Monday, August 20, 2012

India Trip 2012

My trip to India this summer was amazing, it wasn't quite like I remembered the last time but there was soo much to do and so many different things to see. I am very glad I had the opportunity to go and I want to list out the trip (my day to day diary).

Day 1 (may 30th):
Arrived-took about a 3 hour trip from the airport to the village (small city) where my dad lives. I visited my uncle and aunt who live in a house in the same city. Fell asleep-Jet lag caught up.

Day 2 (May 31st):
Stayed at home and unpacked.

Day 3 (June 1):
Attended a Friday Morning meeting (yes...in kerala....and let me just tell you it is not quite the same...at all!). We visited my uncle's house again at night.

Day 4 (June 2nd):
Went to Thiruvalla  to pick up my cousin from the train station-drank 10 ruppee coffee at a local restaurant (gotta love that bru). Went to my grandmother's (mom's mom) sister's house for lunch...reminded me that I miss my grandma.... =(

Day 5 (June 3):
First Sunday In Kannampally (Dad's hometown) church. Meeting was extremely boring. Service ended early for a C.M. (equivalent of youth meeting....). Interesting.

Day 6 (June 4th):
Attended a wedding in Rani. It was extremely hot...and the food....eh. Overall a very tiring experience.

Day 7 (June 5th):
Attended a ladies meeting at my uncles house.....again..... so yeah its not like home church. Convinced cousins to go to sabrimalla (okay so sabrimalla is like the jungle....its dangerous to drive...and apparently there are these elephants roaming free who can sit on your car and since you are driving up a winding hill/mountain type thing......it was dangerous....and I WAS A BIT ON THE CAUTIOUS SIDE......so I tried to convince them to turn back early.....). Also I found the song that I am going to cut my wedding cake too.....

Day 8 (June 6th):
Visited more of Chinnimami's (Mom's mom) sisters and hung out with the cousins for the rest of the day.

Day 9 (June 7th):
Hung out with cousins all day.

Day 10 (June 8th):
Ate porotta from ranni (there was some reallly good beaf curry). Watched Veer Zara with the cousins and hung out in the evening with them.

Day 11 (June 9th):
Went shopping in thiruvalla Mahalakshmi. Saw a prophetess in kotayam--> fail (I won't go into details... you can ask me about it in person). Dropped cousin back off at the train station--> Interesting experience. Reminded me of scenes from Jab We Met (GREAT MOVIE) for those who have not seen it. I am glad I got to see my cousin and spent time with her. It has been over 8 years and I am glad to have reconnected.

Day 12 (June 10th):
Went to church and afterwards watched a sad malayalam movie with my other cousins (last day with them =( )

Day 13 (June 11th):
Trip to Delhi begins:
Land in Delhi and receive marigold flower necklaces--> arrive at the hotel and eat at a nice restaurant (OMG MOST DELICIOUS FOOD EVER!!!!) Proceed to tour delhi with guide. Took a rickshaw (cycle) through chandini Chok (Im pretty sure that is the place they are referring too in Khabi Khushi Khabi Gham) The day ends with shopping at a local street market (bargaining is extensive...).

Day 14 (June 12th):
Trip to agra via tour bus. Saw Sikandar...on the way--note that if you are not an actual Indian citizen the price of tickets skyrockets (well not literally...but I mean seriously, seriously?). Recieved bindi upon arrival at hotel. Saw the agra fort (Red Fort)

Day 15 (June 13th):
5:00 am-saw the Taj Mahal.
8:00 am- came back to hotel and ate breakfast.
Proceeded to Jaipoor--upon arrival rested then took rikshaw to local stores for shopping. Experienced Jaipoor night life (driving through crowded city via rikshaw--; crazy driving)

Day 16 (June 14th):
Elephant Ride on Amber Fort in Jaipoor
Saw local sites- bought traditional shoes and puppets
Dinner- went to Choki Dhani-->traditional rajastani food --> it was a great experience. It was a small village with huts and there were camel rides and other fun occurrences. The food was simple yet delicious...no one does Gelabi like the Rajastanis.

Day 17 (June 15th):
Returned to Delhi for flight back to Kerala. Sampled airport food-wasn't bad. Ate Baskin Robins. There was however a rat..(we caught it on tape) in the airport....

Day 18 (June 16th):
Visited uncle's house, went to Ranni to pick up clothes (which we gave to stitch). Went to an uncle in our Dallas church's house. He has an orphanage. LOVED spending time with the kids who stayed there. They were all so happy to see me and spend time. It was just really great to spend (even though very short) time with them.

