PenGwen's Footsteps

Looking at Poverty in the Face

gwen1 — Sat, 3 Feb 2007 19:59:00 GMT

Most people are too scared to look at poverty in the face. Most people do not even admit this, let alone think about what it is inside them, that makes them look away. We are too uncomfortable with the thought of confrontation, even if it is only within in ourselves, that perhaps we prefer to stay ‘ignorant’, to have the luxury of not facing terrible things only because they are not happening to us, even though they are all around us. Don’t get me wrong, we all want to do something to help, something to make a difference to the world, but we cannot do this until we have confronted the very issue we want to change. I had always thought that I was the type of who wanted to help people, who was passionate about making a difference in the world. Ethnic conflicts, poverty, and environmental issues – I wanted to tackle them all. In coming to India, I thought that maybe I could do something about the poverty that was so widespread in the country.

But actually when it came down to it I found that I couldn’t even look poverty in the face. I could not look at it because I could not confront the ‘discomfort’ it caused me. I notice while traveling in India that I subconsciously tried to ‘ignore’ the poverty that was in front of me. Beggars came up to us on the streets and I looked away feeling a stinging pain my heart, a mixture of guilt and the feeling that I ‘should’ give them money as I do actually have more than them. Street children tugged insistently on our sleeves and I just wanted them to go away and stop annoying us. I was too scared to confront what poverty did to me inside that I wallowed in the ‘luxury’ of ignorance and the ability to brush away the discomfort this caused me. On another I level, I also began to ‘intellectualize’ poverty. I am the university student. I study development issues at university. I ‘know’ what to do about them. I ‘know’ about poverty. I even come up with theories in my head about why we should not do ‘something’ when we saw street beggars. At that time the only ‘something’ I knew was to give them money. And so deep down I avoided looking at poverty in the face. I hid behind the convenient mask of ‘ignorance’ to avoid the discomfort of my confrontation about poverty.

But one day something changed, planting seeds for a new and altered perspective on this issue. It was such a small insignificant event, yet it possibly triggered something deep and profound within me. We were sitting at a juice bar on the street, when a ragged little beggar girl holding a baby came up to us. She was just like the many street kids we had seen during our travels in India. Once again I subconsciously looked away, but then turned around when Claire suggested we buy her a drink. In my subconscious avoidance to face poverty I once again made excuses – ‘we shouldn’t do something’ as the shop keeper will get annoyed at us for encouraging her to come near the shop. Ashamedly this was my first reaction. Yet when Claire nudged me, I found myself ordering another glass of juice and giving it to the girl. She smiled a beautiful smile and sat down, pouring half the juice in another glass and feeding it to the baby. This time I really looked at her. And she was such a beautiful little girl.

Immediately after, two other girls came, hands held out as well. My second reaction, was once again to fight inner discomfort that bubbling up inside me, and the thought that ‘now we would have to buy juice for everyone.’ Yet we didn’t and instead of buying more juice we shared what we had left with the new girls. At first I thought they were perhaps slightly disgusted at being given a half glass of juice from a stranger, but then they soon smiled and shrugged, taking the juice and sipping it together.

And that’s when it hit me! Why does it have to be so hard to show a simple act of kindness!!! Why could we not share willingly what we have, without intellectualizing everything and making excuses for why we couldn’t be kind? They are human too and that makes them our equals, not people who are ‘inferior’ to us in some way. Why we are too busy worrying about the discomfort this causes us, the ‘privileged’ ones when they are the ones in the real plight.

This whole incident made me realize how easy it is to forget that kindness, happiness and compassion are simple things that everyone can do. Ignoring poverty is an excuse, a comfort we should not have when people are faced with such terrible plights. Why should we be allowed the luxury of ignorance? I also realized that through university I am learning about issues like poverty in only one particular way. And it is actually not the only way. We may learn how to do development projects, how to find the reasons for poverty and ways to overcome them. But before all that we need to remember the basics. We are all human beings and all equal to each other. Compassion and kindness are universal and we must not forget this in the face of poverty.

We can make a difference in the face of poverty even if is as simple as sharing a class of juice! It is the spirit of giving that counts. You may not have enough money, or even food to hand out, but you can give something which will never run out and that is compassion and kindness. If you give in shame, guilt or annoyance, then you are taking something from them. You take away their dignity as human beings. Giving in the true spirit of giving, no matter how small, is a fundamental thing as it acknowledges people as human beings, not as invisible beggars.

This is something so simple we do not need to get a university degree to do!

That is not to say that just having compassion will ‘solve’ all the worlds terrible situations but it is a start. By first accepting that poverty is ‘uncomfortable’ to face, we can begin to let go of the focus on ‘ourselves’ and our own inner discomfort. This frees us up to feel true compassion for others. Only when we have compassion for others and respect for them as fellow human beings can we take a real step to make a physical difference to the situation of poverty in the world.

Even though I have had this profound realization about myself and in facing poverty, I am not perfect. In fact the very next time I walked past some beggars, I cringed. But now I know this is only a reaction, a challenge to overcome, instead of a hidden trigger which turns my face away. I say not that I ‘know’ poverty, but I say that my eyes have been opened to what it takes to look at poverty in the face.

