Darjeeling, India, or where Sally attempts to talk about race and not sound ignorant

So yes, I have a few comments to make about race in India. Hopefully if I ever try to get a job at the State Department, they won't dig this up and rip up my application.

So, I did not know this, but apparently Indian people can have blue and green eyes. Is it really ignorant to not know that non-white people could have light blue/green eyes? When I asked Sam, he just sort of passively nodded his head yes, so I'm not sure if it really is super ignorant, or if he just doesn't care. But yeah, I have seen several Indians with very pale eyes, which is very striking and unlike anything I've ever seen.

Second race comment: we are now in Darjeeling, which is not "ethnically Indian" which is to say, people here look more Tibetan/Chinese than Indian. This apparently is a major point of contention within the state of West Bengal, which, in the south is straight-up Indian (I believe that is the politically correct term for the ethnicity), and in the north, is more ethnically Tibetan/Chinese. The people in Darjeeling, who don't feel remotely accepted by the straight-up Indians from the south, are seeking an independent state called Gorkhaland. Someone told us that in Calcutta, the biggest city in West Bengal (which is in the south), there is a lot of discrimination against people from the north. Anyway, yesterday, there was a city-wide strike in Darjeeling calling for an independent Gorkhaland. Literally everything shut down. Well, at least, shop owners want to give the appearance that they have shut down, but a few are willing to operate clandestinely if you ask them discreetly. We found one such establishment, and while we were enjoying our dumplings (called momos here), we watched the strike go by. The movement enjoys lots of support though, since probably 95% of shops closed their doors for the rest of the day.

Anyway, other than that, our experience so far in Darjeeling has been fantastic. It's so incredibly beautiful. We are literally in the clouds, and all around us are lush mountains, monasteries, and valleys lines with multi-colored houses. The weather here is SO MUCH NICER THAN ANYWHERE ELSE WE HAVE BEEN. Right now it's about 60 degrees, which feels like heaven.

OK, we're going to go to a tea shop where you get to taste everything before you buy it. More soon!

The Golden Triangle (Agra-Jaipur-Delhi)

So we bit the bullet and went on the five day tourist trap tour that is Delhi-Agra-Jaipur. This is a must if you want to see the Taj Mahal and the pink city (Jaipur), and if you want to get ripped off incessantly. We HAAAAAAAATED Agra. It's filthy and ugly and everyone tries to rip you off at every possible juncture. We found this one restaurant that we liked and went to twice. Jaipur was way better although still very touristy. Jaipur's main redeeming quality was that there were elephants and monkeys everywhere, and the monkeys were this special long-tail variety that moved very quickly up hills. We're now back in Delhi, which is a very nice spot.

Hmm, I'm trying to think of highlights with the cyber cafe clock ticking, so here goes:

1) It's mango season in India, which means that there are vendors everywhere selling these large yellow mangoes that are similar to the ones we have at home. You can also find the green and orange ones that we have at home, as well as a small green variety, and tons of other tropical fruit. When I was in Hyderabad, my friend Krish taught me "the sucking method" of eating a mango, which involves kneading the fruit while the skin is still on until it is very soft, and then removing the little round button at the top and sucking the juice (and remaining fruit) out from there. It is quite delicious and not easily done on a train, as I learned on the way to Agra.

It's interesting because fruit here just looks different than it does at home. It's not as bright in color, it's not and plump and lush, it's just more, how do I say....natural? Pomegranates don't have a deep deep red GMO color, and fruits just generally look deflated and less appealing...until you realize that that's how they naturally look. They mostly taste better, though we've gotten some duds as well.

2)The Delhi metro is very modern and quite impressive. It is clearly modeled after the London Tube since all of the signs use that same logo, and a British female voice comes on to say "mind the gap" before each stop. The train are extremely crowded, and when the doors open at a stop, everyone getting on the train like literally RUSHES onto the train, trampling those poor souls who dare get off. There are cars for only women, where the aforementioned behavior, of course, does not happen. Still, the metro is pretty sweet all in all, and definitely a welcome break from the gas fumes and haggling that is involved in taking a rickshaw.

