Limited Internet

Have made it safely to Adampur to start my internship. Am living in a house with 7 other interns from all around the world. I am going to be teaching English primarily as well as working for the Girls Club. Unfortunately, internet is often unavailable, as is now time...so I unfortunately won't be able to update as much as I would like to!

:)

Cheers
Krista

Rishikesh

Rishikesh is officially my favourite part of India right now. Myself, along two other travelers; one from Toronto, and one from Karlsruhe (who now lives in Berlin- funny eh!) hiked around 10 k today in total to a beautiful waterfall. The hike was wonderful among the foot hills of the Himalayas next to the River Ganges. Around the waterfall there were little pools of water, very clean and nice, so I dipped my feet into them. It was really nice to meet these other two people, it was a nice hike, with nice conversation. Tomorrow we are going to go on a 26 km White Water Rafting trip down the Ganges... should be fun! After that we are going to try some bartering in the shops, and than the next day I am leaving for Jalandhar.

Rishikesh has made me like India again.. :-)

Hope all is well at home

Love Krista

Rishikesh

The girls dropped me at a Rickshaw in Varanasi and I made the journey by myself to the train station. Angie and Alex have now left 'Incredible India' to enjoy comfy beds, beef, and salads! Yes I am a bit jealous. I got to the train station at 1045pm to wait for my 125am train. Of course it didn't show up until around 330am. I waited in the Special "Ladies" Waiting area, with other ladies, rats, and the stench of urine from the toilets next to me. I boarded my train to Haridwar (approx 14.5 hour trip), took a Gravol and slept for the majority of it. For me India has been a roller coaster journey of ups and downs. Sometimes I wonder why I left my beautiful city, my nice home, nice job, and wonderful family and friends to be sitting in a rat infested train station. I laugh, its all part of the adventure. At the end of the day, is it worth it to put up with stares, garbage, and feeling uncomfortable sometimes? Of course it is. This is why I travel to different destinations. Sure I could spend my money to go to Europe again, or maybe safe Australia, but would I get the same experience? Get to see the things I do? Learn about a completely different culture, people, religion? The answer is no. I know that I am lucky to be able to travel this country, a place that many people close to me will probably never see. So when I have those moments of "OMG GET ME OUT OF HERE!!" I have to remind myself of the completely mind blowing amazing moments I have had as well. I arrived in Haridwar, and didn't even have to haggle much for a Rickshaw driver to take me to Rishikesh. The scenery is completely different from Varanasi. I am surrounded by mountains, a clean river, and a lot more peace. I arrived in my hotel to find a familiar face, an Australian guy that we had met in Delhi. Tomorrow he is going to play some cricket with some locals (Cricket is India's national obsession) and I am going to join him just to watch. Today I am going to relax clear my head, and get a massage later. Rishikesh is the self proclaimed "Yoga Capital of the World" so I might take some classes, do some meditation, and join all the hippies here doing whatever it is they do. I leave for Punjab on the 26th to start my internship with 'EduCARE.'

I am excited and look forward to the next part of my journey. It will also be nice to be settled somewhere for awhile as I am getting a bit sick of hopping around from place to place.

Hope everyone is well

Love Krista

Varanasi

Last night we took a Sunset boat trip on the Ganges. For the majority of the trip we parked ourselves right in front of the Burning Ghats and just watched on. Around 15 or so bodies were burning at one time, and it was extremely interesting for me to just watch the process and ask our boat driver questions about it. Certain types of people do not get cremated and rather are put into the middle of the river with a heavy stone attached to them so they sink. These types of people are pregnant women, lepers, Holy Men, children, and animals. We watched on as each body, wrapped in their decorative garments, were lowered into the river, dipped a couple of times, and than placed on the fire. We also witnessed family members throwing the remainders (the bones that don't burn fast such as the hip) back into the river. Afterwards we watched the ceremony that happens every night (for the Gods) from our boat as well. We then decided to go have dinner and we feasted on fondue, pizza, Tandoori Chicken, and sandwiches while listening to Indian classical music (a man playing the bongos and another man playing the Sitar). This morning we met our same boat driver at 6am to take a sunrise boat trip on the Ganges. We watched as hundreds of Hindu devotees washed themselves (women in their full Sari's), drank from the Ganges, washed clothes, and swam. It was an amazing sight to see. According to my Lonely Planet, parts of the Ganges is actually septic. The river is so incredibly polluted- and people bathe and drink in it! As our boat continued down the Ganges we were met by a disturbing sight- a decaying body floating right next to us. All we could see were the white feet, and the white head. Some middle aged tourist saw the body floating as well, and excitedly grabbed her camera out taking pictures to show loved ones at home. (A little inappropriate and disrespectful we all thought). After our trip we went to have breakfast.. I had a Cheese and tomato Omelette, a Banana Chocolate Pancake, and Lemon Ginger tea for around $2 CAN. We just woke up from our nap and are going to try some Yoga before we explore the Ghats once again.


