Hanging in A'bad

Greetings from Ahemdabad!! Tarak and I have been here for the last week, and will be leaving for Mumbai (another wedding) in a few days. We’ve been staying with my parents, relaxing, and trying to limit our shopping that had been getting out of control. We also contacted our friend Ami’s sister, Anjali who has been here for the past couple of years through Indicorps and got us in touch with an organization called Manav Sadhna. It’s a great foundation-its’ basic mission through the Gandhian philosophy is that of serving the underprivileged through creating and promoting educational and career opportunities for children, women and communities. Their office is in the Mahatma Gandhi Ashram and they have over 38 projects throughout the slum areas, which help over 4,500 children!! The best part of these groups are the simple things they do that have a huge impact. For example, a well known problem is the lack of water sanitation and cleanliness. Well instead of simply preaching it, they put it into action by taking kids off the street, bathing them, dressing them, and letting the kids see themselves in clean new clothes. These habits they take back to their families and communities. Some of kids who have grown up around this center, are now volunteers working to spread the same message of the importance of education.
Anyway, we were lucky enough to set up a few health camps, to perform medical exams on the children in the "anganvadis" (kind of like preschools) and then work in their evening clinic. It was crazy to see these poor kids, who for the most part, were malnourished, anemic and as a result were always victim to chronic skin infections, parasites, poor physical and mental growth and developmental delay. You’d never guess from their smiles, their love and their constant running around that these medical problems affect them.
On a random note, it is NRI season here!! (non resident Indians) (like us). It’s so funny because apparently, the locals make fun of NRI’s…there are even articles in the paper on "how to spot an NRI"..(things like..wearing tacky shorts in the Indian winter, shielding themselves from the sun, carrying around water bottles everywhere they go, packed cereal boxes, etc etc). All of the store owners are ecstatic (it’s their big season)..it’s pretty funny to see the influx of Indian parents and teenagers from the U.S and U.K coming in and just shopping like mad. Man, but I get so mad because I proclaim always to be super FOBy and yet still they spot ME out…I will even have Indian clothes on, hair pulled back, shawl on even though it’s 55°, and NOT shielding myself in the sun, and STILL they say "it’s they way you stand, or the way you carry yourself, or you’re just too tall"…anyway, Tarak keeps telling me to give up..but I will NEVER…

Family Bonding

It has been another long stretch since our last entry. Earlier in November, my (Tarak’s) family visited us for a few weeks. It was a whirlwind of a trip. We had been so looking forward to their arrival, and after they left, we missed them a lot. After getting settled in (that’s jetlag for 10 adults, 4 kids) for a few days and some preliminary (or should I say excessive) shopping, we headed out to Goa. For those of you who don’t know, Goa used to be a Portuguese colony. What remains can be seen in the white cathedrals, Goan cuisine, especially the curries and last but not least, the festive atmosphere. We stayed at a place on Baja beach called the Villa Goeasa. The accommodations were awesome. It was a nice blend of big clean rooms on the beachfront without the big resort prices. For most of the days, we would hang out on the beach and enjoy the nice cool breeze; people watch, eat panner tikka with some cocktails, watch the sunset and most importantly, play with the kids (best part!!). Our nieces and nephew (Shivani, Dhruv, Anjali and Maia Karina) were ecstatic playing on the beach and in the water. We couldn’t get enough of them. Having our nieces and nephews, and being called “mama” and “mami” (Gujarati term for maternal uncle and aunt) is the best deal…you get to have all the fun without any of the responsibilities!! During the evenings, my sisters would frequent (or more like attack) the roadside stalls looking for deals on Indian handicrafts and designer clothes.
After Goa, we went to back to Baroda and hung out with our own “mama” and “mami”. We even had the chance to visit my mother and father’s villages and meet some of our distant relatives. The entire last week of their stay was filled with shopping, shopping and more shopping. I usually have a high threshold for shopping but by the end of the week, I was exhausted. At end of this week, I went with Alpa (my youngest sister) to Hyderabad to visit her in-laws relatives. You know it was crazy, since the start of our trip 5 months ago, these 3 days were the first time, Sharvari and I had been apart…going from spending 24-7 together, it was hard (a little cheesy, I know). Of course, once the kids left, we totally went into niece/nephew withdrawal...it just wasn’t the same without them!!
We also went back to my dad’s village, Vasad, and spent 3 days at the local school, grades kindergarten through 10th, doing school physicals on over 700 kids. It was a blast! All of the boys would only stand in line to be seen by me, and the girls went to Sharvari. Anytime, I had to examine a girl, she, along with the entire line of girls, would go pink in the face and erupt into giggles in the middle of my exam. It was neat being like pseudo-celebrities…everyone knew about the “doctors” in town..Oh ya, we've added some more photos to Our Trip Photos link.

