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.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
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.
Monday, April 14, 2008
AGRA home of the TAJ
We left Delhi at around 10 this morning, and 5 hours later made it to Agra home of the Taj Mahal. The whole time our driver was nagging us (the same guy that drove us around Delhi). See the way it works here is everyone is trying to make a buck (or should I say rupee) if you go into this store or this hotel or this restaurant and someone is making commission just from you walking in. the whole car ride he was talking to us about this hotel and this shopping center and yadda yadda yadda it was like dude just shut up!
We thought Delhi was disgusting, take that multiply it by 10 and that is Agra! Yes a primo shithole! There are wild animal swarming this place, moneys flying through the tree tops, goats, dogs, camel, and cows running along the streets. It is in and of itself a mini zoo! Besides the sites we saw today and the Taj Mahal there is nothing else here, just more poverty, more kids playing in dirt half naked, ore beggars, and more crippled folk. It breaks my heart every time I go outside that there are places on earth that suffer so heavily. Just rips it in a million pieces.
Today we saw two major sites here in Agra, Agra Fort, and Itmad-ud-daulah (also know as baby Taj). They were both very beautiful; especially the Agra Fort was so impressive. Were saving the Taj Mahal for tomorrow we plan on getting there at 5:45am…yes! Haha. We then checked into Hotel Kamal, in Taj Ganj (I swear ganj means ghetto in Hindi). For 10 buses a night our room is decent and the rooftop restaurant has a sick view of the Taj Mahal. I know that when I see it up-close tomorrow it’s going to take my breath away. Right now staring at it from the rooftop it just looks fake circa Disney’s Aladdin. I’m so excited to actually step foot on it. It should be something magical. Sara and I are going to grab some dinner in about an hour. We are having such a good time, just taking it all in, the cultural differences, everything! And, its only day 2!
After our visit to the Taj tomorrow were headed to Jaipur in Rajasthan, a city famous for its jewels (yes! Def gonna get me some of those!). We haven’t shopped at all yet, but no worries, with these prices we will, and hey someone needs to support the India economy!
Just a quick side note, its impressive to see how much Indians like Jews. Some of them even speak a few phrases ion Hebrew. Regardless of the dirtiness, it’s refreshing to go somewhere as welcoming as this, esp. regarding the size of the Muslim population. A lot of cars have Jewish star bumper stickers, most hotels have Hebrew writings. And when we say we come from Israel where we are studying everyone’s faces light up! It’s really great!
Till next time ooxoxoxx
We thought Delhi was disgusting, take that multiply it by 10 and that is Agra! Yes a primo shithole! There are wild animal swarming this place, moneys flying through the tree tops, goats, dogs, camel, and cows running along the streets. It is in and of itself a mini zoo! Besides the sites we saw today and the Taj Mahal there is nothing else here, just more poverty, more kids playing in dirt half naked, ore beggars, and more crippled folk. It breaks my heart every time I go outside that there are places on earth that suffer so heavily. Just rips it in a million pieces.
Today we saw two major sites here in Agra, Agra Fort, and Itmad-ud-daulah (also know as baby Taj). They were both very beautiful; especially the Agra Fort was so impressive. Were saving the Taj Mahal for tomorrow we plan on getting there at 5:45am…yes! Haha. We then checked into Hotel Kamal, in Taj Ganj (I swear ganj means ghetto in Hindi). For 10 buses a night our room is decent and the rooftop restaurant has a sick view of the Taj Mahal. I know that when I see it up-close tomorrow it’s going to take my breath away. Right now staring at it from the rooftop it just looks fake circa Disney’s Aladdin. I’m so excited to actually step foot on it. It should be something magical. Sara and I are going to grab some dinner in about an hour. We are having such a good time, just taking it all in, the cultural differences, everything! And, its only day 2!
After our visit to the Taj tomorrow were headed to Jaipur in Rajasthan, a city famous for its jewels (yes! Def gonna get me some of those!). We haven’t shopped at all yet, but no worries, with these prices we will, and hey someone needs to support the India economy!
