Delhi and Agra

 Flying into Delhi was a bit gross, you could see the layers of pollution caught in the fog in the atmosphere while coming in.  That fog never lifted, it was interesting to go outside after a shower. "I'm squeaky clean!!!" Wait, not really. I could just feel the layer of dirt and smog settling on my skin.  This shouldn't have been surprising, but the fog intensified the feeling, for sure.

We were going to Delhi to visit Evey’s friend, who works for the embassy of Seychelles; Patsy.  Also you just can’t go to India without going to Delhi and experiencing all the people jam packed into one little area.  Getting to her place was 100% hassle free.  I expected New Delhi to be hectic and just an endless traffic jam.  It wasn’t, at least not when we got in.  The airport was very nice and there was a taxi stand right outside.  So we got a taxi and he took us right to her doorstep.  I didn’t realize that the embassies were all so close to airport.  This makes sense, those guys are always traveling.  

yes the taxis really look like this

When we got in Patsy had lots of hugs and kisses and dinner waiting for us.  She made us seafood curry, a fresh salad, traditional Seychelles’ fish, rice and even dessert (which we never got too.  OMG so much food!).  She even had brandy, kingfisher strong,  wine and of course conversation about everything under the sun.  I had met Patsy one time when she came home for Christmas with Evey about 5 years ago.  She remembered everything about me, my dog my brother what I have been doing.  I have never met someone with a more outstanding memory.    We were all tired after a long day of travel, but that didn’t prevent us from talking until 2am.  After settling into the lovely atmosphere, she showed us the spare room, fresh towels, extra soap and told us anything we needed was no problem.  

The next day she had all planned out.  We were going into old Delhi.  The ride into old Delhi was cheap even if it was long, about an hour.  We jammed 4 people into a rickshaw and headed out.  The driver drove a bit crazily, but I think that is to be expected when you have 10 million people living in one place
.  

Old Dlehi was exactly how I imagined India.  The streets were bursting with people and vendors.  It was dirty, there were monkeys on the building, power lines bunched and hanging dangerously in the alleys and everyone was trying to sell you something.  This is the place where you look around wide eyed and keep a hand on your purse.  We just walked around for a bit and then discovered sari shops. 

 Evey and I both wanted saris, and Leo was going to get one for his girlfriend.  The shops were very nice.  You take off your shoes and sit on the floor.  They always have pillows to cushioning your bum.  Then the salesman will take all the saris and display them on the floor in front for you, starting with the most expensive first, of coarse.  Evey ended up buying three saris and I ended up buying two.  Leo found the sari he wanted quickly, and I think he got bored half way through us looking at all the pretty fabrics.  

 After visiting the two sari shops we just wandered and absorbed the sights.  I loved watching people cook on the streets and just watching people interact.  Delhi is the best place for people watching I’ve been to so far.  We called a taxi and picked up beer.  While waiting for the cab, we met some rickshaw drivers that were nice and we gave them beer.

 The next stop was pizza hut.  My brother had told me that pizza in India was super strange.  After living in Korea for so long, I think it kind of was lost on me.  I’ve seen pizza with corn, potato wedges, fried shrimp… you name it.  The pizza we got was a bit strange.  It had tofu nuggets baked into the crust, and a sauce on top.  But it tasted yummy.  That night we relaxed and got ready for our trip to Agra in the morning.

Agra was an 8 hour day trip.  We hired a driver for the day, and it wasn’t too expensive, especially split between 3 people.  We got picked up and then started the couple hour drive to Agra.  On the way we got delayed almost immediately.  There had been a major pile up on the highway and the road was closed.  The fog in Delhi was horrible this time of year.  You could barley see 10 feet in front of you.  I'm sure some idiot was driving too fast and got in an accident, causing all the mayhem.  The pile up had happened around 8 in the morning, and the original plan was to start the trip to Agra at 7.  If we had stuck to that plan, we might have been in that accident.  Thankfully sleeping in was important to us that day.  Agra is small town, it’s nothing fancy.  It has the usually fruit stalls and run down business on the side of the road.  It also had a mix of dirt and paved roads.  I was a bit surprised because I know how much tourism goes through there.  

So the first thing we saw was the Taj Mahal.  We got dropped off at the main gate and it was a short walk to the entrance to the grounds.  This part was probably the most annoying part of the trip.  There were venders everywhere and they will not leave you alone.  I was polite at first saying “no thank you” and other niceties, but eventually I just started saying “Dude! NO.”  I shocked a few guys that way.  But it’s annoying to have someone hassling you and then push and push and push even after you politely refused.  

