Indian Wedding

This was an event of a lifetime. There is so much tradition behind the Indian wedding. There is so much more to the wedding then saying the vows. The procession begins and the groom is riding on a horse to the location of the ceremony. A lot of dancing, loud music, and fireworks go on for hours before the welcoming of the groom. The groom is united with the bride, and after everyone eats and talks, then the bride and groom say their vows, which takes 2 hours or more. The wedding will last approximately 10 hours all together. It is an extravagent event, words do not describe the feelings of this event. I feel honored to have witnessed such a part of culture.

I met so many people, and everyone was so welcoming, even though I was a foreigner that no one knew. I met a nice man who was Tapan's professor in college, and he told me the history of traditional Indian weddings, as well as a little bit about each of the foods that were being served.

The woman at the wedding were all dressed in beautiful tradional Indian attire (Sari's), they were all so colorful and sparkly. It was a beautiful event to be a part of.

Amazing adventure

Wow! What an amazing weekend I have had. There are few words to describe the things I saw this weekend, hopefully some of my pictures will do some justice.
Saturday morning I was able to meet up with an old colleague of mine, Sureetee, who worked in Gap India liaison office. We had communicated for a few years during our Gap days over e-mail, and talked on the phone, but never actually met in person. This was our first time to meet, and it was so great to put a face with the name. We enjoyed talking about what has been going on in our lives the last few years, as well as the textile business…some things we have in common. It’s really amazing to have friends in many places of the world, it’s a good feeling when you can go to another country and meet up with a familiar friend.
Saturday was our day to make the trek to Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal. I knew that it would take approximately 3 hours + to get there, but had no idea of the things I would see along the way. For starters, I saw a wild monkey, camels pulling cargo, water buffalo crossing the roads, cars, motorbikes, bicycles, & people driving all over the road. In my eyes, there are really no rules to driving other than if someone is honking at you, you need to move out of the way! The horn is a necessity here, and they use it like we use our blinkers. We stopped at a restaurant about 2 hours into our journey, and on our way out, we saw a snake tamer. I thought this was only in the movies, but, it was for real! See for yourself!
Back on the road, now we are flying on the road, and come to a screeching hault, there is a precession on the opposite side of the road, which has caused for the on-coming traffic to move to our side of the road because of the many people taking over the road. It was a tight, stop-and-go traffic jam for an hour or more. The driving here in India is surely something not everyone could handle. In fact I think it is a mastered skill to be able to drive here. You have to be on alert at any given second because you never know if someone is going to dart out in front of you, a car is going to cross your immediate path, or an ox is going to meander into the road with it’s pack. Finally, at 7pm, we arrived at Jaypee Palace hotel. The choice hotel in Agra.
We needed to get a bite to eat, so Tapan, Geetha, and myself decided we would first play a game of bowling, and then get some food. We were having so much fun bowling, that we didn’t eat for another hour or so, and played another 5 games of bowling, some air hockey, and a few games of pool. We ordered food and ate while we played, we had so much fun! We finally decided to go to bed since it was midnight and we had to leave at 5:45 for sunrise at the Taj.

5:15am came very fast, my bed was so hard, so I did not sleep sound. By the time the phone rang for the wake-up call, I was a zombie, but knew that it was worth waking up so early for.

When we arrived at the entrance, I soon felt like I was in a different world. I saw the Taj from afar and could not believe my eyes, what I saw was simply breathtaking.
I decided to hire a photographer to take pictures while I was there, this way I could have perfect photos for a lifetime. It was fun, the photographer followed me around and took pics, I could only imagine the quality he could get with such a fancy camera and expertise.
If you ever have the chance, read about the history of the Taj, and if you get the opportunity of a lifetime, travel to see the Taj for yourself, you will be amazed. The Taj was built in 1631 by 20,000+ workers, and each and every stone was placed by hand. It took 22 years to build, and was a gift to Mumtaz from her emperor husband Shahjahan after she had died. After the Taj was complete the workers were impaired either blinded, crippled or hands/fingers cut off, so that they would not be able to replicate this structure. There are many stones that are very precious, but many have also been removed because people over the years have stole or tried to steel them.
In any case, this is definitely one of the most amazing, incredible journeys I have made to date.

I need to sign off for now, I am going to an India wedding this evening with my colleague. More to follow.

off to Agra...Taj Mahal

Today is finally Saturday in India. I have a very adventurous last few days. Not enough time to update the blog because I have just simply not had enough time.
We have been on the road a lot here, I have seen a lot of ox, water buffalo, and even a wild monkey in my adventures.
The food is okay, but not agreeing with my sensitive system.
well gotta run.
more for later.

Turkey trots revenge...

Well I am connected to the world again, as I have been on the go the last 2 days pretty much all day, and into the night, by the time I reach my hotel, I am exhausted.

It is Tuesday night in Jakarta, 10:30pm as I type this. The last two days have been quite adventurous. This is where the fun stories begin...

