Pokhara

Pokhara,

I woke up early, Bob, Sara, and I walked into town. It was quiet, peaceful and at 7:30am there were just a few kids walking around selling freshly baked goods on the side of the road. Compared to India this was what I was looking for, not to mention I was walking lake side into a town about the size of Tahoe City (by the lake), but a legit city of Pokhara pushes back into the hills, a part of town that I never made it to, nor does any tourist.
We rented some Bikes ($1) for the whole day and started riding around town, past the touristy area and around the lake (lake no bigger than Waccabuc), again the hills around me were filled with rice terraces which amaze me. The quietness of the area was something I fell in love with, I think if I flew straight to Pokhara I would not have appreciated it as much, but since most tourists come here via Katmandu (big city) or India their appreciation for the area is MUCH MUCH greater. Cruisin’ around the lake was nice, it was warm, and the sun was finally out.
The town its self is filled with restaurants, little gift shops, very touristy, all catering to the same types of people, trekkers, rafters, kayakers, crunchy people, an outdoors persons dream. Being completely oblivious to what I was walking into, I felt a bit caught off guard because both my Israeli friends and American friends were planning a 17+ day hike to the Annapurana mt. Range, something that I quickly became very jealous of.
Pokhara was great, I climbed up to a look out point which over looked the lake (3.5 hour hike), did some more biking, and even got a cab up to another look out for the sunrise, it was an great place. Being a moron and only getting a 15 day visa I knew my time was running out and on my 4th day I went to a trekker guide shop with Bob and Sara so they could discuss their hike with someone who has done it thousands of times. At this point the wheels in my head began to spin and I really thought I should just go for it and do a small hike. I talked to a guide, and booked my 7 day Annapuna Base Camp hike which is roughly a 40 mile hike, up hills, across rivers, through valleys and up to a glacier.
Being accident prone I decided to rent a guide/porter for $11usd a day who would carry what ever I asked him to and lead the way on the hike. I departed a day and ½ later.
Pokhara, was a great town, worth staying in, the views of the Annapurna Mt. Range in the morning (before clouds rolled in) was phenomenal, the people are friendly, and coming from India it was an awesomely relaxing time.

NEPAL (sunali to pokhara)

NEPAL,
After a long stay (19 days, which seemed a lot longer), I busted through the boarder into Nepal. My biggest mistake was being cheap and only getting a 15 day visa which you must pay in USD for ($25). The Boarder town on Sunali which is both India and Nepal, is very representative of India, cluttered, dirty, people haggling you to buy just about anything. Needless to say I was NOT interested in staying in Sunali longer than I had to. Unfortunately I just missed the bus to Pokhara so I was forced to sit around for an extra 3 hours. Instead I asked a tour company how much it would be for a private van and seeing it was only $15usd for a 6 hour van ride in comparison to a 12 hour cramped bus ride ($9usd), I managed to scrape together 2 miserable French women (who insisted on eating a full sit down meal before leaving and stopping ½ way for tea), two Israelis who were awesome, and an American couple from Alaska who I wound up rooming with in Pokhara for a couple of days.
The Van ride was phenomenal, it started off slow and we were stopped by the Maoist Rebals who insisted the driver pay them to pass, which he did. Slowly out of the dirty town and in the distance I saw blue skies and the out line of Mountains! At this point all India had done for me was give me rain and humidity, sure I got some sun here and there but for the most part it was overcast and cloudy. So blue skies was something to smile about. The drive began to climb higher and high and before I knew it the road got bumpy, narrow, and a bit dangerous, the driver was bumping some horrible tunes, but I was all smiles. A awful re-mix of “what is love” (night at the Roxbury song) came on and I started twitching my head like the SNL skit, the Americans sitting behind me laughed at it, but the sour French bags, and the Isralies had no clue what I was doing… oh well.
Anyways the drive was great, my sickness that India had given me was starting to clear and breathing in fresh air felt great. The van climbed for quite some bit, whipping past tiny villages that hung onto the cliff side, kids waving at us as we drove by, stopping for tea actually wasn’t that bad. We pulled over at a small village (no tea for me), and I just walked up and down the road, it was so peaceful with HUGE green hills towering over me and the view of layers upon layers of rice terraces was just off in the distance. As we got back in and continued the drive, more and more rice terraces littered the landscape. I really was in awe in how amazing these structures are, carved into the hill, layer after layer after layer.The drive ended at lake side in Pokhara, Bob, Sara (two Americans), and it got out and found our first cheap hotel. The Marco Pollo.