Just a quick side note, its impressive to see how much Indians like Jews. Some of them even speak a few phrases ion Hebrew. Regardless of the dirtiness, it’s refreshing to go somewhere as welcoming as this, esp. regarding the size of the Muslim population. A lot of cars have Jewish star bumper stickers, most hotels have Hebrew writings. And when we say we come from Israel where we are studying everyone’s faces light up! It’s really great!
Till next time ooxoxoxx
The Sites of Delhi- Like a True Tourist!
The following morning I woke up at 900. Today Sara, Jeff, and I were to go sightseeing. We had a jam packed day and were all pretty excited to see some of Delhi other than poverty stricken Old Delhi. The driver picked us up right in front of the Major’s Den. He was a little guy who loved to talk although we couldn’t understand a word he says and he couldn’t understand us all that well either.
Our first stop was Jama Masjid (1658), the largest mosque in India built by Shah Jahan (the same guy who built the Taj Mahal). Next we headed toward the Red Fort (1648) which was also built by Shah Jahan, it was amazing, it was a city within itself, made of red sandstone walls encrusted with mother of pearl engravings, white marble interiors, and semi-precious used for decoration. Following the red fort we headed to Rag Ghat, this is Mahatma Ghandi’s memorial and is the location where he was cremated. It was a garden with an eternity flame sculpture in the center, it was very peaceful, and it seemed far away from the hustle and bustle of the outside walls. After we went to Humayon Y\Tomb, built in the mid 16th century. It as also exquisite, it is so hard to describe these places but once my pictures are up you all will see what i am talking about. After the tomb we went for lunch at the chicken inn. Don’t let the name fool you because the food was awesome! I got curried mixed veggies, rice, and naan bread. Mmm mmm mmm.
Finally we made it to Qutab Minar, another city within a city, thriving wit Muslim influence, it is a 70m tower.
Upon leaving Qutab Minar a group of 12 year old girls flocked to us. We were western looking, and therefore different. They all shook our hands, were so pleased to meet us, and they wanted pictures of us. They were so cute and we were pleased to of had that experience.
We then went to India Gate (the tomb of the Unknown Soldier) where the Olympic torch will go through on the 17th of April. After we went to see the Presidents house and the house of Parliament. We called it a day at that point, went back to the majors den and took a nap. At around 11 we met up with Jeff to go and get some chai (Indian tea) and say goodbye. The following day Sara and I would be headed to Agra and he was going up north.
It was a really fun day and got me pumped for the rest of my stay here in India.
Our first stop was Jama Masjid (1658), the largest mosque in India built by Shah Jahan (the same guy who built the Taj Mahal). Next we headed toward the Red Fort (1648) which was also built by Shah Jahan, it was amazing, it was a city within itself, made of red sandstone walls encrusted with mother of pearl engravings, white marble interiors, and semi-precious used for decoration. Following the red fort we headed to Rag Ghat, this is Mahatma Ghandi’s memorial and is the location where he was cremated. It was a garden with an eternity flame sculpture in the center, it was very peaceful, and it seemed far away from the hustle and bustle of the outside walls. After we went to Humayon Y\Tomb, built in the mid 16th century. It as also exquisite, it is so hard to describe these places but once my pictures are up you all will see what i am talking about. After the tomb we went for lunch at the chicken inn. Don’t let the name fool you because the food was awesome! I got curried mixed veggies, rice, and naan bread. Mmm mmm mmm.
Finally we made it to Qutab Minar, another city within a city, thriving wit Muslim influence, it is a 70m tower.
Upon leaving Qutab Minar a group of 12 year old girls flocked to us. We were western looking, and therefore different. They all shook our hands, were so pleased to meet us, and they wanted pictures of us. They were so cute and we were pleased to of had that experience.
We then went to India Gate (the tomb of the Unknown Soldier) where the Olympic torch will go through on the 17th of April. After we went to see the Presidents house and the house of Parliament. We called it a day at that point, went back to the majors den and took a nap. At around 11 we met up with Jeff to go and get some chai (Indian tea) and say goodbye. The following day Sara and I would be headed to Agra and he was going up north.
It was a really fun day and got me pumped for the rest of my stay here in India.
