From Masala to Bollywood and everything in between! Catch up with me and my time around South Asia

Gosh I can't believe how long it's taken me to get back to the blog. Sorry for the lapse...since my last post I've been to Hyderabad (northeast of Bangalore, the Capital of Andhra Pradesh) to celebrate Eid and to Kodai Kannal, a "hill station" (southwest of B'lore in the Western Ghats, in the Tamil Nadu state). So we'll begin with my Hyderabad adventures... We (gigi and I) took the train with our friend Sardar, who's from Hyderabad. The train experience was a blast...and to think I was worried because we wouldn't be traveling in the nicest class of the train, we traveled 2nd class non-AC, but it was sleeper class reserved, so it was a good experience (how the average Indian travels)! You need to arrive at the train station about a half our early, because the train doesn't wait for anyone and it's not uncommon for seats to be sold by the train police if you're not there at least 15 minutes prior to departure. So how it works is that each compartment has 6 persons, and during the day/evening you sit on the lowest benches (3 to a bench) and then when you're ready to sleep there is an upper bunk, and a middle bed comes out and secures in place for the 2nd person, and the third person sleeps on the original bench. It's important to lock all of your belongings to the train, so no one will be able to get on, grab your suitcases and exit the train (not an uncommon occurrence). Part of the reason this is such a problem is because anyone can enter or exit the platforms, regardless of whether or not they're a passenger. This is nice because everyone comes to wish their family members and friends Bon Voyage, or if you're passing through a station where you have a good friend they can come and see you for 15 minutes while the train is stopped in the station, and then you can continue on your journey! Throughout the journey Tea/Coffee, "Water Botties," Samosas, veg. dinners, biscuits (cookies) and more are sold by singing men running up and down the cars of the train, it becomes calming after sometime...like an aria almost! The bathroom is interesting on the train, you have your choice of either a western toilet or a squat john...but either way they ask you not to use the rest room while the train is stopped--this is very important because the waste goes right onto the tracks...just an open hole in the floor! So it's not too pleasant if you're peeing or worse while others in the station are looking on, and not to mention the smell it leaves on the station tracks! I now realize why there's such a smell around all the train tracks here...oyyy vaaay! So we reached Hyderabad, and experienced this very old, but lovely city. It is predominantly Muslim and most people speak Urdu or Hindi. Walking through the streets most women are wearing a Burkah, or at least have their heads covered. At times it felt like I could've been in Saudi, or Lebanon--the architecture is mostly at least 300 (or more) year-old Turkish Mosques, gates and government buildings! Hyderabad is known for its tasty rice dish--Biryanni, which we had plenty of, and Iranian Tea (more milk than tea, you have with biscuits and drink from the saucer, not the cup)! Gigi and I took advantage of all the Eid street bazaars, which are absolutely insane. At some points we couldn't even walk there were so many people in the streets, it was a traffic jam of people...I don't think I've ever experienced such crowding of my personal space on a regular street...only at music concerts! We learned how to wish our hosts a happy holiday "Eid Mubarak" and practiced my Salaam Alachiem...Alachiem Salaam's and everyone was impressed Gigi and I knew when and how to use Allah Hafiz (may God protect you and keep you, said when you say goodbye) and Inshallah (god willing) a commonly used phrase. We celebrated Eid by eating wonderfully fattening Biryannis and rich sweets, I seriously returned from Hyderabad at least 5 pounds heavier!! We stayed for 5 days, and thoroughly enjoyed every minute. The time we shared with Sardar's family was the most wonderful part of the trip...his sisters covered me in Mendhi (henna), dressed us up in traditional clothes and made a semi-professional photo shoot for us (see photos), his mum made us the most wonderful foods and taught us how to make and roll our own Chapattis from scratch, and when we left everyone had a little tear in their eye. Returning Gigi and I had an adventure...we almost missed our return train (the last one out that night). We got stuck in an awful traffic jam on the way to the train station, and we had to sprint to our train with packages and luggage in tow. First up one flight of steps, then across a bridge, and then down another flight of stairs and all the way down the track to our car! The train pulled way about a minute and a half after we'd reached our car! Gigi