Barbara's Travel Blog

These are a few of my favorite things

There’s a song my mom used to sing to me when I was little that goes, “When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I’m feeling sad… I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don’t feel… so bad.” That generally works for me, except instead of things, I like to remember experiences. And going forward, yesterday will be among those that I pull out of the vault whenever I need to remember a few of my favorite days.

We woke up to rain in the volunteer house, and I was immediately bummed. I’d been enjoying the streak of warmer, sunny weather, and had no interest in being wet and cold all day. Nevertheless, we donned our salwar kameez and headed to the daycare, only to be sent back home because no kids would be foolish enough to come out in this rain.

I had planned to go to lunch in McLeodganj with Justine, but the rain was even more intense by noon, so I stayed home and attempted to cook dosas (Indian-style crepes) and sambar (a spicy lentil soup) for myself from a mix I had bought at the store. The sambar turned out fine, but the dosas were an unequivocal disaster. My day wasn’t exactly looking up.

In afternoon we all tromped over to the CCS office, where it was volunteer cooking night. We’d been planning the meal for several days, and my job was to cook mashed potatoes. I was a little wary of how the whole night would go, given that 10 cooks in one small kitchen rarely yields good results. But as we all chopped, diced, peeled and sautéed in harmony, I couldn’t help but smile. This was the first time our whole volunteer group had done something productive together, and it turns out we worked well together.

We all became increasingly excited as one delicious smell after another reminded us of home… sautéed garlic, roasted vegetables and buttery mashed potatoes. Add delicious deviled eggs, fresh fruit salad, vegies with cucumber dip, and rich chocolate brownies with ice cream and chocolate sauce, and we were all in heaven.

We reconfigured the room where we normally eat dinner from plates sitting on our laps while watching TV, and instead all sat together at a long, beautifully set table. The staff said they loved the food we prepared, and told us they’d been nervous after the disasters of past volunteer dinners. Everyone was smiling and laughing, and I think we all walked away stuffed for the first time since getting sick at the beginning of the program.

Walking back to the volunteer house, lightning lit up the sky and the sound of thunder rolled across the valley below us. We all gathered in the front room for an impromptu concert by Ben, one of the volunteers. We’ve all been eyeing his travel guitar, his sitar and his tabla (Indian hand drums) over the past few weeks and threatening to make him play for us. Now that he has, I can’t believe we wasted all those evenings without his playing. He performed a few original songs, plus one James Taylor song and one Jack Johnson, and all were fantastic. The best part was the final song, Perseus, as Ben sang, “the sky will be our symphony,” with lighting flashing every few seconds and thunder crashing in the background. I told him afterward, in all seriousness, that I look forward to telling people about our private concert in the Himalayas when he’s famous some day. And by the way, you can check out his music yourself at www.benrossmusic.com.

As if the evening hadn’t been enjoyable enough already, that day I had been able to download the latest episodes of two of my favorite TV shows. So we dimmed the lights and gathered around my laptop to watch what I would say has to be the best (and most emotional) episode of Grey’s Anatomy ever, followed by a mood-lightening episode of The Office. Afterward, a few of us lingered, talking and listening to the rain.

When I finally crawled into bed at 11:30, I felt the happiest and most connected to the rest of the volunteers that I have since I got here. So when I woke up today to torrential rain, brooding dark skies and hail, I thought, “Yay – another great day!”

More photos at http://babas.typepad.com/photos/my_gap_year_3/.

Monkeying around

Today we visited the very cool Kangra Fort, which is located on top of a hill outside of Kangra, about an hour from Dharamsala. The fort is thought to date back to 1009 AD, and was heavily damaged in an earthquake in 1905.

Aside from how cool the fort itself was, we also got to see many, many monkeys today (which makes for a good day in my book, as anyone who knows me knows). There were dozens of monkeys on the side of the road on the way to the fort, and a handful of monkeys at the fort itself.

I also saw two green parrots, and had two Indian couples ask to take their photos with me. I mean really, what more could you ask for?

Back in the swing of things

The last few days have been a distinct improvement over the week of stomach sickness and freezing cold when we first arrived in Dharamsala. The weather has warmed up significantly (it’s not tropical, mind you, but a vast improvement nonetheless), and I’ve once again been spying lots of photo-worthy scenes as I go about my daily activities.

On Thursday the CCS staff arranged for the volunteers to meet with a Tibetan lama (monk) at the nearby headquarters of the Tibetan government in exile. Lhakdor is the director of the Library of Tibetan Works & Archives, and for 19 years was the personal translator for the Dalai Lama. It was a real treat to hear him talk about his life experiences and philosophies, and the effort to preserve Tibetan culture in the face of China’s tyranny.