Kanyakumari and Beyond

It has now been close to a week since ending our journey through South India. The last leg of our journey consisted of visiting many famous and pilgrimage sites. However, the first place we went after our houseboat adventure in Kerala was all the way to the southern most tip of India, Kanyakumari. It is where 3 bodies of water merge-The Bay of Bengal, The Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. Here we witnessed incredible sunsets, a beautiful island where the statue of famous Vivekanand stands (picture above) along with a peaceful temple, and sandy beaches with fishermen always hard at work (picture also above-those nets look heavy). After spending a couple days here, we started our journey to the north. The city of Madhuri (back in the state of Tamil Nadu) is well known for the Sri Meenakshi Temple (picture above), which is an amazing temple complex. It has 12 highly decorated gopurams (gateway towers) and was completely covered with carvings of various deities and animal figures. After Madhuri, we went to the city of Rameswaram, which is actually considered one of the most holy pilgrimage centers for Hindus, and is considered one of the 4 sacred sites. It was quite a unique experience. In order to do darshan (prayer), we first had to go to the temple at 5am, then we had to “bathe” (dunk ourselves) in the river at sunrise (we actually saw the sunrise, as we dunked ourselves fully clothed), and then walked around the entire temple (dripping wet, mind you) as we were “blessed” (dunked with) with holy water from 22 different wells. Afterwards, we left for the cities of Tanjore and Tiruchirappalli (known as Trichy), which also had fascinating temples, filled with ornately decorated walkways, doors and shrines.
We next had a religious hiatus and headed for Pondicherry, a city completely different from other Indian cities. Although the French rule left 50 years ago, the remnants of a former French colony is easily seen within the architecture, ambience and even some of the local food. We had a chance to visit the infamous Aurobindo Ashram, where many devotees stay for weeks. However, we just enjoyed the food, the clean streets and relaxing by the seaside.
The final leg of our journey was that of going to Tirupathi, which is actually better known than even the Meenakshi temple. It is said that there are never fewer than 5,000 pilgrims at any one time, and in fact in a single day,the number may reach 100,000. (this is according to Lonely Planet, our bible). In fact, it said "it is said the number of people who come to worship eclipses the Vatican, Mecca and Jerusalum". It was an incredible experience to say the least. We arrived in the evening time on the day of Diwali, and we already had gotten some advance darshan tickets. Our waiting time of 2 hours was nothing compared to the 12 hours that some wait, and others who actually walked the 14km hill barefoot to come to the “holy hill”. When we actually entered the temple, we could literally fell the energy and the faith of the people crowded around us. I was moved by the lengths and depths that some of these people, who probably were quite poor, had come to make this pilgrimage.
The last few days of our trip was spent in Bangalore…no more gardens, tea plantations or even temples…basically, Tarak and I went nuts at the malls…HUGE export warehouse sales!!! Anyway, we were are now in Gujarat and await the Patel clans’ arrival in the next few days.

Gandhi Memorial on Diwali

Gandhi Memorial on Diwali
Originally uploaded by taraksharvari.

Happy Diwali to everyone!! We are in Pondicherry (former French colony) during Diwali, the most celebrated Hindu festival. It's crazy..every sweet (mithai)shop is packed with long lines, and the whole city is lit up with decorations and filled with literally deafening fireworks. Diwali celebrates the New Year which begins on Nov. 2nd...

