I'm in India!!! :)
Well...I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Chennai, India at the moment. I apologise that i haven't gotten in touch with those of you who have been emailing me earlier! It's a lot more difficult to find the the time to frequent internet cafes here!!...I'm having a FANTASTIC time!!!!
For those of you who didn't know, I set out from Sydney a week ago to travel for two months.... :) (was in Singapore & India, and am going to Germany tonight then to Canada and around America (Las Vegas, Nashville, around Kentucky and LA) before I return home to Sydney in the new year)
I left Sydney Friday morning...flew to Singapore (GREAT people on the flight that I chatted with the whole way..) :P had a stopover in Singapore (met a fantastic girl from Canada in the airport - randomly started chatting as we were checking out necklaces in the same store :) ..ended up having dinner together, chatting heaps, exchanging details and she even gave me a book I "HAD to read!"...which is cool!)...ended up loosing track of time and RAN through the Singapore airport to the gate...to find out.... :) :) :) :)
I got bumped up to Business on the next flight!!! NIIIICE!!! :) :) :) I was an incredibly happy camper!! Boarding early and sipping champagne as I watched the rest of the flight get herded back into the cattle-class :) It was only for 3:30 hours...but, the real-glass flute glasses, Singapore Slings, silk pillow (!), mints served to me on a silver platter (with flowers) and 4 course gourmet meal was a fantastic experience after a day of travel :P Not to mention the fact that I could stretch out my legs completely without even touching the seat in front of me, there was NO worries about sharing the arm-rest with my neighbour and the chair reclined (with a footrest that completed it) to be almost a flat bed! The spectacular personal entertainment package was unbelievable. Good times. I loooove Singapore Airlines. :P :) :)
So, I arrived in India. Hot. Muggy. Unbelievably CRAAAAAZY busy. Crazy friendly people. India :)
India. Some of the bad things....SOOO dirty with garbage everywhere...people sleeping everywhere - in carts, on the side of the road, on concrete fences...men that are walking down the street and then just pulling it out and start peeing on the sidewalks or on the wall!!! this happens often... :| ....wandering animals (goats, chickens, cows, dogs, monkeys - ya, I've seen a whole bunch of monkeys!! etc) on the middle of the city streets..Smells that you can't identify - wiffs of VERY unpleasant things ranging from human waste to rotting garbage to manure to body odor to other things i can't identify!!... Not to mention the CRAAAZY traffic that has nothing resembling order - complete chaos that somehow works (most of the time)...I even saw a funeral procession today - a group of people chanting followed with the dead guy in a cart decked out with flowers, incense, gold, carvings etc carried by a cow and followed by people walking behind it. In the middle of the traffic on the road! Amongst the crazy rickshaw drivers (who incessently try to rip you off but are VERY lovely and pretty chatty if you get 'em going...very friendly, just very much wanting your money..hehe), bicycles, motor bikes (EVERYWHERE!), cars, trucks etc that follow NO order....haha....good times ;) ..
Some of the fantastic things....incredibly warm, embracive, beautiful people....soooo friendly and open and hospitable!!...absolutely fantastic food!!...beautiful temples (although they're incredibly dirty..hehe)...incredible incense and tea!! :) ....Travelling on the Australian or Canadian dollar is easy - everything's very cheap (but, this is bad because of the standard of living for the people) :( ...
The first morning I went down to breakfast this pretty bizarre, old English bloke comes and sits down at my table (umm...ok??..)...and he starts chatting. Friendly enough. Random stories. Whatever. :P Anywayz! He tells me that there are two Canadian guys I "HAVE to meet!", so we track down their room number and I rock up, knocking on their door at like 10am. They were still sleeping (oops!!)...but, we ended up chatting for a couple hours and having brunch together....They're crazy cool, heaps of fun and have fantastic senses of humour. Very fun....PLUS!!! They've been living in Chennai for a couple months (they originally moved here for a year'ish) and have managed to have hook-ups everywhere :) They know everyone. They know everything thats happening. Where everything is. Who the DJ is in the club. How to get around. The "rules" etc. How perfect!!! haha.. :P
So, Kyle (one of the Canadian guys) and I shimmy down to check out the beach (where the tsunami hit) and all of the people down there (incredibly poor and incredibly sad)...we played a bit with the kids on the beach (who SWARM whenever you take pics..hehe...very cute...:P...) and check out everything. I actually returned there on my own today. Crazy. SUUUUCH incredible poverty. And suuuch incredibly happy, friendly, warm people. A few of them knew English so we were able to chat about random stuff. I spent a couple hours down there today chatting with the people (who were just lying around not doing much...or washing...or...not doing anything), playing with the kids, taking pictures of them all (which they LOVED!) and being invited to sit down with them and chill. Crazy. I was a bit overwhelmed with the whole thing...their openness and hospitality to have me - a complete foreign stranger with a massive camera around my neck - into their homes....on my own....Their homes...straw shacks with cloth/tin/rubbish surrounded with garbage, waste, old fishing lines, chickens, stray dogs, stray goats. Filth. :( A smell that I can't even BEGIN to describe...human waste, dirty/old/rotten garbage, fish drying (and rotting) completely COVERING the sand...It was seriously very overwhelming. Packed. Crowded. Crazy. I have heaps of footage and heaps of photo's I'll chuck on my MySpace when I get to Germany. (http://www.myspace.com/veronicabell) From the look of the area, it looks like the tsunami hit and destroyed everything....and nothing has changed. In a couple years.