Then on Friday four of us headed up to the nearby town of McLeodganj to spend the weekend shopping, eating out and enjoying the comforts of a hotel. That last part didn’t work out exactly as we’d planned – the hot water in Kathleen’s and my room was spotty, to put it nicely, and the cable and electricity repeatedly went out. But we had several nice meals out, including dinner Friday with most of the volunteers, and the shopping was bountiful and cheap.

This week more than half of the volunteer staff will depart, having finished their three-week assignments. It has passed quickly, and I now understand why most international volunteer programs require a minimum commitment of a year. I’m glad that I am able to devote six weeks to the program, but even that feels trivial given the magnitude of the problems here and the time it takes to even begin making a dent in them.

More photos at http://babas.typepad.com/photos/my_gap_year_3/.

Sacred cows

We'll see how long it lasts, but I'm feeling better again. I made it to work today, the first day that Hannah and I have actually both been able to work in nearly a week. We played a game with the kids in which we hid peanuts all over, then they found them, which they found delightful.

The best part of the day though was when two cows wandered into the daycare. As you may know, cows are sacred in India, so when they wandered in and started munching the grass, we just left them to it. I was kicking myself for forgetting my camera this morning.

Relapse

Oh, how naive I was to think I had gotten past the stomach distress. This morning around 5:30am my body decided to prove otherwise, with a new stage of the stomach bug. I’ll spare you the details, but with everyone in the volunteer house affected, around here we’re now disturbingly comfortable discussing all aspects of our bathroom experiences.

I did manage to get in one day of volunteering yesterday, which was great. It was sunny and actually warm enough to not wear a jacket for a change. The teacher had asked us to bring materials for drawing, so I was armed with paper, crayons, pens, pencils and even a few glitter pens (as can now be seen on my backpack and pants). The kids were totally absorbed for the first hour, getting up only for new paper, different colors, or to show me their masterpieces. Most of them learned the word “paper,” and I used the pens as tools to reinforce the English names of the colors.

After the paper ran out, chaos returned. One little girl wanted everything neat and orderly, so she would collect the used paper, pens, etc. and bring them to me, which worked fine until she started taking items straight out of kids hands as they were still using them. One boy had a bit too much energy though, so every time I would get all the papers stacked neatly, he would run over and spaz out, flinging it all every which way. In the end I had to give him a time out, which seemed to calm him down, even if he didn’t quite understand what it was about.

For the rest of the day we practiced the alphabet, sang songs and played Duck Duck Goose (which I’m guessing a past volunteer must have taught the kids).

Unfortunately, given the state of my stomach at the moment, even coloring and singing sounds overwhelming today, so Hannah headed off to volunteer by herself this morning, armed with frisbees and a soccer ball.

More photos at http://babas.typepad.com/photos/my_gap_year_3/.

Featured photo

I didn't have a logical place to include this photo in my last post, but I like it so much, I decided to give it it's own post:

Recovery

After four painful days fighting a stomach bug of unkown origin, most of the house is back to normal now, or at least somewhere near it – thanks in large part to the magic of semi-modern medicine.

On Saturday the Cross Cultural Solutions staff arranged for a housecall from a local doctor, since all ten of us were sick at that point. I had given in and already started a round of antibiotics I had brought from home that morning, which turned out to be for the best, since the doctor only had Sipro, which I’m allergic to. Not that he asked – I had to bring up the topic of allergies myself. I also realized later that he never asked about drugs anyone might already be taking, to avoid negative drug interactions. But hey, whatever – it’s just our health.

Liz was the first to notice that on the prescription pad, the “doctor” had about a zillion letters after his name, none of which included “MD.” No surprise that she was tuned into the details, after her visit to the hospital earlier this week. She had become so dehydrated that the staff took her in. But upon seeing the dirty beds and having a doctor fail three times to get her vein for an IV, she bolted.

At this point seven out of ten of us are up and about, though there’s no telling how soon any of us will be willing to eat curry or paneer (Indian cheese) again – those being key elements of our last healthy meal.

Today the seven of us who are functioning went on a field trip of sorts, visiting a nearby temple with the CCS staff. The sun was shining and we were all happy to halt the development of bedsores and see some of the surrounding scenery for a change. The temple grounds were interesting, especially since the actual temple itself is a small open space under a large boulder, where an Indian god is said to have sat. Here’s a snap of Ayala “worshipping.”

After the temple, a handful of us headed up the mountain to visit the nearby town of McLeodganj. That’s the part of Dharamsala where most of the Tibetans live, and I just loved watching them walk around in their red robes with their “I’m at peace with the world” auras. After a lovely, curry-less lunch, Kathleen, Ayala and I hit the town for a bit of much-needed retail therapy.

Tomorrow it’s back to work for our first full work week. We’ll see if wedding season is still in full swing – if not, I can’t imagine how on earth we’re going to handle 25 kids!

Settling in in Dharamsala

After the long and unbelievably bumpy overnight bus ride to Dharamsala, I and the other nine volunteers were given a day to rest and settle in before beginning work at our respective assignments.

