World Cup Cricket in Bangalore – March 2, 2011

We took a night bus from Trivandrum to Bangalore, with plans to stay for only one night. Mieke has a friend living there, Peter, so we got lucky and had a place to stay. He lives in UB City, a high end shopping and condominium complex. We had no idea, and it is absolutely beautiful! Just like a hotel. We had our first hot shower in over 2 weeks, and it was wonderful.

We weren’t sure what to do with the day, and had to figure out our plans for getting to Hampi, our next stop. Peter had also mentioned that there was a cricket game on that afternoon, Ireland vs. England. We did some shopping and then had to sort out our bus tickets to Hampi, which turned out to be much easier than expected. We got a great tuk tuk driver who brought us to a travel agent and we managed to get a bus leaving that same evening.

Next stop was trying to get cricket tickets. Our driver said that the only way to get tickets would be some black market scalped tickets, but that he would see what he could do for us. We drove to the stadium, and he got out and talked to some people looking for tickets. He went to a few different entrances and managed to find us some for only 250 rupees each ($5.50 CAD). Success!

Then he brought us to buy some beer to drink before heading to the game, because alcohol is prohibited in the stadium. He let us sit in his tuk tuk and drink them. He was the nicest driver we’ve had in all of India.

He dropped us at our gate, and we wandered a bit away to get our faces painted. He came back out because he thought we were headed in the wrong direction away from our gate. Then he made sure that the guys doing the face paint charged us a fair price. They had some issues with getting the Irish flag right, and wanted to paint the Indian flag...even though India wasn’t playing. Since the colours for the two countries are the same, most of the Irish memorabilia they were selling was actually all India stuff.

Somehow we ended up in a section filled with Irish people, who had come to Bangalore specifically for the cricket matches. These guys beside us gave us these funny hats they had brought from Ireland, a leprechaun and jester hat. We got to talking with them, and they asked how much we paid. When we said 250, they were like “Rupees?” and we said “yeah, rupees.” Turns out they paid 150 Euros for their tickets, and the stadium wasn’t even half full.

What was quite a bit different from sports events in Canada was that they didn’t sell any alcohol. No beer at all, only some Pepsi. I couldn’t imagine everyone going to hockey games and not having any beer! The food was also quite different. No burgers or pizza, but samosas and fruit bowls.

We stayed for a few hours, and during that time England was just destroying Ireland. We left to go and have dinner and get ready for our night bus. On the bus we got a call from Peter, and Ireland had just managed to pull off an epic win. Mieke kept getting texts from people back home in Ireland telling her about the win. We should’ve stayed at the game for a bit longer to watch it happen!

Mieke and I at the match:

Bath time with the Elephants! – February 25, 2011

Fridays at the ashram are our “day off” from the daily schedule, so most people break free and go out for day trips. We’d heard on an elephant sanctuary nearby where we could help wash the elephants, so we headed out in the morning. When we arrived the washing had already started, and two female elephants were in the lake lying on their sides, while their handlers were hard at work scrubbing them down. To wash them they use what looked like a quarter of a dried coconut, using the inside to rub them.

We were invited to grab a piece of coconut and get right in the water and start scrubbing them down. The handlers were scrubbing really hard while the rest of us were more gentle, so not sure if we were really effective help or not! The elephants seemed to be enjoying it either way. After a little while, they got the elephants to sit up and then lay down on their other side to continue the washing. Their skin is really tough, and covered in all these bristly black hairs.

When the washing was finished, the elephants stood up and walked up to the edge of the lake so that we could feed them bananas. On our way to the sanctuary we picked up 3kg of bananas, so glad we did that! I held them in my hand one at a time, and the elephants would grab them with their trunks. They were sniffing around the group and grabbing the bananas from everyone’s hands.

Next up they took us to see this 79 year old elephant, and he totally looked like an old man! We got to feed him some bananas as well, but instead of letting him grab them with his truck, we placed them directly into his open mouth. Lots of elephant slober!

