What looks like crazy on an ordinary day...

If I had to describe India in one word, it would be "overwhelming". It overloads the senses in unimaginable ways. It is beautiful. It is ugly. It is rich. It is devastatingly poor. It is super modern and high-tech. It is ancient and stuck in the past. It is a place of so many contrasts. Instead of trying to rationalize everything, sometimes all I can do is say, "This is India."

India was a lot for me to handle traveling by myself without the backing of a company this time around.  I was constantly on edge and did not feel comfortable for much of my time in India.  However, there were times when people helped me and were genuinely nice without trying to get something from me in return.  I am grateful for my hosts in Ft. Cochin, and my Airbnb hosts in Mumbai, who made me feel welcomed and treated me like I was part of their family.  My friend's family invited me to join them for lunch, and they included me in their post-Diwali celebration.  The thing that I have always loved most about India is the people and the connections I formed.  (I also love the abundance of vegetarian food options.)  

A few highlights:

• The Dehli Metro is surprisingly clean and orderly underground while the streets are filled with garbage, stray animals, and orange tobacco spit.
• Diwali, also called the "Festival of Lights" is a large fall festival in India where people celebrate the victory of light over darkness. They decorate their homes and businesses with colorful lights and candles, as well as rangolis. Rangolis are beautiful designs of colorful powder or flowers. They also buy new items and make their homes spotless to welcome blessings and prosperity for the year. At night, you see and hear firecrackers, sparklers, and all kinds of fireworks.  People return to their hometowns and spend the festive season with their families.  I went to Mumbai hoping to reconnect with my friends and celebrate with them.  However, we were unable to connect until after the festivities.

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  Diwali sari

  

  celebrating with my Airbnb hosts

  

  Rangoli

  

  Rangoli

  

  Flower Rangoli

  

  Lunch with Anita and her family

  

  Final night in India with Sushama

• I found Sula wines on my last trip to India in 2011. I was pleased to discover that the main vineyard was located close to Mumbai, and I decided to take a tour. I'm so glad I decided to leave Mumbai and spend a day in Nashik. It was super crowded because so many people were on vacation due to Diwali. Sula Vineyard gives amazing wine tours and tastings, and they have great restaurants on site. Lots of families were there just enjoying being outside of the city.  

  

  my favorite wine

• Indian Railways is not for the faint of heart. I learned that "General" class is not for me or anyone else who values their life. There are no assigned seats. Basically, you get in where you fit in, which means people crowd the aisles and sometimes hang out the door just to get on the train. The sleeper car is one step up from general, and is the spillover from general. Passengers have assigned seats, and the aisles and doors are filled with people who couldn't fit into the general compartment. It is pure chaos. I made the mistake of buying a general ticket and gave up for the day after not being able to get on 2 trains without risking my life. My Airbnb host helped me buy a sleeper ticket for the next day. I'm glad my trip from Mumbai to Nashik was only 3 hours.

  

  people sleeping at the train station

  

  local train

   
• Toastmasters International was well represented in India. I visited Thane Toastmasters twice while I was in Mumbai.

  

  Thane Toastmasters

  

  Thane Toastmasters - Best Evaluator

• Safety is not a priority. I found this to be the case across India, Indonesia, and Thailand.  Developing countries need to transport people by whatever means necessary.  They can't afford to be safe, yet.  I've seen all kinds of "unusual" scenarios on motorbikes, such as families of 5; toddlers standing on bikes; people carrying ladders, surfboards, and large bird cages; and dogs riding bikes.  (Check out the video below.)  People do not wear helmets or seatbelts because they can't afford them and they are not always required.  They will cram as many people as possible into auto rickshaws and cars, buses and trains too.  Maybe in a few years, passenger safety will be more of a priority.  
• I can see huge growth in infrastructure from my last visit.  There are new developments in housing, roads, and even basic necessities, like public toilets. I'm so glad that I didn't see anyone using the public sidewalks and roads as toilets this time around. I also noticed fewer blackouts.  Either the electrical grids are stronger or more businesses have generators that make power blackouts less noticeable.

Baha'i Temple

"God's Own Country"

Kerala saved India.

