Update on our travels

March 1-13: Israel (a number of cities and places)
March 13-28: Dahab, Egypt
March 28-29: Eilat, Israel
March 29-April 2: Cairo, Egypt
April 2 and on ... ROME, ITALY


Upcoming travel

April: Italy (various places)
May: Spain and Portugal
June: France
End of June: return to Montreal
July mid: return to Vancouver

Blog entries and stories coming soon.
Lianna

Mumbai to Jaipur (Feb 13 -14)

Sleeper class
Artemis

Before you read this I’m going to say that everything you’re about to read is NOT an exaggeration.

Train station resident

In North India we mostly traveled by train. Trains are organized in classes. The lowest class there is, is unreserved, second there’s sleeper class which is the lowest reserved class, next there’s 3 tier AC , after that it’s 2 tier AC and last but not least there’s first class AC. Some trains won’t even have first class AC (AC stands for air conditioning) in fact most of the trains we went on didn’t have first class. Now that you understand the train system we can get on with the story.
Jesse (Caleb’s friend in case you didn’t know) has just arrived 2 days ago and now we’re all taking a train from Mumbai to Jaipur. Our plan is all set : we leave the hotel at 1:30 and catch the train at 3:00. It’s a overnight train and we arrive the next morning at 10:00. I’m really exited to see what the train will be like. As my mom pays the hotel my dad goes out to organize a taxi. The annoying thing is that now we’re 5 people. It’s so perfect to travel with four people because there’s 4 seats in a taxi, there’s 4 sides of a table , for hotels we can get 2 rooms for 2 people etc. All in all 4 people is perfect. Not that I don’t want Jesse to come with us, I think it will be really fun to have a different person around.

We end up getting 2 taxi’s one with Jesse and Caleb and one with me, mom and dad. After an insane drive, we arrive at the train station. The taxi driver gets our bags out of the trunk and we meet up with Jesse and Caleb.

Walking to the train. Jesse in front

The train station is just a big platform with train tracks on either side, a roof that covers your head but it’s all open. In between two train tracks there were water faucets sticking up every 5 meters. People from the slums across from the train station would cross the train track, go between the two and get their drinking water and bathing water.

Station

View of slums from train platform

There were three young girls going back and forth with water. One girl was my age and the two others were maybe 6 or 7 but its hard to tell. The older girl would jump down with two empty jugs and cross over the shit covered tracks. Then she would run to a faucet sticking up and use a little tool to open it. When she
opened it with her little tool the water would come squirting upwards so she would point it down with her hand and thus try to aim it into her water jug. All the while she’s looking out for police and trains!



After being at the train station for a few minutes we here the train has been delayed until 6:00! So here we are in the dirtiest, stinkiest most disgusting train station and we have to wait 3 hours! Not to mention the train tracks are covered in shit because when you go to the bathroom in the train it goes right on the track! And there are rats running all over the tracks and there are little kids walking barefoot on the shit covered tracks looking for water bottles! And there is garbage all over the place, there are people everywhere and we have to watch are bags because people might steel them and and and…

Wiating for the train

Waiting for the train

In all this craziness we still end up making a seat with are bags on the ground. I borrowed Jesses' iPod and Caleb and Jesse were watching a movie on Caleb’s PSP. Mom and dad went for a walk and we all just sat waiting for the train to arrive.
After waiting way too long the train finally shows up. We had booked sleeper class. When the train comes to a halt, we all run to our seats. When we finally get into the right compartment and find our seats, there’s some other people who have the same seat’s as us! I have no idea what’s going on I’m just happy we’re out of that damn train station! My dad and some Muslim girls are talking over what seat is who’s. We finally sort it out and I look around.

In our compartment there is one isle about a metre wide. On one side you look there’s 6 beds and on the other side there’s 3. How it works is there are 3 beds on top of each other. The middle bed is folded down on the wall to use as a back rest for sitting down. When it’s night time you pull up the middle bed and take the two rope things for holding it up and you’ve got a bed. Mom and I both slept in the two middle beds while Caleb and Jesse slept on the two top ones. Dad slept on the other side with 3 beds and he slept on the top. During the day, on the train, the middle bed’s are all down so you can sit on the seats.