The Half-way Point

gwen1 — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 22:06:00 GMT

Th Half-way Point (early Jan 2007)

Well we are now at the half way point of our trip in India, 6 weeks have gone by and there are 6 more to go! I must say things have changed a lot, so I just felt I should write about it. First of all we are now in the south of India which is quite physically different to the north, not only in terms of climate and geography, but also in terms of culture, food and people. Here the weather is hot (although it was hot in the north too aparently it went done to zero degrees in Delhi now), there are a lot of palm trees and the food is less greasy! On a personal note, I feel much more relaxed here and I dont know whether its because the south is easier to travel in (as some say) or whether it is because I have changed. Maybe a bit of both I suppose! It just that now I feel less hassled, less annoyed and less frustrated with being in India. Before I couldnt wait to leave the country and now I want to stay longer! Before I used to get so upset or frustrated with people constantly trying to rip us off and hassling us on the streets (and yeah we did have a few bad experiences) and generally feeling like India was unaccepting of foreign people, even though I felt at the time that I wasnt a 'culturaly insensative', person and that I did want to 'learn' about a new culture. So from that perspective I thought that India had put up a barrier, which I thought was 'unfair' and hard to break, considering that I was here for the culture and the people. I knew that of course most people were hospitable and nice, its just we just hadnt met any! I also knew that that was partly our fault for making the mistake of doing an arranged tour and getting ourselves exposed to all the gimnmicks and tricks that package tourism uses to make money out of its 'customers.' So part of the reason why I 'hated' being in India was due to the fact we were constantly worrying about money (having blown on a tour that in retrospect we werent happy with!)and feeling frustrated with the restriction and annoyances that came with having everything arranged for us. For example, when we loved a place we couldnt stay longer, or when we wanted to get out of the hotel to explore the area, it was either in the middle of nowhere or in a bad area, subjecting us to all kinds of unpleasant little surprises waiting to jump out at us from behind the cupboard!

In addition, another mistake of this first half of the trip, was that we had no clear 'purpose.' We arrived with no idea of where we wanted to go and most importantly how we wanted to travel. We had done hardly any research (I for one, was expecting Claire to be the travel expert, considering she had just spent 7 months in Sout America - but the mistake with that was that India is NOT South America so travelling methods are not the same!) and we had not dicussed what we wanted out of the trip. So in Delhi the first day, when we arriving at the tour agency, the idea of having someone organise our trip was bubble of relief in the overwhelming pool of confusion that was India through our perception. It seemed that chaos had hit us and we knew not where to go and what to do, so being in that state of mind is of course not very productive and when faced with a sweet talking, sweet smiling man offering to provide 'order' in the chaos, one can only give in gratefully! But here was our very first mistake! We tried to fit in too many places in a 'short' amount of time (who would go from Melbourne to Darwin without flying and try to visit all the places in between!) and therefore the first half of our trip did not take off as well as we had hoped!

Anyway in short I could say that in the first half of the trip I was only enjoying myself 60-70 percent of the time, perhaps due to the fact that I had allowed the bad experiences and perceptions to dictate my overall impressions of the trip, regardless of the good things that we also experienced. But now we have passed the half way point and things are different...

Our first major change was having some purpose. We were going to Chennai to visit my mother's friend who was a dancer. We were going Pondicherry to relax and perhaps speak some french (as it was a french colonial city) and then go to Auroville to lean about life in an 'international community' (see later articles). We were going to Goa to mix in with the party scene and we were going to Mumbai not only to take the plane back to Autralia, but also to do some volunteer work with an organisation that works in the slum areas of Mumbai. So here were have it, much better already - we saw Indian classical dance and music concerts in Chennai, wetting our appetites for one of the most complex form of music there is. We relaxed in Pondy, settling ourselves in comfortably by frequenting the local Indian Coffee House for our daily fix of 'masala dosa' a huge savoury pancake with various spicy sauces and sipping coconut juice from baby coconuts. We have also been in contact with our volunteer organisation, to whom we have a proposed the idea of having a fundraising event for them back in good old Mebourne. They have replied with enthusiasm saying that 'no one has proposed such an idea to them before' and they would like us to visit all their projects, take photos and document their work. Well arent we quite sort after! But seriously I feel that maybe this is a way in which we can contribute to and make a difference to the issues which are so prevalent in India

On a personal level, we are far far less stressed about life. Not only have we got plans to 'spice up' our daily routine life in Melbourne, but we also react less to the oustide world here in India. For example, when annoying sellers try and make you buy their products we say 'no thank you' with a huge smile on our face. Same goes to annoying rickshaw drivers trying to rip us of. We saying laughingly 'ah you little cheater you, trying to make us pay double the price!', then as we walk off they come running after us with a new price and some with a smile as well. Bonus!

So I must say that the trip and really improved. We have gotton over the 'culture shock', we have more purpose, we are less stressed and more relaxes in the face of what is going on. And its interesting becauise from the very first moment we stepped into what we thought was the 'chaos' of India, we noticed that people seemed peaceful, oblivious in way of the bussling and crazy traffic, the hardships and poverty, the pollution and littering and all that seemed to be a generally cray India. At that time we knew not that the secret was to have inner peace and only then could you face the outside world. We knew not how people could cope with life here, let along how we could survive a 3 month trip. But we later learned (and some do say) that India works on you from the inside. You cannot come to India and expect it to change because you dont like it, otherwise India will 'reject' you and you will not feel accepted or at home here. Instead you have to change your attitide. Only then can you truly appreciate the beauty of what India has to offer.

