April 21-22: Leaving India-Arriving Singapore
Leaving India: We left Darjeeling, taking a jeep down off the hill, a day long train ride to Kolkata, and then an early morning flight to Singapore. We left Darjeeling a late and were a little afraid we wouldn’t be off the mountain by nightfall. We took a different route down, and the road was incredibly bad – full of ruts and washouts. It was a long, bouncy ride. Because of the late hour, the driver was fast, but careful on the mountain road. However, when going through the town at night after the mountain, almost hit a bicyclist, rickshaw, and cow. We arose at 5 the next morning to catch our train to Kolkata. This train station was easy to navigate and we had no trouble finding our train and car and seats. It was a 12 hour train ride and went smoothly. Everyone just read and slept. The other men in our train car were incredibly loud (now the kids know why I (Tim) talk so loud – you have to, I grew up in Pakistan/India). Josh is very greatful for ipods. I think he may have “tuned” out India. Every picture you see of him, he seems to be wearing his Skull Candy headphones.
Arriving in Kolkata train stations is such a zoo. There are incredible numbers of people taking the trains and taxis at 10:00pm at night. Where are they all going? We tried to take pictures and movie clips, but it just does not do justice to the action and activity that you notice and experience. For those of you that have done this, you know what I mean. The pictures of the station, people, and car traffic just can’t do it justice. Finally after a hot, humid, loud, chaotic taxi drive, we finally got to some “dive” hotel near the airport, only to sleep 4 hours and get up to catch our early morning flight to Singapore.
Everything was going smoothly the morning of leaving despite only getting 4 hours of sleep and waking up at 4:00am. There was hardly anyone at the airport. We were told we had time to go ahead and get some breakfast and come back. We did that, but then we started to worry about our flight time when we got into the Customs line; a long line, only three custom officials taking forever to look at your passport, stamp it etc. Others on our flight were getting antsy. I followed someone else to the front of the line whose flght was also leaving soon. We then found out that there was more paperwork to be filled out, that no one had given us. Soon, everyone in the line was starting to grumble and yell at the customs officials. One custom official even did a “sit down” protest – “if you are going to yell at me then I won’t help you” – reminded me of my kids at age 3. Usually, you file through customs one at a time. Well, my turn came up, and when in Rome do as the Romans; I grabbed the whole family and went to a customs official. There was no way we were doing this individually and lose someone in the last minutes of India. When he came to my passport, all of a sudden he put my passport to the side, picked up his cell phone and made a call. Oh great! What does this mean? Finally, he issued our passports and we high tailed it out of there. We were close to the last ones on the flight. So much for planning and getting there two hours early, only to be given the wrong information and sweating it out at the end. When we sat down on the plane, you could feel the sense of relief from the family. Our last look out the window at India.
Arriving in Singapore: Kolkata (15 million people in one city) to Singapore Airport. Talk about a state of opposites: black to white, night to day, chaos to peace, pandemonium to serenity, unstructured to structured, dirty to pristine cleanliness. We did India. We made it. We survived it. Nobody got sick. No items were stolen. We remember it for its good and bad.
The kids have asked the question, why India? Well, it’s because I (Tim) grew up in Pakistan and wanted to have them see the Indian subcontinent and get a taste of what I felt, saw, heard, and experienced growing up. I knew they may not like it, but maybe, years down the road as they get older, something “good” would be remembered or experienced. They also would see a different culture, religion, people group, life style, and travel as compared to the other Asian countries we had been to. We were not able to go to Pakistan due to the terrorism/Taliban/safety issues. India, rather than Pakistan is also a lot easier (at least for women) due to it being primarily Hindu and not Muslim.
The kids were asked to write a paragraph on different aspects of India. Natalie and I both knew India would be the hardest part of the trip, but the heat in April, I think, made it worse for the kids; Nov-Feb is the best time to travel India. Anyways, you can see the categories they were to write on. By their responses you can see it was not the best experience. Maybe one day they may appreciate the experience more. Here it is “untouched” (well maybe a little) by parental hand.