When we all got settled I started to talk to 3 Muslim girls. One was a wife and another one was the wife’s husbands sister, they were both in there early twenties and very beautiful. The older one was the wife’s husbands mother who was in her mid sixty’s. They had come to Mumbai so the wife could visit her mother. She was upset to leave her mother because she didn’t see her very often. When she got married she moved to Jaipur with her husband. The other girl was her sister in-law (her husbands sister). The two girls were very close and the sister was always taking care of the wife. They all had long black coats on top of their surita’s (a Indian outfit) and a black scarf loosely put over their head. They didn’t cover their face and I thought they weren’t that religious like some of the other girls who were covered head to toe. The sister was very cheerful and happy, always feeding her husbands wife and wiping her tears away. The two girls were more like sister’s than in-laws. But the wife was more dark and sad because of leaving her mother. We played games with the two girls and talked to them even though they didn’t know that much English, so it was more short words and hand signals.

Muslim ladies

The train was an overnight train. Every few minutes someone would walk through the isle’s: a beggar, some kids playing an instrument to make money, a person selling Chai, a person selling some food, a shoe shiner, a kid cleaning the floor and asking for money, a women saying a prayer and putting a bindi on your head (a bindi is a red dot that Hindus put on there forehead), a ticket man checking your tickets. All day and all night people would come through. Each Chai seller (Chai is a Indian tea) had his own personal Chai call so when I was sleeping at 2:00 in the morning I here “Chai! Chai! Chai!”

Sleeping on the train

In the morning when we were getting off, the wife started to put on a full face cover. We all watched her as she disappeared behind the cloth. The other girl didn’t do that, I guess she wasn’t married yet. It was still quite a surprise when she started to put on the birqua ( face cover) .

When we went on the train I didn’t know it would be so cold at night! It was freezing! I had to put on socks, a tuk and my polar fleece sweater to stay warm. I didn’t get much sleep that night but it was the experience that counts.
Talking to the Muslim girls, looking out the window at Indian women way out in the desert carrying water buckets on their head, sleeping in a dirty, grungy train, meeting different people, trying the food that the Muslim girls had brought, reading, playing cards, that train ride was so amazing. Even
though we had to wait three hours to get on the train, and the train was dirty and no privacy, and I got maybe 4 hours of sleep. I wouldn’t want to change a single thing. Because it was the perfect sleeper class experience.

By Artemis Walden

Mumbai (Feb 12-13)

Jesse and Caleb in Mumbai

Meeting Jesse in Mumbai
Caleb Cohen

I wake up at about 9 o’clock. I'm totally disorientated… where are we? What hotel is this? Suddenly I remember, we’re in India… in Mumbai.... we got here yesterday and… JESSE IS COMING TODAY!! I quickly hop out of bed and head into mom and dads room to go to the bathroom. When I come out my mom says Caleb, Jesse is waiting for you! Ok I’ll go up to his room, I reply. I walk out the door and Jesse is right there waiting for me in my room.

We head down to breakfast at this uber expensive hotel and me and Jesse get our own table. I try everything, it’s pretty moderate. Me and Jesse catch up on some of the stuff happening in Vancouver. The gulab-jamoon is amazing. Its hot and sweet and the best one I’ve had in India. A gulab-jamoon is… well I’m not sure what it is but it’s a ball of something soaked to the bone in honey. It is the most delicious sweet in India. I have 5. Jesse and Patricia brought us a box filled with jelly beans. There where about 500, all different flavours. Me and artemis had way too many that first day.

Jess and Artemis waiting at the hotel

Near Train Station with Patricia and Jesse

We head out to go look around Mumbai with Patricia and Jesse and of course Mark is hungry. So he picks up a samosa and I have one to. We head around the corner deciding where to go. We head towards the main train station. On the way we find a little side street filled with food vendors. Most of them are selling the same thing. Its called Pau Badji. They have a huge vat of it filled to the top and they scoop you off a hunk, plunk in some butter, and fry up a delicious gushy bun. We later found out that you could only get this in this spot in Mumbai, no where else in India. I was very disappointed that I didn’t have one. But I did try some. It was very good.

