Incredible India - a second visit

This visit to India was significantly easier, less chaotic, less scary, and less overwhelming than my first visit in Fall, 2010.  Familiarity breeds comfort. Or perhaps it about learning the system and being better able to read the cues.

None of these photos show sufficiently the dripping hot and humid air of the south of India.

Only a few of these photos show the beaming, smiling camera-ready Indians who peek and stare at the Americans while the Americans peek and take photos of the Indians.

The girls in this school class group took our photos, took photos with us, and then posed for this lovely group shot. 

Kochi is the largest port city of the state of Kerala.  Kerala has a high level of literacy among the Hindus, Catholics, Muslims and Jews who live in this historical center of spices, fishing, and good will.

This is her photo face and smile!

Louise, Linda and I made our way in Ft. Kochi to Bastian Home Stay which is roughly equivalent to a bed and breakfast.  Like B&Bs in the US, these Home Stay lodgings range from a room in someone’s home to modest guest houses. We enjoyed working a.c. and a gale-force fan in a clean plain room with 3 cot beds and 1 table. 

Our shower was some combination of a hand-held shower nozzle and a bucket……..

Bastian Home Stay:four 2nd floor rooms located around a central open-air  dining couryard.

Louise, Linda, and hostess Jenny--- and a large fish in the tank too. 

Walk along this footpath alley, turn right then left then right again to find Bastian Home Stay.

Bastian Home Stay must be doing well as the owners are building another two-story unit across the alley.
The construction, in the heat, takes the fullness of time.

Fort Kochi has Government Emporium stores, Kashmere merchant shops, local shops and plenty of street vendors to sell whatever, and more whatever to “the Americans from the ship.”  And so, we did shop, browse, and shop some more.

Old Ft. Kochi for the most part has the red tile roofs of Portugese influence. Another Portugese legacy is Roman Catholicism, found in  large communities of Indians in Kerala and other port and costal regions.

For Sale:  Tiles or Tee Shirts

Much hotter than it looks, we shopped here and dined at the Crafters Cafe upstairs at the turquoise  balcony.

View from the cafe down to one portion of the shopping streets of Jew Town,

For Sale:  vessels of metal or plastic

Auto Rickshaw drivers ‘adopted’ specific groups and were their attentive drivers for as many days as we were in port.  Our driver was Saleem who showed us the city laundry, Catholic churches, the Jewish Synagogue, The Dutch Museum, and the first annual India Biennial (which exhibited outstanding contemporary art from India and southeast Asia in 5 warehouse and colonial building venues).

Different fashions for the young girl set. 

The slightest indication of interest prompted this Kashmere merchant's sales clerk to spred out dozens of cloths and bedspreads.

You Buy:  large shrimp!  Here Rickshaw driver  Saleem holds one up to tantalize  ......

Of course we ate many delicious meals of curry and other Indian foods.  And happily, with sufficient precautions, none of us suffered the dreaded T.D.  Most Indians in the south of India eat their meals with fingers rather than forks.  Thali is generally served on a banana leaf and includes rice and several sauces and condiments. 

This is right at the beginning of the Thali meal - it gets much messier as  many more  courses are  brought around by the waiters. Later my hands were too sticky to use my camera

We spent a fascinating evening at a Kathakali performance, a traditional stylized dance which emphasizes facial expressions and very red eyes (from seeds put into the eyes for 10 minutes before the performances).  Kathakali originated in the 17^th century when itinerate troupes danced 6-7 hours through the night at the villages they visited. 

One hour before the performance the actors come onto the stage to begin applying their makeup.

One actor completes the complicated makeup for the demon bad guy character.

Check out the "whites" of their eyes.

All actors are male - even that 'beauty' on the right. In this performance we saw  rape,  murder, and perhaps sodomy acted by the cast of only 3 actors.  Additionally there is a narrator who chants and sings and two drummers. It's all very exciting.

After two pleasant, hot days in Ft. Kochi, Louise and I had a driver take us 5 hours to the mountain region of Munnar where India’s high range teas have been grown and processed since 1877.

