Integration

I am ready to just be with my discoveries and let them integrate within my soul...

Goodbye India, you have been good to me and I am full of gratitude...

Namaste

Tracy

Indian Rose Tours

My trip is coming to an end in a few hours and I am leaving the country I love. It is hard to describe and put into words why I love it is here so much so I will go back to what I wrote on the blog in November 2008:

"India for me is sooo good for decompressing. It is also far away and very different from my day to day life. There is something magical about India's spirituality, almost like an open air church! The culture fascinates me and it is a land of great diversity; poverty and richness, love and hate, tolerance for most but yet a caste system which is alive and thriving. I feel like I learn so much about humanity when I am there and it gives me time to continue to learn about myself and life in general. How good is that?"

This trip has all of that and more, I feel very fortunate and want others to experience at least some of what I have. I always encourage people to visit India and a work colleague took my advice. We bumped into each other on this trip and he told me he was not disappointed - I knew he wouldn’t be! I get that it can be a daunting country to visit so I am recommending a tour company - Indian Rose Tours - for those of you who want to come here but would like to be gently guided through the craziness! I do not particularly enjoy tours because I either want to shoot the tour guide or one of the tour members within a few hours of their company. I have good news about Indian Rose Tours - the tour guide is excellent and he will shoot the tour members for you who are driving you bat shit crazy as he is what I call a sensible person and just ‘gets it’. Check out the site: www.indianrosetours.com and I challenge you to venture to this magnificent country. There are some of you who I know can take on this challenge - you know who you are ;)

Everyday life

The coke man getting his 'refrigeration' replenished.



This was taken outside a chicken shop - that is what I call live advertising - for the moment at least!

The dust is killing my eyes...

It was a record high in Delhi today - 41 degrees. I can handle the heat, it is the dust I am struggling with. My eyes can hardly open and it feels like I have rocks sitting on my eyeballs! It does not help that I have had an eye infection for the past week which will not go away - grrrrr.

Today I went to Akshardham Temple and it was absolutely beautiful. Cameras are not allowed which is such a shame so I have no pictures to post. The carvings were breathtaking and the gardens lush. I love plants and it is dry season here right now so everything is dusty and not so green but at the temple the garden was bright green!

After the temple I twacked about and did a little shopping before leaving tomorrow. What would a trip to India be without buying a few scarves and some incense?

Rehab

Delhi

Delhi is a huge city with different worlds existing within it. Old Delhi is frenzied and fabulous and it was once the capital of Islamic India. New Delhi was built by the British and it is spacious and more grand shall I say. The 2010 Common Wealth Games are being held here and there is construction like mad happening - gawd, I just left Vancouver 2010 Olympic construction and now I am fully immersed into the Common Wealth Games Construction. The difference being - there is a whole lot of dust - so much that when I went to comb my hair I could not get the comb through it as it was so matted with dust!

I spent the day in Old Delhi checking out the bazaars and strolling through the Red Fort. This fort is made of sandstone and it dates from 1638. The walls extend for 2km and vary between 18m-33m high. It was nice to be in an area without horns honking and so much humanity that I felt like I could be carried with the crowd.

Hard at work

Planes, trains and rickshaws

I did not really want to leave Varkala but my time was up and after 16 hours of travel I arrived in Delhi hot, sweaty and dirty. Travelling in India is not the easiest but it is half the fun. I started the day with a short 10 minute rickshaw ride to the train and then travelled first class for five hours to Cochin to catch my flight. First class on the luggage racks that is! Where else can you capture pictures of women from overhead?? In an area that is supposed to seat 8 there were 17 of us...


The train arrived an hour late and the only reason I booked a flight out of Cochin was so I could purchase some essential oils from a shop in Jewtown near Cochin - it is all about priorities in life non? Last year I bought oils from Shanti and she remembered me as soon as I walked into her shop and gave me a great big hug. I was after the Vanilla oil and bought all she had at her shop. She told me she could get more - of course she could - in India anything is possible but at this stage I was worried I was going to miss my flight. As I left and put my hands together and said “Namaste” she did the same and said “next year you come to my house.”

