Day 47
We arrived in India this morning. It was just like Christmas for me because I woke up early and couldn't sleep. Or that could be contributed to the boat vibrating. When we're slowing down, the whole ship vibrates because of the engines, which in turn makes a lot of noise too.
But I was still very excited to be in India. This is the country that I was looking forward to most. And now we're here! I always pictured India as a place where I would love to visit, but wasn't sure I'd ever find a reason or a chance. (Well, I guess I thought the same way about all of these places.) After my Hinduism class I especially wanted to go and see all the rituals in action in the place where they began.
We were the first ones off the boat this morning. We wanted to get out early so we could fit some stuff in before Kelly and I had to leave for our Taj Mahal/Varanasi trip. We had to walk through an industrial area (not a shock) to a busy street and along the busy street to the gate. On the street, there were colorfully painted trucks, bicycle rickshaws, motorcycles and bicycles. All of them stared at us as they went by.
Once we were outside the gate we climbed into an auto rickshaw. That was a bit of an event because there were four of us to cram into a small space. Indians are generally smaller than Americans. Traffic was also an adventure. Think Boston, where the lanes are just a suggestion, plus Italy, where mopeds do whatever they want, and add bicycles and rickshaws. Vehicles are constantly honking to let you know they know you're there and also to let other cars know that they're there. It's nerve wracking after a while. The rickshaws fill in all the small gaps between cars and trucks, and the motorcycles squeeze in between them. Bicycles just try to keep up, I guess. I thought riding in Boston traffic was scary. I'm surprised we didn't see anyone get hit and die.
Families would also cram themselves onto motorcycles, too. Dad would drive with a child on his lap while mom sat behind holding two other children. None wore helmets.
We had asked our driver to take us to Pondi Bazaar, but he said it didn't open until whatever time and he could take us someplace else. That freaked us out a little bit. He took us to some expensive-looking shop with sarees and carpets and trinkets, etc. We looked inside just to make the driver happy, but came back out and told him it was too expensive. We wanted cheap sarees. So then he took us to a sari shop. It was exactly what we wanted.
You walked in and could sit at a counter that stretched the length of the room. Behind the counter were shelves lined with sarees of every color and pattern. They had silk sarees, which the Indian women covet. And they were so cheap! I bought a chiffon sari with embellishments for under 500 Rupees. One thousand rupees equals about $21.
After getting our sarees, we were ready for lunch. Claire and Kelsey had to go back to the boat before Kelly and I did, so we were going to have our driver drop us off somewhere and then take them back. We asked him to take us to a hotel near the boat because the diplomats told us we should eat in hotels or else we could get sick. The hotel he took us to was not exactly kosher, however. The diplomats had said the Taj and Park hotels were the best, so we asked how long it would take to get to one. The driver said about 20 min, which was cutting it close to getting Claire and Kelsey back to the boat.
Kelly and I decided to let them go and catch a different rickshaw to the Taj. Too bad our new driver barely spoke any english. We also forgot to negotiate a price before we got in, which led to some haggling when he dropped us off. Oh well.
The Taj was a beautiful hotel. They were still setting up the lunch buffet when we arrived, but said we could order off the menu. But by the time we were ready to order, there were only 10 minutes until the buffet opened, so we just ordered garlic nan and got the buffet. The selection was amazing. There was lamb and chicken, salads and cooked veggies, sauces and a huge selection of desserts. You could also order pasta or pizza. We opted out of that.
Everything was so good. Good by itself and good mixed together. There was a sauce that had so much flavor that my mouth didn't know what to do. The nan had the perfect amount of butter and garlic. And they had this mint iced tea! It was sooo good–just the right amount of sweet, but it didn't taste sweetened.
We wanted to leave plenty of time to get back to the boat, so we paid our bill early. Then we forgot about the desserts. That was probably a good thing because of how stuffed I was already. But they did look delicious.
At least we arrived back on the ship with plenty of time and pumped for our trip. We met in the Union at 1600. They made us put all our liquids in one bag that they would check because they didn't want to deal with security.
I can't believe how nice the flight to New Delhi was. Normally I hate flying because it's such a hassle. But our first flight was actually relaxing. They brought us cool cloths to freshen up with at the beginning of the flight. Then they brought us drinks. That was followed by meal (an entire meal!). I got the veg option that came with spicy corn, rice and a puff thing, dessert, water and coffee or tea. The best part was that every seat had its own individual TV to watch Hollywood or Bollywood movies, TV shows or listen to music.
It was quite amazing. I didn't have to sit there trying to find a comfortable position to sleep or get bored with my book and pick at my nails. I was really impressed.
From the airport we were bussed to the Hotel Parkland. We were greeted with flower garlands and given red dots on our foreheads. We settled in our rooms before going back downstairs to have dinner. Kelly switched rooms with my assigned roommate. We had a sweet room. A king size bed plus a fold-out couch. Our room was also a lot bigger than the other rooms, which had two twin beds. We lucked out.
Dinner was good, though not as good as at the Taj. There was plenty of nan to go around. Several people had never seen or tasted it before, and they were hooked. They didn't have as many sauces to put on the food, no extreme flavor sauce like at lunch. And the staff was sure to warn us that the chili sauce was very hot. Food is not as spicy in the north as in the south. They looked worried when we put a big glob of chili sauce on our plates, but it was never too hot.
They also had a really good dessert that I have never seen before. I don't think it is in my cookbook. They called it Gulab jamur. It is a fried cake ball. It tastes like a donut/pancake/pineapple upside-down cake. Really good, especially with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I asked a waiter how it was made. He said it was condensed milk with flour, fried and put in sugar syrup. Sounds like a calorie-free treat to me.
We went to sleep after dinner. We had to be awake at 0415 the next morning.
