December 2009 Archives

(Bhavnagar - Delhi, India)

I think if Guy Clark had ever been to India's capital, we'd all be singing along to his '72 hit "L.A. Freeway" (although I prefer Mr. Jerry Jeff's version) with some different lyrics: "If I could just get off of this DELHI freeway without getting killed or caught..." 

Our destination was about a 6 hour drive away from the capital and, it being close to 5pm when we arrived in Delhi, the majority of it was in the dark.  The stretch of "highway" we were travelling on was still under construction, so much of the driving was on dirt, pothole-dotted roads with no lighting to speak of - other than the blinding headlights from oncoming traffic that occasionally pierced the blackness and gave us a fleeting glimpse of a sporadically placed hutch, vendor stand or tree along the side of the road.  We were definitely in the country at that point.

Although I have to give our driver major credit for his remarkable night-vision skills and the fact that he didn't send us all to a fiery grave that night, I have to admit that it was a nail-biter.  I probably would have figured the guy was conceived by a bat and an owl for his impeccable vision, but around 10pm (I know what time it was because my eyes, which were peeled open in self-sustaining terror, never left the speedometer/windshield/clock pattern they had followed since entering the vehicle) he cured me of that thought.  As we were beginning to ascend a small hill, he quickly merged to the right onto what felt like a freshly paved stretch of asphalt - we can only assume he merged because he saw what we all couldn't see, so we figured he's just following the road...  It was funny because we had just been on a very bumpy surface and then all of a sudden the sounds of flying gravel hitting the wheel wells --- just ---- stopped ---.  It was nice and quiet - just the hum of the rubber on nice, smooth road.  Then, just about 50 yards in front of us, coming over the crest of the hill, we saw the headlights.  In our lane.  Heading toward us.  Quickly.

Our guide, who had been dozing on and off in the front passenger seat until this point was now wide awake and took immediate notice of the situation.  He very quickly - and in Hindi (for our benefit I'm sure) - informed the driver of his error, but because some facial expressions need no translation, we all knew the guy was aware. Now, we're in the India-equivalent of the slow/truck lane of the west-bound side of the highway, heading east at around 110/kmh (nearly 70mph for us).  Mikie and I gripped each other's legs, clenched our teeth and just watched as we zig-zagged to the left around one truck, whizzed past another, and finally all lurched to the right as he jerked the minivan back over to the left between a break in the guardrail and back onto the rough east-bound lane.  If it hadn't been for the sound of the gravel again hitting the wheel wells, you'd have been able to hear a pin drop.

(Here's just a fun picture of some of the scaffolding they were using at the hotel we stayed at.  You think the folks over at OSHA would get a kick out of this or what?!?!)

 

(Day 5)

The next day, we got to visit one of the foundries where our guide casts some of his other clients' products like aluminum trays and buckets.  They basically cast these things right there using the dirt floor of the hut.

 

(Day 6)

With business being taken care of, our guides wanted us to see as much of Delhi as they could show us before we left India, so we headed back out very early the next morning for the big city and got to see the famous Ganges River - already teeming with people at 6am - along the way.  (I'll include my picture below, which was taken from inside a vehicle going about 80 km/h - a.k.a how not to take a photo - and wikipedia's picture, probably  taken by a real photographer so you can actually see what it should look like - can you guess which is which?!)

Although the Taj Mahal was too far away to cram into the 6 hours we had before our flight, we got to see its predecessor and what ultimately inspired the architectural movement that led to the Taj - the Emperor Humayun's Tomb (1565-72 AD).  It was really a bunch of elaborate structures on a huge expanse of land rather than just one building.  Since being added to the UNESCO World Heritage list, the place has been under extensive restoration - check out the guys trying to lift just one of the red sandstone blocks up for replacement!

After the Tombs, we headed to  the India Gate - just like the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, India Gate is a war memorial, and this one which honors the 90,000 Indian soldiers who died in WWI and the Afghan Wars, happens to be the national monument of India.  Now, I grew up right outside of Washington, D.C. and I've been to the Washington Monument plenty of times - let me tell you that I've never seen as much humanity in D.C. than we saw at India Gate.  And man, the stuff the vendors there will try to sell you is unreal!  Mikie, the skilled pilot and lover-of-all-things-that-fly that he is, was entranced by the guy selling whirly-birds.  Unfortunately his attempt to barter with the whirly-bird man was foiled by our guides who insisted that 10 for $1 was just too much.  :(  Boo.

