India First Impressions

I feel like I've been away for an age.

New Delhi has shown me so much life, I can't believe it's only been a week. What I've been doing:

Got into Delhi and met at the airport by Nara's friend Sam who's on exchange from QUT over here. An emotional meeting for them which was pretty lovely to watch. Sam brought us back to her apartment and we met all the Australians living here. I can barely even remember my first impressions of them because I feel as though I've been friends with them for years. It's funny how travel friendships seem to bond people far more quickly than if you were at home.

So we were staying at their apartment here in Safdarjung Enclave for a few days which had such benefits as:

• Being taken to all the local food spots 
• Meeting Indian uni friends
• Attending university classes
• Witnessing the Aussies be told off for their slackening levels of workmanship over the semester
• BOLLYWOOD PARTY AT THE APARTMENT

Yes this was indeed a highlight. Shopping for Cholis (the midriff bra things that are worn under sarees) and garish jewellery, to wear at the Bollywood party, took us all over the city and into our first awesome bargaining experiences. And then the party (Friday night) was bombdiggity. Sparkly headpieces, cholis, ten bottles of vodka, midriffs and a lot of (incredibly) drunk Indian uni students. In all seriousness - two cups of punch and most of the guests were slurring, yelling and dancing wildly to the Pussycat Dolls' "Jai Ho". And as we found out two days later, vomiting next to the couch (massive scrubbing effort from Nara). That night was a good sleep (on top of the blankets with my shoes still on and five, yes five others, in the bed).

So since then Delhi has shown me various other delights. We checked into a super nice hotel the other day to give the exchange crew a break, and have been experiencing some of the wonders of Indian culture including:

• Many things not working, despite the room and bathroom appearing similar to an Australian 5 star type establishment.
• Power cuts - random and never explained.
• Head bobbles - always.
• The response: "Yes yes yes, absolutely". To EVERYTHING YOU SAY. And then nothing happening. The amount of English understood is surprisingly small. Example:

Us - "Excuse me, could you please turn our hot water on?"

Hotel man - "Yes madam, yes. Yes."

*Ten minute wait. No hot water. Call the hotel man up again.*

Repeat x 5

• Train system failures. Planned trip to the Taj Mahal. Paid for tickets after searching for internet for hours. Got to train station at 5:30am excited for big day. Suffice to say tickets weren't valid, and the issue is still very tender.
• Ultimate contrast of chaos vs order. Eg. road rules do NOT exist, and getting on a train pretty much means bashing down the person next to you while avoiding eye contact, whereas something like going to the movies involves an A4 list of rules such as no handbags, camera phones or anything else COMPLETELY NORMAL TO TAKE TO A MOVIE.

Anyway. So although there has been SO much more I know would be amazing to write about, my head is crammed up today. We went on a walk around the city with some former street children, and visited a sort of orphanage type thing. Sat down with some of the drug addicted Delhi homeless kids and played some games with them. Dichotomy of equally joyous and depressing moments.

ON THURSDAY we're leaving Delhi and heading for the state of Rajasthan to see the cities of Jaipur, Udaipur, Jaisalmer and Pushkar. With a private driver, wow. Somehow this is going to be easier and cheaper than traveling by train so we've pre-booked two weeks with our own car. Then again... thinking about it now the whole thing seems pretty dodgy, and we may well have just spent a whole wad of Rupees on a non-existant driver. Can't process thought of that right now.

SAMPLE PHOTOS:

Contrasting our suspicious Indian street food with ridiculously upper class cafes

Henna in prep for the party

A sample of our alcohol for the party

BOLLYWOOD PARTY TIMES

Before Isaac chundered off the roof

The team at the Lodhi Gardens historic mosque

Our (former street child) tour guide at the orphanage, during our tour today

The kids at the orphanage during class. 

The one on the front left sat like that for the whole class, with this faraway look in his eye, it made me sad.

En Route to India

Well the journey began early Monday morning, when I caught flight #1 to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I find myself traveling with three people who I don't know as best friends, and the four of us have only been in the same location together a handful of times this year. And yet already we find ourselves defining roles within the group and ties with each other that (after just five days together) I have a feeling will be enduring, both through our Indian adventure together and also at home.

