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Mumbai and Delhi Recap

Bombay to Delhi as the locals would say

Patrick and I have traveled from Mumbai to Delhi yesterday and got a few hours in Delhi to get driven to India Gate, the Presidential house, Parliament house and past some embassies. Also, we stopped by the travel agent who helped us book everything here in the Delhi, Jaipur, Agra area and she took me to her henna guy down the street:

We’re supposed to start getting ready soon for today’s leg from Delhi to Jaipur, so I don’t have a lot of time to think about what I want to say.  I’m actually awake at 5 am just thought I’d get some time in to jot some stuff dwn before I have too much to write! Here are some observations I have made in the past few days in short Tweet-like thoughts:

In Mumbai we did some shopping at a mall, not to different from one back home. They even had a McDonalds with a Filet-O-Fish, and some McChicken burgers (instead of beef, obviously)

However, we did find some other places that seemed to sell beef burgers (we didn’t eat them)

Despite staying at hotels that are all LEED certified and seeing a lot of public service posters about reducing pollution and “going green” it seems that there are a lot of people here who teach their young to litter at an early age. It was quite irksome.

The air quality in Mumbai leaves something to be desired.

However, the air quality when we arrived in Delhi was much worse. It smelled like the city had been burning and it looked like it too. The afternoon sky was red through the dust and smoke.

Cows here are sacred, of course, so they get to do whatever they want, but I’ve also noticed some cows tied to things, I wonder what that is about. Are people keeping them as pets?

Speaking of pets, there are a lot of feral dogs and cats. They are all skinny. The dogs are usually a mid-sized to large breed, something like a lab or retriever, mostly short-haired. I did see one that was much fluffier the other day but that seems rare.

The birds seem to be the healthiest wild animals in the city. There are more crows or ravens than pigeons. The pigeons here have much shinier, iridescent neck feathers, not sure if that’s due to the humidity, their diet or the general health of the birds.

This is probably true in other countries as well but, as a tourist, you’re going to have to hone your haggling skills and be constantly ready to decline the offers for unrequested goods and services, as well as general begging.

If you’re in Delhi, stop by Kahn’s Market. In the alleyway there is a restaurant called The Kitchen. Get the Khao Suey or Hawker Noodles.

Also, caught this tear-jerking story on BBC world news this AM http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-20202406

 

 

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Well, I’m off to the Orient!

I haven’t mentioned this but in about three days I will be on a plane to India. This is very exciting, despite my lack of exclamation mark. The reason I am still being a little reserved is because of work. Having to make it through two days of work before I go is keeping me from getting to excited about anything but the week end.

Anyway, details: Patrick is already there, for work. I am going to be meeting him there on Friday, or possibly Thursday, I can’t remember what day it will be in India when I actually arrive but it will be Wednesday night when I leave. I’m traveling on Halloween night, which is fine with me I guess, for some reason I haven’t been into Halloween so much for awhile. Possibly since Patrick and I started dating, not sure why that is though since he is into dressing in costume too. I think I might like the romanticism more and it’s hard to get caught up in it when those around you are not.

Back to India! I’m going to meet him in Mumbai, where his company’s Indian HQ is and he’ll show me around Mumbai for a few days since he has been to that particular area of India a few times already. Then we are flying to the capitol, New Delhi. There’s a tourist circuit in that area called The Golden Triangle and it consists of three cities: New Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. There are lots of historic sights and landmarks to see there, like the famous Taj Mahal, for example. There’s also something called The Red Fort and some government buildings that I do not know the names of.

Honestly, I don’t know a lot about India and the history of the country. Actually, I know a bit more now that I’ve watched some docu-mini series about the history of India and how it has gone through a long line of invaders/rulers who have all contributed to the diverse culture that India has today. I also learned that at the southern tip of India, in Tamil Nadu there is a village where a man’s DNA has been liked to some of the first humans. This is because 1. his family has a history of marrying first cousins so they’ve kept the bloodline pretty pure and 2. they are pretty isolated in that area so it’s not hard to maintain that lineage.