Pau Badji

Pau Budji Eating

We headed to the train station and had a look around inside. It was very nice. Inside was packed to the brim. When you walk in you have to go through a little security gate. I don’t even think it was on, and nobody was watching it. We looked around a bit and then headed back outside. We wanted to get to the Welcome Gate of India. We ask someone and he says “Go straight, and when you get to the church go left and when you get to the synagogue keep going straight, and then you’ll get to a festival turn left and about five minutes walk straight you get there.

In front of the University

Surprisingly, that’s exactly how the route was. Church, left, synagogue, and then festival. The festival was very odd. It was more like an art display. It was a bunch of … well art. The art was demonstrating for recycling. It was not very good but it was interesting. We walked down a little alleyway with a bunch of vendors. Artemis got a gelato for like 6 bucks. And we continued down to the welcome gate of India.

When we got there the first thing we noticed was the Taj Mahal Hotel. It was all boarded off and you couldn’t go inside. If any of you are wondering the Taj Mahal Hotel is the hotel where all those tourists got shot from the Muslim extremists. Also I don’t know why its called the Taj Mahal Hotel because the actual Taj Mahal is about an 18 hour train ride from Mumbai.

Taj Mahal Hotel

The welcome gate of India was filled with Indian tourists. We looked around a bit and took a picture altogether from a guy who had a portable printing machine. He printed the picture out right on the spot. Most of the time spent at the gate was taking pictures with Indian families. It came to a point where we had to run away because there where so many Indian families wanting to take a picture with us. Why, you ask? Well because of the simple reason of our skin tone. Artemis didn’t seem to mind all the pictures but the rest of us where pretty fed up.

Gate of India

Gate of India

We decided to take a tour. We went to the washing area. The washing area is where everybody gets their washing done. All families and all hotels that are 3 star and below. Its basically a big area with little cement booths that are open. There are men that work there and what they do all day is stand in the booth knee high in dirty India water and smack the clothes against a rock. They just smack it. Smack, Smack, Smack.

Washing area

Washing Area

What we had to do was, he dropped us off we had a quick peek and then we had to get back in the car. Fast. There where so many beggars there it was… I cant even think of a word. When you get there they all come running up the stairs and by the time they reach the top you better be outa there or else, who knows.

The next place we went to was the Ghandi house. This is where Ghandi spent a decent part of his life. It was basically a large museum. Very interesting. After that we headed towards the “rich” part of town. The “rich” part was just a bunch of really, really ugly looking apartments that look like they have been abandoned. The driver said they are expensive because they where so high up, but it was still a shithole. We went to the rich peoples temple which was odd. And went to the see the view of Mumbai. It was pretty spectacular.

Sipping Chai on the streets

We headed back to the hotel and went out for supper at a nice place that was okay. And then we went to bed. The next day we woke up and went on the train to Jaipur.

Caleb

South India to Mumbai (Feb 5-12)

Lost in thought of what to do next

South India (Feb 5-13)

Post Ashram we required a few days of recuperation. We had heard that houseboating along the narrow riverways out of Allepey was a very relaxing and absolutely “Must Do” in the area. So after a day of rest in Thiravanadrapuram (town closest to where the Ashram was located) we headed by local bus to Allepey.

We arrived in a small and lovely little river town. Not exactly knowing where to stay but having a few names in hand, a tout with a lovely brochure and cheap price was able to lure us from the bus to his place. It was a quiet spot, very reasonable, which we crashed at for the night. He said that the main street was walking distance away and the beach a short tuktuk ride. Not completely true. After a bus ride in the streaming heat in India however, I swear you are almost ready to crash anywhere. The shower was clean so that was enough for the moment.

