Merry Christmas from the UK!

Happy Holidays, everyone! It's Boxing Day in the UK, which means another day of feasting, presents, and general good cheer. In local news, Prince Phillip was hospitalized with chest pains, Kate is smiling mysteriously while holding her hands over her stomach, and the Army Wives are constantly on the radio with their endearing but slightly off-key Christmas song. Not to mention the Christmas specials galore (Downton Abbey, anyone?).

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Ritchie's parents. On Christmas Eve, we had a traditional evening dinner and pints at the pub and then saw Puss in Boots 3D. The empty theater attested to the fact that most people who would usually be watching a children's movie were at home preparing for Santa Claus. It was fun, though a departure from my usual 'church and opening presents with the family' approach to Christmas Eve.

I woke up on Christmas morning overcome by the sads. I was homesick and missed my family back in Seattle. Merry Christmas, indeed! And then I was hit by more sads when I realized that I won't see them again for a further ten months. It was one of those moments that caused me to question why I've chosen to spend this year in Kyrgyzstan. In my emotional blur, however, a little voice niggled through to remind that all challenges must come with these moments. This was probably just the first of many.

I roused myself and went to Christmas Mass with Ritchie and his parents. Singing the carols and listening to the service made me feel closer to my family and less homesick somehow. From that point on, the day was cheery. We feasted on roast turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and then opened presents. I was also excited to get a Christmas care package from my brother and sister-in-law with goodies from Pike Place Market and an adorable picture magnet of my nephew to adorn my fridge in Bishkek. Today will also be family- and food-full as we're dining at Ritchie's eldest brother's house.

 The picture below is to prove to my Mom that I went to church on Christmas. Look, Mom! Crucified Jesus even popped in for our picture!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

God Bless Goa

No, literally. God must have blessed Goa or something because there are churches and shrines to the Virgin Mary EVERYWHERE. Hindus are allegedly in the majority in that state, but the Catholics must have a monopoly on advertisement.

We started our time in Goa with two days in Panjim (otherwise known as Panaji), the state capital and former  capital of the Portuguese colonists. We splurged on a heritage hotel which was a converted Portuguese mansion and had old wood furniture, elegant balconies, and a shady terrace. It was beautiful, and a far cry from our very modest lodgings in Mumbai. Also, the included breakfast was outstanding - always a plus.

Panjim itself is a mix of old Portuguese buildings - some crumbling, others lovingly preserved - and the typical trappings of urban India: motorbikes, exhaust, dust, and crowds. It makes for a very interesting combination. Old Goa, the original Portuguese capital of Goa, is nearby. The city was built in the 1600s and there are some large old cathedrals, one of which holds the relics of St. Francis Xavier. Quite honestly, I could have given Old Goa a miss. It was absurdly hot that day and I've seen old churches far grander than these, but I suppose that the tropical, Indian environment provides for an exotic contrast to the very European construction.

After two days in Panjim, we drove up the coast to a little beach town called Mandrem. I was anxious the entire way, having heard of crowded beaches, dust and all-night parties in many of the other beach towns. Really, Ritchie and I are not all-night party people (big surprise, right?) and don't particularly like crowds. Happily, my worrying was unnecessary. Mandrem was quiet, peaceful, and uncrowded. Our hotel, though basic, was clean and the beaches and swimming were plentiful. Another added benefit? Goa has very low alcohol taxes, so while a large beer might cost 150 rupees at restaurants in other states, in Goa the same beer at a restaurant is only 90 rupees. Ah, paradise.

What can I say about our time at the beach? We read for hours by the ocean, we swam, we rented motorbikes and sought out even more deserted beaches in southern Maharashtra (only an hour north from our hotel), and we . . . actually, that about sums it up. We didn't do much else, and it was divine. The only downfall was that a hippie staying in a hotel across the road from ours insisted on playing his didgeridoo (spelling?) for hours every day. Seriously, a didgeridoo?

Goa was probably the nicest beach vacation that I've had to date - even better than Belize. If it weren't so inconveniently located, I'd probably try to go more often. One elderly British couple that we met has been coming every winter for eleven years straight. Which reminds me of another nice thing about Goa - people on relaxing holidays are lovely to chat with. Everyone is in a good mood.

Now, we're laying over in the Mumbai airport (thanks airtel for the free computer and internet access) on our way to Delhi. I've been there before and we only have one day in the city, so I've charged Ritchie with identifying the sights that he most wants to see. He currently seems fixated on the Toilet Museum (yes, it exists), so that may be how we spend our day. Anyway, more to come later!

Namaste from Bombay!

We're in Bombay/Mumbai now and I've completely skipped over Udaipur, the wedding, and a bunch of other goodies. I'll come back to all of that when I have some more time and can upload a few pictures. What is a description of dancing in front of a blinging white stallion surrounded by a band without the pictures to prove that it really happened? Anyway, my mind is completed inundated with Bombay at the moment, so I'm in a better position to updated about my impressions of this city.

