TravelStream™ news feed for member emzeeb3 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/emzeeb3 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:02:15 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/5/1236016740/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/5/1236016740/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/5/1236016740/tpod.html Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:02:15 -0500 Bharat Ganarajya....my Indian Experience

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Delhi, India

I have finally purchased a copy of the Rough Guide to India and I think it will prove to be a worthwhile purchase (it was also half the price of the lonely planet for India hence why I have a rough guide) I was put off visiting any other architectural wonders of Delhi following my visit to the Red Fort - both disappointed about the way they look after national monuments here and fed up with the hassle that comes with visiting these tourist places but both the rough guide and the sites I checked out on the internet said that Humayan's Tomb was worth a visit and its also a UNESCO site so that guarantees that its being looked after I guess.I was so pleased I visited - the place was virtually empty and those people that were there were other tourists, mainly americans, so there was no incessant staring other than from the odd Indian workman. As seems normal in India there are two prices for entrance one for Indian citizens (5 rupees) and one for tourists, who are automatically assumed to be rich (250 rupees) I don't mind this given the fact that tourists that do come to India are rich in comparison to the average Indian even if they only earn the UK minimum wage. Intrigued by this I did look up what the National Minimum wage is for India (this only applies if and when the employer chooses to pay it and is not subject to checks like the UK) and although it differs across different industries it works out to be around 150 rupees a day....thats about £2. This doesn't include the rickshaw drivers or the chai wallahs that live off whatever they make in one day so if it is nothing then its nothing and of course there is no state benefit system or national health service so if you have no money well thats just tough and if you get seriously ill and you have no money for medicine then you die....Without making this a lesson in history Humayan was a Mughal Prince who lived in India in the 15th Century - the tomb was built by his senior wife following his death and was the first example of Mughal architecture in India. The area of the tomb is huge and before you get anywhere near Humayan's tomb you pass tombs of other nobles. The tomb and temple of Isa Khan Niyazi, who was a noble in the court of Sher Shah Sur was the first one I saw. It stand within its own walls and is similar to the tombs in Lodi Gardens - the information here states that an entire village lived within the walls up until the early 20th Century...it doesn't say why they left.There are also various other smaller tombs one of which is purported to be the barber of Humayan who was considered to be important enough for a tomb as he held a blade to the princes throat on several occasions - I'm not sure which one was his as its not marked and perhaps records do not indicate. To get to Humayan's Tomb you pass through various sets of intricately decorated gates all of which have been restored as much as possible to their former glory and through exquisite gardens and path ways dissected by waterways that are filled with water from the fountains at various places. I had to show my ticket a number of times and thankfully I hadn't lost the tiny piece of paper that is the entrance ticket -part of me wonders what happens if you do lose your ticket.....perhaps the reason they are so small is in hope that you do so they can charge you again.Humayan's tomb is quite breathtaking in comparison to the rest of the tombs and I was quite taken back by its size and how well maintained it was. The gardens in which it stands are beautifully landscaped, replicated to be as they would have been when the tomb was first built. I did wonder when I walked up the steep staircase leading to the inside of the tomb how people managed when they were here because the steps are so small in terms of width and the tips of my feet only just fitted on but when I got inside the tomb it was apparent that these were tiny people -the actually marble (i think) encasements for the bodies are tiny (sorry no photos it was too dark inside and I didn't have a tripod nor did I want to stay inside too long) guessing I would say they are a maximum of 4 feet long and no more than 1 foot wide so most people today would have no chance of fitting inside even the Indians now who remain small in comparison to us westerners. Humayan's tomb and that of his wife (the one who built the tomb for him) lie in the main chamber of the tomb which is an octagonal shaped room with a huge domed ceiling which must have been ornately decorated once upon a time - this has not been restored to its former glory although its apparent that some restoration work has taken place and perhaps this will come. The main tomb is surrounded by other rooms which all have graves in them but are unmarked (at least in English). At the back of the building there is some kind of restoration work being completed scaffolding had been set up from the very top of the domed roof right down to the ground and after some investigating on my way out I was informed that in the early 20th century 20 tonnes of concrete had been poured in to the dome to stop water damage without consideration that the weight of this concrete would cause structural damage so now they are having to remove all this concrete to prevent the dome from collapsing - some task I think...perhaps once this is done they will restore the inside of the building although I read somewhere that they had gone to great trouble to obtain materials from the same places that the original materials had come from and maybe they cannot get what they need.I spent around two hours wandering around the gardens of the tomb...it was so quiet no beeping horns, no car noise and no engine fumes, totally serene. I was followed at a distance by an Indian man, I think he was a gardener as he was doing something to some plants when I first spotted him but I think after a while he got bored with my ambling and went back to his plants at least I didn't notice him anymore anyway. I kind of wished that I had brought a picnic and a good book along with me because I could easily have spent the day here laying under the shade of one of the trees.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/5/1236155700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/5/1236155700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/5/1236155700/tpod.html Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:52:23 -0500 Bharat Ganarajya....my Indian Experience

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Delhi, India

Having consulted the Rough Guide and deciding that I don't currently need anymore clothes I decided to visit the Tibetan market. Originally this would have been many makeshift stalls clustered together along the roadside all owned by true Tibetans today it is a small row of concrete shops, owned in the main by Indians, with the odd Tibetan thrown in here and there for authenticity purposes or at least some men that look like they may have been Tibetan (of oriental descent anyway). The debate as to whether any of the produce sold here actually ever originated in Tibet or has ever been touched by Tibetan hands is an open ended question. Of course, if you ask any of the shop owners everything arrived this morning directly from a Tibetan village which given the fullness of every shop that I went in is a complete and utter lie!Most of the shops sell pretty much all the same things and when I say the shops are full they really are full every inch of space is covered with something whether that be brass ornate sculptures, incense, earrings, bracelets or rings. One particular shop I went in was full from ceiling to floor of beads, not beads that were for sale but beads that they will make more jewelry from following the Tibetan traditional style of course - they also all seem to have attic storage although don't see how there can be much room up there either! I have truly got the hang of saying no if I don't want something - they are incredibly good salesmen and I can see how some of the other tourists that were there were walking away under the weight of several bags. They are also incredibly good at inflating the price appropriately to suit the customer. Thankfully I have also managed to get bargaining down to a pretty good art and they seem to enjoy it when you bargain with them, this is after all how they would normally trade with the locals and it is expected. I do however raw the line at bargaining for earrings that cost 20 rupees which I saw some American guy doing - fair enough if you buy twenty pairs or something but one pair of earring at 20 rupees and he wants to stand and bargain?! Thankfully the shop-owner got fed up with the idiot man and asked him to leave (which is the first time I have seen this happen) and to my advantage as well because the earrings were beautiful and are now mine!After making the odd few purchases I thought it best to leave while the going was good and I headed over the road (I crossed a main road by myself today for the first time (",) and am so proud...its only taken me 5 weeks) to Central Cottage Emporium which is a government emporium which sells the arts and crafts of all the villagers around Delhi (and maybe Northern India) its like a huge department store full of things all of which I wanted to buy. The craftsmanship is amazing and I'd love to be able to furnish a house with the stuff that they produce here. Some of it is expensive and when I initially look at things I think you could get that in the UK for that price, the difference is that you could get it in the UK from Ikea for that price and this is furniture that would last a lifetime for the same price....as great as the temptation is I have yet to buy anything that will not fit in my bag to take home although I am informed that stuff can be shipped(whether it would ever arrive is another matter). I spent around 3 hours wandering around this place looking and touching things. They have a children's department full of wonderful clothes (which were more expensive than any of the clothes I bought from Sarojini Nagar for me) and toys which were all made from wood.They also have a small but very cheap cafe aimed completely at western tourist because there was virtually nothing Indian on the menu other than spicy burgers however the Indians have no idea how to move quickly and a cheese and tomato sandwich and a coke took 30 minute to arrive and there was only me and two Americans in the cafe!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/5/1235064540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/5/1235064540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/5/1235064540/tpod.html Mon, 23 Feb 2009 04:39:43 -0500 Bharat Ganarajya....my Indian Experience

