From Bombay to Goa!

It all started on a cold morning, yes, I used the word cold and it was cold for India. It was around 75! (Yes, I do consider that cold now days). Chloe and I got up around 5:30 (this was possibly the earliest I had ever gotten up since I have no idea, last years forensics season maybe?) to take showers and met the bus about 4km away at Domino's. So as usual we were running late, with a very early morning phone call from Lauren going “WHERE ARE YOU!” when we still had not let home. But all in all it is India and it runs on the time of India (a concept we have now deemed to call “Indian Time” (I know very creative!) and turns out we were twenty minutes early! So we find ourselves watching for the bus “with push back seats!” Before it arrived we were calling around to the students to find out about the “push back seats” and they claimed they were decent… to say the least. With on finding out that the bus was HOT PINK, and the push bad seats wore out there fun… Other travelers were found on the bus, namely cockroaches, it was infested by the giant bugs.

BOMBAY!

You have to understand a few things about Bombay, it is a real Metropolis, it is a living breathing definition of one. It has everything from the huge divide from the haves and the have nots to the massive slums (some extending over 20km by 20km). It is am amazing city for business and modern enterprise, and it is not really a city for tourist. The main attraction in Bombay would have to be the Gateway to India. Which is a huge Arch way that is in the harbor. It is one of the most famous places in India. It was modeled after one of the old arches in Rome (I believe the Arch of Constantine) Right behind it is the Taj Hotel, it was the first five star hotel in India, and next to it is the New Taj, which is just a larger bigger version. Well we first saw this in Bombay. Then took a boat cruise around the harbor, which was hot. In Bombay it is always hot, partially from the great amounts of pollution it makes the city hotter then what it should be. The city also has a perpetual haze over it… I am sure you all know LA does , but I have now seen both and Bombay is awful! The haze is like fog that is always there, you can barely see in some parts him.

So some quick Highlights!

The Nehru Planetarium- saw a star show, the highlight was that there was AC!

The Hanging Gardens- We stopped we did not see them, HIGHLIGHT, there was a nice breeze in the bus (I wish I would get to go back and see them)

Some Temple for Ganpati- Interesting… It was wild to see how some very devote people worship at this temple, they would throw themselves at the ground (sort of at the feet of the idols) and like roll around on the ground. Also they had mass vats of Ganpati Prasad it was wild looking… I skipped out

A ZOO- I have no pictures because you had to pay rs. 20 (50 cents!) to bring you camera in! But the starving animals in really tiny cages are not really my thing, Highlight Eli getting shat on… And the hippos they were pretty cool and they were also being sponsored by the Rotary! Who knew the Rotary has Hippo exchanges to!

Well otherwise, we spent some time at the BEST HOTEL IN BOMBAY!!!

KIDDING VERY VERY VERY KIDDING!

HOTEL SHANTIDOOT!

Oooo dear, I don’t even know where to start. The Hotel is apparently to be nice? But we get into the room, and well we burst out into major laughter it is the shittiest place on earth! We apparently got kicked out of the nice rooms in the place because well they messed up our reservations and hum we ended up in the economy rooms. Which was a disaster. First of all when walking to our room, we have like a balcony that learned over into a shopping area into like a court yard, which smelled like a mix of human feces and dead fish mixed with a ton of garbage all stewed together in the heat, yummy! So we try to break into out room, which they told us was “open” and then we realize there is actually no lock, and no key, so it is ALWAYS “open” it has a tv, which is smashed in the back (I don’t think it would work) and then two chairs with wholes in them. Then four beds (which are in two sets pushed together). We are all at this point because we have spent a million hours on the nonAC bus wanting a shower, and we go to the bathroom and there is NO SHOWER! There is a bucket, which has a little bit of dirty water in it… (I don’t know if it was really water). Then the potty still had poop in it. Even though it was wrapped in one of those “Sanitized for your Health” bands around it! So the beds sucked, they were made of straw I believe! And the sheets as of all shitty hotels were full of mystery stains. Not to mention the pillows when you picked them up must have been made of lead, and weighed over 15 kgs (30 pounds), and they smelled like some serious curry! GROSS! So we were supposed to have AC, and we decided in the end that the AC was the fact out window had what looked like bullet holes in it! Or else someone smashed it open with their hands? It was really bad, to say the least. I called my mom up to be like, if you see any mystery charges on my credit card bill, I may have to get out of here, but she laughed at me, and is like “Heather you are in a third world country…?”

But overall on this rotary trip I will comment, I was not that happy, not only because of Shantidoot, but many things were not that greatly handled. Such as there were a lot of places in Bombay we did not get to see, like VT (the really famous train station in Bombay, which is really pretty). Also Elephanta Island (I REALLY WANTED TO GO HERE!) So I hope to go back, and see these places during my trip. Because we only spent two days here and in those two days we spent over 25 hours on the bus!

