Mumbai / Bombay

Hello all,
We have made it successfully to our last stop on our trip. Trivandrum was sleepy and great. We had a layover in Banglaore, and while we were only there for about an hour, the weather was awesome. Nice and cool(ish) and dry.

Mumbai is a big big city. Like New York on steroids. I've heard some pretty dodgy things about this place, but so far its bee nice, probably because he haven't moved around too much. There was definitely some shady business at the airport with our cab ride into town, but if anything I overpayed about $7, so whatever. We are staying in an are called the Fort, apparently where the Brits originally had theirs, although nothing remains today. We went past eh Oval Maiden yesterday, a big lawn where all the locals were playing cricket. And then headed on over to the Back Bay area, where we sat on the sea wall overlooking the Arabian Sea. The streetlights there ring the bay, and are called the Queen's Necklace, as the resemble a string of pearls. We watched the lights come on, and then headed across the street to get pizza and beer! Almost perfect, although the sauce still tastes funny. They always add "something" to make it taste Indian.

Today we are going to catch a boat to Elephanta Island, a big island in the bay renowned for its hand-cut temple caves. Felicia is very excited about this. Then for some general wanderings...

I'll try to post some more pics later.

Trivandrum (or, as close to the bottom of the subcontinent as we can get)

Hello,
We are now in Trivandrum (aka Thiruvanathampuram...say that 5 times fast). Its the captial city of the state of Kerala, and almost at the very bottom of India. For a good sized city, it's really nice and laid back. Vellore was ten times more crowded and dirty, and it was just a little town with no real claim to fame other than a hospital.
To get here we took the train, one of my goals for the time in India. We got unreserved sleeper car tickets, and I was initially worried that we wouldn't be able to get on the train. You know...unreserved, only a couple of spots per car since they are sleepers....wrong. "Sleeper" means that there are bunks and stuff, but the closest I can come to describing this car was the pics I have seen of troop carriers ferrying US soldiers over to Europe in WW II. People all over the place, on bunks, in the aisle, hanging out the doors. Felicia and I get on with our backpacks and go "Whoah". We crush past people through 3 cars, finding nowhere to even stand, get off the train, go back up 4 cars, and then wind up I think back on the very 1st car we had gotten on. We found that if We took off our packs, slung our smaller bags up onto a bunk with other baggage, we could lean against the wall in the back of the car, between the doors and the bathrooms, with about 8 other people. Luckily, nobody closes the main doors on the cars, so there was a breeze to take away the revolting stench from the bathrooms once we got moving. It was soooo hot and humid too, sweat was pouring off of us. And these guys kept pushing through the cars selling hot coffee and tea the whole time. Nuts. Well, after about 1/2 hour some people got off, and then about another 1/2 hour later we managed to snag a bunk/seat next to window. The trip was much more enjoyable after that. Watching Kerala go by, with the breeze and traveling like the locals do, it was pretty neat. The whole thing took about 3 1/2 hours, pretty reasonable. Our tickets were Rs 84 each ( a little over $2, so what do you want), nobody even came by to check them. We decided that Kerala is officially beautiful. Sorry I have no pictures of the train trip, but there were so many people that were all crushed in there, and trains are so notorious for theft here, that I locked our bags and chained them to the seat. Just take my word for it, it was an initially unpleasant experience that improved significantly. And cheap too.
We got in, got to our hotel, with a/c and hot water (yes!) and feel a little like real people again. Unfortunately, it looks like most stuff is closed here on Mondays (?) so we will do a little sight seeing, a little shopping, and finish recharging ourselves before heading into the proverbial lions den that I hear Mumbai can be. We leave tomorrow AM, get into Mumbai around noon, will probably get to our hotel by 2PM (if lucky). We are there for 2 1/2 days, and hear it is the craziest place of all in India. Wish us luck.

Here are a few last pics from Kerala. I'll stop now, I promise.






These are people waiting at a "bus stop", since all transport on the backwaters is via boat.









If you don't take the bus, you take the family car. This is the only way to get out of the house.







Kerala was the first place to ever have a freely elected communist government, back in the 50's or 60's. The party is still popular, and you see stuff like this all over. Commies in paradise. Hey, if it were this vs siberia, I'd take this.












Our little friend who lived under the sink in our outdoor bathroom in Alleppey. Sometimes would serenade me at night, thanking me for splashing so much water all over the place.