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Delhi, India

I'm helping an organisation called Sruti (www.sruti.org.in) basically these guys are an NGO (non government organisation) which means a charity in our language. They train people from the slums and villages to sew and make bags and clothes. Once they are trained they give them a job in their factories and pay them to make the bags and clothes which are then sold to cover costs, any profits made are then used to train more people and in the future build more factories. The stuff they make is really great and they are now expanding into screen printing and have been making business cards and paper bags (like the little gift bags you send presents in, only much nicer and much better made) and they are really trying to promote themselves as much as possible to increase their income so anyway I had a meeting with one of the Directors and agreed to go and see the factories and the products and try and help with getting some pictures for their website so they can sell there stuff online or maybe produce a catalogue.I got a telephone call on Tuesday from Pratishtha, one of the girls from Sruti, saying they are having an exhibition in Noida and would I like to go see their stuff there and she'll come collect me - this was great except she turned up on a moped...I've never been on a moped before anywhere, never ridden on the back of one ever and now I'm going to get on the back of a moped with girl I have just met and travel across Delhi to some place I've never been before and I still haven't even managed to cross a main road on my own. I think that if she had told me on the phone that she was coming on her moped to collect me I probably would have managed to think of a reason not to go but she was at the house before I knew and I really had no choice or at least no time to think of a good enough reason to not go! I did warn her that I had never been on a moped before in any way shape or form but her response was merely "Its okay I'll go slowly".I've already said what the traffic is like here and how crazy they all are so by the time we had gotten to the end of the road my hands were aching from holding on so tight but after realising that no looking where we were going and actually looking at what we were passing made thing less daunting I actually enjoyed the ride. The road systems here are like nothing I have ever experienced before it seems like you travel for ages in one direction just to do a u-turn when possible and travel all the way back to take a turning off, no wonder there are so many traffic jams! The only downside to traveling on a bike is that the pollution which shrouds Delhi covers you from head to toe the whole place is so dry and dusty that whenever you walk anywhere you feel like you need to bathe as soon as you get there, on the bike it was twice as bad and its not even really hot yet so I have the added delight of sweat to add to all this! The other issue is the smell - to get to Noida (which is a separate city, kind of) we had to go across the Yamuna River. The Yamuna River is the second holiest river after the Ganges and, like the Ganges, its basically a sewer. The slum areas line the banks and these people use the river as their water source so they wash their clothes, their children and their elephants in it. They also use it to water the crops they grow, the buffalo that wander aimlessly wherever they want to go swim in it and of course they all use it as a toilet, all of them. I'm not sure whether they put the bodies of the dead in it like they do in the Ganges but I'll ask that question - its not something I intend checking myself! They also drink this water - whether they boil it first I'm not sure but I'm hopefully but nevertheless its no wonder that diseases like typhoid and dysentery are prevalent here amongst the poor. The point is that this river absolutely stinks and despite the signs stating "keep the Yamuna clean" nothing is being done and can be done until they help the people that live along her banks. I did spot a guy sitting with what looked like a fishing rod, what the hell he was trying to catch is a mystery, I think anything that ever did live in that River is long gone or has been infiltrated with some deadly disease!The exhibition was actually a craft market where Sruti had a stall, this was the first time I'd seen any of their stuff and although I wasn't too impressed with their clothing (its very orientated for the Indian market) their bags were fantastic. They make bags from a material that they call jute (we call it Hessian). Its a really environmentally friendly source and its easily sustainable so forests aren't being chopped down or anything to produce it and it grows abundantly here due to the heat and then the monsoon rains so its used for all sorts of things including fabric to cover sofas. Opposite the Sruti stall was a sweet stall and they let me try some of their "sweets" - Indian sweets are the most disgusting things I have ever tasted for a start they aren't even sweet they have a bitter, spicy flavour and it was a struggle to actually swallow the first one I put in my mouth so whilst trying to smile and not show any disgust on my face I took the samples they gave me and went back over to the Sruti stall to try the rest where I could if necessary spit them out - I did find one that I liked which was a hard boiled sweet made from Lychees which I love anyway but that was it. I'm looking at the positive side of this though, not liking sweets can only be a good thing, right?! I find it incredible weird though because Indians love sweet things and some of the more expensive sweets are made purely from condensed milk and you can feel the sugar rotting your teeth the minute you put them in your mouth - I don't like these type of sweets either but they do make fantastic peanut brittle which I am refraining from buying because I would eat the whole box, alone whilst reveling in a sugar high!The craft market had some fantastic things and I was tempted to buy so much - the skill of the people here is amazing and I saw some wonderfully beautiful quilts, cushion covers and Sari's - If only I had a bigger bag to bring back! (currently researching how much it would cost to ship stuff though!). The market was outside a massive shopping mall called Great India place, I didn't go inside but intend to revisit some other time - the problem with malls is that you could be anywhere in the world once you're inside and, of course, the prices are double those at the markets but I just want to look and see whats there....I also had my first encounter with indian Mosquitos at this market and came away with three nice juicy bites one of which was on my face as always - I have yet to find any form of mosquito repellent that works. I have eaten so much garlic that I would repeal a vampire from about 10 miles but not the mosquitos I think I attract them whatever I do!The following day I agreed to meet Pratishtha at the factory that Sruti have in Noida where they make the clothes so I wandered off to find a auto rickshaw - I also attract those and attempted to negotiate a price. I have two big problems with these things - the first one is that I have white skin so of course they assume automatically that I am rich and the second is that have no idea how far any of these places are from where I am so when they say "long journey ma-am, its 30 km" I have no idea whether they are telling me the truth or not and I also don't know whether they are taking me the right way, for all I know I could be traveling around in circles whilst they are cleverly making me think that its 30km. Today was particularly hard because Noida is a separate city and many of the rickshaws are not allowed into Noida from Delhi so the first guy that I found wanted to charge me 400 rupees- its not that much in the grand scheme of things (around £5) but when I had only paid 100 rupees to get home last night from Noida (because Pratishtha negotiated with them for me) its annoying to know that they are charging me three times the rate when I'm alone but I didn't use this guy and eventually managed to find a guy to take me for 150 rupees which is still too much but better than 400.Of course none of these guys really know where they are going either - they know the area its in but not the address and they can't read either so its a logistical nightmare but eventually after an hour we managed to find this place. After maneuvering around the three buffalo which were ambling around the gate and stepping over whatever it was that was on the floor I find this building - there is nothing to say that it is a factory infact it looks almost derelict - it had been painted white once, many moons ago, and never touched again since by the looks of things. The stairs which lead up are made of concrete and the walls are stained with I'm not sure what but I hope its dye and not anything more sinister and its dirty and dusty but it actually smells quite clean. Pratishtha appears at the top of the stairs and leads me through to the office area through a massive room part of which has been screened off in the part that I can see there are a group of women sat round of a mat on the floor sewing beads and sequins onto garments -all of them are dressed immaculately and they all stop and look at me as I walk past - smiling is not common in India so although I smile at them they just stare back blankly and look at my clothes and what I'm wearing - most of them seem intrigued by my feet I haven't yet worked out whether thats because I'm not wearing socks with my flip flops or because I paint my toe nails. On the other side of the room are three men who all seems to be standing staring at some piece of material they have on a work bench which looks like a wall paper table.The office has a massive desk in and on the walls are white boards with orders