My last bit in Tel Aviv was amazing. Finals flew by, it was almost abnormal how unstressed I was for that time of year. Packing was also not as stressful as I imagined, I kinda of threw all my valuables in a bag and chucked everything else out, or donated it to charity. My last night in Tel Aviv was amazing, we had soo much fun. We went to Whiskey a go go and then to an open bar on the beach. Everyone was so full of emotions since we were all leaving within the next 48 hours. Everyone was in such good spirits and just was all about having a good time.
On May 24th Ariana, Sara, Dave, Mitch, and I got to the airport around 5 am. We had a 7 am flight out to Athens. The next week the 5 of us would be Greek Island hopping. Talk about the good life. We got to Athens at 9:00 and checked into our hostel, called hotel hostel. It was a freak show place. The receptionist wasn’t there when we tried to check in. we had to wait for like 30 minutes. When he finally showed up he was also a huge freak show. With a tupe circa 1970, long black hair with and flip out. He was pale as all hell and looked diseased. A real freak. He put us in a room for 5 even though we paid for 2 rooms, but we weren’t about to argue with this guy. After we locked all out stuff in the room and went to see the acropolis and the Parthenon. They were both pretty disappointing and under reconstruction. We had to walk like 30 minutes up hill to see them and it was bloody hot outside. Afterward we went for lunch in Athens. Athens in very Christian, Greek Orthodox. There are crosses everywhere. There are a bunch of little side streets with shops and outdoor cafes. It was cute but dirty. The next day we got the Piraeus, were the port is and got on a 10:45 am ferry to Santorini.
We spent two days in Santorini. We didn’t get there until 4:15 that day so we just checked into our hostel, Tony’s Villa, walked around, and got a bite to eat. Tony was considered the Legend in the island. He has an autistic son and the island did not have a special school. So he climbed to the top of the mountain on Santorini and chained himself to the telecommunications poll and talked to the government in Athens requesting a school be placed on the island. He didn’t get down from there until his wishes were granted. The next day we headed out to the beach, the black beach. The beaches in Greece were not soft sand but were rocky. Kind of uncomfortable but still beautiful. The boys left at aro9und 3:00 to rent some ATV’s and tour the island. We met back up with them after the day on the beach, and we went for dinner.
The next day we joined the boys on the ATV’s and explored the whole island. It was awesome. We stopped for breakfast on the water then headed out to some places where we saw some killer views, afterward we went to a red sand beach. I had never seen a red sand beach before and it was unreal. But also, rocky. After a few hours on the beach we were over it, it was soo hot in Greece you couldn’t take much more than a few hours. So we ATVed around the island all 5 of us. We went to Oia, which was so cute, a little fishing town. At nightfall we stopped for delicious Mexican food. The restaurant was owned by a woman from Colorado. The food was divine. The next day we got on a ferry for Mykonos.
Mykonos was younger than Santorini. Much younger. And not as “honeymoony” as Santorini. It was definitely more fun for kids our age. We stayed in Paradise Beach. The beach was gorgeous, white sand slash rocks and crystal blue water. About 150ft in there was a sandbar (a rock bar, it was made of rock). We laid on the beach all day it was so fun. That night we went to the opening of Paradise Club, everyone except Sara decided to stay in. that was fun too. It was like our farewell since me and the girls were leaving the next day while the boys went on to Ios.
The next morning we (the girls and I) got on a ferry back to Athens, our plane left at 2:00am and we were in Tel Aviv by 4:00am. We headed over to Ari’s family friend’s house; they were storing our bags for the week. Took a four hours nap, got up and went to the beach for our one last hooray, our last and final day in Israel. That night we wee at the airport by 10. My flight was our by 1:00am.
My semester was mind blowing perfect, absolutely fabulous, and in all I couldn’t of asked for anything better.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Am Yisrael Chai
So, I got back from Egypt on Sunday night and found a nice little wall post on my Facebook. Apparently, my friend Raechel since I have known since my Beth David days (a.k.a childhood), who is also studying in Haifa this semester was coming to Tel Aviv the next day, Monday! I was so excited! I had visited Raechel in Haifa once in early April and her and I had the most amazing time. we spent the day walking along the mountain looking out at the ocean and then when we got bored with the scenery we headed over to the Druze village and shopped around the shuk. I really clicked with her friends, they were a breathe of fresh air, haha, earthy kids as I call them, those Jewish kids my age that are all down to earth and what not. Anyway, enough with the tangents, Raechel was coming from Monday, May 5- Thursday, May 8 with her friend Kira who is a doll to say the least.
When they arrived they took a cab over to Brodetsky (my dorm) where we hung out for a bit, the real fun started the next day though. On Tuesday, Ari and I went over to Nahalat Binyamin, and art fair that occurs every Tuesday and Friday, Raechel’s hostel was close by so she met up with us. We walked along around for a bit, and then headed to the grocery. At sundown on May 6 Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day would begin. Everything closes, everything. The entire country is pretty much shut down. As a result I had to make the girls dinner that night. The next day, at 11 o’clock the sirens go off, all over the country, and everyone EVERYONE pauses, cars stop, people halt, and national moment of silence is taken. For those few moments the entire country freezes. Its unbelievable, the same occurred for Yom Hashoah (which occurred a week before, its Holocaust memorial day). I don’t want to bore you with every detail Yom Hazikaron was kind of uneventful we went to the beach for the day. it was amazing to be here though to see a nation-state, a people come together and wholly mourn over those they have lost. You feel the sense of loyalty, fraternity, and patriotism just by being here.
The real fun started that night. When the clock stroke 6 the mourning was officially over… and Israel was 60!!! When the close stroke 12 Kyla was 21!!! So the girls and I went to Sushi Republic for a birthday celebration, Israel at a strapping 60 and Kyla at a youthful 21. Dinner was great, everyone had a blast, and my friends loved Raechel and Kira’s company. I was so happy to have her here. After dinner we all headed over to Florentine (same place we were for Purim). The street was packed, Israeli flags (as with most of the city) covering every inch of the place. hundreds of people Jews, all in pure bliss. It was unreal. And in the middle of the madness, a guy steps out of his apartment looking down onto the chaotic street and takes out his massive Shofar. For the next ten minutes everyone was silent while he blew it. Only in Israel. Only in Israel.
The next day, May 8, we headed over to the beach for an air and sea show. Another mod of people, just waiting to see their armed forces perform. The respect, empathy, and heroism, the patriotism, well it’s refreshing. The show was incredible, also impressive. But even more awesome were the cheers, the claps, from ages 1-100. Everyone in unison celebrating the country they love so dearly. This is why I came abroad to Israel.
This week was important for me, impressive. Israel and Israelis it’s an amazing thing. A people, a nation, a state that has suffered so much, endured so much, but still has the spirit, the determination not only to survive but to leave its mark. A country, so small you can hardly see it on a map, but with a soul so large. Larger than life. it reminds you of how proud you are to be a Jew, how proud you are to be apart of something so special.
To say the least, Am Yisrael Chai
When they arrived they took a cab over to Brodetsky (my dorm) where we hung out for a bit, the real fun started the next day though. On Tuesday, Ari and I went over to Nahalat Binyamin, and art fair that occurs every Tuesday and Friday, Raechel’s hostel was close by so she met up with us. We walked along around for a bit, and then headed to the grocery. At sundown on May 6 Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day would begin. Everything closes, everything. The entire country is pretty much shut down. As a result I had to make the girls dinner that night. The next day, at 11 o’clock the sirens go off, all over the country, and everyone EVERYONE pauses, cars stop, people halt, and national moment of silence is taken. For those few moments the entire country freezes. Its unbelievable, the same occurred for Yom Hashoah (which occurred a week before, its Holocaust memorial day). I don’t want to bore you with every detail Yom Hazikaron was kind of uneventful we went to the beach for the day. it was amazing to be here though to see a nation-state, a people come together and wholly mourn over those they have lost. You feel the sense of loyalty, fraternity, and patriotism just by being here.
The real fun started that night. When the clock stroke 6 the mourning was officially over… and Israel was 60!!! When the close stroke 12 Kyla was 21!!! So the girls and I went to Sushi Republic for a birthday celebration, Israel at a strapping 60 and Kyla at a youthful 21. Dinner was great, everyone had a blast, and my friends loved Raechel and Kira’s company. I was so happy to have her here. After dinner we all headed over to Florentine (same place we were for Purim). The street was packed, Israeli flags (as with most of the city) covering every inch of the place. hundreds of people Jews, all in pure bliss. It was unreal. And in the middle of the madness, a guy steps out of his apartment looking down onto the chaotic street and takes out his massive Shofar. For the next ten minutes everyone was silent while he blew it. Only in Israel. Only in Israel.
The next day, May 8, we headed over to the beach for an air and sea show. Another mod of people, just waiting to see their armed forces perform. The respect, empathy, and heroism, the patriotism, well it’s refreshing. The show was incredible, also impressive. But even more awesome were the cheers, the claps, from ages 1-100. Everyone in unison celebrating the country they love so dearly. This is why I came abroad to Israel.
This week was important for me, impressive. Israel and Israelis it’s an amazing thing. A people, a nation, a state that has suffered so much, endured so much, but still has the spirit, the determination not only to survive but to leave its mark. A country, so small you can hardly see it on a map, but with a soul so large. Larger than life. it reminds you of how proud you are to be a Jew, how proud you are to be apart of something so special.
To say the least, Am Yisrael Chai
Walk like and Egyptian
Sara’s brother, Zac, decided to visit, his flight got in on April 29. The two of them decided to go to Egypt that following weekend, and Sara invited Ariana and me. I had an inclination my father would say yes this time (being that he was very against it in the past) considering that Sara’s brother is in the US Navy. I figured my dad would feel safer under those circumstances, so I decided to give it a try. It my semi-surprise the parentals said yes! We were on our way to the pyramids.
