India - Get me off this damn train!!!!!!!

sirchauncy — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:43:32 +0000

IMG_2389, originally uploaded by nycduncan.

This picture is not posed. Charles was so tired and annoyed after a 22 hour train ride he was not in the mood to pose. Besides, although not in the picture there were about 10 people in front of him…….just staring. He was really, really annoyed…..but still cute!!

Share It

Hide Sites

India!!!!! The God’s Must Be Crazy!!!!!!!!!!!

sirchauncy — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 06:18:28 +0000

IMG_1839, originally uploaded by nycduncan.

Monique and the gang(teenagers all over the world are the same) - The Botanical Gardens, Kokotta.

Share It

Hide Sites

Kolkotta - The gateway to India!!!!

monjames — Mon, 19 May 2008 04:59:15 +0000

Now, let me be straight. If anyone asks me to describe India to him or her, I will say, “I am sorry. I cannot!! Go visit yourself and when you return we will have a chat about it.” Should they choose to visit, I would say, “prepare yourself mentally for the trip and in so doing think of extremes. Think strong and weak, beauty and beast, love and hate. There is little room for any ‘in-between’ emotion, and there is plenty of room to be torn.

“We land at Kolkotta Airport. Hmmm!!! Not bad I say. What is all the fuss about? Where were all these people they talked about in India? The airport was quiet and seemed quite empty. Maybe this had something to do with our plane being the only one that landed or that big airport strike we found out about AFTER we had purchased our non-refundable tickets. Anyway, I figured, this is not going to be half bad!!! I am gonna love it every moment of it!!!!! Humph!!! Well folks, lets just say I spoke waaaaayyyy too soon.

(more…)

Share It

Hide Sites

KolKotta to Varanasi……and Ruby

monjames — Sun, 18 May 2008 02:24:47 +0000

So we met Ruby, his wife and his two sweet little girls ages 7 and 12,on our 12 hour overnight train from Kolkotta to Varanasi . Ruby is Sheik, Ruby is chubby, Rudy is talkative, Ruby is DRUNK!!!! He kept his drink in a coke can and offered Charles some over and over again. Ruby said to us that he would protect us. “If anyone comes to bother you” he said “I will protect you”. “I will take care of them, just come to me. I will keep you safe”. If you are Sheik, how can you drink?”,we ask. Ruby says he is done with the old ways. He does not wear the turban and does not grow a beard and he drinks and he likes to have fun. Ruby calls his brother on his cell phone. He says “Monique, talk to my brother”. I take the phone and say “hello”. His brother says “hello” and starts laughing uncontrolably. Rubys takes the phone from me. He does not speak English ” Ruby says. He and his brother have a good laugh in their language. Then Ruby calls his sister. “Monique, talk to my sister”!!!!. “Hello to Ruby’s sister” I say. She says “Hello”, then silence. I say “hello, how are you. Is this Ruby’s sister?” Dead silence. I think she got cut off. Ruby takes back the phone. “She cannot speak English” he says. He and his sister begin to talk. They have a good laugh.

Ruby says “Charles and Monique, do not eat the food they sell on this train. It is very, very, very bad. You must eat what my wife has made. It is good food” “No, no we say, we cannot do that” Ruby insist. His wife nods that there is enough. We are scared of Dehli Belly but we cannot be rude. We accept. “In the morning you will have breakfast with us. Not this bad tasting train food. It is not good”.

(more…)

Share It

Hide Sites

Varanasi - Charles at Assi Ghat!

sirchauncy — Sat, 17 May 2008 03:10:11 +0000

IMG_1974, originally uploaded by nycduncan.

Share It

Hide Sites

Varanasi – All hail the porcelin throne!!!!!

monjames — Fri, 16 May 2008 03:06:44 +0000

All hail to the porcelain throne, for never in our entire lives has it meant so much to us, as it did in the city of Varanasi. This city forced us into the realization that the porcelain throne was indeed – KING! We, like all other travelers, became obsessed not with finding porcelain kings, but rather trying to avoid them at all cost. Why? Because once one left ones hotel, there were no public restrooms and if you happened to find one, you instantly became sorry that you did. The porcelain thrones are…….DISGUSTING!!!! To give an example, I once had no choice but to use one at a restaurant. We had already ordered our food and were waiting on our meal. I won’t describe it, but all I know is that what I saw as so nauseating, that I immediately returned to our table, sat down and started to cry my heart out. This was my first of three mental breakdowns in India. Charles immediately ordered me an illegal beer (alcohol consumption is against the Hindu religion, but they will supply it to tourist ‘under the table’). “Drink it all down, dear”. I threw my head back and downed it, in a few gulps. I wanted a second one. The waiter asked if we could wait for about 10 minutes cause he had to put one in the fridge to get cold.