DIRTY DIRTYY DELHI
So it is spring break 08…woot woot… haha.. Sara and I left Israel on April 11th. We met the travel agent at the central train station in Tel Aviv at around 6:45am, we then boarded a bus where we made a three hour drive to the Israeli/Jordanian border, once we crossed the border it was another two hours to Amman (the capital). Once in Amman we bordered a flight to Bahrain where we had a 6 hour layover, we then got a plane to New Delhi. In all it was 24 full hours of traveling.
At the baggage claim in New Delhi we met another traveler, a guy traveling throughout India for the next three months. His name is Jeff summers, he’s 26, and from Detroit. A very cool guy all in all. He’s a massage therapist and all into people’s personal energy and what not. We also met up with a guy who took the journey with us from Tel Aviv, a laughter yoga instructor, yes that’s right I said laughter yoga!!! Seriously freaks come to India! FREAKS! Haha.
When you first get off the plane you are taken aback by the orders, a mixture of spices, poo, and poverty. The streets are filthy they are absolutely foul! Garbage everywhere, poor people everywhere, hungry children flock the streets, garbage aligns the sidewalks, human and animal waste embed the floor, it is truly shit hole. Men go to the bathroom in on the side of buildings. The whole city is one big garbage can. Everywhere you go herds of people come up to you (esp. children) begging for money, pressuring you into buying a rickshaw ride, a pair of earrings, a peacock feathered fan…anything!!!!! They come up to your car windows, harass you on the streets, and follow you down the alley way. There are hundreds of street venders on every street selling some kind of crap or another. Cows roam freely as if they own the place.
Our first day I hated it so much I actually loved it! Sara, laughing yoga Alex, and I all checked into Major’s Den. A rundown hotel in Pharganj (a seedy neighborhood in Delhi where all the backpackers stay). The hotel is run by an ex-military major. He was the sweetest man he took a liking to Sara and me instantly and helped us set up the rest of our 16 days here in India. Through him we hired a car to drive us throughout Rajasthan, and we hired a car for the next day to take us to all the sites in Delhi. He lives on the bottom floor of the hotel with his wife and daughter. The rooms were not as rundown as the façade of the edifice would have made them seem.
Following check in we went to explore Old Delhi. We started off by getting a bite to eat. I am very weary of eating meat here so I am sticking to a veggie diet. Regardless, the food is delicious. We ate at a real hole in the wall place, the bill was $5 US for 4 people, and yes India is super cheap! After we headed to the Chandi Chowk (the outdoor market). It is in old Delhi and is a very Muslim area (although most of India is Hindi). The streets were so crowded and narrow. We had a maimed/crippled boy following us most of the day asking for money we could not get him to go away. The number of diseases he had was probably innumerable. He looked deathly. After Chandi Chowk, we continued our walk throughout Old Delhi, after 24 hrs straight of travel we were truly exhausted, on our way back to the hotel, we came across an image that truly haunts me, a baby, no more than 2 years old, sitting in a dirt pile composed of ash, feces, and old cigarette butts, playing with the butts, with the ash, with the feces, putting it on her body, while her mother sat not even a foot away and watched.
We made it back to Majors Den by 3:30. I passed out at 4 pm and didn’t wake up until the next day.
My first day was definitely full of culture shock. The level of poverty was unfathomable. The amount of pollution and littering that took place was uncanny. But worst of all was the fact that no one knew better it was a lifestyle.
Regardless, never for one second have a regretted my decision to come here. This is a journey, and adventure, a once in a lifetime experience. The good, the bad, the ugly, I will cherish it all, every last drop.
At the baggage claim in New Delhi we met another traveler, a guy traveling throughout India for the next three months. His name is Jeff summers, he’s 26, and from Detroit. A very cool guy all in all. He’s a massage therapist and all into people’s personal energy and what not. We also met up with a guy who took the journey with us from Tel Aviv, a laughter yoga instructor, yes that’s right I said laughter yoga!!! Seriously freaks come to India! FREAKS! Haha.