India Recap

India Recap,

Again this is my experience and only my experience.

India, is indescribable in words, its name alone brings so many feelings and emotions to my mind. India is an intense saturation of the senses, just hearing a towns name brings a specific sight, smell, taste, sound, and touch that will never be erased from my mind. Unlike an place I have ever been India is truly a unique place to visit.
I will say this, it is not a place for everyone, you have to be prepared for what you are about to step into (in my case, SHIT a few times), and even if you think you are ready for it, your NOT.

Mumbai, the over whelming amout of pollution and poverty, mixed with the immense population is what blew my away. This was to the extent I never thought possible, garbage everywhere, people sleeping anywhere, animals, feces, foul odors, beautiful aromas, friendly people, cold people, beggars, thieves, pollution, and over population, people and animals living in sub standard conditions. It was simply mind blowing. It was a way of life I have never seen, never experienced, never thought was possible. In a way It was quite depressing, but in order to survive mentally you have to rise above it and take the good with the bad, put them together and turn it into one big experience. To get the opportunity to look into someone else’s culture and experience their way of living is a privilege and to judge or criticize would be unfair. I’m happy to have experienced it but I’m glad it is not my life

Goa was a different experience a much greener lush landscape away from all the B.S. involved with the city life. A tourism based life with distinct seasons and off seasons (the off season being filled with rain which I was so lucky to enjoy). Even in the rain it was a pleasant place to visit and it gave me a better understanding of Indian Culture. I liked Goa, I wish I could see it in tourist season, I was happy with where I was and getting a chance to eat some food while being a bit more carefree (eating in Mumbai I was very selective) was great. On that note I did break the seat off the toilet in my hotel room at 2am on a mad dash to release some spicy Vindaloo that I sampled a few hours earlier. Goa, good food, more relaxed, and a lot cleaner than the rest of the places I visited in India.

Delhi was amazing but i attribute that to my experience and my host. Staying with a new friend Kerrun and his mother was excellent, taking me in and showing me another side of India was something I had yet to experience. As a traveler you can only scratch the surface, but having an inside point of view, a guide, a cultural mentor, a LOCAL, is an experience you can never put a price on, for me it made my time in India worth while.

I think with out my Delhi experience my view of India would not have been accurate or better yet my opinions would have been overall a LOT harsher.

Agra, Lucknow, Gorakupur, and train travel was a bit of a ZOO. I met some amazing people along the way, but the train was a disaster for me, being sick, not being able to find my seat, and walking aimlessly was not my cup of tea. The train was confusing but great, squat toilets that empty directly onto the track, an unavoidable culture of just taking your trash and throwing it out the window, a car system which still confuses the hell out of me (how you find your car is still beyond me when ½ the time they are labled and the other ½ they are not), yeah train travel was interesting.
The garbage thing got me though, I mean it’s not just on the train, it’s every where, people just throw trash where ever they want, I didn’t see one trash can until I got to Goa, it’s baffling. Kerrun explained it to me best I think. “People of India don’t know how to think ahead” he explained it to me with buildings, road ways, and major infrastructure, but you can translate it into people just throwing trash where every they like as well. It is a serious problem that no one is thinking about (at least no one I can see).

I can write for ever and I have only seen a tiny portion of a huge country. When I think of India I can still HEAR the blaring horns honking uncontrollably everywhere, I can still SMELL the foul odors of feces, animals, body odor, as well as the beautiful aromas of the food, I can still TASTE the masala which is masterfully blended into everything, I can still FEEL the humidity, heat, and perspiration, and I can still SEE the millions of people living below the poverty line in hard, very hard living conditions.

My experiences in India were limited, only seeing a small portion of a huge country. My recommendations are these:
Visit another Asian City first to warm you up to the insanity and maybe even desensitize you a bit.
Do your homework, don’t try to wing it because it is a tough place.
Travel with someone, no hostiles makes meeting people more difficult and it isn’t a bad place to have someone with you especially to experience the insanity.

