Goa

So Kristen and I arrived in Goa on Tuesday. Train from Delhi took 30 hours. We left at 7am, and only arrived at midday, the next day.

Trains have many classes... and true to our style of travelling, we took the lowest. Sleeper class @ $10 each for the 2000km trip! The bottom seats fold down to make a bed. One person sleeps on the bottom, and one person sleeps on top (that's not a baggage rack!)

Since arrival, we've been staying with a Couch Surfing host, in a nice house (with showers and western style toilets) - a nice man called Kapil. We hired a 100cc scooter for a week, and everyday we've been travelling in style around Goa.

So Goa is a tourist-y place, with lots of lovely beaches. Here's a map.

 

Note: click map to enlarge

We are staying in Panjim (green area).

On Tuesday we travelled North to beaches near Mapusa (yellow), and the VERY tourist filled breaches. Both Indian and foreign tourists! Only at sunset did we find a quiet beach.

On Wednesday we travelled south to beaches near Margao (orange), and those beaches are amazing!

Postcard quality beaches - I can tell because Kristen can't wipe a smile off her face. 

However, Kristen did tell me that is made her homesick, and that "Garden City is just like this but better, because its near my family".

We then attended a weekly market (Wednesday only) aimed at tourists... a great place for Kristen to browse for colourful locally made presents. These are colourful cloth lanterns, for hanging around your house.

On Wednesday evening, we decided to splurge and get Kristen a dish she's been dreaming of since we decided to head towards the coast. Lobster.

 

"It was in-credible. Most delicious lobster I've ever had in my life"

Photos of Dundlod

So here are a few photos - after all, what is a story without photos :)

Leen with an adult female horse (mare). One of the first big horses we dare to groom (clean)!

Leen's favourite/favorite (depending on where you are in the world) horse. A one year old male (colt). A feisty little beast, that carried the attitude of a rebellious teenager. He bit me and charged me on day one... and would walk up to us for a pat by day 10. 

The fort (top story). The walls needed a repaint, and repairing, and replastering... and there were many walls, but thats what happens after 250 years!

View from the 2nd floor balcony of the main entrance. Leen loved the old WWII jeeps parked here and there.

Despite shoveling horse poo, feeding and grooming during the day, we lived with the "Maharaja". That means we ate and were served like kings. Literally. Here is a photo of breakfast (before the omelettes came out to party!). 

This fort really was an Oasis in the rural town of Dundlod. In the state of Rajasthan actaully! Relatively clean water (but not drinkable for foreigners), Western style toilets, electricity for between 5-10 hours a day, minimal littering (inside the fort)... an Indian heaven! Literally.

Maharaja (for some background) is a name given to a "Lord" of a large portion of land. Before independence, India adopted a "feudal system", where Maharajas were given rule over large regions of land. This system does not exist anymore, but land and titles were traditionally handed down from father to son. The family owning this fort are direct descendants of the previous Maharaja. After independence, much of the land owned/governed was overtaken by the new Indian government, so Maharajas were left with only a a fraction of their property (i.e. a few forts, houses and many fields of crops).

The whole time we were there, something didn't sit right with me. A hierarchical system enforced by culture and tradition, glorifying a family who other than their inherited wealth, have very little marketable, desirable qualities! Helping them push paper around, we discovered that the family (with much influence from a particular British lady) has recently been pouring energy into "breeding the Marwari horses". Their farm land used to feed their horses, and their fallow land used as paddocks. Marketable skills? Deserving of a fort, with 4 star accommodation and food provided, deep pockets, and a full time servant staff of 15 people?

On the bright side... despite the flaws of the Feudal system, this family was known to be lenient on taxing the local farmers, especially if there was a poor harvest season. Now, farmers and businesses are taxed annually by the government, irrespective of their yield and performance. I'm a little torn in my judgement. 

Kinda. 

Ok - not at all.

Dundlod and Horses

We've been in a small town called Dundlod now for about 10 days, and we plan to stay here another 5 days - a rough total of 2 weeks. It's been another successful "workaway" adventure!

In short, it's a 250 year old fort, ruled by Maharajas (kings), inherited by their bloodline.  The fort is big enough to support at least 30 people living here, comfortably.  About half a dozen or so people live here permanently.  The fort sponsored the opening of a school about 20 years ago, which has now grown to include k-12.  It seems to be doing very well. The family who owns the fort also owns a great deal of land of which a large area has been converted to a stable and horse paddocks.  The family now owns about 60 horses, which they use for breeding and safari tours.  The breed of horse in indigenous to India and is called the Marwari (a.k.a curly ears).

ps. photo not taken with my camera (stolen off another website)

Although Kristen and I had very little experience with horses (ie none), we are now able to clean, feed, walk, and bareback ride (about 2-minutes at a time) a number of horses. Mostly females (mares). The males (stallions) are bigger (much), and kick and scream dangerously, so we stay away.

We've been tasked with looking after the babies (females = foals, males = colts). They're only thrice our weight, easily taller than us, and could kill us easily, but they don't know this. Its all about pretending to be bigger. Really. Simple formula. Scary to try :)

Kristen and I were asked to help the Maharaja out today with some PR (public relations), and Kristen is now typing up a press release (what ever that is), and sponsorship packet (that too, i dont quite get). But all is well. We get "afternoon tea" and I get to play with kites while she works. I'm the "executive consultant", in case anyone asks.

Off to bed. I've got a long day of "executive consulting" tomorrow... yummy!

Keep your hands to yourself, Jaipur

Anyone who has traveled to India knows what a novelty it is for children and most other locals to see or speak to foreigners -- I'm not sure why, but people just seem to like staring at Leen and me.  We've pretty much gotten used to it because it generally comes from a place of curiosity rather than anything else.