written on them and production costs so it seems that they are actually quite organised, the guy behind the desk is on the telephone so Pratishtha decides that now would be a good time to show me around the factory and explain what is happening - this is a relatively new factory (in terms of how long Sruti have owned it and been running it) the three guys are actually checking the quality of the material for blemishes and faults before it goes for cutting. The women sat around on the floor are the women that Sruti employ from the villages, they are paid by the number of pieces that they sew in a day and come into Delhi when there is work for them to do - they stay in the buildings owned by Sruti. I guess that I am probably the first white person they have ever seen close up and hence their fascination with me - the stitching that they do is amazingly intricate and one piece would probably take me at least a couple of weeks!Behind the screen is where the stitching is done and surprisingly its mostly done by men. The sewing machines that they use are old -I have one at home that was my nanny's and has the handle on the side that you turn to operate the needle - these have been attached to a foot plate so they can use two hands and operate the wheel with their feet - its an old way of doing things but the good thing about it is that it means they use no electricity (electricity is scarce here and power cuts are frequent which would obviously affect productivity) There were about 20 machines in this room and most were occupied by men busily sewing the material that had been cut to shape and size. They have a master (supervisor) with them who deals with any problems and the one women in the room checks all the pieces and finishes off any untidy edges etc. Its hard to differentiate the conditions here from the sweat shops that are talked about continuously in the UK but all I can say is that these people that work here seem happy - the conditions are not such that they can't talk to each other -most importantly they get paid the minimum wage and above, they get regular breaks and a lunch break and they get paid holiday. The atmosphere was relaxed and it seemed that although they do work hard they enjoy it very much and they are able to help themselves improve their own lives and the lives of their children.On the floor below were more work benches (again these looked like wall paper tables) this is where the material is cut ready for stitching they use paper templates for the sizing and they are very conscious about waste so everything is cut using as much of the material as possible. Any scrap material is kept and used to make bags (these are given like carrier bags when the product is sold). In an annex to this room were four men doing embroidery - they sit on the floor on mats and work on the pieces which are clipped to and embroidery ring which is fixed to a stool at the right height for them. I'm not sure how this works but they were sewing sequins onto tops and the technique they use (I think this has something to do with the needles) means that they place the sequin and push the needle through - this somehow attaches the sequin to the material (I intend finding out more about this) anyway it means that these guys can work incredibly quickly. This room appeared once to have been a balcony which had been covered with a roof - the windows (there is no glass) were covered by wooden slat shutters and it was warm in here, at least for me.The additional areas were where the garments were checked, various stock rooms (also with white boards attached) and a dispatches room (with another white board) so they have also taught the men to read and write in english at least enough to be able to complete the charts on the boards. It seems that the factory is incredible efficient - they can make a lot of garments in a short space of time when big orders are received and hopefully as more money comes in they will be able to improve the condition of the building although I think this bothered me rather more than any of them as all these guys live in the slums so the conditions here are much better than they have at home.Our next port of call was the bag factory in the village called Khichripur - this meant another journey on the back of the bike only this time I had my camera equipment and my tripod so its was slightly more daunting trying to carry all of this stuff along with Pratishtha's bags but we managed - its not uncommon to see up to seven people on a moped here just don't ask me how they do it and all the women ride side saddle as they wear Sari's and can sit normally - this means they can't hold on properly but it doesn't worry them, just me!Its a village in east Delhi but when I say Village its not like you actually travel through the country side to get to it, its become part of the city itself but its a poor area and this is apparent. This is an area when slums have attached themselves to buildings. On the side of the road are peoples houses made from wood and pieces of cloth that they manage to find for roofs - there is no protection from the elements, no sewerage system, no electricity and no running water. Some of them manage to get hold of some bricks and make a sturdier building and eventually they manage to steal some electricity by hooking up there own "wiring system" from nearby buildings - I hate to think how many of them die trying to do this. Their beds are often on the street as the makeshift houses don't have enough room in and the children run around naked playing in puddles of god knows what oblivious to the conditions they live in because they know nothing else the most striking thing is that these kids are happy but the sad thing is that things will get worse for them as they grow they will have to work to help earn money for the family or beg or worse still they will be sent away because the family cannot afford to feed them.The issue of child labour is a huge one here, created by those of us that sit in the west and know nothing of the real issues here. These children cannot go to school - there are very few free government schools in India and those that do exist are not worth mentioning so they have no chance of getting an education. They could beg on the streets but this is a hard life and often they are abused and starving but if they work they can bring money into the home to buy food and they can stay relatively safe with their parents. Its a hard call but I started working when I was twelve and it never did me any harm infact it has taught me a work ethic that I may not have learned otherwise and whilst it will always remain hard for people to understand in the west it will take many more years before child labour in India is irradiated and billions of pounds to help these people- the problem is we're not really interested we just like to preach the ways of the west to a country that is not ready to practice them.The bag factory is in this village and employs local people to work there under the same principles as the clothing factory. To get there we had to go down a little alley way. The doorsteps of the houses down here were occupied by groups of men and older women chatting and smoking. I doubt that they actually live in these buildings but they provide a place that is shady and cool to sit. The "road" was like a dirt track that had been scattered with concrete here and there providing obstacles for the bike and long with the stray dogs, small children, numerous buffalos and cars its was an adventure in itself maneuvering down through here - there were small stalls selling various indian delights (I'm not sure what most of the stuff is supposed to be) and cigarettes ( 20 B & H cost 90 rupees which is about £1.20!) as well as the street food which is usually something deep-fried, really cheap and undigestible for me anyway!The factory is right at the bottom of this alley. The building is much smaller than the clothes factory and again dominantly employs men ( I guess this means the women can stay home with the children) as you walk in there is a corridor and rooms off this corridor. The smell as I walked in was incredible, I think I was instantly high. In this factory they do screen printing and the ink and whatever else they use smells really strongly and exudes fumes that would require a ventilation system in the UK. This building is older and again has the peeling paint on the walls but has the same relaxed atmosphere as the clothes factory and the same ordered management with the masters for each section and people that check the final work. This is where I had come to do some photographs for the website of the bags that they make and so we decided that the best places to do this would be the roof of the building. I didn't even think that this would mean that I would be sitting in the full sun for most of the day but I had thought to put sun screen on my face (which is really the only part of me that's not covered by Indian clothes!) and so with the aide of a few of the lads we started to take the photos - this took the best part of two days and the second day Pratishtha was ill and couldn't come so it was just me and three boys. Without Pratishtha there they made the best of the opportunity to practice their english with me, ask me lots of questions (in broken english with a strong Hindi accent) and play about with the camera posing for pictures of themselves. It was a great day and they all insisted on walking me back down the alley and arranging for an auto rickshaw to take me home which was great because the driver didn't try to rip me off!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/5/1234763100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/5/1234763100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/5/1234763100/tpod.html Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:15:47 -0500 Bharat Ganarajya....my Indian Experience