After that we got to go for a really short ride on one of the elephants. We got up on this platform that was level with the elephants back, and climbed on. Three of us got on together. I was right up at the front on the shoulders and with each step could feel the elephant shifting weight to each side. The whole thing was such an awesome experience, all for about $5.00 CAD.

The Power of Om

The symbol and mantra ‘Om’ is everywhere in the ashram, from satsang to the yoga classes to the meals. It’s pronounced ‘aum’ and looks like a three with a circle on the right and a crescent shape above. During meditation, they encourage us to use it if we don’t already have a mantra, constantly repeating “Aaauuuuuuuuuummmmmmm” with each breath. During yoga to get our attention at the beginning of class or get us up from savasna, they say Om. We’re supposed to eat our meals in silence, and when the room get to noisy, someone will come on the mic and say “Om, please eat in silence, Om”. When we want more food, we say Om to attract the food server’s attention. In the men’s dorms in the morning, someone walks along saying “Om wake up Om”, and will come right up over the bed to wake people up! We aren’t so lucky in the women’s dorm, we just have the normal wake up bell.

Life at the Ashram - February 15 – March 1, 2011

I decided to extend my time in India and join Mieke at an ashram. She picked one that was recommended by friends, the Sivanada Yoga Vendanta Dhanwawnthari Ashram. The program focuses around yoga and also includes meditation, chanting and talks. We committed to staying for 2 weeks to participate in the Yoga Vacation program. There are actually 2 Sivanada Centres in Canada, one in Toronto and one in Montreal.

To get a taste for the yogic lifestyle, this was the daily schedule:

05:20 am         Wake-up bell

06:00 am         Satsang (1.5hrs) Group meditation, chanting and usually a talk.

07:30 am         Tea and a small snack.

08:00 am         Yoga (2hrs)

10:00 am         Breakfast – All vegetarian, all the time.

11:00 am         Karma Yoga aka chores. Once the chores are finished it’s free time until the lecture.

12:30 pm         Optional coaching for yoga and meditation.

01:30 pm         Tea and another snack.

02:00 pm         Lecture

03:30 pm         Yoga (2hrs)

06:00 pm         Dinner – More vegetarian delights.

08:00 pm         Satsang (1.5hrs) More meditation and chanting.

10:30 pm         Lights out. With the early mornings, nobody seems to have a problem with this one.

We’re expected to attend the entire program, and follow a few basic rules. It hasn’t been as strict as they made it sound when we first got here though. We’re supposed to observe silence before the morning satsang and after the evening satsang and during meals, but usually everyone talks. No mobile phones either, but I haven’t seen that strictly enforced. They have wifi in one of the halls, so during free time everyone is sitting around on their iphones or laptops. The wifi was a very nice surprise!

We have more free time than I expected we would, and it’s nice to have the chance to read or swim in the lake. The food is really delicious, and it was surprisingly easy getting used to eating vegetable curries and rice in the morning. The only downside is that the food is a bit repetitive.

It’s my first time trying out the vegetarian diet and so far so good. It’s easy when there’s someone making the food! We’re allowed dairy but no eggs, onions or garlic. Onions and garlic are stimulants that can negatively affect the mediation process by making it more difficult to concentrate and focus so a definite no go. During meals we sit in long lines on the floor and eat with our hands. They serve us this strange smoky tea that is a blend of ayurvedic herbs that’s supposed to aid digestion, but it tastes so gross I can’t drink it.

Four hours of yoga a day might seem like a lot, but the first half hour of each class is just different breathing exercises. Definitely not my favourite part! Between the meditation and the breathing exercises we end up spending a lot of time sitting in a “comfortable” cross legged position, with our backs straight and shoulders down. I have yet to discover the comfort in this position. We also spend a lot of time resting in savasna aka corpse pose. So really not much as much of a workout as I initially hoped for. They  take a long time showing us how to do each pose properly, so hopefully I can remember some of it for when I get back home. We are working on poses I’ve never tried before, like headstand and shoulder stand, so that’s pretty cool.