I hopped in a cab and off I went to the airport - late, very late, all for vanilla oil bought specially from Shanti. It smells better from India, trust me. Thankfully, the plane was delayed by 30 minutes so I had time to scoff down a samosa, a Bounty chocolate bar and Masala potato chips with a bottle of water and a cup of chai! Healthy healthy.



Spice jet is a budget airline in India and it is cheap as chips to fly around the country. Budget airline means no food, seats that don’t recline and washrooms that smell but for $70 cdn who can complain!!


I always stay at Anoop Hotel in Delhi but decided to give Rak International a go this time around from a recommendation I was given. I am not meant to stay anywhere but the Anoop because when I arrived at Rak International there was no one at the reception. I had a reservation and waited for 10 minutes but after 16 hrs I could hardly keep my eyes open so I am staying at the ultra glamourous Anoop Hotel in their “new concept” rooms. New concept means renovated last year with tacky tile in the washroom, a flat screen tv and gawdy curtains. The advantage to 'new concept' is that there is only one years worth of dirt and grime so far!

Movin on movin on

My time has come to leave Varkala and head to Delhi. I extended my stay by a couple of days but now it is time to move on. I have literally done nothing for the last 10 days! Perfection really. So not like me - or is it?? When I was here last year I also stayed at Skylark Guesthouse which is fun by Faith from Seattle. It is such a great spot, low key with a chill vibe. This visit did not disappoint either. There are only 7 rooms and at present and I am the shortest stay visitor! That is the kind of place Varkala is, you come and get sucked in to the nothingness.

Faith is on the right and Fiana is in the middle. Fiana has been in India for 6 months and in Varkala for 2 months. We are laughing our asses off at a Ricky Martin website.



The rooftop has the TV and it is where there are 5pm dance sessions and after hours parties take place! Ben has been here for a couple of months and Micha has been essentially living in India for the past seven years and comes to Varkala for his downtime!



Nithya has a travel agency here and Faith and Micha are good friends with him. Needless to say, there was a gaggle of us from Skylark who hung out during my time here.



But the cutest of all was Bliss - her and her 14 year old sister and their Mom are staying at Skylark for 3 months then heading to Thailand for another 3 months - now that is what I call life!

Bliss.............

I have arrived at the beach and it is pure, unadulterated bliss. There is something very peaceful about having the sound of waves rolling in, the breeze gently blowing, heat on my skin and sand between my toes. I am in bliss right now. I will be here for a week at the 'all inclusive' staying at Skylark Guesthouse, eating on the cliff and lounging at the beach. The blogging will cease unless I see something absolutely amazing that I must tell you and I will be back at it again when I leave and head to Cochin.

Shanti,

Tracy

Madurai

Madurai is Tamil-borne and raised, no British, French or Portuguese influence there let me tell you. 100% pure Indian. The main reason to go to Madurai is to visit the Sri Meenakshi Temple which is considered to be one of the greatest temples in India. There are loads of Indian tourists here and few foreign ones. The temple complex is 6 hectares and is enclosed by 12 gopurams with the highest one being 52 meters tall! The gopurams were just refurbished and the colors are beautiful. I spent hours at this place and had a beautiful feeling when I was inside amongst the masses doing their thing.

Some of these pictures do not do it justice but it will give you flavor of the enormity and intricacy.



The ceiling art was outstanding.




When I was in Rome this summer there was a huge lineup to post mail from the Vatican. I have been to lots of temples throughout my travels in India and I guess this is the temple where it is considered auspicious to post from!


And of course, what would a day be without a family wanting their picture taken!


Pure relaxation and bliss is up next at the beach!!!!

Daily life

Of course this bike baby carrier meets safety standards.


This little gem was sitting next to me on the bus.

