I LOVE LOVE LOVE INDIA! One thing I won't miss though is the 100's of "OM" tattoos that I've been seeing for the last 2 months - I might throw up if I see one more...
It seems to be a yoga prerequisite :-)
Today (Sunday March 3 - last day in India) was the best of the whole trip - of all 10 weeks. It was Holi, which is a celebration to welcome spring (I think). Annie, Amber, and myself were invited to a party in a very nice apartment complex and they (the Mumbai couchsurfing crew) definitely know how to throw a party. As you can see from the pictures (which will be up soon), Holi is a very colorful event! People just grab a handful of powder and rub in on your face, arms, hair, down your back etc. At different times of the afternoon we looked like smurfs, the Incredible Hulk, and I think I just looked like Pink for a while (maybe still). Then the water balloons and water guns start and to make a long story short I now have orange and pink hair. Then the building's celebrity made an appearance - his name is Govinder and he is apparently the Indian version of Jim Carrey. I danced with him - see video clip! That party was very very good!
I'm now in the Dubai airport killing 5 hours - one was already spent in their swanky shower - worth every dime of the US $12 that it cost - they lost money on that shower! I'm now going to grab an hour-long massage and by the time that's done (1:30 AM) my flight should be almost ready to board - next stop Heathrow - Amber and Annie are arriving at the exact same time - on entirely different flights - 7:05AM and so we're going to try and meet up to have tea and scones...
Backtracking a bit....
First day in Mumbai was very busy - I took an overnight bus from Goa which went quite smoothly, checked into my hotel who had the friendliest owner ever, then went out at 11:30. Annie and Amber allegedly arrived at 12:30, and couldn't get a hold of me, so we obviously did our own things on Day 1.
I definitely wanted mehendi done (henna design on your hands and/or feet) so after a quick breakfast (a masala dosa), I finally tracked someone down to do it. If you see the pictures, I think you'll agree it's AMAZING! It was a three hour affair - one hour for the design, another hour to dry, then she said I was coming to her house for lunch, so I did. Very very nice lady and her daughter cooks an awesome chicken masala. I bought lots of it so ladies we're having a henna night on March 8th (this coming Saturday night - mark it down!)
Then, based on her advice, I went to Mohammed Ali road market, a wholesale shopping area. However, it being a Muslim area, and me wearing shorts with mehendi from toe to knees, I was attracting a bit more attention than I wanted, so bought my souvenirs and kept going.
Did some more shopping, a little more sightseeing. Mumbai really lucked out. We too were a British colony but we got none of the amazing architecture out of it. Victoria Terminal Station, the High Court building, the Gateway of India, they're all amazing.
Got back to hotel at around 6PM and met up with Annie and Amber. We then went to meet Piya and her friends, met through couchsurfing. Piya's a lawyer who's quitting to be a teacher! Funny how that works....
Day 2 in India was all shopping. Fab India found its best customer in me! And I found out they are online so life is good :-) Also checked out Crawford market, with its animal section (for pets not for dinner), then went to another specialty store where we spent an hour having tea and coke while Annie haggled extensively.
After shopping and dinner, Annie and Amber opted for a massage at the Taj Mahal, and I went to another couch surfing meetup. A bunch of people met for coffee then we went to a bar, but I was good and responsible and left just before midnight to go home and pack. There were still some couchsurfers outside and one of them gave me a ride back to Colaba on his bike (thank you Russell!) - that's when I finally noticed the smog and pollution in Mumbai - my eyes were really stinging.
Got back and started packing at midnight - see picture of "scale" we borrowed from hotel. I have Tibetan prayer seeds in all my baggage which assures me they will always find their way back to me. Keeping fingers crossed :-)
Day 3 - last day - I got up early to take some more pictures etc, we went for breakfast. All three of us piled into taxi with bags strapped on top and headed for "private" Holi party (Annie and Amber on Day 1 had a bad experience with swarming crowd and a cop involved telling them to "leave area now" after they were checking out the colors and showed some enthusiasm). The dye that Annie and Amber have on their hands is not coming off!
Back tracking a bit to Goa....
Picked up Annie and Amber in Bangalore airport and flew to Goa that night. They stayed 3 nights then went up north. I continued along with yoga, trying to do one or two classes a day. I did some form of ashtanga in the morning, then tried my first ever pranayama class, which is learning breathing and meditation. The Goa shala was really nice, teachers excellent, but not a huge fan of Goa.
My guest house was amazing - called Bean Me Up. Totally tofu and soy based menu, run by an American woman, awesome salads and I had a very tasty tofu sloppy joe in a pita. And tofu cheesecake. It was very chilled out and green and clean so that was good.
Beaches were nice too - I went (north to south, on various days) to Arambol, Vagator, Anjuna, and Baga. Baga is what I think Ibiza or Cancun is like - umbrellas as far as the eye can see - Goa gets about 55 charter flights a week from the UK, Russia, etc.
On the day before I left, I had gone to the beach, and when I came back to the parking lot a few hours later, my rented scooter was gone. And by the way, when you rent a scooter, the only exchange of information is cell phone numbers. And he told me to let him know if I change guesthouses (which I did).
Anyway, there's no pleasant way of telling someone his scooter is gone. He came and picked me up on his scooter, we scoped out the parking lot for an hour. The scooters in Goa are 90% black Activas, so my theory is that the ignition was a bit worn out and someone else took mine, since there was another one left there. Then we drove around for an hour, still looking for the bike. It was pretty stressful, but I think he must have found it, because on the day that I was leaving, he only called to see if I needed a cab to the bus stop. I said I didn't - he asked for money for "looking for bike" - I said no, it was bad luck and shitty for both of us - he said OK and that I should keep in touch next time I'm in Goa :-)
That's it for this India trip but it definitely won't be the last. It's so incredible - may have to make this an annual trip!
To everyone I met in India - keep in touch! Best email address to use is sonja_lusignan (then @)shaw.ca.
To everyone in Calgary, yay can't wait to see you guys!