Everyone at the ashram is really friendly. Everyone is required to pay for a minimum of 3 nights, but some people end up staying less or more time. Quite a few people are participating in the yoga vacation and staying for 2 weeks. Most people stay in the dorms, and they’re actually really nice! Our dorm has some low walls dividing up the room, so there’s more privacy than if it was just a giant room filled with beds. The showers are always cold, but it’s so warm here right now it’s actually refreshing to take a cold shower.

The grounds here are really beautiful, and the ashram is up on top of a hill with beautiful views. Most of the karma yoga chores are cleaning and maintaining the different buildings of the ashram. I’m on bins, so I have to empty bins in a certain area and wash them out. A pretty decent chore actually, since it only takes about 20 minutes! Other people serve food and clean up the dining hall, or clean and sweep the dorms. Some people work in the Health Hut, a little cafe open during our break, making smoothies, fresh fruit juice and other healthy snacks. They have some many people doing all the chores, nothing really takes that long. And I haven’t seen anyone stuck scrubbing the toilets with a toothbrush!

I’ve found 2 weeks to be enough time for me to really enjoy the experience and gain some beneficial insight, but I’m definitely ready to move on to the next place, and have some beer and chocolate!

Practicing the headstand:

What IS that smell? Adventure on a night train. – February 11, 2011

We booked a 15 hour night train from Palolem Beach in Goa to Fort Cochin in Kerala, set to depart at 11:20pm. It was an hour late, but not so bad considering some of the horror stories I’ve heard about Indian train delays. Since it was our first train ride without the group, we were a bit apprehensive about finding the ride compartment and getting on quick. That part was surprisingly easy.

The floor in our compartment was covered in newspaper, and smelled really bad. Like puke. Someone had gotten sick all over the floor and just covered it in newspaper, and this is where we were supposed to spend the next 15 hours? We tried talking to the guy working on the train, and his solution was to just lay down more newspaper on top of what was already on the floor. Not exactly an ideal solution! He didn’t really seem overly concerned about the mess or the smell.

With our shoes on pushed all the newspaper out. We were in the first sleeping compartment right near a door, so the guy working just pushed all the newspaper out onto the track. We splashed water on the floor and then wiped that up with more newspaper and shoved it all out the door.

In the end it smelled a bit better, but still smelled faintly of puke. That night we slept with our bags up on our beds.

Beaches in the South (Goa) - February 6, 2011

From North India I travelled South with one of the girls from the tour, Mieke from Ireland. Our first stop in Goa was Baga Beach, one of the northern beaches. It’s a very busy, touristy beach. I had originally planned on staying there around a week, but a few nights turned out to be enough. The Saturday night market is amazing, stalls full of clothes and jewellery, delicious food and live entertainment.

The beach was nice, but very crowded. Through all of India so far I’ve found that Indian people, especially the men, have no problem staring, all the time. Not really something I’ve gotten used to yet. Lying at the beach was no exception. I got up to go swimming once and it was really uncomfortable because the guys all stare and try to swim up close, or take pictures. We had a couple of men come up and ask “if we’d like a massage, very good price” as if we would pay to have some random creep give us a massage! This one guy asked us if we wanted a massage and when we told him “no, go away” he took that as an invitation to ask if he could sit down on one of our lounge chairs for a minute, because he was tired. The whole thing was so ridiculous I couldn’t stop laughing as Mieke told him to get lost.

There was this dog at the beach that kept coming around while we were drinking our water, staring at our water bottles with hungry eyes. One of the guys nearby said that the dog takes the bottles and drinks from them. My bottle was close to empty, so I gave the dog my bottle, lid on and everything. He took it between his paws and unscrewed the lid with his teeth, then tipped the bottle over and pressed his paw along the side to push to water out. Quite impressive!