The Lotus Temple by InsideSouthAfrica on Flickr

While we are there I hope to:

  1. eat amazing food and take pictures of it
  2. take pictures of US… on vacation! (I don’t have a lot of pictures of us)
  3. ride an elephant
  4. touch a monkey – or notice a wild one from far away and say “HEY! A MONKEY!” in excitement as the locals walk on, uninterested
  5. try to “blend in” as much as a non-Indian can
  6. buy some clothes
  7. buy some jewelry
  8. buy some spices (can I bring these home?)
  9. learn some words in Hindi
  10. visit a Hindu or Sikh temple

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Spooky/Scary

It’s Halloween weekend again! Yey!

This year's pumpkin theme is Star Trek

So this year I am once again going to Dave and Christie’s annual Halloween soiree. Patrick is coming with. That is tonight (Friday night) and tomorrow we are going to a little underground show called Sneaky Nietzsche. I’m actually not quite sure what happens at the show, but I suppose that is the appeal. It has something to do with live music and dance and painted faces.

And on Sunday I am staying at P’s to avoid any kind of interruption by children. Children with grabby hands expecting things.

Last weekend Jamie and I went to Lake Tahoe. It was the first time I had been and unfortunately it rained the whole time. Usually I enjoy staying in bed on rainy days and just watching movies but I was getting pretty restless during this trip. It was probably because I have never been to Tahoe before and wanted to explore. The weather wasn’t really permitting any exploring though. Jamie and I did get massages that weekend and I did get to use the sauna. W000t. I also got a pair of moccasins so I guess the trip wasn’t SO bad. We both agreed to return when the weather is nicer.

Jamie bought a new beanie in Tahoe
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Annnd We’re Back!

Well that was a rather long hiatus, wasn’t it. Okay maybe not that long but considering I was supposed to be doing this daily, that was pretty long.

Good god, I’m watching The Bachelorette because I am house sitting and the DVR is recording it so I can’t watch anything else. Here is an actual line that someone, a guy, said:

“That’s just my heart. Jump in… stay awhile.”

Jesus, did this guy learn how to talk to women by watching Anchorman? He is a little crazy actually. It’s weird watching this show because all these guys are attractive, in their own way. I think they’re all generally more attractive than normal but man… are some of them so NOT normal. They are kind of freaks, in terms of personality and acting like a rational person. I don’t know why this surprises me. I should just assume that since they are on a reality t.v. show to “fall in love” they are a bit off.

So back to real life. This weekend included dim sum and Renegade Craft Fair with friends.

Sunday I ended up heading beyond the orange curtain via Amtrak. Spent the day with Darren and Pancake

Pancake is less then thrilled

Darren and I ended up baking two pies last night. One from scratch and I made a fucking excellent crust if I do say so myself.

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Adventures in Nerd Dating: A Practical Guide

Add this to the list of great ideas and Jewlie and I have.

Last night we went to Crazy 4 Cult, which is an annual group art show created by Kevin Smith. The theme of the show is cult movies and culture and with the content being what it is, throw in a comic book store right next door, the crowd is usually of the geeky variety, which is good for Jewlie and me.

A Clockwork Orange

So Jewlie and I were talking about being each others’ wingmen, or wingpersons if you will. Except that we then realized we had no idea what a wingman actually does. We tried to look it up but the Wikipedia entry needs some work. (Update: The actual Wiki entry for a flight wingman is much more informative.)

Then a genius idea, we should write a book, no a blog, a nerd’s guide to dating. What is a wingman? What are appropriate topics for first date conversation? What happens when nerds date nerds and what happens when nerds date non-nerdy types?

Of course, just like any other idea I have, I thought, wait has this been done before? Probably, Wasn’t it called Sex and the City?

*cringe*

Uh, well, not quite the same but that’s the general idea. Seeing as how we didn’t know what the “right” answers to all those questions were I figured we’d just blog about our experiences, but then you have to wonder, “Who is going to read that?” We’d have to be entertaining ALL the time. That is really tiring. Sometimes Jewlie and I just like to take a break, sit around, and be desperately boring, bland and humorless. So, you know, we just scrapped that idea, went to the show and ended up going home at 8:30 so we could be in bed by 9.