We could have taken a tuk tuk or a camel ride to the main entrance, but we all decided walking was fine.  I wanted a camel ride, but on a camel, not on a cart.  The camels were a bit intimidating, one tried to bite me, even though it was muzzled.  Evey says they are creepy.  “Their legs are like folding chairs” that’s just weird.

The queue was quite short, but as foreigners we had to pay a lot more than the locals and got a different line.  But with our ticket we got shoe covers and a bottle of water!!!  Ah the justification of over charging.  So back to the Taj.  It was phenomenal.  You see the pictures and you think, wow that’s pretty, but in person… I was blown away.  The carving, the inlay stone work, everything was
                                         just beautiful. 

The story behind the Taj is beautiful as well. In 1631, Shah Jahan, emperor during the Mughal empire's period of greatest prosperity, was grief-stricken when his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal, a Persian princess, died during the birth of their 14th child, Gauhara Begum.  So after she died he constructed the most beautiful mozulium to remember his wife.  The construction of the Taj took 16 years, and completion of the grounds took another  five.  That man was crazy in love, and crazy rich.

The grounds were just as beautiful as the Taj it’s self.  Everything was well manicures and there were gardeners constantly working on them.  From the balcony of the Taj you could look over the river and see a few forts in the distance.   Adjacent to the Taj there is also a mosque and more tombs.  These were built in red sandstone.  Quiet a nice contrast to the white marble of the Taj itself.

After we saw the main spectacle we headed over to Agra Fort.  This is still used for military today, so some parts were closed off to the public.  I found it quite nice.  The fort, with it’s red sandstone, was quite interesting.  It had intricate carving and paintings inside.  Much of the architecture was run down.  It’s always sad when you see frescos covered in unpainted plaster or fading into nothing.  

The fort also had beautiful gardens and white marble gazebos inlaid with semi-precious stones.  I enjoyed it quite a bit.  It was also a bit of a maze, which was fun with three people.  “Where’s Evey?” “I don’t know, I think she went over there.”  “Found her! Where’s Leo?”

The last thing we got to see was the tomb of Akbar the great.  It was situated on the river.  It was quite small compared to the last few things we saw, but still a beautiful place to watch the sun setting.  Several Indian families were there visiting as well. 

 The day tour took longer than it should have so our driver, and all of us, were ready to hit the road and get back to Delhi.  This is when crazy driving ensued.  I could tell the driver was frustrated, but he was perfectly nice to us.  Delhi traffic isn’t kind to anyone, I would have road rage all the time.

We got back and Patsy had appetizers and drinks waiting for us again.  She is such a sweetie.  We had fried prawns and spring rolls and then we ordered in.  We got some Indian curries that were just fantastic, three different kinds of bread and it was all very cheap.  They packaged it in plastic bags, I thought that was interesting.  So we ate like kings, talked and hung out again.

The next day was just a relaxed day before we headed to Jiapur.  So on the agenda was getting train tickets, but the plans changed when I checked my e-mail.  I had been accepted for my working holiday visa for New Zealand.  Unfortunately I had to get a chest x-ray sent to them within two weeks.  So with a little research I found an approved hospital in Delhi that could do it for me.  

Paperwork is always stressful for me, and this was no different.  We headed to the hospital, I waited in the wrong line forever.  Then I got headed in the right direction and they told me I needed things I didn’t have.  So we left the hospital, got the things I didn’t have and headed back.  Got everything done, and then was told I needed to pick up my x-ray on Saturday.  “I won’t be here on Saturday” You can pick them up on Friday.  “I won’t be here Friday.” Basically I got really flustered and left thinking I had just wasted a good amount of my time, my friends time and money.  In the end I just rearranged my travel plans, but in that moment I was just too full of thoughts and anxieties to think clearly.

After all that hub bub, we headed to the train station.  Found out the train was full and booked a van to Jaipur instead.  And we were ready for our next adventure!

Goa, a differnt type of India

After Leo and I had decided we had seen enough of Kochi we got ourselves a night train to Goa.  We could have booked a fancy 1^st class AC car, but instead we picked third class.  It was workable; a little worn around the edges, but the beds had pillows, sheets and blankets.  We also got served breakfast, which was a cold omelet with toast.  This part was a bit irritating because the server woke me up and just plopped them on the bed.  At the end of the train ride he wanted a tip, and I refused.  The Indian family, we were sharing the compartment with, chuckled at that.   