Caleb on the houseboat-jumping exercises

Houseboating.
As the Tuktuk arrived along the riverfront to where the houseboats were stationed we were amazed and overwhelmed by the numbers of boats sitting in a a line along the riverfront. The river walkway allows you to embark every boat if you want. They are simple basic boats to luxurious quarters for either 2 people or up to 10 or so. There are some with double decks and they all have their own unique touch in décor – that is the make or break it for most people, well and the price. Obviously the nicer and newer that they are the more expensive the boat. We were guided through many boats, each one similar in layout but unique in style. We realized that after seeing a number of the boats, every boatman had the same speal about where he was going to take you, the food, the incredible services etc. If you inquired about something they did not want to answer, they just pretended they didn’t understand. A question like “How do you deal with the sewage system on the boat?” (The Lonely Planet had mentioned that many boats are starting to convert but many are still on the old method of dumping it all into the river). We found that many have not converted and probably will not and that many of the boatmen know nothing of what you are talking about.
We finally decided on a semi-luxurious boat with 2 comfortable bedrooms, large sitting and eating area, TV and DVD machine. It was more than worth it. I would suggest anyone wanting a total chill out vacation, totally serviced – do it.

Getting on the boat, big Welcome sign

The only hitch was that what they sell you and what you really get are slightly skewed. We were told, we leave at 11am, have lunch on the boat, cruise the narrow passageways, stop around 6pm for dinner and bed and then arrive back at the pier the next morning by around 9am.
In reality we left around 12noon, the boat stopped around 1pm for lunch, didn’t leave until 2:30. Cruised in the wide open riverways, stopped for the night around 5pm whereupon a small row boat shows up and informs us that the big boat can not go through the narrow passages and we would have to hire a small boat to do so. We leave the docking spot around 8am to arrive at the port, which was very close by, at about 8:30am.

Chillin on the boat

No point getting upset though. It was a truly relaxing and enjoyable time. The food was amazing, you hardly notice that anyone else is on the boat. We slept very well and because there was a TV and DVD we all watched from the beginning to the end in English “Slumdog Millionaire”, which we had purchased at a local pirated DVD shop.

Many other boats around

Lianna relaxing

Sunset that night

We would have been able to do another night physically but there were train tickets and arrangements to make before meeting Jesse in Mumbai so we had to get back and keep heading north.

Ernakulum
Our next stop from Allepey which we did by taxi, was Ernakulum (an airport is located here and we were planning to fly to Mumbai from here). We found a very cheap clean room in a great part of town, close to everything, and we settled in for a few days.

Posing - lots of these jewelery advertisements around

Sick of going out to eat for every meal we started to order in. There were a few great restaurants close to the hotel and all it took was to call to the reception who kindly told us that they would send up a boy. Next thing you know a young man shows up at the door. We tell him we want fried chicken from one place across the street and a few specialty dishes from another vegetarian restaurant a few doors down as well as to pick up some drinks from the store below. We hand him 500 rupees and off he goes. In no more than a half hour he is back with all the food and drinks, wrapped and ready to eat. We did this for a few nights and I think we had some of the best food in all of India which included delicious spiced fried chicken, cheese stuffed tomato curry and cashew nut curry with soft and warm naan bread.

Artemis`s Birthday - 12 years old



A short ferry ride across the bay is a small town called Fort Cochin. Located here is one of the few Synagogues in India and being a port town, lots of European and Asian influences.

Looking out to the Bay

A hi-light was Artemis purchasing fragrances and small glass bottles in one of the many fragrance shops. The shopkeepers were more than willing to spend hours with her going through every fragrance. To keep Caleb busy, a a male relative who was also in the shop led him to a shop across the street where he swore his brother would give him a good deal. I guess he did because Caleb came back with a new shoulder bag and a new t-shirt (this is extravagant for Caleb as he usually buys nothing). Meanwhile Artemis relished in the colored bottles of all shapes and sizes and the aromas of exotic essences. Artemis and I had our arms covered with smells after leaving the shop and she had a few beautiful glass cylinders filled with the sweet smelling perfumes. She was happy.

