On Sunday I came down with an awful sort of virus that made me sick to my stomach with an on-and-off 101 degree fever. :) I had to travel home to Pune on the 3 hour train that day, and was sick all day Monday and Tuesday as well. Luckily, I'm on medicine now and not feeling quite as dizzy and dehydrated as I was, so I'm back in school, at work, and (as a consequence) on the Internet!
I've decided that it would take too much time/effort to go back and post all the pictures I was meaning to, so you'll have to take me at my word when I say that me and my friends have been very busy. We have been working, cycling, (not) paying attention in class, and going out to some cool places at night. We had a lot of fun two weeks ago at a club called Scream in Le Meredian Hotel. It was actually just like an American club-- disco lights, dance floor... except the music was decidedly more Hindi+techno. I really liked it though, mostly because I love dancing! However, our host mom and the program directors got really angry at us for coming home late, especially when they found out we were "out," and so now we have a firm curfew of 10pm. Which sucks. Which is why last weekend, we decided to TRAVEL....
The train ride from Pune to Mumbai is, as I've said before, a must-see experience. The mountains are lusciously green and there are waterfalls literally falling off the mountainsides-- like this one!
Seeing the villages and farms in the mountains and in the foothills is also really cool. This was my favorite little town that we saw-- perched right on the side of a cliff! The "horizon" near the top of the picture is actually where the side of the mountain drops off, which I thought would a kind of dangerous location for houses... but whatever. The homes were all brightly painted and quite cute.
The train compartment we (my friends from the Alliance and I) traveled in this time was MUCH nicer than when I went to Mumbai before. We were able to book tickets well ahead of our travel date, so we sat in an AC car with normal chairs and space, like you would expect on an American train. The windows were strangely tinted though, so we escaped into the connecting area between the cars to hang out the sides and take pictures. We must have taken a million-- don't worry, I didn't post them all. Here's Anoop (Jessie's friend who's actually not in the program, he just hangs with us) taking a picture of Carolyn OUTSIDE THE TRAIN as it's moving along.
But she wasn't the ONLY one doing it!
I have been meaning to take a picture of these for a long time-- Indian toilet. It was probably the thing that shocked me the most upon arriving here! Not all of the toilets we have to use are like this (thank God), but in most restaurants and non-tourist places we use some variation. And you bring your own toilet paper.
This picture is jumping ahead a little bit. We arrived in Mumbai Friday night, and Victoria (my friend from Princeton) met me at Dadar station to drive back to their hotel in Andheri. Victoria and Sachi (another Princeton girl she is working with) were traveling to do interviews as part of their summer work for their company based in Hyderabad. Unfortunately, Sachi was very sick when they came to pick me up, and by Saturday morning Victoria was sick too! We had planned to go downtown to sightsee with my Alliance friends (who were staying down there), so I went by myself down to meet them. We met up at this Lebanese restaurant on Colaba Causeway-- a shopping street in the downtown area. From left to right are Carolyn, me, Hyun, Jessie, and Anoop.
We shopped for a good two hours on Colaba Causeway among the different market stalls.
I can't believe Anoop survived so much shopping with girls.
While we were shopping, a man with a pet monkey came along and tried to offer us a "free" (meaning pay after you see it) monkey show. We felt really bad for the monkey and declined the show, not wanted to fund animal abuse. But I snapped this picture while he wasn't looking.
OMG we found a plastic toy RICKSHAW. To think that people regard the banes of our existance as childish playthings.... :P
Here's a better shot of how the Causeway looks to a shopper.
We stopped at this great dessert place in Colaba as well-- very good chocolate.
Hyun approved of the coffee. :)
I think one of my favorite parts of actually sightseeing in Mumbai was getting to see this old, intricate buildings from the time the British were in India. We were only able to drive by them in various cabs, but the High Court, Police Headquarters, and a train station were all built in this beautiful (gothic?) style that took me by surprise! There is a whole green lined with these kind of buildings. When I come back to Mumbai, I'd really like to walk along there and get a better view.
