My first India life lesson

I made it to Manali! Phew what an adventure this last couple days have been. Like I said in my previous post, I met up with Rachel in Delhi. We had a nice dinner in Delhi at a revolving restaurant. After a solid nights sleep (that means only waking up 4 times), Rachel and I checked out of our hotel and made our way to Jantar Mantar http://www.shubhyatra.com/delhi/jantar-mantar.html, the old Indian observatory. I will admit that the inner math nerd was a bit excited. Afterwards we headed over to Red Fort for more tourist stuff. It is indeed an impressive sight which included an open-aired marble emperors palace that had a small waterway running from each building and into the various rooms. Wish it had been on, but yeah yeah yeah waste of water, whatever.

This is when things started to deteriorate. The heat, humidity, jet lag, and I think my altitude sickness medicine that I started to take made for one CRANKY Jen. We were scheduled to meet two other women, Luciana and Emma, at the swanky Shangri-La Hotel at 3pm. We left Red Fort at about 2 (or a little later). I realized i was a cranky wanker, but was trying my best to achieve my goal of not being a control freak. Rachel needed to go to the ATM, which when added with a tuk tuk driver who dropped us off at the wrong place, made for a long journey. Then by the time we got our bags from the hotel, it was 3:45!

Control freak Me: We shouldve hired a car like I wanted. Now cranky + irritated.

We make it to the meeting spot with no sight of two brit girls. Rachel had the amazing idea to sit and have a pepsi. That combined with AC, beautiful 5-star lobby, and women wearing amazing saris lifted my spirits a bit. Plus 5-star concierge service helping us figure out how to get a bus to Manali. As we leave, a random guy asked if we were looking for 2 british women. Agh we JUST missed them! They left at 4!

We lug our stuff a few blocks to the bus terminal place. Random guy out front pesters us and says the bus from the official tourist agency is full. I think its a crappy tout. Wait. nope. bus full. Traipse to another private bus down the road. Loads of talk in Hindi. Tout? Me: raging bitch about to bust out.

All buses full.

Control freak me: Shouldve prebooked our friggin tickets. Now we have to spend another night in this hot, sticky, dusty, crazy place called Delhi and miss meeting other people in Manali. Want to scream/cry/go home/smack the smiling/laughing potentially scheisty men.

Oh wait! There is light! Theres seats that arent together. thats ok right? Wait, you want us to pay for the jump seat that folds down over the stairs onto the bus while we go up and down a mountain? Umm.....

Deep breath (many).... Ok, we'll just get tickets for the next day. Stay the night somewhere...

Then voila! Two seats together in the last row (no idea how they booted someone but whatevs). Ah, India, ok I get it. Patience.

Control Freak me: We still missed Luci and Emma. Irritated. (and worried theyre ok and got on a bus)

The bus ride is surprisingly comfy and pleasant. It drove all night up and down some crazy steep mountains and very narrow roads -- with absurd drops off the "side" of the road. Rachel is also pretty sure she saw 3 people get out of the luggage boot under the bus midway (how we got our seats?). And we think we witnessed some bribing and drug trafficking in the cover of the night. Here's a lovely sign from one of the rest stops. Perhaps not a good choice of toilet to use?




The break of light brought breathtaking views. I only wish I knew how to properly take pictures to show you how lush, green, and steep the mountains were. But heres a pic anyways.



Ok, ok India, I get it. Let the irritation go.

We finally role into Manali. Trying to figure out where to stay and theres lots of men trying to get us to stay at their hotels. We end up just going with this one guy who of course lied about the room having two beds and being nice. He takes us around to find another place and keeps bringing us to dumps. Tout? Yes, me thinks. We end up just taking a room at a pricey room (well pricey for manali, but really at Rs1600 thats ~$27/night). While waiting for our room, Rachel gets a call from Matt! HOORAY! UGH phone died...

Me: still irritated and cranky and thinking we wont meet up with Matt. Oh and did I mention I hadnt had an actual meal since breakfast the previous day? Irritated+cranky+low-blood sugar. blargh.

I shower, etc. As I'm packing my purse to go explore, Rachels phone rings again. Matt! He's met up with two others (hooray!). We're staying at Hotel Kanishka. Lets meet at ___ call dropped.

UGH. Want to scream from being frustrated.

I get a spare key from reception (after asking twice --A-hole) Then I forgot something in the room. As Im leaving the room again, I run smack dab into Matt. He made it to our hotel! SUCCESS!

He's going to come to the main shopping area with me. He had also emailed us and Luci about meeting up at 2 in Old Manali so we head p there instead on the off chance that Luci is there. We wait by the bridge at a cafe (and have YUMMY veg Momos= dumplings). We wait outside with (sugary) chais as it pours. Hmmm 2om, no Luci and no email. DOH. We chat away, then, wait, who is that across the way.... Luci? YEP! She didnt even know to meet there, Totally wonderful twist of fate that she was staying up there and heading into town at that exact moment.

Now, private jeep is booked for a 2 day drive up windy (and scary?) roads to Leh, Ladakh.

Ok India, I get it. Let the control freakness go =D

Much love!

