Showing posts with label kill me now. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kill me now. Show all posts
Friday, March 16, 2012
Monday, September 12, 2011
"Check please!"
"'moke breaks... brah"
gotta love Fridays
Mason loves Fridays
Jammin'
"nice tan, brah."
Saturday with the sistas. By Sunday I was completely wiped out. But I did see the 49ers run all over Seattle.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Shitney is that you?
Some how this is better than Shitney. There is nothing sexy about this. She's a HOT MESS
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Don't go to sleep to dream
I woke suddenly from a nightmare and could see that dawn was breaking outside my window.
First light reflecting off the Burano building
sunrising in the East
Good morning Toronto
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Fun in the Nha Trang Sun
Our trip up to Nha Trang was fairly uneventful although I did have Valium induced nightmares. I had never taken it before, and after the OxyCotin incident of 2005, don't worry it was prescribed not abused but nevertheless, I know I have a sensitive reaction to percription drugs so I only took half the Valium. Even still I had two horrible dreams. In the first one I was on the elevator in my building but I couldn't move my arms, because of the Valium, so I couldn't push the button for my floor and had to stand there helplessly riding up and down. People would get on and off the elevator giving me stange looks. While I stood completely immobile and sort of out of it. When ever someone wasn't looking or if I was alone on the elevator I would try desperately to swing my limp arms up to push the button for my floor. But I could never get to it. At one point I was sort of leaning against the buttons groaning softly and possibly drooling. Awful! In the other dream I was lying in my pod on the bus, ( our bus had sleeper compartments which were sort of podlike,) but it was as if I was in an open eyed coma. Everyone around me was talking about me like an invalid. in this one I think I definitely was drooling and generally looked like a vegetable. I could hear everyone talking about me and looking concerned but I couldn't move or respond. It was very, "blink once if you can hear me." Anyway I did manage to get some sleep eventually, once the Valium wore off I think, and we pulled in to beautiful Nha Trang early the following morning. On our way into town I woke up in time to see one of the most beautiful sunrises I have ever seen.
The bus dropped us off near the centre of the main town so Justin and I set off to find accomodation and get a coffee. We've learned over the last few months that nothing says fresh meat to the touts more than wandering around town in the early morning with your backpacks. Doing so leaves you open to endless hassle and constant shouts of, "you look, my hotel. Cheap price." etc etc. So I left my bag with Justin at one of the hotels and went off to investigate rooms for us on my own. We ended up staying at a reasonable enough place called Oasis Guesthouse, where we had two huge beds, and a TV, plus two beautiful windows overlooking the sea. The sea views pretty much sold us and at $12 a night it was justifiable, although probably more than we would have liked to spend. I know I know, we have gotten so cheap! The biggest pain in the ass about the hotel, and indeed about Nha Trang, is that water shortages in the country have really effected the hydro-electric power supply and so Nha Trang is forced to go without power every other day for about 12 hours. It turned out to be a major pain in the ass.
After we learned about the alternating day power outages we decided to organise our stay in Nha Trang so that we were out as much as possible during the days without power. Of course, given our luck we arrived just as the power was cut, which meant we would have to spend our first day in Nha Trang going without. God life as a traveler is stressful. We were both pretty worn out from the unrestful bus ride and would have loved to have spent the day sitting around in the air conditioning watching telly but decided instead to take a nap and then go exploring. Rough eh? We also decided that we would need to come up with a daily plan to avoid the boredom and overheating that no power can contribute to.
I was looking forward to doing some more scuba diving and Justin wanted to snorkel so we planned that for the next power outage day. We spent some of our first day in town scouting out dive and snorkel options. And then wandered around the main area of Nha Trang for a while and went to the beach. Off in the distance we could see the cable car which ferries mainlanders over to a small island called VinPearl, home to Nha Trang's very own water and amusement park. It didn't look too far away so in the afternoon Justin and I decided to walk over to it and get some more info about VinPearl Land. We knew we'd have the next day to hang out in town and go to the beach, watch movies etc in full air conditioned glory. So we thought we might want to spend our last day in town sans power over at the water park. It turned out to be a bit further than we thought but since Justin and I have both gotten unacceptably fat* in the last month or so we figured the excersise would do us good.