I don't know what I expected of Bombay, but it's not this. First of all, its hot and humid. Where Rajasthan was hot and dry during the day and cold at night, Bombay seems to be hot 24/7. Second, Bombay is green. There are lush trees everywhere, lining streets packed with old colonial buildings and surrounding modern apartment blocks. Parks abound. Third, Bombay is clean and beautiful - at least the parts of the city that we've visited.

My overwhelming impression of Bombay is one of a city developing at two different speeds. On one side are the laborers who are riding carts laden with goods around town on horse carts. On the other side are the young kids driving slick cars and eating at overpriced western-style restaurants (not to mention the billionaire who is building himself a tower as his family home).

We've done a fair bit of touristy stuff. Yesterday, we visited the famous Victoria Terminus and watched the comings-and-goings of seemingly hundreds of people within a 15 minute span. We wandered about the huge and stately Post Office where an elderly gentleman warned us off of touts and corrupt taxi drivers. We visited the Gate of India and saw the blockades, police, and security gates surrounding the Taj Mahal Hotel, where the terrorist attacks occurred in 2009. We took a boat to Elephanta Island - about one hour off the coast - where we saw sculptures of Krishna carved into caves by Hindu devotees a millennium ago. To top it off, we watched a bit of Gandhi in our hotel room. What visit to India is complete without watching Gandhi? Today, we toured the Gandhi Museum (the movie inspired us) and the history museum.

Obviously, there is a lot to do and see in Bombay that we didn't get around to, but I feel that we've done well in our two-day stopover. After the energetic city, I feel ready for a taste of the beaches of north Goa - and a break from touts and corrupt taxi drivers. 

Field Notes from Jaipur

Clearly I haven't been posting from India as frequently as I'd intended to, but it's been difficult to find the time and mental space to sit down and write. I'll try to broadly capture what we got up to in Jaipur, but will have to post pictures later. In the meantime, please be patient with this text-heavy blog post.

December 1-4: Jaipur
We arrived in Delhi via Air India on December 1. The airline wasn't as bad as everyone had made it out to be, though the movie selection was awful (the only English movies were Sex in the City I, Sex in the City II, and the Hangover). We made it through security without any troubles, and then went in search of the driver that we had hastily booked the day before to take us to Jaipur. After an hour of waiting, he was still nowhere to be found. Finally, after calling the cab booking company three times - and using up all of the credit on our UK SIM cards -  we found him and embarked on the five and a half hour drive to Jaipur. I can't say much about the journey, as I nodded in and out the entire time. However, Ritchie reported that it was an endless stream of small shops selling car parts and construction materials. He likened it to the Aurora Avenue of India.

We arrived at our guest house (austere, but clean) late in the evening and, due to jet lag, woke up at an ungodly hour. We set about exploring the city by foot and, true to form, did not use a guide but waited to stumble upon the sites. We were lucky the first day, taking in a museum, a palace, and the very dusty old town, all of which is hued the same shade of peach - hence the moniker, "the Pink City." We also stopped by the train station to book tickets to Udaipur, which was an interesting experience involving long lines, attempted hoppings of the queue by shady looking characters, and absolutely no available tickets in sleeper cars to Udaipur.

After the first day, we knew to expect no sidewalks, dust, animal crap, and other effluence on the streets and took tuk-tuks (three-wheeled motorized rickshaws) everywhere. Our first stop was the clothing bazaar, where I intended to buy cloth for a sari for the second night of the wedding. We spent some time wandering around, but I'm not a natural shopper and ended up buying some relatively pretty fabric in the first shop that we spent any real time in. The salesman then took us to see the "master stitcher" - a soft spoken gentleman with a pedal-run sewing machines in a tiny slot of a shop. He measured me as curious onlookers gawked and promised that my clothes would be ready the next day. We bought Ritchie a traditional korta and pajama, which he will almost certainly never wear again, but we figured was a critical part of the wedding experience. (The wedding was an experience in its own right, so I'll post about that separately - hopefully with pictures.)

On our third day in Jaipur, we had the opportunity to watch - and participate in - an elephant polo match. This was one of the highlights of our trip to Jaipur. As Ritchie described it, elephant polo is a game dreamed-up by a mad man. Who else would think that massive, slow-moving animals would be good sportsman? We sat on the back of elephants and held onto a rope with one hand and a very long - and heavy - polo stick with the other. The elephant driver sat in front and steered the beast by kicking it behind the ears. The elephants lumbered slowly from one end of the field to the other, while the players tried to hack at a soccer ball with the heavy polo sticks. Onlookers sat under a white tent sipping tea and eating little finger sandwiches while uniformed servers brought cold drinks - it all felt very colonial and something that I'll likely never do again. Unless, of course, anyone knows of any elephant polo leagues looking for players in Seattle.

On the fourth day, we rested. Sightseeing and weddings are exhausting work! The next day, though, we hired a tuk-tuk to take us to Amber Fort, which is a couple of miles outside of Jaipure. The site is the original seat of the Jaipur Maharajas and much of the palace has been restored. That evening, we caught a flight to Udaipur and so ended our five days in Jaipur.