You see, the thing is that there are two things on this planet I have always wanted to see (well there’s more than 2, but 2 specifically that were at the top of the list). Guess what they are…the Taj and yes, the Pyramids!!!
That Thursday, May 1, after class Ariana and I took the 5-hour bus ride down to Eilat, Sara and her brother flew. We got there late at night and passed out.
The next day, May 2, we woke up at 5:45am and headed right to the Taba border. Once we crossed we got in a small van and had a 5-hour drive through the Sinai to Cairo. I was not nearly as nervous as I had been in Jordan, I think this was due to the fact that Zac was with us, and that we used the same tour company so I had a bit of trust in them. also, with us at all times was a security guard. Apparently, all American, Canadian, and Japanese tourists are required to have a body guard with them at all times. See tourism in Egypt is important, it supports a large portion of their economy, inasmuch they could not afford to have anything happen.
When we arrived in Cairo I was surprised as to how clean it was, everyone kept telling us how disgusting and dirty the place was, but it was equally as clean as India’s upper class neighborhoods. Yet, just as my thoughts were a-churning, Ariana came out with her own, that Cairo was not clean at all. Apparently Sara and I have greatly lowered our sanitary standards after our 2-week excursion.
Our first stop was the Museum of Cairo. We walked around for 2 hours and looked at tons of historical artifacts, I must say the most impressive was the mummy of Ramses II, the Pharaoh that held the Jews as the slaves, the Pharaoh from Exodus. The guy still had nails, and several strands of white hair. He looked gross, but was still intact it was incredible. And still while I was looking at him I felt this sense of disgust, disgust for enslaving the Jews…call me over protective, call me proud, call me crazy, I cant help it.
While in the museum we also saw the mask commonly associated with King Tut, you know the gold head with the blue headband crown. Replicas are featured in all the Hollywood blockbusters concerning ancient Egypt. We also got to see the chair that King Tut sat on. It was beautiful.
After the museum we were starving so we went to a place for lunch, the restaurant was in Giza, where the pyramids are, a 20-minute car ride from the center of the bustling city. At that point we got a glimpse of the pyramids…soooo cool! I was so excited to feast my eyes on those beasts, but I would have to wait till tomorrow to get up-close and personal, after lunch we went to a papyrus factory and saw how the paper was made. The guy that did the demonstration has a huge black circle on the top of his forehead. It looks like ash, but it’s a mark that develops after years of praying, after years of hitting your head on the mat as you bow to Allah. a lot of men sported them. talk about cultural differences.
I wasn’t too into the papyrus making, I just wanted to see the pyramids to be honest. After we saw the demonstration we headed to the hotel for an hour and a half of down time. at 6:30 we were getting picked up to go on a cruise along the Nile.
The Nile cruise was cool because, well, we were on the Nile River!!!! But there were no reeds around, no papyrus baskets with baby Moses’s or anything like that, the days of exodus are long gone to say the least. Rather I got to see every 5 star hotel in Cairo, since they all have real estate along the river, I'm talking four seasons, Hilton, Sheraton, crown plaza, you name it, it was there (although I'm not sure about the Ritz).
On the cruise we had dinner (very mediocre) and dessert (borderline gross), and watched a belly dancer do her thing. The music was too loud of any kind of social conversation so we headed upstairs to the deck to hang out. That’s where it all went down. Our body guard for the day, Muhammad, fell in love with Sara, let me rephrase, fell in love with Sara’s looks, her beautiful blonde hair and crystal blue eyes really gave her a unique twist. before she knew it he proposed and handed her his necklace, his family heirloom. The poor girl had no idea what to do and clearly Ari and I weren’t about to do her dirt work. The rest of the evening (all 10 minutes of it since the boat was close to the dock) was kind of awkward while we girls decided on the best way of returning the heirloom. When we got to the hotel that night Sara simply handed it back.
I was excited for bed that night, tomorrow: PYRAMIDS!
The next morning, May 3, our tour guide (who was not nearly as great as Ali, our tour guide in India) picked us up at the hotel. 20 minutes later there they were in all their glory, right in front of our faces, we could see them from the bottom to the very top, AMAZING.
We all got out of the car and started exploring the first victim, the great pyramid, the largest of the three. It was unreal, its size was gargantuan. And standing there I got the chills, the same chills I get when at the Kotel. Jews built these I thought. Wow. At that moment our tour guide started talking and explained how the Jews didn’t build the pyramids. Yadda yadda yadda. Ari started asking some complicated question about who did build them, how much they were paid, how they were build and the guys had no answers. All he knew was that the Jews didn’t build them, the Egyptians did. Remember, Israel and Egypt share a cold peace. Just because they have an agreement doesn’t meant they are friends, and that doesn’t mean Egyptians recognize or respect them, clearly! We took tons of pictures, walk up the pyramids, touched the boulders (which were as tall as Ari), and just relished in the moment. After we went to see a view of the three pyramids all lined up and then of the second one. They were really spectacular, utterly amazing, and reminded me how proud I was to be Jewish to be apart of a minority with such a he voice and a bigger heart.
After the pyramids we went to see the sphinx, which was also very impressive. There, Ari asked who carved the rock, the face, the headdress, the long arms, and our tour guides answer, “it was here, it came like this”. He refused to believe that while the rock may have been there man carved the statue! Imagine that.
Surrounding the sphinx and pyramids, these two amazing representations of history, is, what else? American commercialism, Pizza Hut and KFC. Haha. It was too much.
After being blown away by the pyramids we went to an oil shop. Sara and I both bought an oil called lotus flower, which smells delicious. Following we headed to an old church and a synagogue in Cairo, synagogue Ben Ezra. While most of the Jewish population had left Cairo it was still comforting to walk into a Shul. I prayed before we left, imagine praying at a Shul in an Arab country, unreal! We ended the day by walking along the Bazaar in Cairo. It looked like a smaller version of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.
At around 4:00 we got in the van for our 5-hour bus ride back to Eilat.
The next day, May 4, Ari and I stayed in Eilat, we went to the beach and hung out. It was a great way to end an amazing weekend.
You see, the thing is that there are two things on this planet I have always wanted to see (well there’s more than 2, but 2 specifically that were at the top of the list). Guess what they are…the Taj and yes, the Pyramids!!!
That Thursday, May 1, after class Ariana and I took the 5-hour bus ride down to Eilat, Sara and her brother flew. We got there late at night and passed out.
The next day, May 2, we woke up at 5:45am and headed right to the Taba border. Once we crossed we got in a small van and had a 5-hour drive through the Sinai to Cairo. I was not nearly as nervous as I had been in Jordan, I think this was due to the fact that Zac was with us, and that we used the same tour company so I had a bit of trust in them. also, with us at all times was a security guard. Apparently, all American, Canadian, and Japanese tourists are required to have a body guard with them at all times. See tourism in Egypt is important, it supports a large portion of their economy, inasmuch they could not afford to have anything happen.
When we arrived in Cairo I was surprised as to how clean it was, everyone kept telling us how disgusting and dirty the place was, but it was equally as clean as India’s upper class neighborhoods. Yet, just as my thoughts were a-churning, Ariana came out with her own, that Cairo was not clean at all. Apparently Sara and I have greatly lowered our sanitary standards after our 2-week excursion.
Our first stop was the Museum of Cairo. We walked around for 2 hours and looked at tons of historical artifacts, I must say the most impressive was the mummy of Ramses II, the Pharaoh that held the Jews as the slaves, the Pharaoh from Exodus. The guy still had nails, and several strands of white hair. He looked gross, but was still intact it was incredible. And still while I was looking at him I felt this sense of disgust, disgust for enslaving the Jews…call me over protective, call me proud, call me crazy, I cant help it.
While in the museum we also saw the mask commonly associated with King Tut, you know the gold head with the blue headband crown. Replicas are featured in all the Hollywood blockbusters concerning ancient Egypt. We also got to see the chair that King Tut sat on. It was beautiful.
After the museum we were starving so we went to a place for lunch, the restaurant was in Giza, where the pyramids are, a 20-minute car ride from the center of the bustling city. At that point we got a glimpse of the pyramids…soooo cool! I was so excited to feast my eyes on those beasts, but I would have to wait till tomorrow to get up-close and personal, after lunch we went to a papyrus factory and saw how the paper was made. The guy that did the demonstration has a huge black circle on the top of his forehead. It looks like ash, but it’s a mark that develops after years of praying, after years of hitting your head on the mat as you bow to Allah. a lot of men sported them. talk about cultural differences.
I wasn’t too into the papyrus making, I just wanted to see the pyramids to be honest. After we saw the demonstration we headed to the hotel for an hour and a half of down time. at 6:30 we were getting picked up to go on a cruise along the Nile.
The Nile cruise was cool because, well, we were on the Nile River!!!! But there were no reeds around, no papyrus baskets with baby Moses’s or anything like that, the days of exodus are long gone to say the least. Rather I got to see every 5 star hotel in Cairo, since they all have real estate along the river, I'm talking four seasons, Hilton, Sheraton, crown plaza, you name it, it was there (although I'm not sure about the Ritz).
