Over the Christmas break I went on a mini-vacay to India. Rochelle, Tara, David and I flew together from L.A. to meet our Indian friend Rafiq (whom we are pretty sure is in the Russian Mafia. He was always on his phone and he often spoke Russian ironically enough). I had the time of my life. India was a fascinating place. I loved learning about the people, customs, language. Not so much the food except the naan, "You can't go wrong with naan". That was my motto.I also learned a little Tamil from Rafiq while I was there. I
learned a few useful phrases like "I like your mustache" but my favorite was "Kondu Vanga" which means "bring it on". That is exactly what we did. Here is a brief synopsis of the trip...
December 23rd: Layover in Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur was a surprisingly nice and clean city. They even had public sinks such as this one.
But for some strange reason we kept having this reoccurring urge to "kill the Prime Minister of Malaysia".
December 24th: Day trip to see the 5 Rathas in Chennai followed by an evening of...
Midnight Mass at the Santhome (St. Thomas) Basilica.
December 25th: Meenakshi Hindu Temple in Madurai. The highlight of this temple was receiving a blessing from a real live elephant. It only cost 2 rps. Totally worth it!Unfortunately cameras were not allowed in the elephant blessing room.
We met some people who were doing their end of the year pilgrimage. They walk over 400 miles to visit different temples all while "fasting" which means just eating vegetarian.
December 26th: Another Hindu temple in Madurai. Worshipers were washing themselves in the water that came down from the mountain.
We were feeding bananas to the monkeys.
December 27th: After a 6 hour car ride up a windy mountain we arrive at Coir Village Lake Resort.
Sippin' on coconuts!
December 28th: We stayed on this poshhouseboat on the Kerala backwaters.
We even had man-servants on the boat with us to cook and clean. Need I say more.
They even let me steer for a while.
December 29th: A hot and sticky ride on the Indian Railways from Alappuzha to Calicut. Total time on the train... 6 hours.
December 30th: We stayed at the Vythiri Resort in the mountains of Calicut.
It was a health resort so we enjoyed Ayurvedic massages and mehandi body art aka henna tattoos.
December 31st: New Year's Eve BBQ on the beach in Goa... indi-style!
January 1st: On the beach in Goa...
plus some on-beach entertainment.
January 2nd: The Taj Mahal...
via camel cart.
January 3rd: City tour of Delhi. Main highlights were homeless people camped out on the side of the road...
and men holding hands (that is common and very normal, also not gay).
January 4th: Stranded in Singapore!I had a 10 hour layover but for some reason the airlines didn't have a confirmed seat for me on the flight out so I had to wait it out in their luxury suite. Poor me!
10 comments:
It looks like you had so much fun! I am jealous that you were blessed by a real life elephant. I look forward to seeing more pictures and hearing lots more stories :)
-- Christi
What a fun trip! I love traveling but it has taken a back seat to feeding and clothing my children. Darn. It sounds like you guys had an amazing time. Since when is a week long trip to India a "mini-vaca" ? To me that is a full on vacation!
Super cool!
Sweet houseboats. Did the man servants do anything else?
What a great trip. I am glad that I can live life through you.
I didn't know you went to Goa. They go there in Bride and Prejudice - the Indi-version of Pride and Prejudice. In the movie Ashanti is in Goa doing a concert. Was Ashanti there when you were there?
wow.. I guess all i can really say is that sounds totally boss!
Wow - can I just say that you have an amazing, exciting life? India! Elephant blessings, monkeys on the street, man-servants and massages, Oh My!
Glad you had a good time.
Risa..You live life like a ROCK STAR..and seriously that is how it should be.
XOOX
Lafter
Seriously! You are the coolest girl ever! I am just glad you were able to come back home!
Post a Comment