Pondy Pondy Pondy Pondy Pondy~

Today is unfortunately our last day in beautiful seaside Pondicherry, the former colony of France and current independent city-state on the Bay of Bengal.  Tomorrow, Anthony and I catch a train from Chennai to Calcutta where we plan to spend the next few weeks of our journey.

I wish I could post the pictures I've taken here, because it is with my observations that the stories lie.

Our foray into Auroville was enlightening, but not in the blissful, spiritual way that people hope for when they visit there.  The first, exploratory venture into the acclaimed eco-city or whatever they like to think of themselves as proved promising, but only because it was a data gathering mission and not an attempt to dive in and participate in their experiment.  We woke early to beat the raging heat of the near-equatorial sun and had a bit of a bland breakfast at Indian Coffee House, a place Anthony's friend Martin recommended because they are a rare place that serves eggs in this predominantly lacto-vegetarian country.  Coffee here makes me realize what a gift Seattle is in terms of the beloved brew; here it is almost syrupy because it is brewed in milk with the sugar added, similar to how the chai is prepared.  Proper coffee does not exist here, and I can't stomach what does, although chai I can drink in abundance because I believe that here it is brewed in its own proper way, uncorrupted by Western ideas of what chai should be.  My favorite chai are still the ones that have distinguishable spice flavors, but mostly it is supersweet black tea and milk served in cups little larger than shot glasses.  Forget the silly powdered chai back home served for $5 or whatever absurd price is charged for the oversized cup; chai here can be had on most corners for R5-10 at most, a whopping $0.10-0.20!  Chai here is brewed fresh all day long. <3

Back to the story~
After breakfast, we hopped on our rented motorbikes and delved into the insanity of Indian traffic.  I've been told that Pondicherry is subdued compared to other parts of India, its population not as large as other places, and with comparatively well-maintained roads, but my god.  Driving in India makes me hate everything for a while.

There's not really such a thing as lanes here, nor have I seen a posted speed sign, which wouldn't matter anyways, I'm sure.  Drivers regard each other more as obstacles to be overtaken rather than fellow humans.  In a fantastic book I just finished and highly recommend, Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (Vintage 2009) was an image of vehicles in Ethiopia that I found mirrored in India: petrol is not the natural fuel of the overabundance of vehicles on the road, but horns.  The honking NEVER stops here.  In the French quarter of Pondy are a few signs that say, "NO HONKING", but drivers blast by and never let their hand off the horn anyways.  It's partly hilarious, but mostly outrageous.

WOO-  Computer blacked out and I thought I lost everything for a second.  Thank god for automatic draft saving.  Cheesuz.

I'm going to have to finish this shit later, or else stop taking to long to type everything out.  There are just so many details!  And going days between posts means things pile up.

I'll sum up briefly- Auroville was a farce, so we decided not to stay there, but to spend a few more days in Pondicherry before heading north.  Most of the places I want to visit are in the north anyways, but it was too cold to stay there when I first landed.  I can hardly believe I've already been here three weeks though.

More on everything later.  Hopefully also pictures soon.
<3

My posts since India haven't been very promising, I realize, but the first week or so was a shitfest.  The cold of Delhi was unexpected, and while the incessance of the Indian taxi driver is renowned, I wasn't prepared for how in my face and ingenuine I felt everyone was being.  Perhaps it was just being in an enormous city in a third world country, but part of me definitely wondered what the hell I was doing in India at all.  My plan had only gotten me this far anyways, in retrospect a slightly silly way to travel, but since leaving India's capital in favor of the warmth of the south, and with a little time to adapt, I'm very glad I stayed.

After Delhi, we caught an overnight train south to Bhopal, a city of some two million recommended to Anthony for its scenic lakes.  Upon arrival, we wandered through a residential area where a gang of kids gathered as we walked around looking for something to eat.  Those little kids, man, they must have never seen a white person in their neighborhood before because they were following us, running ahead of us to grab their friends, and shouting Hello!  Hello!  Giggling, Anthony and I ducked through alleyways decked out in trash and circled back to our starting point outside the train station to figure out where we might find a guesthouse.  Manuevering through the insane traffic of auto rickshaws and motorbikes with their ceaseless honking, we learned that Bhopal was booked full, and the only room we could find was overpriced, but we took it anyways.  Almost immediately, just getting through the damned traffic and being harried by taxi drivers again, we realized what a mistake it was to go there.  Evidently, there's not much happenin' in Bhopal, and the 'scenic lakes' Anthony had heard about were polluted and not very scenic.  Anthony was also sick, a predicament pleasant to no one.  We pretty much stayed in Bhopal for one day before deciding to hop a bus to Sanchi, famed for its millenia old stupas.