On the cruise we had dinner (very mediocre) and dessert (borderline gross), and watched a belly dancer do her thing. The music was too loud of any kind of social conversation so we headed upstairs to the deck to hang out. That’s where it all went down. Our body guard for the day, Muhammad, fell in love with Sara, let me rephrase, fell in love with Sara’s looks, her beautiful blonde hair and crystal blue eyes really gave her a unique twist. before she knew it he proposed and handed her his necklace, his family heirloom. The poor girl had no idea what to do and clearly Ari and I weren’t about to do her dirt work. The rest of the evening (all 10 minutes of it since the boat was close to the dock) was kind of awkward while we girls decided on the best way of returning the heirloom. When we got to the hotel that night Sara simply handed it back.
I was excited for bed that night, tomorrow: PYRAMIDS!
The next morning, May 3, our tour guide (who was not nearly as great as Ali, our tour guide in India) picked us up at the hotel. 20 minutes later there they were in all their glory, right in front of our faces, we could see them from the bottom to the very top, AMAZING.
We all got out of the car and started exploring the first victim, the great pyramid, the largest of the three. It was unreal, its size was gargantuan. And standing there I got the chills, the same chills I get when at the Kotel. Jews built these I thought. Wow. At that moment our tour guide started talking and explained how the Jews didn’t build the pyramids. Yadda yadda yadda. Ari started asking some complicated question about who did build them, how much they were paid, how they were build and the guys had no answers. All he knew was that the Jews didn’t build them, the Egyptians did. Remember, Israel and Egypt share a cold peace. Just because they have an agreement doesn’t meant they are friends, and that doesn’t mean Egyptians recognize or respect them, clearly! We took tons of pictures, walk up the pyramids, touched the boulders (which were as tall as Ari), and just relished in the moment. After we went to see a view of the three pyramids all lined up and then of the second one. They were really spectacular, utterly amazing, and reminded me how proud I was to be Jewish to be apart of a minority with such a he voice and a bigger heart.
After the pyramids we went to see the sphinx, which was also very impressive. There, Ari asked who carved the rock, the face, the headdress, the long arms, and our tour guides answer, “it was here, it came like this”. He refused to believe that while the rock may have been there man carved the statue! Imagine that.
Surrounding the sphinx and pyramids, these two amazing representations of history, is, what else? American commercialism, Pizza Hut and KFC. Haha. It was too much.
After being blown away by the pyramids we went to an oil shop. Sara and I both bought an oil called lotus flower, which smells delicious. Following we headed to an old church and a synagogue in Cairo, synagogue Ben Ezra. While most of the Jewish population had left Cairo it was still comforting to walk into a Shul. I prayed before we left, imagine praying at a Shul in an Arab country, unreal! We ended the day by walking along the Bazaar in Cairo. It looked like a smaller version of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.
At around 4:00 we got in the van for our 5-hour bus ride back to Eilat.
The next day, May 4, Ari and I stayed in Eilat, we went to the beach and hung out. It was a great way to end an amazing weekend.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Udairpur and Delhi, our last days
The next day, April 21, I was still not feeling so hot and Sara had a pretty upset stomach so we decided to cut our trip a little short, rather than spending 2 days in Udaipur we would just spend one, and we eliminated Jodhpur all together. So, for our one and only day in Udaipur we started off with brunch at a heritage house (a fairly nice hotel), Agit Jahwan. We hardly ate, but we did have a great view of the city’s lake.
After breakfast we decided to see some sights. We started with the city palace, it was very unimpressive. We then walked around a little looking at some shops, but at that point we really were exhausted, and shopped out! Inasmuch, we got into an auto rickshaw (a taxi) and asked to go to the Hilton!
This was our first experience in a “nice” hotel while on this adventure. The hotel was beautiful, we manicured gardens, an infinity pool, and the service, well the service was enough to stay the night, but then again we weren’t guests. Oops. Haha rather, Sara and I went to the salon where I got a $6 manicure. Yup, just 6 bucks!
After our afternoon excursion to a 5 star hotel we were ready to return to our dump of a place. we wanted henna before we left the country and the hotel manager told us his sister did it, so we went over to his house and hung out while she put the henna paint on us. Meanwhile, the electricity kept coming in and out, none of them spoke English, and oh, did I mention the cow that put up shop outside the front door?
After henna we headed back, and passed out.
The next day we drove 13.5 hours back to Delhi. We got in around 8 pm, showered, and again passed out.
The next morning, April 23rd, we woke up and I had an email from my father of a list of more upper class shopping areas in Delhi. Since Sara and I had only seen one side of India, the lower and lower middle class, my dad wanted us to get another perspective. India is a country of 1 billion people and a growing economy, not all of them are poor, although poverty is clearly a huge issue. Sara and I chose the one closest to the hotel, Ansal Place, and headed over. We spent out afternoon going in and out of commercial stores, some we have in the US others we don’t. everyone spoke English, they were polite by western standards, and didn’t through their trash on the ground when they were done but in a wastebasket, can you imagine that, there were garbage cans! It was “clean” India, who knew it existed. all in all it was a great day, a perfect way to end our 2-week journey.
Later that same afternoon we returned to our hotel, packed up and called it an early night, a car would be picking us up at 4:00 am in order for us to catch our 7:30 flight back to Israel.
The next morning, April 24th, Sara and I were in for a full 23 hours of traveling. In the Delhi airport, we happened to sit across from this guy who had an uncanny resemblance to Osama bin Laden, clearly not him, but still very creepy. Sara, being the bold blonde she is asked the crew of three where they were headed, and their replied: “Afghanistan”. That was a huge wakeup call for me. At that moment I thought to myself, wow people actually go there!?!?! the world is so small yet so vast at the same time.
In the airport I was feeling pretty lousy, I almost got sick on the customs official, that was fun. At that point I just wanted to get on the plane and get the hell out of there! final boarding! Only 4 hours to our next stop Bahrain, that quaint island right next to SAUDI ARABIA!
When we got to Bahrain I was feeling pretty lousy so I decided to look for some medicine to ease my stomach. I was directed to the airport doctor, yes they had a doctor in the airport. He told me I had a bacterial infection and if it didn’t pass by the next day o go to the hospital, because it could be cholera. he said I had low blood pressure and needed an IV. I refused to have one not feeling comfortable there. instead he gave me the generic form of Gatorade and sent me on my way.
Leaving Bahrain, we had a 2-hour flight into Jordan, from Jordan we had a 4-hour bus ride to Tel Aviv. I thought the day would never end, getting to the dorm that night I put my stuff down and walked over to the supermarket to by water. The Gatorade stuff was disgusting tasting, but I needed my liquids.
Every two hours that night my mom would wake me up to remind me to drink. The next morning Ariana woke me up to see how i was feeling. it had been three weeks since i had seen her and i was beyong elated! i wasnt feeling that great but we decided to go to the grocery store to pick up some thing.
walking into the grocery store in Israel during Pesach, is amazing. They covered up all the chamozet, all of it! they only sold kosher for Pesach goods it was incredible! it reminded me of how incredible this country, a Jewish state is.
After the grocery, I was feeling horrible so I got to the hospital, 2 IVs, 2 antibiotics, and 10 days later I was still feeling a little woozy. The hospital said this kind of infection is common among travelers coming from India, and that it needs to take its course. It did, 2 weeks later I was finally losing some of the effects.
Regardless, looking back on my time, I am so happy I went to India. I learned so much, saw so much, and came out a more complicated individual, more humble, more concerned, more aware, and most of all prouder to be an American. Looking back on it I would go back. Their culture, while annoying (being that they try to rip you off and talk to you every chance you get!) is still friendly, the religion is so unique, off the radar almost, away from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Hinduism is different, refreshing, interesting. Their way of life is the yang to America’s yin almost. It’s the opposite of western culture, the antithesis almost, but somehow it works for them. The fun part was watching how.
After breakfast we decided to see some sights. We started with the city palace, it was very unimpressive. We then walked around a little looking at some shops, but at that point we really were exhausted, and shopped out! Inasmuch, we got into an auto rickshaw (a taxi) and asked to go to the Hilton!
This was our first experience in a “nice” hotel while on this adventure. The hotel was beautiful, we manicured gardens, an infinity pool, and the service, well the service was enough to stay the night, but then again we weren’t guests. Oops. Haha rather, Sara and I went to the salon where I got a $6 manicure. Yup, just 6 bucks!
After our afternoon excursion to a 5 star hotel we were ready to return to our dump of a place. we wanted henna before we left the country and the hotel manager told us his sister did it, so we went over to his house and hung out while she put the henna paint on us. Meanwhile, the electricity kept coming in and out, none of them spoke English, and oh, did I mention the cow that put up shop outside the front door?
After henna we headed back, and passed out.
The next day we drove 13.5 hours back to Delhi. We got in around 8 pm, showered, and again passed out.
The next morning, April 23rd, we woke up and I had an email from my father of a list of more upper class shopping areas in Delhi. Since Sara and I had only seen one side of India, the lower and lower middle class, my dad wanted us to get another perspective. India is a country of 1 billion people and a growing economy, not all of them are poor, although poverty is clearly a huge issue. Sara and I chose the one closest to the hotel, Ansal Place, and headed over. We spent out afternoon going in and out of commercial stores, some we have in the US others we don’t. everyone spoke English, they were polite by western standards, and didn’t through their trash on the ground when they were done but in a wastebasket, can you imagine that, there were garbage cans! It was “clean” India, who knew it existed. all in all it was a great day, a perfect way to end our 2-week journey.
Later that same afternoon we returned to our hotel, packed up and called it an early night, a car would be picking us up at 4:00 am in order for us to catch our 7:30 flight back to Israel.
The next morning, April 24th, Sara and I were in for a full 23 hours of traveling. In the Delhi airport, we happened to sit across from this guy who had an uncanny resemblance to Osama bin Laden, clearly not him, but still very creepy. Sara, being the bold blonde she is asked the crew of three where they were headed, and their replied: “Afghanistan”. That was a huge wakeup call for me. At that moment I thought to myself, wow people actually go there!?!?! the world is so small yet so vast at the same time.
