India Blog Part I (circa '17)
Hold Yo’ Breath (entry #1)
Originally posted Oct 21st, 2017.; edited May 2020.
As I’m sitting on the train from Delhi (crazy town) —> Rishikesh (mtn town), I fully understand why people say the trains are a must-do experience in India. My train took off @ 6:45AM, so it was an early AM ride to the train station for Jen. This was of course a day train, so not a sleeper train. I also went directly to the train station the day prior to get a ticket - I was lucky and one of the “reserved for foreigner” tickets was available to bring me NEAR my destination of Rishikesh. Some realizations I had throughout my first Indian train experience -
The train station was un-breathable. Literally, the air was so bad. Definitely felt like I was taking years off my life! I mean Delhi in and of itself is already terribly polluted, but the train station was unbelievable. I was told a day in Delhi is the equivalent to smoking 20 cigs…TWENTY CIGS! I need to GTFO.
Everyday I’ve been here the weather app has said “fog” or “haze” in place of your typical “sunny” or “cloudy”. #SMH, India. Get your shit together! Mother Earth is a sacred place!
General class tickets: as I was covering my face with my scarf to try to get back a few minutes of my life that was wrongly taken from me, I was people watching one of the 16 platforms boarding from above. It was a mad house; people shoving violently to get in the railway car door. Honestly, I saw people trying to pry open the train doors as they were waiting in line to board (Iron bars >> Indian strength, even of the strongest man). The train workers were tossing a few of the people out of the line if they were being extremely aggressive. The workers also had sticks that they were actually hitting people with that were being ruthless (guess what? It didn’t stop them…). And this, my friends, helped me understand why I didn’t book a general class ticket for my first ride. 3A and above is worth the few extra dollars!!
Navigating: the station in itself was not as difficult to manage as people say, but I think my first one was pretty lucky (i.e. no delays / platform changes / cart changes / carts derailing / you know, the normal things that happen). You find which platform your train is on & then find your labeled cart that was on your ticket. The logistics of it went smoothly, but things got a bit weird on the train. The lady 2 seats down from me started seizing within about 10 minutes of the train starting. The way Indian people deal with nearly unconscious women, I learned, is by slapping them in the face until their eyes open and prying their mouth open to shove sugar and juice down their throat. It was scary and reminded me of the time I got sick in Thailand and how my Thai teachers “soothed” me - with fried chicken nuggets and ketchup…same, same, but different. At this time, I both wished I did and didn’t have first responder training.
After the scene calmed down to my left, I looked out the window and there were MONKEYS everywhere. AKA my WORST nightmare!! They were just climbing along the buildings and stealing the juice boxes from all the garbage cans (& children, I’m sure). I see you monkey and I’m watching my back! Don’t even try me.
The service on the train was great though - constant tea, meals, more tea, water bottles, more tea, etc. Reminder: I did not have the cheapest ticket. It’s very nice and I felt very cared for. I’m also getting to see a lot of the countryside which consists of a lot of garbage (naturally) mixed with sugarcane fields mixed with broken houses & poverty (sad face). I don’t have a lot of words besides “woah”…so many sides and full of surprises, India.
I’ve seen mostly all the things people say bout India in just a couple days - people peeing wherever they feel, everyone spews the beetle juice which rots all of their teeth (it’s a spew, not a spit), traffic is nutty, people try to scam foreigners everywhere, tourists vomiting violently from bad food, dogs with giant utters (is that called something?), cows roaming the streets freely and stopping traffic, heaps of trash, homeless people with diseases and unable to walk (they have scoots they sit on like in 5th grade gym class - very sad), 1yr olds with eyeliner, & that’s all the jaw-dropping sights on the tip of my tongue right now.
So yeah - that sums up my first train experience! Overall, very delightful and I recommend as long as getting a ticket isn’t too much of a hassle. My time in Dehli was nothing great - definitely not my favorite town, full of trashy air and trashy streets. The streets didn’t feel safe past dark. & I’m still getting over jet lag (annoying), so I’m having pretty early bedtimes & pretty early wakes up which has been working out I suppose!
Mountain town is calling ^^
Until next time,
Jen
Chai Time (entry #2)
Originally posted Oct 26th, 2017; edited May 2020.
For as crazy and chaotic as India is, there is one really beautiful thing you can count on every day that always makes me feel just a bit better - CHAI TIME.
And the BEST part is you can have it more than once a day. Probably about 2-3 times each day, Indians have Chai time - they make some Chai tea, take a relax, chat with friends, and sip Chai. I always leave wanting more because the Chai cups are made for infants - you know us Americans, bigger is ALWAYS better; could I get that in a Trenta, please? It's delicious, relaxing, and allows you to put the hectic-ness of this country on pause for a minute or two.
I’ve had a couple ups and downs with India thus far - frustrations with different things from their transportation system, encounters with locals, and lack of urgency in all of life. Hopefully this blog will help me remember how to travel around this country as I feel like I'm finally starting to feel like I "get it" after 5 days here. If you can travel India with success, I believe you can travel anywhere - STAMP THIS STATEMENT.
