Haridwar is about 30-45 min south of Rishikesh and we had heard that it is really a great thing to see and experience the Hindu evening prayers on the Ganges river. There are a ton of people on both sides of the river and there is a Hindu temple on one side of the river where they use a loudspeaker to say their prayers. Then many of the people get this flower boat thing that has a wick so that you can light it up and send it down the river. (Sorry I can’t remember the proper words, I keep forgetting).
Maddie and I decided to get our own flower boat thing and a random Hindu guy offered to help us with it. He said the Hindu prayers took some of the flowers and tossed them in the river. Then we lit the flower boat and sent it down the Ganges. It was a cool thing to do and a neat experience. Then this (so called nice Hindu guy) asked us for money for showing us the prayer...we should have known they all ask for money if you want their assistance. So, of course we gave him some rupees, but it was cool that we did it and said the prayers just like the Hindus.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
The Indian Massage
Oh my gosh....!! This was the BEST massage and the WORST massage of my life!!! It is way too OUTRAGEOUS to even begin to type this story...if you want to know what happend call me or ask me in person...
The Drive to Haridwar and Rishikesh
Oh my freakin' lord were that exact words I was saying either out loud or in my head....
Maddy and I were the only 2 volunteers who had the weekend free to travel to a far distance and come back late sun night, so we literally planned this trip on Thurs and left at 3:15pm on Fri. We were really excited to go to Haridwar and Rishikesh only after learning about it in 5 min from one of the staff people here at CCS. He said many volunteers go there all the time. It is a hot spot because it is one of the most spiritual places in India, the capital of yoga, mediation and spirituality. The Ganges River is there and for Hindu's it is the most holy water there is...(even though it is freakin muddy, brown, gray and out right polluted.) But anyway it is holy nonetheless and hindu's go there to bathe, swim and bless themselves in the Ganges river. They say that if you bless yourself with the water, then you will wash away all your sins....
So Maddy and I said great let's go check it out and see what this is all about. We decided that we wanted to take a yoga lesson, get a massage, see the prayer ceremony in Haridwar, and go trekking in the Himalaya's to a beautiful waterfall in Rishikesh. That was our plan and we pretty much stuck to it.
Anyway, getting back to the drive. So everything was going smoothly the first 1-2 hours of the trip (mind you this is a 7-8 hour car ride...). I was trying to sleep and Maddy had dozed off too. Then all of a sudden I heard a big BOOM!! I woke up, and was like what the heck was that? Apparently we had just run over a huge pot hole going full speed. All Jessie (the driver) could say was "oh sorry mam, there was a just big whole". From then on Maddie and I were alert the rest of the car ride there....
According to Jessie this one small road that could only fit 1 car on the road going in one direction was the best way to go...Jessie would drive at full speed until we saw another car coming straight on and with in seconds would swerve half way off the road so the other car could pass us by. Then if there was a car in front of us he would tailgate the driver beep his horn several times go full speed and we would be half on the road and half on the side of the road.
Then, Jessie would pass a car going full speed, while another car would be coming straight towards us at full speed and Jessie would swerve to the left just in the nick of time before we crashed into the on coming car!!! I cannot tell you how many close calls there were. Maddie and I were hanging on to the handle above our heads for dear life!! This was wild! I mean something you would see in the movies!!
Jessie kept looking back saying "You alright mam? This is the best way other roads are bad and have too much traffic." What could we say? He was our driver, I couldn't tell him no I think we should take a different route, what the heck do I know, I'm in India!!
I must tell you it was very interesting to see the land of India on the car ride. It was so interesting to see so many monkeys on the side of the road!! They were the cutest things ever. We even stopped and took pictures of the baby monkeys and their mothers. Jessie even threw a banana at one of the monkeys and we got to see him eat it. It was too cute. Then we would drive along and see villages where people live in huts, we saw a ton of cows and even a few bathing in water. We also saw horse and buggy, cow and buggy, fruit stands, little cars caring 10+ people inside, and motorcycles with the dad driving and the mother holding the baby in her hands/lap. Yes, all on a motorcycle...It's India!! Anything Goes...