We were able to organise our diving/snorkling through Rainbow Divers, the oldest dive shop in Vietnam, so that Justin and I could go out on the same boat and dive the same sights. I ended up doing a Nat Geo specialist program, which was really just glorified fun dives. But fun they were indeed. I wouldn't say that the diving in Nha Trang is amazing. It certainly wasn't as good as Koh Tao. But it was quieter and there was some interesting wildlife and coral. Justin and I both found it a scenic trip, especially any view which included our eye candy for the day. I never did get his name but he was a super cute instructor, and he had a very sexy/cliche tattoo of a hammerhead shark on his right shoulder. Justin and I fought over who got to be in a fantasy relationship with him. Justin even took shameless pictures of him under the disguise of getting some great landscape shots. Quetaine! I am pretty sure he was on my team so I claim victory on that one. Of course he was busy instructing some blonde Swedish chick who was doing her open water certification but that is beside the point. I am sure he was madly in love with me regardless.
While in town we also took the oppurtunity to do a small bit of pampering. Nha Trang is famous for its mud bath spa so Justin and I went for the day to see what it was all about. It was pretty funny actually. I was surprised how many of the visitors were Vietnamese and not foreign tourists. And that definitely added some culture** to the experience. First you get a semi private mud bath outside. They have dozens of them all in varying sizes. That way you and your group can take part in the bathing togehter. There were entire families, complete with infants, aunts, uncles, grandparents etc all mud bathing together. Sometimes as many as 12 to 15 bathers all in one tub. They kept putting Justin and me into heart-shaped tubs together, which we of course found hilarious. After the mud bath you are meant to sit out in the sun for fifteen minutes to let the mud harden. I noticed that many of the Vietnamese seemed to skip this seemingly important step, but I figured it was because in general the Asians don't like too much sun exposure. Unlike us whities they loath getting tan. Imagine that! After the mud hardens you take a thorough shower and then run through a sort of high powered hose obstacle course for a final cleaning. The final step involves sitting in another tub, heart-shaped for us of course, with natural hot spring mineral water. The only problem with that was it was about 35 degrees already and so the last thing we wanted to do was sit for twenty minutes in a hot tub. But we figured our skin is worth it. And besides no good beauty regime is pain free right? So we suffered throught the near heat stroke and left feeling gloriously rejuvenated.
On our final day in Nha Trang we decided we had to make the trip over to Vin Pearl to check out the amusement park. The ride over was awesome, except for the older gentleman with the facial whiskers that were almost as long as Justy's ponytail. It was difficult not to stare. The amusement park itself was sort of underwhelming. It was no Wonderland that is for sure. But the water park was a total blast. We had a grand old time pretending we were 14 again. And since it was a weekday we almost never had to wait in any lines. We did have one sort of scary moment near the end of the day when we were waiting in line for one last amusment park ride. We were next on when the ride stopped and a woman appeared to be completely passed out. I am not sure if she fainted or what but it took two men to carry her off the ride and they appeared to be unable to get her to come around. Justin and I didn't wait around to see what was going to happen next since the crowd was growing and the situation appeared to be spiraling in a dark direction. We hightailed it out of there and got on virtually the next cable car back to Nha Trang. It was getting fairly late by then so we had a quick dinner and made our way back to the hotel where we were getting the bus up to Hoi An.
The bus dropped us off near the centre of the main town so Justin and I set off to find accomodation and get a coffee. We've learned over the last few months that nothing says fresh meat to the touts more than wandering around town in the early morning with your backpacks. Doing so leaves you open to endless hassle and constant shouts of, "you look, my hotel. Cheap price." etc etc. So I left my bag with Justin at one of the hotels and went off to investigate rooms for us on my own. We ended up staying at a reasonable enough place called Oasis Guesthouse, where we had two huge beds, and a TV, plus two beautiful windows overlooking the sea. The sea views pretty much sold us and at $12 a night it was justifiable, although probably more than we would have liked to spend. I know I know, we have gotten so cheap! The biggest pain in the ass about the hotel, and indeed about Nha Trang, is that water shortages in the country have really effected the hydro-electric power supply and so Nha Trang is forced to go without power every other day for about 12 hours. It turned out to be a major pain in the ass.
After we learned about the alternating day power outages we decided to organise our stay in Nha Trang so that we were out as much as possible during the days without power. Of course, given our luck we arrived just as the power was cut, which meant we would have to spend our first day in Nha Trang going without. God life as a traveler is stressful. We were both pretty worn out from the unrestful bus ride and would have loved to have spent the day sitting around in the air conditioning watching telly but decided instead to take a nap and then go exploring. Rough eh? We also decided that we would need to come up with a daily plan to avoid the boredom and overheating that no power can contribute to.