Transportation - it’s a mess for tourists to travel here. They intentionally make it very difficult for foreigners to plan things as they lack a simple system to book your trips. For nearly all of their booking sites for buses or trains, you either need an Indian phone number, an Indian credit card, approval from the government body to make an account, or all of the above. This means, you must have a travel agency book for you OR you can go straight to the train or bus office and book there if you want to avoid the commission charges. Going to the stations can be quite inconvenient especially when the train station is somewhat out of town and the bus stations can be stationed anywhere depending on the company the bus is thru (sides of roads, random street corners, tents in the middle of town, etc).
TRAINS: the trains book very quickly and the suggestion is to book TWO months in advance. As this is not realistic for travelers typically, you have a couple options.
They have a waitlist for train tickets- you can buy a ticket on the “waitlist” (say waitlist ticket #16), if 16 people don’t show up or cancel their ticket before the train leaves, you get to board the train. This means you have to be at the train station as if you have a “real” ticket already and wait to see if you will get on. It’s all a gamble, like standby flights.
There is a certain number of “foreign quota” tickets reserved for foreigners - you can go to the tourist ticketing counter and see if any are available. Again, this requires you to go to the train station beforehand to see if you can get a ticket. My first train I took I did option 2 and it worked smoothly, but this is not always the case. I've had it work and not work...sometimes you end up staying extras days in places simply because the transportation. It's more annoying than anything, especially if you are on a schedule. As my recommendation would be anywhere in Asia, less is more - if you have unlimited time, it will be in your favor.
Locals (spotlighted for Indian men)- I’m trying not to let my few uneasy encounters describe the general population of Indian men, but my taste of them so far has not been delightful. The feeling is somewhat similar to SE Asia where white people are “prizes”, but to a more serious degree. You meet them, tell them your name, they will request to follow you on social media, take a picture with you, post a picture with you, OH, and then tell everyone you’re their girlfriend. The gf part didn’t actually happen to me (that I am aware of), but I have heard stories of it and people stop you for selfies quite often, so who even knows; I may have a LOT of boyfriends right now. If you tell them “no” which I have learned to do, they will probably just snap a pic anyway and get you in the background. It's quite fair to say they lack social cues and that women are not regarded the same way in India as they are in western culture…you know where "no" actually means "no" majority of the time.
Real Situation 1) I met a couple Indian college guys on the train a few days back and they were heading to Rishi as well. The interactions went where are you from, what’s your name, what’s your number in that order (that's a normal sequence, right?). We chatted for a while on the train and they seemed like nice guys. We taxi’ed to the main city together, they continued asking me to hangout, we exchanged contact information as I told them I was going to meet with friends, and I dipped to my hostel with empty promises of meeting again later – I would describe this situation as simply being friendly and curious to learn about the local life. Immediately upon arriving at my hostel (maybe 20 mins later), they were calling and texting me nonstop. I mean, I probably got ~9 missed calls, 4 voicemails, and 10 text messages within 2 hours. I did not respond as it seemed a bit over-eager and honestly made me uncomfortable. I was later walking through the streets for dinner with some travel friends and THERE THEY WERE on their scooter flagging me down!!! (they were staying on the opposite side of town - maybe 20 minutes away). I cut off communication including blocking them and they left town.
Real Situation 2) At a restaurant eating food by myself - Indian man came up to me and started asking questions. At first, it’s fine, but you’re busy so it’s just annoying as he’s asking things like “do you like Trump?” - very classic question even in 2017 - and whatever else they want to know like “do you have an iPhone?” (really rare and expensive in India). Then, all of a sudden, he starts showing photos of “his brothers Mustang” and “his brother dancing at a really cool party”. Me: brain internally screaming I DON’T CARE & THOSE ARE GOOGLE IMAGES. But instead I stay calm and collect and try to ignore the situation. Man continues showing you videos and taking pictures of my Apple computer, so I plug in my headphones and don’t respond for 10+ minutes and maybe then he realizes he’s talking to himself? TG. Oh, & please delete the photo of my computer…it’s not single and doesn’t want to date you.
Both of the above have happened to me and more, but these are very common situations described by all travelers. All white females I have met have had very similar encounters and we all respond with the same “back off puhhh-lease” attitude. It’s sort of saddening because I think locals have a lot to offer and can really show foreigners the parts of town you won’t get to see by the typical “tours” and suggestions from your hostels, but there is just no boundary or understanding of when you are trying to be nice vs when you are making an advance. I have learned I have to be very rude and feel bad about it, but you have to approach the situation with a "what do you want from me" guard instead of just being polite. #wearallblack&don'tsmile
Scheming- everyone wants to do business with you (naturally – they are salesmen & tourism is a large part of their economy). BUT the thing about doing business is you need to build a repour and very few people have actually made me interested in doing business with them as I'm so turned off with the way I'm approached. It’s like the Instagram account that messages strangers directly and says “PLEASE FOLLOW ME – LOOKING TO GET MORE FOLLOWERS”. They go for getting the most money (naturally) and fulfilling the most minimal promise. They are very pushy and you can tell them "no thanks", but they continue following you down the streets or driving next to you with the same offer hoping you’ll get irritated and give in. TIP: for the sake of all other travelers, do NOT give in, I’m begging you!!! Again, "no" means "no" sir. Everyone is also very inter-connected - i.e. the taxi drivers get commission from certain hotels if they bring travelers or if they bring tourists to specific bus stations. Or person 1 doesn't have something you are looking for, but he will scooter you up to his "mom's friend’s brothers" shop who does have it.