Next on our host's list was Red Fort - another UNESCO World Heritage Site.  I don't think we were nearly as disappointed as the Griswolds were when they arrived a Wally World to find that it was closed, but it turns out that we got an even better view of it from our last, and - to me, by far - the most interesting stop yet: the Jama Masjid Mosque.  

 

(And we got to take a handsome cab through a traffic jam to get there!)

Our guide, who is Muslim, took great pride in sharing this site with us.  He told us that, under normal circumstances, non-Muslims would never be permitted inside a Mosque - even Muslim women are generally not permitted to pray inside the Mosque with the men - they must pray at home.  However, because the Jama Masjid is the most well-known and principal mosque of Old Delhi, non-Muslim visitors - men and <appropriately dressed> women - are allowed to enter, but must leave whenever the Muslims are called to prayer. 

This entire trip, I've done my best to avoid any international incidents,  but this was where we came the closest to one.  See, although I packed "religion-appropriate clothes", we weren't told we'd be going to a Mosque today so I had on a tee-shirt.  Thank God I was at least wearing pants.  The guy at the entrance to the Mosque didn't care for the cut of my jib right off the bat.  What gave it away was when he pointed directly at me and yelled for a long time in a different language at our guide, who, likewise, obviously didn't much care for him.  Eventually, our guide was forced to give in and pay for me to wear a sari out of the "losers who didn't know you're not supposed to wear a TEE-SHIRT to a MOSQUE, hussy!!!" box.  He picked out an especially ripe one for me that appeared to have some type of poo smeared along the right cuff and the velcro was faulty so I had to wear my purse underneath to keep it pinned to my body.  I tried my best to ignore the poo and not be any more insulting to this man than I already had, and continued into the mosque. 

Once inside, it really was an amazing site.  To know that this place was designed and constructed long before a hint of the technology we have today was really impressive.  We got to climb the 130-step stone, spiral staircase to the top of one of the minarets.  The entire circumference of the staircase was no larger than a London telephone booth - luckily, we have some experience packing in more than 1 body to one of those things, because they certainly weren't enforcing the "10 up, 10 down" policy!

 

There was quite a view from the top.
Goodbye to India - Indonesia via Singapore is next!

 

I just want to take the moment to say Merry Christmas to all. 

Can you believe it's only a week away?  I know.  It seems like just yesterday we were all wiping sweat from our bodies, and now it's time for Christmas.  Then, it'll be 2010.  Crazy.

Is all your gift shopping finished?  Is your tree up?  Do you have Christmas in your heart?

So.  Merry Christmas Galveston.  Have a wonderful Christmas week.  And I'll see you in 2010.

 

Day 3:

(Bhavnagar, India)

Today we are heading to Palitana.  It is about 60 kilometers away from the hotel and our guides have graciously lent us their driver for the afternoon.  We're told there are over 1300 temples carved out of marble at the top of the hills - to get there, though you have to climb 3,800 steps. 

Now, there are 20 steps in our house leading to the 2nd floor.  I know this because the day we moved in, Mikie counted them aloud each and every time he ascended them.  And for the next 2 years, each time he climbed the stairs, he'd count them out loud.  Thanks to that constant conditioning, I too am now a stair counter.  It's a silent thing - in my head, but it's nutty - I just can't climb stairs without counting as I go.

So Palitana is like going up our stairs nearly 200 times.  And we're going to give it a try in 80 degree weather.  At 11am - the heat of the day.  Sweet.  Oh, and did I mention that, in order to avoid any international incidents, we're wearing "temple appropriate" clothes - i.e. pants and long sleeved shirts.

 

As you can see, the steps are actually quite wide.  They wind, bend and turn with the mountainside, which does tend to help you mentally - I mean you're not actually LOOKING at all 3,800 steps at once.  And, in all fairness to the folks that do tough it out to get to the top, it is a pilgrimage, so it really shouldn't be easy, right?
 

We made it to step 800.  Some pilgrims we are, huh?  Although we could have gone all the way, we realized that we told the driver - who doesn't speak English - and who we have no way of contacting at this point - to meet us at 12:30 at the bottom.  By noon we were at step 800 and realized it just wasn't going to happen.  We learned a bit along the way, though. 