Sunday evening we went to a Korean BBQ restaurant, and ate a lot of beef, some tempura pumpkin (it looked like squash to me), bean sprouts soaked in something tangy, and some beer to top it off. You would think by now I would be an expert eating with chopsticks, but I just get by, and don't drop my food on me. After dinner, I couldn't wait to lay in the bed and crash. I put my earplugs in, and turned out the lights.

Monday morning, 4am, I was awaken by the chanting at the Islamic mosque nearby. It is Ramadhan right now, and everyone who is a muslim, will leave on holiday tomorrow afternoon for 10 days to celebrate. They do not eat from dawn til' dusk for many days, and then at 6pm or dusk, they eat their first meal, and then another a few hours later, and then their last meal at 3am. It's no wonder there is slow productivity during this time, as going 12 hours without food or beverages can make you quite sleepy. On our return from our factory visits, we thought our driver was going faster because he couldn't wait to eat! My butt is officially sore. I have sat so much in the last 4 days, it makes me ache thinking about it. We drove 2 1/2 hours the factory in Bandung yesterday for a 3 hour visit at the factories, and then back on the busy roads again for 3 hours return because of traffic.

After the long day traveling, we decided to have dinner in our rooms, as we had an early flight to Semarang to visit some more factories. We arrived at the airport 20 minutes before our flight departure. While boarding the plane, you could swear that you had stepped in a pile of shit, the smell was horrible. Stana and I both checked our shoes but could not find any evidence of this horrible smell. We never did find out what it was. The flight to Semarang was quite short, only 45 minutes. Beats driving 6 hours with so many crazy scooters and drivers on the roads.

Tonight we went to Korean BBQ again, this time with another factory manager, and there was so much food on the table, you didn't know where to start. Of course I do, because I only eat select things. I picked a few things that I thought were safe and not too exotic, but when I was biting into what I thought were all fresh vegetables, there was a squid tail in there...that was enough to make me gag. I then carefully selected the next few items to put on my dish, but not careful enough, as now, I am paying for whatever did not agree with my stomach. Thank goodness I am at the hotel now with toilet paper and flushing toilets. The factories normally do not have T.P. and if they do, you can not flush down the toilet, poor sewage system, not enough power to flush. You only hope you have to go #1 and nothing else when traveling. Oh the adventures of 3rd world countries. Yes, and today I also managed to take some skin from my hand, after hitting it on the metal toilet paper cover of which had not toilet paper in it in the first place.

Well, now it's time for me to go to sleep. It has been a very long day, and my body is ready to shut down. Thank goodness for strong anti-diarrheal medicine! It comes in handy quite a lot on these trips.

A word that I saw a few times today, Di lareng, means forbidden in Indo.

Good night for now. Tomorrow I will be heading to South India, Chennai to be exact.

More to come

A bed...so dreamy

I arrived in Jakarta, Indonesia at 1pm on Sunday, 10/7. The flight from Hong Kong to Jakarta was uneventful until the woman next to me pulled out the courtesy "barf" bag, and started doing her thing. Unfortunately, the turbulents got the best of her stomach. She was quite discrete, but it was still apalling that I knew what was happening next to me.
I tried to sleep some more on this flight, but it was daylight, so it made it hard to keep the eyes closed. Plus, my butt was sore, and my legs were aching from sitting for so long.
When I arrived at the airport in Jakarta, I had to purchase a visa, and then go try and fight the crowd to get my luggage. The question "will my luggage be here" always crosses my mind. I checked it in in Portland, OR, and have been on 3 different planes, it's pretty amazing that my luggage made it through all the transfers, and I was able to pick it up at the baggage claim.
I proceded to the exit, where a gentlemen greeted me from the hotel I am staying at. It's nice to have someone meet you when you have no idea where to go. It's very muggy here, and very smoggy.
I have arrived safe at my hotel, and now I am off to the pool.

First flight of many to come

Well, I have made it across the ocean, after 13 1/2 hours in a window seat of 3, I have finally straightened my legs to a vertical position. I started my journey on Friday, 10/5 in Portland, OR at 10:15pm. I landed in SF, CA, and departed SFO at 1:30am. I got on the plane where so many people were shuttling in like a heard of cattle onto the plane. It was stuffy, and so cramped, I miss the good 'ol days in business class. Now, I am just one of them...no special treatment, just another body crammed into the plane. Thank goodness I was not near the bathroom, that would have been a nightmare.

I am not sitting in a cafe in the HK airport waiting for my plane to depart to Jakarta Indonesia. I will arrive approximately 1pm Sunday, 10/7. Where did Saturday the 6th go?
I have an aisle seat the next flight, which is only 4 hours, that is a piece of cake. Only 12 more days, and I get to go home :)
I only have 11 more cities to go, 3 countries, and I will be on my way back to the US.
This is just the beginning of a long journey.
Chao for now...