Testing fragrances

Of course finding the sweetest little tea shop was also a hi-light. We had sandwiches and cake and tea in this clean and funky little spot. (delicacies we had not had for months). We also had many conversation with other tourists as we were sitting around a large circular table which could hold up to 10 people. When we first sat down, with another group of 3, we were informed that we must introduce ourselves. A chatty English man kept us all in conversation. When they left others took their place bringing new stories to entertain us of adventure in India and other parts of the world.

Tea Shop

Artemis with her Birthday sandwich

The Synagogue was a beautiful little building tucked away amongst the crowded buildings and windy streets. It was still being maintained however and for only 2 rupees, and if you took your shoes off and wore a doti, you could enter the magical little building.

Artemis and I also experienced the fun of purchasing gorgeous material and having it tailored into a Churida (A punjabi dress of long top and pant set). We located a lovely little shop run by an Indian woman (very rare as most shops are run by men). And she knew her stuff. She helped us choose beautiful materials pulling out several colors and patterns which all ended up in a big pile, later to be folded and sorted by her employees. Then measuring and choosing styles and patterns to be made. It was great fun and Artemis felt like a princess getting ready for a ball as she usually imagines herself to be.

Trying on different fabrics

Fabric Shop


Final outfit

Plane is 6 hours late leaving Ernakulum but somehow the time goes by quickly sitting in the airport. We find things to do somehow. Once we arrive in Mumbai it is almost dark. Luckily Patricia (Jesse`s mom (Caleb`s friend)) has a hotel booked and all we have to do is let the cabby know where to go.

We made it. Jesse and Patricia are arriving later in the evening. We are excited to be having a new travel companion, Caleb can barely sleep the night.

Lianna

Check out more of our photos on
http://www.flickr.com/photos/travelallplanes/

Movie in India

Adventuring a movie in India
Caleb

It’s our first day in Thiruvanandrapurim (Trivandrum) and we just had a nice parantha and chicken fry which was delicious. We’re walking down the main road and talking, and Mark, Artemis and I decide to go see the new Indian movie “Slumdog Millionaire”. Mom doest want to come because she is too tired. So I grab a cup of roasted peanuts and we hop into a rickshaw to head towards the nearest movie theatre.

When we get to the theatre, there are a few people standing around. So we go inside and ask for some tickets. The guy says ground or balcony. We want ground so he sends us outside because that’s where you get the ground tickets. We walk around a bit looking for the booth but we cant find it so we ask some other guy and he sends us to a different place inside. But that guy doesn’t sell ground seats either so Mark and Artemis go inside and I go looking for the tickets. Finally I find the booth. It’s a little place inside the parking lot about 20m away from the theatre. I head back to the theatre and its very weird inside. Its really big and there are about 15 rows inside before there is a block. Right in the middle of the path there is a seat. And it doesn’t fold or move. Its bolted on the ground. So basically you cant get to the other 2/3rds of the theatre withought hopping over the seat.

I missed a little bit of the beginning but not much so I still understood it. The flash backs are in Hindi but its not incomprehensible. About two thirds of the way through the movie the power goes out. Mark, Artemis and I start laughing our heads off.Because that’s typical India. After a while the movie goes back on but we cant really understand the English because the accents are so heavy. A few minutes later we realise after the power failure the languge changed to Hindi. So I go out to look for a guy to ask him to change it back to English. When I walk outside the door there are about 5 or 6 rats sitting right in the middle of the entrance chewing on something. When I start walking it scares them off but when I look in the hallways its filled with rats running around. Barely any of the lights are on so its really dark. I find a guy that works there and try to explain the little language misshap to him but he doesn’t speak very much English. He said he will try to do something about it. So I go back into the theatre. After about 10 minutes nothing has happened. So I go back outside and a different guy is walking by. I tell him the “situation” and he says he wants to see our tickets. He obviously thinks I want a refund. So I go back inside and Mark gives me his ticket and I get my ticket and I ask Artemis for hers but she said she didn’t have it. I tell her I need it and she says she threw it behind her, so I ask her to get it but she gets all mad at me and tells me to be quite because she’s watching the movie. So I go and look for it. At this point I was pretty sure she had eaten it but I finally find it and head back outside. The guy isn’t there. I go looking around for him but neither of the guys I met are anywhere to be seen.