(1) First Impressions:
a. Josh: My first impression was its not “that” hot here. Well, that was a load of crap. India is hotter than any other place we’ve been (April not a good time for India). Within the first day I saw hell, heard bad music, and felt hot. Yet, I still thought, I’ll give India one more chance. I would not say that now of course.
b. Natasha : The first day in India was not very fun. When we arrived I didn’t think it was much. The airport was basically empty. Then we got into a taxi and drove to a hotel. While in the taxi all I heard was honking! The hotel was much quieter. We had to find an ATM machine and that was when everything went wrong. We walked out to the street (which was crowded) and went to a place called New Market. I felt like I was about to cry. It was noisy, crowded, hot, and dirty. Bottom line; first day horrible.
c. Annika – I saw tons of cars, people, sewers, tuk tuks, smoke and other things. What I felt was people pinching my cheek, hear honking of cars, and other things.
(2) Travel:
a. Josh: Whether it was a taxi, a train, or a tuk tuk it was one hell (excuse the language) of a …….. emphasis on hell. Well, maybe not so bad, but not comfortable at all. The trains were deary, the taxi’s were hot, and riding a tuk tuk was like riding a roller coaster with dust constantly flying in your face. Don’t let me forget the jeep rides in Darjeeling – man, talk about bumpy. As dad says, it was like “off-roading” but still on a black top road.
b. Natasha: Traveling was okay. The trains were really smooth but it was open cars (unlike Vietnam where you had your own “compartment”) so you heard everyone else too (Indian people are very LOUD). The taxi’s were really hot because they were old and did not have AC (unlike Thailand)so we didn’t even want to touch each other in the crammed car. The roads were not very good either. I didn’t like traveling too much.
c. Annika: Traveling by trains, the stations we went to made me want to scream, but it got much better when we finally got on the train. The taxi’s were not very good because they were old and did not have AC and it was very HOT. Tuk Tuk’s were small but at least you got wind because there were no doors or windows.
(3) Sights:
a. Josh: Of course we “had” to go sightseeing and usually what we saw was really boring. The forts are always different, some or should I say one, was interesting and the others were boring. Tombs – what’s fun about looking at a dead man’s grave? The Ganges River is nasty, not just because I think it is, but because it’s so dirty; nothing lives in it (except bacteria and nasty critters). Ahhh! The Himalayas. Finally a place that is cool (temperature and other) and I am actually wearing a sweat shirt and there is a lot of tourists. PS: I like tourists ……. In Asia. Darjeeling still smelled and was dirty, but it wasn’t hot so I felt better. But the part I liked the most was the trek….or maybe the people there……and the beer (some kind of Himalayan wheat beer that was good (yes, dad here, I did let him have a sip). The people were just the other tourists who spoke fluent English and the food, once again the breakfast, was really good. Our tour guide was a DJ.
b. Natasha: The Taj Mahal was really big and amazing. It was cool inside because the marble held it in. I didn’t like the forts as much but one fort (Jaipur) was cool. It was cool because you could go almost in every hole and door. I didn’t like the tombs very much either. But they were amazingly carved. The Ganges River was amazing also, because it was so dirty but people still washed and got cremated by it. I really like the Himalayas because they were so cool and big. The really stood out against the green hills.
c. Annika: The Taj Mahal was beautiful and big. The forts I liked and the Himalayas were totally awesome.
(4) Food:
a. Josh: The food was not bad, not bad at all. In fact, I think the best breakfast I had was in India. If there is one western thing India can do, it is making an omelette, or killer scrambled eggs. But real Indian food is alright too (naan, roti, chai, curries, fruit lassie, chicken tikka) and not annoying, but I don’t want to eat any more …… or noodles, or satay, or rice, but I would like some lemongrass chicken with a little chili on top.
b. Natasha: The food was good but sometimes a bit spicy. Some of the Indian food I didn’t like but most of it was good (Chai, roti, naan, curries). I am kind of sick of curries now though. When we ate at our driver’s house, we had the best rice ever. My favorite was chicken tikka.
c. Annika: The food was very spicy and I hate spicy. Although I did like the butter roti/naan and chai (milk-sugar tea). The western food was okay.
(5) Last Thoughts:
a. Josh: My “final thoughts” of traveling through in India for three weeks are short, simple, and to the point. India: the air was hot, dusty, and (crappy)tasting/ feeling, smells like (urine), looks like trash, however, the I liked the food and the mountains of the Himalayas.
b. Natasha: There were some things I liked about India, but there were some things I hated. Most of the sights were cool. But traveling and trying to get around was hard.
c. Annika: It was very hot and crowded making me want to scream and punch someone. I hated it, but I liked the Himalayas.
