Local man: "What's your name?"
Jenna: "I'm Jenna"
Local Man: "Oh, Hi Imjenna"
I have been called Imjenna all day. It's getting a bit hard not to giggle everytime he calls my name. I tried to correct him twice, and then gave up.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
fishy india
India is probably the most beautiful place I have ever been. I think about a week ago we boarded a bus for an 8 hour journey to a Hill Station called Ooty. I was in awe the entire ride, the scenery changed every few minutes from bustling city to jungle to rivers to palm trees to forests to hills and valleys and mountains. We stayed in Ooty for three days, met some other travellers to spend time with, and did an 18 km trek through the hills and tea plantations. It was absolutely breath-taking. We then headed to a place on the coast called Fort Cochin, which was nice but very touristy. It is a fishing town so at night we would go to the beach and pick out a fish for dinner, and then take it to a restaurant to grill it for us. Probably the tastiest fish I have ever eaten.
Yesterday we arrived here in Allepey, a smallish town on the backwaters. They call it the "Venice of India". I'm not sure if I'd go that far but it is nice, we went to the beach last night to watch the sunset and have dinner. Today we hired a local man to take us in his canoe along the small canals. It was so neat, paddling by little villages along the water, seeing the children paddle to school on their canoes. We stopped for lunch along the way and had Thali on a banana leaf, and of course, more fish.
Yesterday we arrived here in Allepey, a smallish town on the backwaters. They call it the "Venice of India". I'm not sure if I'd go that far but it is nice, we went to the beach last night to watch the sunset and have dinner. Today we hired a local man to take us in his canoe along the small canals. It was so neat, paddling by little villages along the water, seeing the children paddle to school on their canoes. We stopped for lunch along the way and had Thali on a banana leaf, and of course, more fish.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
wildlife safaris and harvest festivals
I made it! After 24 hours of travelling I finally arrived in India. I can't even pinpoint my first impressions because I don't think I've really absorbed anything yet. We are staying with a friend and his family this week, so we are definitely easing our way into Indian life. It's been wonderful staying here, because the family has taught us so much about their culture and traditions in just a few short days. They really want us to understand why things are the way they are, and every night when I go to bed, it is like information overload, all these things are swirling around my head..
enough about that. some stories from the day..
This morning they took us on a Safari at a Tiger Reserve. Now I can't even explain the mayhem that ensued. First of all, there was major fighting on the bus, because one family tried to take all the window seats, leaving only the aisle sheets for the rest of the people boarding the rickety old safari bus. Clearly the newcomers were upset, and some guy tried to tell them to move, but they refused, and lied and said they didn't know each other, they had come seperately. This was obviously not the case, but they fought hard and the man had to try and figure out who was part of the family.
Madness ensued for another 10 minutes, and finally we were ready to set off. And set off we did, the driver drove pedal to the metal straight through the forest.. if someone on the bus saw an animal they would shout, then the driver slammed on the breaks, everyone would jolt forward, and then he would reverse in order to view the animal. As soon as a few photos were snapped, we set off again, speeding through the bushes. I am sure the scarce amount of animals that we saw were scared off by the speed of our bus. Since we were in such a hurry we caught up to another bus ahead of us. Our driver, the impatient man that he was, would rev his engine and honk the horn.. really a smart thing to do on a wildlife safari, I'd say. This revving of the engine continued throughout the rest of our safari. I haven't laughed so hard in ages.
I think I am really going to like it here. Once I learn how to cross the road that is.
Oh, and today is the Harvest festival. For the last three nights there has been incessant singing and wailing from the nearby temple. The family I'm staying with is constantly annoyed and making fun of the poor singing. The loud singing is played on loud speakers from around 9pm until 6 am in the morning, sleeping is a challenge to say the least.
Today they are thanking the cattle for their contributions to the harvest.. (plowing the fields?) so the people cook food to feed the cows.. the only day of the year they eat a proper meal. Here in the city most don't own cows so they find a stray or go to the cow orphanage (don't even ask. that's all they told me).
enough about that. some stories from the day..
This morning they took us on a Safari at a Tiger Reserve. Now I can't even explain the mayhem that ensued. First of all, there was major fighting on the bus, because one family tried to take all the window seats, leaving only the aisle sheets for the rest of the people boarding the rickety old safari bus. Clearly the newcomers were upset, and some guy tried to tell them to move, but they refused, and lied and said they didn't know each other, they had come seperately. This was obviously not the case, but they fought hard and the man had to try and figure out who was part of the family.
Madness ensued for another 10 minutes, and finally we were ready to set off. And set off we did, the driver drove pedal to the metal straight through the forest.. if someone on the bus saw an animal they would shout, then the driver slammed on the breaks, everyone would jolt forward, and then he would reverse in order to view the animal. As soon as a few photos were snapped, we set off again, speeding through the bushes. I am sure the scarce amount of animals that we saw were scared off by the speed of our bus. Since we were in such a hurry we caught up to another bus ahead of us. Our driver, the impatient man that he was, would rev his engine and honk the horn.. really a smart thing to do on a wildlife safari, I'd say. This revving of the engine continued throughout the rest of our safari. I haven't laughed so hard in ages.
I think I am really going to like it here. Once I learn how to cross the road that is.
Oh, and today is the Harvest festival. For the last three nights there has been incessant singing and wailing from the nearby temple. The family I'm staying with is constantly annoyed and making fun of the poor singing. The loud singing is played on loud speakers from around 9pm until 6 am in the morning, sleeping is a challenge to say the least.
Today they are thanking the cattle for their contributions to the harvest.. (plowing the fields?) so the people cook food to feed the cows.. the only day of the year they eat a proper meal. Here in the city most don't own cows so they find a stray or go to the cow orphanage (don't even ask. that's all they told me).
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