Tomorrow is my last day in Varanasi and than I am taking a train to Haridwar. The girls are going home, and while I will miss them immensely I am looking forward to starting my internship.

Hope everything is well with everyone

Love Always

Krista

India Pictures- Monkey Temple Jaipur etc.

                                                            Groom on horseback

                                                        Us in Pushkar near the Ghats

            Monkeys, Pigs, and Cows eating the Garbage on the street together.. How cute.. :|

                                               The Hindi Movie we saw "Patiala House"

                                                      Pure joy with a latte and a brownie

                                         The non electric Ferris Wheel we went on

                                     Enjoying my head massage at this 'fake' Rajasthani Village

                                                        Monkey Temple near Jaipur

Agra & Varanasi: Indian- the emotional rollercoaster

The girls and I had each bought Indian outfits to wear at the Taj Mahal. We woke up early to catch the sunrise, but unfortunately the line up was so long that we missed it. We approached the Taj to see it in all its glory- unfortunately, our view was obscured by the Indian 'fog' (We call it smog in Canada). 2 of our Camera's weren't working, and we could barely see the Taj Mahal through the 1 that was. We were not pleased! However, as the sun came up, the 'smog' cleared and our cameras decided to work again. The Taj Mahal is the ultimate dedication to love, it was built for some Emperor's favourite wife and took years to complete. Its amazing, it exceeded my expectations. We really enjoyed walking around and taking pictures..Many tourists both foreign and Indian wanted to take pictures of us as well dressed up in our Indian outfits. Our great day only got greater as we stopped at Pizza Hut for lunch (haha I know..) and filled ourselves with stuffed crust Pizza's and Pastas. Of course, in true Indian fashion, our wonderful day had to be ruined somehow (well not completely ruined but still)..We asked our driver Hookum to take us to this market. He told us that he had to drop us off about a 10 minute walk away from the market so that we must 'go there by walk.' Okay fair enough we said, cars weren't able to drive that close to the market so we decided to walk. On our way we were approached by a gang of kids asking us for money.. "10 rupees, 10 rupees, Chapati chapati" they cried. We said no, and continued to go on our way. They followed us, and as we walked faster and told them to go away they began to pull at us and grab us. These street kids were between the ages of 3-12 and there was about 6 or 7 of them. They began to get violent, and scratch and pinch at us, even piercing my skin. They laughed wickedly as they threw bottles at us, thinking it was a big game or joke. It was horrible, and although I felt bad for the street children and the way they have to live, I seriously wanted to smack the little brats. To make matters worse, as I was walking some Indian man grabbed my butt. This was the last straw- after being harassed repetitively by Indian men (whether its has been cat calls, making disgusting faces at us with their tongues, or 'accidently' bumping into us) I turned around and screamed at them like I had never screamed at someone before. I'm pretty sure they were scared of my threat to 'kick their asses' because they ran away as fast as they could. It was quite upsetting for all of us- we have come to India to experience the culture, learn, and meet the people- but we had had it with all of the negative experiences we had (even though we have had many great ones as well). We told Hookum to drop us off at the train station where we had to wait 4 hours to catch our train. Our moods turned positive again as we met three British backpackers 'Becky, Matt, and Jasmine.' Having a driver and a schedule has made it difficult for us to meet other backpackers- the majority of the other travelers we have run into have been middle aged-retiree Europeans. We laughed and joked together until it came time to board the train. We had reserved 2nd Class A/C...When we got on the train we found 2 Indian men in 2 of our beds. They got out and moved to their proper places. However, we still felt a bit uncomfortable on the train- Alex and I both didn't have curtains and we were both sleeping across from some men. I decided to just make the best of it and put on my Ipod and fall asleep until we would arrive in Varanasi. Once we arrived in Varanasi we took a rickshaw to  this hotel I had found in the Lonely Planet in the Old City near the ghats. Our room costs $4 a night between the three of us. Its pretty disgusting, it looks like a prison and it emits a strange smell. However, its a great location, and has a fabulous 24 hour restaurant. Regardless, we are checking out today to find somewhere else- Its not worth it! Yesterday we went down to the ghats and went to the main burning Ghat. I have never seen anything like it. We watched as a woman in a blue Sari- around 30 or 40 years old, completely uncovered, was dipped into the Holy Water of the Ganges and than placed on the fire to be cremated. We saw her face, and her skin..and looked on as the fire burned through her Sari. I couldn't handle it, I had to walk away..All I know is that I will never forget her face. After exploring the other ghats where people bathe, we met up with our British friends to watch this ceremony on the Ganges (I think it had something to do with the Full Moon) but it was quite fascinating as hundreds of people watched these 6 men make movements with fire, chant, sing, and perform different prayer rituals. We ended the day by having dinner at our restaurant and drinking a large Extra Strong Kingfisher beer- We really needed to. Today we will explore Varanasi some more- We are going to take a Yoga class with our new friends, and than go on a Sunset boat trip on the Ganges.