One thing I noticed were HEAPS of boats that aren't used. I later asked a guy at the office, and found this is because after the disaster everyone and their mum donated boats to the fishermen...but, the problem is there's waaaaaay too many and a lot of people don't know what to do with them (not to mention the fact that they were commissioned to be made by ill (if at all)-trained boat-makers...so, there's been quite a number of them that have split while the people were out on the ocean in them fishing and the people died!!!!!!) crazy. So..the beach is lined with abandoned fishing boats. (and garbage)
Kyle and I also checked out the Bascillica where St. Thomas is buried (he was martyred in Chennai here)...and we went SHOPPING!!!!! (since he knew of a good shopping centre near our hotel). SSOOOOO good. I have to say..Kyle, I don't think I've met a man before who is SUUUCH a good shopper as you! Incredibly patient...even encouraging of the whole ordeal. Very cool. Very cool. :) :P I very much appreciated the assistance with bartering! He's a tough barterer man!!! :P
I have realised since this day how much MUCH safer I feel when walking around the streets with a man...I really like it. Very secure feeling. Not to mention how much I looooove having a guy taking care of things like doors or (in this case!) bartering prices with shops for me!! hehe....i love it. Thanks Kyle ;) I'm ok travelling on my own (definately prefer it to travelling with a friend etc) but, it was incredibly nice to have met up with these guys...Marty and Kyle - thanks for showing me around the city, taking me to the club (and giving me the Indian mix music from your DJ friend..hehe), and chillin' out with me for the time we were here (and makin' me laugh heaps!) CHEERS!! :) (can't wait to see you in Oz!)
I also spent two days at the IMED offices checking out a couple Trust Bank meetings and actually seeing one in their first meeting/getting funded. Very cool experience.There really is a fantastic staff working out here for IMED/GO Finance and I am exceptionally grateful for the opportunity to have seen the field with these guys. ...They were incredibly hospitable and took me out to two Trust Bank meetings where I met heaps of clients (one met in a small, dark, dirty, damp room with a bed/desk/cooking facility which was one of the women's house. Small. Crowded. Very crowded. The other met on the side of the road near a train station in front of a lot of shacks...trains wizzing past every 5-10 mins and cars zooming past us. Crazy. But hearing the stories about where the women were before they received their loans and what they've been able to do for themselves and their families now that they've been given the opportunity to expand their business was incredible. We visited one of the ladies stalls where she made lunch and hired out chairs and tents for gatherings...as well as the fruit stand of another lady. Very cool to see the difference that micro finance has made in their lives. Inspiring.
I visited a church here (GREAT church!) on Sun and went out with some of the ex-pat's that attend there for lunch (along with the CEO of IMED and his family). We were chatting about doing business here (VERY difficult...as was said "India is developing in spite of itself") and the culture and the way that people think etc..one of the women there works for International Justice Mission (org that sets free people who are in slave labour or the sex trade). We were chatting about the mentality of Indians towards slave labour/prostitution etc. Pretty crazy. But I was thinking. I don't think I want to live in a developed country my whole life. I've known this for a while. I definately feel like I'm adaptable. I love new things. I love this kind of place...warts and all. I dunno...we'll see what happens in the future ;)
I didn't get sick here... Well.....not really....This morning after breakfast I was packing then all of a sudden, without warning, I had to throw up!!!! VERY weird!! Didn't feel sick..no cramps...no pain..nothing. Just quickly threw up and in about a minute I was fine. Freakin' weird. But I'm glad that's all it was....Guess there was something I put in my mouth that my body didn't like!!! Not sure what it was..bizarre. But I've been fine all day.
Just as I'm getting used to eatting (pretty spicy!) curries first thing in the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening (using just my hands and no utensils a handful of times - the real South Indian way), and getting used to the smells and busyness and crazyness of the city...I'm getting ready to leave!! I definately could get used to this kind of place. Some random stuff. Pretty crazy. But at least it's real. You get what you see. Nothing's hidden.
