India so far...
Taj Mahal, Agra
Originally uploaded by mercurialdawn
The query in my previous post about where to go sightseeing over the weekend was answered for me by circumstance... There were two other girls visiting from the US in the corporate apartment (it's a 4 bedroom unit) who had already planned on going to Agra to see the Taj this past Saturday, so I tagged along. Due to jetlag I couldn't get to sleep the night before till almost 2, and woke up at 5 to get ready to go, only to discover my roomies had decided to delay our departure time by an hour. But I was already up and dressed, so putzed around a little bit instead of going back to sleep. We finally left closer to 7 (we'd originally planned to leave at 530). We had two locals with us as well -- a girl from the India office and her boyfriend.
It took us about 5 hours to get there... Driving through Indian country side looked a lot like driving through rural Philippines. The foliage and structures are similar, as are the numerous roadside stands. The biggest difference is the women's dress -- it's so cool to watch them riding on the backs of the numerous motorcycles, with colorful swaths of cloth whipping around behind them. We also saw quite a few pack camels hauling what seemed to be an entire house's worth of stuff from one place to another. I've seen camels before, but for some reason I was shocked at how large they were. They towered over our van.
As we were entering Uttar Pradesh (essentially a different state from Haryana, where Gurgaon and New Delhi are located) the driver had to pull over at this rest stop to pay the toll or something, during which time we all sat in the car and waited. Against my better judgement I took some pictures of some monkeys that the vendors had alongside the road; Sure enough, one of the vendors noticed I was taking pictures and started knocking on the window, talking about a "monkey picture charge", and when I ignored him he kinda went bananas, banging on the window aggressively and yelling, and tried to open my car door (luckily it was locked). My co-worker's boyfriend started yelling at him and the two of them went on in that manner for a while, and the whole time i just had my back to him and pretended I didn't hear anything.
Dawn's Napping Spot, Red Fort, Agra
Originally uploaded by mercurialdawn We finally got to the Taj Mahal at around 11, and by the time we made it into the building it was high noon... The building is really beautiful, but man, it was really hot, and i was sweating buckets. After the Taj we went to the nearby Red Fort and hired a guide to tell us the history and what not. While we were walking around there, I started to feel dizzy and nauseous, so I told my travel companions to go ahead, and sat down with my back against a pillar. Despite the heat it was still quite scenic, so I took a picture of the doorway that opened up into the garden; Pondered a little bit about how the stones must get nice and cool at night after the sun has set... and then the next thing I knew I was waking up with no idea of how much time had passed. My ability to sleep in the most unlikely places amazes even me.
After the red fort we decided to go get lunch; My companions didn't want to risk the Indian food in the area (they'd already both had their rounds with Delhi Belly) so we ate lunch at a swanky hotel, and then afterwards we went to a high-end touristy gift shop where I allowed myself to get totally ripped of by purchasing this decorative vase that had inlay done in the same style as the inlay on the taj. That man was a lot nicer than the crazy monkey guy.
After the shopping spree we decided to head back to Haryana as it was getting pretty late. I slept most of the way back, intermittently waking up because the locals in the vehicle insisted on setting the air conditioning to "penguin". Drying sweat with freon is not a good move for the immune system, and I still feel a tad run down and as though I'm about to catch a cold. Hopefully the fact that I'm finally over jetlag and getting decent amounts of sleep helps me stave it off.
My team has been amazing so far, incredibly hospitable and friendly. Friday night we had dinner at a place called Barbeque Nation, where they stuff you full of grilled meat and then tell you it's time for the buffet. Last night V. brought his motorcycle in and took me to an open-air market type place near his house after work, and i got a couple indian style shirts for about $3 each. Yes, I braved Indian traffic on a motorcycle.
Minor Monsoon Flooding
Originally uploaded by mercurialdawn
The traffic here is similar to the traffic in the Philippines, but a little more wild than Manila proper, because they have the more space and can thus move faster than one typically can in Manila; It's comparable to some of the drivers we've hired when driving around ilo-ilo (
angat_sa_batas: Remember Manong "Death Wish" Larry? Ganoon sila, man.)... Gurgaon was apparently mostly farm and jungle 5+ years ago, so it makes sense that they haven't quite adopted official city driving; that knowledge didn't really prevent me from wanting to yell at V. to watch for the cars; but I know from experience with my mom that's more distracting than anything else, and only yelled out once. or twice. the third time i just mumbled.
Afterwards we met up with D. and W. from the team and caught the 10:45 showing of Mere Baap Pehle Aap in the theater... It hurts to say it but even with the lack of morphing goats and quality hair tossing, it was a better movie than Deewanapaan. Next week we're all going to go see The Happening, which is especially exciting as I thought I'd miss it in the theaters, since Wifers is in Austin and Tim refuses to ever spend money on M. Night Shyamalan again.
And the food has been awesome. So far so good, I haven't had my bout with Delhi belly yet, despite having some masala buttermilk (really good) and some undefined sweet things wrapped in a leaf (someone said it was palm, but i'm not sure if they're referring to the leaf or the undefined sweet things) with dinner the other night. One thing that has definitely been interesting is realizing just how much Western society is really focused on the consumption of meat. I've been steering away from eating meat while I've been here it somewhat decrease the chances of getting sick in the stomach way, and reserve my weekends for the long out of town car rides, and it honestly hasn't been difficult at all. In a good 60% of the restaurants we've been to, the have been more vegetarian options available than non-vegetarian options, and while I can't necessarily say that the food is healthier for it (the amounts of oil, cheese and butter they use is insane, and I think i've actually gained a couple lbs since being here), but when you consider the resource-intensive nature of raising meat, it's quite eye opening to see an large, populous culture that doesn't subscribe to that same mindset.
Really, there isn't anything bad to say about my experience with India so far. If anything, what I've found most surprising is how easy it is for me to slide back into Asian culture. While out to dinner the other night, the team watched with great amusement as was doing my happy food dance whilst eating a variety of Indian food, and one of them laughed and said, "oh, you'll be back to India again, i'm sure now!"
I surely hope so.