Also..we are celebrating our second year wedding anniversary.. :)

The Magic of Munnar

Well, we are halfway through our South India trip and have seen some incredible sights!! From where we left off, we next headed to Cochin, actually the area called Fort Cochin (the older area). It’s a pretty amazing city. Talk about the religious diversity..we saw the oldest church in India, plenty of mosques and a very strong Jewish community with a 16th century synagogue. We basically visited the sites and then just relaxed in the city. The strangest thing is that we don’t think Indian nationalists (Indian locals) who are vacationing, ever stay in Fort Cochin..they just stay in the actual busy, overcrowded city. When we told our driver Fort Cochin..he had never been there and we all started getting worried as we kept going into deeper and darker streets..and then out of nowhere…it was touristville..or, should I say foreignville…it was nothing but backpackers and white people, cyber cafes and budget hotels..it was great!!
Anyway, after seeing the sights, we all quickly ran for our much awaited “ayurvedic massage". We had read they use special oils which cleanse the body and that it was a “must do”….hmm..let’s just say, it was interesting. We all walked in at our appointment time, into these 4 separate small rooms, with strange music playing and this small bamboo mats on the floor with these 2 small woman (my dad and Tarak, had 2 medium sized men, I think)..and then, in my room, I was told to take off my clothes…so, I, a little shyly took off my top and my jeans..and then she said, “Take it ALL off”…I just stood there in shock and vetoed…I asked for a little towel.she said no..then I begged for a little loincloth thingy(I wasn’t even sure where they would have one)..and she said no..I looked at her little assistant..and she just looked at me (no sympathy) waiting for me to strip….needless to say, it was hard to appreciate an hour long massage when you are butt-naked with their hands getting awfully close to certain risky areas and all you can think of is first, “I wonder what Tarak said and did” and then “how the hell is my mom handling this?”…Afterwards, we all recovered and dissected with each other in detail of the trauma we experienced and then went to an amazing Kathakali dance.
For those of you not familiar with Kathakali, it is an art form, that originated as early as the 2nd century, and literally means “story play”. It is used to portray the Hindu epics, the Ramayana, and the Mahabharata. The actors prepare with extremely elaborate costumes, makeup (takes 2 hours to put on) and headpieces. Interestingly, all of the makeup comes from natural rocks, and they put seeds in their eyes to make them turn red (look at the picture above). Each of the colors, are also representative of good, evil and so on. There were drummers and singers accompanying the dancers who tell the story only by facial expressions and body movements (mudras).
Next, we set out for the gorgeous city of Munnar…I think thus far, this is has been our favorite place. Munnar is the commercial center of some of the world’s highest tea-growing estates. It sits amidst amazing mountain scenary, beautiful tea estates and crisp mountain air. We just sat mesmorized by the view and we actually saw a ton of women, who came and collected the tea leaves, which are then dried and crushed to form the actual ground tea. We went on walks around our cottage, and saw cardamom, sandalwood and coffee plants…our cottage was nestled in between a large tea estate, so everyday we could see the women coming and leaving for work. It was so serene and awe-inspiring. We extended our stay there a day and wished we could have stayed there even more.
Of course, I had to get attacked by another 2 LEECHES!! My god, this one was huge and I threw a big fit in the middle of the tea estates..Tarak, instead of coming to my rescue, busted out the camera..so, you may enjoy the leech under the link, our trip photos. Let me just add, the camera makes that gross thing look smaller than it was..it was huge on my leg. Anyway, we of course, bought some tea, cardamom and headed further south to the backwaters in Alappuzha for our houseboat adventure. We had heard sooo much about renting a houseboat for a day, and going through the backwaters of Kerala and seeing the bustling village in the water. So, we set off in our boat..and it definitely was great…the boats made from bamboo, traveling along narrow canals where we saw people transporting everything from sheep to hay to schoolkids by small boats from one end to the other. It was crazy to see tiny settlements where people lived on narrow slits of reclaimed land only a few metres wide. We also experienced Keralan food, but I think something in the water, did NOT settle well in our stomachs. The scenary was amazing, but I think the hype was too much.
Now, we head off to Kanyakumari, the southern most tip of India.....

