Our Lovely Time in the Desert

This blog post will have three sections. The first will have the general summary of what we’re up to, the second will begin our new “how to” series and the third section will have random thoughts that Caroline and Stephanie would like to share. There’s also “Caroline’s Song of the Day” section but that’s short so it doesn’t count.

General Summary of What We’re Up To Section

This section will explain our past four days.

Desert Experience

Saturday, August 23 was a very memorable day for both Stephanie and Caroline. We arrived to a village in the desert at about 5:00 pm an almost immediately began our “camel safari.” We’re not sure why it was called a safari because we weren’t looking for other animals, we simply rode a camel through the desert.

Each of us had our own camels that were guided by men dressed in white clothing and the ride was overall enjoyable. It’s funny because both of us have never even been on a horse ride, yet we were on a camel ride in the desert of India.

A view of Luna, the camel guide, and Lalu, the camel I rode

My first view of the dunes in the desert

My camel, Lalu

 

After about 30 minutes we took a rest off of our camels to sit in the shade and we met a cute couple from Germany and Morocco who were also resting from their camel ride. We eventually got back on our camels to walk up a high sand dune to watch the sunset over the desert. Once we got to this point we actually met up with the two guys from Portland from the night before, Luke and Michael, and also met another couple from Scotland, Leah and Jamie. It’s funny that we finally met Leah and Jamie because we had seen them in both Mandawa and Bikaner at our hotel and we assumed they were on the same tour as us under the same company.

Steph taking break from the camel ride

Caroline taking a break from the camel ride

Steph on her camel

 

Watching the sunset over the desert was absolutely beautiful. This was actually Caroline’s first time in a desert to which made it that much more special. What was even better was the conversation we had while on the sand dune as the sun set. We mostly talked to Leah and Jamie who just left their jobs in Scotland to travel for five years. Jamie was a social worker working in child protective services and got quite burnt out from this job and decided to quit his job to travel. Leah was incredible because she was able to convince her boss to let her take a five year holiday and get her job back when she comes back. Leah seemed like she was an incredible teacher and this is why she was able to make this deal.

Sunset over the desert

This man sang a song about the sunset over the desert as he used his cooler as a drum

 

It’s great that they’re making their traveling dreams work before they settle down to have kids in five years or so. Their plan (as I remember it) is to be in India until the end of September, go to Nepal for a little less than a month to trek, then go to Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia and later they’ll have to go to South Korea in February to begin a one-year teaching English gig where they’ll also earn some money. Then they have a plan to go back to Scotland for a bit, go to South America for a year and then I’m not sure what. Stephanie and I basically have a mini crush on them because they’re going for their traveling dreams and we are so happy for them.

Anyway, after the sun set we rode the camel back where we started which kind of sucked for Caroline because her hamstring is still hurting a bit and the bumpiness of going downhill on a camel is not very pleasant for a sore hamstring muscle. We then watched a dance performance that actually wasn’t that impressive because we could tell the dancer did not want to be there at all because she seemed to hate the music that the four musicians were playing. We actually found it comical by then end with how often she would stop dancing and turn back to the musicians to give them a disapproving look. Followed by this we then had a dinner that was pretty good.

The best part of the day was when we packed up to sleep under the stars in the desert. We were joined by Jamie and Leah (from Scotland), Michael and Luke (from Portland), Sabrina and Wassim (from Germany and Morocco). Once we got out to our location, we found out that Sabrina and Wassim were on their honeymoon and so they respectfully didn’t want to sleep next to the remaining six of us. The rest of us made a circle with our beds and we ended up talking for around three hours. We all knew that this would be one of those nights to remember for a long time because the scene in the sky was absolutely incredible; not to mention the numerous shooting stars we had seen!

Our conversation that night was great because we talked about what we love to talk about most – the importance of traveling, the problems of consumerism, ways things can improve, what we want to “do when we grow up” and such. It was great talking with Leah, Jamie, Michael and Luke because although we were from different areas, we could all come together and have great, bonding conversation. It is such a comforting feeling to meet like-minded people from completely different areas of the world who share some of the same ideas; it gives us more and more hope for the world progressing into a better place.

Soon enough we went to bed and actually slept quite peacefully. Soon enough, around 6:30 am, we woke up to see the sun rise (which was beautiful of course) and then went back to eat breakfast. We then got caught in another conversation with Leah and Jamie and then we said our goodbyes so we could move on to the city of Jaisalmer.

