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A
Passage to India (bulleted list version)
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The
following is a summary of our trip.
I
still plan
to
write
in more detail about specific subjects
such as traffic,
the gorgeous people, cows, going to the bathroom,
beggars,
and the language.
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Day
1 - Friday
l
Early morning
in Kansas City - took Andrea
to her dad's and said a teary goodbye.
l
Met Scott and Dean at KCI
Airport. [Scott and Dean: Rodney's co-workers.
The three of them were sent on this trip - Rodney is in
engineering and Scott and Dean are in sales. I'd only met
them both at Christmas parties.]
l
Flew from Kansas City to
Detroit, then headed to Amsterdam.
l
Th is flight to Amsterdam was
the only one (going or coming) in which we each had our
own TV screen on the chair in front of us. You could watch
movies, play games, shop, etc.
Rodney
spent almost the entire flight playing the trivia game.
He didn't sleep at all.
I
wasn't interested in most of the movies but I watched Beauty
Shop, which was cute, fast-forwarded through Fever
Pitch, tried to sleep, and had fun keeping track of the plane on
the video screen:
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It's
blurry because the only time I thought to take a picture we
were flying through turbulence. (The text on screen was
written in Dutch, as we were on KLM Dutch Airlines).
The
stewardesses were all Scandinavian and wore royal blue uniforms
that were striking with their bright blonde hair and blue
eyes. They were
so pretty and looked just like this picture
from the airline's website:
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Day
2 - Saturday
l
Landed in Amsterdam,
Holland, at 6 in the morning.
l
Flew on to Delhi, India,
arriving at 11 pm. Right before landing, the stewardesses
sprayed everyone with pesticide. To not bring insects into
India, I was told after asking. We also sprayed Deet on
ourselves, as we'd been ordered from travel-tips to guard
against mosquitoes.
l
We walked off the air
conditioned plane and were hit with the night's heat - though it
wasn't a heat I'd never experienced before. It was in the
90's.
l
Immediately, R got his
first mosquito bite.
l
After luggage, customs,
etc. we wandered down a walkway bordered by hundreds of Indian
men-drivers on each side holding signs bearing the names of
passengers they were to pick up. How would we ever find
ours? I really wanted to take a picture of the crowded
scene - and our eventual sign holder - but we had been warned on
the plane that it was illegal to take any pictures at the
airport.
l
After we found the sign
with our names, our two drivers got in an argument in
Hindi. Eventually, R and I went with one driver - Scott
and Dean with the other. I was dying to know what they'd
been arguing about.
l
R & I followed our driver out
to the parking lot, where he motioned for us to stand in
place. Then he ran off. We stood there smiling at
each other - "Dude, we're in Asia! We're in
India! Where are the beggars? What is that
smell? I KNOW! But it doesn't smell bad...
It smells like something is burning. What is
that?" Every single vehicle driving by was honking at
another vehicle. I said, "I don't want to judge, but,
isn't all the honking just overkill? It doesn't mean
anything anymore." I didn't know yet that they don't
honk in anger or to stop someone from doing something as in the
States - they honk to let everyone know what they're
doing - that they're there. And it's constant. Our
driver came back - on foot - after about 10 minutes, said
something in Hindi (or English?), then left again! But
soon came back with the car.
l
Were driven to the hotel -
eyes taking in everything we could along the way - checked-in,
and I called Andrea. Nobody answered at her dad's house so
I called his store. She was there - helping out - and was
busy with customers (it was afternoon there). I talked to
her for just a minute - found out she was okay and told her we
were okay - and then she said, "I'm sorry, mommy, I'm
really sorry! But I just can't talk right now!"
I understood and told her I'd call the next day, but as soon as
I hung up the phone I started bawling. "I'm 8,000
miles away from my daughter! What if something
happens? She couldn't even talk to me!"
R just blew it off. He didn't have the ability to help me
or be compassionate. We were both exhausted.
l
Went to bed and crashed.
Our
hotel:
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Day
3 - Sunday
l
Were awakened from a dead
sleep by Dean at
noon. "What are you guys doing?"
"Sleeping." We couldn't believe Dean and Scott
each said they'd gotten up around 6. Freaks.
l
Ordered some room service
for lunch. Just yuck. Even the Pepsi and Diet Coke
tasted different (out of the can!). Everything had a
"taste" to it - though we didn't know what it
was. For awhile we called it curry, because we're not
familiar with what curry tastes like. But it didn't matter
if it was a can of soda, bottle of water, piece of bread, or
fruit, it had this same taste and aftertaste lingering around.
l
R & I decided to hire a driver through
the motel and see some sights. The man at the travel desk
assured us that this driver spoke English well. In
actuality, he spoke worse (and understood less) English than the
driver from the airport.
l
Everywhere we went, people
stared at us and giggled. Children ran up to us and
followed us. It made me so self-conscious but R kept
saying, "I would think you'd love the
attention!"
l
Grave and shrine of Mahatma
Gandhi:
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l
Red Fort (built
1638-1648):
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l
Old Delhi street scenes:
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l
We were soaked with sweat
when we got back to hotel. We napped for about an hour and
a half and then R woke me up to go to dinner. My hair was
still wet because the room was so humid. I felt depressed
and like I couldn't wake up and didn't want to go to dinner.