Masala Dosa Anyone?

Greetings from South India!! Well, we started with yet another night train..this time from Baroda to Mumbai and then we flew to Bangalore. We first headed to the famous city of Mysore, well known for silk and sandalwood. Here we visited the amazing Maharaja’s Palace (in picture above) which was absolutely beautiful and apparently built by some huge raja (king) for his wife (I definitely wouldn’t mind one of those). The interior was decorated with stained glass, mirrors and many paintings. There were also a ton of mosaics portraying life in Mysore during the kingdom period and well known Hindu stories. Afterwards, we visited Chamundi Hill, which overlooks Mysore and in which resides the famous Sri Chamundeswari Temple. We took the 1000 steps to the top (and then nearly passed out) and enjoyed some fresh coconut water outside the temple. Afterwards we headed south to the even more well known Udhagamandalam (yes one word), thankfully known as Ooty.
Ooty is apparently South India’s most famous hill station, which was established by the British in the early 19th century as the summer headquarters of the Chennai government. It is a wonderfully quaint place, it is was definitely quite cold. We had to the bust out the shawls, and even considered buying 10 rupee hats they were selling off the street. Interesting tidbit: Ooty is also well known for chocolates, so of course, Tarak and I went to town. Next, we visited the botanical gardens and lakes but what we really enjoyed was getting away from the crowded city and taking a steam engine train to a small town called Koonor. Although it was only an hour ride, the views from the train were absolutely incredible. The cool breeze and the sights of the tea plantations, forests and waterfalls were probably the highlight of the day.
Next, we headed to Kalpetta (some quick geography: we started in the state of Karnataka (Mysore) then we went to Tamil Nadu (Ooty) and now Kerala). We came here especially to see the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctionary and to see the incredible wildlife and hopefully catch a glimpse of some endangered tigers. However, as our luck would have it, all we saw, as my mom so very eloquently put it, “We paid all of these rupees just to see 2 deer and the asses of 2 elephants?”. (She didn’t actually say ass, but the closest Gujarati equivalent). After being disappointed from the sanctionary, we headed to Pookote Lake and took a hike around the outskirts. That also would have been fun, if I had not been attacked by 3 leeches. There we were, the Parghis (my parents), Tarak and myself walking..and we noticed these 4 young guys behind us, who seemed to be picking things off their feet. We kneeled in to see, small little leeches (nothing like Stand By Me style or size)..anyway, so we all checked our feet and didn’t see anything. Of course, 10 minutes later, my feet were BURNING..and I found 3 blood-sucking leeches stuck in between my toes..SICK!! Needless to say, my mom rushed to put some ayurvedic ointment on my feet.
Well, I should mention that it is quite an experience traveling with the 4 of us..no one understands us down here..it’s crazy, they definitely don’t speak Hindi and their English is dangerous (just enough to confuse the hell out of us) and then my God, we just stare at them when they start rambling off in either Tamil, Kannada or Malayalam…but, we did learn a few phrases, we’ve absolutely mastered the sideways head nod (used as the preferred method of absolute confusion to mean either yes, no, or I have no freakin’ idea) and to add the syllable “eh” onto to every word. For example, when we are looking for a particular road..we ask “Aray Hellooo cheta (which means brother), Road-Eh” and then they will do this pointing gesture with waving arms, do the sideways head nod, and hopefully say “straight-eh”..and at which point, we return the headnod and usually Tarak says “thank you-eh”. We next headed further south into Kerala to Cochin where our adventure continues.