This is where we slept and what it looked like when we woke up

Sunrise over the desert

A view from our camel cart ride back to have breakfast

 

As I’m sure you can tell, we loved this experience and we kept saying “I can’t believe we’re here” because just days before we had no plans to even be in Rajasthan. Maybe it’s one of those karma things – good things happen to good people. We’d like to think so J.

Jaisalmer: the Golden City

Jaisalmer is a city made of a bunch of sandstone (making it the golden city). The main feature of the city is the huge fort on a hill which is unique because people still live within the fort. We had a great tour guide, Ram, who took us through the fort as well as other areas of the city.

We went to two Jain temples that were intricately carved (like all temples here) and then continued to see other parts of the fort including a Hindu temple. We enjoyed the Hindu temple especially because we were able to briefly see people worshiping in the temple. Our favorite part of the day however was seeing Ram give small candies to every kid he saw as if he was the fort’s candy man. Ram will finish his studies in one year and then he plans to be a social work – which we’re sure he’ll succeed in due to his big heart.

Within the fort

Ram giving candy to the children

A view of the city from the fort

 

We then left the temple and managed to escape its many shopkeepers who wanted us to buy their stuff. Ram then took us to three different havelis (intricately carved houses who were owned by really rich people) and then to a patchwork and scarves shop. This shop was interesting because they worked as a cooperative with widows, mentally handicapped people and other similar populations to help them earn a living. This is especially important for widows in villages because once their husbands die, they’re not allowed to leave the house and thus, they can’t earn money. This shop allows them to make various patchwork pieces, scarves, etc. in their homes and then have them sold in the city so they can earn some money.

One of the havelis

Crazy people in front of a haveli

 

Although we really didn’t want to at first, we ended up buying a few scarves because they were so nice and still a decent price. It’s also nice to know that our money is going towards a good cooperative effort rather than some random shop owner on the street. We also got the information of the NGO that’s involved in with this co-op so we can look up their successes later.

Later, we saw a manmade lake area and Ram bought some bread to show us the crazy catfish in the lake. It was crazy how wild the ugly catfish went for this bread. An interesting moment that happened was when Ram had told the young boy who was selling the bread that he should not allow the plastic that the bread was wrapped in to be thrown into the water; and then made him pick it all up on the shore along with his help. You really got the sense that Ram really did care for his community and the people in it, and even this small act could make a difference. We enjoyed this scene of the lake overall, but we were tired and hot and wanted to go back to the hotel.

Crazy catfish

 

The day concluded with relaxation at the hotel, a view of the sunset from a cremation site (romantic, I know) and then more relaxation back at the hotel.

On the Road Again – to Jodhpur

The car ride to Jodhpur was similar to the ride to the desert village. There were still a lot of pilgrims, one stop for tea – this time with cookies, and long scenes of the desert. The scenery did change a bit with more vegetation and hills, but had fewer camels.

We eventually made it to Jodhpur and were supposed to go see a market area but we were too tired to do so. Instead, we asked our driver to take us to a movie theater so we could watch a Hindi movie. Once we got there, we decided to see “Singham Returns” which we found out was about a Mumbai police officer who was basically a badass. He pretty much seemed like the Indian version of Vin Diesel or The Rock. The movie was all in Hindi with no subtitles so we didn’t understand every piece of the movie, but it was simple enough where we could understand the basic story. It had the cheesey elements we were hoping for from a Bollywood movie with the dramatic acting and very unrealistic fight scenes but we were disappointed that there weren’t many Bollywood dances. Hopefully it’ll be in the next Bollywood movie we see!

Jodhpur City

We began the day by seeing the city’s fort which cost a lot (400 Rs ~ $6.50) and to be honest, looked a lot like the other forts we’ve been to. We were interested in a few parts of the museum within the fort however we still didn’t spend much time there because once you see three forts in India, you feel like you’ve seen them all. Now thinking about it, this is Caroline’s sixth fort that she’s seen in India so they’re especially getting old for her.

A view of the Blue City (Jodhpur) from the fort

Side view of the fort

View of the fort from away - Do you think it's big enough?

Good ol' friends in yet another temple

We then went to a spice and tea shop, which was proud of its Lonely Planet approval, and smelled many different spices and teas. We then walked around the area to see the large market area which had a lot of stuff including plastic toys, pots and pans, fabrics and produce. We then found a place selling packages of outfits for women that included a shirt (kurta), pants and a scarf for 75 Rs (~$1.40). Caroline was excited because she really wanted to get another Indian outfit because she felt out of place with only having one Indian-looking outfit. Even though it’s not the best quality, it does the job.