and I were both looking at each other in disbelief that we'd made the train after all! Coming back we didn't have Sardar, and it was a test of our traveling knowledge and instincts. We also had upper bunks this time, which required some monkey-like climbing skills! We returned uneventfully and safe back to B’lore for another week of classes, and to recharge our batteries (literally and figuratively)! Then on Friday afternoon we set out again, this time for Kodai Kannal, one of my favorite spots in India so far! The school had arranged this trip, so we didn’t have much to worry about, just packing the appropriate warm clothes, and walking shoes! We had a 12 hours drive through the southern plains, and towards the coast, to the Western Ghats. I fell asleep in the car and woke up to find huge mountains shooting up all around us…but they aren’t like mountains we have back home, I know you’re wondering how different could they be, these mountains were more like a pile of boulders piled high. They didn’t seem to be one structure, but many rocks in one kindergarten conglomeration! So we drove on the little highways…no cement sound barriers, or anything like that, but 2 lanes on pavement, cars passing as they please, just some tamarind trees on either side of the road, painted with black and white bands to mark the road way. Once you begin to climb Kodai Mountain it’s straight switch backs in the pitch black…only our headlights and lights from bog trucks coming down the mountain! It was quite an interesting experience…I did my best to sleep as much as possible—this way I wouldn’t feel like puking from all the jostling in the back of the van. We finally reached Kodai around 11pm, and it was about 36 degrees Fahrenheit and I was happy to be back in the cold! I’ve been confused about the fact that it is actually fall, living in B’lore there aren’t any deciduous trees, only palms and other ever-greens, and the temperature never gets lower than 60 Fahrenheit, so I’ve been all confused. We woke in the morning to a cloud of mist and fog. This was somewhat disappointing because we had planned to go trekking gin the jungles around Kodai, but our guide advised us we wouldn’t be too happy doing this—we’d be wet, muddy and cold all day (which I wasn’t opposed to, but I was outnumbered…: ( So instead we took a tour of the KodaiKannal International School. A beautiful campus, est. in 1901 and made of an elementary, middle, and high school. It was nice to be in a group of people who were so international for a few hours; I didn’t feel like such a foreigner…as I usually do. There are students and teachers from Korea, Germany, Sweden, US, UK, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Malaysia, South Africa…and a few others I’ve forgotten, but these were the most predominantly represented countries. Part of me wanted to be back in high school when I saw the campus. The whole town, filled with fog and old architecture reminded me of the sound of music or a little town plucked from the alps and placed atop an Indian mountain. We continued our day by touring the cliffs and jungle’s edge, I mostly enjoyed being able to wear long sleeves and a sweatshirt…I was craving some hot cocoa and tapioca pudding all day! After we tried some new indigenous fruits, and were thoroughly soaked and exhausted we headed back to the hotel to dry off and go back to Kodai International school for a play we’d been invited to. They put on Toad of Toad Hall from the Wind and the Willows! It was sweet, and a traditional school play that made you oooh and ahhh at the cute little girls and boys. All in all the trip was very relaxing, and I got up on Sunday and went for a run around the lake—challenging me to not step in the cow patties, but the views were so beautiful. Again our 12-hour return to B’lore was more eventful than expected. After we stopped for lunch we witnessed a bad car accident, and unfortunately here in India seatbelts aren’t commonly worn. We were lucky that our vehicle had working seat belts and buckles—often there may be a seat belt but no buckle, or a buckle but no working belt! We said a little prayer for all the passengers in the car, and continued on…as hundreds of other people were rushing to the scene within seconds of the crash. Our driver was in some hurry to get home and the last half hour of the trip our driver was following an ambulance to get through the traffic more quickly. We finally arrived back to campus around 1am, completely exhausted. Mostly I’ve been learning from all my travels that India is completely different from one location to the next. Tamil country (Kodai Kannal) is very patriotic, and really won’t speak to you in any other language besides Tamil, even if they know another language. Hyderabadis love their food and history, and live in the hottest state India has, and will probably bake in the summers! From hot to cold…India has it all!