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Delhi, India

I thought that today I would go out and explore by myself. I'm okay with the Auto Rickshaw thing now although I'm positive that whatever they charge me is double what the locals would pay but the most I've paid has been just over a pound and sometimes it takes about an hour to get to these places after battling with traffic and the road system in Delhi so in the grand scheme of things its not much at all.The only disadvatage of these Rickshaws is that they have open sides and when you're sat in a traffic jam, which is 99% of the time, its like being in a Zoo - people actually move their cars up so they can stare, one guy on a motorbike actually reversed so he could wait next to the rickshaw and stare at me and even though I know this is going to happen and that it is just the Indian thing to do (for the men anyway, women tend not to stare they just look quickly and kids are just kids) I still find it quite uncomfortableand sometimes intimidating - even wearing Indian style clothing has not helped really.So today I took a rickshaw down to Chandni Chowk which is a huge market in Old Delhi - the journey took quite a while and it was quite fascinating passing through some of the places - along the roadside they have what we would call car boot sales where they sell second hand clothes and shoes etc but they put everything on the floor as opposed to a table like us English would do. I was quite amazed at the amount of shoes there were but I read a blog online about shoes and apparently you have to take your shoes off to enter a ot of the temples here so whilst your inside being amazed by the Temples somebody is outside stealing your shoes! I've made a mental note of that and will be putting my shoes inside my bag!There is still a huge amount of emphasise put on family in India and the family unit is still very strong and as we whizzed through the area near India Gate the whole grass area is covered by families enjoying spending time togther, playing with the children and picnicing and this is the whole family parents, kids, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins etc its really great to see as we seem to have lost this in the UK where everything is done in a rush.I arrived at Chandni Chowk and although I had been warned about the number of people that would be there it was still quite overwhelming its hard to describe but its like a sea of ants all swarming around these stalls, the only thing I can relate it to is the amount of people that were at Knebworth when we saw Robbie Williams). As soon as I stepped out of the Rickshaw I was pounced upon by the cycle rickshaw drivers trying to get me to "sit Maam - we take you through Chandni Chowk and show you sights - very small charge" about six of these guys followed me as I tried to walk around the edge of this massive market and in the end the harrassment got too much and I decided to give up and go to The Red Fort which is a huge fort just across from Chandni Chowk thinking that as this was a touristy place I would get less hassel.I am proud to confirm that I have now managed to cross a busy Indian Road, I'd like to say all by myself but all the cycle rickshaw drivers followed me and so if someone was going to get hit by a car then it would have been one of them rather than me - the worst thing about these guys is that they stink -its a horrible thing to say but its true, most of them live on the streets and sleep in these cycle rickshaw things and I know that I should be more sympathetic but its so hard when they make such a nuisance of themselves.One I got near the Red Fort these driver guys disappeared but were replaced by other men trying to sell me guide books for the Red Fort and postcards and whatever else they had in their hands - I did buy a guide but from a little boy who badgered me while I tried to find out where to get a ticket to enter this place from for 50 rupees which again was probably twice what an Indian would pay but it was a cute kid and Indians aren't very good at putting information up about things anyway.I still don't know much about the Red Fort really because I haven't read the guide book yet but it was full of Indian families enjoying a day out and so much for escaping the stares - inside it was worse they started pointing and talking loudly (which apparently is acceptable here) and a guy with a turban took to following me around the place and when I stopped to look at something or take a picture he stood in front of me, I think he was trying to get my attention (",) but I managed to loose him eventually - this fort is huge and like most things here they don't take care of it and it needs some major restoration work which will never get done although they are clearly concerned about the palce as there were armed guards everywhere and I had to go through a metal detector, body search and bag check just to get it. I didn't stay too long being a spectacle wears off really quickly and I find it hard to appreciate these places when they are being left to ruin.I have been really good with dealing with the numerous beggars that come up to the Rickshaws when they stop at traffic lights, as hard as it is most of them are alcoholics and druggies and merely use the children as a means of getting money from people claiming that they need to get food but today I caved in when a tiny little girl, filthy dirty and dressed in rags came up to the side of the rickshaw alone. The sad thing is that she is probably working for a pimp who sends these kids out to beg in return for food and a place to sleep - these kids are usually sexually abused but food and a roof over there heads is better than the alternative. I'm finding it really hard to deal with the poverty here not because I didn't expect to see it but because there is so much money in Delhi and its frustrating that they do nothing to help the poor and its all left to charity but I think it'll take more than me huffing and puffing before they pay any attention!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/5/1234462500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/5/1234462500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/5/1234462500/tpod.html Fri, 13 Feb 2009 02:58:51 -0500 Bharat Ganarajya....my Indian Experience

