off the Indian Ocean. There are numerous small villages strung along the canals and the residents get around by boat only (since we didn't get to Venice, maybe this is a substitute for our first "V"). Despite the presence of a gajillion other houseboats carrying travelers, it was very peaceful and a great way to relax for a day or two. I didn't get a picture of our houseboat, but this one is similar. We had a driver and a cook, lots of areas to lounge around on chairs and cushions, and our own bedroom.
Sunset from our boat:
Who's that hot chick? [She won't let me edit this.]
Cell phones are ubiquitous in India - from the Himalayas to the backwaters:
Our delicious lunch, served on a banana leaf:
Ashifa swims off the houseboat:
Jen "swims" off the houseboat: The houseboats come home the next morning:
Kerala's streets, shops, and vehicles are full of religious and spiritual icons - just like the rest of India. The main difference however is that Kerala had a strong Portugese influence in the past, and as a result a large part of the population is Catholic. Often times this results in a fusion of religious beliefs. We met a fellow yesterday who explained to us that he is a Catholic who also believes in Hindu reincarnation. It seems to be a common-theme as you can see from this bus - in the window is a picture of a Hindu deity surrounded by flashing lights and garlands. A Christian Cross hangs from the bottom of the Hindu picture, and on the glass barrier to the side of it is a large picture of Jesus. Add to this the sound of the mosques calling for prayer 5 times a day, and you have got a picture of the spiritual energy in Kerala (in all of India for that matter!):
Another major difference in Kerala is their economic philosophy. While the rest of India is unabashedly capitalist, Kerala is proudly governed by the Communist Party of India (CPI). West Bengal is another state which is also communist, however the (positive) impact of communism is seemingly much more apparent in Kerala. While other parts of India see a large number of homeless people, a large number of unfairly paid labourers, a moderate (but rapidly growing) number of middle class people, and a very small but very rich upper class - such disparity is not nearly as noticeable in Kerala. Furthermore, it is reputed to have the highest literacy rate in India - the only place where we saw people like rickshaw drivers and other labourers reading the newspaper. In our week in Kerala, I think we were approached by 2 beggars altogether...to put this in perspective, in Delhi or Calcutta we'd be approached by about 15-20 per day! It appears that people are proud of this heritage and equality (or perhaps the CPI makes it appear that way?) - it is not uncommon to see these hammer and sickle flags flying everywhere - from the tiniest village to the largest urban center: Kerala was also the first state where we saw beef and pork on menus (although it was still rather rare), given the lack of dietary restrictions of the Christians. I did have beef once, but did not opt for the pork pepperoni at Pizza Hut. Yes, we went to Pizza Hut.... that was my idea. Since being sick I've sadly developed an aversion to Indian masala (spices). Well, for awhile it was any food - I couldn't even think of putting food in my stomach without getting nauseous. Although I was having dreams of burritos and ham sandwiches. I think we probably left India at the right time! I saw a bus go by in Singapore this morning with an ad for Outback Steakhouse, so I'm sure I'll be able to get a comfort food fix here before we move on to Vietnam and Laos.
No comments:
Post a Comment