Scouts in the Field

The second half of my trip through South India a couple weeks ago took me to Dandeli, a small but increasingly tourism-based town in the mountains, and Goa, one of India’s best beach regions.

DANDELI

It was quite the adventure to get to Dandeli, and for as fun as jumping from one local bus to another between random towns was, it was not a journey I would recommend doing unless you have your own car. I did find some enjoyment in being in part of the world where my ability was limited but still being able to get around by relying on the kindness and directions of locals. 

Dandeli was a perfect respite from the hustle and bustle of Indian cities. In fact, we even got to stay in this pretty awesome treehouse right over the river.

From boating to bamboo pole fishing to going on a guided late night nature walk, it was a very nice escape into the wild. Another one of the activities we did was go to what they called a “natural jacuzzi.” This involved taking a boat over to a nearby island where there were some rapids that flow into a quiet pool. We would sit up against the rocks so the rushing water would massage (read “destroy”) our backs and then chill in the pool afterwards. I could see myself totally doing it again, but then before we knew it, it was off to Goa!

One last view from the boat on the river

GOA

Finally made it to our destination — Goa! The beaches of Goa are a popular destination for foreigners, and I am not lying when I say that the majority of people on the beaches were white. We purposely picked a nice, quiet beach and relaxed for a couple glorious days. 

As I looked out onto the ocean, I thought about how European sailors used to navigate around the coast and tip of India and probably looked at the same beaches I was lounging on. It still sometimes gets me that I’m on the other side of the world right now from everything I knew in life.

The local culture in Goa is interesting, as it was a part that was settled by the Portuguese. A good number of locals are Christian here — one of the taxi drivers I had was actually named Jesus Christian, no joke. They also have this local cashew liquor which might be the most subtle and smooth liquor I have ever tasted. But no trip to Goa would be complete without trying the seafood.

Tandoori Kingfish — Amazing stuff.

So that was essentially my trip in a nutshell. Got to see a lot, hang out with FMS friends, and enjoy local culture. It was relaxing but was definitely a momentary escape in the greater picture of what I’m doing here in India. I totally believe my friends here when they say that even they haven’t seen all of India — there’s just so much going on and so much history! Definitely would like to explore some more, but for now I’m pretty happy with the sampling I’ve been blessed to experience while I’ve been here

Vittala Temple


Queen's Summer Palace


So Hanuman was a monkey. Of course all the monkeys hang out near Hanuman Temple.


Huge Ganesha statue that people used to pray to on their way into the city.


The Vittala temple has these columns that are tuned chromatically, like chimes. If done properly, they make real music!


Our hotel in Hampi






Elephant stalls because, you know, it's India

Hampi - the ancient Hindu capital

I had the opportunity last week to take a little bit of time away from work to vacation and explore South India, specifically the states of Karnataka and Goa. I’ll break up the trip into three parts to make sure to not overload on one particular post. First stop, Bangalore!

BANGALORE

For those who don’t know, Bangalore is one of the major cities in India and may be one of the more Americanized parts of the country. It’s essentially the Silicon Valley of India — a new city with lots of tech-related jobs and startups and even similar weather to boot. Of course part of what comes with it is that Bangalore doesn’t quite have the same level of history that some of the other cities here do, but no matter because it’s a pretty awesome place as it is.

I met up with several other members of my FMS cohort there, and we got to share our experiences at our individual placements and catch up over drinks and food. I was surprised to see how many expats (specifically Americans) I ran into and quickly realized that I was leading a much more “Indian life” than some of my counterparts in other cities. We visited some nice spots for food and took a trip to Nandi Hills, which was a short drive away from the city and offered some great views.

A shot of a very Americanized bar in Bangalore. Could’ve sworn I was hanging out in SF…

The bull at Bull Temple on Nandi Hills. It was kind of tucked into the side of the mountain. Why must they make it so hard to get to the temples?

HAMPI

Next stop was Hampi, one of the ancient capitals of India. To get there, we ended up taking a sleeper bus, which as fun and cool as that sounds, wasn’t quite that comfortable when you’re in the back seat. Turns out there was a reason the back seats were the only ones left available.

Unassuming and unprepared for the 20 or so times I’d go airborne throughout the night due to the bumpy road.

Hampi is now mostly ruins, but I was told that it was a place you just had to see. It did not disappoint! As soon as we got off the auto rickshaw in Hampi, we were greeted by Laxshmi the Elephant, who gave each of us a blessing (i.e. wonked on he head) for the small price of 10 rupees.

We ended up staying at cute little place with hammocks, rented scooters to drive around the mountains, took a coracle ride (round half shell-like boat rowed by a local), and got to see some historical sites.

View from Hanuman Temple. The mountains around Hampi all have those weird boulder things going on.

Another temple

I actually have a bunch of other picture from Hampi I’ll upload in a bit as a separate post. Stay tuned!

Exciting week over here! I’m actually in Bangalore right now as a part of a weeklong vacation through Southern India and will be posting lots of stuff about my travels. 

Earlier this week, I had an opportunity to spend an evening at a slum nearby and found it to be such a rewarding and interesting experience. The slum was made up of migrant workers from Rajasthan and Kolkata, and you could see the visible difference between the two groups that were living there. The residents were extremely kind and were excited to be receiving guests like us. I think we often come into these communities thinking that we will save them, but who really likes being told that their way of life is not good? I just felt blessed to have been received so warmly by these people who could not even communicate with me (very few of them could speak any English). 

So now about how they received me…I was essentially a celebrity! Regardless of what I communicated to them through my Indian friends, they kept asking me to perform kung fu (I faked some “moves” after maybe the 5th request) and asked me if I had trouble seeing because I had small eyes. I guess we’re all racist hahaha. But nevertheless, they loved us, and particularly the foreigners. The boys continuously grabbed at me and introduced themselves over and over, and the girls kept blushing when I looked their way. Perhaps one of the most interesting interactions I had was with this one elderly man who I shook hands with, thinking that it was the appropriate way to greet him. After shaking my hand, he turned away from me shyly and said “you’re so beautiful.” I really think that might be the first time in my life someone has actually called me “beautiful,” you know, apart from when you hear it at one of those super emotional church youth group retreats.

Here’s a guy who was my friend and main guide throughout the night. He would hold my hand and lead me around, which I think made the other kids a little jealous haha

And…I made it into the local newspaper! That’s me in the red circle :)

View of the lake most of the city is built next to from an outlook on top of a mountain.


View from the rooftop restaurant at our guest house


Donkeys in the market




The Taj -- this was used in the James Bond Movie "Octopussy"


Locals taking a dip


One of the many courtyards in the Lake Palace. The torrential downpour kept us stuck here for a while.


So apparently Udaipur is a popular destination for Korean tourists!


Chilling with beer while overlooking the water. Guess it'll be a little while before we can drink legally like this again.


Beautiful drive through the mountains of Rajasthan.

Weekend in Udaipur, the City of Lakes!