Boat Rides on the Ganges – February 1-2, 2011

We did both an evening and a sunrise boat ride along the Ganges. From there we were able to see the burning ghat from the water, which was really fascinating. We got to see all the other ghats as well, filled with people bathing and washing clothes.

At the start of our evening boat ride, we did a candle flower ceremony. We were each given 3 candles in little cups and we made a wish with each one and set them down in the water. Apparently if the candles make it to the opposite bank, then the wish comes true. It didn’t look like any of my candles were headed in the right direction. After the flower ceremony we watched the River Worship Ceremony, an hour long ceremony performed nightly. It was so intricate I can’t believe they do it every day. It was really beautiful to sit out on the boat and watch everything happen. When we docked we watched the final part of the ceremony. The stairs leading back up to the main road were lined with people begging. Some just looked poor and other had leprosy. It was the most concentrated area of people begging I’ve seen in India, and it was really sad.

The next morning we woke up at 5am to get ready for our sunrise boat ride. The sunrise was pretty and it was so interesting seeing everyone come out for their morning routines at all the different ghats. So many people were out to bathe. All the women were going in the water in all their brightly coloured saris, while the men were generally going in their underwear. A boat loaded up with souvenirs came up beside ours trying to sell us stuff. No matter where in India it’s always buy, buy, buy!

The river water is so polluted I couldn’t imagine bathing in there. According to the Lonely Planet, water safe for bathing should have less than 500 faecal cloiform bacteria/litre of water, and in the section of the Ganges through Varanasi there are 1.5 million and some points are actually septic. Apparently only 5% of the pollution is from direct users (bathers, the offerings etc.) and the remaining pollution is caused by sewage. In Varanasi there are 32 points where raw sewage flows into the river, right where people go to take their holy baths. So gross. Apparently the government is funding a sewage system program to clean up the river.

The floating shop:

The Burning Ghat of Varanasi – February 1, 2011

Varanasi is an amazing Indian city, specifically because of all the ghats along the River Ganges. The main streets are hectic and loud and everything you could imagine an Indian street to be. But there are all these narrow side streets crowded with shops zig-zagging in all directions.

On our first morning this kid popped up out of nowhere and became our tour guide for the morning. He waited for us to finish our breakfast, and then took us down to the river to see the main burning ghat, Manikarnika. It’s the most auspicious place for a Hindu to be cremated. We got a guide (who stressed he was a volunteer at a hospice nearby and not a guide, but who knows) and he was very knowledgeable about the entire process. It was SO interesting learning all the different steps in the cremation process.

The bodies are covered in white cloth and are carried down to the Ganges on bamboo stretcher. There the body is dipped in the water to be cleansed of sins. The pyres closer to the water are for individuals from lower castes, and the further from the river the higher the caste. It takes about 200kg of wood to burn a body, and each type of wood has a specific price. The price of the basic wood is150 rupees/kg (approx $3.25 CAD) so the minimum cost to cremate a body is 30,000 rupees or $650. For sandalwood the cost is much, much higher.

The bodies are placed on pyres which are then stacked with wood. To light the fire, a flame must be brought from this eternal fire that has been burning for over 3,500 years. I’m not so sure I believe that that same fire has been burning. Someone must’ve fallen asleep on the job at some point in time! A man in the family has to light it. No women are allowed down near the pyres, because they could become too emotional and start crying, which would disturb the soul of the deceased.

During our time there, we were able to see the ritual from start to finish. We could see feet sticking out from amongst the branches, and it sounds disturbing but it really wasn’t that strange to see. It just seemed to fit with everything going on.

Bodies are continuously being cremated, 24/7/365. Our guide told us that it takes 3 hours to cremate a body, but I thought it was longer than that. The whole experience was so surreal I really wanted to take some photos but out of respect photography isn’t allowed.

At the end of our tour, our guide asked us for donations towards the cost of wood. We gave him 500 rupees between the 4 of us ($11) and he kept asking us for more money. We weren’t sure if he was legit or if we were getting ripped off, so we didn’t give him any more.