The train ride was about 14 hours and we shared our 6 bunk compartment with a nice Indian family.  They had three children and two of the bunks.  We switched around where we were sleeping so Leo and I had the top bunks and they had the bottom ones.  I think this worked out best for them, so the kids could play on the floor and just generally have more space.  We were also joined by some gentlemen around 2 or 3 in the morning. We didn't talk much to them, but they seemed rather nice.  I always enjoy sleeper train rides.  I was worried that this one, because there were so many people and only a worn privacy curtain separating us from the hall, would be noisy and I wouldn't be able to sleep.  But it was fine.  I did have some trouble getting up and down to the top bunk without flashing people.  A lesson well learned, don't wear a skirt on a long train ride.

When we got to Goa there was a price and place list next to the rickshaw stand.  I liked this.  Although the prices were higher than they should have been, at least you don't get ripped off completely.  So Leo and I picked the cheapest beach to get to, Colva, and headed away.  We did some research on the beaches before we left Kochi and Colva seemed to be a relaxed beautiful beach.  This beach was mostly frequented by Indian tourist and it showed when we got to our guest house.  The rickshaw driver dropped us off at a nicer cheap guest house.  It seemed ok, but in the end the service was bad.  No hot water, electricity went out all the time and no internet.  The hotel staff seemed at a bit of loss of what to do with us.  When I ordered food or even tea it took 30 minutes.  

Colva beach was beautiful and endless.  We must have walked 3 or 4 kilometers the first day we were there.  We were just exploring.  There were restaurants strewn all along the beach.   Also there were resorts, para-sailing, jet skiing and just nice little places to chill out and read a book.  I really wanted to stay in a  hut on the beach, but that didn’t seem to be an option here. We would have to head up the the north Goa beaches for that.

 We found tons of Russian everywhere.  Almost every sign was in Russian and English and several didn’t even have English.  The foreign tourists reflected that, old Russian couples were scattered all over the beach.  We didn’t see many people our age.

 That night we found a nice place to eat and we could see fireworks in the distance.  We thought that maybe the next day we should try for whatever beach that was, it seemed like it had more going on.  Walking back was interesting.  The beach just went on and on and on.  The stars were beautiful and clear.  It was a nice walk back, and we got a little lost as well.

The next day we checked out and it was my bright idea to walk along the beach (again) to see if we could find any accommodations.  It was hot and we had all of our bags with us.  We walked past were we had been the night before and found a resort that wouldn’t let us come through the beach entrance and not much else.  In the end we had to walk back inland to find a bus, a taxi or anything.  Even walking back to the main road took a while.  Eventually we found a town and a taxi driver picked us up.  I was ready to sit and be driven anywhere. 

 He took us to Bogmalo beach.  This was my favorite beach of Goa.  It was situated right next to the airport in a cove.  It was a short beach but very beautiful and relaxing.  We found a guest house with wifi and hot shower not too far from the beach.  

This was more of a local's beach as well.  People who worked at the airport often frequented it, so I was asked if I was a flight attendant or pilot  by the locals sometimes.  This beach had much more of a local feel than the beach in Colva.  On Saturdays the school kids would come down to play soccer on the beach and a few times loads of kids came down just to get the yearbook picture taken.  I was fascinated by the boys who played cricket every night.  I have no idea how the game is played, but it was fun to watch them.  

I know I didn’t do much there.  Colva beach had kite surfing and other activities for tourists but this sleepy little beach had a few restaurants and some shops.  I did end up getting a massage there, but besides that I just chilled on the beach, ate good food, read books and talked to the venders about their families and about life in Goa.  One thing I really liked about this place was that all the stray dogs just chilled out.  It was like they were part of the community.  People fed them and they liked humans, so they weren’t skidish, but also didn’t follow you around.  I found it refreshing, most poor countries I have been to treat strays like a pest.  These little guys were well cared for.

We did manage to find our way into the main city of Goa, Vasco da Gama, while we were in Bogmalo.  Leo needed money and a local lady told me that there were no ATMs near Bogmalo.  We headed into town and passed several ATMs on the way.  I wanted to get more money on my SIM card and wander around anyway.  I found a dude to fix the zipper on my backpack for something like 60 cents.  And there was market too, that we explored.  Leo had some trouble with the banks, but in the end he figured it out.  That would really suck, getting stranded in India with no money.  

After Leo and I had been in Bogmalo for a couple of days we picked up Evey from the airport.  At first she thought she could make it over on her own, but it only took us 15 minutes to get there so why not pick her up?  It was so great to see her, even after waiting an hour for the plane.  She looked the same as ever and we hugged and then talked up a storm.  

We spent one more night in Bogmalo and then headed off to Anjuna, a much more touristy beach.  The driver that took us there warned us not to buy anything from the venders at Anjuna.  He said they were not from Goa.  I guess this is pretty normal in India, people move from all over to cater to the tourists.  I don’t quite understand how this hurts the locals, but our driver seemed adamant.