Along the way we stopped for coffee at a roadside cafe to watch the elephants parade down to the river for bathing.  

A cup of strong, rich, sweet coffee ..

and along comes the parade of 'rescue' elephants from the nearby Elephant Camp (who knew?)....

who lumbered into the river, as they do twice daily ....

Nothing but enjoyment here.

.  In the mountains it was considerably cooler; we enjoyed spectacular views, a masterful massage, and delicious food from the Blackberry Hills resort where we ‘chilled’ for a few days.  Each morning and evening we heard the chanting of Sikh prayers and the Punjabi music and drums,  along with the noisy tree birds. Our rather-swanky resort was spare and elegant – only lacking hot water ....except in the evenings and early mornings.

This is the view from Blackberry Hills restaurant just down the stairs from  the rooms. 

Tea plant cling to the slopes and steep hills of the mountain.  Tea production began here after 1877 under the British and has shifted somewhat to employee-ownership Indian companies today.

Along the drive we had many opportunities to see and sometimes to barely avoid the brightly painted transport trucks – apparently each region has signature painting patterns and styles.

Very cheerful.

Please note:  just a few feet in front of our rickshaw the signs on the trucks say "Sound Horn - Keep Distance"

Burma: Heaven & Hell

Myanmar – formerly Burma:  Heaven and Hell

Buddha, Buddha statues, Buddhist pagodas, Buddhist temples, tremendous reclining Buddha’s, a weeping Buddha, huge seated Buddha, Buddha in niches, literally thousands of forms of the Buddha, all with devout people praying before them.

The Buddhas are both ancient (BCE) and modern - with LED lighted halos no less. 

 

HEAVEN:  With golden temples and golden pagodas and white marble plazas illuminated by golden light; with Burmese families and red-clad monks wandering or sitting, almost dematerialized; with the evening air warm and softly humid; visiting the Schwedegon Pagoda in Yangon was exactly like the joyful childhood conception of Heaven.

At Schwedegon Pagoda there are more than 60 tons of gold and gold leaf which is continuously being re-applied.  In the photos you can see some of the spires are covered with golden-brown papers which protect the gold leaf during application. I visited the Schwedegon Pagoda on the first night, in the mid-day blaring heat of the second day, and finally again on our last night in Burma.  It was dreamy and wonderful. Heaven!

Just like going to Heaven!

I made 3 wonderful visits to Schwedegon Pagoda: first at night then the following day at midday and finally again at night. 

In the heat of the midday, these Burmese pray in a small space of shade.

 At one site, Mt. Popa, I climbed 760 stairs to the top of a volcanic-plug rock which is crowded atop with shrines and temples to the Buddha.  

In the foreground is the modest entrance.  Above you can see the pagodas at the top - 760 stairs up. 

Venders are located along the sides at the bottom and on every landing

One of several shrines to Buddha at the top,

View over to Mt. Popa from a resort on the next mountain.

Burma is a developing nation,  newly opened to the west after Obama’s visit to the country in Nov. 2012.  Coming to Burma now, at this point in time, is a rare privilege since contact and exchange with the rest of the world will surely and rapidly change Burma. Burmese people are friendly, kind, smiling and open to the ever-increasing flow of tourists to their country.

 

Going to work early in the morning

Reading the morning newspaper

Parasols and more parasols

An early morning street sweeper

Nobel Lauriet Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who is voyaging with SAS until we reach Cape Town, met with Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi at a special audience.  They both sit on The Council of Elders. The Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been a voyager on Semester at Sea Spring 2013 from Mexico to Cape Town.  His infectious laughter and extraordinary talks have been an inspiration to all of us.

Behind these gates Aung San Suu Kyi was held under house arrest for 15 of the 21 years from 1989 to 2010.

First morning in Yangon we visited a wonderful early-morning market with fruits, vegetables, home cookware, and of course souvenirs for the tourists.