Hope everyone is well at home,

Love Krista

Our driver and me :) 

At the Taj Mahal

Pushkar, Jaipur, and Agra

Before we left Pushkar we went into town to explore the ghats. In the middle of Pushkar is a sacred lake where tons of Hindu's come to pay pilgrimage to. Pushkar is a hippy town, so besides all of the Hindu's going to the ghats, we also saw tons of dread locked, wide pants, Om symbol T-shirt wearing hippies of all ages walking in a slumber like state down the streets. We walked down to ghats which can only be described as amazing. Men, women, and children bathing in the Holy Water and praying. So interesting. Later on we drove to Jaipur the capital of Rajasthan. We decided to go see a Hindi Film playing at the famous Taj Mahir cinema. Angela and Alex left early but I stayed for the whole film by myself. Although the film was entirely in Hindi with just a few English phrases here and there it was not difficult to follow. All Indian films follow a similar pattern, theres a love story (but they never kiss- too shocking for Indian society;)), song and dance, a struggle, and a happy story in the end. Unlike at home where one is expected to be silent during the movie, the Indian cinema is the exact opposite. People cheered, and booed, laughed, cried, talked throughout as if they were watching a Hockey Game. It was a real funny experience! The next day we rode elephants up to the Amber Fort.. It was raining a lot so we didn't stick around for too long. In addition, the rain was not the only damper on our moods. We were all a bit grumpy because of all of the touts annoying us every second asking us if we want to buy this, or that, or this or that! "100 rupees Madam! Best price for you!" The filth was also getting on our nerves. It is almost as if there are sporadic landfills everywhere in India. No one seems to mind living in a garbage land.. In fact when we were at a store once and we asked the shop keeper to put our candy wrapper in the garbage he simply threw it on the ground. This is an all too familiar and too often seen sight unfortunately. In order to fix our sour moods the girls and I decided to get a little 'retail therapy.' We shopped around in the bazaar, but even after a few successful purchases found ourselves a little annoyed of the shopkeepers and their persistence. That evening we went to this Rajasthani 'fake' village... almost like an Indian Disney Land. We had a 'traditional' Rajasthani meal and stuffed our faces full, and also got Henna, a massage, crawled through fake caves, watched traditional dancers, and even went on a Ferris Wheel. (The ferris wheel wasn't electric! The boy had to climb to the top and push us around and around!!!--it was a fun but scary experience!). This morning we went to the Monkey Temple. Yes, a temple inhabited by hundreds of monkey's! It was quite some fun as we walked around and fed the monkey's peanuts! They came right up to us and took them. We walked up to the sun temple at the very top (this temple is on a mountain), and were many times almost attacked (or at least it seemed)  by a gang of monkey's hungry for our peanuts! I let our a piercing scream as this cute monkey I was feeding suddenly turned evil and exposed his sharp teeth and hissed at me. It was a great time. Afterwards we drove to Agra... I just went to a salon next to our hotel and got some threading and a haircut, all for such a great deal! The people who worked there were so kind to me and chatted away asking me questions, and gave me some delicious Indian Chai. Tomorrow is the Taj Mahal, and we are all wearing our Indian outfits there. I expect I will have some great photos to post later! I am traveling with a professional photographer after all.. Later on tomorrow we will take the train to Varanasi- the holiest city in India.