We got dropped off and walked around looking for accommodations.  Everyone had a spare room hidden in their shops and offered it to us.  These were inexpensive, but many times a bit dirty and not what we were looking for.  In the end we found a super cheap guest house.  Three people 800 rupees ($13).  Yes please!  Leo rented a motor bike, so he took off and Evey and I were left to explore.  Within 30 minutes of us arriving we were offered weed.  This part of India is defiantly a different place.  We went looking for the beach and found one that was disgusting.  Rocks, mud and tons of garbage in the water.  I did not want to put my feet in that, let alone swim in it.  So we walked the other way and found the nice beach.  Evey and I plopped down at a restaurant looking over the beach and just chilled.  

That is one thing I won’t forget about India; Goa had amazing food.   Even in Bogmalo the curries were spectacular, the fish was perfect, the naan with crispy garlic and dripping butter.  I had so much fun eating.  Or I guess my taste buds did.   

The next day we rented out a couple of scooters and rode around together.  I told Evey I would drive there and she would drive back.  She had a scooter in Indonesia now for about a month or two and had countless accidents.  So I was a bit wary of her driving skills.  She did just fine though. 

We found another beach nearby and stopped for a swim and some beers.  While we were hanging out in the sun we noticed an interesting cow.  Cow are all over India, on the beaches, in the streets, just hanging out.  This cow was special.  She was really good at looking for food.  I guess too many tourists, or just people in general, had fed her.  While we were drinking our beers we watched the cow go from table to table looking for food and harassing people.  Eventually the owner shewed her away, but the cow just continued to bothering people on the beach instead.  It was the most hilarious thing I had yet to see.

After the beach we went to an old fort, Fort Chapora, that Leo had found the day before.  It was in shambles, but I guess India really has no use for these forts anymore.  It was fun scrambling around the ruins and seeing everything around the fort.  It would be a good place to watch the sunset.

We stayed in Anjuna  for a few days and then decided we should move on.  While we were there we mostly drank on the beach and ate good food.  I know Leo and Evey did some shopping as well, but I had everything I needed and my bag needed to stay small.

One curious thing we did do, was see a ceremony on the beach. 

We had found this awesome two tiered hut place that had good food and cheap beer.  While we amusing ourselves with the sunset some Indian men came out of the resort next to us.  They were chanting, playing instruments and had something on fire.  It was some kind of ritual.  I was so glad I got to see it.  I tried to get a video, but they were too far away, so the video didn’t turn out.  The rest of the night was relaxed, we went back and packed to go back to Bogmalo in the morning.  Closer to the airport is always better.

Our Last night and day in Bogmalo was interesting.  We went back to the same hotel and had to get two rooms.  Something about the legality of having three people in the same room.  We all knew it had more to do with money, but whatever.  In the morning, we packed up and sat on the beach all day.  Evey and I had a bottle of wine and decided to drink it on the beach.  Actually she drank it on the beach, I really didn’t need to.  It was hot.  We played cards and swam.  So when we got on the plane that day, she was a bit tipsy.  Leo and I tried to get her to eat, but she said she would be fine.  And she was after sleeping on the flight to Delhi.  She knows better than us.

Kochi, my first experiance of India

I was very surprised when I was traveling from Muscat to Kochi.  Usually plane rides are pretty standard things.  People read books, watch movies and sleep, sometimes get up and go to the bathroom, but this wasn’t the case with my flight.  Everyone was up and about.  Walking around the plane, sitting/standing in the aisles.  Often times people wouldn’t listen to the flight attendants, or just follow basic rules.  For example: quite a few people were on their phones and stood up to get their luggage before we even landed.  It was a bit weird.

I was very lucky to have Leo pick me up from the airport.  He had already been in Kochi for a couple of days and knew his way around, which was very important when finding our hostel.  It was two hours from airport by bus. Yuck!  But at least it was in a nice part of town.  The people at the hostel were really nice too.  They helped us book a tour and gave us advice on where to go next. 

Walking around Kochi was nice, but for some reason I imagined India much differently.  Kochi was very touristy.  This is surprising because I had never heard of it until Leo told me it was the cheapest place to get a flight from Korea. 