Navratri in Baroda

Over the past week we have been in Vadodara (Baroda) spending Navratri at Sharvari’s masi’s (maternal aunt) house. For those of you who don’t know, Navratri is an important Hindu holiday. Gujaratis celebrate the events occurring in the Ramayan through prayers and traditional dancing for 9 days. For the past week, we leave the house by 9:30pm and fight through the traffic of a ton of scooters/motorcycles and cars all with everyone decked out ready to dance. So then, we spend the next few hours dancing in this huge massive open outdoor field with 8 – 10,000 people, dancing in large concentric circles to the beat of live Indian garba music. By the time we arrived home, we would be ravished and pig out and then crash hardcore. For many years now, Sharvari and I have wanted to experience Navratri in India and finally witnessed this important event. The garba (traditional dance) in Baroda is famous all over India. The crowds are mind blowing who dress up to the max to impress and show off their dancing skills and eye potential suitors. If you’re single, it’s a huge matchmaking and checking out scene. Since the conservative environment usually limits young females from going out at night except during this time of year, you can imagine the crowd. The events are so big that it is televised live throughout the night. We were given strict orders to seek out the camera so our family could see us on TV. As Tarak, who on average is a head taller than most Indian men, was an easy search target and was easily spotted by our relatives on screen. The other most visible people were those came dressed in crazy outfits…huge peacock hats, carrying decorated umbrellas, and even a horse costume.
With all the festivities being over, we take the night train to Mumbai followed by a flight to Bangalore to start our trip to the south with Sharvari’s parents. . Hopefully, history doesn’t repeat itself and we don't miss our connecting flight…

Sikkim

From one Himalayan land to the next, we have just spent 6 days in Sikkim (state in Northwest India). Just to give you some facts about Sikkim…apparently it was regarded as one of the last Himalayan Shangri-las because of it’s remoteness and spectacular mountain terrain. Tibetan lamas (priests) first introduced Buddism in the 15th century in Sikkim, and for this reason, the hills are filled with ancient monasteries. Sikkim borders Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan. In fact, Mahayana Buddhism is the state religion and Sikkim remained a princely state until 1975, where it then joined Indian rule.
Enough factoids…so, we basically from Bhutan went to Siliguri (West Bengal) and from there, caught a shared jeep (this basically means, as many people that can fit into a Tata Sumo jeep and you can bet someone will be definitely sitting on your thigh) to the capital city of Gangtok. In Gangtok, we toured and visited the Rumtek monastery, the flower gardens and the Namgyal Institute of Technology (apparently it contains one of the world’s largest collections of Buddhist books and manuscripts). The next day, we took a day trip to Tsomgo (pronounced Changu) Lake, which is at a height of 3780m and is 18 km from the Chinese border at Nathula. It was absolutely beautiful and cold!! We rode a yak (yes an actual yak) around the lake and ate some more mo-mo’s and veg. Chowmein. The next day, we did a trip to North Sikkim to Yunthang Valley and then spent a couple of days in West Sikkim in the city of Pelling. Here we caught a glimpse of the magnificent Khangchendzonga mountain range-it is 8598m..the third highest in the world (that’s the snow covered mountain in the picture above). It was pretty amazing! And it was actually pretty damn cold..I know my tolerance is rather pathetic..but even Tarak was freezing in our hotel room..of course there was no heat.
Anyway, it was crazy because even though we were in India, Sikkim seemed more like Bhutan in that it was less populated, cleaner and it was extremely tourist friendly. There were travel/tourist agencies everywhere and a bunch of Europeans..especially Germans (man, they go everywhere..first Croatia and now Sikkim). There were also all of these environmental friendly signs..promoting to keep the roads clean, not to spit (tobacco, as many people do) and all of these super cheesy road signs like “if you are married, divorce speed”….and “be gentle on my curves” (they meant the road) and “slow driver, long life” and my favorite “good driver seldom hurt” (I swear to God that is exactly what the sign said). We wished we had more time in Sikkim to do a 10-14 day trek, but we wanted to get back to Gujarat for Navratri…can’t miss dandia/raas!!. Maybe we will come back to do a trek???