Varanasi - the Holy City

gwen1 — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 17:46:00 GMT

Varanasi 21-24th dec 06

The mist slowly rises to reveal the rows of houses and temples along the ghats on the river's edge, as the new dawn rises... Many small boats are scattered along the Ganges as tourists watch what's happening on the steps leading to the river. People come down to bathe in the holy water (which sadly is very polluted), some fully clothed and some not. The other side of the Ganges is hidden in the mist, a grey horizon with silhouettes, yet as the bright red sun rises, the mists here lifts as well, revealing a row of shacks and figures walking...

This is our early morning boat experience in Varanasi...

The next day we take a cycle rickshaw back to ghats again. Suddenly we are amidst the crazy hussle and bussle of Indian traffic, as the driver pedals with us sitting behind. From our vantage point we see and hear everything. Horns beeping, vehicles zigzagging, little shops on the road side and people everywhere. Soon we arrive at the main ghat on the river's edge. Our first experience is seeing the dead bodies being burned and the 'burning ghat'. From our balcony veiwpoint we see bodies wrapped in clothe, partly hidden under the burning pyre. Flames envelop the stack of wood and the body within it. A man standing next to us explains the ritual, saying that only a certain type of wood can be used and only certain people are not cremated. These include pregnant women an children under ten, who are put in the bottom of the Ganges. The smoke rises, and a strange smell becomes aparant. The sun is hot and our eyes are closing from the smoke, yet we are fascinated with what is happening below. Some time later another procession arrives, holding another body and the ceremony begins again...

Later we wind in amongst the maze of little street behind the ghats, seeing little temples and people going about their daily business as we walk past. We step into a silk shop to admire the famous Varanasi silk, although we resist the pressuring salesman who insists we buy his wares. We visit a music store full of Indian instruments and listen to the guru play the Tavla (drum). Later we go through a glittering maze of stores and shops selling everything you can think of (except nutella!!!!).

Varanasi has such a peaceful atmosphere when you walk along the holy river, yet outside (especially where we were staying) it is still a chaotic Indian city. Once again due to our tour, we were quite some distance from the ghats. This left us for one, unable to soak up the full spirit of the Varanasi and the Ganges, and two, left us susceptible to preying vulture-rickshaw divers. For example:

After spending the day on the ghats, we took a cycle rickshaw in the evening to get back to the hotel. The driver wasnt sure where it was so we showed him the address and he asked another guy, who told us we would be fine and that the price was 30 rupees. We were happy to pay this price as we knew we had been ripped off on the way there that morning (even after asking multiple ricksaw drivers and barganing we still couldnt get the normal price). Anyway everything was fine until all of a sudden the driver stopped in the middle of a busy road and said he couldnt take us further then demanded his money. We tried to explain that we wouldnt pay him until he took us to our hotel but he couldnt speak English. Soon we found ourselves surrounded by more than 10 guys all looking to see what was going on as they circled around us. One guy spoke English and told us the driver didnt want to take us further and told us we should pay him 100 ruppees (tripple the price). We were like 'get real' - as if were gonna pay him tripple for dropping us off in the middle of nowhere! But then we were getting stressed out cos it was dark, we were surrounded by heaps of strange guys and we didnt know where the hell we were! So in the end we paid the driver 2/3 of the agreed price and walked off. Upset and angry we walked down the street, until finally we got another rickshaw and firmly told him we wouldnt pay him until he took us to the hotel. This experience left us feeling frustrated with India and when we were safely in our rooms we had a huge venting session, screaming and giggling until a knock at the door from the laundry guy, stopped us in our tracks!

But thats the way India seems to be - up, down, up, down - like a rollacoaster of amazing and frustrating experiences!

Rajasthani Colour

gwen1 — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 19:07:00 GMT

20 day Tour of Rajasthan 4-18 Dec 06

Itinerary

Jaipur, Pushkar, Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Ranakpur, Udaipur, Ranthambore National Park

Rajasthan can easily sound like one of the world most romantic and fairy tale-like places in terms of its rich history, majestic forts, temples and colourful atmosphere. Yet it can also have its fair share of chaos, rural poverty, rundown areas and annoyances. Our stay in this region was a bit of a whirlwind as we stayed only 1-2 nights in each place and drove around by car. If i could turn back time I would like to have stayed longer in certain cities...