We then went back to the hotel to relax, make plans for our time after Rajasthan, and eventually had dinner at the restaurant in the hotel. Not to mention, we drank some Indian beer in our hotel room while watching T.V. and ended up watching the Emmy’s to our surprise. Tomorrow we leave for Udaipur which we’re really excited about because we’ve heard from many people that it’s a great place with beautiful scenery and a wonderful lake.

How To: Drink Chai

If you are in India, then you will be drinking chai (tea). There is no doubt about that. Typically it is masala chai which is black tea that is spiced in a certain way and is mixed with milk and sugar. Chai is normally served as a welcome to many homes or shops and is also a necessity during a break. If you are not drinking chai at least 3 or 4 times a day, you probably haven’t fully acclimated to India.

Here’s the process of drinking chai.

1.       Specify what type of chai you want (either plain black tea, with milk/sugar, or just say “masala chai” and you’ll get it with both tea and sugar)

2.       If it’s served in a cup without a handle, hold it from the top edges or else your fingers will seemingly burn off

3.       Wait long enough to let it cool down a bit, but not too long where the people around you think you’re crazy for not drinking your chai right away

4.       Slurp the chai so you’re also inhaling air which will ideally help you not burn your tongue

5.       If you do burn your tongue, suck it up! Hopefully you’ll have better luck next time

6.       If you can, try to avoid the milk from forming a thin film at the top of the tea by mixing the tea. It’s not a problem but it is a weird texture to drink.

7.       Enjoy the chai

8.       If cookies/biscuits are available, dunk them in the chai

9.       Feel refreshed

Random Thoughts of Caroline and Stephanie

·         It’s weird that this is the first time in 17 years that both of us won’t be starting school in late August/September

·         This is the longest Caroline’s gone without shaving her legs (10 days). This saves her a lot of time with showering and whatnot but she’s also really getting grossed out by it. She wants to do it just to see how long it takes to grow to full length and she’s not here to impress anyone anyway so now’s the time!

·         We’ve expected to get diarrhea by now but we haven’t! Yay!

·         This is the longest Stephanie’s nails have been due to the fact that her nail biting habit must come to an end because of the hygiene of India (22 years too late-but it’s better than never!)

Caroline’s Song of the Day

24-Aug Here Comes the Sun by Bob "Bronx Style" Khaleel

25-Aug Night of the Flying Horses by Yo-Yo Ma & the Silk Road Ensemble

26-Aug Lagartija Azul by Fonseca

A lonely ass

Mandawa and Bikaner

Right now we’re on our way to a village in the desert just past Jaisalmer with our driver, Chacha. We’re enjoying the ride so far and have seen many interesting things. First though, we’d like to write about Chacha.

A brief description about Chacha

Chacha is our driver, whose real name is Vinod, however we call him Chacha because it means uncle in Hindi. We call him this because he looks after us as if we’re his own kids and he also takes us to places that won’t’ rip us off. For example, he just took us to an expensive restaurant only to use their clean toilets and then he took us to a much cheaper restaurant for lunch because he didn’t want us to spend over 1000 Rs for lunch when we could spend just 320 Rs for two people at this cheaper restaurant. The owner of the expensive restaurant would have paid Chacha for taking us there but Chacha does not feel it’s right to bring tourists to such places.

Chacha is maybe around 60 years old, and is a short man with a big heart. He also has a wife, two sons, a daughter-in-law and a granddaughter who is two years old. In addition, he works in an office in New Delhi with his sons to arrange a taxi service (I think). A few other notable things are that he requires a cup of tea at least every three hours when he’s driving, smokes a cigarette about every hour when driving, and has the same lord Krishna figure on the dashboard of every car that he’s driven.

I don’t think we could have asked for a better driver to take us through the beautiful state of Rajasthan. We’re already done with four day of the tour and we can’t wait to see what the next 14 will bring!

One day in Mandawa

Mandawa is more like a village but has a bunch of havelis (old big houses with intricate paintings) from the 1800s or so.  We didn’t do much in Mandawa except take a one-hour tour of the village, saw a short puppet show, and bought fruit for dinner because we weren’t that hungry. The hotel we stayed in was also quite nice with beautiful paintings.

Puppet show in the hotel

 

Two days in Bikaner

We also had a relaxing time in Bikaner where we saw the market area, which was quite lively and had an interesting spice market. The hotel we stayed in was also quite nice to our standards and had a sort of courtyard in the center where we had dinner at night which was also nice.