So off to Goa!

The trip took us 21 hours!!! On the awful bus! Which had wholes in the bottom and you could see the road under you, lovely! We did stop at a temple on the way, which we ont really know if it was out of the way, but I think it was. This temple though we stopped at right before it was the worship time, and it was very beautiful, one of the nicest I had been to in India. It had really nice gardens, and the temple part was gorgeous! When we finally got to the state line between Marashrtra and Goa, we were stopped by the police for around 3 hours because of some bad bus papers, which was aweful!

Highlights!

We stayed right on the beach, and the Arabian Sea is amazing! It was warm with great sandy beaches and salty waves!

Downfall,

Beach sellers!!!!!!! (see more later)

Churches!

We went to two churches in Old Goa; Goa belonged to Portugal till the 1960s. This part of India was the last state to gain its Independence.

One of the Churches houses the body of St. Xavier who was responsible for Christianizing Asia a long time ago. So normally when someone’s body is there it is like in a crypt well not St. Xavier. Not only is he not in a crypt he is displayed about 30 feet off the ground in like this big elaborate alter type thing in a glass (see through) coffin. Yes, You can see EVERYTHING, I zoomed in you can check out the picture (I will add it!) The other church was nicknamed the white church because when Old Goa was not the capital of Goa anymore they white washed the church it once was to be rumored to have beautiful artwork but not anymore. It is white, still pretty, but very white. One fun thing was when we were there at the churches which are across the street from each other they were filming a documentary and so we were on the set of this documentary and got to see it being filmed. Another funny thing was when we were inside the church they were having a mass and at the mass the only people present were foreigners.

Temples!

We went to three temples in Goa, one was to the temple for musicians and many musicians go to this temple because it is the most famous in Goa (Dad- Ravi Shanker apparently goes there!) All seamed to look very similar in ways. They would have a big tower and then a worship idol. In the idol hall there would be a bunch of mismatched chandeliers all hanging from the ceiling, which was weird and looked cool, but pictures are not allowed. Sometimes it would be a drag to get off the bus and out in to the hot sun to see yet the same thing but really I remember every time my parents dragging me to shrine after shrine when I was younger in Japan, pretty much the same thing, yet I think my parents only dragged me to like three shrines but still I was like 7 and everything is worse then but same concept I would always be one of the first off the bus to see the next one!

A Fort!

Cool Fort! We thought we were going to the beach so none of us bothered to change when we got off the bus, I am in my swim suit and towel (got some weird looks, but it is somewhat acceptable in Goa). The fort is where a bunch of Bollywood movies are filled and sooo many famous scenes are filled in it, it is pretty cool. Also very historical, cant really tell you the history though (I did take pictures of the signs so maybe I could figure it out one day).

So more on beaches, The beaches are amazing!

The funniest part about the beaches was the fact that there are cows on the beaches! You cant avoid the cows in India they just sort of hang out on the beach!

Not that bad on the crowds and sandy and overall just perfect. The water is warm and they are just so nice (making sure you stay in the water). Almost no one would swim in the sea and if they did they would be in full clothing or sometimes men would get down to shorts and some their underwear (gross, it was actually illegal for women should not see that as the beach guards said). But women do not swim, and if they get in the water they will go in clothing it is not proper for them to wear swimming suits, you will often see women wading in the water in heavy saris!, so western girls in swimming suits were the hot item to get pictures with on the beach. It was almost awful people would come up to us all the time and be like can I take you picture with you! We normally were like fine, and did not smile… But this time we were not the only white kids around because Goa attracts the white crowd, so it would happen to other people and we would laugh. I always wonder when people show these pictures to other people, they will be like “These are some white people we met on the beach in Goa!” what in the world? Really? So there are always white people in Goa.

The major problem with the beaches is beach sellers! There are EVERYWHERE!!!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I have two stories that are both pretty funny, my first is about Mallory and I

We were visiting this beach that was really rocky and we had been site seeing all day (we went to a beach in the morning and then to a temple and fort and not to mention we were tired from site seeing the day before when we went to some temples some churches and then lovers point (this high point where you can see a ton of the coast of Goa) and I was lying on my towel face down sleeping. I was almost completely out, but at my feet Mallory was sitting writing out post cards and hear someone coming and looks up, bad idea! One of the beach sellers was running down and comes and sits down, ON MY FEET! I move them and go back to sleep. She starts talking to Mallory and all of a sudden like 5 minutes latter, I hear the lady asking “Is this your friend?” And Mallory is like “YES, HEATHER!” I sit up and She is like, “Your friend is White as a Chicken!” “Your name is Heater, I am going to Platt (braid) your hair!” I am like uggh and sleepy and she just called me a chicken! and she grabs my head and starts platting (braiding) my hair! I am like AHAHAH STOP and she goes this one is for free! She gives me this platt in the middle of my head it was pretty bad and she starts showing Mallory her jewelry. Then turns back to me and goes so “Heater how old are you?” I say “18” She turns to Mallory and si like “She looks 13!” I am thinking Great you have just insulted me by calling me a chicken and then she calls me 13, and she thinks I am going to buy things from her, I went back to sleep.

