Stay Classy San Diego

Having been home for a week, I've decided it's time to sign out. As I'm no longer in India or traveling, it's time to shut 'er off. I have been meaning to blog about Bangalore, the Maldives, and Bangkok so this final post will be pretty scattered. My time in India had its ups and downs, but the one lesson I've learned is the value of relationships, in all its forms. There is a lot of love and kindness in the world, and the people I've met and my old friends have inspired me to be kinder and more generous. There is never a reason not to be nice to someone, even if the other person doesn't recognize or reciprocate, the world could always use a little more kindness. Both new friends and old have been so kind and generous with me, I hope I can be as supportive to them as they have to me.

On to Bangalore. This trip was with a friend who visited earlier in the year, I just never got around to blogging about it. To be honest we didn't do much in Bangalore, although the exciting highlight was Taco Bell! When my friend first told me about Taco Bell in Bangalore I was so excited. Then I remembered it's India so I asked if there's beef, to which the response was a sheepish, "There's chicken!" I was a little bummed but when I actually had the chicken tacos and the nachos, it hit the spot.

My new favorite place on earth is the Maldives. Having grown up in San Diego, I'm a little bit of a beach snob. A beach as a vacation destination is not enough, it should be a really pretty beach with turquoise water and white sand. I've only been to two beaches that I would call actual beach destinations: Maui and Nice, France. Planning our trip to the Maldives with friends, I knew the beaches wouldn't disappoint. And they didn't. The Maldives are utterly stunning, with turquoise water and white sand. I also love when the water changes from a rich turquoise to deep blue as the ocean floor drops off. The Maldives had that too. It was amazing. After flying into Male, we had to take a 20 minute speedboat ride to the resort, which was its own island. My very generous friends covered our stay at the resort with their free hotel nights, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to afford the Maldivian experience. The next five days were spent eating, sleeping on the beach, snorkeling along the different coral reefs, and wakeboarding. All in all, it was pretty effing amazing.

Water bungalows.

Stairs directly into the ocean.

Back balcony.

Sharks!

From there we went on to Bangkok. Another generous friend put us up in the Grand Hyatt, I didn't do so bad on this vacation as an NGO worker. We had suites and access to the Grand Lounge with free drinks and food. Later he also gifted us a spa afternoon and I got a nice massage, scrub, and mani/pedi. (I mean seriously don't I have the most awesome friends? I really am a very lucky girl.) We went to the crazy weekend market and got Thai massages everyday. We also hit up the red light district of course. But I think my favorite part was going with all my friends to the bespoke tailor. Bespoke clothing in Bangkok is pretty cheap so my friends decided to stock up on dress shirts and suits. I was planning on maybe going sightseeing or shopping while they were there but they asked me to come for some consulting. I was ok with that but it turned out to be so much fun! Getting to choose the colors of the shirts and suits, as well as giving input on general design as well as analyzing fit is my dream come true. The only way it could have been more fun is if I was buying clothes for myself.

Delicious curry crab.

Soi Cowboy

Grand Palace

So now I've been home for a week, and I'm really happy to be back. I've been feeding my Nordstrom habit, and was greeted by the Zappos shoes I bought while in India. (Though now I have to find a place to put all my shoes.) I've also checked off In N Out, Mexican food, ramen,  and Korean food off my list. I still need to hit up IHOP, Taco Bell, and sushi. I've started sewing again, and I'm almost done with a dress already! But again, I'm happy to see old friends and faces. It's been really great to see people who have had my back this whole time. I'm so blessed to be surrounded by so much love and support.

Visitors! The Real India Tourist Experience

As mentioned, I decided to go to the hospital partly because my friends were due to visit in a week. There were concerns about getting their Indian visas in time (unfortunately one of them didn't make it) and of course I felt responsible for them. For those who have been to India, you know what I mean. For those who haven't, India is a high-paced, overwhelming, and intimidating place for first-time visitors. And I love my friends dearly but they live comfortable lives and are accustomed to a high level of good customer service and painless travel. This would of course benefit me later, but it contributed to my unease about them traveling alone in India. So two days after getting discharged from the hospital, I was still exhausted and didn't have my strength back but I got on a plane to meet them at the Delhi airport as our flights were arriving within half an hour of each other.

This was no fun. I traveled on a budget airline and arrived at Terminal 1 while they arrived at the nice international Terminal 3. We decided to meet at the Costa Coffee right outside customs. In the back of my mind I knew there would be issues trying to get into the terminal, but like a true Indian I decided I would figure it out and take care of it once I got there. After getting to Terminal 3, I had to find the Costa Coffee. Done. Except I couldn't get into the building. In India, you need a ticket just to get inside the airport. So I walked the entire length of the airport about seven times, as different people told me different ways to get into the airport. I finally found a ticket counter that sold visitors' tickets to the airport. I got one, but was told I couldn't take bags in. Well I had a suitcase and backpack since I was going on a 10-day trip so that prevented me from going in. At this point I'm pretty frustrated because I had lost my cell phone on the way to the airport, and just have no idea how I'm going to get to my friends. I said I was just going to leave my bags outside and they said I couldn't do that either, adding to my frustration. I could see the Costa Coffee through the windows, and decide to ask the carts outside if they could call the Costa Coffee inside to tell my friends to come out. But they didn't have the number, I was foolishly hoping there would be some sort of intercom system. At the height of my frustration, I went to one of the airport staff milling around and shed a few tears to show them how desperate and frustrated I was. He agreed to let me walk up to the door (there's a barricade about 30 feet from the door that prevents people from even approaching). As we were walking up I see my friends through the window! I gesticulate wildly for them to come outside and we were reunited! It was so great to see them, and I was so relieved that the one-hour saga came to a happy end. Then we left for the hotel.