PHOTOS:

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/vaccaro.marc/MarcvaccaroIndia?feat=directlink

Agra, Lucknow, Sunali, Train Travel

Agra, Lucknow, Sunali, Train Travel.

OK, so after spending a couple of days with Kerrun which was great, organized, peaceful, and even relaxing regardless of being in a HUGE city in India, I now am faced with getting on the train and getting to the Nepal boarder. Delhi to Agra by train turned out to be a very very interesting experience.
Kerrun booked me a ticket all the way through to 2 hours from the Nepali boarder so I had my tickets purchased and all I had to do was get there… not so hard right? Well first of all there is nothing labeled at the platforms in Delhi so I have no clue what train is what, and how to figure out which actually car on the train I am supposed to be in. A ton of questions later I board a train seconds before it takes off (thank god it was the right one). From here I have a 5 hour journey to Agra (home of the Taj Mahal). Well after wondering the cars for about an hour, trying to figure out which one I belong in and where my seat is, I give up, sit beside an open train door in between cars and watch the scenery pass me by, it was actually quite nice, peaceful, and definitely and educational experience because with in the hour I sat by the open door I witnessed a couple of people come and heave garbage over my shoulders out onto the tracks, a grown woman go up to a train platform, turn around to face all the people standing on the platform and squat and take a piss, as well as meet a new Indian friend who just wanted to attempt to speak English while escorting me back to his seat so we could chat it up (he later helped me find my seat). I may be explaining this lightly but at the time, finding my seat took 2.5 hours and really was a huge pain in the ass.
Agra, I arrived at night and took a auto rickshaw to a hotel that I searched out online (again thank god for planning ahead). Got to the hotel and my rickshaw driver began to pitch me the idea of him taking me around the city the next day and dropping me off at the train station for my next departure, he had a good price so I agreed.
Taj Mahal, I woke up early to see the sun rise over the Taj and it turned out to be a flop, overcast, cloudy, but very peaceful, I saw the Fort which was nothing in comparison to the Taj, and did a bit of touring with my new rickshaw driving friend, he turned out to be pretty cool and took me to rug making factory which was surprisingly interesting, we went to a market, and he took me to a roof top restaurant to watch the sun set on the Taj, all cool things.
At this point I came down with the sweats, chills, and really didn’t feel so hot, in a panic I showed every type of pill down my throat that I had with me, and went to wait for my next HELLISH train ride to Lucknow. At this point not feeling good and having to board a train with the experience I just had getting to Agra I was scared shitless. It turned out that I found my train, car, and seat right away, definitely and act of god. Lucknow turned out to be a hell hole, a dirty little industrial city (I’m totally judging), but in it’s defense all I did was go from the train to a hotel, sleep, and back to the train. If I didn’t feel like hell I would have stayed at the tracks for 6 hours or walked around but I needed the sleep.
Gorakapur was my next stop, this train almost as confusing as my first (2 hours from the Nepal boarder), I rolled in there around 11:00pm and again would have charged for the boarder but felt obligated to sleep, so another auto rickshaw to another filthy hotel. Got some sleep and woke up early to a very very exciting day. As I headed towards the bus station on a pedal rickshaw a random charges my rickshaw screaming SUNALI, SUNALI, SUNALI which is the name of the boarder town. He pointed to a land cruiser, told me it would be 100rs ($2.25), so I hoped into a packed 12 person deep land cruiser for 1.5 hours to the boarder. The ride, if not so cramped would have been great, the views were rural, less trash and pollution, but sitting 4 people in the front seat and watching the driver change gears with the stick shift between some Hindu man’s legs was an interesting ride.
The Boarder: from the bus drop off the boarder is about 1 mile hike through utter madness, cars, busses, motorcycles are all jammed in trying to cross, it is a disaster. Pushing through the mess you have to check out of India at an UNMARKED booth where some random dude is just stamping passports, I exchanged some money, and ran like hell until I reached the boarder because after 19 days of India the MT. of Nepal were calling my name.

Nepal info to come….

Delhi

Delhi,

Now before I begin to talk about Delhi or the rest of India I have to add that this is MY experience and ONLY my experience. What i have learned especially with what i took out Delhi is that it’s your personal experiences that really shape how you feel about a place. For me, getting a chance to see Delhi more like a local than a tourist, while having some inside information, really added to the experience.