Day 19 (June 17th):
Sunday-went to church-->watched T.V (there was this movie that I never got to finish starring Mohanlal...I want to finish it....). Family friends visited house.

Day 20 (June 19th):
Packed to go to Banglore

Days 21-23 (June 20th-22nd):
Headed out on tuesday--> Stopped by brindavan gardens (very beautiful and quite modern with the light shoes and stuff).
Wednesday Morning--> Saw mysoor palace which was very beautifully decorated (we also almost got conned...well sorta.....basically we get there at 10:30 and ask for directions just to make sure...guy who helps says the palace doesn't open till 11pm but if we give him 50 rupees he will give us a tour of the town specifically taking us to three locations we are not interested...we figure we will wait it out....guy is persistent and we cave saying we don't want to see anything just need to go to a shopping complex ...guy takes us to shopping complex we spend money and I am sure he makes some sort of profit...but doesn't ask us for the 50 ...just tells us how to get to the palace. Again, so as not to get lost we as roll down the window to ask where the palace is...next guy says the palace doesn't open till 1pm.....FAIL...at least we didn't lose money.) After viewing the mysoor palace we make a quick stop at the chamoondy hills which is on the way to bangalore. Wednesday night we reach bangalore....which let me just tell you traffic is CRAZY...we were stuck in traffic for like 2 hours....and we couldn't find the road we were looking for..... Finally we end up at my cousins house and are able to rest and relax. Thursday we head out for shopping--> my cousin is stylish ...so she definitely showed me what is in for India fashion and of course we had lots of fun with our girl chats at night. For lunch--we ate at this EXCELLENT RESTAURANT--> great food. We ended the day by visiting some family friends. Also the sweets ARE SO GOOD. If you visit bangalore find a store called ANAND's.

Day 24 (June 23rd):
We head back to Kerala. We stop by Coimbatore, which is in Madras. We do some shopping there......basically we stay there for a loong time. Finally arrive home at night.

Day 25 (June 24th):
We go to adoor Kerala to visit a pastor who is somewhat a mentor to my dad. So I got to see his old college and eat dinner at the pastors house. We then visit a few more houses and family friends before heading home to visit my uncle and his wife.

Day 26 (June 25th):
Last Sunday--so it is customary that you sing a song and say testimony at churchs in Kerala. Like the local members will ask you multiple times about when you are planning on saying testimony...so I had to testify --> In all honesty there was a need for a testimony to thank God for his mercies in allowing us to travel and be safe on our journey and be able to see my grandmother (Dad's mom) after such a long time. We then visited all of my dad's extended family...I am talking about we spent 3-5 sometimes 10 minutes in each relatives house. I am glad we were able to do that as well.

Day 27 (June 26th):
We head to kotayam to spend time with my aunt (mom's sister from america) and my cousin CRYSTAL --who was on vacation from med school. We go on a boat ride (Kumaragam) and eat local food (great fish and shrimp). We then shop till we literally drop at SEEMATI.

Day 28 (June 27th):
Me, Crystal, Priscilla --> go for pedicures. Very cheap in India. But it was fun cousin time. We head back home to kannampally. We have to stop by ranni and beg a tailor to do some blouses for us (next day ....since we are leaving....).

Day 29 (June 28th):
Let the packing commence. We had to do some strategic packing in order to get everything fit and for us to finally be able to leave. Our trip had come to an END. It was really sad to say bye to my grandmother....I cried. I don't think I ever felt that close to her growing up because we were never able to spend time together but this trip we were able to and I was very sad to leave her.

*Footnotes:

These are the chronicles of my trip to india- Overall it was a pleasant experience which I thoroughly enjoyed. There were things such as...THE BATHROOMS....(taking a shower was so difficult...I felt as though i was getting dirtier not cleaner....EW). The fear that spiders would eat me at night (they didn't ...I didn't even see too many big ones ...JUST ONE). The food (sometimes wasn't all that great). I did realize that people don't give Kerala enough credit...it truly is God's own country...North India is a dry and very poor place ....But Kerala is flush with greens and has a jungle beauty that can't be found elsewhere.

Grandmother (ammachi) and I-I even taught her my name ;)

Mysoor Palace

Brindavan Gardens

So tired.

The Taj Mahal

Mom and I

Oh yeah...I took one of these.

The Family


Notice how in each of the following three pictures the expendable members of the family are exchanged ;)



Elephant Ride: on a side note ...they chew you out for tips...so better be weary and pay up.


THE END






1 comments:

Mallory said...

Wonderful! I love India...north south east and west. :-) Can't wait to go back again and again.