Next stop – the final piece of the saga – Here we come, Bali. A great way to end the trip.
Tags: Travel
tahoejohnson
Hi there there forum men and women! Google introduced me in the following paragraphs moreover the article activity and excellent appear to be of your discussion board created me sign up 鈥?hold up the very good function Ian!
read the article
New system evaluation of active 50 8 star lonely fighter grappling with injuries
nike lebron soldier
I am glad for commenting to let you be aware of what a perfect discovery my wife’s daughter found viewing your site. She came to understand such a lot of details, not to mention what it is like to possess a marvelous giving spirit to make other individuals with no trouble thoroughly grasp specific hard to do subject areas. You actually surpassed my expected results. Many thanks for delivering the interesting, safe, informative and easy thoughts on this topic to Evelyn.
Hi there all, here every person is sharing such know-how,
so it’s nice to read this webpage, and I used
to visit this website all the time.
Wow that was odd. I just wrote an extremely long comment
but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t appear.
Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyway,
just wanted to say fantastic blog!
http://myapartmenthome.us/art/upflush_toilet_home_depot.htm
1 [url=http://myapartmenthome.us/art/wagner_paint_sprayers.htm]1[/url]
Really I’ve my eyes to get a longtime with this imitation Breitling but never draw on on the trigger until lately.
Hello, i think that i saw you visited my website thus i came to “return the favor”.I
am attempting to find things to enhance my site!I suppose its ok to use a few of your ideas!!
Web site load time is a vital issue, as a
result of Google is taking the location’s loading pace into consideration in figuring
out its rating. Despite the fact that this won’t have a big effect, it is nonetheless
one thing we (webmasters) should really look into.
The other day, while І was at work, my ѕister ѕtole my аpрle ipad and tested to see if it can survive a 40 foot drop, just so she can be
a youtube sensation. My apple ipad is now broken and shе
haѕ 83 views. I know this is totally off topic but I had to share it with someone!
Feel free to surf to my web blog … cinnabon near me
April 21-22: Leaving India-Arriving Singapore » TravelBlog Archive » Tahoe Johnson’s Journey to Southeast Asia
bttrykzwwp http://www.gdo1ymtle59i7uy0n14r6w49k247653bs.org/
[url=http://www.gdo1ymtle59i7uy0n14r6w49k247653bs.org/]ubttrykzwwp[/url]
abttrykzwwp
That is the appropriate weblog for anyone who needs to find out about this topic. You notice so much its virtually onerous to argue with you (not that I really would want匟aHa). You definitely put a brand new spin on a topic thats been written about for years. Nice stuff, simply great!
Thank you for sharing your info. I truly appreciate your efforts and I am waiting for your further write ups thanks once again.
You made some good points there. I checked on the internet
for additional information about thee isse annd foun most people will go along with your views on this
web site.
Look into my web blog: auto binary signals pro strategies
Thank you for the good writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it.
Look advanced to more added agreeable from you!
However, how can we communicate?
.Banuelos, 21, was shut down in May at TripleA and never returned to action. Then, the Antivirus will be eliminated against your laptop.Sources Cubs Diamondbacks Discussed Justin UptonRealGM WiretapAccording to two sources, the Cubs and Diamondbacks recently discussed the possibility of a Justin Upton trade.A.
I like the helpful information you provide in your articles.
I will bookmark your weblog and check again here regularly.
I am quite sure I’ll learn plenty of new stuff right
here! Good luck for the next!
If you want to increase your familiarity just keep visiting this web page and be updated with the newest information posted here.
I simply wanted to thank you so much once again. I do not know what I could possibly have worked on without the thoughts shared by you concerning my area of interest. This was a real challenging situation in my view, however , taking a look at the very skilled manner you treated that took me to jump with fulfillment. I am just happy for the assistance and wish you really know what an amazing job your are doing educating people with the aid of your web blog. I am sure you haven’t come across all of us.