It was getting to be too much for me. I was ready to leave the country and had started looking for flights to anywhere else, but India. I originally planned to end my trip in Mumbai because I wanted to experience Diwali (Festival of Lights) in mid November with my friends, and I had already booked a flight out of Mumbai. I thought about flying to Australia or back to Thailand before returning to India for the week of Diwali. However, I made the decision to see southern India before leaving the country, and that made all the difference. Plus, flights were pretty expensive due to the festive season.

When I peered out the train window at Kerala, the first thing I noticed was that the homes along the tracks appeared bigger, some were ranch-style, and the second thing I noticed was that there were lots of churches. I exited the train at Ernakulam station after riding for two and a half days, and I crossed 2 bridges by taxi before arriving on the island of Ft. Cochin (also spelled Cochi, Kochi, Kochin). I arrived at ChristVille Homestay, which would be my home for 8 nights. A homestay is essentially a bed and breakfast run by a family who stays on the property too.

Backwater tour

My hosts arranged a tour for me and the company picked me up from the homestay.  I traveled along the backwaters of a small village nearby on a very slow boat. We slowly drifted through tight canals that sometimes required the boat workers to push off inches from the bank as tree branches swept along the side openings. The two men steering the boat used long bamboo poles and swapped them out for longer poles when the water was deep. The local guide showed us how coconut fibers are turned into rope and he showed us a nutmeg tree. He also flagged down a small row boat with a man carrying what looked like a small gas can. It turns out that it wasn't gas, but "toddy", a prohibited fermented coconut drink that some people made in stills at home. He was a bootlegger. He was happy to sell his drink to a boat full of tourists. He asked that no one take pictures, of course. The people who bought it talked about how much it burned going down, which sounded like corn liquor to me. I passed.

We enjoyed a nice traditional lunch of vegetarian thali on a banana leaf. After lunch, we got back on the boat and drifted along thanks to the cool wind. It was so relaxing that just about everyone dozed off at some point during the ride.  It was a good long lazy day on the water.

Captain of the boat and me

Reminder of home

Inside the boat

Our houseboat

Thali

Kathakali

Kerala is known for this traditional theater that requires years of training for the actors, musicians, and singers. The stories are acted out using mime, dramatic facial expressions, and sign language to entertain the audience without talking, and they are accompanied by drummers and a singer. All of the performers are males. The actors wear very elaborate costumes and makeup, which takes an hour or more to apply. The makeup session takes place on stage before the start of the show with the audience watching in awe at the dramatic transformation. They grate natural stones and minerals mixed with coconut oil to create the bright face paint. The color of the makeup also helps tell the story.  Green represents good character.  Yellow represents the female.  Orange represents bad character, and black represents evil/demons. An actor with multiple colors displays the multiple facets of their character.  For example, the story I saw had a character with mostly green makeup and some orange showing that he was usually good, but he had some bad tendencies - mostly during war/battles.

 

 

Ayurveda
Kerala is also known for its health and wellness practice, called Ayurveda, which treats both the mind and body to heal various ailments. I decided to book an appointment for a massage and shirodhara treatment before leaving. For shirodhara, I laid my head back as warm oil dripped on my forehead. It felt so weird at first, and I told the woman treating me that it was too hot. Next thing I know, she was tapping me on the shoulder to wake up. I'd fallen asleep and was so relaxed for those few minutes.

Yoga/meditation

The thing that I loved the most about being in Ft. Kochi was that I could finally relax. The pace was slower, the people were friendlier, and I found ways to establish a routine for myself. There was a hotel nearby, called "Breathe Inn", that offered free daily medication followed by yoga (350 rupees for 1.5 hours). I took advantage of the sessions a few times during my stay. The woman who led the meditation and yoga also performed massages and other body treatments. I made an appointment for a 1-hour massage after yoga one day, and when she was finished, I asked if I could have another 30 minutes. I did not want to get up.

Running
The streets around me were so clean and uncongested that I could run without obstacles. I woke up at 5:30am a few mornings so I could run before it became too hot, and I wasn't the only one with that idea. Lots of people walked and ran along the same roads. I saw young, old, couples, singles, parents with strollers, and more out for a morning stroll. I didn't see any other women running though. I made up for my missed miles during previous weeks in India, and ran more than 12 miles while I was there.

My fellow early morning exercisers

Voting
I completed my absentee ballot and mailed it while I was there in Ft. Cochin.  On the same day that I mailed my ballot via speedy post (express mail), I also mailed a package to a friend via regular mail.  My friend received the package a week and a half before Harris County acknowledged my ballot, which was on the last day that absentee ballots would be counted.