The burning ghat as seen from the boat:

The Magic of Bollywood – January 29, 2011

In Jaipur we went to a Bollywood movie at the Raj Mandir theatre, apparently THE place to check out a movie. It reminded me a bit of the Garneau or Princess theatres at home, with a balcony and the old school decorating. It was way bigger though, with a giant lobby and huge theatre.

The seats are assigned like at a concert, and the pricing depends on how close to the screen you sit. The closer to the screen, the cheaper the ticket.

The movie was a romantic comedy, starring Ajay Devgn, who I think is pretty big Bollywood star (he was one the cover of a People Magazine here). The movie was in ‘Hinglish’ a combination of Hindi and English, although mostly in Hindi. The plot was really basic though so easy enough to follow.

The audience participation was the best part. When the lead character would walk in kind of sexy,  or something romantic was about to happen, everyone went “wooooOOOOoooooo” or would start clapping and talking. It seemed to happen at really random times as well. There was also a 10 minute intermission at the halfway mark; the movie was 3 hours long.

It was a really fun thing to be part of and I’m so glad we got to check it out!

With Mieke and Will in the lobby of the theatre:

Camel Trek in Jaisalmer – January 20, 2011

To start off my India trip, I decided to do a 3 week tour through Northern India. I ended up in a really great group. There were only 6 of us, 4 girls (Mieke, Emma, Kerry, Me) all travelling solo, and 2 guys (Tom and Will) travelling together.

One of our first big activities a few days into the tour was an overnight camel safari just outside Jaisalmer. The way it was described I thought we’d be riding our camels out into the desert and camping out around a fire under the stars. It didn’t happen at all like that, but it was still pretty cool.

Our camp was actually quite luxurious. We shared these huge white tents, with beds, furniture, electricity and an attached bathroom. All the tents lined the perimeter of this open square. Our camel safari ended up being a 45 minute ride out into the desert to watch the sunset, but it was still really fun.

We were lucky and each got our own camel. My camel’s name was Babaloo, and the handler was just hilarious. When he spoke he finished all his sentences in a really high pitch voice. The walk out to the dunes to watch the sunset was really nice, my first time riding a camel! Getting on and off the camels was pretty interesting. Getting on wasn’t so bad, but to get off I had to lean back and then the camel dropped to his front knees so that I was pushed forward. Out on the dunes we weren’t very far out so it was pretty touristy. There were guys selling bottles of beer, and women dressed up beautifully in sari’s with full makeup, a baby perched on their hip, asking if we’d like to pay for a photo.  I guess you just can’t escape it.

On our way back to camp the boys wanted to race camels, so the handlers got up behind them and got the camels running. Soon all the handlers were up on the camels with us, and we were all off running. The whole thing was just ridiculous. I was bouncing around everywhere but couldn’t stop laughing. My camel handler just kept saying “Fun? You like? Babalooooo!” We made it back to camp pretty quick and since it was such a short ride it wasn’t all that uncomfortable.

Back at camp we were treated to a performance with dinner. They had some men playing traditional instruments, and this woman came out to do some dancing. She balanced this giant ceramic thing on her head that looked like jugs stacked on top of each other, and walked over some shards of glass, stuff like that. After the first Mieke leaned over to me and asked “Do you think that’s a man?” Next time she came around it was pretty obvious that she was in fact a him.

Shark Diving in South Africa – January 2, 2011

I was lucky enough to spend 3 weeks over the Christmas holidays with Anton and his family in Glentana, along the coast in South Africa. Absolutely beautiful there! Plenty of braai’s (basically a bbq), wine, relaxing and some day trips here and there.

The big adventure was a trip to Gansbaii in ‘Shark Alley’ for a shark dive with great whites. Shark Alley is the only place in the world where great whites jump out of the water while hunting and feeding on seals. We did our dive with a company called White Shark Projects, and I was really happy with the whole experience. 