Typical first thing I would see in the morning at the rustic Malayalam Lake Resort. Hot water? - no. A/C? - no. Mosquito net or screens? - no. Electricity? - usually. View and atmosphere - oh yeah.

Twilight on the backwaters. Man, this was nice.

We're off to shop and take pictures of temples and stuff. Mumbai will be nutty, but I'll try to get a post or two in from there. Thanks for reading!

- Chris and Felicia

Alleppey and the Backwaters of Kerala

Hello,
This is Felicia! Vacations are awesome. We just spent a relaxing 3 days amongst palm trees on the relaxing backwaters of Kerala. I have become very good at doing a whole lot of nothing. Getting back to work in the lab is going to be tough. We stayed in a cute little cottage, ate some good home-cooked meals, and then spent a day on a houseboat that took us though the backwaters of Kerala. That trip was fun because we got a small window into what it is like to live back there and see their fields and stuff. I was quite and experience. We had the best south Indian meals so far on the trip. No we are on to Trivandrum for a little less relaxation and hopefully some cool sights, before we eventually head for home. When we get home, I'll show everyone some great pictures of Chris in his Indian garb. Bye!

Hi there, this is Chris. I second what Felicia said. Kerala is just an green, calm, beautiful place to kick back. The little mom-n-pop place we stayed at on the water was great and cheap. Thatched hut, outdoor bathroom & shower, candlelight home-cooking by the water's edge at night. Kind of like roughing it a bit, but fun and nice. We went out on a boat set up by Manish (of my prior Kerala trip). It was great, and we had a wonderful time together. I got to drive it for a while! When tied up in a canal for the night, we discovered our boat was next to that of two Swedish students that had been my hostel-mates back at the CMC in Vellore! They are taking a long weekend. Small world, huh? Anyways, Felicia and I got even more lazy, and floated around, drank some beer, read some books, played some cards, and ate really great food. Today we hop a train to Trivanrum for a few days, then fly up to Mumbai, and from there eventually head for home in less than one week. This has been a long trip for me so far, but it is far from over......

Here are some recent pics of us:






This was our little piece of heaven. Our hut is tough to see, over on the right side.









Yes, Chris has a sickness. He had to fish in India. Not quite enough for dinner, but at least its something!








Our front porch, where Chris kicked my butt at blackjack.








Felica ponders gene mapping and haplotypes.....or snoozes as we cruise along. The beer in the foreground might be involved.









Felicia and a tree. Oh yeah, also really pretty canal and lots of green nature stuff.










Chris on the houseboat. In a dress (no, that's a dhoti, thank you very much!)









Our view from the boat. Begin jealousy now.





That's all for now. Thanks for reading! We'll see you soon from somewhere else.
-Chris and Felicia

Flood of Pics

Hello I'm back. Felicia is working on apost of her own right now, so please forgive us if there are duplicate photos.

First: I am alive. And, I got to shave! The loveley and talented, soon to be Dr Gomez in her own right, proved deft with scissor and tweeser, and successfully removed my stitches. Oh joy. So, you will all be able to tell the pre and post pics. Man, that scruff was driving me crazy in this heat.

I'm going to start out w/ some left over pics from Vellore I never posted.

This guy is sharpenning scissors in the marketplace.

The fancy shmancy hotel (or at least the closest facismileto one) in Vellore had this mural covering the wall in its restaurant. Now, I may be a culturally insensitive American, but I think I know one Indian from another.

Menus in Vellore were also goofy. For chicken dishes, the heading would be "Cock-a-doodle-doo" Seriously. I forgot to get a pic of that. Enjoy the description of the typical "American Meat Salad". Yum.

Well, its no Cock-a-doodle-doo, but why does a butler need a salamander. Under a pizza?

So, we have moved on from Fort Cochin. I will not be defeat by thins nation. First off, lets tally this up. In 3.5 weeks, I have had 2 GI problems requiring fasting and antibiotics the most recent one really brutal), plus a car wreck involving a concussion, what i believe to be fractured ribs (I still fall to my knees when I sneeze, it really hurts sometimes), a deep laceration requiring stitches to my face, and other assorted scars. The other day I felt so bad that I started counting down the days until we left. But I feel a lot better now, so here we go! I have some more pics from Delhi and Agra.

On the way to Agra we passed a wedding procession. I actually got out and danced like a fool with the drummers. This is what they thought as we moved on.

We saw about 10 tombs in 1.5 days. This was one of them . I forget who is in here (sorry).

Another neat looking tomb, either in Delhi or Agra, of somebody famous and now dead.