We arrived in India this morning. It was just like Christmas for me because I woke up early and couldn't sleep. Or that could be contributed to the boat vibrating. When we're slowing down, the whole ship vibrates because of the engines, which in turn makes a lot of noise too.
But I was still very excited to be in India. This is the country that I was looking forward to most. And now we're here! I always pictured India as a place where I would love to visit, but wasn't sure I'd ever find a reason or a chance. (Well, I guess I thought the same way about all of these places.) After my Hinduism class I especially wanted to go and see all the rituals in action in the place where they began.
We were the first ones off the boat this morning. We wanted to get out early so we could fit some stuff in before Kelly and I had to leave for our Taj Mahal/Varanasi trip. We had to walk through an industrial area (not a shock) to a busy street and along the busy street to the gate. On the street, there were colorfully painted trucks, bicycle rickshaws, motorcycles and bicycles. All of them stared at us as they went by.
Once we were outside the gate we climbed into an auto rickshaw. That was a bit of an event because there were four of us to cram into a small space. Indians are generally smaller than Americans. Traffic was also an adventure. Think Boston, where the lanes are just a suggestion, plus Italy, where mopeds do whatever they want, and add bicycles and rickshaws. Vehicles are constantly honking to let you know they know you're there and also to let other cars know that they're there. It's nerve wracking after a while. The rickshaws fill in all the small gaps between cars and trucks, and the motorcycles squeeze in between them. Bicycles just try to keep up, I guess. I thought riding in Boston traffic was scary. I'm surprised we didn't see anyone get hit and die.
Families would also cram themselves onto motorcycles, too. Dad would drive with a child on his lap while mom sat behind holding two other children. None wore helmets.We had asked our driver to take us to Pondi Bazaar, but he said it didn't open until whatever time and he could take us someplace else. That freaked us out a little bit. He took us to some expensive-looking shop with sarees and carpets and trinkets, etc. We looked inside just to make the driver happy, but came back out and told him it was too expensive. We wanted cheap sarees. So then he took us to a sari shop. It was exactly what we wanted.
You walked in and could sit at a counter that stretched the length of the room. Behind the counter were shelves lined with sarees of every color and pattern. They had silk sarees, which the Indian women covet. And they were so cheap! I bought a chiffon sari with embellishments for under 500 Rupees. One thousand rupees equals about $21.
After getting our sarees, we were ready for lunch. Claire and Kelsey had to go back to the boat before Kelly and I did, so we were going to have our driver drop us off somewhere and then take them back. We asked him to take us to a hotel near the boat because the diplomats told us we should eat in hotels or else we could get sick. The hotel he took us to was not exactly kosher, however. The diplomats had said the Taj and Park hotels were the best, so we asked how long it would take to get to one. The driver said about 20 min, which was cutting it close to getting Claire and Kelsey back to the boat.
Kelly and I decided to let them go and catch a different rickshaw to the Taj. Too bad our new driver barely spoke any english. We also forgot to negotiate a price before we got in, which led to some haggling when he dropped us off. Oh well.
The Taj was a beautiful hotel. They were still setting up the lunch buffet when we arrived, but said we could order off the menu. But by the time we were ready to order, there were only 10 minutes until the buffet opened, so we just ordered garlic nan and got the buffet. The selection was amazing. There was lamb and chicken, salads and cooked veggies, sauces and a huge selection of desserts. You could also order pasta or pizza. We opted out of that.
Everything was so good. Good by itself and good mixed together. There was a sauce that had so much flavor that my mouth didn't know what to do. The nan had the perfect amount of butter and garlic. And they had this mint iced tea! It was sooo good–just the right amount of sweet, but it didn't taste sweetened.
We wanted to leave plenty of time to get back to the boat, so we paid our bill early. Then we forgot about the desserts. That was probably a good thing because of how stuffed I was already. But they did look delicious.
At least we arrived back on the ship with plenty of time and pumped for our trip. We met in the Union at 1600. They made us put all our liquids in one bag that they would check because they didn't want to deal with security.
I can't believe how nice the flight to New Delhi was. Normally I hate flying because it's such a hassle. But our first flight was actually relaxing. They brought us cool cloths to freshen up with at the beginning of the flight. Then they brought us drinks. That was followed by meal (an entire meal!). I got the veg option that came with spicy corn, rice and a puff thing, dessert, water and coffee or tea. The best part was that every seat had its own individual TV to watch Hollywood or Bollywood movies, TV shows or listen to music.
It was quite amazing. I didn't have to sit there trying to find a comfortable position to sleep or get bored with my book and pick at my nails. I was really impressed.
From the airport we were bussed to the Hotel Parkland. We were greeted with flower garlands and given red dots on our foreheads. We settled in our rooms before going back downstairs to have dinner. Kelly switched rooms with my assigned roommate. We had a sweet room. A king size bed plus a fold-out couch. Our room was also a lot bigger than the other rooms, which had two twin beds. We lucked out.
Dinner was good, though not as good as at the Taj. There was plenty of nan to go around. Several people had never seen or tasted it before, and they were hooked. They didn't have as many sauces to put on the food, no extreme flavor sauce like at lunch. And the staff was sure to warn us that the chili sauce was very hot. Food is not as spicy in the north as in the south. They looked worried when we put a big glob of chili sauce on our plates, but it was never too hot.
They also had a really good dessert that I have never seen before. I don't think it is in my cookbook. They called it Gulab jamur. It is a fried cake ball. It tastes like a donut/pancake/pineapple upside-down cake. Really good, especially with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I asked a waiter how it was made. He said it was condensed milk with flour, fried and put in sugar syrup. Sounds like a calorie-free treat to me.
We went to sleep after dinner. We had to be awake at 0415 the next morning.
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