Hey everyone!
Yes, that's right - I made it back home successfully! I didn't get sick ( just a minor cold), nothing got stolen, I didn't get horribly lost (I mean, I always get lost, but nothing too alarming), no injuries, nothing broken, and only one casualty: the loss of my green UWGB workout shorts that I brought to sleep in. I believe they're somewhere in my hostel in Nepal - sad. Oh, and I got a wicked sunburn on my back from my beach day in Goa (yes Mom, I used sunscreen...but I must have missed some spots because I was feeling it for days.) But all in all, my trip was a wonderful experience and I feel so fortunate to have gotten the opportunity to travel there.
I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I took lots of pictures and I have lots of stories. The bad news is that I would have to type for two days straight to post everything, so I'm going to have to do quite a bit of consolidating. I'll write country by country - I'm settling in for my third day of deskwarming (the part of my amazing job where I just have to show up and sit here - I can do whatever I want (under the pretense that I'm 'preparing lessons') and they even let me leave early.) So I'm kind of off the hook for today then - no pictures yet, but if you are on Facebook you can see my albums that I just uploaded.
So, if you'll allow me to prelude my individual country posts, let me tell you a little bit about my overall experience. Do you remember when I quoted my Lonely Planet book to say "Nothing can fully prepare you for India, but perhaps the one thing that best encapsulates this extraordinary country is its ability to inspire, frustrate, thrill and counfound all at once?" This couldn't have been more on the money, and it hold true for Nepal and Sri Lanka as well. I had never seen such abject poverty, insane living conditions, and ways of life before, except on television. I wasn't prepared for the noise, the crazy busy streets, the cows that ruled the road, the people everywhere, or the stares. Ohh the stares. Let me put it this way: remember when I said Koreans are really good at staring? Well, they could take lessons from the majority of the South Asian men. These guys are pros. I was stared at from top to bottom my entire trip, and by the end of it I was so ready to be left alone. I actually embraced Korean staring when I came back on Sunday, because Korean staring is purely out of curiousity. The South Asian staring was much different, and it made me feel much more uncomfortable. When you see my pictures you'll notice I wore a scarf and pants almost everywhere, even when it was hot out. There was a reason. They not only stared (of course, most of it was simply out of curiousity, but the rest of it was definitely not), but most tried to chat me up, and most for the purpose of selling me something, whether it be a shopkeeper, a taxi driver, a restaurant owner, or a 'guide' offering to show me around. Oofda. I quickly learned and mastered what I like to call my 'tough face.' Look straight ahead, walk fast and confidently, avoid eye contact, and say "no thank you" with a polite smile to everyone who called out "yes, hello madam, have a look?" or "where are you going madam, taxi?" or "yes madam, I give you good price, or "Madam, what country from you?" Of course, this was only in extreme cases - in some areas and cities I was able to stroll more casually and act much friendlier, (no one likes looking like Victoria Beckham all the time) but most of the time when I was out on the streets (they never seemed to understand that most travelers prefer walking everywhere - if I want a taxi I'll find one myself, thank you very much) I had to put on my tough face. It was hard, it made me feel like a horrible person, and I hated being marked as a money machine tourist. That was the frustrating part.
However, the thrilling part came hand in hand with the frustrations. From the moment I touched down in Nepal, I enjoyed the thrill of simply being in the country and seeing a place I have only ever read about or seen on television. India was an electrifying experience, and Sri Lanka was beautiful everywhere you looked. Singapore was awesome too, and my time in all four countries was heightened by the fact that I was actually there, walking around on the streets, eating the food, sweating in the heat, and taking in the experience. I saw so many beautiful sights, got to know some of the local people in each area, and learned so so much about each place while I was there. One added bonus of my trip that I hadn't counted on was finding a pleasing variety of used bookstores, mostly in English. A lot of them were tourist traded, but there were also a lot of local publications. Add these books to the hours and hours of public transportation that I rode on, and imagine how happy I was :) I bought books about Nepali history and culture in Nepal, traded them for ones about India in India, and about Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. In Singapore I traded some books (that were quite heavy to keep carrying around) for a large book on the history of Singapore. As a result, I was able to read about Tibetan Buddhism while in Nepal the day after I visited a Tibetan monastery, I read the Hindu epics the Ramayana and the Mahabarata while on trains in India, and I read about the recent civil war and ethnic fighting in Sri Lanka while IN Sri Lanka, etc. There's no better way to learn than experience, and by actually being there my reading came alive, and I was able to see firsthand what I was reading and learning about. I actually kept track: I read and traded 13 books on my 3 week trip. I was so distraught at not being able to buy the cheap used books and bring back with me - I just didn't have the room. There's an amazing bookstore in Kathmandu I would consider returning to just for their dirt cheap books that I just can't get in Korea or America.