I was looking forward to doing some more scuba diving and Justin wanted to snorkel so we planned that for the next power outage day. We spent some of our first day in town scouting out dive and snorkel options. And then wandered around the main area of Nha Trang for a while and went to the beach. Off in the distance we could see the cable car which ferries mainlanders over to a small island called VinPearl, home to Nha Trang's very own water and amusement park. It didn't look too far away so in the afternoon Justin and I decided to walk over to it and get some more info about VinPearl Land. We knew we'd have the next day to hang out in town and go to the beach, watch movies etc in full air conditioned glory. So we thought we might want to spend our last day in town sans power over at the water park. It turned out to be a bit further than we thought but since Justin and I have both gotten unacceptably fat* in the last month or so we figured the excersise would do us good.
We were able to organise our diving/snorkling through Rainbow Divers, the oldest dive shop in Vietnam, so that Justin and I could go out on the same boat and dive the same sights. I ended up doing a Nat Geo specialist program, which was really just glorified fun dives. But fun they were indeed. I wouldn't say that the diving in Nha Trang is amazing. It certainly wasn't as good as Koh Tao. But it was quieter and there was some interesting wildlife and coral. Justin and I both found it a scenic trip, especially any view which included our eye candy for the day. I never did get his name but he was a super cute instructor, and he had a very sexy/cliche tattoo of a hammerhead shark on his right shoulder. Justin and I fought over who got to be in a fantasy relationship with him. Justin even took shameless pictures of him under the disguise of getting some great landscape shots. Quetaine! I am pretty sure he was on my team so I claim victory on that one. Of course he was busy instructing some blonde Swedish chick who was doing her open water certification but that is beside the point. I am sure he was madly in love with me regardless.
While in town we also took the oppurtunity to do a small bit of pampering. Nha Trang is famous for its mud bath spa so Justin and I went for the day to see what it was all about. It was pretty funny actually. I was surprised how many of the visitors were Vietnamese and not foreign tourists. And that definitely added some culture** to the experience. First you get a semi private mud bath outside. They have dozens of them all in varying sizes. That way you and your group can take part in the bathing togehter. There were entire families, complete with infants, aunts, uncles, grandparents etc all mud bathing together. Sometimes as many as 12 to 15 bathers all in one tub. They kept putting Justin and me into heart-shaped tubs together, which we of course found hilarious. After the mud bath you are meant to sit out in the sun for fifteen minutes to let the mud harden. I noticed that many of the Vietnamese seemed to skip this seemingly important step, but I figured it was because in general the Asians don't like too much sun exposure. Unlike us whities they loath getting tan. Imagine that! After the mud hardens you take a thorough shower and then run through a sort of high powered hose obstacle course for a final cleaning. The final step involves sitting in another tub, heart-shaped for us of course, with natural hot spring mineral water. The only problem with that was it was about 35 degrees already and so the last thing we wanted to do was sit for twenty minutes in a hot tub. But we figured our skin is worth it. And besides no good beauty regime is pain free right? So we suffered throught the near heat stroke and left feeling gloriously rejuvenated.
On our final day in Nha Trang we decided we had to make the trip over to Vin Pearl to check out the amusement park. The ride over was awesome, except for the older gentleman with the facial whiskers that were almost as long as Justy's ponytail. It was difficult not to stare. The amusement park itself was sort of underwhelming. It was no Wonderland that is for sure. But the water park was a total blast. We had a grand old time pretending we were 14 again. And since it was a weekday we almost never had to wait in any lines. We did have one sort of scary moment near the end of the day when we were waiting in line for one last amusment park ride. We were next on when the ride stopped and a woman appeared to be completely passed out. I am not sure if she fainted or what but it took two men to carry her off the ride and they appeared to be unable to get her to come around. Justin and I didn't wait around to see what was going to happen next since the crowd was growing and the situation appeared to be spiraling in a dark direction. We hightailed it out of there and got on virtually the next cable car back to Nha Trang. It was getting fairly late by then so we had a quick dinner and made our way back to the hotel where we were getting the bus up to Hoi An.
*Justin and I have thankfully rebounded from being fat and are making our way back onto team thin
**see previous post regarding the definition of cultural activities
Monday, May 31, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Varanasty
I had a premonition that Justin and I might find Varanasi, one of India's holiest and most intense cities, a bit tough to take after the relaxation of Rishikesh. It was my fear that we would decide that we had planned our travel leg in India, pre-Ashram perfectly except in our decision to visit Varanasi last before entering the Ashram for our month of intense yoga/detox. And surprise surprise I was right! It's not to stay that we didn't enjoy Varanasi. Who doesn't enjoy a place that smells so rank it makes you want to vomit? Or when your sun rise boat cruise comes complete with boast side attractions like dead bodies, which you wouldn't have even recognized because of how gray and puffy they look had it not been for your gondolier casually pointing them out. "Thanks Ji!"
