L'inde

L’Inde

In New Delhi I arrived a few days ago. Talk about culture shock…I was warned prior to arrival but you never know a place until you get there.  There are about 17 million people that live here. 17 MILLION!!!! In one city!!! It’s very overwhelming.  There are cars, tuk tuks, buses and motorcycles everywhere and at every hour. And the garbage? It’s pretty bad..o.k. very bad…I’ve never seen anything like this.  It’s incredibly hot, about 15 degrees hotter than Thailand and I thought that was hot. I am at risk of passing out in a moment’s notice.   Luckily, I’m mostly in an office working on a potential project for Conserve India www.conserveindia.org  I had to sign a confidentially agreement so I can’t divulge any details but it’s pretty cool stuff that will help alleviate environmental waste.  If you know my uncle John, he makes these as a hobby ;) It’s about picking those up and converting the material into other stuff.  My job is to create the business plan to start the first project of this kind in India.  Quite exhilarating and easily replicable.  I’m staying in the home of the founders, where there is a young male housekeeper who is training for the army and does all the cooking and cleaning.  Things could be worse… I share a room with a French intern, Noeline, who’s from the same town where I studied French! We get along great.  She studied design, so she’s here working on creating new products for the company.  The other day she took me to her friend’s apartment where we had dinner.  This required us to take the subway.  Again, people everywhere…it’s too much. Procreation should be curbed here, really. We had to go through security prior to entering the station and when the guard saw that Noeline and I had two big bottles of beer stashed in her bag he smiled and we laughed, so he let us go.  I’m not sure what the statistics are but it seems there are many more men than there are women.  Fortunately, there’s a separate car for women where men cannot enter.  Trust me, you don’t want them to.  I went to the factory today where I was able to see the products and meet other interns from Singapore.  We all are here with different interests but for the same reason, to learn.  So far so good, I’ll be here in total for about a month. We’ll see where Indian life takes me. 

And then there was one...

So everyone left and I was officially the last one in Thailand.  Was I scared? Mmmm…a bit but that wasn’t going to stop me, so I told Nuch to take me further North.  I went to Chiang Rai,  Mesai  and then The Golden Triangle.  She left me in Mesai, a shopping town and the furthest northern point of Thailand.  I entered what seemed like an alley but turned out to be a labyrinth that almost took me into Myanmar.  I wanted to cross and have lunch there but border patrol required me to leave my passport.  I heard my parents’ voices yelling at me about getting stranded in Myanmar, so I decided to stay in Thailand.  I then took several buses and in due course, ended up at the Golden Triangle.  The journey was pretty hectic but I won’t give details for the sake of my parent’s sanity.  It’s called the Golden Triangle because there’s a river with a delta from which you have Thailand on your left, Myanmar in front of you and Laos on your right.  All of which are surrounded by rolling green mountains and a huge golden buddha.  It’s gorgeous and for me, that’s where I fell in love with Thailand.  That night I headed to a local bar, where I was the only “farang”.  People stared when I first walked in but then they were curious about where I was from and why I was there and of course, why I was alone.  Eventually, after a few beers, one guy saw my UM pen and asked me to trade with his fake Mont Blanc.  I thought it was cute, so I did.  It’s funny to think a UM pen is floating around in a tiny town nestled in Asia. 

Next morning, I headed back down to Chiang Mai.  It’s about a 4 hour bus drive in a very comfortable coach bus with a stewardess. They stop twice and give you water and snacks.  The ride back was much calmer than the one there.  My last night in Chiang Mai was great!  I went to have dinner at a bar where there was a live band playing and met two Thai girls that studied in Europe and struck up a conversation with me.  Again, they wanted to know why I am alone. Thai people are very social and to eat alone is a sad moment for them.  I often get asked where my friends are and when I tell them in Miami, without my asking, they usually join me.  The band finished and the girls invited me to go clubbing with them….of course I agreed…”I’m from Miami”, I said. “Clubbing is in our DNA”.  So I went, pretty cool place both inside and outside with live bands.  We ended up meeting two guys from Barcelona who were traveling all throughout Asia. Together, we bought a bottle and partied all night.  Next morning, hangover and all, I got on a plane and headed back to Bangkok.

I did some research on future potential jobs and spent the day at UNEP….we’ll see what happens.  I also went to see Hangover 2.  Get this! In the movie theatre, right after the announcements for future films and before the movie starts, everyone stands and sings the national anthem.  After the anthem is over they yell, “long live the king” and then everyone sits and the movie begins. Can you imagine my face?  I stayed in Bangkok for a few more days, saw the sights and went to the roof top bar featured in Hangover 2.  It was amazing to see Bangkok from above.  The city is immense and the sight was impressive.  I was lost in the moment and made the mistake of ordering a glass of champagne without looking at the price…boy was I shocked to see it cost about $70! You better believe I savored it to the very last drop! I thoroughly enjoyed my last days in Bangkok and as I left I knew I had lived, loved, learned and laughed.  It was time to bid farewell and head for India.

The North

Chiang Mai was pretty cool.  It’s built in the shape of a square with a wall and a moat around it. I’m sure there’s some profound reasoning behind it that hopefully, one day I’ll know.  We hired a driver, Nuch (female) for 250 baht ($8.19) / hour.  We stayed there a couple of days enjoying the scenery: waterfalls, street market and shows.  We also went to a fish spa. It’s where you put your feet in an aquarium and fish- not sure what kind but they look like baby catfish-prey on your dead skin.  It was quite ticklish at first but then your legs feel as if they’re vibrating.  When it’s all done, about an hour later, it feels like walking on needles for a bit.   They say it stimulates circulation and perhaps that’s what the vibrating feeling was.  We then headed for the mountains where we went to a tiger and monkey zoo (not together).  The hotel we stayed in was beautiful.  The backyard was a lake with pedal boats and huge lotus pads.  There were tables in the garden and it was where we always ate.  There were four women who ran this hotel and it seemed we had them all to ourselves.   They made a fresh carrot with honey juice that was divine.  They knew it was what I wanted when it was time to eat.

On the second day, Adrienne and I went bungee jumping! It was a 50meter (164ft) drop.  Yes, it was crazy and no, I probably wouldn’t do it again.  When you’re at the bottom and upside down, as the blood rushed to your head, it feels like your head is going to blow up and your eyes are about to pop out.  Nevertheless, I’m glad I did it.  That’s how Adrienne closed her Thailand trip, Nuch and I took her to the airport shortly thereafter.