Hope everyone is well at home! I have already seen 2 Indian boys pooping on the side of the road. It has been most disturbing.

Love Krista

Pics

Us in Jaisalmer infront of a Haveli

On a Camel- so uncomfortable

In the desert!

Fort in Jodhpur

THE BLUE CITY JODHPUR!

Dosas= delicious...Crepe like pancake stuffed with potatoes and veggies inside

These people are worshiping this motorcycle which is a 'temple' on the side of the road. Yes I am serious.

Alex and I in Udaipur

Udaipur & eating amazing Italian food in Pushkar

Udaipur is a beautiful city. It is where James Bond's "Octopussy" was filmed. The girls and I arrived in the evening time and decided to hit up the shops right away. Angie and Alex ended up both buying beautiful sari's (which wasn't an easy process nonetheless with all the arguing with the shopkeepers) and I bought a beautiful purple embroidered long dress. The next day we decided to ditch the guides and explore the city on our own. We walked to the lake and than took a gondola up where we could admire the view of the city. Around the lake we saw people bathing and washing their clothes in it. The lake, although beautiful from afar, is extremely dirty (much like the rest of India) when you look at it close.  I can't imagine what it would be like to have to bathe and wash my clothes in somewhere like that. Afterwards we explored the city some more, and than went to watch the sunset on the water. Later on we enjoyed a traditional Rajasthani music and dance show- it was fabulous! We watched one woman balance 9 pots on her head and dance like a pro, swinging her hips to the music. In the evening we ate dinner, and smoked some shisha. The Royal Palace was being rented out for a wedding by some Bollywood star or something. Wow was it ever a sight! From our rooftop looking up we heard a live band which was loud all night (nothing is quiet in India), and a spectacular light show... it was definitely a fancy and expensive affair. We were also able to witness some other wedding processions in India. Each night we would hear the band playing down the street and rush outside to watch the groom on horseback and the tons of people beside him cheering and dancing away on the street. All times it was amazing to see. Today we drove another long drive to Pushkar. Our driver took us to some tourist restaurant for lunch which was grossly overprices... As soon as we told the man at the restaurant it was too expensive h said "Okay! 40% off!" India is a place where you constantly have to barter and it is very exhausting. In the tourist areas people are always trying to rip you off and no one ever tells you the real price. At the same time everything is very affordable.. We have been eating most meals for 1-4 dollars. On our way to Pushkar I read in the Lonely Planet that there was a good authentic Italian restaurant. We decided to check it out and had the most amazing meal ever. Indian food is very yummy but we were all getting a bit sick of curries and were delighted to feast on Banana Lassi's, hummus and pita, big Margherita pizzas, and the most amazing desert I have had so far traveling; a banana, fudge, ice cream, whip cream, biscuit concoction.... Wow did we ever enjoy it! So far I can only describe India as a rollercoaster.. it has been a series of ups and downs. It is amazing, the sights, culture, history, food, etc... But it is quite shocking at the same time. Driving in general is horrendous, the men are often harrassing us (taking our pictures, staring, saying things, rubbing against us 'by accident' and are also quite arrogant towards us women, and I am appalled at the lack of care for the environment. The roads are packed with garbage, it looks like you are driving through a dump sometimes. Many people throw their trash on the ground with so little regard for the planet...its quite upsetting. I have seen a lot of road kill on the street and today I cried out loud when I saw a dog running down the street with the leg of another animal in its mouth. Its been an experience thats for sure.. Tomorrow we will explore the Ghats of Pushkar (one of the Holiest cities in India) and than head on to Jaipur the capital of Rajasthan. I have heard many good things about Jaipur (especially the shopping) so I am quite looking forward to that. We are going to visit the Monkey temple there which should be quite some fun as well. (Today as we were driving we saw a row of monkeys eating bread on the side of the road, it was pretty funny).