Jason, a firefighter/paramedic, is teaching first aid to a local women's group. Ben, a student, is teaching English and music to recovering drug addicts. Heidi, a supply chain manager at a software company, is helping college graduates improve their conversational English so that they can apply for jobs at a tech support center being built in Dharamsala.

The remaining seven of us are assisting at government-sponsored day-care centers, teaching children ages 1-5 basic English, including counting, letters, colors and shapes. I have been paired with my roommate, Hannah, who is cool as can be. We're only on day two, but already we love the kids, and are learning about some of the differences between Indian and American education. Both have their flaws, but our assignment here is to look past the issues with the system and focus on helping the kids.

So far there have been 5-7 kids each day, but on a normal day there can be as many as 25 kids. Apparently many of them have been absent because there have been several weddings this week, which are huge family affairs in India. We’ve seen a couple of the wedding processions pass by the volunteer house, playing lively music and shouting out in celebration.

Dharamsala is beautiful, but extremely COLD. We all wear long underwear under our salwar kameez (long Indian top and loose pants), plus heavy jackets, scarves and gloves. Did I mention the day care is outside? We also have to take bucket showers because of a water shortage, so really the only time I'm truly warm is when I'm huddled under the covers of my bed. I can only imagine how it is for the locals, who don't have space heaters and expensive clothing like we do.

In spite of all our meals and drinking water being provided by the program, in the last 24 hours nine out of ten of us have fallen ill. The others are much worse off than me, but that’s probably because I already had a bout of the stomach “ick” in Vietnam. Unfortunately, for most of us it meant staying in bed today, which is a holiday, instead of going to town to explore as planned.

So much for the glamour of travel.

More photos at http://babas.typepad.com/photos/my_gap_year_3/.

Busy days in Delhi

On Saturday I arrived in New Delhi, India, to begin my volunteer program with Cross Cultural Solutions. I was excited to begin meeting the other volunteers and to switch out of tourist mode.

I was picked up at the airport by a CCS staff member, and when I climbed into the van I met the first other volunteer – Kathleen, a retired teach from, of all places, Portland. It turns out we live about two miles from each other, but had to travel all the way to India to meet.

The next two days were spent in a whirlwind of sightseeing and training. Mostly we saw sights I had already seen on my last trip to Delhi, but the Humayan Tomb was new to me, and beautiful. It actually was the inspiration for the Taj Mahal, and apparently the only significant difference between them is their color.

We also visited the Lotus Temple, which I had been to before, but this time we went inside to attend a prayer ceremony that happens four times a day. The ceremony included two songs, which were hauntingly beautiful, especially given the temple’s unusual, echoing acoustics. The down side was having to walk there barefoot, over dirty and trash-filled sidewalks (you can't wear shoes inside, and the CCS folks didn't want our expensive shoes to be stolen).

Over the course of those two days, I also got to know all of the Dharamsala volunteers a bit, and many of the volunteers staying in Delhi as well. There were some great people in Delhi that we were sad to leave behind (including Kara, who took this photo of me, which I actually liked), but I was very pleased with the group of 10 going north. It’s a fun, intelligent and thoughtful group, ranging from a 17-year-old (who is wise beyond her years) to a grandmother.

Monday night we boarded a bus for the 11-hour, treacherous ride north to Dharamsala. Most of us got little to no sleep that night, as the road was often bumpy, or seemingly nonexistent. Nevertheless, we were all excited to arrive in our new home (for the next six weeks, anyway) and get started on our volunteer work.

More on Dharamsala and my volunteer job later – now it’s time for lunch, and the food is so great here, I can’t bear to be late!

Day of the dead

Now that I’ve had some time to bond with my new laptop (read: spend hours upon hours transferring files and installing software), I’m finally getting around to posting about my trip to the Hong Kong cemetery, as promised in my last post.

In the cab rides between central Hong Kong and Steph and Peter’s place in Happy Valley, I kept noticing a seemingly endless cemetery across from the racetrack. I’ve always liked cemeteries for some reason, and in Hong Kong they are particularly interesting because of the hilly terrain. So I set out earlier this week to satisfy my curiosity.

Entering the cemetery felt like entering a lush park, with gorgeous trees, fountains and even a stream. The cemetary stretches endlessly up the hill – when I finally reached the top, I could see over the top of the Happy Valley racetrack, which is at least eight stories high.

It was particularly interesting checking out the headstones around the cemetery, which was founded in 1845. It seemed that at least half the graves were for people who died in their twenties.

I couldn’t find any official information on how many people are buried there, but I would guess it’s easily in the thousands, especially if you include the adjacent Jewish, Muslim and Catholic cemeteries.