The Highlights

Experiences:

Seeing camels and elephants on the road as a normal part of the traffic! I even opened the window only to see an elephant's backside greeting me!
Going on a overnight camel safari in the desert and sleeping under the stars, listening to our guide spontaneously burst into singing Frere Jacques!
Seeing women in coulourful saris everywhere, bright blue, fluoro pink, golden yellow and lime green
Impressive temples with peaceful atmospheres and intricate carvings

Cities:

Jaisalmer the 'Golden City'

Rising majestically a top the mountain, is the fort of Jaisalmer. Enclosed within its golden walls is a maze of flat roofed houses, street bazaars, temples and restaurants. We walk up the ramp to the entry of the fort and straight away our senses are hit by the sights and sounds of life in the fort. Close-knit laneways expose shops with colourful saris, skirts and scarves, while others display leather bags, shoes and jewellery. Other streets with stairs lead to rooftop balaconies with spectacular city views, We sit on one such balcony, sipping chai with two locals who invited us up when they say us walking the streets. Our feet resting on stone benches we talk about life, friends and India. At other times during our walk in the fort, we are stopped by curious families who ask us where we're from and what we are doing. We talk to an old grandfather about India's environmental issues, astrology and palm reading. We see little kids play cricket in the confined spaces of the fort and walk through the streets next to lazy cows standing in the passageways...

Even outside the fort, the atmosphere is interesting, although it doesnt have the same magic as the fort's interior. Yet we still explore the side streets where ladies are washing clothes and little kids are playing on front porches. On the main street we head straight to our favorite street vendor selling spicy samosas and Indian sweets. This is one place I would visit again...

Jodhpur the 'blue city'

Once again this city has a magnificent fort, yet without the markets and houses of the Jaisalmer Fort. This time we talk and audio tour and are pulled back into time as we listen to the fort's history and life in the time of the Raj. Glorious battles fouaght with curved daggers,swords and knives. Daily life in the fort with passages, magnificent rooms and intricate window carvings. We see things like they were in the past though our imagination as we walth though the fort. At one particular moment we we lean though the delicate archway of one of the fort's highest balcony and are stuck by the magnificent view of Jodhpur's old city - the 'blue city'. Weaved in through the landscape below the fort's outside walls, we see the red sandstone walls blending into the ground which becomes yellow green with vegetation then bright blue with the houses of the old city in the distance.

Later we amble through the old city and are struck by the beautiful atmosphere of quaint little sreets with blue walls. Yet as with all cities in India chaotic traffic prevents our walk from being too peaceful and we constantly side step, stop and run to avoid being hit by autorickshaws, bikes and cars squeezing past in the narrow roads!

Temple at Ranakpur

I sit in Ranakpur's magnificent Jain temple. More than 1000 intricately carved pillars hold up this beautiful temple and decorate its interior. Where ever I gaze, my eyes fall only on the amazing carvings of flowers and animals that form part of the patterns engraved in the stone surface. The corridors of pillars around the centre, provide an atmosphere in which one can imagine endlessly weaving through them to explore the temple. Statues of Gods and Goddesses peak out from indents in the walls, where at first they were hidden from sight. Small balconies gaze out into the quiet and sunny landscape. One can sit here for a moment of quiet contemplation within the beautiful stone walls. Such an impressive place leaves a remarkable impression on visitors even if they themselves are not part of the Jain religeon...

Lowlights

Sorry to say there are always some bad times! This was partly due to the fact all our hotels (booked through the tour) were away from the city centre so we always had to rely on our driver and eat expensive food and stay couped up in the hotel when we had free time as we couldnt get around to places we wanted to go to. Other bad experiences were due to annoying hawkers in tourist areas and constantly being stared at as we walked down the street. For example, people pestered us to buy souvenirs even though we politely said we didn't want any, until we had to yell at them or be rude to make them go away. After that you feel you have to be a 'bitch' sometimes and that makes you bad because all we wanted was chance to meet with local people and experience the culture. But obviously you cant experience the 'culture' when you are in a tourist area!

Other annoying things were guys coming up to us and saying 'madam can we have a photo with you.' All they want is a photo with you so then they can pretend to their friends that they were with these chicks etc... so obviously we didnt let them take any!

'Pushy Pushkar Priests'

One particular experience which really upset us and left us feeling that maybe India is the least accepting country for tourists was an event that happen in Pushkar, a small town of Rajathan. We had been told by our driver not to accept bracelets from people which passed as the 'Pushkar passport' to see the holy Brahman places. Apparantly this was a scam to get heaps of money of poor unsuspecting tourists. So when a guy did come up to us on the street asking us if we wanted a bracelet we politely refused. He told us we couldnt go into the temple without one, and we said thats fine we're only going to the market in the same area. All of a sudden he got really aggressive and started yelling at us. He followed us around on his motorbike and angrily told us we were 'not welcomed in Pushkar and that we should just go back to our hotel.' We were starting to get angry and upset and kept walking but he still followed us. So in then end we turned around to go back to the hotel and met our driver on the way. Only then did we find out that the angry guy yelled at the driver for warning us about the bracelets and preventing him for doing 'business'. Yeah like scamming us for heaps of money - no thanks. This happens to a lot of toursits but is bad because some people actually are real priests who do want to show people around the temple etc (and yes you do need a bracelet but then the honest people wont scam you)

This experience left me feeling really depressed, like we're not free to do anything, not even taking a simple walk down the street, without something horrible or annoying happening. It made me feel like India was so unaccepting, even though we just wanted to see the local places and experience the culture etc. It made me feel like whats the point of coming to a country to learn about its people and places if they are just going to be horrible to you... But I suppose we have to take the bad with the good...