So Isaac, Nara, her sister Arika, and I flew into stinking hot KL on Monday afternoon. We burst through the airport doors swaddled in our warm plane clothes, with front packs, back packs and a guitar being passed in between us, into a crowd of men waving tickets at us and urgently requesting we take their mode of transport. We had arrived thoroughly unprepared, with a vague name of a hostel and no idea of its location. So we delineated the cheapest bus into the central city, and settled into the hour long ride.

We arrived to 'KL SENTRAL' and became lost quickly. Thankfully the nearest McDonalds provided a safe haven of free wifi that allowed us to Google the name of the apparently good hostel on our iPhones... ah 21st century travel. But the humid, busy city had at least three separate train systems that seemed to be working against us, leaving us walking up and down the same set of stairs in circles. I think we all felt collectively frustrated, not only that the monorail station we were searching for was so difficult to find, but also that our lack of knowledge of Malaysian language or culture made us a pack of stereotypical Westerners, bleating "UM 'SCUSE ME!" at every official looking person (with very little response). But after what seemed like hours (probably about 20 minutes), we spotted some small signs pointing to the monorail we were searching for. These provided us with the relieving burst of energy that we needed to finally locate the station, purchase some tickets, and throw ourselves onto the clean, air-conditioned monorail seats.

Unfortunately this was only the beginning of the travel Gods showing us how terribly unprepared we were. We walked down what we thought was the correct street for at least a kilometre, searching for the number of 'Bedz' hostel. Got to the end of the street and realised it was the wrong one. Finally found the right street (another burst of energy), and did the same thing. 'BEDZ' HOSTEL DID NOT EXIST.

We stood in the street, dripping with sweat and staring at where number 58 should be. Restaurants, street vendors and retail outlets stood staring back at us. So we stomped into a side street, removed our shoes and accepted the first room offered to us at a poxy looking guesthouse. Paid what seemed reasonable (wasn't reasonable), spent ten minutes explaining that the four of us wanted to be in the same room, watched as the worker attempted to shuffle beds from one room to another, settled with a broom cupboard sized room with only three beds, threw our packs in a pile and removed all of our shirts. Lying in sweaty heaps on the small beds, we resolved that we'd done the best we could.

Dinner was a low key affair. Just a few hours into the trip and we were already ordering salad that was washed in unfamiliar water, justified by the copious amounts of hand sanitiser that we slathered on. After some brief conversation about what we wanted from the trip, showers and clean clothes, we fell into sleep. Mine was clammy and full of strange dreams.

Our one full day in KL saw us journey out to see the Batu Caves. I wont even go into the public transport journey there. Safe to say it was a repeat of walking in circles, timidly asking questions in English to non-English speakers, and waiting at a main road bus stop in full sun for a long, long time. The caves were beautiful though. We had a huge meal served on a banana leaf, by a joyfully grinning man who Arika developed an instant crush on, and all wet our tastebuds with fresh chilli. Then we spent most of the time there adoring the hundreds of wild monkeys who were running about entertaining the tourists and eating the abundance of rubbish left floating around (Aw look, the monkey's sucking sunscreen out of that plastic tube!).

We caught a relieving bus into central, in which the driver actually leant out of the door and beckoned us over, clearly noticing how white and lost we were. Then came another hour of wandering through the intensely busy and alive central markets, searching for the monorail station and receiving candidly contrasting directions from locals. Well we finally located it, found out our best way to get to the airport for our journey early the next morning, and headed back to the hostel. A simple Thai style dinner ensued, over more discussion and planning of our trip. Highlights included creating and designating "officer" roles for the trip, which we decided would rotate daily(ish):

*Group Director - in charge of all transport, timing and general "do this now" type stuff.

*Entertainment and Morale Officer - in charge of assessing group vibe, checking in with everyone and providing entertainment when needed.

*Cultural Officer - responsible for not only making sure we remain respectful of the culture of each place we find ourselves in, but also for providing tidbits of factual information, and handy language.

*Financial and Medication Officer - keeping track of who owes who how much, and reminding us all to take our various medications at appropriate times.

