Goa- The rest of India part I

So, I just ordered a salad and a tea and decided to type up a blog. I spent about five minutes trying to ask the waiter what was in the “avocado salad”. I kept asking if there “is lettuce in it?” And if not, can I get some? After a few tries he understood me and quickly scurried to the back only to return with an avocado. After we established the fact that I knew what an avocado was, we moved back on to the subject of lettuce. The waiter had never heard of such a thing - not uncommon here - so I just went with the cabbage instead. When I received the salad it was garnished with a piece of “garnish”, aka lettuce. Sometimes that’s how it goes here. Oh yeah, I’m here by the way:

I dressed up for the occasion and am now wearing a shirt and underwear for the first time in five days. I’m kind of formal like that when I blog... Actually, I do put on a hoodie, or “medieval hooded shirt” as Vishvanth calls it, to go to bed at night cause it gets pretty chilly, but other than that I have been working relentlessly on my tan. I’m in Mandrem, Goa, for the week and then will be heading... somewhere I guess? The plan is to stay in Goa for another week and then head down south (I’m in the northern tip at the moment) to explore that part. It’s been absolutely gorgeous during the day here though, hovering around low 30’s for the most part. Mandrem is really quiet for the most part and it’s only a couple of kilometers away from Arambol which is pretty busy for its size. Everybody here is either a hippy, a yogi, a senior, or a backpacker. It’s not normally my scene but I’m absolutely having a blast. And by blast, I mean I’m reading a lot and hanging around the beach and going to bed no later than 10:30. Oh oh oh, and I’m doing a lot of this:

There is a line in the book Shantaram (really really good read by the way) that goes something like, “ a man must love his bear”  - makes sense in the context of the book - and that is exactly how I now feel towards scooters. A man must, and I do, love his scooter. I’ve had it for the past 3 days and I’ve just been cruising for hours. It’s such a good way to get to know the place and the roads are relatively quiet here so it’s fine- I wouldn’t think of doing it in Madurai, the traffic there is insane. The first day on my two-wheeler was the most adventuresome. Although my destination was only 2 kilometers away and I only had to make one turn, I still managed to get lost. I ended up driving for a while even after I had realized I was lost because it was just so cool to see a different side of Goa. Goa is absolutely gorgeous and within a fifteen minute drive from the hotel I’m staying at, there was this:

It’s just mind boggling that there is a mini-slum literally walking distance from where I am staying. You’d never know it unless, well unless you got lost like I did. I kept driving through and saw some fishermen at work and some construction workers working on a new bridge. I'm guessing that most of the fisherman and construction workers inhabit this little slum.

This week has been really quiet and exactly what I was looking for. I wanted something that wouldn’t involve moving around too much because of my back. As I liked to remind the girls I was living with whenever I had a chance, I do have a bulging disc now! Then they’d say something about how I was a drama-queen and blah blah something else. If only they knew haha. I’m officially off the anti-inflammatory medicine as of today and my back feels alright. It doesn’t feel as good as I was hoping but I’m sure it’ll get straightened out soon. Looks like I’ll have to hold off on the squats and dead lifts I had planned on doing...

I’m planning on going to Vagator and Chapora tomorrow to check out the towns because they have a ton of Portuguese remnants. Goa was one of the few (maybe only?) places in India that was colonized by the Portuguese and they were driven away not too long ago. So the architecture is different than the rest of India and it’ll be cool to check out some of the churches and buildings there. Other than that, those are my only plans. I have a ticket booked from Mumbai to Delhi on the 15th of January. I don’t have a ticket from Goa to Mumbai yet but I’m working on it. I was planning on going by train but the trains are completely booked out until the 20th of January. So I’m either going to have to get lucky and snatch up one of the few FT tickets (Foreign Tourist tickets that they reserve for foreigners) or go by plane. Once there I plan on doing a short trip to Ellora and Ajanta to check out their caves and temples. It looks unreal. Google it! I’ll be meeting up with Hannah, roommate from Australia, in Delhi for five days and then I was planning on returning to Toronto. I received an email from Project abroad confirming that I paid for a two month travel insurance plan when I was sure I had only purchased a one month. The results of this are tragic and it is looking very likely that I’ll have to keep on traveling for another 2 weeks to a month. Sometimes you just can’t win... Come ce dice “sarcasm” in espanol?

Noah

Some other pics from when I got lost:

Delhi Part II

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I actually wrote this post about 3 weeks ago but I just never got around to posting it. In the meantime, a pretty awful and unexpected- and still unexplained or unresolved at least, from my understanding- incident happened, Sofia'a good friends were volunteering in Africa and disappeared from their boat. They were on a lake and their bodies still have not been found but they have been announced to be dead rather than missing. I'm somewhat unsure of all of the details but that's my understanding at least. Sofia, understandably, returned to Denmark the day after she received the news. I can't imagine what she's going through right now. So definitely thinking of her a lot.