We arrived amidst the relative calm of Holi, the festival celebrating the arrival of spring throughout India. Holi is a very colourful holiday, literally. Everyone throws coloured powder all over one another and particularly love hitting clean unsuspecting tourists when they aren't expecting it. I got my Holi colour at a train station stop on our way to Varanasi. There were very few travelers on the trains and therefore even fewer wallahs hocking chai and snacks. Justin and I were getting quite hungry so when ever we pulled into a station I would open the door to see if there was anyone selling anything to eat or drink on the platform. At one such stop I opened the door on a scene of local boys happily flinging pink powder on one another. They took one look at me, spotless all in white, and came running over. But luckily they were very subdued in their decorating and only put handfuls of powder on my forehead and cheeks. I have heard stories of women travelers who were nearly molested in the name of Holi merriment. I was actually a little disappointing. Why isn't anyone trying to molest me? (I kid I kid.) Anyway I digress, because of the holiday many of the shops were closed and people were at home instead of in the markets, so we got a seldom seen quiet tour of Varanasi as we searched for a hotel.
We also picked up an Australian couple, who we later had to ditch. Hate when that happens. The four of us shared a rickshaw around town as we searched for a suitable guest house for the week. After looking at a few places, including several recommended by our austere driver- much to our dismay, we attempted to have him drop us off near an area of the ghats where we could find something on our own. But instead he dropped us off at the other end of the river, perhaps out of spite but perhaps not, and we had to walk along the ghats with all of our bags for nearly 5kms. By the way Varanasi is blazing hot. Thankfully, because of Holi, it was also relatively quiet along the ghats although we didn't know it until later. We did eventually find the Hotel we were looking for, Hotel Alka.
Alka unfortunately didn't have any rooms with en-suite bathrooms but we were all so drained from the trip and the hike that we decided to stay at least one night. It was our hope that something else would become available there, and if not then we could look for something else the next day when we were more rested. Bill and Nancy, (names changes) our Australian "friends" thankfully ended up leaving for a different hotel and we didn't have to see them again. We did end up staying at Alka but due to a misunderstanding with the hotel manager we ended up in the non-bathroom room for two nights. We spent the rest of the week in a nice room on the third floor. We only had two qualms in the new room . One being how hot it was especially in the evening, and the other, which was a bigger problem for Justin than it was for me because I never heard it, was the couple having loud sex in the room next to us. But Justin did give me very graphic play by play so I was not very appreciative either. Bu hey at least someone enjoyed Varanasi. Although from what Justin heard I am not sure that it was enjoyable for both parties involved.
Anyjackrabbitsex, We did a lot of the usual tourist things in Varanasi, like taking a sunrise boat cruise along the Ganges to watch the local fisherman. The cruise was a little light on fisherman. In fact it was more like a tourist safari. There was a lot of, " O look at those funny Japanese people in SARS masks. " Or, " check out those two, they are very Connecticut." We also did a boat cruise one night to watch the dusk ceremony performed at the main ghat by local Brahman princes. At least that time the water was crowded with Indian tourists and not just a whole bunch of us whities. Justin and I hate being surrounded by whites. Because we are true to our race, totally hypocritical.
There were also a lot of touristy things we missed. We didn't go to the Golden Temple. A.) Because it is constantly under terrorist threats, and B.) because foreigners aren't actually allowed inside. So it seemed like a lot of hoopla for not a lot of action. We did walk by it a number of times and that was enough for me. The shouting and menacing police constantly staked out front patting people down and yelling was plenty of Golden Temple for me. Besides I am very of the mind that once you have seen one temple you've seen 'em all. We also didn't make it to the Fort. We had every intention of going but then the day we planned to go Justin and I both came down with another round of travelers diarrhea. Bet you were missing those stories eh?! So instead of the touristy fort Justin and I took a much less touristy tour of inner-city Varanasi to the hospital.
That actually turned out to be one of our favourite memories in Varanasi. We took a peddle rickshaw being powered by a man who was at least 70 years old. The ride was about 10 kilometers, for which we paid 100Rs or $2.25. I also gave our peddler a generous 10Rs tip. Which I know was appreciated because he dropped us off at the main entrance instead of at the back where he had intended to leave us, before he saw the extra 10Rs. At one point on the trip we had to hide our heads in shame as he peddled us over a hilly bridge. He was great and refused when we offered to get down and walk. I think he was actually a bit offended at the suggestion.