I actually quite liked Sanchi; despite bursting into tears because I hate the Archeological Survey of India's co-opting of the stupas and charging foreigners the ridiculous rate of R250 to the Indian R10, Sanchi was a lovely place.  Rather than fall prey to that tourist trap crap, Anthony and I explored the country roads near where we stayed at the Mahabodhi Sri Lanka.... place.  I forget the exact name and forgot my journal at our current room at the ashram in Pondy.  Anyways, Sanchi was quiet and warm, and the country was verdant and spread all over.  I wish I knew what they were growing, maybe rice?  Sometimes, people would pass us on their motorbikes, the ladies riding sidesaddle would gaze quizzically at us and wave a shy hello, and men would honk and shout hello as they burst past us.  We walked to a tiny village and sat in the shade of some temple, watching some kids pass the time and a cowherd with his herd go by.  Oddly, despite the absolute peace of the place, some young dudes on a motorbike told us the place wasn't safe and that we'd do better to go back to our tourist thing, like the stupas (puh-lease.)  We never figured out what the hell they could have been warning us against, but all we saw was nice farmers in the field, women gathering water from well pumps, and other ladies forming cow dung into patties to dry in the sun for later use as fire fuel.  Nothing we could see presented us any danger, but at some point Anthony and I headed back to the main part of Sanchi.

Our accommodation in Sanchi at the Mahabodhi namenamename place periodically had monkeys swinging through the trees, and two loving guard dogs that enjoyed cuddling.  In the market across the street, Anthony and I had our meals in various places.  I'm not sure why, but making toast is a bit of a struggle out here.  I should be eating more adventurously, but my guts do protest sometimes.  However!  Only in Sanchi have I seen a man offering boiled eggs from a cart, and when we were too late for dinner at the restaurants in the market, he was a treasure.  Egg Man also had manners and a great smile, so after eating his eggs with a bit of masala, when we said thank you, he was the only person so far to say you're welcome, and it was such a pleasure, let me tell you.  I loved the Egg Man so much that I dreamed of his eggs; someone told me they were the way towards detachment, and I saw clearly his string for cutting the eggs in half.  I'm not sure what the hell that dream means, but it was kinda fun anyways, and when I went back to the Egg Man the next evening, I told him his eggs are my favorite and that I dreamed about them.  His limited English meant that my dream confession left him with a confused, but genial expression on his face.  Oh well, the barriers of language.  I'll have to learn some Hindi at least, while I'm here.

Hmm.  Anthony and I should be getting back to the ashram for curfew soon...

When Anthony and I decided to forgo visiting the stupas, and following our wander through the backroads, we decided it was time to move on and find something to keep us occupied for a bit longer, something to help us feel like our traveling is productive and not just mindless.  Currently, we are in Pondicherry following another overnight train south out of Bhopal to Chennai, topped with a 3 hour bus ride in a bus with the AC cranked to refrigeration.  Haha, our train was also running about 6 hours late (oh, India, I am beginning to calm down and love you for being you.)

I'll have to regail one and all with tales of Pondy later, but we've found an organic farm we volunteered at today and might move to shortly to help with preparation for their upcoming ecomusic (?) festival.

<3 

Trains and tings

We've been riding lots of trains lately, and now we're in Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu state.  It's hot, by the ocean, and I can't wait to explore.

 The keyboard at this place is sticky icky icky, so more later.
<3

Billionaires

I made it to India safe and sound, and Anthony went immediately to the Tibetan area of Delhi called Majnu-ka-Tilla.  It was relatively quiet and peaceful there, and I was excited to be in India.  We ate momos and thupka at a tiny restaurant to warm ourselves up because Delhi is balls cold right now, and wandered the tiny alleys of the neighborhood.

Then the next day, Pahar Ganj and Connaught Place.  Men left and right (ladies aren't as free to roam) tried to rush us onto their rickshaws and book us tickets out, pretending at friendliness while probably trying to get commission off us for being middlemen.  Anthony showed me this nice shop called People Tree where local artists made everything, and their book selection surprised me with its content, mostly the gender issue books.  Our hostel was clean and quiet, and we had a nice roof to sit on and observe the insanity below.

Delhi wasn't my favorite place, though, and being in Bhopal has me reconsidering what I thought I was coming out here for.  I was prepared for a hard journey, but I assumed it would be body hard and not spirit hard.  Mostly I feel stressed out because I can't walk anywhere without someone asking me for something, and with how much people have tried to rip us off, I'm surprised this country isn't populated by billionaires.  It's only been a few days, so I want to keep trying, but getting sick didn't particularly make me like this place any better.

We'll see how it goes.

Dublin thus far...

Being an international adventurer makes me feel like a badass.  I flew across the Atlantic Ocean for the first time, and here I am, in Dublin with Rashel and Shea.

Unfortunately, today is my last day in Ireland, but Rashel and I made it an excellent one.  We took the DART to Howth, a peninsula to the east of Dublin, and hiked around the breathtaking cliffs.  Amazingly, the sun decided to show its lovely shining face for us, the first time I'd seen it here, so the views were awesome.

I can tell I'm going to suck at this online blog thing, being all self-conscious about it, and also keeping a personal journal...  I'll come back and post some real updates sometime, but for now, more pictures!

 Steps to River Liffey

 Ruins in Phoenix Park

 Deer in Phoenix Park

Howth

Happy New Rear!

Sorry for the title; happened to see someone whirling his love gun and shaking his bum on the streets of Dublin last night.  Gosh, people were funny.

I'll write an actual update later, for now I just want to post some pictures.

 Rashel in her Subway work uniform.

 River Liffey

 I just liked the primary colored doors.

 Vine monster climbing this building.

 New Year's Eve at the anarchy club.

 Shea on drums.

Tea Cake played a lovely set.  Everyone danced.

Like I said, more later.  Dublin with Rashel and Shea has been great fun so far. <3