When you first get off the plane you are taken aback by the orders, a mixture of spices, poo, and poverty. The streets are filthy they are absolutely foul! Garbage everywhere, poor people everywhere, hungry children flock the streets, garbage aligns the sidewalks, human and animal waste embed the floor, it is truly shit hole. Men go to the bathroom in on the side of buildings. The whole city is one big garbage can. Everywhere you go herds of people come up to you (esp. children) begging for money, pressuring you into buying a rickshaw ride, a pair of earrings, a peacock feathered fan…anything!!!!! They come up to your car windows, harass you on the streets, and follow you down the alley way. There are hundreds of street venders on every street selling some kind of crap or another. Cows roam freely as if they own the place.
Our first day I hated it so much I actually loved it! Sara, laughing yoga Alex, and I all checked into Major’s Den. A rundown hotel in Pharganj (a seedy neighborhood in Delhi where all the backpackers stay). The hotel is run by an ex-military major. He was the sweetest man he took a liking to Sara and me instantly and helped us set up the rest of our 16 days here in India. Through him we hired a car to drive us throughout Rajasthan, and we hired a car for the next day to take us to all the sites in Delhi. He lives on the bottom floor of the hotel with his wife and daughter. The rooms were not as rundown as the façade of the edifice would have made them seem.
Following check in we went to explore Old Delhi. We started off by getting a bite to eat. I am very weary of eating meat here so I am sticking to a veggie diet. Regardless, the food is delicious. We ate at a real hole in the wall place, the bill was $5 US for 4 people, and yes India is super cheap! After we headed to the Chandi Chowk (the outdoor market). It is in old Delhi and is a very Muslim area (although most of India is Hindi). The streets were so crowded and narrow. We had a maimed/crippled boy following us most of the day asking for money we could not get him to go away. The number of diseases he had was probably innumerable. He looked deathly. After Chandi Chowk, we continued our walk throughout Old Delhi, after 24 hrs straight of travel we were truly exhausted, on our way back to the hotel, we came across an image that truly haunts me, a baby, no more than 2 years old, sitting in a dirt pile composed of ash, feces, and old cigarette butts, playing with the butts, with the ash, with the feces, putting it on her body, while her mother sat not even a foot away and watched.
We made it back to Majors Den by 3:30. I passed out at 4 pm and didn’t wake up until the next day.
My first day was definitely full of culture shock. The level of poverty was unfathomable. The amount of pollution and littering that took place was uncanny. But worst of all was the fact that no one knew better it was a lifestyle.
Regardless, never for one second have a regretted my decision to come here. This is a journey, and adventure, a once in a lifetime experience. The good, the bad, the ugly, I will cherish it all, every last drop.
Monday, April 7, 2008
PURIM just like halloween in madison but Jewish
On Thursday, March 20, at sunday Purim started in Israel. Purim is just like halloween in Madison. Twice in one year talk abou fun!
that first night everyone on my program pretty much went to Florentine Street, i dressed up like a farmer. florentine was packed with people wall to wall very similar to state street. everyone in costumes, drunk, and crazy. everyone in the program chilled in front of AMPM (24 hr grocery store), people watched, drank, and enjoyed the Purim festivities. upon leaving Florentine Aviv, Sasha, Sharon, Jessica, Shirly, Ruth, and i headed back to the Einstein dorms where we smoked some hookah and stayed up to watch the sunrise, at about 745 am Aviv and i called it a night and made the trek back to Brodestky.
the next night i dressed up as a hippie, we went to Artimis, a club in Tel Aviv. the bar tender loved me and gave me 3 free drinks, TOV MEOD! we danced til about 5 am, it was a blast. after we headed back to Einstein again, this time Ruth left the hookah in her room and her roommate Aviv was passed out. so she takes her key out to try and unlock the door and to her surprise the key breaks off in the lock! to make the situation even more ridiculous Aviva wouldn't wake up! we banged on the door, tried to saw the lock off with a knife, kicked, screamed, finally after 45 minutes with no response Ruth picked up a chair and punched about 5 holes in her door. hahahahhaa 10 minutes later aviva wakes up and is locked in, with the key stuck and everything! it was a mess, finally sasha (the genius) gets the door unlocked. once we got the door open we got the hookah and again chilled until the sunrose where upon i retunred to my dorm @ 8 am.
the next day we woke up and split to the beach for a sunny day in Tel Aviv. while at the beach Aviv and Funt mentioned how they were going to go to Jerusalem that night to celebrate the last night of Purim, while we were there we figured hey why not all go!