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So I’ll try to pick up where I last left off which was somewhere around breakfast on my second day in Delhi. Sofia and I walked around the neighbourhood in search of an authentic Indian breakfast but quickly realized that a continental breakfast sounded more appealing since we’ve had nothing but Indian breakfasts for the past month and a half and it can be a little overwhelming to have really spicy food for breakfast every day. We found a hotel that had an all you can eat buffet for a whopping $3 and decided to give it a go. The breakfast was deadly and after a few espressos I was ready to go. We shopped around and decided to book a cab to Agra for the following day so we could see the Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort. After that we headed to Jama Masjid Mosque.

Jama Mosque is the biggest mosque in India and from what I understand it can hold up to 25,000 people. They made me wear some sort of man-skirt that was so not flattering but I was in shorts and apparently showing a little too much skin... We walked around and took some pictures and then took to the task of climbing the 130 stairs in one of the towers. After some huffing and puffing (apparently I’ve been eating too many chapatis) we got to the top. The view was pretty spectacular and you could see all of Old Delhi and part of New Delhi. While we were admiring the view at the top we started chatting with a couple of locals who spoke English very well and we mentioned that we were hoping to go to a traditional market or bazaar later on and asked for a recommendation. They immediately (thank God for spell check because I’m probably the only 25 year old that misspells “immediately” every single time) recommended we check out Chandni Chowk which was only about a 15 walk away. We thanked them and made our way there.

On our way we got to see and experience a bit of everything-- date stands, popcorn stands where they pop the popcorn in these huge pans over a coal fire, a snake charmer, a small congregation of homeless people living right underneath of the mosque, and tons of other shops and stands.

Chandni Chowk was pretty unbelievable to say the least. I’m not sure exactly how many people where at the market but there have to have been at least 100 thousand, or “one lakh" as they say in India. You were shoulder to shoulder with other shoppers and shop owners alike, it was pure madness. We never even entertained the thought of purchasing anything but we spent at least an hour and a half waking down the street and just taking it all in. After about an hour of walking around we saw what we thought were omelets being made on the street and went to check them out. It turns out that it was something made out of “pulse” that just looked like an omelet. I still have no idea what it was but it was amazing. It was basically tomatoes, cheese and some herbs wrapped in a pulse “wrap” with an her chutney on the side. We devoured the dish and went on our way.

After that we headed to the Museum of Modern Art and walked around for a bit, but let’s be honest, museums are boring. Fortunately, I didn’t have to feign my interest for long as the museum closed shortly after we arrived. Later on that night we headed to a pretty nice North Indian restaurant and had some killer Palak Panner (if you have a chance try some!) and then headed to a near by pub for a bit to get a feel of the night life in Delhi. It was pretty empty but it was still fun.

The next day we headed to... the Taj! Our driver picked us up at 6am and we made the 4 hour trip to Agra. The city of Agra itself is pretty lackluster to say the least. It sucks. It does happen to be home to two of the most amazing destinations in India though, the Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort. We only saw Agra Fort from the outside but it is huge and looked awesome-- I have to return there one day to see the inside. We were dropped off in front of the walkway to the Taj where we met up with our guide. 

I witnessed my first robbery in India as we entered the gates. A monkey shamelessly snatched a tourist's ice cream and took off. Here's the little guy enjoying his prize.

The Taj Mahal was gorgeous and having a guide is a must because you develop so much more of an appreciation for the work that went into building it and you learn about all of the intricacies that you would never have know otherwise. I can't really add anything that you wouldn't be able to get from pictures other than to say that it is one of the few places that is as far more gorgeous in person than it comes off in the millions of pictures that have been taken of it. That's a pretty hard feat to accomplish, so as Ali G would say, "restecp".

One of the four main gates.

The Taj.

The most touristy thing I could think of...

A mosque just to the side of it.

Quick snap from an archway on the way out.

Ended up having a pretty mellow night because of our wake up time and I had an early flight to Goa to catch the next day. I was really looking forward to seeing Goa alone and spending some time on the beach and what not but I basically ran into some other volunteers within an hour of arriving, and somehow we were staying at the same hotel! Crazy...

The first couple days in Goa were AWFUL! I got food poisoning shortly after arriving, damn you spring rolls, and spent the first two days with a bucket in front of my face throwing up. Oh yeah, it was my birthday the day after I arrived to top it off. The hotel was right across from a bar and it’s pretty annoying to throw up while “We’re gonna have a goodnight” is blaring in the background haha. B.E.P. you lied because I did not have a good night! I slowly recovered and was able to really enjoy the rest of my time there though. The other guys/girls I was with were a really fun group and I think everyone had a blast. We got to eat some really good food, played some football (they are Euros and they get angry when you call it soccer) on the beach, rented scooters and drove around for the day, and hang out on the beaches. We went out a few nights there and the clubs there off the hizzy. Not in the way you would expect though. You can only get in as a “couple” so the ratio for guys to girls is 50/50 but you would not know it by looking at the dance floor... it is the complete opposite from anywhere else I’ve been where the dance floors are dominated by guys. And what dancers they are! They gyrate, fist pump, and shake their tailfeathers like you wouldn’t believe. It’s shocking and incredibly entertaining to watch.