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Delhi, India

The last few days have been like a bit of a whirl wind, it seems that time passes in Delhi so quickly and tomorrow I will have been here two weeks and still have not seen the "tourist" attractions that Delhi has to offer. Still I feel like I have been dipped in the Indian culture and although many things still feel alien to me and no doubt will for sometime I am finding my feet and gaining confidence in this place that is worlds apart from home.My biggest issue right now is finding out which shop I have to go in to get stuff. We have such a supermarket culture in the UK and I have become used to going into one shop to buy everything that I need, literally! Its nothing like that here. There is a market in Defence Colony, its not really a market in the British sense its an area full of shops and its close enough for me to walk (albeit with an air of caution due to the maniacs that have driving licences here) to everyday to stretch my legs. I have to cross the little bridge over the River something or other which is infact the open sewer and walk along the road (paths do not really exist) once I have managed to arrive in the market after telling at least ten auto rickshaw drivers that I can actually walk that far and passing the open urinal that stands in the entrance I am faced with an area with loads of shops and restaurants.Some are clearly food shops but they all have different things in and it seems that browsing in food shops is not done here, as soon as I go in some guy asks me what it is I want and I don't actually know...I need to look and see what there is first and then he follows me just incase I can't reach whatever it is that I may buy and then of course I feel obliged to buy at least one thing so I opt for something that I know (and can read!) which turns out to be something imported and at a ridiculous price! Anyway I am still having this battle on a daily basis but am setting myself the task of entering a different shop each day and challenging myself to leave with nothing if there is nothing that I want....its not easy!I needed to get a sim card for my phone the other day and I was wandering around aimlessly looking for a shop that looked like it might sell sim cards and I see a sign that says vodaphone on it which I figure must be at least somewhere near what I need unless it has some alternative meaning in Hindi so rather than go in and be forced to buy something I don't need or want I amble pass slowly to see if it looks right....all I see is Levi jeans!! Of course none of this activity goes unnoticed by the men that hang around the market who are all intently watching to see what the white woman will do next! to cut a long story short this was the right shop - the mobile phone guy has a tiny little stand inside the shop that sells Levi jeans?! I then have to provide my passport and a photo of myself and fill in a form that resembles a tax return all to get a bloody sim card - apparently mobile phones are quite commonly used to set off bombs here (such a reassuring thought!) so rather than pussy foot around and check the Human Rights Act to see whether they may be inadvertently violating someones human rights by asking them for photographic ID everyone has to provide it...even white people! (",)So plans have changed again in terms of the volunteering thing and I'm not going to the school in Gavindpuri now the main reason is the distance I would have to travel...well not so much the distance because its not really all that far but the time it would take to get there and back in an auto rickshaw would probably be about an hour and a half each way depending on traffic and how high the guy driving may be at the time and whether he actually knows where the place is! so its a bit of a dodgy one but I've now got two new projects one called Sruti who I'm hoping to do some long term work for and one called Wildlife SOS who have lots of animals in a sanctuary that need some tlc. I went to meet the guys at wildlife sos yesterday, their head office is in the Defence Colony, five minutes from where I'm staying. I was expecting some posh offices.....I felt like I had entered Dr Doolittle's house! We were greeted by god know how many dogs and were immediately warned not to touch one in particular as he bites very nastily so I was immediately on tender hooks with this dogs that insisted on sitting right by my feet growling! On top of this the girl shut us in a room with it and then came back in to remind us again that we shouldn't touch him before she realised that perhaps she should take the dog out with her to avoid us sitting there with our hands on our heads like we were under arrest! so we're left with two little dogs a black pug with one eye that was quite cute but I think had bladder issues and another little fluffy thing - the room was like a museum, infact I think they could probably make money from renting the place out as a film set for horror movies with the gothic furniture and the guns on the wall (which I found a bit strange) the balcony was full of cages with recovering parrots and although I didn't make a trip to the bathroom we were told that sometimes this is where the snakes are kept.These guys run several animal sanctuaries, the main one locally is for the sloth bears which are the ones that are used as dancing bears to entertain people. I really thought that this sort of things had been eradicated sometime ago but apparently not although its much less of an issue than it used to be. They work with the particular tribesmen that catch these bears and try and give them alternative means of making a living rather than just taking the bears from them (because then they just catch another one). I think from the little I have heard so far that its been quite a task, these tribesmen have been doing this for hundreds of years and its the only form of money making that they know but they are now willingly surrendering the bears it seems and hopefully one day soon they will stop completely. The main problem here is educating people about animal welfare, which is so hard when there is little empathy for the suffering of humans and of course the sanctuary is just that -these bears have been rescued from a life in front of tourists and the last thing they need is a whole bunch of tourists trailing round looking at them in a sanctuary taking photographs that give them haunting memories of their past so its hard for them to raise funds to help these bears without traumatising them further so any way I'm going to try and help them as mch as I can too so it seems that once these things take off I'll be quite busy which is great.Tonight I went to a concert that Abha and Sean have been working really hard to organise in conjuction with Carnegie Hall in NYC, it was a cultural exchange between schools - I was expecting it to be a bit boring and classical but infact it was great I really enjoyed it - there was a live link to Carnegie Hall and a guy called Zakir Hussain (who is an Indian Icon and recently won another grammy award) was in Delhi at this concert -he plays the Indian drum called the Tabla which look like bongos and he is amazing! The Indian school children made such a huge effort and their music and dance was perfect. I felt embarrassed by NYC's efforts, nobody was ready on time, the children had made absolutely no effort whatsoever and infact they were so bad we actually thought that they were from a special school and had some kind of disability! Some girl in NYC had come up with what she called a NYC dance, clearly she had made this up about two seconds before going on stage and it was basically just stepping from side to side :0 whilst obvioulsy the Indian dancers were all dressed in traditional dress and did dances that have been around for hunderds of years - I think NYC need to find some culture before they try and exchange it. Two girls performed some song they had written and were asked how long it had taken to come up with this and they said two months which caused a huge roar of laughter from the kids in Delhi which would have been clearly heard in NYC. There is another similar concert planned for May - hopefully NYC will make somewhat more of an effort next time to avoid embarrassing themselves again...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/5/1233820560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/5/1233820560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/5/1233820560/tpod.html Tue, 10 Feb 2009 04:01:51 -0500 Bharat Ganarajya....my Indian Experience