Sorry for writing so much...this is pretty much my journal, so I'm writing the things I want to remember. :)
Next time I write I'll be in Germany
For those of you who didn't know, I set out from Sydney a week ago to travel for two months.... :) (was in Singapore & India, and am going to Germany tonight then to Canada and around America (Las Vegas, Nashville, around Kentucky and LA) before I return home to Sydney in the new year)
I left Sydney Friday morning...flew to Singapore (GREAT people on the flight that I chatted with the whole way..) :P had a stopover in Singapore (met a fantastic girl from Canada in the airport - randomly started chatting as we were checking out necklaces in the same store :) ..ended up having dinner together, chatting heaps, exchanging details and she even gave me a book I "HAD to read!"...which is cool!)...ended up loosing track of time and RAN through the Singapore airport to the gate...to find out.... :) :) :) :)
I got bumped up to Business on the next flight!!! NIIIICE!!! :) :) :) I was an incredibly happy camper!! Boarding early and sipping champagne as I watched the rest of the flight get herded back into the cattle-class :) It was only for 3:30 hours...but, the real-glass flute glasses, Singapore Slings, silk pillow (!), mints served to me on a silver platter (with flowers) and 4 course gourmet meal was a fantastic experience after a day of travel :P Not to mention the fact that I could stretch out my legs completely without even touching the seat in front of me, there was NO worries about sharing the arm-rest with my neighbour and the chair reclined (with a footrest that completed it) to be almost a flat bed! The spectacular personal entertainment package was unbelievable. Good times. I loooove Singapore Airlines. :P :) :)
So, I arrived in India. Hot. Muggy. Unbelievably CRAAAAAZY busy. Crazy friendly people. India :)
India. Some of the bad things....SOOO dirty with garbage everywhere...people sleeping everywhere - in carts, on the side of the road, on concrete fences...men that are walking down the street and then just pulling it out and start peeing on the sidewalks or on the wall!!! this happens often... :| ....wandering animals (goats, chickens, cows, dogs, monkeys - ya, I've seen a whole bunch of monkeys!! etc) on the middle of the city streets..Smells that you can't identify - wiffs of VERY unpleasant things ranging from human waste to rotting garbage to manure to body odor to other things i can't identify!!... Not to mention the CRAAAZY traffic that has nothing resembling order - complete chaos that somehow works (most of the time)...I even saw a funeral procession today - a group of people chanting followed with the dead guy in a cart decked out with flowers, incense, gold, carvings etc carried by a cow and followed by people walking behind it. In the middle of the traffic on the road! Amongst the crazy rickshaw drivers (who incessently try to rip you off but are VERY lovely and pretty chatty if you get 'em going...very friendly, just very much wanting your money..hehe), bicycles, motor bikes (EVERYWHERE!), cars, trucks etc that follow NO order....haha....good times ;) ..
Some of the fantastic things....incredibly warm, embracive, beautiful people....soooo friendly and open and hospitable!!...absolutely fantastic food!!...beautiful temples (although they're incredibly dirty..hehe)...incredible incense and tea!! :) ....Travelling on the Australian or Canadian dollar is easy - everything's very cheap (but, this is bad because of the standard of living for the people) :( ...
The first morning I went down to breakfast this pretty bizarre, old English bloke comes and sits down at my table (umm...ok??..)...and he starts chatting. Friendly enough. Random stories. Whatever. :P Anywayz! He tells me that there are two Canadian guys I "HAVE to meet!", so we track down their room number and I rock up, knocking on their door at like 10am. They were still sleeping (oops!!)...but, we ended up chatting for a couple hours and having brunch together....They're crazy cool, heaps of fun and have fantastic senses of humour. Very fun....PLUS!!! They've been living in Chennai for a couple months (they originally moved here for a year'ish) and have managed to have hook-ups everywhere :) They know everyone. They know everything thats happening. Where everything is. Who the DJ is in the club. How to get around. The "rules" etc. How perfect!!! haha.. :P
So, Kyle (one of the Canadian guys) and I shimmy down to check out the beach (where the tsunami hit) and all of the people down there (incredibly poor and incredibly sad)...we played a bit with the kids on the beach (who SWARM whenever you take pics..hehe...very cute...:P...) and check out everything. I actually returned there on my own today. Crazy. SUUUUCH incredible poverty. And suuuch incredibly happy, friendly, warm people. A few of them knew English so we were able to chat about random stuff. I spent a couple hours down there today chatting with the people (who were just lying around not doing much...or washing...or...not doing anything), playing with the kids, taking pictures of them all (which they LOVED!) and being invited to sit down with them and chill. Crazy. I was a bit overwhelmed with the whole thing...their openness and hospitality to have me - a complete foreign stranger with a massive camera around my neck - into their homes....on my own....Their homes...straw shacks with cloth/tin/rubbish surrounded with garbage, waste, old fishing lines, chickens, stray dogs, stray goats. Filth. :( A smell that I can't even BEGIN to describe...human waste, dirty/old/rotten garbage, fish drying (and rotting) completely COVERING the sand...It was seriously very overwhelming. Packed. Crowded. Crazy. I have heaps of footage and heaps of photo's I'll chuck on my MySpace when I get to Germany. (http://www.myspace.com/veronicabell) From the look of the area, it looks like the tsunami hit and destroyed everything....and nothing has changed. In a couple years.