For example, cows, goats and dogs will start to climb 3,800 steps.  We couldn't tell you if any make it to the top, but man there were a lot of them trying.  Also, cows, goats and dogs do not heed the "passing on the right" traffic rule - it is not a good idea to test a cow on his or her nerves while above step #100 - you will not win.  Nor do said animals get off the steps to do their business (as can be seen if you click on the photo to the right and enlarge).  So it adds an extra -- element -- to the climb.      

Also, you can hire someone to carry you to the top of Palitana like the gentleman and his lady hitching a ride to the right.  They do this so that even folks that are elderly or ailing can make it to the temples at the top.  We're pretty sure some of the guys doing the carrying really should have been doing the riding - yikes.

The hour long drive back to our hotel was on a two "lane" road - and I use the term "lane" very loosely because I don't want to imply that there were stripes, curbs, guard rails, or any kind of traffic laws for that matter.  There is only one phrase that I think appropriately describes how we experienced driving in India: RECKLESS ABANDON.

In order to distract ourselves from the imminent death that surely awaited us on the other side of the windshield, Michael and I decided to play a game: how many different things are sharing the road at the same time?  Our answer: 15.  And I'm not exaggerating about them all being on the road at the same time.

1. People walking.  2. 4-wheeled carts.  3. Bicycles.  4. Motorized bikes.  5. Tuk-tuks (basically the auto-version of a rickshaw) 6. Rocket bikes (another interesting hybrid that I don't think would pass U.S. emissions tests).  7. Standard pickup trucks.  8. Goods carriages (dump-truck sized trucks that carry stuff to and from the ship breaking yards).  9. 20' shipping containers that have wheels added to them and have been converted to vehicles.  10.  horse & carriage.  11. ox & carriage.  12. cows.  13. pigs.  14. dogs.  15. goats. 

 

A special thanks to all the Santas that came out on Saturday to spread some Christmas cheer across the Island!  Santas stopped at: Molly's, Old Cellar, O'Malley's, Nada, Stork Club, Gumbo Bar, MOD, Club 21, Yagas, Tsunami, and FOAM Depot (aka Murphy's)!

Day 2:

(Still in Bhavnagar, India)

The good thing about India is that when you wake up at 2am because you're still on central standard time, you can rely on getting at least 2 tv stations in English.  The bad thing is that they tend to play bad 80s movies on those 2 English stations that have no followable plot. And as much as I enjoy choreographed dance routines, the Bollywood movies are in Hindi and are admittedly harder for me to follow.  

(Here's Mikie in our hotel - formerly an actual Palace - climbing some imaginary steps.  Our bathroom is also in the photo - shown in blue....  Just kidding, but seriously, do you think they used plastic furniture when the Prince lived here?!?!?  5 star my foot.)

We had breakfast next to an older French couple who were, true to the famed bumper sticker, out spending their kid's inheritance.  They recommended we go see the Palitana Temple tomorrow - it's a huge pilgrimage destination and you can climb the 3,800 steps to the top of the Shatrunjaya hills - or pay someone to carry you.  I can feel the burn already.

Today, though, we are heading to Alang.  The major industries in Bhavnagar are diamond cutting and ship building/breaking.  We are here for the ship breaking and  Alang is where we import most of our ship salvage from for the nautical shop.  It also happens to be the worldwide center of the ship breaking and recycling industry, so it's a pretty busy place.

Unfortunately for us, security at Alang has been pretty tight lately - foreigners aren't allowed.  So, under the direction of our guides, we went in the old fashioned way - we hid.  In the backseat.  Of a van.  Which had tinted windows.  And we took back roads to avoid checkpoints.  This has "international incident" written all over it... 

 But, it was so worth it.  The breaking yard was truly one of the most amazing places and functions I have ever seen.  (Sorry for my bad panoramic-stitching efforts - hopefully you can still get the gist - note the 2 workers with yellow hard hats in the far left bottom corner standing next to some scrap...)  There were hundreds of ships in various states of dismantlement (if that's a word) beached along the shore - it was like parking at Mardi Gras in Galveston circa 1999 - ships just wedged in so close you could jump from one to the next.