If you opt to work with a personal expert without paying attention to these crucial recommendations, you will struggle to deliver your intentions. Miller is taking a note for $8MM.Consider your climate when roofing.“We know the importance of Cristiano and we’re all with him. Through her industry network, Carol learns that the owner of one another company in the same industry, Valence Inc, is planning to retire and wants to sell the business. Most men do not feel free to treat ED but with growing awareness towards ED, more men have started taking help to treat it.Make sure that you fix your leak right the first time. Mr.“If we were all at my level, maybe we would be leaders,” said Ronaldo after Real Madrid’s loss to Atletico Madrid.Use of these drugs can cause some side effects; therefore you are advised to take medical guidance before taking up these medicines, so that you can prevent yourself from unwanted health problem that may be created if you take these drugs negligently. Price items to sell and the yard sale should turn out to be a profitable great sale.Loris F.
Heya i am for the first time here. I came across this board and I find It really useful &
it helped me out a lot. I hope to give something back and aid others like you helped me.
Herre is mmy blog; affordable booklet printing canada
I wanted to create you a little word to be able to say thank you yet again just for the lovely concepts you have provided on this website. It’s shockingly open-handed with people like you to deliver openly precisely what many people would’ve advertised for an e-book to help make some money for their own end, even more so now that you might have done it in case you wanted. Those guidelines additionally worked like a fantastic way to recognize that most people have the identical interest like my own to realize good deal more on the subject of this condition. Certainly there are lots of more enjoyable instances up front for many who discover your site.
Cars, ha detto: “Zitto, si sta procedendo a occhi chiusi” Red Star occhi frettolosi chiusi. stelle verde e giallo delle stelle,
It’s the best time to make some plans for the future and it’s time to be
happy. I’ve ead this post and if I could I want to
suggest you feww interesting thing or suggestions. Maybe you
could write next articles referring to this article.
I wish to read even more thins about it!
Also visit my page … Womens Leggins
Fastidious respond in return of this query with solid arguments and telling the whole thing about
that.
my homepage car accident lawyer. – Runuo.net,
I’ve been surfing online more than 4 hours today,
yet I never found any interesting article like yours.
It’s pretty worth enough for me. In my opinion, if all website owners and bloggers made good content as you
did, the web will be a lot more useful than ever before.
Hey there! I’m at work surfing around your blog from my new iphone 4!
Just wanted to say I love reading through your blog and look
forward to all your posts! Carry on the great work!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Tips Bermain DominoQQ
Indonesia Terpercaya. Regards
Deve ser realizado anualmente nas mulheres sem alterações cervicais e
também citopatológicas e, em mulheres com
ISTs e também cancro de colo de útero, é
recomendado a realização semestre ou trimestral. http://www.983Sun.com/home.php?mod=space&uid=1803952&do=profile&from=space
I was recommended this web site through my cousin. I’m no
longer positive whether or not this post is written via
himm as nobody else recognize such distinctive approximately my trouble.
You are amazing! Thanks!
My webpage 3 subliminal persuasion techniques worksheets (Damaris)
Short grass also makes a magnetic nail finder work much more efficiently.5%. Sometimes restaurants will even push away the money that they could be making just to work on getting a new customer.Ohydrates.”. They are very good players, but it’s not the same. The wealth which can be attained by exchanging on forex trading are often very considerable as it’s the best investing current market worldwide.Let’s consider an example.The starting off part of your Forex currency trading education will concentrate on understanding the foreign currency market track record. Send out a few emails with content and links that differ in their fonts and text color.com report on Saturday. Based on their calculations, they want to borrow 60% of the purchase price and invest 40% as equity capital.
Wholesale Jerseys China
Ahaa, its pleasant dialogue on the topic of this piece of writing at this place at
this web site, I have read all that, so now me also commenting at this place.
Feel free to visit my website regarder the walking dead en streaming
You may ask the family doctor about the history of their health.To receive online cpr training, simply pay a visit to our official website. ”It’s the longest part of the episode to movie,” Gale states.”Gale sees herself like a much more empathetic figure than the American version’s Heidi Klum. In an attempt to increase security, states – including Indiana- made it legal for any member of the general public to request access to a criminal record.