Upon arrival at the hotel we were told it was overbooked so we would be staying at a sister hotel. I asked if it's just as nice and he kind of demurred and said it's not all the same but I was too tired to notice. We got to the sister hotel and it was not nice. My friend pointed out we just got downgraded. Then I got more annoyed. They gave us some water bottles and we went to sleep because we had a train the next morning. In the morning we moved our stuff back to the original hotel. Before letting us leave for the train they wanted us to pay for the water. It was about a dollar. But I had it. I argued with hotel manager that I wasn't going to pay for the water unless he refunded us the difference in rates between the two hotels or upgraded us for the second night. After 10 minutes of being stubborn, they let us catch our train to Agra.

We decided to get a driver for the day in Agra. At first there was no guide in the car, after I insisted there be one all of a sudden we had a new driver and a guide for the same price. We started at Fatehpur Sikri as the sky was filled with smog and smoke and we wouldn't have good views of the Taj. The heavy cloud cover keeps all the pollution trapped overnight and it doesn't start to dissipate until the sun burns away the cloud cover. We had a nice guide who explained the old city and then we went to the Taj. It's pretty awesome. There were a ton of people and we made two laps around it just to get into various lines. But it was really beautiful. This was my second time visiting Agra. The first time was misery because of the heat and humidity. The second time was much, much better and I was able to enjoy the day. I actually had to borrow my friend's hoodie!

We had a long lunch, and got driven to various crafts stores. After driving around Agra Fort, our cab was stuck in gridlock traffic. Our driver had warned one of the other drivers to be more careful. About 15 minutes later, this driver rear-ended our car with some force. Our driver gets out and demands the other driver also get out of the car. I'm not really watching, my friend is, and I hear a SMACK. I turn around to see our driver slap the other driver again across the face. The other driving was rubbing his cheek and looked ashamed. I mean, if someone slapped me I'd be pissed! But this guy just looked embarrassed. The driver gets back in the car like nothing happened. My friends and I were pretty stunned and didn't really know how to react, so we just started laughing. I mean this guy just slaps this other guy across the face and it's all ok? It turned out to be one of the more-talked about points of our trip.

Well our driver continued to drive us to various stores until our train time. My friend bought a carpet and I got some jewelry. Then we got back on the train to head to Delhi. When reaching the hotel it turns out I got an upgraded room and we all got free internet. Because of this we paid for the water when checking out the next morning.

Fatehpur Sikri

The Taj Mahal

The fountains were off!

Then we spent the day in Delhi before our evening flight. I wanted to show them the "real India" so we ate at Karim's in Old Delhi and walked around Chandni Chowk. After about five minutes walking around in the craziness we'd had enough and decided to see Red Fort. Well we were completely lost so we kept walking. We were so lost that the locals milling around saw us, knew we didn't belong, and immediately pointed the direction out of the market. We finally reach a road where we hail an auto. At that point we had about an hour before we had to leave for the airport, and my friend had a "Delhi belly" moment so we decided to go back to the hotel. I'm happy because my friends visited and got to see the authentic frenetic India. Next up: the Maldives.

Truly Thankful

So it's been a while, I've been busy. Every so often my stomach gets a little upset but it passes. Beginning in early November I had another round, and I thought it was great to lose a little weight, but this time it didn't go away for more than two weeks. After it got to the point of not being able to hold anything I ate, I decided I should go to the hospital (yes I probably should have gone earlier). So the doctor says I can be admitted to the hospital now for five days, or wait two days until my test results came back and probably have to be admitted for five days after that. I knew my friends were coming to visit in a week and I wanted to get better before they got here. Plus my great American friend was cooking a Thanksgiving feast and I had been looking forward to her amazing cooking. So I decided to get admitted to the hospital then and there. I mean I didn't want to eat or even drink water because it was so painful. Turns out I had E. coli and I had Dengue fever (pretty much worse than malaria). Since I have health insurance under VSO, I got the clear to stay in the swanky private room. However when I came to be admitted, the private room was unavailable so I started out in the ward. It really wasn't fun. I guess seeing a foreign girl in a hospital is new to most Indians so I had about 30 pairs of eyes on me the whole time I was there. Plus there were no fans or A/C. Plus you're just in the hospital. So I made a few calls to my allies (you need to have allies in India who can throw some weight around) and they came to my rescue. They brought me food, visited with me for a few hours, and made sure I got my private room. I am so grateful because I had a TV, ensuite bathroom, and A/C! The hospital I was in didn't have a cafeteria, plus most hospital food isn't know for being great. So this is the best. My friends brought every meal for me and visited me. One friend brought me a goody basket made out of a Corn Flakes box with many issues of OK! magazine, plus tons of food goodies. After five days of sleepless nights and a constant IV (turns out it might take my hands up to one month to heal because of the IVs and my Dengue), I was released. My friend insisted I stay with her for the two nights before I had to meet my friends to rest up for my trip. I mean the hospital part sucked, but man I am totally blown away by the generosity and kindness of my friends. I haven't been here very long, and they know I am not going to stay much longer but they cooked gourmet meals for me, brought meals to the hospital, and stayed to keep my company while I was cranky and incoherent. I'll admit that I had become pretty jaded at my circumstances and with people, but I am just so touched by these friends, they have really restored my faith in people and the love that's out there. I can never fully express my gratitude for their kindness, company, and support through a difficult time away from home.

Apple pie, pumpkin pie, and pumpkin cake for Thanksgiving dessert!