On a separate note, I’m now in the Bangkok airport, and will depart shortly for New Delhi to begin my volunteer program. Thanks again to everyone who has helped support me both financially and emotionally on this adventure!

RIP Toshiba Portege

How ironic it is that earlier this week I visited the Hong Kong cemetery (more on that later), then a mere 24 hours later my poor laptop died a sudden and tragic death.

That's right - today I had to say goodbye to the trusty Toshiba Portege that has seen me through my sabbatical, my rotation in Hong Kong, and almost half of my current trip. I won't bore you with the details, but in the end I was left with no choice but to buy a new laptop here in Hong Kong at the Wan Chai computer center. I hate making huge financial decisions under time pressure, and without proper research, but since I leave tomorrow morning for Bangkok and then the next day for India, I didn't feel I had much choice. I knew I'd probably have to buy a new computer in the next year or so, but I hadn't made any specific plans, and of course this is a big chunk of cash I wasn't expecting to spend right now.

The new laptop is an Asus, and really that's all I can say for it at the moment, since I'm still in mourning the Toshiba. Right now they are transferring the data from my old hard drive, but I suspect after I pick it up this evening that I'll probably be much more excited about it, especially once I internalize how fast and shiny and new it is.

I am glad at least that if this had to happen, it happened in Hong Kong and not in rural India. I'd surely be buggered then.

P.S. For those of you who might be wondering, I'm typing this blog entry on Stephanie & Peter's desktop computer.

My old stomping grounds

I arrived Friday in Hong Kong, and I'm enjoying hanging out with friends and not being a tourist for a bit. It's comfortable being here - I know how everything works, and don't have to think about how to do basic stuff, which is a nice break after the last two months.

I'm staying at my friend Stephanie's apartment. She and her boyfriend Peter are both at a conference in the U.S. this week, so I have the place all to myself. Some of you may remember Stephanie as the person who covered for me during my sabbatical a few years ago.

Saturday night I went out with Faith, Mike, Meera and Claire for drinks and Tapas in Soho, then Sunday I met Faith and Mike for brunch, a walk through the park, and pedicures. In some ways it's like I never left Hong Kong, but in other ways I can't believe how quickly things change here. Several of my favorite businesses have moved (some more than once, apparently), and little things have changed - for example, my favorite breakfast at Pacific Coffee (the ham and cheese croissant) no longer exists. One thing definitely hasn't changed though - the smelly cabs!

I'll be in Hong Kong until Friday, then spend one night in Bangkok before flying to New Delhi for my volunteer program on the 10th. We have a few days of training in New Delhi, then we will take an overnight bus to Dharamsala. They sent out the list of volunteers starting on the same date as me, and there's about 20, including one other women from Portland. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone, and to settling into the volunteer house and my new job for six weeks. I've definitely found in the last week that I'm ready to stop traveling and being a tourist for a while, so the timing of my volunteer assignment starting couldn't be better.

Vacation from vacation

This week I found it surprisingly hard to figure out what to do with myself, after 10 days of not making any decisions (even what to eat). I had intended to do some more sight-seeing, but as my Mom pointed out, maybe my body and spirit just weren't ready to return to the hectic schedule I'd been maintaining before.

So instead I laid low and had a little vacation from my vacation, doing ordinary things I would typically do back home: Going to the movies, getting a pedicure and a couple massages, exploring new restaurants, reading on my balcony, etc. This was especially easy, as my hotel is conveniently located to most everything I needed, and is right on a Skytrain stop to get me to anything that wasn't nearby.

I did head down to Khao San street one day, which is a popular backpacker/tourist area of Bangkok. The street is a tourist mecca, with endless shopping, tourist-friendly (read: overpriced and bland) restaurants, and more foreign faces than local ones. Within minutes I was annoyed - there's nothing Thai about Khao San street, and it feels like a place travelers go to avoid encountering the realities of the country they're in. There's even (of course) a McDonald's. Why even bother traveling?

The experience reinforced how glad I was that I chose a hotel in Bangkok away from the tourist center, in an ordinary but lively neighborhood. The streets around my hotel are lined with businesses targeting the locals, and in the evenings the sidewalks come to life with street vendors of every selling food, flowers, fresh juice, even lottery tickets. No one tries to sell me a tuk-tuk ride or tourist paraphernalia - I am not the target audience here, and it allows me to enjoy observing "real life."

Next I'm off to Hong Kong for a week in my old stomping grounds. Unfortunately, most of my former Intel colleagues are in the U.S. this week at the annual sales conference, but I should have a chance to catch up with a few of my friends there, and stock up on a few things before heading to India on the 10th. Somehow I doubt I'll be able to buy my favorite shampoo in Dharamsala!

Corn and ice cream: BFF

Mmm... really makes you wish you were in Thailand, doesn't it? Because there's no getting that dessert back home.

And yes, that's a KFC logo that some of your eagle eyes may have spotted in the corner.