One thing I noticed were HEAPS of boats that aren't used. I later asked a guy at the office, and found this is because after the disaster everyone and their mum donated boats to the fishermen...but, the problem is there's waaaaaay too many and a lot of people don't know what to do with them (not to mention the fact that they were commissioned to be made by ill (if at all)-trained boat-makers...so, there's been quite a number of them that have split while the people were out on the ocean in them fishing and the people died!!!!!!) crazy. So..the beach is lined with abandoned fishing boats. (and garbage)
Kyle and I also checked out the Bascillica where St. Thomas is buried (he was martyred in Chennai here)...and we went SHOPPING!!!!! (since he knew of a good shopping centre near our hotel). SSOOOOO good. I have to say..Kyle, I don't think I've met a man before who is SUUUCH a good shopper as you! Incredibly patient...even encouraging of the whole ordeal. Very cool. Very cool. :) :P I very much appreciated the assistance with bartering! He's a tough barterer man!!! :P
I have realised since this day how much MUCH safer I feel when walking around the streets with a man...I really like it. Very secure feeling. Not to mention how much I looooove having a guy taking care of things like doors or (in this case!) bartering prices with shops for me!! hehe....i love it. Thanks Kyle ;) I'm ok travelling on my own (definately prefer it to travelling with a friend etc) but, it was incredibly nice to have met up with these guys...Marty and Kyle - thanks for showing me around the city, taking me to the club (and giving me the Indian mix music from your DJ friend..hehe), and chillin' out with me for the time we were here (and makin' me laugh heaps!) CHEERS!! :) (can't wait to see you in Oz!)
I also spent two days at the IMED offices checking out a couple Trust Bank meetings and actually seeing one in their first meeting/getting funded. Very cool experience.There really is a fantastic staff working out here for IMED/GO Finance and I am exceptionally grateful for the opportunity to have seen the field with these guys. ...They were incredibly hospitable and took me out to two Trust Bank meetings where I met heaps of clients (one met in a small, dark, dirty, damp room with a bed/desk/cooking facility which was one of the women's house. Small. Crowded. Very crowded. The other met on the side of the road near a train station in front of a lot of shacks...trains wizzing past every 5-10 mins and cars zooming past us. Crazy. But hearing the stories about where the women were before they received their loans and what they've been able to do for themselves and their families now that they've been given the opportunity to expand their business was incredible. We visited one of the ladies stalls where she made lunch and hired out chairs and tents for gatherings...as well as the fruit stand of another lady. Very cool to see the difference that micro finance has made in their lives. Inspiring.
I visited a church here (GREAT church!) on Sun and went out with some of the ex-pat's that attend there for lunch (along with the CEO of IMED and his family). We were chatting about doing business here (VERY difficult...as was said "India is developing in spite of itself") and the culture and the way that people think etc..one of the women there works for International Justice Mission (org that sets free people who are in slave labour or the sex trade). We were chatting about the mentality of Indians towards slave labour/prostitution etc. Pretty crazy. But I was thinking. I don't think I want to live in a developed country my whole life. I've known this for a while. I definately feel like I'm adaptable. I love new things. I love this kind of place...warts and all. I dunno...we'll see what happens in the future ;)
I didn't get sick here... Well.....not really....This morning after breakfast I was packing then all of a sudden, without warning, I had to throw up!!!! VERY weird!! Didn't feel sick..no cramps...no pain..nothing. Just quickly threw up and in about a minute I was fine. Freakin' weird. But I'm glad that's all it was....Guess there was something I put in my mouth that my body didn't like!!! Not sure what it was..bizarre. But I've been fine all day.
Just as I'm getting used to eatting (pretty spicy!) curries first thing in the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening (using just my hands and no utensils a handful of times - the real South Indian way), and getting used to the smells and busyness and crazyness of the city...I'm getting ready to leave!! I definately could get used to this kind of place. Some random stuff. Pretty crazy. But at least it's real. You get what you see. Nothing's hidden.
Sorry for writing so much...this is pretty much my journal, so I'm writing the things I want to remember. :)
Next time I write I'll be in Germany