In the airport I was feeling pretty lousy, I almost got sick on the customs official, that was fun. At that point I just wanted to get on the plane and get the hell out of there! final boarding! Only 4 hours to our next stop Bahrain, that quaint island right next to SAUDI ARABIA!
When we got to Bahrain I was feeling pretty lousy so I decided to look for some medicine to ease my stomach. I was directed to the airport doctor, yes they had a doctor in the airport. He told me I had a bacterial infection and if it didn’t pass by the next day o go to the hospital, because it could be cholera. he said I had low blood pressure and needed an IV. I refused to have one not feeling comfortable there. instead he gave me the generic form of Gatorade and sent me on my way.
Leaving Bahrain, we had a 2-hour flight into Jordan, from Jordan we had a 4-hour bus ride to Tel Aviv. I thought the day would never end, getting to the dorm that night I put my stuff down and walked over to the supermarket to by water. The Gatorade stuff was disgusting tasting, but I needed my liquids.
Every two hours that night my mom would wake me up to remind me to drink. The next morning Ariana woke me up to see how i was feeling. it had been three weeks since i had seen her and i was beyong elated! i wasnt feeling that great but we decided to go to the grocery store to pick up some thing.
walking into the grocery store in Israel during Pesach, is amazing. They covered up all the chamozet, all of it! they only sold kosher for Pesach goods it was incredible! it reminded me of how incredible this country, a Jewish state is.
After the grocery, I was feeling horrible so I got to the hospital, 2 IVs, 2 antibiotics, and 10 days later I was still feeling a little woozy. The hospital said this kind of infection is common among travelers coming from India, and that it needs to take its course. It did, 2 weeks later I was finally losing some of the effects.
Regardless, looking back on my time, I am so happy I went to India. I learned so much, saw so much, and came out a more complicated individual, more humble, more concerned, more aware, and most of all prouder to be an American. Looking back on it I would go back. Their culture, while annoying (being that they try to rip you off and talk to you every chance you get!) is still friendly, the religion is so unique, off the radar almost, away from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Hinduism is different, refreshing, interesting. Their way of life is the yang to America’s yin almost. It’s the opposite of western culture, the antithesis almost, but somehow it works for them. The fun part was watching how.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Pushkar: Little Israel
Day 9- april 21- udaipur still sick brinch at and shopping arounf, city palace and heena at night
Day 10- april 22- drive back to delhi (22 hours)
April 23- day 11- upper class delhi shopping and amazment
Day 12 April 24- back home- doctor in Bahrain sick long trek back to TA
We got to Pushkar, or should I say little Israel around 12:30. Pushkar’s small town, full rooftop restaurants, and is another mini shopping paradise. It’s a Hindu pilgrimage town surrounded by a holy lake, housing some odd 400 temples. It’s a religious town prohibiting all alcohol, meat, and dairy, even eggs, completely vegetarian, and is home to a slew of priests ensuring the dietary laws are kept. The place was full of Israelis, there were so many Israelis even the local’s spoke Hebrew, menus were in Hebrew, signs were in Hebrew…little Israel much? It was unreal. Everywhere else we got by telling people we were from Israel (they give Israelis cheaper prices, like I said USA and dollar signs flash), but in Pushkar we were out of luck, if we said we were from Israel the shopkeepers would start speaking to us in Hebrew. My Hebrew is not that great to begin with, neither is Sara’s, couple my limited vocabulary with a thick Hindi accent and I was completely lost.
In Pushkar we checked into Hotel Oasis. It was a nice place, by Indian standards. There were two clocks in the entranceway, one reading Indian time and the other reading, obviously, reading Israeli time. The keyboard for the computers had both English and Hebrew letters, at first the whole thing was bazaar, but cool, oddly enough, we quickly got used to it.
Our room had a TV, yeah that’s right a TV! When we got settled in I turned it on to see what Indian TV was like. I flipped through the channels and found Hindi MTV; it was hysterical, loaded with Bollywood films and scandalous music videos. Sara and I had it on every time we were in the room and just laughed and laughed, it was almost as if they were trying to hard to impersonate Americans. Everyone that was interviewed mentioned the US, every other comment was about America this or America that. I guess the whole superpower thing really comes into play when you leave homebase.
We didn’t stay in the room long at that point we figured we only had one day there we had to walk around and get a feel for the town. There is only one very significant sight in Pushkar; it is home to one of the few Brahma Temples in the world. We checked it out it was a tall white building, with delicate detail, but compared to some of the other sights we had seen it was not nearly as impressive. On the outskirts of the temple were priests, chanting their prayers, it reminded me of Hairy Krishna’s that walk down Lincoln Road on Saturday nights. Watching them pray was different. Afterward we went shopping, by shopping I mean we walked in to every shop, shop to shop. Actually, the shopping here was more fun, less harassment, but they were tougher bargainers. One even turned us down we were shocked. Serves us right I guess.
We got back to the hotel around 6 o’clock after a full day of walking around. We both went over to use the computers and sitting next to us was a religious Jew. We started talking to him and it turned out he was a Rabbi, Rabbi Shimon, he ran a Chabad house that was just across the street. He asked us all about our travels and invited us for dinner, and for Pesach Seder. He said that he rarely used to computers at our hotel since the Chabad house had Internet and that our meeting was meant to be. We were meant to meet him so that he could offer us an invitation for Pesach and Shabbos. Sara doesn’t buy into that kind of stuff, but I agreed with him. I don’t think situations like that are so coincidental. Its not everyday you see a religious Jewish man walking the streets of India, I can tell you that much.
After he was done with the computer we went across the street with him to eat. Him, his wife, and their five kids all lived there, along with two other members of the Chabad community from Tzfat who were just there for 7 months, after which, two other members would take there place and stay for another period of 7 months. The children were born there and him and his wife had been living there for the last 7 years. They were 32. He hated it in India. I asked him how much longer he had to live there for until he could go back to Israel, his response: “until the Moshiach comes”. Wow, I didn’t know what to say. His life was dedicated to providing a Chabad house, a place to pray, a place to go, for Jewish travelers like myself, his life was dedicated to HaShem, he was entirely selfless. Dinner was great! The food was wonderful. Actually I don’t know if the food tasted so good or if it was just the fact that the company was so refreshing. The kids were so cute, ages 10, 9, 5, 3, and 1. There were two girls and three boys. The place had a few Israelis around, after dinner we helped chop walnuts for the Charoset on Pesach (which was just two nights away). We hung out there till around midnight. We loved it. We met great people, they mainly spoke Hebrew, but a few spoke English with us, specifically a guy named Hagay and a girl named Allyah, Hagay had been in India for 3 months already and Allyah just for 2 weeks. Typically Israelis travel after they finish their term in the army and they will stay for months, many go to India.
When we left we were invited to Shabbat dinner the next night and of course Pesach Seder the following night. I did not think we would have the opportunity to have Seder considering we were in India, and this opportunity was too good to give up, so Sara and I decided to extend our stay in Pushkar 2 extra days.
When we left the Chabad house it was like culture shock all over again, being surrounded by Hebrew and Israelis for 4 hours brought us back to the Promised Land. When we left the security inside it was back the chaotic streets, the cows, the harassment, and the dirt, the poverty: India. For one, there were a crowd of people with lanterns walking down the main road, all dressed up, all singing, at the end of the string of people was a man on a white horse, we was the groom, Sara and I were witnessing a Hindi Wedding. We watched him ride on horse back up to the temple where he would meet his bride. It was so culturally different, check! Another experience under our belts.
The next day was Friday; we decided to sleep in since the previous day we had pretty much seen all of Pushkar. We got out and about around 12pm. Our first stop was the lake to see the holy bathers in the water. It just so happened to be a holiday so there were tons of people around. Right when you walk in the priests bombard you giving you flowers to throw in the lake. The catch is right after you throw the flower, which has some form of religious symbolism; they hit you up for a couple of rupees. They then say a prayer on your behalf and put a red dot in the middle of your eyes, symbolizing a third eye. After they put rice in the center of the dot and tie a pink string around your right wrist. All done without explanation…donations required for their services. I didn’t feel comfortable going through the process, I know they say when in Rome…but still I’m a Jew I don’t walk in to a church and take the sacrament, why should I allow rice to be stuck to my red third eye? I politely told the priests no thank you that I was just an observer. This did not make them happy…nope not at all, and they kicked us out. As the Israeli’s say “ain baya” (no problem). Sara and I then stopped for lunch on one of the rooftop restaurants. Pushkar was infested with flies; they were everywhere so it took a few attempts until we found a fly free zone. We ordered cooked red lentils and white rice. The food was just ok. Afterward we headed back to Hotel Oasis, we ran into Hagay along the way and all decided to hang out. After an hour of chit chatting Sara and I were due for a siesta. We woke up 4 hours later…just in time for Shabbat!
We crossed the street and walked into the Chabad house, meal two there. We were slowly becoming regulars; Hagay went there for every meal pretty much. They all took a really strong liking to us. Rabbi Shimon did the Kiddush in Hebrew, but Hagay translated it for us into English. I was mostly excited for Sara, I had been to a Shabbat dinner at a Chabad house before, I mean never in India clearly but I knew the prayers and was raised around Jewish tradition, culture, and religion, while she wasn’t as much.
After the prayers the wine was passed around and the food was served! We talked the whole night as we had the night before. We shared traveling stories, talked about Israel, about India, about the US, war, politics, Judaism, love, relationships, children, Pushkar, religion, the Middle East, on and on and on it was wonderful. The Chabad made my experience in Pushkar. I was so excited for the next night…Seder!