After stopping a couple of times, eating dinner, and driving on paved roads, half paved roads, dirt roads, gravel roads, muddy roads, or no roads, and bouncing like crazy all while holding on to the handle above our heads we made it safely to Rishikesh.
Maddy and I were the only 2 volunteers who had the weekend free to travel to a far distance and come back late sun night, so we literally planned this trip on Thurs and left at 3:15pm on Fri. We were really excited to go to Haridwar and Rishikesh only after learning about it in 5 min from one of the staff people here at CCS. He said many volunteers go there all the time. It is a hot spot because it is one of the most spiritual places in India, the capital of yoga, mediation and spirituality. The Ganges River is there and for Hindu's it is the most holy water there is...(even though it is freakin muddy, brown, gray and out right polluted.) But anyway it is holy nonetheless and hindu's go there to bathe, swim and bless themselves in the Ganges river. They say that if you bless yourself with the water, then you will wash away all your sins....
So Maddy and I said great let's go check it out and see what this is all about. We decided that we wanted to take a yoga lesson, get a massage, see the prayer ceremony in Haridwar, and go trekking in the Himalaya's to a beautiful waterfall in Rishikesh. That was our plan and we pretty much stuck to it.
Anyway, getting back to the drive. So everything was going smoothly the first 1-2 hours of the trip (mind you this is a 7-8 hour car ride...). I was trying to sleep and Maddy had dozed off too. Then all of a sudden I heard a big BOOM!! I woke up, and was like what the heck was that? Apparently we had just run over a huge pot hole going full speed. All Jessie (the driver) could say was "oh sorry mam, there was a just big whole". From then on Maddie and I were alert the rest of the car ride there....
According to Jessie this one small road that could only fit 1 car on the road going in one direction was the best way to go...Jessie would drive at full speed until we saw another car coming straight on and with in seconds would swerve half way off the road so the other car could pass us by. Then if there was a car in front of us he would tailgate the driver beep his horn several times go full speed and we would be half on the road and half on the side of the road.
Then, Jessie would pass a car going full speed, while another car would be coming straight towards us at full speed and Jessie would swerve to the left just in the nick of time before we crashed into the on coming car!!! I cannot tell you how many close calls there were. Maddie and I were hanging on to the handle above our heads for dear life!! This was wild! I mean something you would see in the movies!!
Jessie kept looking back saying "You alright mam? This is the best way other roads are bad and have too much traffic." What could we say? He was our driver, I couldn't tell him no I think we should take a different route, what the heck do I know, I'm in India!!
I must tell you it was very interesting to see the land of India on the car ride. It was so interesting to see so many monkeys on the side of the road!! They were the cutest things ever. We even stopped and took pictures of the baby monkeys and their mothers. Jessie even threw a banana at one of the monkeys and we got to see him eat it. It was too cute. Then we would drive along and see villages where people live in huts, we saw a ton of cows and even a few bathing in water. We also saw horse and buggy, cow and buggy, fruit stands, little cars caring 10+ people inside, and motorcycles with the dad driving and the mother holding the baby in her hands/lap. Yes, all on a motorcycle...It's India!! Anything Goes...
After stopping a couple of times, eating dinner, and driving on paved roads, half paved roads, dirt roads, gravel roads, muddy roads, or no roads, and bouncing like crazy all while holding on to the handle above our heads we made it safely to Rishikesh.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
The Delhi Belly!!
I made it a week and 4 days with out anything wrong with me. I have been feeling great, and have had no problems until....yesterday morning. (sorry if I get a little graffic, but hey that's life!)
So I wake up yesterday morning (tues) go to the bathroom and I have diarreah!! Great! So the girls in my flat told me take immodium immediately. So I did. But I was feeling really weak, my body was aching and I felt exhausted! I called Bella to let her know what happened and she said to stay home. Do not go to work today. So I stayed home and slept until 2pm. Then I got up and the CCS staff had left me some soup. So, I poured this clear liquid soup in a bowl and literally took 5-6 spoonfulls before I started feeling really hot and the next thing I knew I was throwing up the soup.