I had to force
myself.
l
We met up with Scott and
Dean who'd experienced a similar day of having a hard time
communicating and feeling disoriented. They validated my
"everything has this taste" complaint - which R didn't
think was as prevalent as I did. They agreed
wholeheartedly!
I
had 3 glasses of red Indian wine and Scott and Dean drank
beer. R drank water. He doesn't find socializing
with co-workers that fun - and these two are extremely talkative
(and in sales - HA), but he knew I was appreciating the
English conversation with two others who'd never been in India
before. We talked and talked and talked and drank and
drank - Scott, Dean, and I - while R just sat and listened and
ate peanuts. I was feeling much better.
Day
4 - Monday
l
Slept. That's what I
did all day Monday - slept off and on until 5 o'clock!
l
It was the guys' first day
to work. When R came back to the hotel he said we were
going out to dinner with Balaji - an owner of the company they
were hired by.
l
I still felt depressed and
told R how I felt about the men so far. Every experience
had been one of two things - they either leered and stared (some
licked or bit on their lips) at me, or they acted as if I was
some fragile china doll and were overly quiet and gentle with me
and could barely keep eye contact. The men on the street
and across rooms were the oglers; the men working at the hotel
and as our drivers were the ones afraid of me. Of course I
don't know if they were afraid - it just seemed that way to
me. I felt as if I should be more silent - and more covered
up - and I was feeling awkward and
embarrassed.
R
said he could see exactly what I was saying about how I was
being dealt with. Again, that helped so much.
Validation is everything!
l
We ended up having dinner at a restaurant with Balaji, his
brother, and another friend - all Rodney's age - and had a great
time. They didn't fall into either category of men!
While I was - again - the only woman in the group, everyone was
nice and friendly and at ease. And they spoke better
English than any of us, having lived in London (and despite
having lived in Boston - HA!).
They
did make fun of me for ordering "Pizza American,"
though.
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Day
5 - Tuesday
l
Actually got up with
Rodney, ate breakfast with the guys, and saw them off to work.
l
Took alot of pictures in
and around the hotel. The following
are some pictures showing the view from our hotel window.
Looking straight down:
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(At
least once a day I watched kids fly small, gray kites from that
rooftop).
To
the right:
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On
this day when I went for a walk around the hotel to take
pictures, the camera steamed up. I like the affect:
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Don't
mind the cow walking down the street. Nobody else does:
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l
On this night we were invited to
Balaji's house for dinner for Indian food. I had more of that good
Indian wine and the guys drank Indian beer (Kingfisher). He lived
in a gated house and had servants - 3 that I counted. He told us
that if you have money, you can be filthy rich in India. Except
for real estate and cars, the cost of living and hired help is extremely
low.
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Day
6 - Wednesday
l
I got into a routine of
seeing the guys off in the morning and all of them saying,
"See you after work!" It was like I had 3
husbands.
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l
R left his laptop for me
this day and I was
able to read blogs and email. That was great - although
the connection was always slow and power goes out in Delhi
numerous times per day. We were lucky to be in a hotel
with a generator that usually brought power back within a minute
- especially since it went out twice when we were in the
elevator.
l
I saw sidewalk stores with
these packets hanging across the front everywhere. I
thought they were condoms, but finally found out this day that
they were packs of candy.
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l
We all thought that the
McDonald's french fries tasted like home, and the Pizza Hut
pizza almost did. This night we had dinner of pizza
and fries in Dean's room - a normally weird
combination.
l
The guys talked on the
phone to KC office at night because that's when it was daytime
there.
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A
man in a shop had placed this bindi on my forehead, and later I
stuck a red one on R...
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Day
7 - Thursday
l
I told R he must be getting
really comfortable because he slipped and said "Call
me!" as he was leaving for work. That's the last
thing he always says to me when we're home. I have no way
of calling him when he's working here.
l
I had the same housekeeper
every day and I adored him. I wanted to take him home in
my pocket and I practically could - he was tiny. He didn't
speak much English, but we somehow communicated each day - I was
usually in the room when he cleaned. I would just have him
clean the bathroom, replacing towels and such, and he would look
disappointed or shocked at that. He would point to the bed
and ask, "Bed?" Or to the dresser,
"Dust?" "No thank you." I can't
stand sitting there while someone else cleans my room. I
wouldn't be a very good filthy-rich-person.
One
day I did have him clean the room and he was so thorough!