Land of the Thunder Dragon

This title should really be: Tarak goes to Bhutan. For the last 2 years, that is ALL I heard about…you know Sharvari, “Bhutan isn’t a country, it’s a kingdom”…”they only opened it to tourists in 1974 to minimize Western influence”…”it’s like Nepal 65 years ago”..and so we finally went with a local explorers group from India to the amazing Himalayan country. It is quite remarkable in that it still is considered a kingdom, and it tries to limit western influence, by limiting the number of foreign tourists annually. Some small facts: Population: 1 million, Language: Dzongka, Nepali & Religion: Buddhist 75%; Hindu 25%. In fact, as a foreigner, to visit Bhutan, you must spend at least $250 a day…we of course, went as Indians…how you ask? Let’s just say, we looked as “fob-like” as possible and Tarak was not allowed to speak…
Anyway, we first flew from Mumbai to Calcutta and then took an overnight train to Jalpaiguri (West Bengal) and from there a bus to the border town of Phoolsuling. Before we talk about Bhutan...let us tell you a typical India story.. After missing our overnight train (which of course are the only things that occasionally run on time in India) due to a delayed flight, we stayed a night in Calcutta and then made it to Siliguri. While in Siliguri, we went to a national park in hopes of seeing a wild Indian Rhino but missed the elephant safari by 30 minutes..Driving on these roads can be presumed to be similar to those of Iraq shortly after being heavily bombed. Well, as we headed back to Siliguri we were stopped by a road block.. The locals were striking due to the lack of no running water for 3 days..They wouldn't let anyone through..After Sharvari yelled at few people and almost threw down with an Indian Auntie, we used our doctor card to get through. We made it back to join the group after THREE hours..If you didn't know this fact West Bengal is a communist state so they strike for any and every reason possible. Now back to Bhutan..It was crazy, just to walk across the gate from Jaigon (India side) to Phoolsuling, we already experienced a drastic different culture. There were way fewer people, the streets much cleaner and a very simple way of life with Buddhist monks in robes freely roaming the streets. We went on to the town of Paro, which is known for the Tatkshang Goempa (monastery). It was amazing to see how well preserved and beautiful these monasteries were with prayer flags tied to trees all over the country. In all of these monasteries, there were rows and rows of what are called prayer wheels. It basically is a wheel, inside which scriptures are written, and by turning the wheel, it is like chanting the mantras. Pretty cool, huh? It was amazing in the monasteries, to see these schools of young boys in their monk robes living a completely simple, unmaterialistic life. We visited the markets and tried some of the local food, momo’s (basically like dumplings). Next, we went to the capital of Thimphu, where we went on a short hike to a monastery that was perched on the cliffs and then visited the national museum. We should mention (as Tarak loves adding random facts) that Thimphu is the only capital in the world to not have any traffic lights...it was crazy, no traffic lights, just police officers in funny uniforms, dancing, waving their arms to guide the flow of the cars.
We definitely could have spent a month in Bhutan, but we had limited time as we had come with a group. The group we went with, is another entirely different story. We went with 44 nineteen year old girls from Patna Women’s College (can we say raging hormones)…let’s just say there was a lot of dancing to Bollywood music in the aisles of the bus and a WHOLE lot of giggling at the two of us. Well, we left the "kingdom" and are now back into the realm of Western influence!!
We hope you like the pictures..we also put some more pics under links in the right column in the section my trip photos.

Dumping Grounds

DSCN0543
Originally uploaded by taraksharvari.

This is a shot of a family whose home is on top of the dumping grounds...they had 2 children with asthma however did not have enough money to have them properly seen or treated.

Govandi Dumping grounds

DSCN0551
Originally uploaded by taraksharvari.

This was a home visit that we did to see what type of respiratory complaints people had. It was crazy that amidst this absolute poverty, the children were so friendly and loving and followed us around. The family whose house we went to offered us tea, which would have used up half of their daily milk supply for their kids. We of course refused..

