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What Planet am I On?

Tuesday, December 27th, 2011

As one frog said to the other, “time’s fun when you’re having flies.” I have been in India now for nine days and am just about past the shell-shock of the place. I had forgotten the incredible somewhat controlled chaos that is India. I have decided that it is not so much a destination you visit as an experience you have. I arrived in Mumbai late and overnighted near the airport. I should mention that being very short of time without having done any planning for India and it being a high travel season here with school vacations and all, I had a travel agency set me up with “Assisted Independent Travel”. That is to say they booked me planes, trains and automobiles. Also hotels at the places I wanted to go. This was very last minute, and when I arrived in Mumbai I still didn’t have an itinerary or tickets. But all things work out in the end.


Once in Mumbai we went to the Taj Mahal Palace, the five star hotel that had the terrorist attack in 2008. My two star hotel is just around the corner from there. As we took off to go see some sights we were just in time to see the Dabbawallahs leaving the Churchgate train station.This is a unique Mumbai tradition for over a hundred years. People prepare a home cooked meal in the morning and the Dabbawallah comes by on his bicycle and picks it up at 11:15 and takes it to the school for the lunchtime. Each one may carry 40 or so of these packed originally in a tin container called a “tiffin”. It is mainly used for school kids and for business men working downtown. There are some 10,000 of these guys who deliver 200,000 meals each day. Since the people live up the peninsula and work downtown, the Dabbawallahs get the tiffins and put them on a crate and carry it on their head on the train to the station and disperse it there onto bikes, or carts or carrying it on their head. Very incredible and apparently phenomenally effective, rarely miss even a single meal. Forbes magazine gives a six sigma reliability, that is less than one meal lost in 6 million.

Dabbawallah

The next morning I went on a tour of the Dharavi Slum, where they filmed Slumdog Millionaire. In India a “slum” has a different meaning. It is just government owned land that people have built on and live and work in. It is not derelicts, drunks or addicts, just poor people who work day to day jobs. In Dharavi slum they have a huge recycling business, they collect, cut up, melt, reform into pellets and sell plastic. Also old paint cans, cooking oil cans, glass, and so forth. They also have a large fabric dying and leather industry there. Mumbai has the highest population density in the world, and Dharavi slum is 20 times that density. Over a million people in 7 square kilometers (think central park new york).

From Mumbai I flew to Udaipur, “The White City” which has five large man made lakes. It was very pretty, and my hotel was right down in the old city by the palace and on the lake. The road into it is crazy narrow and has motorcycles and tuk-tuks parked all around. I thought I had seen narrow streets and tough driving elsewhere, nothing like this. This is Mr. Toad’s wild ride, only for real. While I am thinking of the insanity, what is up with Indian time? It is 1/2 hour off of the rest of the world. The whole country is on the same time although large enough for three time zones and I can be OK with that, but why would you want to be 1/2 hour off of the rest of the world? Don’t let anyone kid you, India is not a clean country. The pervasive smell is one of stale urine as there are very few toilets and you really don’t want to go in there if there is any alternative. And since the cows, goats, pigs, dogs, and camels roam freely in the city it is important to watch where you step. Something about a pig eating the garbage on the doorstep of the food shop doesn’t work so well for me.

But I digress, in Udaipur I saw the usual Palaces and forts and Temples. They are magnificent and very old and amazingly interesting. My one guide Vicram explained a lot of the Hindu mythology and the temple etiquette and structures. The next day I went out of the city to do a “walk” through the villages and in the countryside. When my host asked if 8 kilometers or so was alright I told him it would be fine, but I did not want to go up that mountain over there, 8 kilometers on the flat. He must have not heard me so well. The two of us, my young guide and I set out to visit his village which was very interesting, then we went straight up the shale mountainside one kilometer, over the top and straight down the other side one kilometer, across the river and then straight up and over the next and the next and the next. I alternated between thinking I would Puke, Pass out, or Pass on. I just kept repeating, “this too shall pass.” The next day I saw some temples and coming back the driver took me to his house where we had some Chai (indian style of tea). Just as I finish mine they find out I am a doctor and the wife asks me, “I have lost so much weight in the last six months and have diarrhea all the time, what is it?” As I explain possibilities and what to do, I am thinking “thanks for the homemade tea, is there a restroom nearby?”

