India (part 1) - Weds Nov 10th 2010
We've been in India for a week now, one third through our holiday. As expected, it's been fun and interesting but with plenty of challenges. Most of the planning was done beforehand, but there's still been plenty to sort out on arrival at each destination. Most of the logical & commonsense arrangements have been made by me. The fun elements of the trip have been arranged by Emilee ... she's good at that, although I have to constantly explain when things aren't practical or might be a bit dangerous. Anyway, it's working well so far.
I've also been pleasantly surprised that she's been quite good at walking reasonably long distances (for a girl), carrying most of her own stuff and getting through the difficult bits when we're under the hot sun for long periods, breathing polluted and dusty air and generally being hassled by locals (I can't blame them though, they're mostly very poor of course and they just want to make a bit of money to help themselves & their families).
We both agree that the good things in India are worth persevering through the difficult things, as this really is a fascinating country with a rich and complex culture and long history.
I say that Emilee's been carrying most of her stuff, but this isn't entirely true. When we were packing I saw a lot of things going in her bag that didn't seem altogether necessary, and my instincts told me these would eventually find their way into my backpack. My backpack has a 60 litre capacity and Emilee's is 70 litres. So she was convinced that hers was heavier than mine, even though a number of items had found their way over to me. A quick weighing at the airport disproved this without doubt ... Kerry's bag 15kg, Emilee's bag 12kg. Still, it's pretty good going for a girl .... and she's only 5ft 1inch so all in all it's not a bad effort! Something tells me my bag will be 20kg by the end of the trip - she like shopping in the markets. (Still not a problem - I was packing 30kg in 2 bags in my travels around Australia and Asia a few years ago).
It's been really nice travelling with a partner this time - there's plenty of compromises to be made, and I have to walk very slow ... I also have to look after her a bit as India is a difficult place to travel for a girl ... but great to spend time together and have company to enjoy this place. I've noticed that Indian men don't really know how to behave around women, I guess because they spend most of their time around men (as women are either at home or going about their daily chores together, around the markets, taking children to school etc). The good thing is generally the men here have a cultural requirement to respect women and not talk directly to them ... so most of the hassling from the touts for taxis, hotels and souvenir buying comes to me, which is fine. That said, there are a few touristy locations where anything goes ... she has to stay close to me then as the touts will bother anyone.
The thing I Wasn't expecting is the amount of attention Emilee gets. When I've travelled in Asian countries before, the locals are fascinated by a strange looking, tall white person ... constantly asking for a photo or wanting to talk to me ... basic stuff like 'where are you from?', 'what's your name?' etc. But in India this has only happened to me on a few occasions. I guess white people are well known to Indians, so it's not such a big deal. But all the staff at all hotels and all the local guys just stare at Emilee and seem confused what to do .. I think they instinctively want to come and talk, but they know this isn't really allowed. Sometimes they ask me 'where is she from?', 'is she your wife'? and other times they pluck up the courage to ask her 'are you from japan?' or 'are you from China'? etc. But mostly they just stare!!! In the hotels the staff seem to find plenty of reasons to come to our room ... today one guy bought our food in 3 different visits, when 1 would have sufficed! At the more popular / expensive tourists attractions some of the younger Indian men will come running up asking for photos ... at first with all of them plus both of us ... then just one of them and her. I think this is because these are some of the more educated and well-off Indians and they're more confident to speak with us. Also because they're out of the sight of their family, so they can do taboo things like talk with foreign girls.
It's getting quite annoying so now we just say 'no photo' when they ask! That said, a couple of days ago we were at a dilapidated fort in Gwalior, which is not a major tourist attraction - most of the visitors were from Gwalior itself and I think there was only a handful of other foreigners. I think the local visitors were quite poor as most of them didn't have cameras, so they kept asking us to take pictures of them with our cameras!!! Then they seemed very happy when they looked at the picture on the camera screen ... so that was really nice ... it was mix of young kids and their parents and a few local lads ... all wanting to be in the photo!! One young girl came running up and handed Emilee a bunch of flowers she picked, then ran off to hide somewhere!!! I didn't get any flowers. Emilee's bought some sweets and pencils from Singapore, so we've been hading these out to the children that look really poor.
I've asked Emilee to look not so cute so locals are not interested ... but I'm not sure it will work ... she already wears big sunglasses and a face mask because of the pollution, so she looks very strange (not cute in my opinion) ... maybe that's why they all want a photo.
That's just about it for now ... next time I'll write about the places we've visited and some more experiences. At the moment we're in Varanasi which is on the River Ganges (where Indians bathe to clean themselves of all sins ... and where half-cremated bodies are ceremonially laid to rest .... we will not be going in the river - it smells bad). We started in Delhi, then on to Agra for the Taj Mahal, Gwalior and now Varansi - all by train. Tomorrow we go to New Jalpaiguri on our 2nd overnight sleeper train then on to Darjeeling in the mountains. More on our travels next time!