We did a fair amount of sight seeing.  The local fishermen use Chinese fishing nets in the river to catch fish.  They lower and raise them every twenty minutes or so.  When they do this, they catch fish in the current.  I only saw small catches though.  Leo got to help them out with raising the net, for a small fee of coarse.  I could have too, but I just enjoyed watching them. 

curried garbanzo beans

I also had my first real Indian food in Kochi.  And it didn’t turn out to be that good.  I had a squid curry, that was super salty and then curried garbanzo beans.  That wasn’t a meal and way too spicy for me to eat.  I was promised great food, and it was to come.  Just not in Kochi.  Leo had more luck with the curries and the fishes he ordered. 

My first day (not night) there we went for a walk.  We walked along the boardwalk at first and that’s where we saw the Chinese fishing nets, but the walk wasn’t very pretty.  The beach was full of garbage, and people were collecting it.  Do you know what they did after they collected it?  They dumped it back in the ocean.  : /  Really, that is not helping.  You never know though.  Maybe they were looking for something specific. 

On the coastal walk we also saw an old Dutch cemetery.  It was… ya know old, and stuff.  So not impressive.  It was pretty because of the architecture and the moss growing on all the stones.  But that was it.  I was not awed by my travel guide I had downloaded.  Maybe the next attraction would be better.

 I had read online that Jew town was supposed to be interesting, so we headed in that direction.  It was a bit of a walk, but we found lots of interesting things along the way.  I thought it was amazing that I could tell what people selling by the smell.  We went past the spice street, with huge bags of everything you can imagine just hanging out.  I bought a small bag of spices there and Leo got some ginger candy for his students.  We also got to see how they dry ginger.  We were confused at what it was at first, because it’s coated in white powder.  They just let it hangout in the sun on tarps.  After that we went past a perfume street, that was potent.  I don’t wear perfume, so that street was a loss for me except for the smell.  I thought when I went to India I was supposed to smell refuse.  I guess it was a good choice to go in the winter and wander pungent streets of spice and oil. 

Along the way we found the old Dutch palace. This was also in my tour guide and also was a disappointment.  I mean it was grand and sprawling, even had a giant decorative pond, but it was in ruins.  I guess the city stopped maintaining it a few years ago and now it’s just a museum.  We didn’t go in to the museum.  People had told us it wasn't that interesting, and why pay money for that?

 Now our final destination was supposed to be cool because it is the oldest community of Jews in India, possibly dating all the way back to King Solomon.  But this did not end up being that thrilling either.  This may have been because we couldn’t find it at first.  You know... walking in circles.  That’s me everywhere I go, and Leo didn’t seem to mind.  But when we did find Jew town, basically it was a temple you had to pay to enter.  It also had a street full of shops and people trying to sell you things.

The end of our day redeemed everything.  I mean I like walking around everywhere I go.  But I was looking forward to something more… Indian.  After we got back and chilled for a while we met some other backpackers and invited them out for dinner.  It was a nice time out, dinner and beers with all the awkward silence of people who don’t know each other.  I enjoy meeting people from new places, even though I don’t talk much.  Everyone has a story to tell.  No matter how mundane they think it is, it’s different than mine.

The next day was our backwaters tour.  We had booked it with the hostel and the van picked us up.  I love it when I don’t have to hassle with finding buses or rickshaws.  They drove us an hour and a bit outside the city to a small town, where they dropped us off next to the river. 



We were traveling on a house boat with 8 other people.  A French couple and their children, a Swedish woman and I don’t remember where the other lady was from.  The French couple was awesome.  They come to India every year, this year they were staying for 5 months.  It made me wonder what their job was that they were able to travel all the time with their children.  

 We got to see the backwaters on a small house boat.  I really liked this day, it was so relaxing.  The tour guide explained things we passed, but overall it was just sitting in a boat enjoying the scenery.

Our tour guide took us to everything coconut related.  Our first stop was to watch the locals de-husk the coconuts in order to make oil.  They first remove the outer layer, this part is pretty fibrous and can easily be done with a sharpened stake.  After they removed the outer husk, they then opened the coconut split it and set it in the sun for a few weeks, until the meat dried and disconnected from the shell.  During this process they have to cover the coconut in netting to prevent birds from eating it.  If it’s during the rainy season they have smoking ovens they use to do the same thing as the sun.  There is also a processing plant they can sell the prepared coconuts to as well.

While we were at the husking spot our guide also showed us how they make coconut beer.  For this they have to make a small incision in the flower and then let it ferment for about a day.  If you harvest the juice early it isn’t very alcoholic and children drink it.  If you harvest the juice later it’s super alcoholic, almost like moonshine.  Alcohol is hard to get in many places in India, so I have a feeling that lots of people make their own coconut liquor.  Unfortunately I didn’t get to try any.  Next time I go back I’ll have to make a point of it. 