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Delhi, India

Writing this blog hasn't been so easy this time. I haven't really done all that much and things aren't moving as fast but I think thats a good thing. I don't feel the need to charge at everything and see everything as soon as possible here.I am also acutely aware that my emotions will face the same roller coaster that they did when I went away before and I feel like I'm waiting for that to happen and am constantly preparing myself for it. I have had fleeting thoughts that pass through my mind about what is everyone at home doing but I've had no pangs of homesickness or waking in the middle of the night wondering why I'm here, at least not so far.I have been out with Manju and Ankit to the markets around Delhi which has been fantastic and less daunting than I though it would be, but perhaps that's because I was with them. Of course people come up to you trying to sell you things - sunglasses that are supposedly Diesel, beads, wooden flutes etc but not engaging in any way with them seems to work quite well and in general people are pleasant and once you can deal with the fact that the intense staring at you is nothing more than curiosity then its becomes an enjoyable experience rather than a daunting task. Of course being with Manju adds to the intensity of the staring - they stare at me because I am different to them and they stare at her because she's on television here.Dilli Haat has probably been my favourite market so far, its a crafts market and people from the villages travel to Delhi for a few weeks to sell their produce. Its a quaint, efficient market, much more organised and clean than the others we visited and I wanted to buy so much but have restrained myself for now to just a teapot and four cups made from local stone although I think another trips to this market may happen before I return to the UK. Some of the stuff that they make is so intricate and clever - one man was making cutlery from Bamboo but the design and detail he added was amazingly clever - he had even carved stuff small enough for a dolls house and as far as I could work out he had taught himself how to do this. I had a meeting with Anou, who is the lady from the Project Why organisation yesterday. Indian's have a distinct lack of not giving times for meetings and when they do it is always at least 40 minutes later than when they actually said. It was the first time that I had travelled on an auto rickshaw alone, the problem I have is that whilst the majority of people do speak English they don't understand my english accent or the way I pronounce words, nor do I yet understand Hindi pronounciation of names or places from reading them and so I asked Ma (Abha's mother) to write the address in Govindpuri down in Hindi, when I showed the address to her, the look of shock that I would be going to such a place alone was enough to put me off but I'd arranged this meeting and so, now with a sinking feeling in my stomach and the look on her face etched on my mind I left considering her warning of being very careful in this place to perhaps be slightly too cautionary, at least this was what I was hoping. I have worked out that by not looking directly where I am going on the roads of Delhi and keeping my eyes averted from the near misses that occur all to frequently I can stop my stomach from lurching every two seconds. The only thing I can't stop is the dirt and dust mixed together with the traffic fumes entering my nose....its true what they say, Delhi really does get up your noseThis was the first time that I had been to an area not in central Delhi and for a while places looked familiar to places I thought I had been with Manju, or at least passed by. It quickly became clear that I was entering a much poorer area. Men, in their hundreds, sit on the curbs of the road or stand huddled together chatting such is the extent of unemployment here and the degradation of the housing is evident although they are still brick buildings many are in need of some loving tender care. I never took my camera with me but wished that I had, at least whilst I was in the relative safety of the rickshaw. This was the India that I was expecting to see without the smells that I am sure will follow when it gets really hot here. The people have nothing to do except sit around in the streets especially the men and of course the result of this is high levels of alcoholism, drugs, abuse, children and, sadly, rape as I guess is the case in many areas around the world.The Project Why school is in the heart of this area, down a side alley that reminded me of a typical street you would find in Europe. The stone buildings are oddly painted in different colours, reaching three of four storeys high and washing hangs high above your head. The school is not recognisable as a school from the outside, nor from the inside infact I was certain I had the wrong place. After shouting "Hello" on the ground floor where the distinct smell of paint filled the air I attempted to climb the concrete stairs, that would be certified as unusable in the UK, leading up to a second floor and a large iron gate. Through the bars which covered the windows I could see a group of about thirty small, extremely cute India children sitting in a circle with a lady in the middle who they were all attentively listening too, at least they were until they saw me.... I explained to the teacher who I was and she directed me up a further flight of concrete stairs to the rooftop where the office was located and inside I found Anou's assistant (whose name I never got). She explained that Anou was expecting me earlier and had already left but that she would show me round and then discuss things with me. The project also owns the building opposite which is virtually the same - this has more classrooms and an area where a small group of the children who have no parents live. The project also has more classrooms in the heart of the slums which I have yet to see and a centre where they teach women from the slums sewing, needle work and beautician stuff that they hope will allow them to find work. They are very keen for me to help at this centre, surprisingly they get very few native english speaking volunteers and whilst they appreciate all the voluntary help that they can get  the women need to improve their english to help them find work and they cannot do this with the french volunteers who only have a basic understanding of conversational english so, on Monday I'm going back there to visit the slum areas and to see what I can do to help them.I have also heard from another couple of places that I contacted regarding volunteering, once of which is based on the outskirts of Mumbai and so there are other possibilities to follow up too. My only concern now, after talking to people here is that the summer, when it arrives, is going to be seriously hot. I think that this may be the time for me to return to the UK but I'll see how things go perhaps I can try and arrange some volunteering in the mountains where it will be cooler...   
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/5/1233646800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/5/1233646800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/5/1233646800/tpod.html Wed, 04 Feb 2009 03:10:30 -0500 Bharat Ganarajya....my Indian Experience