The next day we really had nothing to do. We woke up went to a rooftop restaurant called Baba’s (which means father in Hindi), shared some Indian food, went back to the hotel and napped. I mean I guess that’s what you’re supposed to do on Shabbos. We got up in time to shower and get ready for Seder.
We got there a little early to help Zelda, the Rabbis wife, set up. An hour after we showed the place was packed; literally there were probably 40 Israelis there. We all sat together, and for my first time at a Seder I actually had 4 glasses of wine. Seder wasn’t too long only 2 hours and what I found interesting was how they used boiled potato as karpas rather than parsley which my mother uses. The rabbi said either one is appropriate its all about tradition.
The rabbi told the story of Pesach, again Hagay translated for us, some of the guests asked questions and sparked up controversial conversation. A few debates spurred up but all in good fun. I couldn’t of asked for a better night. If I had to be away from my family for Seder, which on that night I did, I really could not of wanted anything more. It was good company.
The food was not as good as the previous nights. Since there is no meat or chicken allowed in Pushkar, and these were Ashkenazi Jews, so no rice, potatoes were the main course, there were boiled potatoes and mashed potatoes…take your pick. Needless to say, I cannot even think about eating a potato after that meal. But again, it was all about the company. The only place I went wrong was with desert. The night before, at Shabbat dinner they served a fruit salad, I ate it. The food at the Chabad house was clean it was inspected by Zelda and the guests every night for the next days meal, and prepared appropriately. The fruit salad hadn’t given me any problems so I figured why not eat it, its fine…baddd choice (ill get there in a minute). After the Seder was done and it was time to go, they invited us back the next night, they told us that the second Seder was just for family and close guests, within 2 days Sara and I had the same status as Hagay, someone who had been going there 2x a day for 14 days, we were part of the crew. We were honored, however we had to politely decline, 3 days in Pushkar was more than enough and we had more to see on our itinerary. The next day we had an 8-hour drive to southern Rajasthan to a city called Udaipur, known as the Venice of India.
When we left the Chabad we were again slapped in the face with our reality of being in India, not Tzfat. Again we saw all these men in white robes and lanterns walking down the street, this time instead of a groom on a while horse there was a body wrapped in a white sheet which a long vertical red stripe on the top. The body was hoisted up being carried by some of the men. When we got back to the hotel, the owner told us it was a funeral. The body was going to be taken to the lake where it would be burned. That was how they disposed of the corpse, not by burial, but by burning. Sara asked if anyone could go, he said that funerals were open anyone could attend. We then asked if anyone was buried, he informed us that the custom was always to burn the body. Another thing learned. Interesting.
Back to the fruit, that night I went to bed with a horrible stomachache, I figured it would pass. It was difficult to fall asleep but I finally did. When I woke up in the morning I hardly made it to the toilet and then blahhhhhhhhhhh…vomit…FOOD POISONING. I was a trooper though I took a handful of plastic bags and step by step made it down to the car. I was sick the entire day, the entire 8-hour drive, Sara was so great, she sat in the front and gave me the whole back seat to lie down, and try and sleep. After 4 hours, our driver, Mr. Singh pulled over to a pharmacy. He came back with glucose medicine. During this whole fiasco he was so kind, warm, and genuinely concerned. Sara and I completely changed our opinions about him. For the rest of the drive, while I was in between sleep and being sick Sara started talking to him, asking about his family telling him about what we were doing in Israel talking about Hindi tradition and Indian culture. Clearly, we warmed up to him. We liked him.
I made it alive to Udaipur. Sara checked into the hotel for us, hotel Udai Niwas, and I went up to the room and passed out. I was beat, and still felt horrible.
Day 10- april 22- drive back to delhi (22 hours)
April 23- day 11- upper class delhi shopping and amazment
Day 12 April 24- back home- doctor in Bahrain sick long trek back to TA
We got to Pushkar, or should I say little Israel around 12:30. Pushkar’s small town, full rooftop restaurants, and is another mini shopping paradise. It’s a Hindu pilgrimage town surrounded by a holy lake, housing some odd 400 temples. It’s a religious town prohibiting all alcohol, meat, and dairy, even eggs, completely vegetarian, and is home to a slew of priests ensuring the dietary laws are kept. The place was full of Israelis, there were so many Israelis even the local’s spoke Hebrew, menus were in Hebrew, signs were in Hebrew…little Israel much? It was unreal. Everywhere else we got by telling people we were from Israel (they give Israelis cheaper prices, like I said USA and dollar signs flash), but in Pushkar we were out of luck, if we said we were from Israel the shopkeepers would start speaking to us in Hebrew. My Hebrew is not that great to begin with, neither is Sara’s, couple my limited vocabulary with a thick Hindi accent and I was completely lost.
In Pushkar we checked into Hotel Oasis. It was a nice place, by Indian standards. There were two clocks in the entranceway, one reading Indian time and the other reading, obviously, reading Israeli time. The keyboard for the computers had both English and Hebrew letters, at first the whole thing was bazaar, but cool, oddly enough, we quickly got used to it.
Our room had a TV, yeah that’s right a TV! When we got settled in I turned it on to see what Indian TV was like. I flipped through the channels and found Hindi MTV; it was hysterical, loaded with Bollywood films and scandalous music videos. Sara and I had it on every time we were in the room and just laughed and laughed, it was almost as if they were trying to hard to impersonate Americans. Everyone that was interviewed mentioned the US, every other comment was about America this or America that. I guess the whole superpower thing really comes into play when you leave homebase.
We didn’t stay in the room long at that point we figured we only had one day there we had to walk around and get a feel for the town. There is only one very significant sight in Pushkar; it is home to one of the few Brahma Temples in the world. We checked it out it was a tall white building, with delicate detail, but compared to some of the other sights we had seen it was not nearly as impressive. On the outskirts of the temple were priests, chanting their prayers, it reminded me of Hairy Krishna’s that walk down Lincoln Road on Saturday nights. Watching them pray was different. Afterward we went shopping, by shopping I mean we walked in to every shop, shop to shop. Actually, the shopping here was more fun, less harassment, but they were tougher bargainers. One even turned us down we were shocked. Serves us right I guess.
We got back to the hotel around 6 o’clock after a full day of walking around. We both went over to use the computers and sitting next to us was a religious Jew. We started talking to him and it turned out he was a Rabbi, Rabbi Shimon, he ran a Chabad house that was just across the street. He asked us all about our travels and invited us for dinner, and for Pesach Seder. He said that he rarely used to computers at our hotel since the Chabad house had Internet and that our meeting was meant to be. We were meant to meet him so that he could offer us an invitation for Pesach and Shabbos. Sara doesn’t buy into that kind of stuff, but I agreed with him. I don’t think situations like that are so coincidental. Its not everyday you see a religious Jewish man walking the streets of India, I can tell you that much.
After he was done with the computer we went across the street with him to eat. Him, his wife, and their five kids all lived there, along with two other members of the Chabad community from Tzfat who were just there for 7 months, after which, two other members would take there place and stay for another period of 7 months. The children were born there and him and his wife had been living there for the last 7 years. They were 32. He hated it in India. I asked him how much longer he had to live there for until he could go back to Israel, his response: “until the Moshiach comes”. Wow, I didn’t know what to say. His life was dedicated to providing a Chabad house, a place to pray, a place to go, for Jewish travelers like myself, his life was dedicated to HaShem, he was entirely selfless. Dinner was great! The food was wonderful. Actually I don’t know if the food tasted so good or if it was just the fact that the company was so refreshing. The kids were so cute, ages 10, 9, 5, 3, and 1. There were two girls and three boys. The place had a few Israelis around, after dinner we helped chop walnuts for the Charoset on Pesach (which was just two nights away). We hung out there till around midnight. We loved it. We met great people, they mainly spoke Hebrew, but a few spoke English with us, specifically a guy named Hagay and a girl named Allyah, Hagay had been in India for 3 months already and Allyah just for 2 weeks. Typically Israelis travel after they finish their term in the army and they will stay for months, many go to India.
When we left we were invited to Shabbat dinner the next night and of course Pesach Seder the following night. I did not think we would have the opportunity to have Seder considering we were in India, and this opportunity was too good to give up, so Sara and I decided to extend our stay in Pushkar 2 extra days.
When we left the Chabad house it was like culture shock all over again, being surrounded by Hebrew and Israelis for 4 hours brought us back to the Promised Land. When we left the security inside it was back the chaotic streets, the cows, the harassment, and the dirt, the poverty: India. For one, there were a crowd of people with lanterns walking down the main road, all dressed up, all singing, at the end of the string of people was a man on a white horse, we was the groom, Sara and I were witnessing a Hindi Wedding. We watched him ride on horse back up to the temple where he would meet his bride. It was so culturally different, check! Another experience under our belts.
The next day was Friday; we decided to sleep in since the previous day we had pretty much seen all of Pushkar. We got out and about around 12pm. Our first stop was the lake to see the holy bathers in the water. It just so happened to be a holiday so there were tons of people around. Right when you walk in the priests bombard you giving you flowers to throw in the lake. The catch is right after you throw the flower, which has some form of religious symbolism; they hit you up for a couple of rupees. They then say a prayer on your behalf and put a red dot in the middle of your eyes, symbolizing a third eye. After they put rice in the center of the dot and tie a pink string around your right wrist. All done without explanation…donations required for their services. I didn’t feel comfortable going through the process, I know they say when in Rome…but still I’m a Jew I don’t walk in to a church and take the sacrament, why should I allow rice to be stuck to my red third eye? I politely told the priests no thank you that I was just an observer. This did not make them happy…nope not at all, and they kicked us out. As the Israeli’s say “ain baya” (no problem). Sara and I then stopped for lunch on one of the rooftop restaurants. Pushkar was infested with flies; they were everywhere so it took a few attempts until we found a fly free zone. We ordered cooked red lentils and white rice. The food was just ok. Afterward we headed back to Hotel Oasis, we ran into Hagay along the way and all decided to hang out. After an hour of chit chatting Sara and I were due for a siesta. We woke up 4 hours later…just in time for Shabbat!