Felicia, as always, drew a crowd. In many touristy places, everyone wanted a picture with her. It was funny at first, and then I think it started to get old.

Felicia explores Agra Fort.

Felicia in the public hall at Agra Fort.

Agra Fort again. I really liked the red stone. This place is still 60% occupied and used actively by the Indian Army.

B&W version of the previous pic.

Walls and moat of Agra Fort.

Veiw as you enter the main court to the Taj Mahal. Pretty sweet.

We stayed at Fort Cochin 3 nights. Finally got me out of the house on the last night, to go see the local dances. These are incredibly ritualized, the closest thing I could conceive of comparing them to would be Kabuki in Japan. It was really neat, and even though it is the off-season and there were maybe 15 people in the audience, the troupe was took their work seriously and were very impressive. This is an art form native to Kerala (the state on the southwest coast where we will be for the next week). It is called Kathakali.

This is a Kathakali guy dressed up as some demon king. Pretty detailed story told only through dance and music. If you get to the show hall early you get to watch him put on his makeup. Only men perform this (in both male and female roles).

Well, this AM we bid farewell to Cochin, and made it down to Alleppey (a.k.a Allappuzha) by 10AM. We are staying at the Malayalam Lake Resort. It is impossible to find, and I only heard about it on an internet message board. I am already impressed. Yeah, its basic. No screens in the windows (lots of DEET at night), no TV, open air bathroom/shower, but it is right on a canal, incredibly relaxed and peaceful, and the staff are very nice. They brought me some ginger juice and mango to help my stomach. And they gave us a canoe to cruise around in this afternoon. We will be here 2 nights, then spend a night on a houseboat, before heading down to Trivandrum. Alleppey is not bad at all, except lots of people bug you to take a ride in their houseboat or backwater tour. No thanks, we're getting that taken care of already.

Be it ever so humble.....

Here's Felicia chilling out on the little day-bed that sits over the water. So stressfull....

Well, thats all for now. We'll keep on keepin' on. I now have to try to work on graduation stuff and apparently my intern-year schedule all from India, so this is a little goofy, but whatever.

See you soon! -chris

Hello from Felicia

Hello Everyone,
This is my first time blogging, so please be a bit patient while figure this out. Chris has already told you about most of our activities, so my plan is to just fill in some of the details and post some more pictures. My arrival into Delhi was mostly uneventful......aside from the hotel mix-up (which was a pain in the butt). After we both arrived in Delhi we did our tour of the city.


Here is a picture of Humayun's tomb. This was probably my favorite thing we saw that day. This building is supposed to be one of the inspirations for the Taj Mahal. It was very peaceful and grounds were beautiful.




Here is a picture of Chris and I at the tomb. I have posted this picture as an example of my inability to take good pictures. We have so many pictures that would be great if I did not have my eyes closed. Oh well, such as life.





Here is Chris at the B'hai temple. This is a classic Chris pose that I thought deserved some blog attention.











The next day we went to Agra and visited Agra's Fort and the Taj Mahal. As Chris said there were tons of beggars (both kids and adults) in Agra. I'm never quite sure how to act around them and at times they can be a bit much. However,some of them are very entertaining. After consistently telling one kid that we are not going to give him money he threatened to call the police, and walked away from us yelling "Police, Police!" It was great.




So, in Agra I was a rock star. We met so many people who could not believe that I really exist. It was great. Several Mongolians and also Indian tourists wanted pictures with me. Here is an example of one of the many pictures I took at the fort. I should have started charging for pictures. I might have made a profit on the visit

Here's Chris making a face. I'm not sure what else I can say about this. You just gotta love him.

Here is the obligatory monkey picture. So cute!

After Agra we hopped on a plane and flew to Cochin (and stayed in an area called Fort Cochin). As Chris has already mentioned Fort Cochin had its ups an downs. We had a great time with the elephants, but the weather on our first day was really not great, making site seeing no fun, and Chris was sick for a a good bit of the visit.

Anyway, here is a picture of the Chinese fishing nets that are used along the beach at Fort Cochin. Basically they use big nets to catch fish that swim by. The fishermen here also use more moder methods of fishing, but I think these are still very much apart of the fishing industry.

While we were in Cochin I also got to pretend that I am an MD, and I removed the five stitches that Chris got from the accident. Maybe I have a second career in plastic surgery......

Here are some more elephant pictures. This was an awesome morning! I had so much fun, and by the looks of it think Chris did too. At the end of this post is some video of Chris washing the elephant! Have a look.