So that was fun. When I wasn't walking around and exploring, meeting people, or on a train or a bus, I was taking breaks at coffee shops (not very many of them like in American and Korea) or local restaurants, eating amazing Indian food, reading, and taking notes. I called it my educational vacation, and it was nice to have to down time in between my busy travels. I also had an added incentive to read fast - the more books I finished the more I could trade at the next bookstore. I planned my trip so that I alternated night traveling with staying in one spot for the night. It worked out to five nights sleeping on a bus or a train, five nights staying with host families, and three nights at guesthouses in India. Nepal and Sri Lanka were all guesthouses. That was different to me - my prior backpacking experience was in Europe, where I slept many nights in shared hostel rooms. That concept didn't really catch on in South Asia, as there were mostly just hotels or guesthouses - you had to book a room for yourself, so I didn't end up sharing with anyone. That was fine by me, but it made for a more solitary experience that I expected. However, there were always guests around at the breakfast table or dinner table, and I met other travellers quite easily throughout my trip.
I'll save the rest of my details for my country posts. But before I sign off here, I have to talk about the most significant part of my trip and what I took away from it. My prior travel experiences have been limited to Mexico on a beach resort, the Caribbean on a cruise, the US, Western Europe, and South Korea. In other words, I have only traveled in affluent countries, and while there have been instances of poverty here and there, I had never seen or even imagined anything like South Asia. I saw the slums of people living in makeshift houses out of metal or wood or tree branches. I saw women and children working in the fields, carrying water in buckets from the local well or spring, washing clothes in the river, washing themselves in the river or public water spouts. I saw cows and other animals wandering everywhere, on the streets in front of the homes, with no one cleaning up after then. I saw piles upon piles of garbage in rivers, ditches, and the streets. I felt like I had been transported back to the Middle Ages, but then I would turn the corner and find a cell phone store. The contrast between tradition and modernity, between poverty and affluence, between sanitary and unsanitary conditions was overwhelming. What I quickly began to realize, and even more so than ever before, was how lucky I have been in the past to have grown up in a good environment, with so many things I took for granted such as adequate health and dental care, a clean, safe neighborhood, and especially a good education. Of course, people in Nepal and India and Sri Lanka have these things too, especially in the big cities, but these people are harder to find, especially to the average tourist. In South Asia, the poverty is manifest and unavoidable, from the people in the streets trying to sell you endless things, to the children who knock on your car door at a traffic light begging for money, to the slum houses set up along the train tracks, drying their clothes on the empty tracks.
This part was hard to see and take in, and I didn't feel it was right to take pictures of such conditions, so you won't see any of it - you'll just see the impressive sights and splendors of South Asia, which deserve mention and praise as much as the poverty deserves addressing. My trip really put how fortunate I have been and am in life, and how much I have really taken for granted in perspective. In the past few days I have found myself even appreciating Korea much more than I did before, for its clean, quiet streets, its people that leave me alone and don't seem to see me as an ATM when I'm simply walking down the streets, and for its familiar modernity. I still have a lot to learn about life and the world around me, but I think going to South Asia was a beginner's crash course into the reality of the world, and how the western world that I grew up in is absolutely nothing like many other millions of people who share the planet with us. I only hope that my learning and experiencing more about these problems of inadequate health care, education, and overall quality of life in countries such as Nepal (one of the poorest countries in the world) will lead to learning more about what the solutions might be.