 The next place we went to was lunch and rope making from the husks of coconut.  Making coconut rope is like spinning wool.  They have two wheels they use to bind the fibers together and then they combine two of these “threads” to make a rope.  The rope is pretty darn strong.  But of coarse before they do all that, they have to process the coconut husk.  They usually soak it in water for 3 months, then dry it out.  Talk about patient.  It seems like everything they do involves patience with coconuts. 

Lunch was fab.  They served it on a banana leaf.  I love Asia so much!  It was rice (of course) a type of stewed curry on top, picked mango, coconut curry and vegetable salad with coconut sauce and a crispy bread.

After our delicious meal, our guide showed us some plants that natively grow in the Kerala area.  We saw pepper, turmeric, vanilla, and a few more.  I always like to know what the actual plant looks like.  After a short walk around the village we were off again to cruise around.  We were taken to one of the largest backwater lakes in Kerala.  Now these are called backwater lakes because 1/2 the time they are freshwater and 1/2 the time they are saltwater.  It depends on the rainy season. The locals call the area "the Venice of the East" because nearly everyone uses boats to get around the extensive, river, lakes and canals.   

The last thing we saw on the boat was oyster mining.  The locals are always looking for oysters in the muddy bottoms of the numerous lakes in Kerala.  We saw quite a few on Vembanad Kayal, and saw many of shells they had discarded along the way.  Nothing is wasted in this country.  The discarded shells are later used to make chalk.

When we got back to landing we had to wait a little bit for our van, so the tour guide took us to a nearby teashop.  We all had a marsala tea (chai) and I tried a sweet curry pastry.  This was a nice ending to our trip to Kochi.

The beautiful Oman

I was pumped for Oman before I even got into the country.  Rob had lived there for one year before he moved to Georgia and had nothing but good things to say.  I knew I was going to have a good time visiting Chas and Lauren.  

I brought in too much booze at the airport.  I had a bottle of vodka each for Lauren and Chas.  Then I had also picked up a bottle of wine in Georgia to share for thanksgiving.  The customs guy was not amused.  I told him they were gifts.  But he just gave me a stony glare, even after I tried to give him a bottle of wine.  He and just about everyone else in Oman is Muslim, I'm not surprised that he didn't want it.  Then a guy, who was picking up friends behind me, talked to him and he let me through with the extra bottle of booze, just don't tell anyone.  How lucky was that.

Chas picked me up directly from the airport.  She had a friend with her, who she had just met a week before; Yunis.  Yunis drove cab part time and went to the police academy full time.  These two were lucky enough to meet in the cab one day and Yunis took a likening to Chas, and her strange ways.  They have been hanging out ever since.  Yunis was super nice and chatty.  I have found Omanis are quite witty and playful.  I really enjoy their humor.

The next day was a holiday, so Chas and I just relaxed.  I forget how important it is to relax on vacation at times.  Being with friends always makes it possible.  Chas and I watched the L Word and then eventually helped her new/old neighbor move in.  I guess there had been a transition in schools recently, because Chas had only been in Muscat for two weeks and the neighbors were just moving in when I got there.  The old school was having some legal problems, so almost everyone was changing schools.  This happened often in Korea as well.  The ESL world is the same everywhere.

We also got to go to the city center.  Now you are probably thinking that this is some glorious out door market.  Incorrect, my friend, incorrect!  The city center is a mall and it’s all inside and all air-conditioned.  This, I am told, is quite normal for Arab countries.  Why be outside when it is 150 degrees?  They do have traditional markets or seoks, but I never got to see one.  Which is too bad, but what a  good reason to come back to Oman and visit again.  

At the mall you saw men and women.  This was strange, because outside on the streets of Oman I had rarely seen women.  But the women I saw in the city center were much different than what I saw in the streets.  Women who were usually covered from head to toe in a Hijab were now slightly less covered.  The hijab gaped open allowing glances at designer clothing, purses, bags, shoes.  Even the hijabs seemed to be designer quality.  Some were colors other than black, or had pretty embroidery or trim.  Also women were done up to the nines.  Makeup, hair nails… just the works.  It was an interesting transition.   

The city center is one of the few places where women are allowed to be seen in public.  It’s not like Saudi Arabia, where women need an escort.  It’s just tradition that binds women to the home in Oman.  It’s also up to the women and their family weather they follow the traditional rules of Islam.  So because this is a socially acceptable place to be seen, women dress differently than they would on the streets.  

Also because the culture, Omani men don’t get much exposure to women.  The gendered culture is very separate.  Women do their thing and men do theirs and they rarely met each other in the middle.  It makes teaching university courses difficult, or so I'm told.  The girls and the boys are distracted by each other, because they have never really associated before that point and they are looking for marriage material.  So this means lots of staring and embarrassment. 