We crossed the street and walked into the Chabad house, meal two there. We were slowly becoming regulars; Hagay went there for every meal pretty much. They all took a really strong liking to us. Rabbi Shimon did the Kiddush in Hebrew, but Hagay translated it for us into English. I was mostly excited for Sara, I had been to a Shabbat dinner at a Chabad house before, I mean never in India clearly but I knew the prayers and was raised around Jewish tradition, culture, and religion, while she wasn’t as much.
After the prayers the wine was passed around and the food was served! We talked the whole night as we had the night before. We shared traveling stories, talked about Israel, about India, about the US, war, politics, Judaism, love, relationships, children, Pushkar, religion, the Middle East, on and on and on it was wonderful. The Chabad made my experience in Pushkar. I was so excited for the next night…Seder!
The next day we really had nothing to do. We woke up went to a rooftop restaurant called Baba’s (which means father in Hindi), shared some Indian food, went back to the hotel and napped. I mean I guess that’s what you’re supposed to do on Shabbos. We got up in time to shower and get ready for Seder.
We got there a little early to help Zelda, the Rabbis wife, set up. An hour after we showed the place was packed; literally there were probably 40 Israelis there. We all sat together, and for my first time at a Seder I actually had 4 glasses of wine. Seder wasn’t too long only 2 hours and what I found interesting was how they used boiled potato as karpas rather than parsley which my mother uses. The rabbi said either one is appropriate its all about tradition.
The rabbi told the story of Pesach, again Hagay translated for us, some of the guests asked questions and sparked up controversial conversation. A few debates spurred up but all in good fun. I couldn’t of asked for a better night. If I had to be away from my family for Seder, which on that night I did, I really could not of wanted anything more. It was good company.
The food was not as good as the previous nights. Since there is no meat or chicken allowed in Pushkar, and these were Ashkenazi Jews, so no rice, potatoes were the main course, there were boiled potatoes and mashed potatoes…take your pick. Needless to say, I cannot even think about eating a potato after that meal. But again, it was all about the company. The only place I went wrong was with desert. The night before, at Shabbat dinner they served a fruit salad, I ate it. The food at the Chabad house was clean it was inspected by Zelda and the guests every night for the next days meal, and prepared appropriately. The fruit salad hadn’t given me any problems so I figured why not eat it, its fine…baddd choice (ill get there in a minute). After the Seder was done and it was time to go, they invited us back the next night, they told us that the second Seder was just for family and close guests, within 2 days Sara and I had the same status as Hagay, someone who had been going there 2x a day for 14 days, we were part of the crew. We were honored, however we had to politely decline, 3 days in Pushkar was more than enough and we had more to see on our itinerary. The next day we had an 8-hour drive to southern Rajasthan to a city called Udaipur, known as the Venice of India.
When we left the Chabad we were again slapped in the face with our reality of being in India, not Tzfat. Again we saw all these men in white robes and lanterns walking down the street, this time instead of a groom on a while horse there was a body wrapped in a white sheet which a long vertical red stripe on the top. The body was hoisted up being carried by some of the men. When we got back to the hotel, the owner told us it was a funeral. The body was going to be taken to the lake where it would be burned. That was how they disposed of the corpse, not by burial, but by burning. Sara asked if anyone could go, he said that funerals were open anyone could attend. We then asked if anyone was buried, he informed us that the custom was always to burn the body. Another thing learned. Interesting.
Back to the fruit, that night I went to bed with a horrible stomachache, I figured it would pass. It was difficult to fall asleep but I finally did. When I woke up in the morning I hardly made it to the toilet and then blahhhhhhhhhhh…vomit…FOOD POISONING. I was a trooper though I took a handful of plastic bags and step by step made it down to the car. I was sick the entire day, the entire 8-hour drive, Sara was so great, she sat in the front and gave me the whole back seat to lie down, and try and sleep. After 4 hours, our driver, Mr. Singh pulled over to a pharmacy. He came back with glucose medicine. During this whole fiasco he was so kind, warm, and genuinely concerned. Sara and I completely changed our opinions about him. For the rest of the drive, while I was in between sleep and being sick Sara started talking to him, asking about his family telling him about what we were doing in Israel talking about Hindi tradition and Indian culture. Clearly, we warmed up to him. We liked him.
I made it alive to Udaipur. Sara checked into the hotel for us, hotel Udai Niwas, and I went up to the room and passed out. I was beat, and still felt horrible.
Bargaining in Rupees: Jaipur the Peach City
The next day, April 16, we got picked up at the hotel at 9:30am. We only had one day in Jaipur and our plan was to see the sights and then shop in the bazaars. We met an American couple at the Taj Mahal who really got us excited for the shopping, the women went on and on about how much there was to choose from and how easy it was to bargain with shop owners, so, as you can imagine, after all that sightseeing in Delhi on the second day we were kind of “sightseed out”. To be perfectly honest, every fort looks the same, and every palace looked the same, and the forts kinda looked like the palaces and the palaces and a sticking resemblance to the forts. Nonetheless, we took our lonely planet book in hand and trudged on. First stop: you guessed it, Amber Fort!
Amber Fort was actually a 20 minutes drive outside of Jaipur, Amber was the ancient capital of Jaipur and the fort was more of a palace for the royal family (go figure). It was also pink (surprised?) but the actually walls of the fort were built from red sandstone and white marble looked similar to the Red Fort in Agra. Instead of walking up to the fort by foot Sara and I decided to go by Elephant. They were huge! But pretty and so gentile. These elephants were festive; their skin was painted in the front in Indian style designs. My heart went out to them because you could tell they weren’t properly treated. It seems India has no real humanitarian nor animal safety laws, for one, child labor was rampant and animal care was entirely lacking, then again, does a government that is trying to deal with such widespread poverty have time to deal with rights and liberties? Anyway, back to the topic at hand, excuse my tangents, the elephant ride, it was great we got some great pictures of the two of us hoisted up on the beast, which will look great in the photo album. It was cool to of ridden an elephant in India, but there’s not much we had to do, we kind of just sat there and the elephant did the rest, to be frank, it sounds a lot more intriguing than it really was.
25 minutes of an uphill trek the elephant safely got us to the top of the fort where the palace was. Sara and I were both pleasantly surprised. It was beautiful and huge. There were four gardens. The most striking building within the palace was definitely the Kali Temple, the walls of which were decorated in mosaic style, but rather than using tiles the mosaic pieces were mirrors. The ceilings had the same mirror mosaic art but had a different pattern, on the wall there were flowers in pots all symmetrical in lined up in rows and columns, the ceiling was also symmetrical but different circles and just rows of mirrored pieces. It was unique, unlike anything I had ever seen before, and beautiful. While we were there we saw the temple being restored since much the mirrors were chipped away and largely deteriorating, I mean the fort and palace were built in the late 1500’s. It was interesting to see the restoration, done piece of piece, little by little. Talk about tedious work, but hey everybody’s gotta pay the bills. We walked around the palace for a good hour admiring the architecture and the precision of the construction. I think when looking at these historical sights its incredible to recall that they were built before the time of rulers and proper measurements, much of the precision lies in trusting the builders vision of what appeared equal. When taken into consideration it makes it all the more astounding.
After taking it all in we walked back down dodging poop along the way, of course, I mean this is INDIA! The next site was just a brief stop it was on the way back into Jaipur coming from Agra Fort. It is called Lake Palace or Jal Mahal; it is a red sandstone building built in 1799 in the middle of the lake. It was the summer resort for the royal family and was primarily used as a station for duck-hunting parties. It was very cool, just a huge edifice sitting on top of a lake, hanging out on the water, normal? Well in India yes! There were a few buildings like this, in Pushkar and Udaipur too, just isolated in the middle of lakes. Anyway, Sara and I got out of the car snapped a couple photos and were on our way back in to Jaipur where we went to the Hawa Mahal.
The Hawa Mahal (Palace of the Winds) is apparently Jaipur’s most distinct landmark. It is pink, go figure, but the architecture is interesting, the building was built in layers akin to a huge honeycombed hive that is 5 stories tall. It too was built in 1799 in order for the women of the royal household to watch the life of the city, which explains its location in the center of all the hustle and bustle. Again here not much to see in a museum sense, just architecture.
After Hawa Mahal we went to the City Palace, which really was not impressive at all. It was dirty, not kept well, and it was interesting because the current Maharaja still lives on the grounds. We didn’t stay around long; there wasn’t much to see. This was our last stop on our sightseeing tour of Jaipur time to hit the Bazaars!