So I head outside and there a bunch of guys chillin by their motorbikes so I ask them where the movie guy is and one of the guys says what do you want. Well I tell him the whole story and at the end he says sorry that’s your fault we cant give you a refund. Now any body reading this has to understand that in India you cant get mad at someone. Its just not their style. So I cant yell at him and I don’t want to because he’s scary looking so I just go back inside and watch the rest of the movie in Hindi. We kind of understand it but we don’t get the details. Luckily there was only about 15 minutes left. Its really and amazing movie and we all loved it.

When we get back to the hotel and me and artemis are in bed, Mark knocks on our door and comes in and says “ guys guess what… I was just on the phone with bubs and gramps and I told them about Slumdog Millionaire and that we saw it in a slumdog theatre and they said that it was nominated for 10 academy awards!”

About 3 weeks later I wake up and turn on the TV with everyone sleeping and mom comes over and I tell her the Academy Awards are on! Mark is in bed complaining about the noise so me and mom turn it on very low. When everyone gets up that’s when the biggest awrds come on. Slumdog Millionaire wins best cinematography, best original score, best sound mixing, best song, best director, best picture .

After it won you could hear our screams and yells from three block down the street.

Caleb

Caleb's Ashram Notes

My ashram experience.
Caleb Cohen

This is the schedule:

5:20(am):Wake up call
6:00:Satsang (meditation, chanting and discussion)
7:30:Tea
8:00:Yoga
10:00:Lunch (basically rice and some vegetables)
11:00: Karma Yoga (chores around the ashram)
12:30:Optionall Coaching class
1:30: Tea and fruits
2:00:Lecture
3:30:Yoga
5:00:Dinner (Chapathi, or some other bread with vegetable curry)
7:00:Satsang
9:00:Go to bed (believe me everyone slept soundly right away)

The first day was the most tiring because of the yoga.. The yoga was very hard for Mark, Artemis and I because we don’t usually do yoga. We got to the ashram at about 3:00 so we missed the first lecture but we went to the yoga. Dinner was vegetarian and we sat in a big room on the floor and we had to eat with our hands, but worst of all there was no talking. Satsang was very boring and very odd singing all these songs. I was expecting it to be a lot easier to sit still with your eyes closed and your back straight sitting cross legged for 20 minutes. Well I was wrong. It was quite difficult.

We met a girl from new York who was said that she wanted to leave because she didn’t understand the chanting. And we where all thinking that it wasn’t about knowing what the chanting was it was about putting out all your energy into what your singing and trying to feel the energy in the room. But obviously she didn’t think so because she left the next day. With her friend. And we met two other girls who thought that it was too much like school so they left too.

Getting back to yoga, Mark, Artemis and I did the beginners and mom did the intermediate. She said that it was way harder. They had to do a headstand for 3 minutes and then go into a scorpion which is where your in a headstand and then you curve your back and try to touch you toes to your head. But once you’ve gone as far as you can without falling over then you move your hands from under your head and bring your neck up so your balancing on you arms! Its really cool and I did it! Here’s a picture.

>Scorpion

If you don’t know what the “yoga” version of a headstand is then here’s another picture!

Headstand

The food was not very good at all but I guess when you eat 2 meals a day then you will eat what you’re served. Fortunately most of the time I wasn’t hungry. We met some nice people but most of them left early because they didn’t enjoy it. The rooms were very basic and the beds where very hard. It was like sleeping on granite. But after 5 and a half hours of yoga you were so tired you could sleep on hot coals.

After the ashram we actually needed a couple of days to regain some strength because we where so tired from all the yoga. All in all we had a great time and I would love to go longer some other time when I’m older and I’m going to try to continue yoga.
Caleb

Food in India - February

by Artemis
Yummmmmmmmmm!
I think as I take another bite of tandoori chicken and naan. The delicious flavours all together in my mouth. Tender chicken with doughy naan (naan is an Indian bread that they make in a special tandoori oven its my, favourite Indian bread) and some crunchy unions to get extra flavour! We were all sitting in the restaurant that was completely empty aside from us. Witch I don’t understand because the food is fantastic! I gulp it down with a drink of water and site for a second feeling content.