The hospital too was quite an experience. They always are here. In fact I think I could write a very funny travelers guide to the hospitals in India. With regards to the Heritage Hospital of Varanasi it would say -this bustling, no nonsense hospital is a good choice in Varanasi. What they lack in bed side manner they make up for in efficiency. Be advise this is definitely a mid-range hospital, compared with other parts of India. Justin was very quick on the draw when they told us that it would cost us more than 1,200 Rs to both see the doctor. An astronomical fee. He told them that only he needed an appointment, (since we both had the exact same symptoms anyway.) And then when we went in for Justin's appointment I just came along as the concerned wife. (We've stopped trying to fight it, everyone here thinks we're married so we just smile and nod.) The doctor did figure out our little scam but he didn't seem to mind and generously agreed to double Justin's prescription for ATBs -that's antibiotics in case you weren't up on the lingo. So score one for us.
As far as our other activities in Varanasi it was more of the same. A lot of wandering around, usually slightly lost. A lot of eating, our favourite pastime in India. We also took a few yoga classes while we were in town. But after Amit we just couldn't totally get it up for our teacher in Varanasi. I don't know if anyone will ever be as good as Amit. He has spoiled yoga for us forever. We even spent a few days at another more luxurious hotel, Hotel Surya, having massages and facials. On our last day in town we went back to Surya to try and sneak in and use the pool. We had almost managed to get away with it except I was an idiot and stopped at reception on our way out to inquire about grocery stores in town. While I stalled the pool manager called over to the front desk and asked them what our room number was. The jig was up. We ended up having to pay 200Rs to use the pool. Oh well. I think we were more disappointing that we got caught than we were at having to pay. We had been doing such a good job deflecting their questions about room number etc poolside.
Oh yea and we went to see another movie while in town. My Name is Khan starring Shah Rukh Khan. If you don't know who that is you can google him. I guarantee you will recognize him if you do. Anyway most of the movie was in Hindi but surprisingly that didn't inhibit us much from following the storyline. The movie is about an autistic genius (Khan) who moves to San Francisco after the death of his mother and falls in love with a Hindi girl, (he's Muslim.) They marry but after September 11th their relationship is put to the test and he eventually is forced to strike out in search of the US President in order to win her back. He is trying to find the President to explain that he is not a terrorist, you'll have to see the movie to really get it. And besides a few scenes which take place in Wilhelmina, Georgia and grossly stereotype black America and hurricane Katrina we found the film quite enjoyable. We even got some of the jokes. Bollywood films have enough English in them that you can usually follow them pretty easily. And this one was particularly simple in structure, and most of the movie took place in the US, so there was lots of background English.
Monday we caught the train which brought us to Nasik. It was a twenty four hour trip and when we got in we were so happy to have finally arrived at the Ashram and be able to settle down somewhere for a few weeks. Our therapy training starts tomorrow so this is probably my last post for a little while. We do get one day off a week, but I am not sure when that will be. The ashram is very isolated, you know because you are supposed to be getting away from addictions like caffeine and Internet. (I don't know how I will survive. Oh yea the iPhone. Actually I am going to really try and not use my phone) So anyway, yea, we are going to be very busy for a few weeks, and I am not sure that I will want to spend my days off at an Internet cafe but you never know.
Highlights of Varanasi
watching most of the Oscars at 6am. We had to leave before they were over.
Boat ride to watch the ceremony at dusk at the main ghat
walking through the galis - that's alleys for all of you
lotus lounge - where we ate most of our meals. Could have been where we got sick but we'd rather not believe that
Hotel Surya - except for the tipping scandal I uncovered. (The beauty parlour asks you not to tip the masseurs directly. I thought it was curious and I found out that it is because the manager actually keeps the tips for himself. Outrageous.) I snuck everyone a tip anyway. Teehee.
Finally getting to watch the adorable video Natalie sent us from Canada. Thanks Nat!
Lowlights
missing Sandy acceptance speech
getting ill again!
dead bodies, cow shit, garbage, etc
We arrived amidst the relative calm of Holi, the festival celebrating the arrival of spring throughout India. Holi is a very colourful holiday, literally. Everyone throws coloured powder all over one another and particularly love hitting clean unsuspecting tourists when they aren't expecting it. I got my Holi colour at a train station stop on our way to Varanasi. There were very few travelers on the trains and therefore even fewer wallahs hocking chai and snacks. Justin and I were getting quite hungry so when ever we pulled into a station I would open the door to see if there was anyone selling anything to eat or drink on the platform. At one such stop I opened the door on a scene of local boys happily flinging pink powder on one another. They took one look at me, spotless all in white, and came running over. But luckily they were very subdued in their decorating and only put handfuls of powder on my forehead and cheeks. I have heard stories of women travelers who were nearly molested in the name of Holi merriment. I was actually a little disappointing. Why isn't anyone trying to molest me? (I kid I kid.) Anyway I digress, because of the holiday many of the shops were closed and people were at home instead of in the markets, so we got a seldom seen quiet tour of Varanasi as we searched for a hotel.