After the Alang visit, our hosts took us to the only public restaurant in the area.  This was the location of my very first experience with a public restroom in India.  I regret not capturing the moment in a photo, but I'm sure you readers don't.  In a nutshell, the toilet is an open stall with no commode - only a slightly graded slab of concrete that leads towards the rear wall towards a hole in the ground.  Sometimes I think we expect too much of gravity.  That's all I'll say about that.

Well hello again.  Just want to make sure my fellow Islanders don't forget about tomorrow night's Santa Pub Crawl put on by IBC.

If you need the info., follow the link to the original post or scroll down.  It's sure to be santa-riffic good time.  And'll deifinitely spread some Christmas cheer.  And beer.

Well.  See you there.

 

First, let me say "oops" and sorry to any of you that may have been reading my recent post when I trailed off at "day 1" in the hopes of sharing some of the highlights of our india/indonesia/china trip...  It can be easily explained in Mikie's post about our little Rip Van Winkle incident becuase as soon as I reached over to get my trip journal, my head grazed the pillow and that was it.  I'm afraid I can no longer claim that I am unaffected by jet lag - Tuesday would have begged to differ.

And B, I hate to take the important announcement Will posted about off the top of the list, but I assure you that we'll put up another reminder of the upcoming opportunity to spread Christmas cheer, stimulate the Galveston economy and just plain have a little fun on the IBC Santa Pub Crawl!!!

Fourthly, I'm getting tired and am worried I'll let another day pass without getting started on this, so here we go...

Day 1:

Houston-Dallas-New York-London-Mumbai- Bhavnagar, India

We left for Intergalactic airport at 6am on Monday morning, November 9th.  The doggies were in the safe and reliable hands of the staff at the Galveston Vet Clinic (many of whom are fellow Aggies, thank you!) and we were packed and prepared for the trip: clothing for hot weather, clothing for cold weather, clothing appropriate to wear in a temple (or so I thought), clothing appropriate to wear in a pool (also, or so I thought), antibacterial hand wash, antibacterial hand wipes, antibacterial bed and surface spray, our weekly malaria pills, addresses of every U.S. embassy in each city we'd visit, passports, visas, and our camera.  (anyone remember the movie Nuns on the Run - say it with me "Spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch".)

We flew into Mumbai airport, India's busiest, around 2am and our connection to Bhavnagar wasn't until 7am.  The Kingfisher (they make a good beer, but I wouldn't want to fly with 'em) plane that tried to land just after us apparently skidded off the runway due to some wet conditions and while we were watching the news coverage awaiting our flight - yes, in the exact same wet conditions - we came to learn of the cyclone that was headed directly for the place we were heading.  Think positively - think positively.  (everyone was fine on the Kingfisher flight, by the by...)

We arrived in Bhavnagar on November 11th at 8:20am.  No, there wasn't room for us and our gigantic tupperware luggage, see picture here if you're curious, (that we swear was made by the Rubbermaid company rather than Samsonite) in the SR-71 Blackbird to make the trip in lightning speed.  Although it was technically 2 days later, we had really only spent about 24 hours in travel, but I assure you we felt as though it had been a whole week.  Luckily, the great crew on the Virgin Atlantic leg from London to Mumbai know that passengers get a bad case of the "I would give anything for a toothbrush right now" syndrome and do actually give everyone a toothbrush.  It's a good thing, too because the meal was some form of airplane lamb which Mikie tried (I'm a non-lamb eater in the first place so I didn't even venture this one) and instantly regretted.  Luckily, international flights have no shortage of beverages to wash things like that down with.

Bhavnagar is right along the coast of the north western coast of India (the red area is Gujarat which is the state).  I wanted to take a picture of the tiny, tiny airport but the gentlemen with the automatic weapons persuaded me to put my camera back into my bag and save the battery for something else. Which I did.

The drive from the airport to our hotel was a learning experience to say the least.  Bam - there we were - in India.  Drivers in India seem to be a breed of their own.  They seem to have a sixth sense about knowing that person, dog, child, or other vehicle will get out of their way - there's no flinching - it is the ultimate game of chicken, but these guys just don't back down.  And, in contrast to America, the horn that is installed in cars for use in India are truly meant to be used as often as the engine is in use.   The sound of a car horn is probably white noise to those native ears at this point, but to us, it was a every-second reminder that "oh my crap we're going to die". 