The next day and last day on the beach Eli one of my life heros, has a serious problem with getting attacked/accosted by the beggars/beach sellers on the beach.

So Eli, Mallory, Chloe, and I were walking on the beach for a last beach strol on out lovely Colva beach (the beach we were staying on). We ran into PeeKay, who wanted to take some pictures with us in them, like IYE 3130 (Meaning International Youth Exchange District 3130 Pune India) and also pictures with us and the cute cows that were ever present on the beach. So it began with Eli stepping foot and she was sounded! On all sides they were a battle front with little Indian ladies with everything from silver chum chums (anklets with annoying bells) to towels to peanuts to sarongs. So the first lady had this pink and green sparkly sarong and I sorta liked it and well the lady was begging Eli to buy it (that was a bit of an understatement she was throwing it at her). Name your price she was saying and Eli was like Rs 75. And she was like NO 500! And Eli is like I really dont want it! So the entire time we were talking pictures with PeeKay (which with PeeKay it was like an hour… he had to make sure every grain of sand was in place). The beggar was yelling prices at Eli! She would be like I will give you a good price! Rs. 450, 350, 300… Eli is like Rs. 75! And the lady was like NO! And kept naming prices, then this little boy with Peanuts came, and was like “NUT, NUT, NUT, NUT, WHITE LIKE NUT!” and we are like “go away we are trying to take pictures!” Not to mention a ton of Indians were taking out pictures too, which is really annoying sometimes! Really what are they going to do with my picture! So the persistent peanut boy we decided to yell at him in Hindi! “Mea peanut alergiiee keay hai” over and over again, meaning “I is allergic to peanuts,” I don’t really know how to properly conjugate my verbs yet but it normally gets the job done… So we keep yelling this at him, we may even have a movie I am not to sure? But going on, We now are being sounded it was like an attack on all four sides! They began to close in to the point where we have five, and then seven, and then little girls all tying to sell us things, we all really wanted to scream! But more we wanted to scream at Eli, because they were all selling things to her! So the sarong lady was still there are she was down to around 150… And Eli is like 75! And so PeeKay being done with the pictures disappears, and we try to start walking down the beach away from the beggars, we also have the intention of filling up 7up bottles with sand so we can ship some home. Fresh sand from Goa! (see more on this later under shipping things home). So we are walking and the Eli finally gets so fed up with them, she tells the sarong lady who is declaring she has to feed her 7 children, which one is a baby, so she has to make money! Eli finaly goes “I will give you rs.75 to get the sarong and also for you to keep all the beggars AWAY from me!” This deal at this point was the deal of the century! So we give her the rs. 75 which she has agreed to, and she for about three minutes keeps all the beggars at bay. She would send them all away if they came up to us, when we were filling up the 7up bottles with sand. So then, after that she leaves! And all the beggars SWARM US! And so, the lady walking away, Eli gets almost knocked over by the beggars which have swarmed, and Eli is yelling in the sand “YOU PROMISED, YOU PROMISED, YOU PROMISED!!!!” At the top of her lungs, and she turns around and smiles! IT WAS SO AWFUL, then she starts laughing! After that they like to put things on you so you cant get them off so you have to buy them, it got pretty bad, a little girl, once went when she was showing us her silver charms, she asked for our price, and Mallory goes “Five Rupees!” because sometimes it is fun to offend them when you want them to go away (but really it does not work). This little girl who is selling things goes to Mallory “Your Killing me! You are to kill me!” Mallory goes to her “Well you look like you are still alive to me!” And she responds “No after this, I go into the sea, and I drown, I will drowie (she tried to mix die and drown, it did not work).” So that is the tale is the beach beggars.

Other things I did in Goa:

Went Parasailing, the Rotary took us. It was pretty sweet, and well cheap.

Rode around on the Bus, fun fun… I hated that bus.

When coming back I added up the numbers, and realized I spent over 50 hours! On the bus! It was pretty bad! Also on the way back this was odd, but I asked later and found out why, we were stopped 3 times on the way out of the state of Goa, by the police officers. They would stop the bus for around ten minutes and walk on and stare at us, touch some of out stuff one guy asked to look through my purse (which I have nothing to hide and there was nothing in it). He would touch the luggage racks and things, we really wondered what he would be looking for? I asked my host parents when we got back about it, and they said they were searching for illegal alcohol. Because in Goa, there is no alcohol taxes and so some people try and smuggle a lot into other states, which is illegal. But really they would never look in the boot of the bus, where the luggage was, because it was illegal go figure, I really don’t get the efforts of India sometimes.