We had driven to Cape Town the night before for a party with some of Anton’s friends, so we had to wake up at 4am and drive a couple hours to Gansbaii. Anton kindly let me sleep while he drove. When we arrived at 6am they fed a really nice light breakfast while we waited for everyone to arrive.

They loaded us on the boat and took us out on the water for about 20 minutes before stopping. It was really foggy out and we couldn’t see much at all, not even the nearby Seal Island, but we could certainly smell it! Even though we were there in the summer, December and January are actually the low season for seeing sharks, July and August the best, so I was a bit worried we might not see anything at all.

To attract the sharks to the boat, they mixed up some chum – a combination of fish oil, guts and sea water. They kept throwing out the back of the boat to create a chum line leading back to the boat. They also tied a fish head to a buoy and threw that out in the water aongside the boat. This acted as bait to attract the sharks near the surface and near the boat. A 3m long cage was attached to the side of the boat, and submerged a couple of metres. It was less than a metre wide, and fit 5 people comfortably.

The fog cleared a bit and we saw our first shark before the first 5 people were suited up and in the cage! It was so cool. Out of nowhere there was suddenly this giant shark right beside the boat. After that they rushed everyone into the cage just in case this was our big shark sighting for the day. The shark came back and the first group was in the water for quite a while, although there wasn’t much action towards the end. Anton and I ended up in the second group. There weren’t any sharks around, but they said that if we wanted to see anything we just had to get in the water and wait. They gave us some 7mm thick wetsuits, complete with booties. We also got a weight belt to help us submerge, and a snorkel mask.

The cage opened from the top, and we just climbed in trying not to poke our feet outside the bars of the cage. The water was absolutely FREEZING!! The wetsuit helped, but I couldn’t believe how cold the water was! They didn’t even make us practice submerging for when a shark came by. The 5 of us in the cage started joking about peeing in the water to warm up, and we heard this voice from the boat “Guys, don’t pee in the wetsuits, we have to clean those.” Whoops. The water in the suits eventually warmed up from our body heat, and that made it a bit better.

Along the inside of the cage was a red bar for us to hang on to, and another near the bottem that we could hook our feet under when we pulled ourselves under to see a shark. It was so exciting when the first shark came around. Up on the boat they yelled “Down! Down! Down!” and then we just had to hold our breath, pull ourselves under and look around. Even though the water was pretty clear, the sharks just appeared and then disappeared out of nowhere. We had to be extra careful to only hang on to the bar on the inside of the cage, and not the cage itself. Sometimes when I was trying to hook my feet under the bottom bar I’d be resting my feet on the outside bars of the cage and then it was like “oh shit don’t do that!’. The gaps in the cage were actually really big. I could have easily reached my arm all the way out had I really had the urge.

We were really lucky and got tons of shark action while we were in the cage. It was so exciting I didn’t even mind waiting around in the freezing water. The guys on the boat would throw out chum and pull the tuna head towards the cage drawing the sharks near, and some of them came close enough that we could’ve touched them. One of the even came towards us with its mouth open to bite the tuna head. So awesome!! It was cool and kind of creepy to be under water and watching the sharks swimming underneath the boat. Their eyes are so flat and black and expressionless.

I was really lucky and got to stay in the cage for about an hour in total. When it was time for the next group to come in, one of the girls was seasick so there was an open spot, and Anton generously let me take it. The people didn’t stay in for long, so soon Anton was able to come back in as well. In total we saw about 4-5 different sharks that came around multiple times. All the sharks were between 3-4m long, but great whites can grow to be 7m long I think. The whole experience was so amazing I didn’t want to get out of the water in case I missed something. I didn’t find it scary or nerve racking or anything either. I felt pretty safe inside the cage. Outside the cage would be a different story!

After the dive they brought us back to their office and gave us more snacks and a chance to watch the video from our dive. Overall the whole morning was just awesome.

I totally recommend shark diving if you ever have the chance!! One of the best things I did all over Africa. I would do it again in a heartbeat.