We've been in India for a week now, one third through our holiday. As expected, it's been fun and interesting but with plenty of challenges. Most of the planning was done beforehand, but there's still been plenty to sort out on arrival at each destination. Most of the logical & commonsense arrangements have been made by me. The fun elements of the trip have been arranged by Emilee ... she's good at that, although I have to constantly explain when things aren't practical or might be a bit dangerous. Anyway, it's working well so far.
I've also been pleasantly surprised that she's been quite good at walking reasonably long distances (for a girl), carrying most of her own stuff and getting through the difficult bits when we're under the hot sun for long periods, breathing polluted and dusty air and generally being hassled by locals (I can't blame them though, they're mostly very poor of course and they just want to make a bit of money to help themselves & their families).
We both agree that the good things in India are worth persevering through the difficult things, as this really is a fascinating country with a rich and complex culture and long history.
I say that Emilee's been carrying most of her stuff, but this isn't entirely true. When we were packing I saw a lot of things going in her bag that didn't seem altogether necessary, and my instincts told me these would eventually find their way into my backpack. My backpack has a 60 litre capacity and Emilee's is 70 litres. So she was convinced that hers was heavier than mine, even though a number of items had found their way over to me. A quick weighing at the airport disproved this without doubt ... Kerry's bag 15kg, Emilee's bag 12kg. Still, it's pretty good going for a girl .... and she's only 5ft 1inch so all in all it's not a bad effort! Something tells me my bag will be 20kg by the end of the trip - she like shopping in the markets. (Still not a problem - I was packing 30kg in 2 bags in my travels around Australia and Asia a few years ago).
It's been really nice travelling with a partner this time - there's plenty of compromises to be made, and I have to walk very slow ... I also have to look after her a bit as India is a difficult place to travel for a girl ... but great to spend time together and have company to enjoy this place. I've noticed that Indian men don't really know how to behave around women, I guess because they spend most of their time around men (as women are either at home or going about their daily chores together, around the markets, taking children to school etc). The good thing is generally the men here have a cultural requirement to respect women and not talk directly to them ... so most of the hassling from the touts for taxis, hotels and souvenir buying comes to me, which is fine. That said, there are a few touristy locations where anything goes ... she has to stay close to me then as the touts will bother anyone.
The thing I Wasn't expecting is the amount of attention Emilee gets. When I've travelled in Asian countries before, the locals are fascinated by a strange looking, tall white person ... constantly asking for a photo or wanting to talk to me ... basic stuff like 'where are you from?', 'what's your name?' etc. But in India this has only happened to me on a few occasions. I guess white people are well known to Indians, so it's not such a big deal. But all the staff at all hotels and all the local guys just stare at Emilee and seem confused what to do .. I think they instinctively want to come and talk, but they know this isn't really allowed. Sometimes they ask me 'where is she from?', 'is she your wife'? and other times they pluck up the courage to ask her 'are you from japan?' or 'are you from China'? etc. But mostly they just stare!!! In the hotels the staff seem to find plenty of reasons to come to our room ... today one guy bought our food in 3 different visits, when 1 would have sufficed! At the more popular / expensive tourists attractions some of the younger Indian men will come running up asking for photos ... at first with all of them plus both of us ... then just one of them and her. I think this is because these are some of the more educated and well-off Indians and they're more confident to speak with us. Also because they're out of the sight of their family, so they can do taboo things like talk with foreign girls.
It's getting quite annoying so now we just say 'no photo' when they ask! That said, a couple of days ago we were at a dilapidated fort in Gwalior, which is not a major tourist attraction - most of the visitors were from Gwalior itself and I think there was only a handful of other foreigners. I think the local visitors were quite poor as most of them didn't have cameras, so they kept asking us to take pictures of them with our cameras!!! Then they seemed very happy when they looked at the picture on the camera screen ... so that was really nice ... it was mix of young kids and their parents and a few local lads ... all wanting to be in the photo!! One young girl came running up and handed Emilee a bunch of flowers she picked, then ran off to hide somewhere!!! I didn't get any flowers. Emilee's bought some sweets and pencils from Singapore, so we've been hading these out to the children that look really poor.I've asked Emilee to look not so cute so locals are not interested ... but I'm not sure it will work ... she already wears big sunglasses and a face mask because of the pollution, so she looks very strange (not cute in my opinion) ... maybe that's why they all want a photo.
That's just about it for now ... next time I'll write about the places we've visited and some more experiences. At the moment we're in Varanasi which is on the River Ganges (where Indians bathe to clean themselves of all sins ... and where half-cremated bodies are ceremonially laid to rest .... we will not be going in the river - it smells bad). We started in Delhi, then on to Agra for the Taj Mahal, Gwalior and now Varansi - all by train. Tomorrow we go to New Jalpaiguri on our 2nd overnight sleeper train then on to Darjeeling in the mountains. More on our travels next time!
0 comments:
Post a Comment