No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem?

We knew it was bound to happen. Besides the mysterious disappearing of our cell phone in the first 2 weeks away, we haven't had anything stolen. In fact, I have taken pride that we have been so careful and held onto all our belongings. But, you put your guard down for one minute and BAM!, someone steals your shoes. Here is an account of the couple days leading up to the incident.

Our last day in Mumbai was interesting, to say the least. A couple days before we had met a little boy with one eye and he bargained with a taxi driver for us. We loved him but thought we would never see him again...we were wrong. As we were walking around the city we ran into him again and bought him some McDonald's. I thought we would go our separate ways after some fries and a coke but again, I was wrong. He gave us a tour of the city and tried to get us to take him to the movies. I'm sure he was homeless, not sure if he had a family, but he was definitely well known by everyone throughout the city. Just about all of the vendors laughed as we passed by and I got the feeling they knew something we didn't. After some dinner (which he ordered) we tried to head to the train station alone....at this point his previously outgoing, happy demenour turned into one of a sad, quiet boy, who was distraught at the fact that we would not buy him a train ticket out of Mumbai. As much as we would have liked to help him, 1000 rupees was a little steep and we had to hope that 2 meals was generous enough. Here is Jess with little "one eye."


Our first overnight trip on the train was uneventful. We arrived in Anjuna beach safe and sound (despite the fact that Jess had strep throat) and immediately went to the beach. As in most places we have been so far, a lot of Anjuna's beauty and charm was overshadowed by the poverty, dirt, and constant begging. However, once we got past that it was really beautiful. Cows roam, men do yoga in their chairs, and women in colorful sarongs stroll along the beach. It was a sight to see. Anjuna's main attraction is their Wednesday market. Let me tell you...these Indians know how to put together a market. At first we were a bit intimidated with the constant badgering by vendors. But, by the end of the day we bargained hard and got some good deals. We were there until after the sun went down and would have stayed longer if we could have. Here is the jewelery portion of the market:

So here begins the horrible journey to Hampi. I like to refer to our bus as the vehicle from hell. Consider the worst bus you have ever been on in your entire life. Now, ram that bus into a couple of poles, maybe pee on some of the seats, and then pack it over capacity and put all the luggage in the aisles. Besides the fact that there was no air conditioning and our seats didn't recline at all, there was no ventilation, no shocks on the tires, no muffler, sharp metal wires sticking out of the seats in front of us and barely a shell of metal surrounding the exterior of the vehicle. To make matters worse, our seats were above where the muffler should have been. So, you can imagine the "fresh" air that we were breathing in for the 14 hour journey. Stupidly Jess and I moved to different seats and I left behind my backpack and shoes. Although I did consider the fact that someone might steal them, I didn't think that they would have far to run since we were on a bus (plus I brought my valuables with me...or so I thought). What is one man's garbage is another's treasure - someone not only stole my headlight, camera wire, date book, sewing kit, pictures of my family (!), princess playing cards, and t-shirt....but my shoes and deodorant to boot! I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. At this point I began to interrogate everyone on the bus, but to no avail. Men who previously spoke fluent English magically lost all knowledge of the language. So, I have accepted that my shoes are gone, as is my deodorant (and Jess's deodorant too). We can only hope to see them on sale somewhere on the streets of India in order to buy them back. Oh yea, I also got the famous Indian stomach disease right before we got on the bus. I'll leave the details up to your imagination.

Right now we are in Hampi. After a day in bed and a trip to the "doctor," we were up and running again today. This city is full of ruins from the 1500's and good for people watching. Women wash clothes in the nearby river and boys go jumping off rocks into the water. Oh yea, we also got blessed by a elephant today...very odd but definitely something to try. We also walked around with red dots on our heads all day and got laughed at by the locals. Fun times. Tomorrow we head south to Mysore to check out some more ruins.

Oh yea, don't expect many new pictures anytime soon....you can blame that on an India thief we encountered on the vehicle from hell. Erin, you will be interested to know that he threw back the Mark Twain book you sent me to read.

Mumbai

For those of you out there wondering, we have made it safe and sound to Mumbai. To say that this city is overwhelming is an understatement - but it is kind of nice to be somewhere so different after being in New Zealand and Australia for the past couple months. We are also happy to be off our strict peanut butter and jelly, egg, and banana diet and onto new delicious Indian food. Today we had the best meal I have ever had in my entire life, all for the low price of 473 Rupees....or about 12 dollars.

Once we got off the plane we knew this country was going to be an adventure. As we drove from the airport to our hotel we passed 5 star hotels next to shacks that people call their homes. In one of these "houses" a bunch of people were watching their plasma flat screen TV under a tarp roof. It's all kind of eye opening. The city itself is incredibly crowded and dirty, something that we are not all together used to. Walking down the street is an adventure - one minute you are trying to avoid getting hit by a car, another minute you are dodging some stray dogs, and in another you see a woman walking down the street with a basket (double her size) balanced on her head. People try to sell you everything and anything...whether it be clothes, shoes (sometimes just one shoe), food, or my personal favorite: drums. "I have big drum for you, madam, i have small drum for you, madam, 200 rubees, best price for you in mumbai!" Too bad we don't play the drums. Maybe we will start?

