Thursday Thirteen... 13 reasons I love to travel

13. Food! I'll try anything once... on my last trip the weird things were: squid, octopus and eel. We'll see what the Middle East brings.
12. The experience and opportunity to learn each day to see the world from a different angle.
11. The knowledge that The American Way is not The Only Way.
10. At the same time, an ability to see what is GREAT about the USA.
9. Something new, every day, every trip.
8. Meeting other travelers with similar ideals.
7. Traveling brings out the best in me- I tend to be patient and kind and forget about the hustle and bustle of life at home.
6. Did I mention the food?
5. Actually being able to see places that most people will never get to see: Forbidden Temple, Beijing Olympic Park, Munich Olympic Park, The Gateway to India and Taj Mahal Hotel.
4. Learning first hand about the history of other cultures... and whether or not we learned about them in school is "true."
3. Being self confident and self reliant, especially when I'm unable to communicate with those around me.
2. Coming home! To my dog and my warm, comfortable bed.
1. The people... wonderful people with wonderful stories and amazing life lessons.

For those who don't know, there was a major terrorist attack in Mumbai over the Thanksgiving holiday. A large number of men came into the port of Mumbai in boats, they then highjacked cars and a police van and drove to ten different locations throughout Mumbai. These locations were tourist attractions and places of safe haven for the non-traditional Indian. These attackers were after American and English citizens and those of Jewish decent. The siege lasted three days. Three days of terror in Mumbai's nicest hotels. Not only did it result in the loss of over 160 lives, but also in the loss of the historic Taj Mahal Intercontinental Hotel which was ravished by fires set by the terrorists.

I had never been to the World Trade Center and I did not know anyone who perished in those attacks. But I have been to the port of Mumbai and inside the Taj Mahal Hotel. I have seen these beautiful landmarks up close. I have seen the beautiful Indian people who spend their days selling goods to the tourists who flock to see the Gateway to India. I am in mourning for these people- for the chaos that is there daily lives and for the chaos that has bubbled over into a war zone.

India is a beautiful place- a place of polar opposites. Beautiful people living in a harsh and dirty world. Their lives are still much more simple than the life of the average American. It is a place of deep , but varied spiritualism. Whether they are followers of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jain, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism or Christianity they believe deeply and truly. And although there are many jihadists of many faiths who have been launching attacks on India for many years, it is true that in day to day life, the people of India deal with their spiritual differences with calmness, patience and respect.

I want to parallel this to the lack of respect most Americans feel necessary when dealing with people of a differing background- but I simply don't have the words. Sure, we don't have problems with domestic terrorism, but we certainly don't always have kindness in our hearts to deal with and respect those who are different than us. All I can do is pray that the strength and kindness of the Indian people will carry them through these times of struggle.

Worst Blogger EVER!

Well the last few weeks since India have been so incredibly crazy. I hae about 6 days in the office between my two trips, which in some ways was helpful, in other ways it just made me realize all of the things I need to take care of when I get back in the office! While I was home I did manage to book a plane ticket to Jamaica (oh, how I can't wait!) and spend an entire Saturday out with some friends. I'll get to spend McKoy's birthday, Christmas and New Years with him this year which is absolutely amazing. Birthdays are not celebrated much in Jamaica, but I am making plans to have McKoy's first American birthday celebration! I'm trying to figure if I'm able to bring cupcakes with me all the way from home, crazy? Either way, I'm sure we will have a great time.

Right now I'm in Hong Kong, just passing the morning until it is time to catch a plane to Shanghai. I arrived here on this past Thursday. I had flown 14 hours in coach. I thought I might die when I got off that plane. I was so incredibly tired and grumpy that I felt ill. It took about 2 hours to get from the plane to the hotel and luckily they allowed me to check in at 9am! Thank you JW Marriott! I knew that going to sleep wasn't very smart- I needed to quickly get ove jet lag as Friday I had a very busy day. So I laid down for about 30 minutes, showered and headed out for some sightseeing.

Things I would never associate with Hong Kong but are TRUE:
-beautiful beaches (I'm talking Carribean quality!)
-very lush and green island, even in the city
-world class city with mounds of diversity
-very, very clean

I took the Peak Tram to the top of an very steep incline and had amazing views of the entire island and the Kowloon Bay (the part of Hong Kong attached to mainland China). There was a mall so I did some souvenir shopping. My favorite buy so far is quite tacky- I paid a vendor to put mine and McKoy's names in chinese characters- so fun! Mine directly translates to "pretty lotus silk" and McKoy's tranlates to "Wheat Song." I think I got the better end of the deal, but his is fitting as well. I also spent three dollars on some beautiful Hematite (sp?) earrings. The ones I really wanted were black sea pearls for about $700... YEAH RIGHT. I totally wimped out and had lunch at Bubba Gumps Shrimp House, haha. I know.