We also picked up an Australian couple, who we later had to ditch. Hate when that happens. The four of us shared a rickshaw around town as we searched for a suitable guest house for the week. After looking at a few places, including several recommended by our austere driver- much to our dismay, we attempted to have him drop us off near an area of the ghats where we could find something on our own. But instead he dropped us off at the other end of the river, perhaps out of spite but perhaps not, and we had to walk along the ghats with all of our bags for nearly 5kms. By the way Varanasi is blazing hot. Thankfully, because of Holi, it was also relatively quiet along the ghats although we didn't know it until later. We did eventually find the Hotel we were looking for, Hotel Alka.
Alka unfortunately didn't have any rooms with en-suite bathrooms but we were all so drained from the trip and the hike that we decided to stay at least one night. It was our hope that something else would become available there, and if not then we could look for something else the next day when we were more rested. Bill and Nancy, (names changes) our Australian "friends" thankfully ended up leaving for a different hotel and we didn't have to see them again. We did end up staying at Alka but due to a misunderstanding with the hotel manager we ended up in the non-bathroom room for two nights. We spent the rest of the week in a nice room on the third floor. We only had two qualms in the new room . One being how hot it was especially in the evening, and the other, which was a bigger problem for Justin than it was for me because I never heard it, was the couple having loud sex in the room next to us. But Justin did give me very graphic play by play so I was not very appreciative either. Bu hey at least someone enjoyed Varanasi. Although from what Justin heard I am not sure that it was enjoyable for both parties involved.
Anyjackrabbitsex, We did a lot of the usual tourist things in Varanasi, like taking a sunrise boat cruise along the Ganges to watch the local fisherman. The cruise was a little light on fisherman. In fact it was more like a tourist safari. There was a lot of, " O look at those funny Japanese people in SARS masks. " Or, " check out those two, they are very Connecticut." We also did a boat cruise one night to watch the dusk ceremony performed at the main ghat by local Brahman princes. At least that time the water was crowded with Indian tourists and not just a whole bunch of us whities. Justin and I hate being surrounded by whites. Because we are true to our race, totally hypocritical.
There were also a lot of touristy things we missed. We didn't go to the Golden Temple. A.) Because it is constantly under terrorist threats, and B.) because foreigners aren't actually allowed inside. So it seemed like a lot of hoopla for not a lot of action. We did walk by it a number of times and that was enough for me. The shouting and menacing police constantly staked out front patting people down and yelling was plenty of Golden Temple for me. Besides I am very of the mind that once you have seen one temple you've seen 'em all. We also didn't make it to the Fort. We had every intention of going but then the day we planned to go Justin and I both came down with another round of travelers diarrhea. Bet you were missing those stories eh?! So instead of the touristy fort Justin and I took a much less touristy tour of inner-city Varanasi to the hospital.
That actually turned out to be one of our favourite memories in Varanasi. We took a peddle rickshaw being powered by a man who was at least 70 years old. The ride was about 10 kilometers, for which we paid 100Rs or $2.25. I also gave our peddler a generous 10Rs tip. Which I know was appreciated because he dropped us off at the main entrance instead of at the back where he had intended to leave us, before he saw the extra 10Rs. At one point on the trip we had to hide our heads in shame as he peddled us over a hilly bridge. He was great and refused when we offered to get down and walk. I think he was actually a bit offended at the suggestion.
The hospital too was quite an experience. They always are here. In fact I think I could write a very funny travelers guide to the hospitals in India. With regards to the Heritage Hospital of Varanasi it would say -this bustling, no nonsense hospital is a good choice in Varanasi. What they lack in bed side manner they make up for in efficiency. Be advise this is definitely a mid-range hospital, compared with other parts of India. Justin was very quick on the draw when they told us that it would cost us more than 1,200 Rs to both see the doctor. An astronomical fee. He told them that only he needed an appointment, (since we both had the exact same symptoms anyway.) And then when we went in for Justin's appointment I just came along as the concerned wife. (We've stopped trying to fight it, everyone here thinks we're married so we just smile and nod.) The doctor did figure out our little scam but he didn't seem to mind and generously agreed to double Justin's prescription for ATBs -that's antibiotics in case you weren't up on the lingo. So score one for us.