One last mention: if you're reading this and thinking, wow, what horrible places to see and visit - you're terribly wrong. I mention the hard parts only because they are too obvious to ignore. Yes, it's hard, and yes, it would be nice to pretend it just doesn't exist, but you just can't. However, my experience as a tourist would probably have been limited to just this - the shock at seeing the povery and the amazement at seeing sights such as the Taj Mahal and the beaches of Goa. However, I was incredibly lucky to have two family stays, thanks to my mom's friend Shanthi, who seems to have relatives and friends all over the world willing to help me out through my travels. When I stayed with these two families (it actually ended up being three due to a train station miscommunication, so I was a last minute guest until my host could come pick me up) I was treated with so much kindness and hospitality, and their families were so welcoming and gracious towards me - what an amazing treat after living on the road for a couple of weeks, being treated purely as a tourist. With these families I was able to talk to them about India's current situation, learn more about why India is the way it is, learn how people feel about India and how they try to help, and, one of the best parts, eat homecooked Indian food. Both of the moms took time out of their days to take me around the cities (New Delhi and Mumbai) and I really felt like I got such an insider's perspective, worth more than a dozen guidebooks. Something has to be said for the resiliance and kindness of the Indian people - they wouldn't be such a strong nation without the power of their hearts, and to meet them and talk with them provided inspiration for me for the future of such a beautiful country.
So, when traveling one has to take in the good with the bad, and hopefully take something valuable away from both. In this regard, my trip was a huge success. Was I inspired? Yes. Frustrated? Oh, yeah. Thrilled? Immensely. Confounded? Every minute! Thanks Lonely Planet - you hit the nail on the head. Fun fact: travelers and Indians alike call Lonely Planet India "The Bible" since so many tourists tote it around. I had Lonely Planet, but since I downloaded the PDFs I just printed off the maps and took notes in my notebook - a 'covert' Lonely Planet, if you will. I hope you are all having a great week! I'll write more about Nepal next and show you some pictures. Love you and miss you all!
Yes, that's right - I made it back home successfully! I didn't get sick ( just a minor cold), nothing got stolen, I didn't get horribly lost (I mean, I always get lost, but nothing too alarming), no injuries, nothing broken, and only one casualty: the loss of my green UWGB workout shorts that I brought to sleep in. I believe they're somewhere in my hostel in Nepal - sad. Oh, and I got a wicked sunburn on my back from my beach day in Goa (yes Mom, I used sunscreen...but I must have missed some spots because I was feeling it for days.) But all in all, my trip was a wonderful experience and I feel so fortunate to have gotten the opportunity to travel there.
I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I took lots of pictures and I have lots of stories. The bad news is that I would have to type for two days straight to post everything, so I'm going to have to do quite a bit of consolidating. I'll write country by country - I'm settling in for my third day of deskwarming (the part of my amazing job where I just have to show up and sit here - I can do whatever I want (under the pretense that I'm 'preparing lessons') and they even let me leave early.) So I'm kind of off the hook for today then - no pictures yet, but if you are on Facebook you can see my albums that I just uploaded.