Christmas and an Indian Train Experience

gwen1 — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 17:41:00 GMT

24-25 Dec 2006 Varanasi to Darjeeling

Well here we have a recipe for a very interesting Christmas, perhaps regrettable unforgettable even...

Ingredients

Nutella

Chocolate 'zingle' bells

Ferror Rocher

Indian Sweets

Paper for Xmas decorations

Lasanga

Train ticket to Darjeeling

Preparation

Our Christmas preparations began as soon as we stepped out of our hotel in Varanasi on the morning of the 24th, after asking the reception guy where we could do some Christmas food shopping. He kindly told us we could 'very well go to Archie's Gallery where we would very well find some chocolate 'zinlge' bells and other such christams treats.' So off we went yet unfortunately we did not find our 'zingle' bells or the nutella we were so looking foward too. Instead we got some ferror rochers and a pack of uno cards. Our next step was to order packaged lasanga from the hotel to eat on our overnight train ride to Darjeeling. After the shopping came our actual trip to the station. This involved a 2km walk over a damaged bridge and a ride in a overpacked autorickshaw. Finally we arrived to the station and made our way to the ladies waiting room where we proceeded to cut out our christmas decorations (paper garlands). This provided generous entertainment for two curious little kids who ran back and forth to ask us endless questions and to see what we were doing. We began to get excited about our attempts to have some sort of Christmas celebration in the train, but then to our dismay found out that the train was delayed by 3hrs, making its arrival time 10pm. Not letting this dampen all our Christmas spirits we quietly sang some Christmas carols to ourselves and continued cutting out our decorations, not knowing was hassle and 'adventure' which was about to come...

It happened ike this:

Around 10pm our trian finally arrived, but the platform was crowded with a swarm of people all pushing and shoving to get on the train. We had mistakenly thought we could find our own carriage, I mean how hard can it be? But not in India as not everything is sign posted. Finally in desperation we ask a group of army guys who point us out to the 'right' carriage. We push and shove through the mass of people and suitcases and onto the narrow corridors of the train, again filled with people standing in the passage and doorway. To our dismay we find out we are on the wrong carriage so with some difficulty we backtrack and get of the train. But then it starts moving! Scared to miss it we run up the platform to our carriage which is actually locked! Laughing in disbelief we run back to the other open carriage and a guy tells us its better to catch the train before it leaves then worry about finding our seats. But how to catch a moving train (even if its moving at snail pace) with our heavy backpacks! Miraculously the train stops and we begin the long haul through the crowded corridor of the train. Luckily some one allows us to sit with their family and advises us that we can move to our carriage at the next stop. Simple we think... but that is not so, this is where our nerves and dignity are put to the test. At the next stop we get up only to find the doorway to the next carriage is blocked by a crowd on men and their suitcases. I cannot even see the floor! We attempt the crossing, yet it is not without a price. We are greeted with a sea of groping hands finding places they shouldnt, while we nosedive helplessly all over their baggage, our feet and legs getting stuck, while our hands break our fall and hold our bags. Exhausted and annoyed, we finally make to our seats only to find and large Indian family sprawled all over our bunks (we're in the sleeper class) With many animated gestures we managed to retain one of our bunks but not the other. Dismayed, we pile ourselves and our packs onto the narrow top bunk and settled down to eat our lasagna. When finally we do get ready sleep, we are all curled up, our packs at either end of the bed and our legs sprawled uncomfortably in all directions, squashed like two peas in a pod. We are settled in for a ong sleepless night. But then nature calls... Devastated we realised we cannot even make it to the toilets as men are sleeping all over the floor of the corridor and even if we were to make it over them the doorway to the toilets is packed with like one hundred people. We resign ouservels to wait until morning...

Morning comes and we answer nature's call although it takes us three hours to muster up enough courage to brave the sea of people. Once again there was a small price to pay as some wondering hands found their target. I am now sitting on our bunk and contemplating the true meaning of Christmas. I feel as though it cannot just be about your circumstances (as lets face it ours were horrible!) I mean its bad enough having Christmnas in the train (Thanks to Naz our tour operator guy), but we had made some preparations to make it fun. We were going to hang up our decorations, eat our lasanga and relax on our beds. But we did not know our train would be so impossibly crowded and that we would have to share a bed for two people and two backpacks and not even be able to go to the toilet! Yet despite all this, maybe our Christmas was special in its own way... Two best friends battling the waves of an Indian train experience on the dawn of Christmas and still managing to keep us some of the Christmas spirit with half made decorations, no Christmas tree and some sweets. I think we've done pretty well. I mean the important thing (and maybe is what Christmas is all about) is that we tried our best to keep the Chritmas spirit, despite our circumstances.

Claire Bear and PenGwen's Guide to Traveling in India

gwen1 — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 23:46:00 GMT

Claire Bear and PenGwen's Guide to Traveling in India:

How to Keep Going When Your Cash has Stopped Flowing!

This guide was born after finding ourselves in a foreign (and craaaazy!) country without a cent... Although this is purely comical and was written to help keep spirits up in a difficult time, all the pointers included in the guide arose from our actual experiences!

Warning: Not to be read by any persons lacking a sense of humour!