Floating Palace


City Palace from my rooftop terrace



up and down five of these


sometimes it is stunning

Then my overnight train ride to Jaipur (the Pink City). It was actually quite nice, a cabin with four of us and we each had our own bed, complete with sheets a pillow and blanket. Slept pretty well considering it is on a noisy moving train. Once into Jaipur I made my way through the madness of the train station and on to my hotel. Jaipur was designed and built in the 17th century and then the people invited to come live there. The palace and bazaar are amazing, crowded bustling and alive. Everyone comes here to buy what they need, not just the poor or close by residents. I didn’t realize that 80% of the worlds gemstones pass through Jaipur and are cut here. I watched a 79 year old man make a casting and pour a silver ring. He has been doing it since he was 12. I went to the “Amber Palace” and had the tourist Elephant ride. (felt kind of stupid I must admit). One incredible place is Jantar Mantar, Maharaja Jai Singh’s Astronomical observatory. It is about two acres of instruments made of marble and stone. The large sun dial (40 meters tall) is accurate to within 2 seconds. Many very cool things for finding star locations, time and directions.

Sundial

Next was a drive on to Ranthambhore the large Tiger Reserve. I went on an early morning and afternoon Safari in an open jeep, but alas did not see any tigers. It was still a wonderful day, and I did see Jungle cats (?ocelots), many deer, boar, crocodile, turtle, antelope, a jackal and a sloth bear which is very rare. It was a fine day and the scenery was striking. Afternoons in the mid 70s and mornings in the low 40s, that open top jeep was brisk I will tell you that.

I think I am beginning to get the feel for how the chaos of the streets works. Unlike America where if you get in front of me or crowd me I am angry and will lash out and blare my horn to show my anger, here they share the road. The horns are not in anger, simply “talking” to one another to say, “I’m here, I’m coming around you, move along”. If you need more of the road and I don’t, then I will just move over, and if I need to stop so you can squeeze through that is ok. A big piece of it seems to be “right of way” which is completely different than in the US. At home the right of way is a predetermined thing based on some direction and lane thing. Since there are no real lanes here, and direction on a street is ANY of 360 degrees the right of way is determined by gaining position. If a line of traffic (cars, motorcycles, tuk tuk, carts and people) is unbroken then they keep the right of way and others wait. But if there is a slight break in the line then the side traffic can establish position, cut in and they have the right of way until they have a slight break. To cross the street is an exercise in nerves and spiritual faith. You don’t just step on out or you will be killed. Following the rules for establishing right of way you wait for a slight break in the stream and then walk right out, slow and steady. Do NOT run, do NOT hesitate and jump back. If it gets too thick and you are in the middle just stand still, they will miss you. When necessary utilize the mystical power of India. Extend your arm completely with palm down and slightly wave your hand up and down four times. This will project your spiritual power out of the palm and stop the oncoming vehicle. This does require absolute faith as does any miracle. If you are unsure, hesitant or flinch then prepare to wear a tire tread design. As my guide told me, “If you can cross the street in Mumbai, then you can cross the street anywhere in the world.”

This morning as I was leaving Ranthambhore I found Rudolf the Red Nosed Camel carrying the gifts to the children of the world.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good Morning!