My OTHER favorite part of Mumbai was Marine Drive. It was a long road lining the shore, which gave a great view of the Mumbai skyline. This part of the city is a big horseshoe curve, and the walkway goes all the way around it. Hyun and our other friend Cam walked almost the whole thing, but Jessie, Carolyn, Coleen, Sasha, Anoop and I took it at a slower pace.
Wide-angle of Marine Drive. I was experimenting with the photo-stitch tool on my camera, and I really like the results! The picture is too wide to show up well here, but I'd like to take more panoramas like this in the future. Click on the picture to get the full effect.
Walk along...
Walk along the wall...
Get blown OFF the wall... haha, not really. Winds were pretty strong though-- we had to hold our kurtas down to prevent the wind from catching in the side slits and blowing our shirts into awkward positions.
If Marine Drive goes around a horseshoe curve, than at the peak of the curve is this place, Chowpatty Beach. There were hundreds of people hanging out eating, talking and playing, so Jessie and I decided to take a break here. We only put our feet in the water, though some people were swimming... considering how that water looked, I think those people had death wishes.
My attempt at a scenic photo-- note the anklets (there are two) I bought in Colaba. Indian women tend to wear a set of anklets rather than just one on one foot.
Jessie's sand art
We hung out on the beach until it started to get dark, then walked back towards my friends' hotel to eat. On the way back, we saw the streetlights turn on-- the lights alone Marine Drive are what form the "Queen's Necklace" at night. :)
The Queen's Necklace-- with Jessie and Ben. Ben was a random British guy we met while hanging out on the beach. He'd been in Mumbai for only a day, but he'd been traveling around India (by himself!) since May! He had some cool stories to share with us, especially about his experiences in Banaras (dead bodies floating, 14 hour train ride, heavy drugs)... kind of reaffirms my decision not to go there.
My Alliance friend and Ben stayed downtown for Saturday night, but Andheri is a way aways north, so I went home early to see how Sachi and Victoria were doing. They were feeling a bit better, so Victoria helped me learn how to wrap the sari I bought in Colaba. I'm not much of a sari person (I'm saving up for a sweet salwar kameez set instead), but I figured I'd be in trouble from someone if I didn't bring at least one home. Still have to get one of those half-blouses made to go with it, but at least I know how to put it on!
Sunday morning Sachi, Victoria and I took the local train down again to the downtown (Churchgate) area to see more sights. The local trains are an awesome way to get around Mumbai. They're open-car trains that work like the Metro-- running up and down the city. My first ride on Saturday from Andheri to Churchgate, Anoop and Carolyn bought me a ticket, but on the way back and on Sunday... I didn't really want to figure it out. So I didn't. And luckily, Mumbai trains are effectively free too. :)
The Gateway to India! Weather was kind of drizzly and miserable, but at least we saw it. Behind the gate and along the sides, waves were crashing over the barriers-- something about the highest tide in 100 years? Who knew...
Turn around, and its the Taj Hotel-- much bigger than we expected.
The lobby was also very impressive. Apparently some of Sachi and Victoria's American friends got to stay here, and I was a little jealous. Amazingly, just as Victoria, Sachi and I walked in to the lobby, all the Alliance kids had just finished eating lunch there! It was a good thing we were able to meet up so easily.
By this point, I was feeling like I'd been hit by a train-- I'd thrown up on the way to Churchgate from Andheri and was so tired I could barely walk. Sachi and Victoria decided to continue sightseeing a bit, and I stayed with Carolyn, Jessie, and Anoop to go back on the train.
But not before we got a Princeton picture!! Tiger love!!Much love to everyone at home too. I realize I'll be home in a couple of weeks, which is an odd thing to think about. I'm going to miss Pune in a way, especially my job and the great friends I've made here. Three weeks is a long time though-- there's still 30 pages of term paper (ick) and a trip to Delhi in the works. I'll keep you posted. :)