It was most noticeable in Agra when we went to the Taj Mahal and Indian people wanted to take photos with us rather than with the Taj as a background.

Jaipur was a bit different.  For me, at least.

I have traveled a lot and have never felt as objectified -- either because of my white skin or because I'm a woman or whatever the reason -- as I did in Jaipur.  I am very conscious of my clothing choices as it is AND it's winter, so I cover up even more to keep warm.

On the bus, on the street, everywhere -- I felt and saw men staring at me shamelessly and not in the I-wonder-where-she's-from sort of way... their eyes followed me from head to toe and tended to settle somewhere in the middle, usually my chest.  Once on the bus, Leen had to break a boy's stare after a few minutes by waving his hand in the boy's face.

As if the stares weren't enough -- On our first night in Jaipur, Leen and I were walking down a side street looking for an internet cafe when two guys on a motorbike drove past us repeatedly shouting things at me like "Hello, beautiful", "Will you marry me?", and such... Then, they came past slowly a third or fourth time and the passenger reached out and completely unexpectedly grabbed my chest.  It was one of the most uncomfortable moments of my life.  I turned around and shouted at him, but they sped off with Leen chasing them down the street.  I think the worst part of it was that another motorbike driver stopped to ask what had happened and when Leen explained to him, he just responded with "Oh, no problem".

For us, it was more than a problem.  I felt so violated.

I've never understood a sexual assault victim's tendency to blame themselves until that point -- I'm not suggesting that what happened to me is anything close to being raped or otherwise assaulted, but after that happened I began to question whether I had done something wrong, if it was my fault that it happened.  I wondered if my clothes were too revealing (a loose fitting sweatshirt, scarf, and baggy jeans), if we were just out too late, if I should have had my head covered, if I should have stood closer to Leen, and dozens of other what-ifs and questions.  The truth is that no one deserves to be violated in any way, big or small.  And no woman deserves to wonder if it is her fault.  I wish men knew that it's more than just their own dignity that they sacrifice to get a laugh.

Also...

I've found it interesting that Indian women in Rajasthan seem to cover themselves more than women in other parts of the country.  The saree is wrapped to also cover the head in this part of the country, whereas is is more of a shawl on the shoulder in other parts of the country.  I initially thought that the saree wrapped around the head distinguished Muslim from Hindu women, but have learned that the saree worn this way does not distinguish religions in this part of the country.

Perhaps women here cover up even more to protect themselves against wandering eyes... or is it possible that the wandering eyes inevitably fall to the woman without her head covered?

Good News!

Good News!

We are healthy once again and have been for about 10 days now (about the length of time we've been without internet).  My tummy bug lasted a few days and wiped me out pretty completely -- I don't recommend it as a diet plan, but if you ever need to lose weight quickly it certainly was effective at that.  Fortunately, Leen took very good care of me and force fed me medicine, liquids, and what little food I could keep down so that I made a pretty speedy recovery.

Aside from the vomiting, weakness, and altogether too frequent trips to the bathroom (sorry for the details), the most unpleasant part of being sick was the traditional, Indian-style drop toilet that I had the "pleasure" of using.  We actually climbed up to the Amber Fort again just to use the clean, pay-as-you-go, western-style toilets.  At 5 Rupees a pop, I'd say it was well worth the price!

We've been in Dundlod (in Rajasthan) for about eight days and eating very well here, so no worries -- I no longer look or feel ill!  We'll update more about what we're doing here (mostly playing with horses) in another post, but want everyone to know that we're both happy and healthy once again! 

Doctor, Doctor...

So in Rishikesh, Kristen fell sick (or rather had been for a 10 days), and the doctor prescribed antibiotics. She got better quickly, and rose to her feet with a smile. Now we're in Jaipur, living with a wonderful family (a grand extended family of about 20 people), all living in a 2 story building in the suburb of Amer, right next to the Amber Palace (photos to come).

We've been here 2 nights now, and so far we've enjoyed wonderful home-cooked food, and gained great insight into the local lifestyle.

Unfortunately, Kristen's toughened stomach was reset back to zero by the antibiotics, so what (for me) was a tasty meal of Biryani and chipatis has knocked her for 6! She's been bed-ridden all day, and went to see the doctor, who only prescribed her more antibiotics. We're decided not to risk another round of antibiotics, so I'm just spoon feeding and re-hydrating Kristen every few hours - and lots of TLC :)

We're currently in the process of consulting America's best doctor (Megan Thompson) so everything should sort itself out - but we're a little bummed today.

Kristen and I came to India for a rich experience of a new culture, and so far we're jut taken turns being sick. Maybe our bodies just aren't cut out for this country?

Vini, Vai, Ali, Ragesh? Are we being silly trying to travel around India?

Agra, Jaipur & beyond...

Kristen and I enjoyed New Years eve in Agra - we saw the beautiful Taj Mahal.

On the turn of the year, we were in a backpackers in Agra, enjoying an unusual winter downpour! We celebrated with a half a dozen other travellers from all over the world.

On the 1st we woke up and jumped on a bus to Jaipur - 5 hours away, on bus! Bumpy ride, but we arrived at 6pm safely. We unfortunately took 1 hour trying to find a pizza place, then 3 hours trying to find an internet cafe to get our "couch-surfing" contact number. We arrived at their place at 10pm... shame we kept them awake :(

We're staying in Jaipur for a few days, then heading up to a horse-stable for a week or two - another "work away" contact. More to follow...

Missing everyone very much, especially family and close friends (especially you Lou!)