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Delhi, India

Today is the first day that my head hasn't been fuzzy and I can focus my eyes automatically without really concentrating. I'm not sure whether its all down to jet lag as I have only ever experienced it once before or whether its simply because my body is dehydrated, perhaps a mixture of the two. To say that in these first few days I have had any experience of the real India would be a farce. I am lucky enough to have great family here who have let me stay with them and experience their lives but by self admittance they are middle class (they would be high class in the UK if they lived this life style there) and they have no contact with the poor classes who make up such a huge portion of the population here but they do, unlike many, have an awareness of how hard life is for the poor here even though it is merely observed. It seems, and this is very much an initial reaction to what I have heard and seen, that many people choose to ignore the plight of the poor here even the government  who seem to aim all there political campaigns at the middle classes. I could probably write for hours about the political wrong doings that are present here but it would be an opinion based only on things that I have heard from others and the few things that I have seen and so, until I have a more factual based knowledge I will keep my opinions to myself! Thankfully the temperature has been a comfortable 23-26 degrees since I arrived, and whilst I am wholly aware that this would be a "heat wave" in the UK here it is not. The temperature drops to around 16 degrees at night and people wear socks and fleeces and continuously ask me how I am not cold. To me this is warm, nicely warm considering the climate I have just left and by the looks of things just in time! It has been nice to be able to relax and not to rush around seeing everything there is to see and do as soon as I arrived, a mistake I made last time I traveled. I feel like I can enjoy just sitting on the balcony and enjoying my surroundings having evening conversations with Bill about my family, most of whom I have never met, and hearing stories that I have never heard before and would, no doubt, make an excellent book of scandalous tales. I have been out and about with Bill. We went for a walk in Lodi Gardens which is a very nice park and one of the places where it is safe to walk in Delhi without the fear of being run over. It is "maintained" by the Indian Government and is in the area of New Delhi where the British set up their colony, the roads are wide with two lanes running in each direction, lined with trees and the bungalows (many of which are the original ones built by the British, so are around 200 years old) most of which have now been turned into houses are of the type that you would see in the UK except they are occupied by Government officials and have armed security guards at the gates.  Lodi Gardens houses several tombs, the largest tomb is that of Sikander Lodi. These tombs are beautiful but they do need some tlc and unfortunately the Indian Government and  restoration/preservation do not mix well.  Originally these would have been grand buildings and whilst you can still appreciate their grandeur from a distance up close you can see that the idea of accurate restoration is far from their minds. Repairs are made by covering the areas in a lime mix concrete or replacing fallen bricks with any brick that they have handy and the end result is a shambles. The sad thing is that this is all overseen by the Indian version of our English Heritage/National Trust and whilst the buildings are clearly of historical importance to the Indians they have no idea how to look after them and will not, for reasons known only to them and covered as pride, ask for help from someone with the knowledge to do shown them how to do this correctly. Nevertheless the park is wonderful and very large, full of pretty green parrots and Indian squirrels. I say Indian Squirrels because I would call them chip monks, thats what they look like, they are very small and very cute. The park also seems to be a haven for the stray dogs that roam Delhi's streets and there are huge numbers of these everywhere. The dogs have a instinctual suspiciousness of humans and move out of your way. Indians do not share the British love of domesticated pets and think nothing of kicking or taking a stick to the animals and so, the dogs stay far enough away and roam as they please. They do, however, take to howling and fighting with each other at night and this goes on pretty much all night. If you add this to the night watchmen who walk around the Defence Colony blowing whistles to inform anyone that may be stealing from a house that they are coming and the constant roar of cars and their horns you soon appreciate that a peaceful sleep is difficult here although I have had no problems with sleeping!We had a drive, as it was sunday and the roads were relatively quiet, up to the presidential palace and the road which leads down to India Gate. It reminded me of the road that leads directly down from Buckingham Palace in London, a massive tree lined street where people gather for official occasions. Last week was Republic Day and so numerous buildings had been built for this occasion but are immediately taken down afterwards due to the supposedly strict building regulations (which is, of course, open to bribes) The road is lined with areas where school children on an outing were playing cricket in their pristine uniforms but where usually spectators would gather and the road, despite being fairly busy was full of tourists with their cameras trying to get the perfect shot of the Palace or India Gate. In the middle of a major crossway in the road were two Indian men down on their hands and knees painting the white zebra crossing (which all drivers ignore anyway) by hand protected only by two yellow barriers stating "Delhi Police" which looked as though they had been bashed several times. I have wondered every time I have been out in the car why they bother with road markings here, they serve no purpose other than to be ignored and now I see that some poor men have to literally put their lives in their hands to kneel and paint them by hand! Bill, much to his displeasure, went shopping with me yesterday to a shop called Fab Indian (who also supply the UK) It is a clothes store the same as you would find anywhere in the UK except of course with Indian prices, well sort of, tops cost between £5 and £7 which is not cheap by Indian terms but I needed some appropriate clothing and now I have some. Everything was going well and I managed to shop as quickly as possible but the driver, whilst reversing out of the parking space he had found managed to scrap the front bumper of the brand new car down the side of the car parked next to us. I'm not quite sure how he managed to do this but then neither am I sure how he drives in Delhi so I am not going to criticize. This "accident" attracted lots of attention from the Indian men who were hanging around the garden area, all looking to make some money from "being helpful" and although I waited in the car I am pretty sure that plenty of money changed hands to avoid getting the police involved who would no doubt require a bigger bribe.Today, for the first time I ventured up to the market in the Defence Colony. I haven't dared to take my camera out with me yet.  don't think there is any risk of it being stolen but I am still trying to get used to the constant attention that my appearance of white skin and blonde hair causes and I think the addition of a large camera may be too much just now besides which I think that I may require a few more lessons before I can actually cross a main road alone! 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/5/1233300720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/5/1233300720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/5/1233300720/tpod.html Tue, 03 Feb 2009 06:20:19 -0500 Bharat Ganarajya....my Indian Experience