One thing that was odd was that there was no Omani food in Muscat.  Muscat is just a hodgepodge of so many different cultures that they have adapted western food, Turkish food, Indian food… you name it.  This might not be entirely true.  But that is what I experienced when I stayed with Chas.  She had only been living in Muscat for two weeks.  So she still didn’t know the little corners a traditional restaurants could be hiding in.  When I go back to Muscat, I’m sure she will have everything figured out.  Unless she is like me and cooks all her own meals, and after two years living somewhere still doesn’t know where to take guests for dinner. 

After a few days with Chas in Muscat I took the bus to Salalah to meet Lauren for thanksgiving.  The bus was torture.  I know better than to expect to sleep on a bus, but I took the night bus anyway.  It was cold on the bus, you know, because we were traveling through the middle of a desert… at night.  

 I also acquired a stalker on the bus.  Not dangerous, but annoying.  The manager of the company took an interest in me, because I was a white woman traveling alone.  He got me a seat in the front of the bus, which I was warned to do in order to avoid being groped by Indian or Pakistani men.  (Don’t look at me, every country has its prejudices.)  Well, he slept in the two seats across from me and even lent me one of his pillows.  Sound like a nice guy.  Something a manager of a bus company would do to be nice.  But then during the night he kept touching me with his feet.  I eventually just curled up in a little ball as far away from him as possible.
 

I would have never seen him again, except when I got off the bus Lauren wasn’t there and my phone was out of money.  So I had to talk to the manger/creepy man to find a way to call or get in contact with Lauren.  In the end she was sleeping, and came a few hours later.  Through this ordeal the manger acquired Lauren’s number and incessantly called us that day and the day after.  Eventually one of Lauren’s Omani male friends picked up the phone and chewed him out in Arabic. I was hoping that was the end of it again, but I knew there might be a chance I would see him when I took the bus back to Muscat.  I changed my return ticked to stay an extra day with Lauren, but still managed to bump into him on my bus out.  This time he wasn’t riding the bus, which was great.  But he did make a scene by escorting me on the bus, finding me a good seat, continuously saying he was sorry and making sure the drivers knew to take care of anything I needed on the trip back.  That was more than a little awkward. 

 After all that the bus ride back was great; full of beautiful dessert and mountains.  I don’t mind long rides during the day.  I can read, stare out the window at the scenery and listen to music for hours in cars.  Visiting relatives across state lines since before I can even remember might have something to do with that.

So why would I endure a 10 hour bus ride across Oman, without sleep, through a dessert?  To see Lauren of course.  Lauren and I were neighbors in Korea for almost three years.  We cooked together, watched Sex in the City, learned the our new city together and partied together.  So when Chas moved to Oman and shortly after Lauren did too, there was no doubt in my mind that I would be taking a road trip.  I was warned, by other friends who have worked in Oman, that Salalah might be boring.  I could see why that could be the case.  I mean it’s very far from the capital, it’s a pretty small town, you need a car to get around and you know… it’s in the country.  That is my favorite part.  Give me rural over urban any day.  There was so much to see and we saw it, on my second day there.  But first on my agenda, was sleep.  Lauren needed it too, so we took a nap.  

The day I came in was thanksgiving, and Lauren was hosting!  One of my favorite things to do is host dinner parties and Lauren hosting one was just as good.  It meant I could cook!  We made a lot of food.  Lauren’s amazing cranberry sauce with candied orange peel, homemade dressing, the turkey, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie.  We probably made more that I’m forgetting, but with our spread and the stuff that the South Africans brought (traditional Christmas salads) it was more than enough food to feed three times the people we had.  Just like thanksgiving should be.  It was super nice to meet everyone.  

 That was also the night I sacrificed my dreads to the bad hair gods.  Oh were they horrible.  If only they were longer, it would have been worth the tedious grooming process you have to do with new dreads.  But they weren’t.  They were short and made me look like a crazy woman.  We had fun cutting them off.  We cut half off at a time, did a Mohawk and then at the end left me with two little antenna.  Those came off the next morning, but for the night I was a butterfly.

The next day we headed out early with some of the people from the night before.  One of the couples had a visitor as well, so a whole day of sightseeing ensued.  We saw the mountains and the plateau that makes up the majority of Oman.  And there were camels EVERYWHERE!  Just hanging out in the road and eating scrawny desert grass and looking at us through car windows.   Camels seem very chill and unaware of how much of a pain in the ass they can be.  People drive pretty carefully in the country because if you hit a camel, not only is it expensive damage to your car, but also you have to go through the hassle of finding the owner and then negotiating how much you need to pay for killing it.  Camels are important man.  