I voted!

Bank at the church

Synagogue

beach

Che

Boxcar Kid/Jumping Jaipur

I added some variety to my journey through India by taking Indian Railways across the country.  I started in Delhi and traveled to the desert state of Rajasthan, which is in the northwestern section of the country.  I arrived in Jaipur, Rajasthan at night, and was immediately overwhelmed by the taxi and tuk tuk drivers.  One guy followed me from the gate to the parking lot telling me he was part of the prepaid taxi stand, even though I repeatedly said no.  While I waited on my Uber to arrive, he stood across from me telling me he would give me a good price.  Then, he had the nerve to say, “How are we supposed to make money if tourists use Uber?”  I told him if he didn’t harass people, then he would probably have passengers.  It was difficult for me to connect to Uber with my spotty phone service.  I’ve learned in India that when Uber says your car will arrive in 5 minutes, that really means 15-20 minutes.  I honestly would have preferred a prepaid taxi from the train station, but at that point, I didn’t feel safe or comfortable with this man following me, so I waited on Uber.  As a precaution, I shared my ride with my boyfriend so someone would know my whereabouts.   

I was totally surprised by what I saw on the streets of Jaipur on my way to the hotel that night.  The traffic was horrible.  People were out walking and shopping at the many stores and bazaars.  There was music and noise all around me.  I expected Jaipur to be a quiet, little town filled with history and moving at a slow pace.  Instead, it was just like Old Delhi.  My hotel was located just outside the walls of the Pink City.  Jaipur was named the Pink City by one of the kings because the buildings were made of the local sandstone.  Some of those buildings still stand as historical markers and are maintained by the government.  Jaipur is considered part of the Golden Triangle with Delhi and Agra.  

While in Jaipur, I took a day tour where I visited the Amber Fort, which protected the kingdom from enemies, and still stands overlooking the area. The fort was filled with visitors and hawkers. The Jal Mahal is a palace that stands in the middle of a (man-made) lake. It was created to protect the Maharani while the Maharaja was away. The Wind Palace is in the middle of the modern-day Pink City Bazaar. It was built so that the Maharani could look down at the processions/parades on the street without interacting with the common people, and they could not look up to see the Maharani based on the structure. The Jantar Mantar observatory is another UNESCO World Heritage Site. One of the kings was deeply fascinated by astronomy and called upon the best astronomers of the day to design instruments for his observatory. It hosts the world’s largest sundial. My tour also included visits to a jewelry making factory, textiles/block printing, and a tea/spice shop. I really could have just spent a couple of days in Jaipur, but I ended up staying for almost a week, so I could plan my next move. It was hard not having internet access to make arrangements. I stayed 2 extra days and changed hotels, so I would have steady Wi-Fi. I also learned that an Indian phone number is required to do things like buy train tickets, order food delivery, and make other long-term plans. I decided to buy an Indian phone and SIM card to make life easier.

Pink City

I really thought this was a dog at first.

Step by Step

In front of the Wind Palace

Jal Mahal - Water Palace

This is a very festive season in India, and lots of families are taking holidays/vacations. Navratri is a 9-day celebration that celebrates the victory of good over evil, and Diwali (Festival of Lights) takes place on November 8. Therefore, the museums and tourist sites are very busy.

I’m going to the southern state of Kerala next. I’ve never traveled to southern India, so I’m excited about seeing something different. I’ve heard many great things about Kerala’s beauty. It is a big honeymoon destination for Indians and it is known for Ayurvedic wellness practices. Some parts of Kerala experienced flooding a couple of months ago, and I would like to help them. I reached out to a couple of organizations to volunteer while I’m there, and I’m still waiting on a response. I’m currently on a 3-day train ride from Jaipur to Cochi, which is a popular destination in Kerala. Riding across the country on a train is a gutsy move, especially with so many people traveling for the holidays. There are noisy children running back and forth in the car. There are also the men selling food and drinks all day and night. They walk through and loudly announce themselves, "Chai (tea), coffee, Maggi (instant noodles)", "Kana (food), veg biryani, chicken biryani", etc. The train allows me to see the countryside in a way that I wouldn't on my own, and it's a lot less expensive than flying on a last-minute ticket. It’s nice to experience once, but I don’t think I would do this cross-country train ride again.

Cows on the tracks

My sleeping compartment