Tiruchirappalli

I have left lovely Pondicherry and entered into temple mania. Tamil Nadu has over 5000 temples and I am on the temple circuit for the next few days. Trichy is a dirty, dusty, busy city that has two wonderful temples. I arrived here on the train and knew as soon as I left the train station it was going to be a tough go. The hotels are disgusting but the Femina which caters to 'business men' will do the trick. In India you are often asked "profession?" and when I ask back these are some of the responses I have gotten: "typesetter' 'professor' and the funniest is 'business man' - what the hell kind of answer is that? Well, the Femina caters to them and to backpackers like me who look nothing like a business man but at least it is clean. Clean yes, showers no... bucket style.


Bonus: Continental breakfast included.



The first temple I hit up was the Rock Fort Temple. It is literally on top of a rock that you climb over 400 stairs to reach. Nice view which made it worth it as I could not go inside the temple - Hindus only.




The Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple is beautiful. It is possibly the largest temple complex in India and feels more like an enclosed city rather than a place of worship. The pictures really don't do it justice.




As I was leaving the complex I almost got ran over. Is he old enough to drive?



The best part of my day was the bus ride back to the hotel. I sat next to a wonderful lady and we had such an honest and sincere conversation, it was lovely.

Keller Brown

Keller,

Thank you for the invitation to your parents wedding. I am looking forward to celebrating with you little man!

Love you,
Tracy

Market day

I got up bright and early and hit the local market. I was given strict instructions to start at the flower end by the guesthouse owners. As he told me this he had a huge grin on his face and I knew not to ask why and to just follow his instructions.




The flower section was beautiful and it gently flowed into the fruits and veggies section. This lady here requested her photo be taken and held the camera for a long time as she looked at her picture.



The dude is selling Betal leaf which is required for Paan It has a very fragrant smell and Sam who used to own Babas near my apt used to chew it. Whenever I went there and he was having a chew I always knew!



He told me I could take his picture - I promise...



As I meandered on through my nose told me the reason why I was to start in the flower section. If I started in the fish section I would never have made it to the flowers. If these pictures could smell...



These ladies are chopping fish with knives that looked to be 100 years old and dull as shit. I can only imagine how many fingers get hacked according to the vigor they chop at the fish with!



Mainly men run the flowers, fruit and veg section whereas it is all women in the fish section...



It was a great morning at the market.

Wedding day

I married a brown boy - juuuust kidding!

I stumbled upon a crowd gathered across the road from the Sri Manakula Vinayagar Temple so I stopped to check out what was going on. To my surprise and delight it was wedding day at the temple and the bride and her family were waiting their turn to enter the temple and get married. They could not speak a lick of english but when I pointed at my camera they all smiled (except the bride) and shook their heads yes!



The bride did not say a word the entire time and she showed very little expression. Her family on the other hand loved getting their picture taken and checking them out after. I wonder what was going through her mind?




After a few minutes a security guard ushered them across the road and they joined another group - the groom and his family! More than likely this was an arranged marriage which means the bride and groom probably have not met each other more than two or three times. They certainly did not act like they knew each other or maybe they were nervous. The groom's family were quick to grab my arm and point at him and my camera. At that point I realized I was the impromptu wedding photographer.



I really enjoyed the experience and felt privileged to be allowed to take the photos. I tried to get an address to be able to mail the pictures but there was no one around who could translate for us... too bad.



Little gems




I wish them much love, friendship and good health.

Pondy

Pondy is lovely. It is a quaint town with loads of character while the throng of India is still honking in the background. I have just wandered really for the last little bit. Up and down the lanes, into temples and markets, shops and internet cafes. No set schedule or agenda, just taking it all in. Jesse are you jealous that I don't have a schedule to follow while on vacation?!

The young girl above was on her way to school and did not actually go into the temple but stood in front of the flame with her hands in prayer for quite some time.



The temple elephant on the other hand made his way into the temple and here he is coming out and getting ready to do his daily blessings. Yes, I have been blessed by a temple elephant and I have also been smacked out of the way by a fish seller in the market. I also had the privilege to take wedding pictures of a couple set to get married. I checked out Sri Aurobindo Ashram as pictures of 'the Mother' are all over town and have eaten many croissants - real french croissants! It has been grand here.



Apparently elephants wear ankle bracelets and I think a pedicure is needed!