Tick Tock

The same streets of Delhi that made our heads spin 4 months ago are now like old pals to us. It's incredible, really, how much tougher, sharper, wiser we are to all of India's surprises. We've been going over lately the things we'll miss about India - and the things we definitely won't. Both are long lists, but this is an unquestionably amazing country.

Just a couple more days of shopping, eating, exploring, being here till we hop on a plane, and then one more till we can kiss Canadian soil (or ice). We'll have so much to tell you when we get home.

FOOD (part 2)

We've arrived in Diu after a long long trip. I think we were in motion for 17 hours straight on various buses and rickshaws. The sleeper bus turned out to be quite nauseating and neither of us got much sleep. Now we've got a small room close to the water right near the fruit and vegetable market. This morning we went and bought some guavas, bananas, nuts, roses, cookies and this crazy fruit that resembles a puffy artichoke and can be pulled apart easily. It tastes kind of like lychee.

We've eaten some pretty delicious stuff here in India. We've visited some ritzy restaurants where meals are expensive - but still a fraction of what it would cost in Canada. But I think some of the best meals we've had have been quite simple: sharing a couple of dishes like mattar paneer (peas and cheese) and dum aloo (stuffed potatoes) and a plate of naan bread. Yum! Fresh lime sodas are always a safe bet for drink, but fresh juice and lassis are fun too when the place seems clean. Yesterday, after checking in, I drank the water from a young green coconut Pete got off the street. Subtle flavour, quite nice. Palm trees are all over the place here and actually the vegetation growing in this province(Gujarat) seems much more lush; more cactai, more flowering trees.

Here are some food photos from the last month or so:


vegetable dosa at the Indian Coffee House, Shimla

baked trout in Minali - so so good

fancy dessert at the Crystal Restaurant, Amritsar

after dessert we went to a well known hole in the wall for amritsari fish: white fish with garlic, lemon, ginger, chilli ... deep fried - amazing

Ronald chillin' in New Delhi (we haven't eaten here - yet)

super duper sweets shop at LMB, Jaipur

while I had a lager beer, Pete had a large bear

really nice and spicy fish meal in Udaipur

The Race That Never Ends

O my goodnesssss. Inida! Mother India!! After landing, we were wisked away to Paharganj, the poorest neighborhood in New Delhi (I don't think we knew this when making reservations), where we spent two nights at Hotel Namaskar. Enormous cows and skinny dogs (many lactating but with no pups around..) wander around docily, eating whatever they find. Confettied egg shells glued together with greening yolks, shit spliced into sections from bike wheels, rotting, slimy greens, stagnant puddles of urine, old paper packages... all of these things make up the streets of Paharganj. Waste of all sorts is everywhere and it is picked over again and again until it is swept aside by some diligent street vendor and becomes permamently a part of this place, it seems. I'm glad we stayed where we did because I don't think we would have been brave enough to explore the area in depth had we approached it from a nicer side of the city. Plus the best chai I've had so far was made by a guy around the corner from us. (a cup cost Rs. 4 = 10 cents)

The driving is mayhem. NO EXAGERATION. It is a miracle there aren't accidents everywhere. (A couple times I thought we were done for.) Indian drivers make European drivers look ilke sissies - and Torontonians like babies. It is a constant race; everyone is always trying to pass everyone else. They will drive on all sides of the road at absurd speeds and the noise is deafening. (The most important part of any vehicle is its horn.) Yesterday we took a 6 hour taxi ride from New Delhi to Rishikesh (where we are now). People running through traffic, bicylces, auto-rickshaws, non-autorickshaws (a person on a bike pulling a little wagon with 2 people or so), cars, vans, buses, trucks, cows, horses and wagons... and us in the back of a car with the most determined dirver of them all. In 6 hours we were not passed once. I can't imagine how long it would have taken us to get here if my mom were driving. ;)

It is great to be here in Rishikesh. This place is les chaotic than New Delhi and we are right on the Ganges River! There is a big suspension bridge to cross the Ganges and it looks stunning from afar when filled with women in bright clothing, baskets on their heads, motorcylces, cows and mokeys.

We've got stuff to do now. We've been taking some pictures and will try to post some at some point, but I'm realizing how inadequate pictures of this place are. Being here all your senses are tantalized, challenged, spanked, awakened. The smells, the sounds, the HEAT, the flavours... of course, the visuals are quite something.

ONE MORE THING: this morning, after the most intense yoga class I've ever experienced, we flushed our nasal pasages with salt water.. and attempted to floss them. This might not make sense to you; it seems crazy to me too.

Hope everyone's doing well at home!