(more…)

Share It

Hide Sites

Hanging in Jaipur

sirchauncy — Wed, 14 May 2008 21:57:27 +0000

IMG_2119, originally uploaded by nycduncan.

This picture was taken in Jaipur where the bombs went off about a month later. This a wonderful family we met visiting from London.

Share It

Hide Sites

Jaipur & Udiapur - Hey, West Indies and America!!!!

monjames — Wed, 14 May 2008 08:41:56 +0000

Do you know last month 6 bombs went off in 15 minutes leaving at least 80 people dead, in Jaipur? Well this happened in the Pink City. And that is exactly where we were one month before it happened. Talk about narrow escape huh!!!??? Anyway this sort of thing, you can’t run or hide from. It was terribly sad to hear about it.

We loved Udaipur. We bought tons of jewelery here and even had some custom made. It was ridiculously cheap.

Ajay and his dad, in picture above, made our rings - Udaipur.

We stayed in a small and quaint town at a beautiful hotel right on the famous Lake Pichola. From our hotel grounds we could see The Lake Palace Hotel where Octopussy, the James Bond movie was filmed.

The big joke is that because Octopussy was shot here, practically EVERY restaurant shows Octopussy EVERY Single DAY without fail at 7:30pm. I repeat, Every Single Day at 7:30pm!!!!!! No other movie.

Anyway word spread about us through the town pretty quickly. One day we told some people that I was from the West Indies (for those who do not know, people from the Caribbean are called West Indians because Christopher Columbus thought he had found India…. silly!!!!) and Charles from America. By day two people started calling out to us as we passed - “hey West Indies and America”!!

Share It

Hide Sites

Riding a train in India introduces you to a whole different side of local life.

monjames — Fri, 09 May 2008 23:03:16 +0000

Upon leaving the platform in Varanasi and heading to Jaipur, we witnessed many of the uniquely Indian happenings from our barred window. The tracks were lined by tarpaulin and bamboo and corrugated metal houses. Whole shanty communities of the landless poor were squatted up to the gutter of the railroad. What struck me most was the lack of sanitation facilities. The gutter was the main source of water for these communities, whether it be for laundry, bathing, or even defecating.
One of the things that caused me to collapse mentally was the sight of a man blatantly defecating or urinating by the rail tracks as we passed. That was difficult to see but however it was soon to become a common sight for me. The norms of privacy and nudity, especially pertaining to excretory issues, are extremely different in India. In India, hundreds of men seen urinating by the roadside or defecating by the train tracks in broad daylight is totally acceptable. In this culture, that is considered uncivilized, and impedes on basic notions of privacy. At first we thought that only men did this and not the women but eventually we saw women doing the very same. It pained to me think that a woman had to be subject to this, with no privacy to relieve themselves. Note that we are talking about these people being mere feet away from the train, not some far distance. Also many times the train was passing slowly, so you literally could smile at them and they back at you if that were the case. They would be defecating among mounds of trash and wearing no shoes. It was just one of the hardest things I have had to watch.

But the other side you see of India is the rolling hills and beautiful desert expanses. There are fields and fields of wheat and now and again you would see women in the colorful saris walking through them. The contrast between the wheat color and the sari colors are just so beautiful. And we saw camels and old temples everywhere. Oh, it was exquisite particularly at sunset or sunrise. It was at those moments that all was right in the world and all was definitely right with India.

Share It

Hide Sites

Vietnam or Bust

monjames — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 08:43:51 +0000

The land of delicious “dog meat”?……. It is!!!!! While trekking the beautiful mountains of Sapa we visited the local market. There it was, all chopped in pieces. I noticed the head of the dog and the paws. You should know that the rest of it looked like your average piece of meat. You could order the head, the shank, the rump or the liver. One lady who spoke some english said to me “try, taste very, very good”. She was right…. it tasted lovely. Like any other kind of meat you could buy. I will never look at dogs the same way again. From now on they will not look cute, but delicious. Hmm, I wonder if the next door neighbor’s dog will sense something different about me when I return to San Fran.

Anyway forget all you think you know about Vietnam. The stereotype as protrayed in movies is long past. In fact it simply does not exist. The only remnant of the war is located in the War Museums. Other than that Vietnam has cleaned up pretty well for a place what had a war waging for over 20 years. Saigon is rediculous. A little New York City if you ask me. Building are going on everywhere. High rises are getting higher, vehicles (mainly motorbikes) of all sorts are thick on city streets and the people are hungry for money and advancement and successful futures, just like the rest of us. I knew that this country was moving forward when we went into Kentucky Fried Chicken and saw a some young women dressed to the max with hot pants and with butt cheeks hanging out. No one gave them a second glance - just kept hawking down that KFC. Hence if you thought Vietnam was conservative, think again. Vietnam has been described as one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Not hard to believe. Check your appliances, your clothing, your furniture…. hey check your spouse….if its not made in China, its made in Vietnam.

(more…)

Share It

Hide Sites