So, if you'll allow me to prelude my individual country posts, let me tell you a little bit about my overall experience. Do you remember when I quoted my Lonely Planet book to say "Nothing can fully prepare you for India, but perhaps the one thing that best encapsulates this extraordinary country is its ability to inspire, frustrate, thrill and counfound all at once?" This couldn't have been more on the money, and it hold true for Nepal and Sri Lanka as well. I had never seen such abject poverty, insane living conditions, and ways of life before, except on television. I wasn't prepared for the noise, the crazy busy streets, the cows that ruled the road, the people everywhere, or the stares. Ohh the stares. Let me put it this way: remember when I said Koreans are really good at staring? Well, they could take lessons from the majority of the South Asian men. These guys are pros. I was stared at from top to bottom my entire trip, and by the end of it I was so ready to be left alone. I actually embraced Korean staring when I came back on Sunday, because Korean staring is purely out of curiousity. The South Asian staring was much different, and it made me feel much more uncomfortable. When you see my pictures you'll notice I wore a scarf and pants almost everywhere, even when it was hot out. There was a reason. They not only stared (of course, most of it was simply out of curiousity, but the rest of it was definitely not), but most tried to chat me up, and most for the purpose of selling me something, whether it be a shopkeeper, a taxi driver, a restaurant owner, or a 'guide' offering to show me around. Oofda. I quickly learned and mastered what I like to call my 'tough face.' Look straight ahead, walk fast and confidently, avoid eye contact, and say "no thank you" with a polite smile to everyone who called out "yes, hello madam, have a look?" or "where are you going madam, taxi?" or "yes madam, I give you good price, or "Madam, what country from you?" Of course, this was only in extreme cases - in some areas and cities I was able to stroll more casually and act much friendlier, (no one likes looking like Victoria Beckham all the time) but most of the time when I was out on the streets (they never seemed to understand that most travelers prefer walking everywhere - if I want a taxi I'll find one myself, thank you very much) I had to put on my tough face. It was hard, it made me feel like a horrible person, and I hated being marked as a money machine tourist. That was the frustrating part.
However, the thrilling part came hand in hand with the frustrations. From the moment I touched down in Nepal, I enjoyed the thrill of simply being in the country and seeing a place I have only ever read about or seen on television. India was an electrifying experience, and Sri Lanka was beautiful everywhere you looked. Singapore was awesome too, and my time in all four countries was heightened by the fact that I was actually there, walking around on the streets, eating the food, sweating in the heat, and taking in the experience. I saw so many beautiful sights, got to know some of the local people in each area, and learned so so much about each place while I was there. One added bonus of my trip that I hadn't counted on was finding a pleasing variety of used bookstores, mostly in English. A lot of them were tourist traded, but there were also a lot of local publications. Add these books to the hours and hours of public transportation that I rode on, and imagine how happy I was :) I bought books about Nepali history and culture in Nepal, traded them for ones about India in India, and about Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. In Singapore I traded some books (that were quite heavy to keep carrying around) for a large book on the history of Singapore. As a result, I was able to read about Tibetan Buddhism while in Nepal the day after I visited a Tibetan monastery, I read the Hindu epics the Ramayana and the Mahabarata while on trains in India, and I read about the recent civil war and ethnic fighting in Sri Lanka while IN Sri Lanka, etc. There's no better way to learn than experience, and by actually being there my reading came alive, and I was able to see firsthand what I was reading and learning about. I actually kept track: I read and traded 13 books on my 3 week trip. I was so distraught at not being able to buy the cheap used books and bring back with me - I just didn't have the room. There's an amazing bookstore in Kathmandu I would consider returning to just for their dirt cheap books that I just can't get in Korea or America.
So that was fun. When I wasn't walking around and exploring, meeting people, or on a train or a bus, I was taking breaks at coffee shops (not very many of them like in American and Korea) or local restaurants, eating amazing Indian food, reading, and taking notes. I called it my educational vacation, and it was nice to have to down time in between my busy travels. I also had an added incentive to read fast - the more books I finished the more I could trade at the next bookstore. I planned my trip so that I alternated night traveling with staying in one spot for the night. It worked out to five nights sleeping on a bus or a train, five nights staying with host families, and three nights at guesthouses in India. Nepal and Sri Lanka were all guesthouses. That was different to me - my prior backpacking experience was in Europe, where I slept many nights in shared hostel rooms. That concept didn't really catch on in South Asia, as there were mostly just hotels or guesthouses - you had to book a room for yourself, so I didn't end up sharing with anyone. That was fine by me, but it made for a more solitary experience that I expected. However, there were always guests around at the breakfast table or dinner table, and I met other travellers quite easily throughout my trip.