so that night @ about 10:30 the crew for the weekend, again, shirley, sasha, jessie, sharon, aviv, funt, and myself, headed toward the central bus station in tel aviv, we got a sharut, and an hour later we were in JRU! we headed toward Sasha's apartment and pre gamed for another amazing night out. i was again a hippi, the crew headed down to Ben Yehuda street for a similar experience as Florentine in Tel Aviv, Aviv and Sharon got lost, me and sasha got lost but in the end of the night we all ended up together. we felt like we were on ben yehuda for 30 minutes but it ended up being 4 hours! it was a great night all of us had a wonderful time, we got back to the apartment, lite the hookah, and took some aero beds upstaris. i couldnt make it to sunrise sharon and i passed out. but the others did. the next morning we woke up and headed for falafel after eating we all were dead, after that weekend how could we not be we were exhausted! we went back to the apartment and slept from 1 am til 7pm rounded the troops together and went back to Tel Aviv.
Purim here was definitely an experience. it was unbelievable, everyone dresses up from 80 year olds to month old babies. the whole country celebrates. they prepare for weeks ahead of time and are costume vendors all along the streets. it was a nation wide celebration and my most cherished weekend throughout this semester abroad.
that first night everyone on my program pretty much went to Florentine Street, i dressed up like a farmer. florentine was packed with people wall to wall very similar to state street. everyone in costumes, drunk, and crazy. everyone in the program chilled in front of AMPM (24 hr grocery store), people watched, drank, and enjoyed the Purim festivities. upon leaving Florentine Aviv, Sasha, Sharon, Jessica, Shirly, Ruth, and i headed back to the Einstein dorms where we smoked some hookah and stayed up to watch the sunrise, at about 745 am Aviv and i called it a night and made the trek back to Brodestky.
the next night i dressed up as a hippie, we went to Artimis, a club in Tel Aviv. the bar tender loved me and gave me 3 free drinks, TOV MEOD! we danced til about 5 am, it was a blast. after we headed back to Einstein again, this time Ruth left the hookah in her room and her roommate Aviv was passed out. so she takes her key out to try and unlock the door and to her surprise the key breaks off in the lock! to make the situation even more ridiculous Aviva wouldn't wake up! we banged on the door, tried to saw the lock off with a knife, kicked, screamed, finally after 45 minutes with no response Ruth picked up a chair and punched about 5 holes in her door. hahahahhaa 10 minutes later aviva wakes up and is locked in, with the key stuck and everything! it was a mess, finally sasha (the genius) gets the door unlocked. once we got the door open we got the hookah and again chilled until the sunrose where upon i retunred to my dorm @ 8 am.
the next day we woke up and split to the beach for a sunny day in Tel Aviv. while at the beach Aviv and Funt mentioned how they were going to go to Jerusalem that night to celebrate the last night of Purim, while we were there we figured hey why not all go!
so that night @ about 10:30 the crew for the weekend, again, shirley, sasha, jessie, sharon, aviv, funt, and myself, headed toward the central bus station in tel aviv, we got a sharut, and an hour later we were in JRU! we headed toward Sasha's apartment and pre gamed for another amazing night out. i was again a hippi, the crew headed down to Ben Yehuda street for a similar experience as Florentine in Tel Aviv, Aviv and Sharon got lost, me and sasha got lost but in the end of the night we all ended up together. we felt like we were on ben yehuda for 30 minutes but it ended up being 4 hours! it was a great night all of us had a wonderful time, we got back to the apartment, lite the hookah, and took some aero beds upstaris. i couldnt make it to sunrise sharon and i passed out. but the others did. the next morning we woke up and headed for falafel after eating we all were dead, after that weekend how could we not be we were exhausted! we went back to the apartment and slept from 1 am til 7pm rounded the troops together and went back to Tel Aviv.
Purim here was definitely an experience. it was unbelievable, everyone dresses up from 80 year olds to month old babies. the whole country celebrates. they prepare for weeks ahead of time and are costume vendors all along the streets. it was a nation wide celebration and my most cherished weekend throughout this semester abroad.
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