On the second day in Bikaner, we drove probably an hour away to a temple that worshiped rats specifically. We didn’t know it was a rat temple until we got there and so we were both a little nervous about rats running around in the temple. While it wasn’t as bad as we expected, we were still creeped out by the rats and left after a short time. We then had a cup of tea and Chacha went somewhere to get us a USB drive with 800 (I think) Indian songs that only cost us 500 Rs (<$10). We were super stoked about this and this made the uncomfortable rat temple experience worth the drive out there. We’ve been listening to the music ever since and it’s been awesome.

Inside the rat temple

Outside the rat temple

 

We then went to the Bikaner fort which was much larger and more extravagant than we expected. There were so many intricate paintings and architecture features and we also enjoyed seeing this fort more than we expected.

 

Later at the hotel, we saw two guys who we even saw in New Delhi and decided to talk to them. We found out that they’re also on the same Rajasthan tour as us with the same company but they’re traveling for a month. They’re 21 and 23 from Portland and seem to be nice guys. It was nice to have dinner with them and then to our surprise, we ended up having a few beers with both of our drivers. The night ended in a great way with many great jokes and laughter.

Our Journey to Jaisalmer

This morning we had left Bikaner at 10am for our six hour drive through the desert to Jaisalmer. The desert is not the stereotypical one you may be picturing, with dunes and such; but rather has many short, dried grasses and trees. As well, there are many wide open areas consisting of shepherds with their large herds of goats and sheep, random cattle and even some camels!

Another interesting aspect about this drive is that we weren’t really expecting was witnessing the hundreds of people who are making their way to a temple that is about 100km from Jaisalmer. Every year, Hindus will participate in this pilgrimage from their home all the way to this temple. Chacha even said people will walk about 20-30km per day for about a month until they reach their destination!

We noticed many people carrying various types of colorful flags, but the commonality between them all was a picture of two feet (which I’m guessing represents their pilgrimage). All along the highway were random tents set up that either had water, tea or maybe even small amounts of food provided for the large amount of people making their way to the temple. It seems as though this event is not just a major annual event religious wise, but also very communal. Many who were walking were alone, but most were at least with one other person; sometimes even in big groups!

The closer we drove to where the Temple was located, the more people we saw. Something else that was also interesting that Chacha had mentioned to us was that people would remove their shoes about 10-20km away from the temple; and I was not expecting to see the massive pile of shoes that were there in addition to being scattered all along the road. Once people return from the temple, they put on a new pair of shoes. One last note, after seeing the pile of shoes we also saw a few people do a prayer (I think) where they would kneel to the ground, lay flat on their belly and then stand up.

Overall

We’ve had a great journey in India so far and we’re really looking forward to tonight. Once we get to the village we’ll be riding camels for about two hours, watching the sunset, seeing a dance performance and then sleeping under the stars in the desert. Hopefully it’s awesome!

Caroline’s Song of the Day

21-Aug Little Secrets by Passion Pit

22-Aug Cats and Dogs by the Head and the Heart

23-Aug Chloe by Grouplove

Greetings from Mandawa, Rajasthan!

This is our third day in India and we could not have asked for a better introduction to India! For this blog post, we’ll describe our first few days briefly and then we will each share our first impressions of our trip thus far.

Day 1 – A much busier day than we expected!

After arriving to our hotel at 3:00 am the night before, we woke up around 9:00 to have breakfast at our hotel. We then took time to look at maps, took a nap and then decided to just walk around the area, be back to the hotel within a few hours and then rest some more to adjust for the time difference. That all changed after we took about 20 steps outside of our hotel…

 

Planning our day with all of our maps and guidebooks

As we were walking, there was one Indian guy who heard us talking about our plans for the day and then started talking to us. At first we did not respond to this guy because we thought he was a tout (someone who tries to direct you where to go and then asks for money once you get there). Once we discovered he wasn’t a tout, but rather a nice guy trying to help some visitors of India, we talked more and quickly discovered that he is going to school right now to study Spanish. Soon enough, Caroline was able to practice her Spanish skills on the streets of India, which she never thought would happen.

Our friend, Pirota, then offered to have tea with us at his favorite tea place and we talked for at least 2.5 hours in total. Through the conversation, we could recognize his open heart as we discussed the importance of being a kind and caring soul and also looking out for your neighbor. We learned a lot about his life, his ambitions to be a Spanish tour guide and also to start an orphanage in his hometown. He then showed us to a great place to eat, we had one more cup of chai (tea) and then he showed us to the government tourist office where he suggested to book a Rajasthan tour.