Real sitch 1) Wave down a rickshaw (Indian taxi), tell them where you want to negotiate a price, start driving, driver makes a “call” on his phone (this is when you know it’s coming), 5 minutes into the drive he stops and says “hey, that market you want to go is closed today” US: please take us there anyways. Man: no, it’s closed. US: take us there anyways. Man: *starts driving again and stops at a random street where 2 men come out* Men: hey, the market is closed - do you want to come in and buy train tickets? US: absolutely not, take us to the market. *after some more banter, man starts driving. We finally get to the market which is completely OPEN - classic.
Real sitch 2) Find a rickshaw, agree on paying 400 rupees, get in rickshaw, start driving, within 10 minutes of driving: Man: “mam, 500 rupees.” MeE: No, we agreed on 400; you can’t change it; are you serious dude?!? Man: Ackkk, okok. As we keep driving, man wants to keep talking, but I just feel like he’s now working against me. He did help me stop traffic to cross the street though. He’s just trying to make a living I guess (& take advantage of foreigners). A DEAL IS A DEAL, MAN.
Real sitch 3) In Rishikesh, many of the activities offered were tagged with “suggested donation” which just seems mysterious in the first place. As a foreigner and being new to India, I really have not a clue what that means, but after the activity you'd give them a donation and they'd be like "100 more please" or something of the sort. Just an awkward sitch where I would just rather be labeled with a price in the first place??
Real sitch 4) They make up these numbers that they need ‘x’ number of people to take part in something for it to happen. This is rather difficult to control when you are a group of 1 or 2 traveling (which IS almost EVERYONE). Say they “need” 4 people to do something - they expect 4,000 rupees in return from leading a tour. 4 people sign up, it’s 1,000 per person. 6 people sign up, it’s still 1,000 per person (maybe 800 if they’re nice). 2 people sign up, it’s 2,000 per person. An 800 rupee trip turns to 2,000 just because 2 people signed up. While this makes sense in the business world, it’s difficult to control and also, we are already doing the hostel business by staying with them so it seems like something they should just do anyways for a fair price. This is one of the reasons why it’s difficult to travel alone as well in India. Unless you are willing to pay x4 what you should, it’s difficult to do all that you want to do. #learning
Other things I've learned along the way:
Specific states ban alcohol (against religion)
Eggs are banned in some areas (the really "yogi" areas like the north), but they will have code names (phum) on menus.
Eating beef is banned in most areas (especially the strong Hindu influenced areas)
The cows that roam the streets and highways have owners and apparently find their way home when they want to. They also eat garbage and most look very unhealthy – who knew a garbage diet would make you look like trash!!
Selling fireworks is banned in some states (just selling, not lighting them - ha!)
Pigs and donkeys also roam free ... I have a hard time believing they also make their way home to their owners, but #thisisIndia.
BUT in all of this chaos, every day at least once I get to have CHAI time which makes me appreciate all of the lessons I am learning and how even people that live in such a wild place find time to have a relax and take a breath (of really not fresh air). I am very thankful for traveler friends who are just as lost in this place - being lost together >>> just being lost, traveling and just in life <3
I’m ready for more chai,
Asian Jen
Too Much Cow Shit (entry #3)
Originally posted Oct 29th, 2017; edited May 2020.
Contrary to the attitude in my last post, I have really came to some peace with India and learned how to travel it quite well (as I feel at the moment - could change tomorrow).
Although I still believe there is too much cow shi* in this country (yes, I have stepped in fresh piles), I have been able to leave behind expectations, come in with a guard, and let the rest take wing for itself.
Pictured below: cow crossing hanging WALKING bridge - they also fancied lying down in the middle. Quite a nice view, I agree.
Pictured below: Running with the cows
I finally made it to a new town, Jaisalmer, that is beautiful in landscape and in the people (that I have encountered so far). It has a very small town feel, fewer foreigners, is in the middle of a desert, and still has too many cows. Countless people have said "thank you for smiling" today which is uncommon to how I have been treated in the past. People seem to appreciate genuine connection and communication. One thing to be aware of when you get to small towns though, is that they are often filled with more rural "village people" (not my term). "Village people" tend to be less advanced in thinking and behaving. For example, boys and girls still have separate schools, marriages are mostly all arranged, people that grew up here tend to stay here and never experience other things, etc. Similar to a small town mentality of any small town, but in India that means they may not known proper behavior with foreigners as they are not as exposed to them. Unless people have dealt with the tourism industry before, I really don't trust them.
Trust is a funny thing & hard to earn back once it's been challenged so many times. I'm working on it, slowly but surely, as there are less than ideal people in every culture.
Step over the cow shi* and find the pennies that are head side up (in this case 1, 2, 5, or 10 rupee coins).
#Namaste,
Jen <3