Mumbai Trains

It has been way too long since our last entry..We have been in India for a month now. It took us a few days to get acclimated to the humidity and heat and are now enjoying the cooler weather brought by the lovely monsoons. We quickly learned (remembered) after visiting relatives in Baroda and family friends in Mumbai that food is the means of showing affection. We ate and ate and over ate until we could barely move. We would have to refuse seconds or thirds even though we wanted more because in the end we would lose the battle and take additional servings. My favorite story is that of Sharvari eating 6 russ gulas, pehda,ice cream, burfee,kaju katree in one day (for those that are not familiar with Indian sweets..just know, it's a huge load).. We stayed in Mumbai for about three weeks to work with a NGO(non-government organization) called Niramaya. It is an off shoot of another NGO called Pratham. Pratham is responsible for setting up small schools in rural and underserved areas in order to improve childhood literacy. This in hopes that the underprivileged will improve their social and economic status. Within these balvadis (schools), they noticed a high amount of absentees due to the health related reasons. Upon further examination, it was noticed that these kids lived and worked in absolutely horrendous environmental conditions, which resulted in constant illnesses and poor nutrition. Our primary objective has been to set up an asthma program primarily targeting the "rag pickers" (children who look through the piles of garbage for recyclable goods). We also have been helping out with a clinic near the dumping grounds where all of Mumbai's garbage is placed...We have included some pictures of the actual dumping grounds (which let us just say are without a doubt the MOST disgusting and appalling site we had ever seen).
On a much lighter note, to get to this clinic was a daily adventure. Traveling by local train in Mumbai is an experience in itself. The trains are the primary means of moving millions of people each day to and from Mumbai proper.. Just try to imagine all these people piling in like sardines (we mean literally sardines) until there is no more physical space with the rest hanging off the edge of cabins. And then getting off the train is a completely different feat...you have to be mentally prepared prior to your stop and then since there is no space, you literally are shoved through to the other side of the train...it's kind of like floating amidst a sea of Indian people. And of course, there are those lovely occasions where you have to jump off the moving train otherwise you will be stuck for a few more stops to come.
As if Mumbai isn't populated enough, we happened to be there during one of the most important festivals in the state of Maharashtra..the Ganapati or Ganesh Festival. Basically it's a 10 day festival where we saw incredible numbers and sizes of Ganesh idols that people brought (sometimes via crates and trucks) to their homes and then on the last day, they sent the idols floating into the ocean.
Overall, we had a blast in Mumbai..we were lucky enough to stay at someone's guest flat so felt like we were actually living on our own in Mumbai. It's definitely a great city..there are some great restaurants, bars/clubs and of course non stop Bollywood. Who knows...maybe we'll settle here???
Well, we just got back from Bhutan and are now in Sikkim...we will be hopefully updating soon with some of our cool pics from the north. Stay tuned!!

Bosnian Coffee

It has been a little while since our last entry. Afer weighing our options, we decided to go to Bosnia Herzogovenia instead of directly going to Italy. We can say it was a worthwhile experience. Our first stop was a small town called Mostra. It sits a few hours from Dubrovnik by bus and is suprisingly culturally and geographically different from Croatia. There are numerous mountains with lush greenery everywhere. Despite being ruled by many groups, the most influental has been the Ottoman empire. The food has a lot of Turkish influence including the thick coffee (Turkish Coffee) which i drank religiously every day at least once. Our vegetarian selection increased dramatically, we actually ate eggplant and spinach.
After being attacked once again by the hoards of old women asking us for accomodations, we found a place near the center of this town which is divided by a river. On one side resides the islamic community and the other side the Orthodox christians. The segregation occured post-war. Despite seeing bullet riden buildings, the people have adapted to each other and were very friendly.
Then we moved on to the capital, Sarejevo, which was another amazing experience. Although our accomodations had hit a rock bottom (sketchy bathtub that was actually IN the kitchen..gross), we really enjoyed walking around the "old town" as it was called. Cobblestone walkways, antique shops and tons of cafes....we also happened to be there during the Sarejevo Film Festival where we saw a few documentary films from Romania, Croatia and Bosnia. Another incredible experience was visiting "The Tunnel"...during the war in '93 between the Serbs and Bosnians. Apparently, the city of Sarejevo was surrounded by Serbian forces and was cut off from all supplies (food,water, electricity) and life was described similar to that of a concentration camp. After 3 years, the UN was given access to the airport which was made a safe base,however the people trying to cross still would be shot and killed. Anyway, the people of Sarejevo secretly built a underground tunnel, in which food,people and supplies were able to be transported. It was pretty unreal to see the video and the actual tunnel.
Afterwards we headed back to Italy, we stayed a few days in Florence, biked under the Tuscan Sun and visited a vineyard and then had a final day in Venice. Florence was really beautiful...we went to the Uzzi and Academia (Michealangelo's David)..walked around and had great Italian food.