The 10 days, well 8 if you discount the 2 I spent throwing up, were an absolute blast and it was really good to see a different side of India. 

Noah

The Massage

I just got out of my second Ayuverdic massage for the past week. So far I’ve had three overall and WOWZA!!! For those of you who don’t know what an Ayurvedic massage is, it’s a type of massaging technique developed in Kerola, a neighbouring state to Tamil Nadu. The massage is quite different than your average massage (are most “average” massages just considered to be swedish?) because it uses an insane amount of oil(s). There are literally dozens of different oils that are infused with herbs and other sorts of ingredients with medicinal properties to choose from. Each type of oil has a different purpose and is applied in a different way and to a different part of your body- and applied quite lavishly I must add. Oh yeah, and you’re generally ass-naked for it! There’s nothing more emasculating than having to have two men flip your naked body over because you have been slipping and sliding around on a wooden table trying to flip over unsuccessfully because there’s too much oil on the table making it impossible for you to get any sort of grip...

My first experience with an Ayurvedic massage was in Goa. Perhaps I should have known that something was up when I told Bruno, a volunteer from Germany, that I was getting an Ayuverdic massage later on that day and he cracked a cheeky smile and said “have fun!” I had no idea how awkward the next hour was going to be as I entered the back room of that shack on the side of the road... My conversation with the masseur kind of went like this once in the back room:

Masseur: Okay, sir, you get undressed.

Me: Shit, I totally forgot that I’m not wearing boxers, can I just run back to the hotel since it’s across the street and grab some? I’ll be two seconds.

Masseur: No, no, no. You get naked.

Me: Haaa? Is there a towel or something? Where do I change?

Masseur: No, no, no. This is Ayurvedic massage. No clothes, no towel.

Me: Hmmm. Are you sure?

I took a look around and, seemingly for the first time, realized that I was in a pretty sketchy looking back-room, with another man and a tub of oil. I then proceeded to do the most logical thing one would do in such situation and began to undress in front of the man. It was incredibly awkward and I made sure to mutter and sigh loud enough for him to hear so that he’d know I wasn’t comfortable with the situation. Next thing I know I’m laying on my stomach, clutching the side of the table and holding my laughter in. It was insanely hard not to just burst out laughing. After about fifteen minutes of convincing myself that I was being silly and that I was the one that approached the man for a massage, and not the other way around, I finally began to relax. It lasted about thirty seconds before the man began doing a weird flicking motion at the end of my buttocks to get rid of the excess oil. My butt cheeks clenched right up and I burst out laughing unable to control myself. I quickly composed myself but decided to stay in the clenched position while telling myself that there is no way in hell that I’m flipping on my stomach if he asks me to.

Fast forward twenty more minutes and the masseur says, “okay now, you get on back”. “Shit! Shit! Shit!”, I thought to myself. I decided I’d just ignore him and hope he’d forget about it. After a few seconds of awkward silence he gives me a little nudge and says “flip”. I tried to play dumb and replied, “Huh? What do you mean?” It was pretty obvious what he meant and he knew it. I’m sure most of his customers react in a similar manner when he asks them to flip because he dangled a cloth that was in his hand in front of my face to reassure me that it was all under control. That my boys were safe. A minute later there I was, face up with a cloth rolled into a cigar-like-shape strategically placed over my manhood. It was definitely the most awkward and the funniest experience I’ve had in a while. I could not keep a straight face and I constantly burst out laughing and then proceeded to apologize. I found myself tipping him really well, basically a baksheesh, as if to say, that what just happened back there is staying back there...

I’ve been pretty lucky and have actually been provided with a loincloth for my past two massages though which is better for the most part except that they put it on for you. They reach down through your legs and put it on and then they tie if for you. I’ve learned to just not question some things here... You’re probably wondering why on Earth I went back when I just said it was one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life. In Goa I kind of threw out my back and was in a ridiculous amount of pain. I could barely get out of bed in the morning. After two weeks the pain was finally subsiding when I stupidly played basketball in the morning and afternoon with the kids I was coaching for my new project. The next morning I woke up in an insane amount of pain again. I have done an MRI and unfortunately found out that I mya have two bulging discs and some other problems with my hips and back. Being the drama queen that I am, I moped around for a few hours until I realized that it’s not a huge deal and that all I had to do was look around and realize that I still had it better than 99% of the people around me. It’s really annoying and frustrating when you want to feel sorry for yourself in India because there’s always someone who has it way worse than you do. I just have to look to the new care centre I’m working at to see that. It really puts things in perspective to be in a country like India. The next time you are complaining about how unlucky you are, remember that it can be worse, a lot worse.