I'll save the rest of my details for my country posts. But before I sign off here, I have to talk about the most significant part of my trip and what I took away from it. My prior travel experiences have been limited to Mexico on a beach resort, the Caribbean on a cruise, the US, Western Europe, and South Korea. In other words, I have only traveled in affluent countries, and while there have been instances of poverty here and there, I had never seen or even imagined anything like South Asia. I saw the slums of people living in makeshift houses out of metal or wood or tree branches. I saw women and children working in the fields, carrying water in buckets from the local well or spring, washing clothes in the river, washing themselves in the river or public water spouts. I saw cows and other animals wandering everywhere, on the streets in front of the homes, with no one cleaning up after then. I saw piles upon piles of garbage in rivers, ditches, and the streets. I felt like I had been transported back to the Middle Ages, but then I would turn the corner and find a cell phone store. The contrast between tradition and modernity, between poverty and affluence, between sanitary and unsanitary conditions was overwhelming. What I quickly began to realize, and even more so than ever before, was how lucky I have been in the past to have grown up in a good environment, with so many things I took for granted such as adequate health and dental care, a clean, safe neighborhood, and especially a good education. Of course, people in Nepal and India and Sri Lanka have these things too, especially in the big cities, but these people are harder to find, especially to the average tourist. In South Asia, the poverty is manifest and unavoidable, from the people in the streets trying to sell you endless things, to the children who knock on your car door at a traffic light begging for money, to the slum houses set up along the train tracks, drying their clothes on the empty tracks.
This part was hard to see and take in, and I didn't feel it was right to take pictures of such conditions, so you won't see any of it - you'll just see the impressive sights and splendors of South Asia, which deserve mention and praise as much as the poverty deserves addressing. My trip really put how fortunate I have been and am in life, and how much I have really taken for granted in perspective. In the past few days I have found myself even appreciating Korea much more than I did before, for its clean, quiet streets, its people that leave me alone and don't seem to see me as an ATM when I'm simply walking down the streets, and for its familiar modernity. I still have a lot to learn about life and the world around me, but I think going to South Asia was a beginner's crash course into the reality of the world, and how the western world that I grew up in is absolutely nothing like many other millions of people who share the planet with us. I only hope that my learning and experiencing more about these problems of inadequate health care, education, and overall quality of life in countries such as Nepal (one of the poorest countries in the world) will lead to learning more about what the solutions might be.
One last mention: if you're reading this and thinking, wow, what horrible places to see and visit - you're terribly wrong. I mention the hard parts only because they are too obvious to ignore. Yes, it's hard, and yes, it would be nice to pretend it just doesn't exist, but you just can't. However, my experience as a tourist would probably have been limited to just this - the shock at seeing the povery and the amazement at seeing sights such as the Taj Mahal and the beaches of Goa. However, I was incredibly lucky to have two family stays, thanks to my mom's friend Shanthi, who seems to have relatives and friends all over the world willing to help me out through my travels. When I stayed with these two families (it actually ended up being three due to a train station miscommunication, so I was a last minute guest until my host could come pick me up) I was treated with so much kindness and hospitality, and their families were so welcoming and gracious towards me - what an amazing treat after living on the road for a couple of weeks, being treated purely as a tourist. With these families I was able to talk to them about India's current situation, learn more about why India is the way it is, learn how people feel about India and how they try to help, and, one of the best parts, eat homecooked Indian food. Both of the moms took time out of their days to take me around the cities (New Delhi and Mumbai) and I really felt like I got such an insider's perspective, worth more than a dozen guidebooks. Something has to be said for the resiliance and kindness of the Indian people - they wouldn't be such a strong nation without the power of their hearts, and to meet them and talk with them provided inspiration for me for the future of such a beautiful country.
So, when traveling one has to take in the good with the bad, and hopefully take something valuable away from both. In this regard, my trip was a huge success. Was I inspired? Yes. Frustrated? Oh, yeah. Thrilled? Immensely. Confounded? Every minute! Thanks Lonely Planet - you hit the nail on the head. Fun fact: travelers and Indians alike call Lonely Planet India "The Bible" since so many tourists tote it around. I had Lonely Planet, but since I downloaded the PDFs I just printed off the maps and took notes in my notebook - a 'covert' Lonely Planet, if you will. I hope you are all having a great week! I'll write more about Nepal next and show you some pictures. Love you and miss you all!
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