I arrived in Delhi and picked up a prepaid cab to my new friend Kerrun’s apartment. At this point I had never met him but he is a friend of a friend whom I have been traveling with up to this point (Cristina). For me this was the thing I had been waiting for, a real experience in eating, seeing, and learning about Indian Cuisine. No longer than 30min. after arriving at his apartment and getting to meet back up with Cristina we hoped into a cab and headed to Old Delhi, the one place I was really looking forward to. I really was excited to see windy narrow streets mobbed with people, and filled with interesting smells and tastes (no sarcasm at all, the packed streets of Old Delhi was on the top of my list of places to see).
On arrival we hopped into a pedal rickshaw (thanks to Kerrun speaking Hindi) and down the narrow passageways we went. Past street vendors frying up all kinds of foods, bags filled with spices of all kinds, people selling any and everything you can imagine, people sleeping in the streets, pissing in the streets, living in the streets, Old Delhi is a sight to see. For me it was a pretty awesome day, but as I said it’s the personal experiences that make an overall difference in how you feel about a place.
Kerrun took me around the city the next day and we did some local things, I saw where his mother worked, places he goes, and restaurants he eats in. It was nice to not be afraid of what I was ordering, not just because of not knowing what it was but also because in India I was always on guard of weather or not it was safe for me to eat. Getting a chance to branch out with someone to guide me on eating and ordering was amazing.
Over all it was the good feeling of having someone with me who was easy to get along with and so willing to help me accomplish what I wanted to learn. Kerrun brought me into a 3 star hotel and actually hooked me up with one of the Chefs whom I got to shoot the shit with, discuss Indian basics, and get a lot of questions answered that still boggled my mind. It was an experience that I was very grateful for.

Overall I really liked Delhi, but I can see how I may be singing a different tune if I hadn’t had such a good guide and accommodating host. I can see how many tourists fall into the trap of being turned off by the city, in comparison to Mumbai, Delhi is a much cleaner city (but that is in comparison to the filthiest place I have ever been), there is a bit more organization to it, but over all it is a big Indian city, dirty, populated and unless prepared, very easy to be overwhelmed by.

Goa (India)

Goa,
what a blissfully quiet place in comparison to Mumbai. Flying into the Airport and looking out the window of our cab (Cristina is still with me in Goa) was like breathing in a breath of fresh air. Literally, going from the insane maze of overcrowded poverty filled streets of Mumbai to the green lush palm filled streets of Goa was an amazing change of pace.
When landing in Goa we headed straight north to Anjuna beach which would have been nice if it was not dumping down buckets and buckets of rain. The roads get windy and narrow and unless you have a knowledgeable taxi driver getting spun around is not a hard thing to do. We didn’t stay in Anjuna beach though since accommodation was pretty minimal and we were forced to pay a bit more than planned in an average location. During Peak season (october 15th to March), Anjuna is the place to be with bars, out door parties, beach to relax on, in off season it can be a wet, desolate place.

Candolim was the next town we stayed in which had a bit more going on that Anjuna, bigger town, cute streets, tons of Portuguese influence (the whole state of Goa was colonized by the Portuguese). I can picture the beach filled with people, bon fires, music, dancing, and festivals all winter long. Palm lined beaches, good surf and a rather lively town, all things that make a good beach vacation. Unfortunately I was blessed with rain and boarded up shops. Not the worse thing in the world, a little R n’ R after a rather interesting stay in Mumbai was good.

Panjim is where I spent the rest of my stay in Goa, a small city of about 90,000 people that has all the stuff one needs. Bars, restaurants, friendly people, and centrally located in the state, making travel a lot easier. Renting a car (with a driver of course, is actually the only way I have gotten around so far in India) here was a great idea. From Panjim we went to an organic Spice Plantation called Sahakari Spice Farm. One of the more enjoyable things I have done, lunch and a tour for 300rs which is about $9usd, the car ride to and from the spice plantation was 1000rs. The Farm was great though, vanilla, cardamom, cinnamon, turmeric, coffee, banana, nutmeg, coco, were all grown here. Great experience. I also got a chance to go to a wildlife preserve actually was a zoo, saw a king cobra (in a pen) which is absolutely terrifying even in an enclosure, for me just the drive around Goa on the way to the perserve was worth the trip, palm trees, rural life, cows all over the road, a relaxed life. people here may be poorer financially but wealthy in life style and happiness. Goa was a great place to visit, i can only imagine how crazy it would be in busy season.
Also I have gotten the chance to cook in another woman’s home, Renee who I read about online. 4 two hours cooking sessions which is probably one of the most expensive mistakes I have made so far. The woman is lovely but the course is worth a fraction of what she charges, and paying all upfront was not a great Idea, those are the mistakes we make as travelers… oh well.