We also drove in and around the mountains and the tribal areas.  Lauren and I missed most of information of where we were and what tribal lands we were driving through, because we had taken two cars.  Our car did not contain an Omani, so we enjoyed the view and stopped in a local village for traditional flat bread and tea.  I loved that the men wear skirts, long (usually plaid) ankle length skirts.  It must be comfortable to wear, especially with how hot it gets in Oman.  

After the rural exploration we headed down to a coastal town called Murbat.  We devoured traditional bread that was just amazing.  It’s a flat bread filled with a canned creamed cheese (don’t make faces, it’s not uber processed like nacho cheese) drizzled in honey and then sprinkled with nuts and apricots.  It should have probably been dessert, but oh man, I didn’t mind it being an appetizer or eating the majority of it.  We also had delicious mix seafood stir-fry, grilled fish and rice.  At this restaurant, we ate with our hands.  My first experience of doing so, and I’m not very good.  I’m always dropping rice on my lap.  I need to work on my technique before I go to India. 

After that Lauren needed a break from driving.  By this point she had been driving for a good 5 or 6 hours, so we headed back for a nap, but really ended up interneting.  That night we all agreed to go out for camel meat, which was delicious.  It was fatty and melted in your mouth, well most of the time.  Sometimes you came across a tough piece.  It reminded me of horse in Korea.  You had to cook it just right, usually marinated, to get a tender delicious meat.  

The very last thing we did was smoke hookah on the side of the mountain overlooking the city lights.  It gets quite cold in the mountains at night.  We were on a little terrace on the mountain and almost decided to take one of the more sheltered spots.  It’s a good thing we didn’t because they found a poisonous snake in it later.  Everyone cleared out real quick and then the staff chased it and beat it with a stick.  I kind of felt sorry for the snake until Ibraham picked it up and started chasing people around with it.  After that people were pretty keen to leave.  We stayed for a little bit longer and then headed off.  It was a perfect day.  What made it even better was that Lauren’s friend Ibraham wanted to make sure I had good memories of Oman, so as a gift in friendship he gave me a camel necklace.  It was very sweet of him.

 

 I absolutely loved Salalah.  It was pure luck that I had scheduled my trip during one of the Omani holidays.  Because it meant that Lauren could take me around.  There was a down side too, because the bus took so much time, and I can’t sleep on buses, I missed out on seeing all the awesome things in Muscat.  By the time I got back Chas had work again, and we were limited to evenings.

I did get to see more of an Omani side in Muscat.  Yunis really enjoyed hanging out with us, so after work he would take us around in his car.  We went bowling and he took us to a “Korean” restaurant after.  The food was great, but it was really Thai food.  “Same, same.  Right?”  Chas and I giggled a little over that.  The next day we made plans to visit his family and have dinner with them.  

The next day was spent with me unable to find a hairdresser to shave my chopped hair.  The women salons just don’t carry clippers and the barber shops were all closed.  I guess that just means that I will get my haircut in India.  

Chas got sick that evening.  She even took some time off school to go to the hospital and figure out what was wrong.  So I ended up meeting Yunis’ family without her.  She needed the rest, but I could tell the family was excited to see Chas.  When I first arrived, they asked me about Hawaii and living in Oman.  They had heard so much from Yunis.  When they discovered I was just visiting, there were no hard feelings and we talked about Korea and traveling.  One of Yunis’ cousins was so happy to be talking to foreign woman.  She monopolized most of my time with the family.  She had so many questions and so much to say about the Omani life.  It was refreshing.  

Out of all the people I met Yunis’ Auntie was one of my best acquaintances.  She was polite and a great host.  She also had a lot to say about the family and what they did.  I don’t think I have met such a sweet woman before.  I can see why Yunis loves spending time at her house.  I also got to met Yunis male cousins.  They were a bit shy, except for his youngest cousin with downs syndrome.  That little guy was everywhere.  When we first came in he was shy, but by the time I left he was showing me his robot that dances to goengnam style and his array of super hero costumes.  He even kissed me on the cheek when I left later, saying “I love you” and I was now his girlfriend.  Cute little guy.  

Yunis’ Auntie prepared some great food.  For dinner we had some traditional African food.  I believe their family is originally from Tanzania.  So she prepared spiced chicken, fried potato dumplings, a salad and an assortment of other food.  It was quite good.  At the end of the night I promised everyone I would come back to Musact and visit and that it was my best night in Oman.