The road is shared by many here.  Goats, dogs, pigs, and cows are among those that wander aimlessly through - and towards - oncoming traffic.  There are no lines on the road here to designate where you should stay - in fact, you really don't even have to drive on the correct side of the road (which happens to be the left - note the location of the steering wheel) which our driver demonstrated quite often to our... mild terror...  The rocks you see in the middle of the road are also mere suggestions and are regarded by the locals as such: suggestions.  Sometimes they use 'em, sometimes they don't.  That's why they make tires out of rubber I guess.

It is illegal to drink - or even to have alcohol in your possession in Gujarat.  That law is clearly stated in many locations around our hotel.  There's really no segue for that - just thought I'd throw it in. 

   

Infrastructure isn't really something I used to appreciate.  I am becoming more open minded and grateful already.

Oh - almost forgot to share with you our first meal: Bon Appetite!

 

It's that time of year again...time for holiday cheer, time with family and friends, being part of a mob of Santas walking through downtown Galveston...

Join Islander By Choice Saturday, December 12 for the 2009 Santa Pub Crawl. We'll kick it off at 7 p.m. at Molly's Pub on Post Office St. with additional stops at regular intervals all evening.

To stay on Santa's good list this year, there are 2 rules:

1. Come dressed as Santa. Hawaiian Santa, Sexy Santa, Traditional Santa...all Santa are welcomed but the more the merrier.

2. Got some random things around the house you don't need anymore? Old magazine? Borrowed screwdriver from your neighbor? Wrap it up and add it to the community gift bag. People expect Santa to come bearing gifts, who are we to disappoint?

Please feel free to invite friends and spread the word. Got questions? Email will@ibcgalveston.com and he'll get you lined out.

Be sure to swing by our Facebook page and drop us a line if you're planning on coming!

If we don't get to see you on Saturday, Happy Holidays to each of you from us at Islander By Choice!

Wow.  If today's chance of snow makes it down to the Island, then it will be the second year in a row for an early December snowfall.  If you can remember, I blogged about not being in the Christmas spirit last year around this time, and I asked for snow on my wish list.  And we got it.

How nice it would be to tinkle around on our tippy-toes in snow flakes again.  Hopefully the lord of wintry weather will once again bless the Island with a freezing blanket of fun.

And hey.  Do NOT forget about Dickens on the Strand this weekend.  Yes.  It will be cold cold cold, but all the better for creating the festive mood (in my opinion).

And on a personal note.  My lady friend and I receive our new couch today.  BIG NEWS!!  I mean it's only been six months since we started our seek and purchase mission.  Early Christmas for us.  Woohoo!

 

So yesterday started just like any other day.  I woke up and fed the dogs and I went back to bed.  Before I know it, the dogs are whining again as if they haven't eaten yet. 

Groggy Adrienne: Have you fed them yet?

Hero: Of course!

This question doesn't normally get asked because usually after their breakfast, the dogs are as willing as I am to go back to their visit with the sandman.  If asked though, I admit that I normally wouldn't know the answer anyway because when i get up to feed them, I really don't even wake up for it.  I'm in something of an induced sleepwalk and go through the routine while seeing through my eyelashes and using the force.  But the reason for my definitive "of course" response is that i had remembered it raining outside and bringing the dog dishes inside before going through the feeding ritual.

Disheveled Adrienne:  Well maybe something is wrong.

Hero:  We only have two pets and they are both right here whining so what could be wrong?

It was then that Adrienne checked the clock....

Curious Adrienne:  Are you sure you fed them?  It's only 4:45!

4:45... that can't be right.  I start thinking that maybe I really didn't fed them....and then with two words.....not even two words - one word and two letters.....everything started making sense (well not sense like physics but more like sense the electoral college makes).

Confused Adrienne:  Wait .... PM.?!?

Let me say that there were many times (my six years of college come to mind) that waking up at 5 in the afternoon would be nothing out of the ordinary.  But this was just a regular day.  we didn't stay up late the night before, we hadn't gone out drinking, I actually went to sleep at 9 pm!

Hero: This can't be correct.

After verification from the Willthing that our clocks had not gotten the Y2K virus and it actually was 5pm, we realized that the dogs weren't hungry, they just thought we were dead.