The Pearl of the Adriatic

We just left the city of Dubrovnik-which by far, is the most beautiful city we have seen thus far...it is on the southern coast, and is encompassed by a fortress. During the many wars, especially during the Serbian aggression, it was sought after and for this reason, heavily bombed. It sustained quite a bit of damage, however it is crazy how well it has been rebuilt to near perfection. We had 4 days here-the first we spent roaming around the Old Town, which was inside these massive iron gates, and was a city of marble streets, narrow alleys, historic churches and statues. We sat at cafes, enjoying cappucinos and chocolate pastries right in the middle of this old scenic town. We walked so much everywhere, trying to make sure and hit all of the "must see" sights and since we were at the mercy of Tarak's compass (on his watch of course) and navigational skills (which is not much-although I have no room to comment at all), we probably walked a "few" extra circles trying to find places. The 2nd day, we took a trip to the island of Mljet where legend has it that Odysseus spent many years. We took a ferry ride there, and then rented 2 bikes and rode along these 2 beautiful lakes, visited an old monastery on an island in the lake, and then took the ferry back and watched the sunset on the Adriatic. The 3rd day, we roamed around Dubrovnik again, (recovering from riding bikes on cheap seats for several hours) and walked the city walls (which took 3 hours!). The place we stayed at was pretty funny..it was this Bosnian woman who initially attacked us (or I should say Tarak) at the bus station. Since he (of course) is so nice, he had a swarm of little old Croatian ladies with signs offering private accomodations. I (the rude one) glared at all of them, because we had not even had a chance to get all of our luggage, let alone, even step off the bus, before they were running up to us. Needless to say, no one was around me. Anyway, we waited for the crowd to thin, and then bargained with her. She, of course, kept talking to us in German and kept kissing and hugging me...we have no idea why..but she was enthralled with us, and (it can't back to bite me) I used to tell Tarak (back in the states) how good I was at German ("German student of the year" and sort)..and there I was, I couldn't even remember how to ask where the bus station was. My high school German teacher would die if he saw my pathetic attempt to recover my lost German (mixed with the Spanish I learned in Ecuador)....
Anyway, we had a fabulous time in Dubrovnik and Croatia!!

Happy Birthday Tarak!!

This entry is a day late, but yesterday was Tarak's birthday (Aug. 22nd)...I'll leave the age out, as I can only imagine how depressing it must be to have those sort of numbers...j-k.
I thought I would actually finally put some of my photography handiwork (or lack there of) as I dedicate this entry to his birthday!! I thought I would put a few pictures of Tarak's favorite activities in Croatia...Number 1, by far, which should not come as any surprise, is taking pictures. That particular picture is in a fortress in the island city of Hvar, overlooking the sea. The other two are of course relaxing on the beach and enjoying some Gelato!! We spent his actual birthday, a great majority in transit (poor thing)..we took a bus (630am) to Hvar, then a ferry ride to Split and then a 5 hour bus ride...but we finally made it the most awaited and beautiful city of Croatia.....Dubrovnik!! We went for a stroll in the old town, and had dinner overlooking the sea.
Some facts about Hvar Island...apparently, it gets the most amount of sun of any island in Croatia (2724 hours each year!!)..it has become an international tourist hotspot...the town is surrounded by a castle with marble streets and beautiful beaches. The island is also amazingly green, with tons of lavender patches (they sell it EVERYWHERE on the streets), rosemary and everybody, of course, has their own wine. We tried this dessert wine called Prosecco..which was really sweet!
Well, we will write more from Dubrovnik as we will be settling in for a few days, we are considering for the last week to either travel more in Italy or check out Bosnia or Serbia...any thoughts??