Shopping in India is not so much to buy things as it is for the experience. In order to be a successful shopper you have to have a sense of humor. There is a central street in Jaipur that is aligned for blocks and blocks with hundreds of different shops. The second we hit that street we were bombarded with shop owners, “take a look at my shop” “free to look” looking is no charge” “come to my shop”…. On and on and on and on. Rather than get frustrated and overwhelmed you kind of have to laugh it off. We spent the day at Johari Bazaar, which was famous for its fabrics and saris. They are beautiful, bursting with color and elegance. Sara and I had a really great rest of the day going from shop to shop talking to the shopkeepers, bargaining prices, looking at all the cultural things, the differences, what they eat, wear, buy. Their style of clothing, jewelry, and shoes. It was unreal not your typical American mall, just complete chaos. And let me tell you they love to bargain, it isn’t a pain for them, it’s a sport, its fun. You walk in they give you an outrageous starting price, especially if they know you’re American, those three letters U-S-A make their eyes light up with dollar signs. So say they start at 500 rupees for a pair of shoes, that’s around $12.50. You then cut that price in half you say $250 they say no no ill give you a good price, a special deal just for you (clearly haha) $450, you say no $200. They say no no, you go down in price? No no. So he bargains with you more and more, you take your 200 rupee out of your fanny pack (yes, fanny packs really come I n handy I have come to learn!) so that the guy can see the money, and once he sees it there’s no turning back. If at first he hesitates say ok thank you and start to walk out of the store, he’s already seen the money, he knows you mean business, and quickly says ok ok ok 200 no problem. Done and done shoes that were $12.50 USD are now just 5 bucks.
As the day went on and out bargaining skills improved we started to notice the smile on all these guys faces they loved it. They knew how ridiculous their starting prices were and they just loved the tennis ball bickering going back and forth between owner and client 1000, 500, 850, 500, 750, no 500, fine fine I make you a deal 650, no 500…ok ok 500. Haha. Simple as that. We got tons of things, I especially got stuff for my sisters I miss them so much and everything just reminded me of them. I got authentic things though things they wont be able to find in the US so that they can share a little bit of my experience with me, Indian bangles, and garb, shoes, and the like. Half way through the day we bout little suitcases to roll everything around it, we got two suitcases for $5.
I had never in my life see such prices as I had in India. It made me realize how rich the United States truly is in comparison to most of the world, and in effect the power associated with all that wealth. Before coming abroad I had a lot of issues with capitalism. Due to multiple experiences I have had here, Jordan, Turkey, and now esp. India, I realize its not so bad. Yes, the US has poverty, high levels of it for a Western democracy, and it has millions of citizens without healthcare, an expanding gap between the rich and poor, and a million and one other problems. But at the end of the day America is still a young country, but a great one, in just 300 years she has accomplished so much, and has become the powerhouse of our universe surpassing countries that have long histories of immense prestige. Everyone wants to be an American citizen (a generalization, I apologize, many want to be an American citizen), and now I know why, like is just a lot easier in comparison. While I was always proud of being an American, being away from home for these 5 months has reminded why I should be so grateful, so proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free. While my knowledge of other cultures has enhanced, simultaneously, my patriotism has definitely grown.
After a fun-filled day of shopping Sara and I headed back to the hotel, for early nights sleep. The next day we have a 3.5-hour car ride to a small spiritual town called Pushkar.
Amber Fort was actually a 20 minutes drive outside of Jaipur, Amber was the ancient capital of Jaipur and the fort was more of a palace for the royal family (go figure). It was also pink (surprised?) but the actually walls of the fort were built from red sandstone and white marble looked similar to the Red Fort in Agra. Instead of walking up to the fort by foot Sara and I decided to go by Elephant. They were huge! But pretty and so gentile. These elephants were festive; their skin was painted in the front in Indian style designs. My heart went out to them because you could tell they weren’t properly treated. It seems India has no real humanitarian nor animal safety laws, for one, child labor was rampant and animal care was entirely lacking, then again, does a government that is trying to deal with such widespread poverty have time to deal with rights and liberties? Anyway, back to the topic at hand, excuse my tangents, the elephant ride, it was great we got some great pictures of the two of us hoisted up on the beast, which will look great in the photo album. It was cool to of ridden an elephant in India, but there’s not much we had to do, we kind of just sat there and the elephant did the rest, to be frank, it sounds a lot more intriguing than it really was.
25 minutes of an uphill trek the elephant safely got us to the top of the fort where the palace was. Sara and I were both pleasantly surprised. It was beautiful and huge. There were four gardens. The most striking building within the palace was definitely the Kali Temple, the walls of which were decorated in mosaic style, but rather than using tiles the mosaic pieces were mirrors. The ceilings had the same mirror mosaic art but had a different pattern, on the wall there were flowers in pots all symmetrical in lined up in rows and columns, the ceiling was also symmetrical but different circles and just rows of mirrored pieces. It was unique, unlike anything I had ever seen before, and beautiful. While we were there we saw the temple being restored since much the mirrors were chipped away and largely deteriorating, I mean the fort and palace were built in the late 1500’s. It was interesting to see the restoration, done piece of piece, little by little. Talk about tedious work, but hey everybody’s gotta pay the bills. We walked around the palace for a good hour admiring the architecture and the precision of the construction. I think when looking at these historical sights its incredible to recall that they were built before the time of rulers and proper measurements, much of the precision lies in trusting the builders vision of what appeared equal. When taken into consideration it makes it all the more astounding.
After taking it all in we walked back down dodging poop along the way, of course, I mean this is INDIA! The next site was just a brief stop it was on the way back into Jaipur coming from Agra Fort. It is called Lake Palace or Jal Mahal; it is a red sandstone building built in 1799 in the middle of the lake. It was the summer resort for the royal family and was primarily used as a station for duck-hunting parties. It was very cool, just a huge edifice sitting on top of a lake, hanging out on the water, normal? Well in India yes! There were a few buildings like this, in Pushkar and Udaipur too, just isolated in the middle of lakes. Anyway, Sara and I got out of the car snapped a couple photos and were on our way back in to Jaipur where we went to the Hawa Mahal.
The Hawa Mahal (Palace of the Winds) is apparently Jaipur’s most distinct landmark. It is pink, go figure, but the architecture is interesting, the building was built in layers akin to a huge honeycombed hive that is 5 stories tall. It too was built in 1799 in order for the women of the royal household to watch the life of the city, which explains its location in the center of all the hustle and bustle. Again here not much to see in a museum sense, just architecture.
After Hawa Mahal we went to the City Palace, which really was not impressive at all. It was dirty, not kept well, and it was interesting because the current Maharaja still lives on the grounds. We didn’t stay around long; there wasn’t much to see. This was our last stop on our sightseeing tour of Jaipur time to hit the Bazaars!
Shopping in India is not so much to buy things as it is for the experience. In order to be a successful shopper you have to have a sense of humor. There is a central street in Jaipur that is aligned for blocks and blocks with hundreds of different shops. The second we hit that street we were bombarded with shop owners, “take a look at my shop” “free to look” looking is no charge” “come to my shop”…. On and on and on and on. Rather than get frustrated and overwhelmed you kind of have to laugh it off. We spent the day at Johari Bazaar, which was famous for its fabrics and saris. They are beautiful, bursting with color and elegance. Sara and I had a really great rest of the day going from shop to shop talking to the shopkeepers, bargaining prices, looking at all the cultural things, the differences, what they eat, wear, buy. Their style of clothing, jewelry, and shoes. It was unreal not your typical American mall, just complete chaos. And let me tell you they love to bargain, it isn’t a pain for them, it’s a sport, its fun. You walk in they give you an outrageous starting price, especially if they know you’re American, those three letters U-S-A make their eyes light up with dollar signs. So say they start at 500 rupees for a pair of shoes, that’s around $12.50. You then cut that price in half you say $250 they say no no ill give you a good price, a special deal just for you (clearly haha) $450, you say no $200. They say no no, you go down in price? No no. So he bargains with you more and more, you take your 200 rupee out of your fanny pack (yes, fanny packs really come I n handy I have come to learn!) so that the guy can see the money, and once he sees it there’s no turning back. If at first he hesitates say ok thank you and start to walk out of the store, he’s already seen the money, he knows you mean business, and quickly says ok ok ok 200 no problem. Done and done shoes that were $12.50 USD are now just 5 bucks.
As the day went on and out bargaining skills improved we started to notice the smile on all these guys faces they loved it. They knew how ridiculous their starting prices were and they just loved the tennis ball bickering going back and forth between owner and client 1000, 500, 850, 500, 750, no 500, fine fine I make you a deal 650, no 500…ok ok 500. Haha. Simple as that. We got tons of things, I especially got stuff for my sisters I miss them so much and everything just reminded me of them. I got authentic things though things they wont be able to find in the US so that they can share a little bit of my experience with me, Indian bangles, and garb, shoes, and the like. Half way through the day we bout little suitcases to roll everything around it, we got two suitcases for $5.
I had never in my life see such prices as I had in India. It made me realize how rich the United States truly is in comparison to most of the world, and in effect the power associated with all that wealth. Before coming abroad I had a lot of issues with capitalism. Due to multiple experiences I have had here, Jordan, Turkey, and now esp. India, I realize its not so bad. Yes, the US has poverty, high levels of it for a Western democracy, and it has millions of citizens without healthcare, an expanding gap between the rich and poor, and a million and one other problems. But at the end of the day America is still a young country, but a great one, in just 300 years she has accomplished so much, and has become the powerhouse of our universe surpassing countries that have long histories of immense prestige. Everyone wants to be an American citizen (a generalization, I apologize, many want to be an American citizen), and now I know why, like is just a lot easier in comparison. While I was always proud of being an American, being away from home for these 5 months has reminded why I should be so grateful, so proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free. While my knowledge of other cultures has enhanced, simultaneously, my patriotism has definitely grown.
After a fun-filled day of shopping Sara and I headed back to the hotel, for early nights sleep. The next day we have a 3.5-hour car ride to a small spiritual town called Pushkar.