Cheap Jerseys From China
Research what events will be happening and mark it on the calendar for the day of the sale.There are a number of positive aspects to consider when you want to hire a private consultant. Since they cannot do this job on their own, they have to hire a trained professional who carries out the job. Whilst the ordinary conveniences are accessible at a sensible cost, several potential customers are prepared to pay more exorbitant costs to receive the services that go well with their private life styles. Carol gets a salary and bonus package which is about 95% of what she was making in her old job. Professional investors are very enthusiastic about backing a CEO with the right industry experience; especially if you’re prepared to invest your own capital along with theirs.There are plenty of means to get a Foreign currency trading education and learning.5%.Rodriguez is hitting . Miller.As soon as you review and find out about issues related to forex trading, the next a part of your Foreign exchange training will be to handle various threats required.Pizza Hut Coupon Codes | Pizza Hut Online CouponsRose Jeter Wont Break Hits Record Of 4256 – RealGM WiretapPete Rose doesn’t believe Derek Jeter will eventually become Major League Baseball’s all-time hits leader.
Wholesale NFL Jerseys China
This is a very good tip especially to those new to the blogosphere.
Short but very accurate information… Thank you for
sharing this one. A must read article!
It’s too few to merely mount up a lot of things with your head die antwoord tour moline il third, all work is made to keep the election commission susceptible to manipulation.
Una grande tartaruga nuotato un po ‘girini visto una grande tartaruga ha quattro gambe, e pensò:
Dependendo da afastamento da arvore voce rejeição necessita idear chapa por chapa,
passar-se-á acontecimento somente sombreamnto dando idéia constrição vultuosidade das folhas….
a jeito de gerar que estou dizendo, voce precisa haver todo exercicio imagem, olhando apropriado a as arvores reais além
de varios momentos luto período desde a manhã
até ao pôr-do-sol contudo sombra, em prol de voce
decorar consequência dentre cultura e também mistério
nas arvores. http://chinese.daydayshop.com/comment/html/index.php?page=1&id=9968
Toot, aperta al un’auto, auto ha visto le stelle rosse, Ga a una brusca frenata.
I needed to put you that little observation so as to say thanks a lot again for these lovely suggestions you have shown here. It has been quite surprisingly generous with people like you to make extensively all that most people could have offered for sale as an e book in order to make some profit for themselves, precisely seeing that you could possibly have tried it in case you wanted. The secrets additionally acted as the great way to understand that someone else have the identical passion like my own to find out somewhat more related to this problem. Certainly there are a lot more pleasurable opportunities in the future for individuals that find out your blog.
I together with my buddies were actually going through the best tips and hints found on your site and so all of the sudden I had a terrible feeling I had not expressed respect to you for those secrets. All of the young men ended up for this reason stimulated to read them and have in fact been having fun with these things. I appreciate you for indeed being indeed helpful and also for considering some brilliant guides millions of individuals are really desperate to discover. My very own sincere regret for not saying thanks to you earlier.
Un grande oca bianca, “Hang Hang”, esclamò, nuotò fino. Piccola girino girino vedere il grande ventre bianco oca bianca,
Plantar Fasciitis, Heel Spurs, Stress Fractures, etc.are often associated with concrete flooring foot pain.
Safety Shoes
Is that true? Ill spread this information. Anyway, good posting.
Just desire to say your article is as amazing.
The clarity for your submit is simply excellent and i can suppose you’re a professional in this
subject. Fine together with your permission allow me to snatch your feed to stay updated with
imminent post. Thank you a million and please keep
up the enjoyable work.
Conssider what you may get pleasure from should
yoou take the time to begin your advertising strategy.
Also visit my blog – internet marketing jobs nyc
Manage an built-in advertising campaign on the Intternet caan be lots of work for this is because of szve a company marketing oon the internet
plenty of timje researching thee latest developments.
Here is my webpage: free websites
A influente apanágio pesar Viagra contudo que ele só zanga a ereção
no tempo em que a identidade está sexualmente estimulada,
ao competidor da injeção do que fentolamina, que causa uma pessoa ereção imediata no entanto incontrolável. http://www.e-healthcare.co.za/forum_en/home.php?mod=space&uid=149493&do=profile
http://www.resistance2.com/support/index.php?page=User&userID=210544
The problem that they are able to operate into is not realizing about the way to choose on where they should be traveling to. By thinking about all of those elements, it will be fairly straightforward to locate the proper location to travel to at any point in time.Protect your assets.Written properly, your content must engage the reader and gently guide them straight to a call to action, exactly where they are literally compelled to move to. You need your visitor to complete a desired action, let’s say the purpose is to capture a visitor’s email address.