As far as our other activities in Varanasi it was more of the same. A lot of wandering around, usually slightly lost. A lot of eating, our favourite pastime in India. We also took a few yoga classes while we were in town. But after Amit we just couldn't totally get it up for our teacher in Varanasi. I don't know if anyone will ever be as good as Amit. He has spoiled yoga for us forever. We even spent a few days at another more luxurious hotel, Hotel Surya, having massages and facials. On our last day in town we went back to Surya to try and sneak in and use the pool. We had almost managed to get away with it except I was an idiot and stopped at reception on our way out to inquire about grocery stores in town. While I stalled the pool manager called over to the front desk and asked them what our room number was. The jig was up. We ended up having to pay 200Rs to use the pool. Oh well. I think we were more disappointing that we got caught than we were at having to pay. We had been doing such a good job deflecting their questions about room number etc poolside.
Oh yea and we went to see another movie while in town. My Name is Khan starring Shah Rukh Khan. If you don't know who that is you can google him. I guarantee you will recognize him if you do. Anyway most of the movie was in Hindi but surprisingly that didn't inhibit us much from following the storyline. The movie is about an autistic genius (Khan) who moves to San Francisco after the death of his mother and falls in love with a Hindi girl, (he's Muslim.) They marry but after September 11th their relationship is put to the test and he eventually is forced to strike out in search of the US President in order to win her back. He is trying to find the President to explain that he is not a terrorist, you'll have to see the movie to really get it. And besides a few scenes which take place in Wilhelmina, Georgia and grossly stereotype black America and hurricane Katrina we found the film quite enjoyable. We even got some of the jokes. Bollywood films have enough English in them that you can usually follow them pretty easily. And this one was particularly simple in structure, and most of the movie took place in the US, so there was lots of background English.
Monday we caught the train which brought us to Nasik. It was a twenty four hour trip and when we got in we were so happy to have finally arrived at the Ashram and be able to settle down somewhere for a few weeks. Our therapy training starts tomorrow so this is probably my last post for a little while. We do get one day off a week, but I am not sure when that will be. The ashram is very isolated, you know because you are supposed to be getting away from addictions like caffeine and Internet. (I don't know how I will survive. Oh yea the iPhone. Actually I am going to really try and not use my phone) So anyway, yea, we are going to be very busy for a few weeks, and I am not sure that I will want to spend my days off at an Internet cafe but you never know.
Highlights of Varanasi
watching most of the Oscars at 6am. We had to leave before they were over.
Boat ride to watch the ceremony at dusk at the main ghat
walking through the galis - that's alleys for all of you
lotus lounge - where we ate most of our meals. Could have been where we got sick but we'd rather not believe that
Hotel Surya - except for the tipping scandal I uncovered. (The beauty parlour asks you not to tip the masseurs directly. I thought it was curious and I found out that it is because the manager actually keeps the tips for himself. Outrageous.) I snuck everyone a tip anyway. Teehee.
Finally getting to watch the adorable video Natalie sent us from Canada. Thanks Nat!
Lowlights
missing Sandy acceptance speech
getting ill again!
dead bodies, cow shit, garbage, etc
Thursday, January 14, 2010
"How do you say, 'Excuse me, which way to the hospital,' in Hindi"
After arriving in
We arrived and had our rickshaw driver take us to one of the recommended guest houses, the Hotel Continental. Unfortunately there weren’t any rooms available but, as seems to be a theme in
After checking in we decided to wander around town. We strolled along the lovely promenade taking in the
The next morning in the hopes of shaking off the last vestiges of winter we wanted to go to the beach but we weren’t sure exactly where to go. So we decided to ask around at breakfast. We went to T-space, a lovely place, which became our regular breakfast spot while in Pondi. Over delicious baguettes with jam and butter and fresh fruit with honey and yogurt we asked the affectionate French expat owner Caty, who looked like she knew a thing or two about good beaches where she would recommend we go, and after eating we took her recommendation and headed for the shores.
The beach was lovely, if not a bit isolated and we spent a fantastic day sunning and wading practically undisturbed. However, in my enthusiasm I threw patience to the wind in the hopes of getting some colour and did not wear nearly enough sunblock. (read I did not wear sunblock.) When we returned to town in the afternoon I could tell that I was going to have a burn, but it didn’t seem to be too bad, at least, not yet. After a late lunch we wanted to explore Pondi a bit more, and so we went in search of the famed Sri Aurobindo Ashram. Aurobindo was a guru who collected devotees during the late 19th and early 20th century, including a French woman who became a guru in her own right and is now known as Mother. At the Ashram I was having a lovely stroll around the courtyard when I noticed that there was a commotion gathered around some sort of alter and so I moved closer to examine what everyone seemed to be on about.