After dinner we decided to responsibly spend our remaining Malaysian currency on Long Island Iced Teas, and get to bed. The 5am wakeup and checkout of our ripoff hostel went smoothly, thanks to our Group Director for the day, Isaac. Unfortunately the boarding of the plane was not so smooth. After all going to the airport bathrooms, Isaac was told that the time was 9:50am, the time our plane left. So he sprinted through customs and security, thinking/hoping we must have already boarded the plane. However, given the time was actually only 9:20am, we then spent twenty minutes searching for him in the shops, until hearing a "FLIGHT TO NEW DELHI, FINAL BOARDING CALL" and freaking out. We raced through immigration and down the tarmac, to find Isaac standing at the steps of the plane, also freaking out. Being the last four passengers to board the plane before taking off, we thanked the travel Gods and settled into our seats for the five hour flight.

Now having been in New Delhi for a few days, I have a whole list of other adventures. But I see that I'm going to have to figure out a way to make this a more succinct travel blog, as I've taken up far too much of your time that could be better spent Facebook stalking. Perhaps I will employ my partners in crime to write the next entry describing our first experiences of India, which have been stunning in every way.

Until then... some sample photos that capture some of the moments described above:

Excitement as we boarded our early morning flight from the Gold Coast:

My travel companions Nara, Arika and Isaac

Sunscreening up in preparation for our Batu Caves visit

Tucking in to our first amazing meal of the trip

Accepting the challenge - to make it up the long staircase and into the caves

Cute monkey enjoys a depressing meal of sunscreen

The cutest of them all

Mother daughter relationship monkey style

I sleep on my back 'cause it's good for the spine

I find myself running at full pace, unable to look ahead or behind without wanting to close my eyes. I'm a dichotomy of contentment vs panic. But it's mostly ok. I don't want to appear like I'm coming apart.

I feel like my heart is so full, all the crazy tenderness I feel for everyone good in my life. And I want to tell them all. I want to shut down everything that I have to do and spend a whole day drawing pictures for people and writing them each a note about why they are appreciated. My art is poor though. My selfish frustration at this would get in the way, sooner or later. Maybe one day though.

Getting Weary

Then it's goodbye
Sangsara
For me
Besides
Girls aren't as good
As they look
And Samadhi
Is better
Than you think
When it starts in
Hitting your head
In with Buzz
Of glittergold
Heaven's Angels
Wailing

Saying

We've been waiting for you
Since Morning, Jack
Why were you so long
Dallying in the sooty room?
This transcendental Brilliance
Is the better part
(of Nothingness
I sing)

Okay.
Quit.
Mad.
Stop. 

Saturday Afternoon

I want to go away

With you all,

And it will be perfect.

No broken hearts

Of boys' lies, girls too.

I will protect you

Keep your heart boxed

Your lunches packaged up

For no other to steal

Monsters can hang from the trees

But we'll let them hang

In the Springtime

I will work really hard at uni.
I will learn A LOT from clinical placement.
I will be a good teacher - educate, love and inspire my students.
I will exercise four times a week because it makes me feel really good.
I will do my dishes straight after I've eaten.
I will play guitar every day.
I will contemplate and reflect on moments in my day.
I will love and laugh with my four beautiful housemates.
I will have many amazing dinners with friends around the 'hood.
I will chat to my Mum and Dad regularly.
I will think about my journey to India and what I can take from it.
I will create a space where new love can form, and
I will open my mind to new experiences and realities
That challenge mine.
And all these new people will be thinkers and,
Although parts of that may conflict
With my ideas of perfection,
I will realise that
"How it should be"
Is all just created in my mind.

Expectations/The guy I met on the bus today

Today I my bus pass didn't work on the way to uni and I had no cash to pay my ticket. After arguing with the belligerent bus driver who refused to let me on for the 2 minute journey, a young guy kindly offered to pay my fare.

He was around 21, and looked like a jock in every sense of the word. I thanked him for the $2 and he responded with, "Yeah you're right matey, all good", in a classic Aussie accent.

We slowly got to chatting on our journey, and he explained that he is completing his Honours in Media Studies. I asked him about his thesis, which turned out to be around gender representation in movies, particularly porn.

He then went on to explain his thoughts on how his all boys private high school education had left him completely in the dark about feminism, and how he'd stumbled across feminist literature during his undergrad degree. He described how he was proud to call himself a feminist, and we discussed how the definition of feminism is totally misconceived, especially within the young male generation.

Wow, I had totally not anticipated that kind of conversation between this guy I had judged as soon as I looked at him. Walked away in a happy, confused daze, and thought, "Sometimes Brisbane's ok after all".