3)Kathi rolls. Is it just me or is this turning into a food blog? So we went to get Kathi rolls, which I guess is considered street food, but we got it in a more like fast food type restaurant. Basically, it's a deep fried bread, wrapping either chicken or mutton, egg, and grilled red onions, and then it is served with ketchup (no) and the tasty cilantro sauce. Sam like freaked out when we got them and tried to convince me to franchise the restaurant we were at since he thought-quite rightly- that it would make great late night food. Maybe that is how I will put my business degree to use. We shall see.

ok, that's all. I love comments! k bye.

Delhi, India

So we've arrived in New Delhi and it was clear just from the drive from the airport that a lot has changed since I was here four years ago. A shiny, new terminal that rivals most airports in the U.S. greets travellers. This made Sally very happy, because our arrival in India was much less spectacular, where we had to fight through disorganized masses of people in a dingy, suffocating, non-AC terminal just to exit the airport. The cab we took into Delhi was easily booked and it ran on natural gas, as do all commercial vehicles in Delhi. We can't even imagine what the smog would be like if this were not the case, because the sun still shines behing a thick brown haze. And, speaking of sun, it is hottt! The heat on the ride in from the airport was unlike anything else I have experienced, easily 100 + but fortunately it is a dry heat. But I digress.

Brand new four lane highways lead you into the city where one fines newly paved roads and sidewalks and motorists that actually follow traffic laws. Unlike the Hyderabad, the streets of New Delhi are tree-lined and the air, though anything but clean, is free of the smell of petrol that was ubiquitous in Hyderabad and Mumbai. Other infrastructure in Delhi also appears much improved since my last visit, including the metro, which was just recently completed. We haven't had reason to ride it yet, but we hear it is very nice.

As for our activities, our first aternoon in Delhi was spent catching up on sleep. We then traveled to Connaught place, the commercial center of New Delhi, where we milled around the various shops and the park in the center of the circle. After a while of jealously watching Delhi's youth show off their gymnastic and break-dancing talents, we walked to a South Indian restaurant where we had a lovely dinner comprised of the dosas, which are crepe-like pancakes stuffed with potatoes and onions or cocunut and served with various chutneys. Sally was especially fond of the vanilla ice cream with black currant sauce we had for dessert.

After a good nights rest, we went to Humayun's tomb. Humayun was the second of the great Mughal emperors. His tomb is a spectacular display of Mughal architecture, symmetrically constructed out of sandstone and white marble and adorened with beautiful carvings and trellises. The tomb is situated in a large garden, which is also really beautiful. We both enjoyed greatly.

After the tomb, we had a delicious lunch of khadi rolls. A khadi roll is egg, chicken or mutton, fried red onions, wrapped in a piece of fried naan and sprinkled with some extra greasy deliciousness. They were....fantastic. I am convinced that they would be a hige hit in the U.S. and am trying to convince Sally to open a franchise once she gets her business degree. Anyway, thats about it for now. We just booked our tickets to Agra to see the Taj and are currently bickering in true Sam and Sally fashion over our budget...more soon!

Aurangabad, India/Hyderabad, India

We're in Hyderabad now, though we spent three days in Aurangabad during which time I didn't blog at all. Basically, Aurangabad in a nutshell: heat, caves, exhaustion, and my discovery of Indian potato chips. I actually discovered these on a tour we took of all the sites in the region when I hadn't had any breakfast. When we got to the first stop, I ran across the street and bought one bag of "American style cream and onion" and one bag of Masala flavored chips. For five rupees each!!! That is like a penny. No joke. Actually it's like a dime, but still. Great deal. And they were so good! Definitely better than actual American Style [sour] cream and onion chips, and certainly cheaper. Other than that, on the food front, I have been branching out and eating more meat, lots of naan, and one night in Aurangabad, I even tried Chinese style noodles. It's weird because there are very few restaurants with American food, but there are lots with Indian and Chinese food. When I was taking a nap one day in Aurangabad, Sam went to a restaurant and got some friend rice, which he said was the best fried rice he had ever had. Anyway, on the whole Aurangabad was much more manageable than Mumbai, though it was still extremely dirty and the traffic was insane.