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Delhi, India

I have arrived safely in Delhi. The Flight was absolutely jam packed with people and unfortunately I actually had to sit next to someone, I had become accustomed to having at least two seats to myself and being able to spread out. I forgot how uncomfortable cattle class is when its full and you have to sit bolt upright and not move whilst being constantly bashed by the trolley as it goes up and down the aisle. And for some ridiculous reason they served the worst Vegetarian curry I have ever tasted to a plane which was 95% Indian, I have now found out that Indians have absolutely no hesitation about complaining and of course those Indians that can afford to fly with Virgin are used to having domestic workers and were running the cabin crew ragged! I got asked to show my passport before I was allowed to have some wine with my meal which, whilst embarrassing the 22 year old air stewardess, actually made my day. After finally getting through customs, where once again the Indians were shouting at the customs staff who were extremely slow and extremely miserable I managed to locate the taxi's and get out of the airport. Security is really high at the moment following what happened in Mumbai and inside the airport was like a ghost town, you can't enter the airport unless you have a ticket for a flight but outside it was chaos - as soon as I walked around the door I came upon a sea of Indian Faces, who of course were not expecting someone with white skin and yellow hair to walk out and I felt the thousands of eyes follow me to the taxi. This was not helped by my own foolishness of wearing a vest (with a cardigan) which would not get a second glance in 99% of the countries around the world but in India it showed the lower half of my arms and of course my chest. So white skin, yellow hair and a visible chest caused quite a stir it seems.I have got an international driving license which means I can drive here but I'm not sure that I would dare! There are no rules, absolutely none. They do, in theory drive on the same side of the road that we do and the road markings are familiar i.e. the white line down the middle of the road marking the lanes however that is where it ends - driving in a straight line one behind the other is unheard of, it is a complete and utter free for all and its is perfectly acceptable to  cut across three other cars to turn left or to drive in the middle of the road. The main theory seems to be don't hit what's in front of you and beep your horn lots, if someone beeps at you move, the trouble is everyone is beeping and how are you supposed to know who is beeping at you and who isn't? oh yes, and never ever, ever use your rear view mirror! There are also numerous obstacles in the road - pedestrians who just walk across, the occasional cow or bull, small children carrying bags three times their size, kamikaze chickens, ducks, geese all trying to escape from the halal butchers the main idea is not to hit them!It took an hour in the taxi (which probably dated from the 1950's and was somehow in relatively good condition) from the Airport to the house I had also managed to add an extra number to the house number and had the poor taxi driver looking for D3337 which doesn't actually exist instead of D337 which added a little bit of extra time but cost me R260 which is about £3.50 but I finally arrived. Bill and Abha's house is amazing. It's actually divided into three flats. Ma, Abha's 86 year old mother lives on the ground floor. Bill, Abha and Sean live on the second floor and I am currently on the third floor. They have three domestic helpers as well as a driver. At the moment I am having trouble remembering their names or getting used to the fact that they get upset if I get my own glass of water or make my own bed but the two younger girls help Ma lots and she teaches them (she was a teacher before) as they would not get any education unless they were here and she also pays them, although the money is put away for them for when they get married. They all live here too although I'm not sure where they sleep yet!Bill took me for a walk around the Defence Colony (which is the area where they live) Market and then up into the poorer area which has a name that I have forgotten already. He also tried to teach me how to cross the road, which is an art form in itself and may require a few more lessons. He was about to take me into a local cafe for a drink but when we got inside he immediately turned around and walked out stating that it probably wasn't the best idea on my first day and we went to a western style cafe to allow my stomach to become gradually used to Delhi first! It cost £1 for a Cappucino which in India terms is expensive and the cafe which is a chain like starbucks is only frequented by the more wealthy people. The poor area is vivibly poor but I was expecting much worse. We, of course, we quite a spectacle wandering through, as its not somewhere that white people would normally be, let alone two of them. I encountered my first wandering cow here, infact it was a bull and it was having a stand off with a car which wanted to turn down the road which it was blocking. In delhi they round up the cows at night and take them somewhere where the owners collect them - apparently they also do this with the beggers however they put them in a lorry and drive them somewhere which is about 2 weeks walk away from Delhi. They is absolutely no empathy for the poor here even if they are children.On the way back home we saw a young girl who I would have said was about 6 or 7 carrying a bag which was three times her size at least, she was a scavenger. She, along with lots of children like her scavenge through the bins trying to find things that they can sell in order to eat. Its heartbreaking and they get no help from anyone whatsoever. I read an article in the paper here today about three young scavenger boys who killed another because he was using the money that he made from scavenging (which is probably pennies of they are lucky) to pay his school fees, they killed him because they said he was a traitor. Its so sad.We went to dinner with some of Bill and Abha's friends last night. I am not 100% sure of their names because I was so tired and also because I have to get used to Indian names but Ajair (i think) is in the film industry and used to be one of the top reporters in India. He now runs the Dalai Lama foundation and there were massive pictures of him and the Dalai Lama all over the walls. He was talking about Meditation and Yoga and some research that he is involved with but I was so tired and struggling to keep my eyes open that I couldn't really follow the conversation. I hope that I get the opportunity to meet with them again soon.  
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/rtw_trip/1209680940/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/rtw_trip/1209680940/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/rtw_trip/1209680940/tpod.html Thu, 06 Nov 2008 09:08:10 -0500 To the land of stars and stripes and a bit further with a rucksack a plane ticket and quite a lot of expectation. They say travel is only glamourous in retrospect ......i'll let u know

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Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom

Reflection is a wonderful exercise of the mind and if done carefully and considerately it can teach you an awful lot about yourself and about other people and how you inter relate both with them and the world in general. It makes you see easily how you manage without things that you never needed anyway but always thought you did. For me it has taught me that patience is something that I have very little of and that I need to work on giving things a chance or at least thinking things through, right through before doing them and to listen to other people's advice - even if sometimes its not what you want to hear because its not what you are expecting.......this is my lesson and I hope that it will help me next time I'm in an uncomfortable situation and my instincts kick inFor now I'm in a new city, still in a familiar country, but reflection so far has taught me that given time and sufficient amounts of the right energy things only get better.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/rtw_trip/1194442500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/rtw_trip/1194442500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emzeeb3/rtw_trip/1194442500/tpod.html Thu, 06 Nov 2008 09:04:29 -0500 To the land of stars and stripes and a bit further with a rucksack a plane ticket and quite a lot of expectation. They say travel is only glamourous in retrospect ......i'll let u know

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Singapore, Singapore

Arrived in Singapore last night and managed to find the hostel eventually after wandering up and down the street and asking like a million people!!! Had a great nights sleep despite the heat, well actually its not the heat its the humidity thats a killer.This morning my mission was to find the Thai embassy and get my Thain Visa but that meant conquering the MRT public transport system - to be honest I'd rather walk but the guy at the hostel said it would take about 2 hrs to walk into the city and then I had to actually find the embassy!! So I managed the MRT it wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be,pretty easy actually - the problems came when I got off and found myself in the Raffles shopping centre and couldn't find a way out and when I did I didnt know where I was!!!I eventually found myself on the map and kinda found the direction that I should be headin in - 4hrs later I found the embassy which was closed for lunch!! so I shopped and bought myself a groovy camera for a pretty okay price aong with some bits for it.Singapore really is a city full of shopping malls - I've only walked round Orchard Road but you could be here a year and not see all the stores! Singapore also has a reputation for being extremely clean but its not a well deserved one, yeah its clean but there is litter, there's chewing gum on the pavement and cigarette butts, thats not a criticism just an analogy of what I've seen - maybe I'm not in the clean part!!I decided not to bother with the embassy infact I've decided that I'm ready to come home - its not a whim this time, been feeling like this for a couple of weeks now - fed up being tired, fed up moving about, fed up being alone - yeah you meet people but its not the same as being with people you know and eventually it gets hard. Yeah I can go out and eat on my own or go sit with someone although here its not appreciated! and you can have a pretty good conversation and its great for a while but it gets to a point where the conversations do lift you but you know that in an hour or ten minutes or whatever you're gonna be on your own.....there are other travellers granted but I haven't met any that are due to be away for a year or are actually traveling for a year and only 3 who were travelling alone its not an excuse for coming home its a reason...I've had a good time and enjoyed what I've seen and have a whole life to see some more but I wanna do that and enjoy it and not keep thinkin well its all okay, the sites are nice but I'd rather be somewhere else.......I think I'll travel again on my own but just for shorter amounts of time
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