I felt awful. I hadn't eaten anything all day and was hungry so I thought maybe I should try some "american food". Jackie had some fig nutons so I had some of those and had no problem. The rest of the day I just slept, and even though I had slept half the day I still felt exhausted. Then I decided to go to the doctors to find out what was wrong with me. (I'm glad I did!!)
The Indian doctor was great! I only had to pay 600 Rupees ($12) to see him. I explained everything that happened to me, and then he gave me an exam. Once he pressed down on my stomach he felt and heard the rumble. He said yep, "What you have is an intestinal infection. You must have eaten something that was contaminated." So he prescribed me cipro, some vitamins, and some pills to stop me from vomitting when I ate. Luckily I had brought my own antibiotics so I was good and didn't need the cipro. He also told me to get a lot of rest and drink a lot of fluids.
I felt a lot better(mentally) after going to the doctors. At least I knew what was wrong with me and how to cure it. Once we got back to CCS I decided to have a little dinner with the girls, I had a couple of bites of bread and thew up again! Clearly this bug in my gut was not allowing me to eat anything. So I just took my avalox, drank some water and went to bed.
I am feeling a lot better today. I have still not eaten anything for fear that I will throw up, but I'm going to try to take the pills the doc had prescribed to keep me from vomitting. We'll see how that goes...
I guess I was bound to get the Dehli Belly at some point...there is no escape!!
So I wake up yesterday morning (tues) go to the bathroom and I have diarreah!! Great! So the girls in my flat told me take immodium immediately. So I did. But I was feeling really weak, my body was aching and I felt exhausted! I called Bella to let her know what happened and she said to stay home. Do not go to work today. So I stayed home and slept until 2pm. Then I got up and the CCS staff had left me some soup. So, I poured this clear liquid soup in a bowl and literally took 5-6 spoonfulls before I started feeling really hot and the next thing I knew I was throwing up the soup.
I felt awful. I hadn't eaten anything all day and was hungry so I thought maybe I should try some "american food". Jackie had some fig nutons so I had some of those and had no problem. The rest of the day I just slept, and even though I had slept half the day I still felt exhausted. Then I decided to go to the doctors to find out what was wrong with me. (I'm glad I did!!)
The Indian doctor was great! I only had to pay 600 Rupees ($12) to see him. I explained everything that happened to me, and then he gave me an exam. Once he pressed down on my stomach he felt and heard the rumble. He said yep, "What you have is an intestinal infection. You must have eaten something that was contaminated." So he prescribed me cipro, some vitamins, and some pills to stop me from vomitting when I ate. Luckily I had brought my own antibiotics so I was good and didn't need the cipro. He also told me to get a lot of rest and drink a lot of fluids.
I felt a lot better(mentally) after going to the doctors. At least I knew what was wrong with me and how to cure it. Once we got back to CCS I decided to have a little dinner with the girls, I had a couple of bites of bread and thew up again! Clearly this bug in my gut was not allowing me to eat anything. So I just took my avalox, drank some water and went to bed.
I am feeling a lot better today. I have still not eaten anything for fear that I will throw up, but I'm going to try to take the pills the doc had prescribed to keep me from vomitting. We'll see how that goes...
I guess I was bound to get the Dehli Belly at some point...there is no escape!!
Sunday, August 23, 2009
The Taj Mahal
We woke up at 1:30am to see the Taj Mahal!! It was quite painful to get up that early and I'm sure it was even more painful for our driver to to drive us the 4 hours to Agra at 2am to see it. (We had a fantastic driver by the way. I have to give a little shout out to Nermal!! He was fantastic!!) Anyway, we were told that you must go see the Taj at 6am in the morning, because it is better to see the Taj at sunrise. Plus the fact that the later in the day you go it gets hotter and there are alot more people. So it is best to beat the heat and the crowds.