PS -- I checked in. I bet I'm Mayor of Manali

A new blogger!

Here's a blog of a woman I'm traveling with, Rachel. She's from a small island in Scotland! Shouldve made her bring me some drink to warm my tummy.

http://wildandmagic.blogspot.com/

I'm showing her how to make posts...

Here's a picture of the Lotus Temple, its made out of white marble!

photo dump

here are a few (unfiltered) photos from yesterday. Took way too long to upload so looks like ill have to control my picture trigger finger....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23855148@N05/sets/72157624438538543/

real life frogger

Survived the 16 hour flight to Delhi! I'm on day 2/3 of Delhi.

I just checked into the Corus hotel where I'll be staying for the next two nights. Can't say I'm all that impressed so far. Its by no means bad, but after the last couple nights at Yogi's, this doesnt feel as comfy.

Yogi is a woman from couchsurfing.com who let me stay at her place for my first two nights. She was incredibly hospitable and welcoming. She lives in a southern suburb of Delhi in a 3BR/3 bath flat she owns with her 3 (fat and sometimes ferocious) dogs. I was welcomed with open arms, delicious food, and my own room. From what I can tell, she does quite well for herself (owns a small company, brand new jeep, huge flat, a few people who tend to the cleaning, cooking, security, etc). It was interesting to stay at this nice place where in the mornings I'd stand out on the balcony and watch men and women do construction without shoes (or flip flops) and little more equipment than a piece of plastic used as a shovel. Heres a pic (or i at least hope that it uploads.) I cant really tell why she is doing what shes doing. Sure, the dirt needs to be sifted. By why thrown through the screen? why is it vertical? why not have it horizontal from the ground and speed up the process? I was going to try and use my hindi phrasebook to ask the young cleaning woman (who i dont think has ever seen a chinese chick before because she was quite fascinated by me), but there was lots lost in translation.

Alrighty, its lunch time and I'm in Delhi, so lets get to speed recapping...

- Breakfast with Yogi of juice and grilled sandwich with this spiced cheese with onions
- just so i remember, Yogi lives by Prahlud Pur and Lalkuan
- Got dropped off down the hill from the Bahai Lotus Temple. walked right by the entrance but a tuk tuk driver walked me to the entrance
- Temple architecture was awe inspiring. the inside, while serene was a bit more austere than i was expected. after walking through the info center, aside from knowing there are lovely Bahai temples throughout the world, i still had no idea what the Bahai faith is all about aside from worshipping a god and believing that men and women are completely equal.
- Next the tuk tuk driver that showed me the way waited for me at the gate. I negotiated a price (70 Rs) for a ride over to Lodi Garden, which was what Yogi told me would be the max. oops perhaps i should work on my negotiating skillz.
- The tuk tuk driver "kindly" offered to take me to Delhi Haat so I could shop. Walk in and realize its a tourist trap and am instantly bombarded with people trying to help me. I initially pretended I was part of a group of Thai women, but they were loving seeing all the stuff, so I ran away from the land of overstimulation
- i loved Lodi Garden. beautiful park in the middle of the city with an old tomb in the center. lots of cute happy couples in love strolling (and necking:0). As i was journaling by the water, i was attacked by two women. ok not attacked, but before i could even understand what was going on they were putting "henna" (pretty sure it was just mud) on my arms. saying no didnt do anything. Then they demanded 100 Rs, actually this little 2 year old asked for money. it was a bit much for me. I gave them 5 rupees and ran off. Gotta get my city thinking back.

yikes... this is not speed updating... hyperupdating
- from there walked over to Khan Market -- upscale shopping
- made the stupid decision to walk to Humanyuns Tomb. it was far. and involved walked under a giant overpass.
- but i did get to be the frog in frogger. at the beginners level. Delhi-ites are at in the pros
- Humanyuns Tomb was truly spectacular. Id def go again on another trip.
- Exhausted, but decided to check out Qutb Minar. tallest tower in india (i think). was nice but at that point i was completely overstimulated, jetlagged and needed a shower.
- got a tuk tuk back to Yogis place (with another stopover at a "great shopping mall"). Im positive I gave the tuk tuk driver way too much money. I did this mornining as well even though Yogi arranged it so that the driver actually used the meter. But I decided yesterday that i dont mind over paying for the tuk tuk. i was in those things for 30 minutes and i would "overpay" at 100 rs -- $2.21! i know it just perpetuates the fleecing of tourists, but really, I cant haggle over 50 cents when Im already getting a huge deal.
- I have no idea how I found Yogis place, as she told me to get dropped off a few blocks away to save lots of rupees. I hope the travel gods stay with me!
- after returning from work, Yogi made dinner of rice, chole (chick peas with cinnamon and i think cumin?), some potatoes and green peppers. delicious with a nice kick of spice
- Jet lag sleeping sucks
- this morning was fairly uneventful, aside from two of Yogis dogs almost attacking me. i was coming back inside and they started growling. me = run fast to the porch and shut them in. Phew. it was a bit scary.

ok enough sitting in front of a computer (although the email addict in me was a bit bummed to have so few emails to read ;) ). Off to find lunch!