I received a lot of reponses from people that enjoyed the
You are in India! blog post where I discussed daily details and gave my insights on the strange things that constantly happen in India. So here is You are in India 2.
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| Oh these little boys :) |
The People
Indian people are usally very helpful. Whenever we ask for directions (if the person knows where we want to go) they will usually walk us there. It can feel like they have alternative moitves for their help however. They will give us directions but then tell us to have a look at their "very nice pashmina scarfs" or try to pick us up in their rickshaw later.
Also it appears like Indian people don't like to directly say no. If they don't know the answer or the answer is no they will say yes but do this head wobble thing. You might be familiar with it. The head wobble is the universal sign for "yes no maybe." I have a theory that since there are so many people in India and there is so much competition for business people selling stuff or providing a service they never want to say no because they don't want to lose a customer. So they have developed the head wobble in order to be purposefully vague, they never have to say no and of course confuse foreigners.
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| Crossing a bridge is never easy in india |
We have experienced that Indian people don't usually tell you something unless you ask. And you have to ask the right question as well. When we went on the treks we had to ask very detailed questions. When trying to find a bus you have to ask a lot of different people where or if there is a bus going to your destination. You can ask someone at a ticket counter if there is a bus to Delhi and they will say "No. No bus to Delhi" like there are no buses to Delhi anywhere. But what they mean is "No bus to Delhi"... at this ticket counter. They probably won't know where the counter to buy tickets to Delhi is either, because why would they, they only work and spend all day at the bus station. Also we are definitely the first people to ask this question. However, if you ask the exact right question and phrase it perfectly it's like magic, the person won't even do the head wobble, will smile and take you where you need to go.
Most people we interact with speak english. Their english sometimes isn't great and to be fair my hindi is really really terrible (I dont know how to say anything). Most of the time we don't have a problem with language differences.
India people generally ask what country we are from after talking to us for a while. While they have all heard of the US, most don't seem to know Colorado, which is to be expected. One yoga instuctor did know Boulder because he has a friend living there. A lot of people seem to have a relative living in the US or Australia but haven't been to either places themselves. Most people are completely confused when I tell them I worked as a nanny, even when I say childcare they seem baffled. I have never seen a sign for childcare or daycare likely because the women stay home with the children traditionally. Carl has started changing his career everytime someone asks him, which is starting to seem like a brilliant idea.
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| Kiddos :) |
We have met tourist and travelers from everywhere: Europe, Canada, South America, China, Israel. There are definitely more Americans traveling in India than Australia...just doing their own version of Eat, Pray, Love.
How much stuff do I have? I have a large backpack and a small day pack. Its nice to have the small backpack for bus rides and treks. During bus rides I put my big backpack underneath and keep the little one filled with snacks, a travel pillow and my sleeping bag with me. In regards to theft it feels safer compared to my experience in Peru and Carl's experience in Central and South America. We have not experienced people trying to steal or pickpocket us on the bus or the street. Instead they just overcharge and try to scam forigeners.
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| Moving on |
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| Me with my stuff |
Things I brought here: clothes for yoga, shoes, (because the shoes I bought in australia for $5 broke, who would of thought?) gifts for people which is mostly art and jewelry and a small electric kettle so I can boil water and make tea in our crappy hotel rooms. It cost $8 including the mini metal mugs and has brought me so much joy.
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| Hot water anytime! |
Carl bought a fire staff because it was really cheap and there was suppose to be fire performances at a music festival we went to in Manali. It turned out to be the worst music festival in history so there were no performances, just terrible stabby music. But still the staff is great for protecting us against monkeys, dogs and cows (this is only in theory though because luckily we have not actually had to fight any animals or people for that matter).
Money
I have only used my card to buy anything once. Most places only accept cash. I withdrawl money from ATMs. There are bank run ATMs in most of the city centers. I usually withdrawl about $200 (10,000 rupees) at a time, my bank in Australia chargers me a small conversion fee, it can't really be avoided, or that what I tell myself, so whatever. The ATM usually gives me 500 rupee bills which are annoying because alot of places don't have change but its not a problem most of the time.
Drinking
Indians seem to love bad whiskey. It is usually Irish whiskey mixed with Indian grain alcohol. A 750ml bottle of this "very nice indian whiskey" costs around 450 rupees or $8. A bottle of imported whiskey would cost more like 1500-2000 rupees, around $30. Have you heard about that nice wine region in south India? Yea, neither have I because it doesn't exist. Indian wine is generally bad, most bottles are around $10 but you can find some for less and alot more. Kingfisher beer is the most common Indian beer, its costs about $2 for a large bottle.
Weed
In the Kullu Valley (where I did my yoga teacher training) pot was natural growing everywhere. Pretty sure the local villagers weren't smoking it though. I have no idea how much Indias are smoking and I don't know the laws around it either. Hash was big with tourist in Manali and some people were smoking in restaurants there. Pot doesn't seem to be that common anywhere else in India, maybe in Goa though. Since I don't smoke its not something I know a lot about but someone was curious, so I thought you might be too. It's not that difficult to run into an other tourist that knows about Colorado's legalization.
Clothes
In India legs and shoulders are apparently scandalous. Stomachs not so much. Women wearing saris show there stomach sometimes. While at the ashram I was required to wear baggy pants and my shirts had to have sleeves; no tank tops. All the women were required to wear a salwar kameez when walking around the village which is baggy pants and dress. While not at the ashram and just walking around I like to have my legs and shoulders covered. I wear leggings or tight pants but I'll put a dress on over. In Kashmir I felt I needed to cover up more and wore my scarf covering my hair. I have seen some forigen women wearing shorts but I wouldn't feel comfortable in shorts myself.
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| So pretty |
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Such a pretty dress and just your casual cow on a bridge
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The Indian women's outfits match prefectly and look so pretty in the bright colors. Meanwhile everytime I put on a salwar kameez I immediately feel and look like a overweight Midwestern soccer mom in her pajamas.
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| This picture does NOT convey how bad I look in a salwar kameez |
Welp. There it is. If you have any questions about anything please ask!
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| Monkey eating a banana because: why not? |
