I got back from India Thursday night and this blog post is a long time in the making. Attempting to sum up my excursion to India is a daunting task and one I have been putting off for sometime because of its daunting nature. I think what I will do is give a day by day brief synopsis and hope that works. Just know that it is hard to condense and organize all the thoughts in my mind after this trip! (If you want to skip the synopsis and just see pics from the trip go here: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=258393580/a=159080799_159080799/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink)
Wednesday January 7:
- Breakfast at JP's parents house (JP was our trip leader, he is Indian and lives in Holland, Michigan with his wife and daughter)
- Tour of the World Cassette Outreach of India headquarters conveniently located right next door to JP's parents (since JP's dad runs the outreach it makes sense). They record the Bible or parts of the Bible in many different languages to give out to people (they've recorded in 200 languages and India has over 1600 languages!)
- Lunch at the best Indian restaurant I've ever been to (which makes sense given that it's in India!).
- Our first exposure to shopping in Indian markets (one word: chaos)
- taking on ride on the back of JP's motorcycle through crazy Indian traffic (one word: chaos and then another word: awesome)
Thursday January 8:
- up early to head out on a bus at 530am
- breakfast at a road side stand called the "Dosa Camp" located at the Shark Food Court. Dosa's are an Indian breakfast that are a lot like a crepe filled with potatoes, peas, celery, and spices. It also came with tomato and coconut chutneys to dip in. It was awesome.
- we went to 3 temples during the day. 1 Jainist temple (which we had to hike barefoot up 627 stairs on an exposed rock to get to. In the temple was a 58 foot statue that is the largest monolithic (single stone) statue in the world. It was impressive). The other two temples were Hindu temples that were about 1000 years old. The carving on the outside of them was incredible.
- We had dinner at the Shark Food Court and feasted for about $2 a person. It is cheap to travel inside India (it just takes a small fortune to actually get there!)
Friday January 9
- The day started out by calling Miriam at an STD (not what an STD is in the US! STD's are phone booths in India. Needless to say, they make for good jokes)
- We met in the morning with 10 Indian pastors who had been persecuted for their beliefs. It was one of the most powerful things we experienced there. It was amazing to hear how they stood by their beliefs and the sense of urgency their faith held for them.
- Another trip to the markets. A couple of us walked through the vegetable and fruit market which was unbelievable. So many fruits/veggies to enjoy and in back they had chickens in cages and goats tied up that you could buy to have slaughtered (no frozen chicken isle here!)
- We shipped out on a bus @ 9pm for Kerala. We were supposed to take a train but they were all booked because of the harvest festivals in Kerala. The bus ride was a trip, to say the least. About 2 hrs in they turned on a very loud Indian movie which jarred a lot of us from sleep. We would later find out that they turned the movie on so loud to cover up the fact that they were running out of gas! (There was a gas shortage in India as a result of a strike and the first station we stopped at was all out of gas.) We spent about 1.5 hrs on the side of the road waiting for the driver to catch a ride to get gas and come back. We then drove about 4 miles up the road to a gas station only to wait 2.5 hrs to fill up the tank! Orderly lines are not really a strong suit of the India, watching tour buses jockeying for position in line has to be one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen.
Saturday January 10:
- We arrived at our destination 6 hrs late as a result of the bus situation. It was not a big deal. Not like the US where the bus company would have had to give everyone their money back or face lawsuits. Indians deal with it, it's pretty awesome.
- We stayed with the Bishop of the East Kerala Diocese of the Church of South India. I didn't realize it upon arriving but this was a big deal. People kiss the Bishop's ring when they see him, though we didn't have to.
- The Bishop's wife Betty took us around to some local churches in the mountains after lunch. The views were amazing. At the second church we were given fresh coconuts with straws to drink the milk (it's not actually as good as it sounds). We also saw rubber trees and the first steps in the rubber making process. The church housed a boys school so we got to meet the boys which was fun, they ran up and excitedly shook our hands and even a few got so excited they hugged us!
Sunday January 11:
- We were up early for our first church service at 7am. This service was in English and about 1.5 hrs long. Men and Women sat on separate sides and women had their heads covered and the service followed the Anglican tradition.
- The next service was at 10 and was not in English and lasted for 2:45 hrs! It was also 90 degrees inside the church. Surprisingly though it didn't feel as long as one would think.
- After some naps in the afternoon we walked down to a boys school down the street in search of a cricket game. We were unsuccessful but did play an hour long pick up game of soccer with some males from the village ranging from age 15 to 25 (there were a couple 40 year olds I think too). When we arrived we said "game, game" hoping to get one going since there were a handful of guys kicking the ball around. Well, a call went out to the village and they all came running. It was a blast.
Monday January 12:
- We shipped out early again to head over the mountains to Bodi and Madurai. Driving over the mountains was incredible. The views were beautiful especially the tea plantations in the upper parts of the mountains. And there is nothing quite like driving on a road that is only 1.5 cars wide in a small bus with steep drops on the side of the road. It's something everyone should experience at least once!
- We met with some RCA missionaries in Bodi. Bruce is a doctor in the village providing inexpensive medical care to those in the surrounding areas. Tamar runs a income generation company for women in the area. They make jewelry and sew various things as well, many of which get sold to Ten Thousand Villages and other fair trades organizations. The women get free childcare, lunch, and have the ability for a pension. Meeting with them was one of the top highlights of the trip.
- We shipped out from there to Madurai to stay in a hotel for the night.
Tuesday January 13:
- Morning coffee at a small roadside stand near the hotel was another big highlight of the trip. Drinking coffee that cost 5 rupees (about 10 cents) in a 3500 year old city surrounded by Indians was unreal.
- We visited the Hindu temple in the city where the inner sanctum (Hindu-only) is 3500 years old and the outer area (where we visited) was 1400 years old or so.
- We left in the evening for an overnight train ride back to Bangalore. I've never been on a overnight train and the experience was great. The train was way smoother than any train I've ridden in the States and I slept like a baby in my upper bunk.
Wednesday January 14:
- This day was mostly some last minute shopping and Bangalore experiencing and a walk through the big park in the city.
Thursday January 15:
- We flew out bright and early at 2:15 am and after 33 hours of traveling I got back to Princeton!
If you read through all of this, you win.
So there it is, in a nutshell my trip to India. I'm sure I will post more thoughts about the trip but this will do for now. If you have more questions about the trip feel free to contact me I'd love to talk about it!
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