Our first tourist stop was to Elefanta Island, home to various caves with ancient carvings. Though they were pretty cool to look at, we were most entertained by the incredible amount of monkeys and 2 boys who seemed to have started their own juice making business at the top of a steep hill. Although we didn't have some of the juice (it would probably kill us), we did buy a soda and contribute to their cause.

Today we walked around some markets and bought our train tickets to leave tomorrow night. There are a couple of things that are really interesting about the ticket purchasing process. For starters, since we have arrived here everyone has been staring at us non stop. But, when we are on line to buy tickets, somehow we are magically invisible! I impressed some German ladies by putting into action my NY tough talk, sending some guys to the back of the line. Also, when you try to buy a ticket and you are a foreigner, there are never any tickets left. They are ALL sold-out. The train is full. BUT, if you pay an extra 300 rubees, magically seats in every class appear! We dished over the money and are heading to Goa tomorrow.

102 days and counting

I had every intention of writing on our 100th day away, but somehow that never happend. It's true, we have been away for over a 100 days and it feels like it's only been a week. To look back at old pictures is really weird...when we left we were so naive and so fair skinned! That has all changed with a couple months of lugging around a backpack and soaking up the sun.

As of right now we are in Sydney. Sadly we had to say goodbye to my mother, who was great company and spoiled us rotten while she was here. I can't tell you how hard it was to go back to the hostel life! Since she left we have been roaming the city streets, reading lots, meeting up with people we have met along the way, and basically just trying to stay dry from all the rain. Since today is a somewhat decent day we are heading to Bondi Beach which is about 20 minutes outside of the city. All is well and we depart the land down under on Friday, at which point we head over to India. Can't wait!

To Sydney and Beyond...

By: Eileen Schenck

I began my big adventure on the other side of the planet last week, meeting up with the girls in Sydney. Can’t tell you how great it was to set my eyes on them after three months. To all who know and love them, they look good and seem pretty comfortable in their new roles as world travelers.

I chose to meet up with them in Australia, in large part, because it was supposed to be an English-speaking country. Getting a cup of coffee proved otherwise. Ordering a coffee, light, turned into a team effort. What does she want?, the waitress asks the guy next to her (like I couldn’t hear). He says, “You want latte?” I say, “No I want coffee, brewed coffee with milk.” We have espresso. He drags someone else over who put ice in a cup and wants to know if I want whipped cream. Anyway, there definitely was a language barrier. Even Starbucks failed me! I got no sympathy from either Manda or Jess—claimed I was a princess.

Spent the first few days in Sydney seeing all the usual attractions, the Opera House, the Rocks and Harbour Bridge. We were going to do the Bridge climb, until I learned the privilege of climbing an enormous number of steps to a ridiculous height--from which you could plummet to a horrible death-- was $179 pp. Cheap won out, and I breathed a sigh of relief—the steps would have killed me long before the fall. The girls even charmed their way into a photo exhibit for free, by batting their baby blues at the guy behind the desk. Wasn’t he surprised when Mom stepped up and went in with them. If you want to feel every single day of your age, just walk around with two twenty-one year olds. It never gets old hearing “You three must be sisters!” GEEZZZ!

We rented a car (which we did not name). Suffice to say, I found driving on the wrong side of the road a challenge, though no one died as a result. Drove into the Blue Mountains which are known for the beautiful scenery including the famous rock formation called the “Three Sisters” (the very earth was mocking me). The night we arrived in Katoomba, we took a quick drive to one of the overlooks. It is an understatement to say the view was spectacular. As night fell, we honored this most beautiful gift of nature by spitting over the side of the overlook down into the valley. Thank God there was no wind. I am proud to proclaim that Manda is one wicked spitter—both in substance and distance. Jess needs some work. Me, I did OK too. It’s a sport at the summer games, you know.

We stayed in the mountains for another day, but that night was the last we actually saw of it. We woke up to fog so thick that—well, pictures of the valley and the hotel wall look one and the same. We attempted a hike into the valley, but the driving rain put a stop to that.

Left the fog behind, but not the rain, and drove into the wine country, always on the lookout for kangaroos and kuolas. Saw one live kangaroo and one dead (road kill). I liked the live one better—those little buggers can stare you down. Jess got some pretty good pictures, which I’m positive they have posted. Rain caused some flooding problems along our drive. I personally found it hard to believe that this country was in the midst of a drought. Moved right on to wine country where we did some wine tasting, cheese tasting, honey tasting, fudge tasting…you get the idea.

Considering the weather, all of Sydney’s indoor entertainment looked like a good choice. After the a days ride down the coast, I was happy to find the sun shining in Sydney. Then, the highlight of the entire trip and the reason for a 22 hour airplane ride—Princess Di’s wedding gown. That’s right, we three lucky “sistas” saw the twenty-five foot train in “real life.” and a tiera or two. I can die happy now.

Took a dinner cruise on my last night in Australia with the girls, where, one more time the waiter asked “Are you three sisters?” Like I said, you never get tired of hearing that one.

It was surprisingly hard to leave. The last of saw of the two sisters was through the rear of my airport van waving (as instructed) until out of sight. I miss them already. They looked so pretty!