Ok... Lonely Planet - Give us a break! This is a guide for those of you poor sods with nothing but an overdrawn credit card in your wallets!

The following points can only apply if you have spent all your money on your first day in India at a dodgy Delhi travel agent. If this hasn’t happened you won't be in the right frame of mind let alone desperate enough to go to these measures. On our arrival in Delhi, after jumping in a 'tuk-tuk' to get to the government tourism office, we somehow ended up in a travel agency where we were sweet talked into booking a tour. Only after parting with our money did we realize that we were almost broke with no money for the little things along the way... Like eating...

Tip # 1. Get people to invite you for dinner or make friends with the owner of your hotel so that they invite you to eat with them (that way you save on the $2-3 it costs you to have a meal in India. One night during our stay in Dharamsala, we were passing by the kitchen on our way out to get our fix of diarrheoa inducing street vendor food (couldn't afford anything else!), when the hotel owners felt sorry for us and invited us to share their delicious Kashmiri meal. This opened whole new doors for us in being able to fill our stomachs on an empty wallet!

Tip # 2. If you start to feel guilty about all this ‘scamming’ – ie taking advatage of dinner invitations etc – offer to make a scrumpcious dessert for your host such as chocolate pudding. It will only cost you the amount of money it would take for one meal but as your host has been feeding you for days it's ok. Another bonus is that you get double the food as you’re having dessert, plus you get that warm gooey feeling for being a nice and generous person. And to top it off, keep the ingredients for the next host – that way you’ll make 10 desserts for the price for the price of one! Because our Dharamsala friends kept feeding us, we promised to make them a nice chocolate pudding as it seems that sweets are not a common thing in their culture (plus we were missing home a bit and needed the sugar fix!)... To be honest, we only ended up buying the cocoa powder and cream, and used their flour, eggs, butter and sugar and contrary to our own advice, we forgot the cocoa on their kitchen shelf...

Tip # 3. If you get free breakfast at the hotel make sure you order enough for two people and keep some for lunch. This works well if you order something nice like pancakes to eat straight away then keep the toast or fruit for later.

Tip # 4. Buy local snacks (or ‘snakes’ as some some mis-spelt menus suggest), instead of eating global brands such as Cadbury chocolate or lays chips. That way you’ll not only support the local community but also save a few dollars.

Tip # 5. Don’t take taxis. For one, you cant afford it and two, a friendly person might see you walking down the street and invite you to come in for a ‘cup of tea’ (famous expression and pastime in India). In this way you’ll not only meet interesting people, have good conversations but also save $1-2 it would’ve cost for the taxi. In addition you’ll get good exercise so you’ll also save on gym fees when you get home, leaving you free to pay back your travel debt! When we were in Dharamsala and wanted to walk the 3kms downhill to the library, we ummed and ahhed for a long time on whether or not to take a taxi back up (lazy us!). After a long debate, we decided that we couldn't afford it so we started the long haul up the hill. We had barely began when a voice calls out, "Cup of chai?". So off we went to have a cup of tea with a sweet Tibetan refugee called Sobu who told his life story including how he walked 21 days from Tibet to get to India, fleeing the Chinese regime. Exercising can be interesting after all!

Tip # 6. In countries like India where people don’t use toilet paper – scam some off classy hotels (you know the ones your dodgy Delhi travel agent sent you to without telling you and that’s why you’ve blown your budget). Not only will you save $1 but you will also get your money’s worth in toilet paper. If the hotel staff get suspicious as to why you are using 10 rolls a day – tell them you’ve got explosive diarrhoea! Well what can you expect when you have been eating street food because the travel agent took all your money and you cant afford Cadbury or Lays!

Note: In this case you can also scam bottled water from your hotel or houseboat if you’re in Kashmir. After all your dodgy Delhi travel agent sent you to his other dodgy business partner so that they can scam you too! (and harass you) In Kashmir, the owner of our houseboat not only lies to us about a trek we were supposed to be undertaking, but at the end of our stay, took me aside and told me that if I wanted to stay longer, "it would be no problem" because he had "special feelings" for me and he was looking forwards to having "some fun" (give me a bucket!) together. Don't worry. We are not that desperate for free accomodation - read tip # 7 for more info.

Tip # 7. Get free accommodation by making friends (Not "special friends"!) with hotel owners as he will invite you to stay for free, assuming that he can get lots of money out of your friends and family when they come to India based on your wonderful recommendations. In Dharamsala, our friends at the hotel told us that the hotel was now "our home" in India and we were welcome back anytime, free of charge. We actually haven't been able to make use of this offer yet as we haven't been able to rearrange our overbooked tour. We are however still researching this tip as especially when Indian males are involved, it is very important to sus out their intentions! My friend Ibe (still working on his english skills!) told me when he offered us the invitation " and you know, no need to worry about money. You stay here free of charge. I know that I will be able to get money from your family and friends later anyways". (Maybe he needs to work a little bit on the tact/phrasing there?)