As it was mentioned in a previous blog post, we planned on first traveling north after arriving in Delhi but it was suggested by many people to not travel north because there was flooding in the areas we planned to travel. With this, they suggested to instead do a tour of Rajasthan and gave us an itinerary to follow.

It was highly recommended to book a driver to take us through Rajasthan because traveling by train or bus would get complicated with how the train/bus routes are set up. It was also a good idea to book through the government office because they would register our location with the government in case anything happened, we would be provided with a safe and reliable driver, and they would arrange hotels for us to stay at that are safe and government-approved (which is a big deal in India). After some discussion, we decided to book an 18 day tour through Rajasthan.

Once the tour was booked, we ended up spending a lot of time in the tourist office because we got caught in a conversation with one of the employees. Somehow or another, we began discussing India’s political system and how there is much corruption within it. This man was seemed to be disappointed by the amount of corruption that exists within the political system and wished for a government that could be trusted more. He thinks that this can only happen when people have clean hearts and do not work only on commission charges.

Following, we eventually met with our friend Pirota and ended the day with dinner at a rooftop restaurant near our hotel that overlooked the busy shop streets. It was nice to conclude the day with some more great discussion with a kind-hearted friend and then we went back to the hotel to sleep.

Day Two – A short tour of New Delhi and a visit with an old friend

The day began early at 8:00 am to begin a short tour of New Delhi. The travel company that we booked the Rajasthan tour with gave us a complimentary tour of New Delhi for Tuesday mostly so we could “test” our driver and make sure we were satisfied with the driver we would have for 18 days.

Based on Caroline’s experience in New Delhi last year, she decided that there were really only three places that Stephanie had to see in New Delhi and most locals would also agree. We first began at the Jama Masjid mosque which is New Delhi’s biggest mosque and was also Stephanie’s first experience in a mosque. Although it cost a lot to go in (300 Rupees = $5), we think it was worth it overall. Caroline actually hadn’t gone there the year before so it was also nice to see what the inside of the mosque was like. We also had our first experience of Indians asking to take pictures and as soon as we said yes to one, we had to then take seemingly 20 pictures with various kids. After a while it got to be too much and we told them to go away.

The kids that insisted on taking pictures

 

Following the mosque we went to the Red Fort which is much larger than most people expect. This was also relatively expensive (250 Rupees) but worth it because there were various buildings and small museums to see inside. The museums were interesting because they explained the various revolutions in India for India to gain their independence from Britain. Both the mosque and fort were cool overall because they were built during the 1500s or so when the Muslims ruled this area at the time so there was heavy influence of Muslim architecture.

After lunch we went to see the Lotus Temple which is on the opposite side of New Delhi. The temple is unique because it was built as a place for all religions to come and worship and is not exclusive towards anyone. When Caroline visited this place last year she knew that Stephanie would have loved it so she was excited to finally take her there. In order to go inside the temple, you have to take your shoes off which meant our feet were basically burning up until the temple but the inside was worth the burn. The calmness and tranquility within the temple was very relaxing and difficult to completely describe unless you are there.

Lotus Temple

 

We then returned to our hotel, rested for 1-2 hours and then left to visit a family that Caroline stayed with last year when she was in Delhi, the Srivastavas. The father of the family is actually the uncle of a friend from home, so it was nice to meet their family here in India. They are incredibly welcoming people and it was nice to talk with them for about 3.5 hours or so. Caroline was also happy because she got to give the bracelets she made for the two daughters of the family as a gift. She also brought chocolate for the girls but she was really bummed that it melted a lot throughout the day.

Mitali showing the bracelets Caroline made for her and her sister

We then returned to the area of our hotel by the metro, had dinner, met a new friend and finally went to bed. The new fried we had made was named Rahul. We are not sure if this is the correct spelling because he did not know how to read and write in English. We had met him on the street walking back to the hostel after hanging out with Pirota because he had asked us how Stephanie did her hair. Her hair was actually just up in a simple bun so she was surprised by the question. We talked for almost an hour and he was a very nice guy. He is studying aromatherapy and talked much about life and love and how we should be peaceful, happy people. Life is too short to do anything else but be happy and share with everyone. He had a very warm heart and it was a pleasure to meet him. He was very helpful with suggesting the various places we should visit while we are here in India. Hopefully we will be able to meet up with him again once we return to Delhi in the beginning of September.