In Burma, both men and women wear their national dress, the Longyi.  A good percentage of the SAS voyagers (myself included) left the country with one or more Longyis, struggling to tie them in the traditional fashion. Additionally the girls and women wear a “sunscreen” “cooling” facial make-up called Thanaka which has been applied to the face in Myanmar for more than 2000 years.  Thanaka is an off-white paste made from ground bark and applied to the face in a variety of patterns by girls, women, and some boys and men. 

Fashion for the young girls

This Burmese instrument is called the Saung.

Many girls and young women wear the cosmetic Thanaka for sunscreen, cooling, and fashion

 By good fortune down the street we witnessed a local parade for the children novitiates:  these children will either go to the monastery for a week of introduction to religious life or they will enter the monastery for life. All over Burma in the first half of the day the red-clad monks  walk the streets with their bowls “begging” for food; monks are sustained by the regular ‘householders.’

Local parade for the Novitiates to the Monestary.

Beautiful and proud families of the Novitiates.

Bagan, Burma is an amazing site of thousands, yes thousands, of ancient, old, and reconstructed temples, large and small, some with one Buddha, some with many large and painted and gold Buddhas.  These temples were built during a prosperous era of the Kingdom of Pagan, 9^th through 13^th centuries. During that period Bagan’s rulers and wealthy subjects constructed stupas, small temples, 3000 monasteries, and pagodas numbering more that 10,000 at the height of the era. 

Climbing to the top level of this temple was MUCH harder than it appears.The steps and the metal railings were burning hot to the touch ..... so, smartly, we decided to descend on the other (shady) side ....!

Ponycart rides for all from one temple to a distant pagoda.

This little fellow drew his own "postcards" ..... and yes, I did buy the packet.

HELL:  And what about the hell?

During our time in Burma and immediately after the return to the ship 60+ voyagers were SICK SICK SICK with TD (Traveller’s Diarrhea) and terrible intestinal distress.  These were serious cases with many needing IV rehydration, etc.  The food or the water of Burma aggressively did NOT agree with so many of these American tummies! Fortunately, I did not experience this hell…. Thank Heaven!  

Singapore: short and sweet

Marina Bay from the Singapore Flyer

 
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The Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Casino

An evening performance along the Esplanade.

Two days in Singapore:  

 Singapore is engaged in perpetual modernization.
21^st century skyscrapers are interspersed with lakes, reservoirs, parks and canals throughout the densely populated city/nation of less than 500 sq. miles.

 

       A population of 5 million+ people of 4 racial/ethnic groups with 4 official languages (English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil) live largely in high-rise housing blocks. Sections of the city are: Little India, Arab Street in Malay Town, and Chinatown. Good shopping and great dining in each of these districts. 

High-powered design is evidence in several wonderful museums, the modern hotels, and the Marina Barage (the ingenious water reservoir system designed to provide 35% of the water for this city/nation with no water supply of it’s own). Singapore also buys water from Malaysia to the north.

 

From the structure of the Marina Barage toward the Explanade Arts Center and the Singapore Flyer (the world's 2nd largest Ferris Wheel after London's.

 

Kindergarten students on tour at the Marina Barage.

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Entering the Singapore Flier

Viewing Singapore from the Flyer.

·      Historic Raffles Hotel is a 5 star lodging complex originally built in 1887 named for Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles who organized the rental of Singapore from the Malay Sultan of Jahore.  Raffles Hotel is a wonderful example of colonial grandeur.

 

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·      Everything in Singapore is expensive!!!

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·      Singapore is a “controlled-democracy” which might otherwise be defined as benevolent Communism.  Everyone behaves well, in an orderly way.  Our cab driver bragged that Singapore law has two aspects that ensure order:  caning and the death penalty. Malfeasance laws manage behaviors based on health, safety, cleanliness, and property.

--> Lee left the voyage in Singapore.  Three busy and adventurous weeks together – what seemed a long stretch of time in her prior planning in New Jersey actually flew by in a whirlwind - from Shanghai to Xian to Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi to Singapore. What fun we have had!!!