South Asia Trip (Sept - Dec 2002)

Week #9 Update

Yes, it is that time again for along update from Sameer. I know they are long but most people have replied positively and enjoy them so I shall continue with them. In either case, I only have 3 weeks to go so you need only bear 4 more of these emails!

I left off in Udaipur the last time. I am now in Mumbai and relaxing for a few days and preparing for the south. I am off to Bangalore tonight where I am staying with my cousin's in-laws, then off to Kerala on December 1st and then to Goa on December 6th. I return to Mumbai on December 13th and back to Canada on the 19th.

Udaipur has been my favourite city so far and I really enjoyed myself there. Stayed a total of 3 days and 2 nights and met more locals than foreigners. For those of you that may not know, the famous James bond movie, Octupussy, with the 2 Indian actors and all the women was shot in Udaipur so now all the good hotels and guest houses show Octupussy on a large screen TV every night so that tourists can recognize settings in the movie. Udaipur is also the city with the lake city palace hotel, which is a 5-star hotel in the middle of the lake. You need to take a boat across. The first day I just walked around the outskirts of the city for 3 hours, visiting various parks, lakes and monuments. Had a lot of time to reflect on my thoughts and the other cities I had been to. Since I had arrived that morning, I went o sleep early that night after having an hour chat with two Irish girls that I met who was going to the places I had been. It was refreshing to meet people from a different country other than Israel!

The next day was the best as I rented a scooter/moped for a day for $10 and rode around town like a typical Indian, honking at everything and anything for no reason but to announce my presence! Rode around town for an hour, went to the train station to book my tickets and then shopped around in the afternoon. Later in the day I took a 15 km ride to a neighbouring village where there is a huge lake surrounded by hills, called Tiger Lake. Sat there for an hour and enjoyed the scenery and the curios stares from the locals. Almost had a huge mishap - accidentally pressed the accelerator and almost had the scooter run down the cliff edge into the lake. That was a bit scary but I managed to get it back up the cliff edge a meter at a time! From there I rode to a place called Monsoon Palace (Sajan Ghar) which is a palace built on the top of a hill in the 19th century. My scooter gave up half way up the hill and after 5 minutes of cursing and shaking the scooter, it started up again! Beautiful sunset from up there and a breathtaking or breath stopping view of Udaipur from high up in the hills. Met an indo-British guy, Neel, up there who was also traveling on his own so we hung out for a bit and met for dinner as well.

The last day was spent shopping for handicrafts and paintings and I bought $100 of stuff, which is a lot of stuff by Indian standards. Met a friendly shopkeeper, Gudu, who became my friend and helped me out with all kinds of stuff like free lunch, ride to the train station, place to keep my luggage and what not. Of course I became friends with him because when I first walked into the shop, his prices were reasonably better than other shops selling the same things and he was very welcoming. In fact most shopkeepers were very welcoming once they realized that I was not Israeli and in fact an 'apna' (our own) so in total I think I had 10 free cups of chai with different shopkeepers. Bumped into Neel again and hung out for while at the Gudu's guesthouse. Gudu's friend knows a girl from Vancouver and they spent some time together in Udaipur. He is madly in love with her and wants to marry her but can't even fully understand the letters she writes him. So Neel and I translated a letter for him and he got us to write a letter to her. She obviously wants to be close friends, where by he wants her to visit and marry her! I couldn't break his heart!

After Udaipur, I headed off to the real motherland - Gujarat! Arrived into Ahmedabad at 4:30 AM and got a hotel room in the heart of the Muslim neighbourhood around the train station. I figured surrounding myself with Muslims would be good in case some fanatic Hindus decide on a riot and make me prove that I am not Muslim by making me drop my pants and checking to see if I am circumcised! Spent part of the day sightseeing around old city of Ahmedabad and then walked to CG Road, (equivalent of Robson, Oxford, or Yonge Street) to meet a contact that my friend Fatima had given me. Ended up meeting 4-6 local Ahmedabad guys and moved into Anil's place that night. These guys took great care of me and entertained me in the evenings. Two of them are trance, dnb DJ's and they had a gig on Saturday night at a café called Slang. So I was guest DJ from Canada for ˝ hr playing rnb and hip-hop! Indians here are not great fans of rnb when it comes to dancing, they'd rather dance to techno, rave, dnb, garage and the like. Ate some good food at some stingy places (which are the best places to eat in India) and have seriously eaten the most junk food in India in Ahmedabad. The days were spent hanging out with the DJ's, sightseeing, a visit to the Gandhi Ashram and walking a lot. It was great to speak in Gujarati and Hindi to the boys and the locals that I met. I have realized that my childhood in Kenya was extremely similar to the typical Indian childhood and I have been able to relate to Indians in my generation very easily. Just replace all the labour class in India and half your classmates with Africans, and you have India in Africa! I could move to India and fit right in and is a thought I have been toying with. Fortunately I have not gotten sick or had any stomach problems yet in India.

My train ride was eventful as it seems that the Ahmedabad - Mumbai route is always packed even though there is a train every 2 hrs. So I was waitlisted and just boarded the train anyway. Slept on my bag near the door from 3:30AM to 7 and then got an empty seat till 10AM and then finally an empty berth to sleep in till 12 noon, when we arrived into Mumbai. The taxi driver tried to cheat me and get me to pay 250 Rs when it should be around 70-80 Rs, so after arguing in Hindi for 5 minutes (which obviously surprised him as he thought I was some stupid foreigner he could con) he took 80. In the rush of things, I forgot my paintings worth $60 in the taxi. There are over a million taxis in Mumbai and it was a hopeless task. Nevertheless, my uncle in his pajamas and I sped off to the train station and I started looking for this taxi driver. Luckily he spotted me and shouts out ' Sir, I have your paintings. I was drinking chai and about to come to drop them off'. So I got my paintings back and was very relieved; I could have given him 100 Rs in reward but we had nothing on us! The irony amazes me - he was dishonest at first and tried to con me with the taxi fare, but was honest enough to keep the paintings safe in his trunk and intend to return them!

So, haven't done anything interesting in Mumbai, just chilling with family and enjoying the no hassles of backpacking and the comforts of home cooked meals. My next email will be from the backwaters of Kerala or from the beaches of Goa.

Till then, Sameer