A view from our rooftop restaurant 

 

Day Three – Traveling to Mandawa, Rajasthan

The day began with a surprising start for Caroline because as she was leaving the hotel in the morning she ran into a friend from her class last year in Nepal. Her friend, Will, was in Delhi for a few days before he left to go to a village north of Delhi to implement an Engineers Without Borders project. Caroline knew Will would be in India during this time but she did not expect to run into a friend in the alleyway of New Delhi – what a small world!

We then met our driver, Vinode, had breakfast and began driving towards Mandawa. To say the least, it was a bumpy ride thanks to the seemingly billions of speed bumps as well as the sections of road that are very torn apart.

We stopped at one village along the way to have some tea with our driver and then stopped for lunch about an hour later. Overall, it was a beautiful and interesting ride as we passed through various villages and farm land. The whole experience for the five-ish hour car ride was nothing like what it would be in the US with the crazy driving, cows in the street, political posters plastering the walls of villages and people, mostly men, hanging out outside. The best part of the ride was seeing the peaceful farmland areas that mostly grew rice because it seemed to have an untouched beauty atmosphere.

 

Caroline’s impressions of India thus far

Since I was in India last year, the scenes, sounds and smells of India are not so surprising. What I am surprised with is the amount of friendly people we have met so far. While I did expect to meet friendly people in India of course, there is still a different element to the people I have met that is different than I expected. Most everyone we have met here has welcomed us with warm hearts and have all offered to keep track of us so that we are always safe and so we also don’t get ripped off like many tourists, especially with us being two girls in India. I think this is happening to us because both Stephanie and I first greet people with open hearts and choose to make conversations with new people we meet rather than only demanding their service.

It also feels good to be in India with a more relaxed feeling than last year. Last year was different because I had to work during the week and had a limited time to visit on the weekends. I was also with people who were different than me so it was more difficult to make decisions as we visited places on the weekend. Now it feels great to know that we have roughly 50 days in India and 40 days in Nepal and thus there is no need to rush through our time here. It’s also great to be here with one of my best friends because we can easily make decisions together, look after each other and also have great conversations during meal and travel times.

Overall, all is good and I still can’t believe how lucky I am to have such an amazing experience like this.

 

Stephanie’s impressions of India thus far

                When I had left Amsterdam and headed to New Delhi, I was pretty nervous. I was anxious most of the ride, hoping that Caroline and I would be able to meet up with no problems, but was preparing for the worst. Luckily, everything went smoothly and according to plan! Once we got my backpack and made it through all the Customs checkpoints (which were a joke compared to America’s very strict and particular security measures) we met up with our driver. The temperature was obviously a warm humid heat, but it wasn’t awful. The smells while driving on our way to the hostel actually smelled exactly like it did in Ghana. Not that the smell is enjoyable, but the smell of familiarity made India less intimidating to me. Also, it was the middle of the night so there was barely anyone on the road, so that also made New Delhi seem much calmer than I was expecting.

think with the brain, but follow your heart           The next day, our first full day in India, was an amazing one. I won’t go into detail since it was already explained above, but I can easily say (with a grain of salt since I have only been here three days) that I am really enjoying my time here thus far. I am very grateful that I was able to travel to Ghana last summer because the similarities have made it easier for me to adjust to this lifestyle. I love the organized chaos that makes up Delhi; the traffic is crazy and there are so many people it is unbelievable. It is crowded but not unbearable. The only time where the amount of people have been truly overwhelming was in the metro station. Thankfully the trains we were on weren’t too crowded, but in the various transfer stations they were so compacted.

                Another thing that I am really enjoying here is the kindness and willingness to talk and help one another here. Despite being here for only three days, I have had some very interesting conversations with various people. I love that people here will say certain sayings. Such as, “blood from you, blood from me are same blood”. Or that “it’s like five fingers: every finger on your hand is different”; and to me I took that as meaning everyone has walked and will walk a different path than you so accept that and learn from others. Also, I really like the strong use of spirituality and religion here in this country. People that I have talked to have said we need to think with your brain and follow your heart. Many say we are all One; all Gods people believe in are all the same; meaning we should be One with God; or the Creator. And obviously if you don’t have that belief, that is fine with me! To each their own :]

 

Note:

We're on blogger.com instead of medium.com because Caroline was dumb and didn't realize that you can't upload blog posts on medium.com through a Microsoft Surface tablet (which is the only computer device both of us have). So sorry for the whiplashing change but I'm sure this will turn out to be better in the end!

 

Caroline’s Song of the Day

19-Aug Lux Aurumque by Frank Ticheli

20-Aug On Your Way by Alabama Shakes