As I was heading toward the shrine I some how got swept up in a crowd of Indian women and was pushed into a kind of procession circling the flower strewn alter of Sri Aurobindo. All of the women were prostrating themselves across the shrine and making wild gesticulations culminating in their eating a leaf from a small bowl of water at the end of the procession. Having always been one for religious theatrics, i.e crossing myself at cathedrals, despite being a baptized Presbyterian, (blasphemy I know) I bent forward mimicking the women ahead of me and took a leaf from the bowl, and popped it into my mouth. The kiss of death. No sooner had I swallowed the basil leaf did it dawn on me that I just eaten something from an unknown bowl of water from god only knows where. I fretted over that a while but didn’t have much time to worry since there was nothing I could do about my impulsive action. Also Justin and I were planning on taking a free evening yoga class at the local community centre and we had to rush off or we were going to be late.
The atmosphere in the class was fantastic. It was on the upstairs floor a large French colonial building facing out towards the Bay, with huge windows that were left open so that a strong breeze was blowing in on us thorough the class. The content left a little something to be desired however, and at one point I was struck by how very Communist China the whole thing seemed. Our instructor had, I hate to say, a very irritating, high-pitched, shrill voice and she kept shouting things like, “You’re heart rate is increasing OBSERVE IT.” We enjoyed the exercise nonetheless and went to bed that night with smiles on our lips, content from a full day’s activity. However, my smile quickly faded the next morning when I woke, painfully stiff from the yoga, sun burned within an inch of my life and with the pounding realization that I had significant heat stroke. I also had the early warning signs that something in my stomach was not quite right. And after breakfast I was proven seriously right. The cramping began immediately and the continuous need to relieve myself soon followed. By the evening I was in so much pain I spent almost the entire night in the bathroom. By the next morning Justin was alarmed to find me seriously weak and a bit delirious, and when we realized there was blood in the toilet from my relieving myself he dragged me to the hospital. Once there we sat through the receptionist’s frowns of disapproval as we explained that Justin was not my husband before being permitted to see the doctor. I gave him the short list of my symptoms and he prescribed that I take coconut water, black tea and a strong round of antibiotics.
After taking the antibiotics I promptly vomited, the first of three such pleasures. Justin insisted that I eat something despite the fact that eating was possibly the last thing on earth I wanted to do, aside from shitting which was definitely the last thing on earth I wanted to do. I will pause here to note that if you are disturbed in any way by the frank discussion of diarrhea, vomiting and other such personal bodily functions you are forewarned to either get over it, or stop reading for the next few months, because I am sensing a recurring theme. I digress; thankfully we still had a few days left in Pondy before we had to take the bus to Chennai for our flight to
On Monday, the day of our departure I was gratefully relieved to find myself in fairly stable condition and we bid our goodbyes to Caty, whom we had come to greatly enjoy and
Highlights of
T-Space - breakfast and Caty
Delcious steak - something I thought I would definitely never find in
The Bay of
Auroville – I didn’t mention it in the article but this kooky place, is actually an international community technically not part of India, and it was founded by Mother on the bases of creating a community of likeminded individuals committed to the yogic way of life in all respects. Click here to learn more about this far out place. We visited Auroville on Sunday afternoon and I enjoyed it more for the ability to actually move 100 feet from a toilet for the first time in two days that for the actual place.
The bathrooms at the Promenade hotel – I spent quite a bit of time at this particular location and have never appreciated a public bathroom with a real toilet, toilet paper, and a fan so much in my life. It didn’t hurt that they also had an air sickness bag attached to the wastebasket, which I swiped just in case.
The bar at the Promenade - beautiful views of the Bay and they had ginger ale, no small feet in
Lowlights of
As if I have to mention getting violently ill - but let me reiterate I was violently ill.
Our hotel location - I support religious expression but calls to worship at 5 am over a loud speaker are an unpleasant wake up call
St Josephs Hospital – (for the experience not its existence, particularly for the looks of sheer scorn at being an unwed female traveling with a male companion. I wonder what they might have thought if we’d explained about Justin’s sexual preferences)
The enormous cockroach that spent the week with us in our room. - I named him Pegasus. He was without a doubt the largest cockroach I have ever seen, so big in fact that I couldn’t bring myself to kill him because I knew he would have left a ferocious reminder of his existence.
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