We all arrived at The Taj this morning at 5:50am. We got our tickets got on the golf carts to take us and then we encountered....the husslers....
I never mentioned this before, in any of my other posts but everytime you go to see a historic event you have children, teenagers, men of all ages literally coming up to you with souvenir items trying to get you to buy things. They will walk with you all the way to the gate and all the way to the golf cart when you leave. If you want something they are selling, books, postcards, magnets, you have to bargain. If you do not want anything you are harrassed all way until you close the door of your car or the golf cart that takes you to the Taj. And even then they are running after the cart sometimes. It is truly a sight to see. They are all over you... Ok back to the Taj...
Once we got through the gates we enter a little court yard and then off to the right is the entry way to the Taj...What an amazing sight to see. It can take your brerath away when you see it. I still can't believe that I was there this morning!! It was an unbelievable sight to see. So beautiful and gorgeous! All of us took tons and tons of pictures of the Taj, walked around it and Jackie even gave us a little yoga lesson on the porch of The Taj. It was truly and incredible experience. One that I will never forget and one that I am so grateful to have done in my life.
We all arrived at The Taj this morning at 5:50am. We got our tickets got on the golf carts to take us and then we encountered....the husslers....
I never mentioned this before, in any of my other posts but everytime you go to see a historic event you have children, teenagers, men of all ages literally coming up to you with souvenir items trying to get you to buy things. They will walk with you all the way to the gate and all the way to the golf cart when you leave. If you want something they are selling, books, postcards, magnets, you have to bargain. If you do not want anything you are harrassed all way until you close the door of your car or the golf cart that takes you to the Taj. And even then they are running after the cart sometimes. It is truly a sight to see. They are all over you... Ok back to the Taj...
Once we got through the gates we enter a little court yard and then off to the right is the entry way to the Taj...What an amazing sight to see. It can take your brerath away when you see it. I still can't believe that I was there this morning!! It was an unbelievable sight to see. So beautiful and gorgeous! All of us took tons and tons of pictures of the Taj, walked around it and Jackie even gave us a little yoga lesson on the porch of The Taj. It was truly and incredible experience. One that I will never forget and one that I am so grateful to have done in my life.
Jaipur
I had a fantastic time in Jaipur! The first place that we went to was to Amber Fort. I couldn't tell you a thing about this place other than it is a really big fort in Jaipur, that is really beautiful to look at and you can ride elephants up the fort. So guess what we did...
We road the elephants up the fort! It was great!! I actually thought we could ride them bareback but, there was a little seat ontop of the elephant so we weren't directly on the elephant but it was close enough. I will try to post pictures of it soon.
Then in the evening we went to this little carnaval village thing called the chokhi dhani where you could ride camels, watch girls do their traditional Indian dancing, watch a magic show and even get your fortune told. We did it all and had a great time! I especially liked riding the camel even if it did only last 2 min!! It was fun.
We road the elephants up the fort! It was great!! I actually thought we could ride them bareback but, there was a little seat ontop of the elephant so we weren't directly on the elephant but it was close enough. I will try to post pictures of it soon.
Then in the evening we went to this little carnaval village thing called the chokhi dhani where you could ride camels, watch girls do their traditional Indian dancing, watch a magic show and even get your fortune told. We did it all and had a great time! I especially liked riding the camel even if it did only last 2 min!! It was fun.
McDonalds in India...
Before we arrived in Jaipur we all come across a McDonalds!! We hadn't eaten dinner yet and we all decided to check out the Indian McDonalds. It was really interesting. Because India worships the cow and there is abosolutly no beef eaten in all of India, so the menu is quite interesting. They had potatoe sandwhiches, veggie burgers, chicken burgers, chicken nuggets and a couple of other interesting items on the menu. I thought it was pretty neat, and so did the rest of the girls, so we all had Mcdonalds on our way to Jaipur. It was pretty fun and interesting to eat McDonalds in India and my chicken burger and fries were not too bad!
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