He vacuumed and then took off the attachment and did all the
baseboards and between furniture with the tube. He also
threw his rag up in all the corners of the high ceilings to get
any cobwebs. I've worked as a hotel housekeeper and you
just don't do all that!
Maybe
he did that because I'd been over-tipping him. We never
knew what we were supposed to tip. But I felt like he was
one of my friends and his visits were one of the highlights of
each day.
l
On this day, just before he
left he motioned for me to look in the bathroom. He had
taken my countertop stuff (which hadn't been too
messy, but some of it was in piles), and put a towel under all
of it so there wouldn't be puddles of water. He also lined
everything up all neat and straight! (Hotel
housekeepers also just don't touch guests' things - but I loved
it. He was so excited to see my reaction).
He
stood my lipstick up on end (to the right of deoderant), made
sure toothpaste and red and pink lip glosses were lying
perpendicular to wall, and even stuck a new bar of soap in the
middle of everything like the last piece in a puzzle.
I
picture him in there removing everything one at a time to place
the towel down, and then carefully putting everything back.
How
weird, yet sweet!
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l
After the guys
finished work, we went shopping.
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Day
8 - Friday
l
While it wasn't his
intention, Rodney offends an entire religion:
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l
By Friday the guys were
done working and we all went sightseeing to a bunch of tombs,
temples, and markets. I fell in love with these
monkeys:
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I
don't even remember which place this was:
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You'll
see R carrying my beige bag for me in alot of pictures. It
held everything from handi-wipes to toilet paper to bottles of
water for us all.
Humayun's
Tomb (mid 16th century):
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Guy
trimming the edges of the lawn? Or getting ready to slice
Rodney in half.
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Scott
snapped this of R, me, our guide, and man cleaning fountain
in front of
Humayun's Tomb:
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The
tombs of the 5 architects of Humayun's
Tomb, who were killed after its completion so they couldn't
duplicate it for anybody else!:
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l
This was Scott and Dean's
last day. (R and I stayed longer to do a Taj Mahal
daytrip). Dean told me, "Since we're not going to be
here for your birthday [the next day], we wanted to give you a
present," and handed me this box of heart-shaped
bowls they'd gotten at one of the stores we had shopped in:
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I
wasn't expecting that and it made me really happy. We all
did our "pizza and french fries" dinner again and then
said good-bye when they headed to the airport.
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Day
9 - Saturday
l
My 37th Birthday! And
the day we see the Taj
Mahal - what a present!
l
Our driver drove us the 3½
hours to Agra - the city of Taj Mahal. (I kept calling it
"The Taj," but Indians say "Taj-Mal!" -
staccato and quick - so that's how I say it now). The
traffic was heavy and the honking was constant the entire
time. That ride was one of my favorite times on the trip -
we got to see so many towns and people and animals.
l
The driver made a stop in
Agra. I was thinking, "No! Why is he
stopping! I don't want any more temples - just Taj-Mal!"
But guess what he brought me to? Monkeys!:
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Black-faced
monkeys. I swear I would kill for one of these babies.
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And
we arrive at my highlight. But look at the sign!:
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Huh?
Everything was always wonderfully surprising us on this
trip. From the parking lot where we were dropped off, we
were to follow this path to get to Taj-Mal entrance. We
walked for at least 10 minutes! It must've been the most
pastoral and quiet area in all of India.
Sickly,
sacred cow:
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Rusty
sign pointing the way. Almost there now!
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Wow
I can't believe we're here. At this point, it looked flat
and exactly like a picture.
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Still
so far away, it still looked like a picture! I saw
some Chinese tourists set up a pose like this and I thought it
was so cute that I made R do it. (I know, I didn't line
him up perfectly):
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You
know how the White House ends up being much smaller in person
than you thought it would be? Taj-Mal is much
bigger. See how tiny the people are in the front doorway?:
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We're
there. It's not just a picture anymore.
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We
walked around and from the back, saw these girls cutting the
grass - with their HANDS! We had seen lawn mowers in use
at other temples and sights. No idea why they do it this
way here. Look at the guy supervising:
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We
toured inside - weren't allowed to take any pictures.
Outside people were lounging around on the cool marble of the
monument...
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l
Were driven the 3-4 hours
back to Delhi.
l
Left
Delhi for Amsterdam that night. Goodbye, India!
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Day
10 - Sunday
l
Landed in Amsterdam early
morning.
l
Took a train to City Center and walked to and toured Anne Frank
house - the actual place she and her family were in
hiding. Wow, that was amazing.
l
Walked around and looked in shops, took pictures,
explored red light district.
l
Flew
back to Detroit, then Kansas City.
[Some
Amsterdam pictures to come in a future post!
Phew!]
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Kristine
p.s. I really have lots
more to say. If you're not interested in hearing about India, you
may want to beat it for awhile.
#Permanent
Link
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