Tip # 8. About laundry. Ask to burrow your hosts clothes with the excuse of wanting to wear the local dress. That way you’ll get their clothes dirty and not your own, meaning you spend less on laundry costs. In addition you can steal hotel soap and shampoo so that you don’t smell as dirty as you might look! In Kashmir, we spent a couple of nights in a small village called Gagangir where we were unable to wash for a few days. We were also sick of getting funny looks from the locals who are not used to seeing westerners in the area. Borrowing ponchos from the guys was the perfect way to blend in with the locals, keep warm in the sub-zero conditions and avoid washing our clothes for a few extra days!

Tip # 9. Tell everyone about your experience with your ‘dodgy Delhi travel agent’, especially hotel owners (without telling them the name). That way they’ll feel sorry for you and feel a responsibility to make your stay a more pleasant one. They may offer to help you for free if you manage to cancel your tour.

Tip # 10.With international phone calls. If you’re with a travel your travel partner and you call home, not only get your parents to call you back at your hotel but tell them to call your friend’s parents so that they can call your friend at the hotel too. Gwen was trying to call her mum and as a joke I said 'can you get her to call mine too and tell them to call us back'. Out of a simple joke, blossomed a brilliant money saving idea. PS - Don't tell our parents ;)

Birthday Bash

gwen1 — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 00:17:00 GMT

Well I celebrated my 22nd birthday in India. I woke up on the morning of the 4th at 5am cos we were on the sleeper train going from Dharamsala to Jaipur (15hrs) and we had to change carriages in Delhi. Happy birthday to me! Anyway my first presents were from 2 guys working in our hotel in Dharmasala who gave me a card and some chocolate (lindt to statisfy our chocolate cravings!). I thought it was quite nice of them until I saw how they spelt my name - Quince!

Anyway after that we got to hotel in Jaipur, Rajasthan where Claire gave me a really nice card and earrings (which made up for the other cards from people who cant spell my name!). Next surprise... that night as we were getting ready to go our for dinner, the driver rang us in our hotel room and told us to hurry up as we were already 10min late. I was about to get annoyed with him and tell him 10min was no big deal but when we got downstairs he had a big cake waiting for me and all the hotel staff were there! True to Indian tradition, the driver took a piece of cake and stuffed it in my mouth. Claire was laughing at me for having cake all over my face when the driver ran up to her and did the same! So we both had pink and green icing dripping eveywhere, but nevertheless I went round and offered the rest of the cake to the hotel staff..

The next part of my birthday celebrations were 2 days later in Pushkar where some friends from Dharamsala had agreed to meet us to celebrate and go out. Well the night was nearly 'wrecked' cos of the incident with the argument over ID cards (see other article). It was only 'wrecked' cos we were upset that we had no idea what was going on cos no one was translating the heated argument in hindi that was taking place. All we wanted was to do something fun for my birthday... but then it all got sorted out and we went out for dinner and drinks.

Little was I to know that I was about to recieve another birthday surprise.. one of the guys got a little bit drunk and later when we went back to the hotel he took me aside as I tried to go back to my room. Claire had already left to go to our room so I couldnt tell her to wait. Anyway to my surprise he said that he liked me and wanted to marry me. When I told him I had a boyfriend in Australia - he said in his hilarious Kashmiri accent: 'You know, you can just 'forget' about Australia - just forget!' I told him that I wasnt just going to 'forget' my boyfriend and walked off to my room, thinking to myself that when Claire wished for my birthday in India to be memorable we hadnt accounted for random drunken marriage proposals! I think that was something that I rather just 'forget!'

Gallery: Kashmir

gwen1 — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 23:05:00 GMT

The Big Misunderstanding

gwen1 — Sat, 9 Dec 2006 23:24:00 GMT

Pushkar 6-8 december

Here we experienced out first bout of ‘trouble’ based on the ethnic tensions of the country. But not only did the people involve misunderstand each other, causing a huge argument, but we completely misunderstood the issue as well. Well what can you expect when everyone talks in Hindi about you but doesn’t translate!

Anyway what happened was this. We met some Kashmiri guys in Dharamsla who were also traveling to Rajasthan. We gave them our hotel address in Pushkar so that they could come and meet us to celebrate my birthday (see ‘Birthday Bash’). The problem started before that night as they told us not to tell our driver that they were coming as they are connected to our drivers company and didn’t want him to know for some reason. Anyway we didn’t tell our driver what we were doing and went and saw them when they arrived in our hotel. We started out ready to have a party when suddenly there was a big commotion outside. The hotel reception rang us in the room and told us to come outside. So we came out wondering what the hell was going on and all the hotel staff were standing outside watching the driver and one of our Kashmiri having a heated argument. Not only did no one bother explaining the situation or translating for us, but we knew the argument involved us. Annoyed and worried, we walked back into our room and waited for things to calm down. Later the Kashmiri guys walked in fuming, saying this whole thing was stupid and that they were leaving the hotel. We felt like everything was our fault because we invited them to come, and were upset that the party night we planned for my birthday was wrecked. We were also annoyed with our driver because we prusumed that he didn’t want us to see any friends and that he was babysitting us like three year old kids! We wee also upset that no one was telling us anything, but that everyone else in the hotel knew about it. Later we managed to get hold of our driver and demand an explanation as too what was the argument and why he yelled at out friends when we were the ones who invited them to come here.