Just in case you couldn't tell I am having a great time. It is trips like this that make almost three years of long distance well worth the time and effort we have both put in. Right now we are in Alleppey and are staying in a small resort on a lake. It is awesome.

More to come in a few days. I hope everyone at home is good. Can't wait to hear what everyone else is up to!

OK, we're back in business...sort of

Hello everyone.
Sorry about the hiatus. Its been a little wacky, but we're online (at least for today). Since we last spoke (or rather, I monologed) we have had a whirlwind last few days. So, Felicia and I met up in Delhi. Our hotel room was most entertaining. As mentioned before, we got a car and driver for a day in Delhi and Agra. Delhi was fun. Agra was ridiculous. For the first part, our driver stopped off several times during the day to take us to "museum/shop" places that were really just stores full of tourist stuff. When we got to Agra, we were hounded by people begging (especially the kids, which is tough and they know it....one of them kept calling me Uncle). Actually, Delhi was pretty bad too. Its a shame, because all these people getting in your face insisting that you buy stuff makes you a little paranoid and on edge while you try to enjoy the sights. Having white skin is like having a target on your forehead. But black skin has its own issues too. If people sometimes stared at me, Felicia was very very popular. You'd think these people had never seen a black person before. Many Indians are as dark as her, but they looked at her like she had just stepped off of a spaceship. Amusing, especially when they all wanted their pictures taken with her.




Here is Felicia inside one of the mausoleum "annexes"






So, we went to Agra. Saw the tomb of Akbar. Had lunch. Went to the Taj Mahal. It was like running a gauntlet to get through the people trying to scam you out of every little cent. I really began to feel like all Indians just want to nickle and dime you to death. I know this was just sypmtomatic of the locale, but it got old really fast.















Here is the lotus-shaped b'hai temple in Delhi. They were very nice. It was free, including shoe storage.







I think this is Akbar's tomb. Its all blurring together.












Inside of Agra Fort.










Holey Moley, I can see the Taj mhal from here!


















Yes, we are very cute.










Our hotel in Agra was ok, not much better than the one we had in Delhi. We did get a free breakfast again, though! We left early to make sure we did not miss our flight out of Delhi that afternoon. The two cities are about 120km apart, but on Indian roads that can easily take 4 hours. Our driver stopped again at the same little rest area as before, this time there was a guy with a cobra out front. So we walk over, I figure it will be a couple of rupees. He wants to put a python on Felicia's neck but she declines. He pulls out the cobra which gets all worked up and puffs up. We take our pictures. And then he demands 500 rupess. Wow. My mistake for not agreeing on a price sooner. We haggle, I give him 300 (about $10, still way too much), but he is a dirty nasty old man and I just want to get on the road.

We made it to the airport in enough time and got to Cochin with no problems. This place is so much more laid back than around Delhi. It was a little cooler, if more humid, but cleaner and less hectic. Our homestay sent a car to pick us up, for what amounted to a 1hour drive to our new home. We were very pleased with the new digs, went out to eat, then home to sleep.

In the AM, we got up early and headed over to the elephant training center, where orphaned elephants are taken in and trained, so that they can lead productive lives working for the forestry department or in temples. If you get there early enough, you can help wash them in the river!






Here is Felicia scrubbing away with a coconut shell! We scrubbed a 6-yr old female named Asha. She was very clean in the end.
Here is footage of the acutual elephant scrubbing. There are shots of me too, we'll put them up in a few days. Anyways, it was a dream come true for me to scrub an elephant. We got a ride on the big adult female too. Wow. Thats a lot of animal.

On the way home I realized that India is trying to kill me. I began round two (and by far much more severe) of my gastro-intestinal difficulties. It has been pretty rough. Felicia is wonderful, though. We were supposed to have moved on today, but we stayed in Fort Cochin for an extra day to let me be a little more presentable in public. I probably won't eat at all today, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Tonight we'll try to see some ritual dance performances, and then tomorrow its on to Alleppey, and eventual houseboat time.

Here are a few words from Felicia:
Hey, world! Look Mom I'm blogging. The next time we get to another internet cafe I will put up a proper post, but I just want to say "Hi!" and let everyone know that I am doing well and I am having a great time. So far I have not had much gastric upset and for the most part the climate seems to agree with me, although Chris may have a different opinion. We have got to run to the theatre, so I will leave you for now. Thanks for reading! More to come!