In Hyderabad, which we arrived at by way of a 10 hour overnight train, things have been a lot different. On the one hand, Hyderabad, is a lot cleaner than the other cities. There isn't garbage everywhere like in Mumbai and Aurangabad, everything seems to function effectively and more or less on schedule, and there is just like a lot more infrastructure. The roads are paved, there are traffic lights, there is what appears to be a functioning public transit system, and there are lots and lots of shops. We booked the cheapest "mid-range" hotel listed in the Lonely Planet, and it turned out to actually be a really nice, recently renovated hotel. We have a flat-screen Samsung TV in our room, which in my opinion, is any real-estate developper/hotel manager's way of telling you that you are in a pretty nice place.

The food in Hyderabad has been exceptionally good. Not sure why we weren't doing this before, but we have pretty much only been going to places recommended by the Lonely Planet, and they have all been fantastic. The first one we went to was a vegetarian place in the Andhra-style of cuisine (apparently one of the two prominent in Hyderabad, the other one is Biryani). It was incredible. Everything was served on a banana leaf, and basically, you just sit down, they put a banana leaf in front of you, then this guy just comes and starts dumping stuff on your banana leaf. So there were four main dishes, and two kinds of rice. Of the four, one was lentil-based, one was maybe chickpea and tomato-based, one was spicy chili fried vegetables, and then one I think was a creamy nut base, maybe cashew. They also gave you yogurt and this creamy sauce which looked gross so I didn't touch it, and then there were like five or six dishes of spices on each table which you added at will. Basically, I just tried different cominations, my favorite being the yellow rice with yogurt, the cashew dish, the chickpea dish, and then i sprinkled some of the crispy veggies on top. DELISH. After this restaurant, we went to the internet cafe, where we tried to book our next few spots (we're headed to Delhi next), and then we went to buy me a nail file (my nails are all broken from the dry heat, and filthy from eating with my hands) and Sam some listerine. That nail file was such a joke. It's like trying to file your nails with a piece of styrofoam.

Last night, Sam passed out for two hours (which we had tried not to do since at that point we had yet to sleep a full night and not at all during the day), and I read Tina Fey's new book Bossypants. The book is hilarious, and it was especially great since she has a chapter about the year she worked in Evanston, which actually mentioned people I know/have met! Small world. THEN, we went to meet Krish Batra, one of my friends from Grinnell, who lives in Hyderabad, for dinner! It was seriously like the most wonderful night. Krish actually lives in Secunderabad, which is Hyderabad's next-door sister city. He took us to this place called "Paradise," which is supposed to be like the focal point of the Biryani scene in Hyderabad. Krish said he thought they didn't have the best-though I thought it was great!- BIryani in the city, but he described it as "an institution" in Hyderabad, so of course we had to go. It was multiple floors, and very nice decor-wise, though in all honesty, my favorite things I ate weren't the Biryani, but rather the mutton kebab appetizer, and the dough balls soaking in sugar water which we had for dessert. It was also just so fun to see Krish and catch up and find a friendly face in India.

This morning, Sam and I went to some fort which was amazing, but our tour guide kind of ripped us off, which sort of soured us on the experience. The fort was enormous and incredible, full of hidden passageways, a full-scale water distribution network, mosques and underground tunnels. I took a million pictures, and our tourguide referred to me as "queen." The harem, which was once home to the 365 wives of one of the shahs, is now home to lots of bats, a nescafe machine, and Hyderabad's BIGGEST LASER LIGHT SHOW! No joke. We did not attend. After the fort, we went to the seven tombs of the Mughal shahs who once ruled the forts. They were large ornate domes surrounded by palm trees and these beautiful trees that flower pink and orange. We then came back into the city and had the best by far tandoori chicken I have ever had. It was in the weird restaurant with a very shady-looking entrance, though once inside, there was a guy making piles and piles of naan in the tandoori machine. The restaurant had two rooms, one when you first walked in, which was only for men, and one, which had a sign that said "family room" where men, women, and children were allowed. Not sure what that was about. Anyway, that's all for now. Leave comments!