The rest of my time in Hong Kong has been run, run, run! I've definitely struggled more with adjusting to the time difference here than I did in India. I think my varying arrival times are somewhat to blame. I arrived in India in the middle of the night and was able to go straight to sleep. Here I arrived in the morning. I haven't slept past 5am a single morning since I've been here and I can barely stay up past 8pm. Last night I ordered room service for dinner and then totally craashed. McKoy called around 10p and woke me up- I barely remember the phone call I was so dead to the world.

On the way over I was proud of only having about 55lbs of luggage. That is quite a bit less than you are permitted for international travel! However, my bubble was totally burst when I found out that intra-Asia travel only allows for 20kg... period! That is a total of 40lbs! How insane! Luckily, I brought a small duffle, a regular suitcase and a backpack (as carry on). I'll now be carrying on my backpack and the small duffle and onyl checking my suitcase. Rumor is that they will allow this, which makes no sense. If I can take it on the plane without causing the plane to crash, why can't I check the damn thing?

That's all for now. I promise to try to post at least once per a country- that means four more posts: China, Korea and Japan.

I can't keep up! This post is actually from 3 days ago!

Yesterday was my first university fair in India. There were some questions I was very prepared to answer and some that I wasn’t. Tomorrow I have a visit at a university, so I need to brush up on Business School info before then.

Today was a sight seeing day. We took a city tour by bus because it was raining. After the bus tour, we were supposed to take a boat to Elephanta Island- which is apparently beautiful. However, because of the rain and the rough water, it was not possible to do so. From 9-12:30 we did the tour of the city with the primary focus being the Festival of Ganesh- the elephant god, the god of prosperity and education. Today they were bringing statues of the god from all over the city- some big, some small. Tonight, the gods will be floated in the water and eventually set out to sink. I wish I could be out there watching, but…

Last night there were some major terrorist bombs let off in New Delhi. They were done by extremists who are against the Indian Hindu people. The bombs were let off in major busy areas of the city to have the maximum effect. They even found one bomb that had not yet exploded left in a children’s park. Because of these bombs, the tour group I am traveling with has decided not to visit the city of New Delhi. Instead, we will stay one day longer in Mumbai and then go a day early to Chandigarh.

Among other things on the tour, we had the opportunity to visit a Jain temple. It was not only quite beautiful, but I enjoyed learning about this very pacifist community and their ultimate desire for a pure and true soul. In addition, we were able to eat another Indian meal at a very beautiful restaurant. I had a lamb curry that was delicious.
Tonight a few of us plan to do some work and then just chill out and have some drinks. I used to be a big drinker, but not much these days. I’m more likely to be at home and on the phone than out having a big party. So, on this trip I’ve tried to continue that pattern which has proven difficult beacuse I’ve met some really awesome people

I'm a day behind...

Today was a good day. Most of the day was spent in meetings- but we had the afternoon totally free and a few of us decided to take advantage of that! So after a delicious traditional Indian lunch, and a quick run around to find my boxes that I sent here, we headed off to the market.

On the way, we ended up taking a bit of a detour- but we found the water! Literally the ocean is a few blocks away. We were intent on finding the market/shopping district of Colaba. It took us a while, but we did find it. There were deals to be had and haggling to be done. I bought: a necklace for mimi, a shirt for McKoy, a book (“Brida”) for myself, and silk scarf. I paid less than $20 for all of it.

The sad part is the amount of begging being done by women and children. There were no men begging- somewhat surprising. There was one boy, a teenager, who followed me for blocks and blocks trying to sell me a drum made from mango wood. He was offering me this beautiful drum for 100RMI- basically $2. It strikes me now, that the young man was willing to work so hard, so very hard for $2. What would $2 in one day mean to him… and what does it mean to me? Is this truly a “global economy?” And as hard as he was working to sell me that drum, I was getting angrier and angrier for what I felt was constant harassment.

There was a woman, young… early, maybe mid twenties… I can’t truly discern her age. She was carrying around a monkey on a leash. She followed us for quite a while- but she only said/did three things. She wanted us to pay her to take a photo of the monkey. Then she wanted us to buy her beer because she was “too short” and finally, she wanted us to buy milk for the monkey. It was absolutely bizarre.

And then there were the children beggars. Luckily, we didn’t see to many in the market. It is absolutely heart breaking. Everyone keeps saying not to give them anything, that if we do it, it will surely go to a pimp- not in the child’s belly. But really, what is 5 RMI to me? 11 cents…

I haven’t landed on a real opinion of India. It seems to be a very diverse culture, with many people holding a lot of wealth and the rest of the society in what we would consider abject poverty. It certainly makes for an interesting situation. I'm curious as to whether or not anyone has studied the after-effects of British colonialism in places like India... it seems to me that a people who were oppressed by others for so long, may simply not know how to succeed in western fashion. Just something I'd be interested in learning more about.

Just a random update...

Forgive me if this is quite rambling, or makes no sense at all. I’ve just realized that I am rather tired.