Monday, April 28, 2008
the Majestic Taj, Peach Jaipur, and the Monkeys Attack
On day 3 of our Indian Adventure, April 15, Sara and I “woke up” at 5:45am. I say, “woke up”, because, while our hotel had a magnificent view of the Taj Mahal, our $5/per night room lacked air-conditioned. The room was sweltering to say the least, the exact antithesis of an icebox. In effect, there was no sleeping involved that night, none whatsoever. So, back to the topic at hand, we got out of bed at 5:45am, just in time to see the sunrise over the grand Taj Mahal.
After a 7-minute walk through the streets of Taj Ganj, we hit the entrance to the Taj Mahal. At first you walk through a courtyard, the surrounding buildings are all red with Arabic writing, influence from the Muslim Shah Jahan who built the monument in remembrance of his late wife. After walking through the courtyard you enter the beginning of the Taj. My first words were: “Sara I feel like we’re in Disney World”. That is exactly what it looks like, its perfection makes it look like a relic, completely fake. You are careful entering because you don’t want to make the area dirty, you are shocked that after seeing such poverty, pollution, and littering there could exist something as pure, white, and clean within the same 500 meters.
Sara and I took tons of pictures with the Taj in the background, at first there is an infinity pond that leads up to the structure all aligned with topiary trees, and flowers. The infinity pond then stops where there is an elevated square bath, empty now and filled with white marble, after the bath the infinity pond continues up until the steps of the Taj Mahal. The closer we got to it the more real it felt.
When we got right up to the stair we saw that the entire edifice was white marble with Arabic carvings, and floral designs made of precious stones. The Arabic carvings were made of gold, while the flowers were made of rubies, garnets, and jade stones. It was truly majestic, right out of Disney’s Aladdin. My descriptions aren’t doing the Taj justice in the least, in order to understand its splendor you have to see it in person. In the true essence of a word that is entirely overused it was AWSOME.
We stayed at the Taj for about an hour, once the sun came up the building just radiated. Once we left we were back to reality, back on those poisoned streets of Agra. It was around 7:30am and we got to see all the kids in their uniforms running off to school, shop keepers opening up shop for the day, starting to hassle the average tourist to pop in and take a look at their merchandise. We walked a good 10 minutes out of our way, because we got lost coming back, 10 extra minutes of hassling, cows, poop, and kids running off to homeroom, or however they start their day. Upon returning to our sweat pit of a room we packed up our backpacks and met the car for our 5.5-hour drive to our next location. Finally, Sara and I were on our way to Rajasthan first stop JAIPUR!
The car ride went pretty smoothly, we stopped off for lunch at a café along the way, had some more Indian food, some more cook vegetables and steamed rice, mmm. At around 3:45 pm we made it to Jaipur, I was so bitter all day from losing a nights sleep that I made sure we were going to have AC that night. We checked into a fairly nice hotel, Jaipur Inn, we were both pleased with the condition of the place, I mean it was no Ritz, but then again we were in INDIA! Jaipur is called the "Pink City", because in the 1980's the whole city was painted Pepto Bismal pink to welcome the Prince of Wales, unfortunatly, but not surprising the place hasnt been touched since so that pink has faded into peach. EVERYTHING was peach, EVERYTHING!
Since it was only 3:45, we were wondering what we should do then, too late to go shopping (Jaipur is notorious for its great shopping, and even better bargaining), too late to start seeing the sights, so instead Sara had a great idea, why not take a 45 minute drive to Galta (Monkey Temple) & Surya Mandir. What is Galta (Monkey Temple) & Surya Mandir you ask? Well the book, Lonely Planet, aka our Bible for the 14 days we were they, really hyped this place up, they made it seem really cool. After venturing into this unknown territory, it came to my attention that we should have given more notice to the first three adjective used to describe this monkey, let me rephrase, animal temple: “desolate, and barren, if evocative, place.” um, desolate and barren is right on! There was nothing there! NOTHING! Sara and I bought peanuts since the book also mentioned how at sunset hundreds of monkeys congregate on the temple for feeding. That’s right HUNDREDS OF MONKEYS, for some reason we thought that sounded cool, after the experience it is down right scary! After buying peanuts we started walking up toward the temple. This place was more like the Jaipur Zoo than a historical site. Within the first 5 minutes we saw dogs, goats, cows, bulls, monkey, sheep. Ha-ha it was UNREAL! But then the sun started to slowly sink, and those hundreds of monkeys started popping up. Vicious little things, they are downright mean. We had to hide our peanuts so they wouldn’t attack us. Yes, those rabies infested sneaky thieves attack! Don’t think monkeys are cute because let me tell you from personal experience there is nothing cute about them! They are disgusting! They make rats look good. While hiding our peanuts, and our valuables (because they are professionals when it comes to pick pocketing more so than humans), tons of Indian kids were following us clearly asking for a rupee or two, and in their midst of their begging a monkey attacked on! Full on jumped on his back and took him down, the kid nonchalantly shook him off and than threw a rock at him, the whole thing lasted about 5 seconds and was done with such normality. At that moment Sara and I dropped our peanuts on the floor and ran, RAN toward the car, toward doors, windows, security, and our closest form of salvation.
After that we called it a day, apparently the monkeys took a lot out of me because I passed out that night at 8:30.
After a 7-minute walk through the streets of Taj Ganj, we hit the entrance to the Taj Mahal. At first you walk through a courtyard, the surrounding buildings are all red with Arabic writing, influence from the Muslim Shah Jahan who built the monument in remembrance of his late wife. After walking through the courtyard you enter the beginning of the Taj. My first words were: “Sara I feel like we’re in Disney World”. That is exactly what it looks like, its perfection makes it look like a relic, completely fake. You are careful entering because you don’t want to make the area dirty, you are shocked that after seeing such poverty, pollution, and littering there could exist something as pure, white, and clean within the same 500 meters.
Sara and I took tons of pictures with the Taj in the background, at first there is an infinity pond that leads up to the structure all aligned with topiary trees, and flowers. The infinity pond then stops where there is an elevated square bath, empty now and filled with white marble, after the bath the infinity pond continues up until the steps of the Taj Mahal. The closer we got to it the more real it felt.
When we got right up to the stair we saw that the entire edifice was white marble with Arabic carvings, and floral designs made of precious stones. The Arabic carvings were made of gold, while the flowers were made of rubies, garnets, and jade stones. It was truly majestic, right out of Disney’s Aladdin. My descriptions aren’t doing the Taj justice in the least, in order to understand its splendor you have to see it in person. In the true essence of a word that is entirely overused it was AWSOME.
We stayed at the Taj for about an hour, once the sun came up the building just radiated. Once we left we were back to reality, back on those poisoned streets of Agra. It was around 7:30am and we got to see all the kids in their uniforms running off to school, shop keepers opening up shop for the day, starting to hassle the average tourist to pop in and take a look at their merchandise. We walked a good 10 minutes out of our way, because we got lost coming back, 10 extra minutes of hassling, cows, poop, and kids running off to homeroom, or however they start their day. Upon returning to our sweat pit of a room we packed up our backpacks and met the car for our 5.5-hour drive to our next location. Finally, Sara and I were on our way to Rajasthan first stop JAIPUR!
The car ride went pretty smoothly, we stopped off for lunch at a café along the way, had some more Indian food, some more cook vegetables and steamed rice, mmm. At around 3:45 pm we made it to Jaipur, I was so bitter all day from losing a nights sleep that I made sure we were going to have AC that night. We checked into a fairly nice hotel, Jaipur Inn, we were both pleased with the condition of the place, I mean it was no Ritz, but then again we were in INDIA! Jaipur is called the "Pink City", because in the 1980's the whole city was painted Pepto Bismal pink to welcome the Prince of Wales, unfortunatly, but not surprising the place hasnt been touched since so that pink has faded into peach. EVERYTHING was peach, EVERYTHING!
Since it was only 3:45, we were wondering what we should do then, too late to go shopping (Jaipur is notorious for its great shopping, and even better bargaining), too late to start seeing the sights, so instead Sara had a great idea, why not take a 45 minute drive to Galta (Monkey Temple) & Surya Mandir. What is Galta (Monkey Temple) & Surya Mandir you ask? Well the book, Lonely Planet, aka our Bible for the 14 days we were they, really hyped this place up, they made it seem really cool. After venturing into this unknown territory, it came to my attention that we should have given more notice to the first three adjective used to describe this monkey, let me rephrase, animal temple: “desolate, and barren, if evocative, place.” um, desolate and barren is right on! There was nothing there! NOTHING! Sara and I bought peanuts since the book also mentioned how at sunset hundreds of monkeys congregate on the temple for feeding. That’s right HUNDREDS OF MONKEYS, for some reason we thought that sounded cool, after the experience it is down right scary! After buying peanuts we started walking up toward the temple. This place was more like the Jaipur Zoo than a historical site. Within the first 5 minutes we saw dogs, goats, cows, bulls, monkey, sheep. Ha-ha it was UNREAL! But then the sun started to slowly sink, and those hundreds of monkeys started popping up. Vicious little things, they are downright mean. We had to hide our peanuts so they wouldn’t attack us. Yes, those rabies infested sneaky thieves attack! Don’t think monkeys are cute because let me tell you from personal experience there is nothing cute about them! They are disgusting! They make rats look good. While hiding our peanuts, and our valuables (because they are professionals when it comes to pick pocketing more so than humans), tons of Indian kids were following us clearly asking for a rupee or two, and in their midst of their begging a monkey attacked on! Full on jumped on his back and took him down, the kid nonchalantly shook him off and than threw a rock at him, the whole thing lasted about 5 seconds and was done with such normality. At that moment Sara and I dropped our peanuts on the floor and ran, RAN toward the car, toward doors, windows, security, and our closest form of salvation.
After that we called it a day, apparently the monkeys took a lot out of me because I passed out that night at 8:30.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)