Turns out we were way way wrong about the situation! The whole commotion and arguments were based on the fact that the driver and hotel staff had asked the Kashmiri guys for their identity cards. In fact it had nothing to do with us but was based on the politics of Kashmir left over fro the conflict between India and Pakistan! All the driver wanted to know was that they were not terrorists from the Pakistani side of Kashmir, following us around and planning to bomb the hotel!!! (NB Kashmiri people have a hard time getting around in the rest of India precisely because everyone assumes they are militants or terrorists and so they need to show there ID card so that they prove they are Indian Kashmiris not Pakistani Kashmiri people)

Anyway how funny that an argument we thought was based on the driver treating us like three year olds not allowed to go out, was actually passed on ethnic politics. after all that the Kashmiris and the driver became best of friends and we all had dinner together. I just gotta add that cos all this took so long we had dinner at midnight at this random placed cos nothing was open!!!

Arrival in Delhi and Kashmir Adventure

gwen1 — Fri, 1 Dec 2006 18:00:00 GMT

Well we got to Delhi in the middle of the night and by the time we got to the hotel in was 3am! mind you the drive to the hotel was quite something as we got our first experience of Indian driving.. its goes something like this... honking the horn, running red lights (night time only) and 3 cars on a two lane road, overtaking whenever!

anyway as Claire and I havent seen each other for ages and we stayed up chatting all night (jet lag probabaly helped too!). Next morning we braved the crazy Delhi streets and contrary to the annoying manager in the hotel telling us not to walk outside we set off into the streets. We got swarmed by people asking us where we were from but we got an autorickshaw (little 3 wheeled car) and went off to a tourist office where we possibly made of first mistake in the country. We booked a tour through the agency which may have been a bit expensive but at least we designed our own tour and got all our transport/accomodation taken care of for half our stay. We are not sure if we did the right thing though

:-/

Kashmir 24-30 Nov 06

Anyway soon we were off to the first stage of our adventure - Kashmir. We went there by aeroplane. Did someone tell us that this was the place of conflict between India and Pakistan. Yes we knew this but we still went. We can be forgiven for thinking the airport in Srinagaar, Kashmir was an army base! There were so many soldiers. We were starting to think we made a mistake in coming here but then our driver arrived to take us to our houseboat on Nageen Lake and it was ok. The first day we didnt really do anything apart from taking a tour of the lake on a little boat and walking through the markets. Srinagaar is a Muslim city and there were a lot of beautiful mosques and chanting.

Then came the next mistake we made in India... The manager of the houseboat told us about some treeking we can do in the Himalayas. Now who wouldnt want to do that! But guess what - he showed us the summer pictures of people hiking through the mountains and camping each night. He conviniently 'forgot' to mention that as it was winter there would be no camping! So we paid the price of a propper trek which we didnt actually do! anyway although we were annoyed and upset about this we still had some amazing experiences on the 'trek'. Let me explain...

So on the first day of the trek we drive to a little mountain village called Gagangir (a Muslim village) . It is a beautiful little village nestled in the mountains, with breath taking views. We sleep in a gypsy hut (they sleep in the village in winter and go in the mountains in summer). There is no furniture, and we eat and sleep on the floor. The next day we did our 'trek' which was a 15km walk on the road and a bit through the snow in the mountains. It was ok in itself but not worth the price we paid. Anyway the thing that was priceless was - that night 3 couples in the village were getting married and we were invited to the wedding...

The wedding celebrations usually last 5 days and we were there on the last night. After dinner we went to the little hut in which one of the wedding celebrations was held. As we enter, a little unsure of ourselves we see 3 rooms, two full of women mostly and one full of men. We go to the women's room where eveyone is staring at us curiously, it is really crowded and all the women are wearing colourful scarves on their heads. The bride is in green with a huge gold bindi/trinket on her forhead. Then suddenly the women are making signs at us. At first we are not sure what they want. Then someone says 'dance, dance'. One lady pulls me up and I try and communicate that I dont want to dance alone (I was shy). So a girl gets up and another gives me her scarf. Then suddenly the singing and drumming starts and we dance (well I try and copy her). All the women laugh and when I want to sit down they wont let me so I have to keep dancing! Then the person who was filming the wedding starts to film us and people are looking in through the windows. I was a bit embarrassed but who cares it was fun. Claire and I also danced together and some of the other village girls did too. We also saw them putting henna on the bride's hands, making intricate patterns. The groom also gets a henna mark on his little finger to show that he is married.

Anyway we stayed at the wedding for 4-5 hours until 4am! Then we went back to our hut to sleep. The next morning we lazed around the village and watched the wedding procession go through the streets. The grooms were dressed up with a white turban threaded with gold. One of the brides had a black veil that totally covered her face and eyes while the other didnt. It was an amazing experience and we felt privilaged to be part of it.

After that we got back to the house boat, spent two more days there then did a 14hr drive to Dharamsala, the place of exiled Tibetans refugees, and also home of the Dalai Lama...

the saga will continue, so stayed tuned for more on this in a few days :-)

The day before...

gwen1 — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 15:09:00 GMT

Well tomorrow I am leaving to go to India. Trust me to get myself on a flight that gets there in the middle of the night! Anyway there's not much to say at the moment. ! am excited, a little bit stressed... just the usual I suppose.