Well, I’m in Brussels… and I’m nearly certain that I just paid about $12 for a litre of water(which kind of tastes funny). What?!?!?! Pretty insane. The prices here would be reasonable airport prices if they were in dollars… but they’re in euros!

On another note, I’m not particularly sure what time of day it is back home. I have a headache slightly reminiscent of the ones I used to get when I used to try to pull all nighters back in school. I didn’t sleep a bit on my flight, but only the last two hours seemed painfully long. Upon further investigation, I’ve learned it is 2am at home, about 7am here in Brussels.

The temp outside is a cool 50F… and I know it is going to be hot in India. I defintitely still have my patience, even with this raging head cold. So far, so good though. I did have some problems with ear popping on the way down, but I was on the tail end of my meds, so I hope that explains it.

Right now the Brussels airport is a bit like a ghost town. All I see are passengers and no one seems to work here. Bit of a quandary since my gate number isn’t posted on the boards. No worries, I don’t leave for another 4 hours, so I’m hanging out in the cheaper of the three cafes… where I’ve managed to spend $12 on water (just to remind you). Hydration has been a big part of my anti cold quest, so I guess I just have to suck it up and deal. Right? Besides, I’m not sure what is out there past the security (yes, somehow I ended up outside of security).

Also, I apparently scream “American.” But then, maybe it is the Indiana polo I’m wearing. Who knows.

Anyway, this was just meant to be a quick update on my current state of mind- so there it is. I’m waiting patiently to arrive in Mumbai, be whisked away to my hotel and take a shower and plop into that five star bed.

Damn straight.

Updated when I first arrived in India....

I’m here! And honestly, my first response is, “damn, it’s like a stinky steam bath!” At 1am this is far hotter than anything I’ve ever experienced in the middle of the night in Jamaica.

Yep, 1am. My flight was not permitted to land until 12:25, almost a full hour after our original arrival time. However, my JetAirways flight experience was far superior to anything I’ve ever seen when flying the friendly American airlines (not THE, all). Two full one meals, in seat movies, much more comfortable chairs, four hot towels (odd, but REALLY nice). It was 8 hours of what I would consider first class flying at the coach level/cost.

Upon landing, the customs process was fairly smooth and rather unintimidating. I always think I look guilty in customs because I’m nervous- but this time I barely had time to realize what was happening. I found my driver quite quickly also- which was a relief, I was afraid that, being so late, he may have left me! I made my first rookie mistake when a gentleman who worked for the airport stopped me while I was waking to the car with my driver. He said, “are you alone?” and I answered yes. He then said, “no one is with you?” and I realized my mistake. Who is this man and why does he want to know if I am alone. He had a conversation with my driver in Hindi… and I still don’t know what was said.

My driver has just informed me that we are about one hour from the hotel- wow, this is a big city. He said in daytime traffic it might take about 2 hours. In looking out the window, I find it rather interesting that at 1am, the streets are quite busy. We are winding through the city on what seem to be little tight side streets. Like Jamaica, stoplights seem to be mere suggestions, with little to no consequences for ignoring. Although I feel safe with the driver, it is important to note that he drives with one hand on his horn at all times- and doesn’t shy from using it!

Upon arriving at the hotel, a man opens my door and says, “Ms. Baer?” And it’s late, I’ve only slept about 2 hours in the last 26, but I’m in shock. He walked me through the check in process and my bags and I were taken to my room. The room is quite small, two twin beds (which is kind of nice!). But the most important thing is that even with the AC going, everything is wet.

What a weekend!

This has been one of the best weekends I have had in a really, really long time.

Friday night I had a few friends over for my first venture into Jamaican cooking. I made Curried Chicken and it was almost perfect! I over cooked it just a bit and it had a slightly mushy quality- but the flavor was nearly dead on! Mix a great dinner with a few drinks, good friends and yummy dessert and it was a great night over all.

Saturday morning I had visitors from Louisville... and Arizona! Chelsea and her mom came to see me and explore Bloomington. We sat and talked for a while, I showed them pictures of McKoy and we talked through a lot of different immigration processes. Then we ventured into Bloomington and ended up at a Tibetan restaurant for lunch-- we shared four different dishes and it was ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! Unfortunately, we only had a few hours to explore town because I had to work the scholarship tailgate at the IU football game that evening. So, we explored some shops and I was able to find a few new polo shirts for my travels.

I came home and got ready for the game and while a the game I ran into Brent and his parents... so much fun! So, after the game (which I didn't go to) I ended up heading over to their condo on the lake--- good times, good food, great people! I crashed there last night to avoid driving home in the dark.

So, now it is time to prepare for the first big trip- I'm anxious and excited and a little bit of a whole lot of other things! I leave for India on Tuesday afternoon... I hope I'm ready for all this!

I may try to update this while I'm in India- it just depends on how much time I have and how reliable the internet connections are.