Here are some pics from the last days.. I hope everyone is doing well and I miss everyone lots

Love  Krista

Rat Temple- near Bikaner

Temple near Udaipur

Overlooking Udaipur

Sunset in Udaipur

Our driver Hookum and us

Jaisalmer and Jodhpur

Jaisalmer is a desert town right near the border of Pakistan. The first day we explored around the fort and all of the different alleyways within it. We hired a guide who was quite irritating (bossy- typical Indian male;)), but I believe us girls irritated him back with our constant looking in stores and making him wait for us to get some henna done. All of Jaisalmer is a sandstone colour- its breathtaking. We watched the sunset, looking at the fort- What a view! We also explored some havelis which were beautiful as always. During the evening we drove out 50 km away to where we would go for our camel ride. The accommodation wasn't what we expected, it was too nice! When we first booked this portion of the trip we had expected that we would sleep in the desert (much like what I had already done in Egypt). When we discovered we would be sleeping in a hotel style hut a bit outside of the desert this was not acceptable! Us girls made the men (including our poor driver Hookum) ride back out with us on the camels so we could sleep under the stars. Once we arrived they made a little fire for us but we were quite tired so we just crawled onto our mattress and fell asleep. We had no tents so it was a bit cold, and the Camels next to us were being quite noisy eating away at the plants- but it was totally worth it. Today we took a long drive to Jodhpur - the blue city. We explored the Mehrangarh Fort, one of the best preserved in Rajasthan, and took tons of pictures. We also had a really interesting experience getting our palms read. All of ours were freakishly spot on. He talked about our personalities, work, love lives, health, and past. I have never believed in this sort of stuff- but seriously the things this man said were crazy. It was a great experience. Tomorrow we go to Udaipur in the South-- this is the city with the palace on the lake and where James Bond's 'Octopussy' was filmed. Will update later with pictures, sorry for the quick bad quality writing but am in a rush! We are staying in a beautiful haveli with a lovely courtyard, and the soft mattress in my room is calling me to sleep.

Love Krista

Rajasthan- Jhunjhunu/Bikaner/On the road!

Rajasthan has been simply amazing. We departed for our tour in our little Metropolitan a really old school cute car. Driving through India has been half the adventure. The roads are sometimes paved, sometimes not, sometimes they are half paved with people working on the side of the 'street.' There are no road laws here, or at least it seems like it. When someones going too slow our driver simply honks and drives on the other side of the road to past them. A couple of times we were so close to a head on collision (or at least it seemed like it) I could hear all three of us collectively gasp in astonishment. Our driver, 'Hookum' of course just laughs. (Its somewhat frightening). Yesterday we stayed in Jhunjhunu and went to an amazing Hindu temple where the 'sati' was often performed. (This is the suicide of a bride who must kill herself after her husband has died). We were the only foreigners walking around a sea of people chanting and paying their respects to their Gods. It was fascinating. Today we drove some more and stopped in a city called Mandawa where they have lots of 'Haveli's" beautifully painted homes. It was really nice to walk around the city- but also a bit stressful at times. As foreigners we attract a lot of attention with little children following us around, and people constantly staring. Some of them are quite sweet just smiling, and looking, but some of them are quite annoying as well. Afterwards we continued driving (which like I said earlier is always an interesting experience) and arrived in Bikaner. We checked out a cemetary which was quite beautiful and than checked into our hotel. All of our accomodation has been lovely, we always get two rooms between the three of us and the place where we are staying at now has a lovely open air courtyard where you can eat and where traditional Indian music is playing. Us girls took a Rickshaw into Bikaner today to try and find some Sari's. Some creepy boy jumped on our Rickshaw with us and what started off as a friendly chat turned into him downright stalking us. Me being the more aggressive outspoken one had to tell him at least three or four times to "Split." I hate being rude to people but when you ask them nice they really don't listen it seems. India is definitely a male dominated society. Especially in the rural areas you can tell who the 'boss' is. The way the men speak to us sometimes (very bossy and almost telling us what is right and what to do) is pretty aggravating. Overall though I really have found the people to be quite nice. In the tourist areas everyone wants to make a penny off of you, but this is what I expected...its quite similar to Egypt in this way. Our driver is quite nice, and is always worried about us girls which is nice that he is looking out for us. Tomorrow we will go to the 'Rat Temple.' Hindu devotees go here to worship the thousands of rats that inhabit this temple because they believe they are the reincarnation of some deity. We will also check out the Jain Temples, and the Fort in Bikaner. The day after that its off to Jaisalmer where we will spend one day in the city and in a hotel, and the other day sleeping in the desert!

Hope all is well at home, I miss everyone a lot and enjoy seeing all of your comments!

Love Krista

In Delhi

A common sight, this bus isn't even that full by Indian standards! Usually there are lots of people on the roof!

Cemetery in Bikaner

A Haveli in Rajasthan

Myself and two gypsy ladies

Us three!

Two new friends and I 

Man selling vegetables (Photo taken from car)

Cows own the roads. They are constantly in the way and we constantly are swerving around them trying not to hit them!