RECOMMENDATIONS: when landing in Goa have a place to stay or at very little an address, name or phone number of a place you are planning on visiting. Some of the beach towns only have one or two hotels and prices can go sky high when they know it’s night time and you are in a pinch to get into your room and go to bed. Also the MOST IMPORTANT THING, do come when the weather is nice, tourist season is probably a bit crazy but when you come in off season most everything is boarded up, closed, or in preparation of the busy times (October – April). If you find your self there in off season head to the Capital of Goa, Panjim which is what I did, a small city smack in the middle of the state with easy access to most touristy things.

Mumbai (India)

Flying from JFK direct to Mumbai (bombay) India was an experience in it's self. Leaving the very organized, well understood, non confusing (english speaking) world that i live in and landing directly in one of the stranger places i have been was pretty awesome, to say the least.

Mumbai is exactly what you may expect in a extremely populated Indian City, millions of people, thousands of motorcycles and scooters, and hundreds of different smells, some good, and many bad. The sad reality of the level of poverty is apparent even as you step out of the airport into the HOT sticky humidity. From the Airport to the Hotel a good 45min. ride I saw high rise apartment buildings, slums and ghettos, people sleeping on the street or anywhere they could lay their head, as well as every other kind of accommodation in between.

The experience of Mumbai was good for me though. I managed to Cook in two different people’s homes. One lady named Deepa who runs an Indian tour web sight www.mumbaimagic.com, and the other named Tejal whom is starting the same type of business (vintejsuvsha@yahoo.com). Both were lovely people but Tejal’s class was absolutely wonderful, held in her small home about an hour from Colaba (where I was staying). Her husband was amazing and after cooking, Chicken Tikka, Butter Chicken, and some other Indian delights, sipping on locally made palm, ginger, and rice wine was not a bad thing either. Having organized activities like cooking and meeting people who could give you advice and genuinely enjoy inviting you into their home was something I will always remember. I highly recommend cooking with Tejal if, ever in Mumbai (around 2500rs which is around $60usd).
Besides cooking I was fortunate enough to have a friend with me who decided to partake in cooking, sight seeing, and exploring the city. Cristia was definitely a “light” in a very confusing “dark” place, having someone with you to watch your back and share costs in India is NOT a bad thing, I was fortunate to have such an amazing travel partner to share the experience with me. Touring the city, cooking, and exploring on our own was a good way to soak in the culture. Luckily for the two of us it was the time of the Genish (Hindu god) Festival and the streets were very festive and there was tons of culture to be absorbed.

RECOMENDATIONS: Although i probably wont return to Mumbai it did how ever have some VERY interesting things to see. When arriving in the airport my best advise it to get the pre-paid yellow cab to your hotel, There are multiple pre-pay counters that will charge you MORE than you should be charged, be sure to get the yellow cab. I stayed in Colaba area which is the farthest south you can go in Mumbai. Traditionally it is a tourist area although i saw very few tourists there. The few restaurants i frequented did cater to the tourist crowd. the hotel that i stayed in was called Bentley's Hotel and cost around 1050 Rupees a night which is roughly $26usd. Kind of expensive when you are thinking in terms of back packing and although there were much cheaper options, bed bugs, dingy hotels, with stinky rooms was something i kind of wanted to stay away from. I Landed in Mumbai on the evening of September 4th and departed on the 9th. I would say that 2 full days is ALL you would ever need in Mumbai.

Lastly India is a crazy, LOUD place to visit, be selective in what you eat and where you eat, don’t be surprised to see things that you have never seen before or that you never expected to be possible (grown man sleeping on the median of a highway during mid day traffic… I hope he was sleeping). Expect crazy drivers, crazy roads, more horn honking that you can even begin to imagine, and if you can’t handle some foul smells (along with many pleasant ones) than the immensely huge industrial city for Mumbai is NOT for you