Lotsa Wats

Wednesday, December 14th, 2011

Back from Phuget and I stayed at my $70 per night five star hotel. It is a wonderful place, spacious and high end. At first I was thinking this might have been a bad choice for a place to stay in that it is in the middle of nowhere, near the airport. I asked at the desk about where I could walk to to get some things and they told me there is nowhere near here. So I set off toward the “mall” which is about 3 km away. On the way I realized there are no english signs around here, and found a great bustling Thai cross-street filled with tiny hole in the wall shops and food vendors on the sidewalk. Some of them looked and smelled great, others looked and smelled like I could have scraped it off my shoe. I chose a deep fried chicken and caramelized onions for 2 USD (the tourist price I am sure). People are friendly and nice, though I got a few stares in this neighborhood. It is a half hour cab ride to downtown and the tourist spots, cost me $14 (that is roundtrip!) The first day I saw the Grand Palace and Wat Po Temple, had a Tuk-Tuk ride to several other temples, climbed the golden mount for sunset and ended up walking around the Democracy Monument while there was a large gathering of “red shirts” protesting the government. I totally forgot and wore shorts downtown as it is hot here, but fortunately they have long pants you can borrow for free (with a deposit of course) to meet the dress code for the Palace area. The buildings are spectacular, and the emerald Buddha was very nice to see. At Wat Po I enjoyed seeing the reclining Buddha which I had seen back in 1973. It is 143 feet long and 50 feet high. The bottoms of the feet are covered in Mother of Pearl showing the 108 auspicious symbols of Buddha and beside it are bronze bowls indicating the 108 auspicious characters of Buddha.


Reclining Buddha

The next day I got a driver who took me 100 km out of Bangkok to the Damnoen Saduak which is the original “floating market” of Thailand. It is in an area crisscrossed with canals and they have shallow long boats that they use to sell their wares. Nowadays it is more of a tourist gig than the locals doing market, but it was fun to see and do anyway. Although I am not a shopper, and it gets old with the constant come on to buy trinkets. It is one of those “must see” things they talk about. Back to the city and the afternoon in the History Museum to get a bit of a handle on the Thai people and then Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn). Some kind of seriously steep stairs up the side of that one, but a great view of the city.

Wat Arun

The next day I flew to Siem Reap in Cambodia. That is the location of Angkor Wat (city temple). That is the name for one of the temples found covered by the jungle and in ruins in the area. The much larger and I thought prettier site nearby is Angkor Thom (Great City) for the next two and a half days I toured the temples with a wonderful guide Rida who filled my head with names and dates, stories and legends, the religious and the mundane of the place. I also had my own driver Mr. Juk, so we were able to cover a lot of ground. The whole experience was tremendous. The early temples were built in the 10th century and are over a thousand years old! They are mostly made in brick, with sandstone for lintels and carvings. The later temples built by King Jayavarman VII in the 13th century were mostly stone. Lava stone for foundations and sandstone for the building walls, roof and bridges. Hauled from the mountains 50 km away by elephant. Estimates are that Angkor Thom had close to a million people living there in the 12th century. The Khmer (Cambodian) people created a huge reservoir and channeling canal system to control the water from the monsoons. This way they had less flooding in heavy rains and water available during droughts, and that meant good crops all the time. They had to feed a huge number of workers to build the places.


eye to eye with the Buddha

The temples are enormous and have carvings all over them. Some of the statues and reliefs are giant and some are extremely tiny and delicate. Over the years the temples went from Hindu to Buddhist and the carvings reflect that. Many of the temples have both Hindu stories and Statues of Buddha. They have been for a long time and will continue for a long time to renovate and repair the temples. Between the ages of time, the trees and plants prying the stones apart and various enemies and looters trashing the place, many temples are in pretty rough shape. They number the stones, and take them down and rebuild the walls, roofs, and walkways with the correct stones. Where they have collapsed it is one insane jigsaw puzzle.



photo of the repair work

Definitely one of the Bucket List places. It is a wonderful insight into the nature of people and what can be accomplished with time and effort. Not only the original building of it, but the reconstruction as well. I thoroughly enjoyed my tour to Siem Reap, the people and the food and the sights. I booked through a Thai company, so they put me in their usual spots for lunch and dinner and such. Turned out they were a little crowded, around 200 tourists at what was a great buffet lunch. You could find me though, I was THE white guy. A few of the dishes had labels and some of those were even in english, but mostly it was take some and try it. It was all very good and not too spicy for my delicate american insides. Another day living the dream!

Phuket, I am going Diving

Thursday, December 8th, 2011
Out of Bali I flew on to Singapore. Quite the change of pace from Indonesia. The place is spotlessly clean, and wealthy. Flying in I could appreciate the huge number of cargo ships passing through ... [Continue reading this entry]