I’m really getting the hang of eating with my hand! When we first came to India I had to practically site on my left hand so I wouldn’t use it (you see in India people use there left hand to…cough clean certain areas after doing things that involve sitting on a toilet and are not particularly pleasant…lets just say its VERY rude to use you left hand to eat). It does really take a certain amount of practise to get it right. You may think “how hard can it be to eat something with your hand? I mean it’s the easiest way to eat!” Well you’re wrong because it is quite difficult. It may be easy to eat a hamburger with you’re hands but to eat rice and curry are quite different.

First you have to make a little ball of rice with you’re hand and mix it with some curry, then try to pick it up witch is not easy because the rice is small peaces and it doesn’t stick very well. After you’ve got that done you pick it up (remember this is all with one hand) and try to put it in you’re mouth without getting it all over you’re shirt (to do that it involves leaning your head back and dropping it I your mouth).

Remember that’s just rice and curry. The hardest part is ripping the Indian bread. Now to tear the bread is by far the hardest part. First of all Indian bread isn’t like a bun or a loaf of sour doo. No Indian bread is more like pita or its more that shape anyway. There are many different types of Indian bread such as:
-roti
-naan
-chapatti
-papa daam
-parantha
-dosa
That’s jut to name a few (most of the breads are the same thing but restaurants put all of them on the menu anyway. So when you order, lets say two chapatti and two roti, the order will come and it will be four chapatti. Of course after you ask where you’re roti was and why you had four chapatti that’s when the waiter decides to say “oh roti chapatti same thing!” funny how that works out).

As you know my favourite type of bread is naan. It’s the doughiest and taste the best with curry and chicken (It’s best to just eat chicken in India because there’s no proper refrigeration so if you eat cow its so big it would probably be rotten)

The technique of ripping naan with one hand is hard to get a hang of.
Once you do get it right its as natural as eating with a fork and knife.

I’m now going to talk a bit about the types of food in India.

Humm where to start…ill start with Tamil Nadu, the first place we went in India. Each city had its own specialty. Tamil Nadu was famous for tally and raita with chapatti. That’s what we usually had. Tally is a special plate with a whole bunch of curries and rice with some chapatti sometimes, it depends on the restaurant. All the curries come in little boles and there all around a big plate of rice. Then the waiters come around with buckets of the curries and refill all you’re little boles. It’s a very good meal but after a while I got sick of it.

The chapatti with raita was my favourite. Now let me explain chapatti is a Indian bread and raita is a mix of yogurt and unions (uncooked). I no what you think “ewwwwwww yogurt and unions?!” but its actually very good! In fact its so good it was my favourite thing in Tamil Nadu.

In Kerala the chapatti was different from Tamil Nadu. It was dryer and stiffer so it wasn’t as good. In kerala we ate more chicken bryani and instead of chapatti we would have paratha (another Indian bread) also we had allot of tandoori chicken (Tamil Nadu was mostly vegetarian).

Moving up to the north of India the first place we visited in the north was Raipur.
In Jaipur we had the pleasure of having stuffed tomato curry and cashew curry with naan. The stuffed tomato curry was a curry with a stuffed tomato that had been cooked with the curry but was still a whole tomato usually it was stuffed with cheese or flavoured rice. Also, strangely enough we had lots of porridge at are hotel restaurant

Stuffed tomato and cashew curry with naan were all over the north and were some of my all-time favourite dishes in India.
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The second place we went to in the north was Jodhpur. The food in Jodhpur was the same as the food in Jaipur but the curries will taste a little different.

In Jailer there was allot of Italian food and we ended up having lots of spaghetti (good spaghetti).

India has so much good food its hard to explain all the wonderful tastes and you can’t imagine it until you try it for yourself! I’m definitely going to miss India.

By Artemis Walden

Update on where we are

Posts are a little behind so here is an update on the places we have been and where we are right now.

Feb.6-9 Allepey, India (House Boat adventure)

Feb.10-12 Ernakulum, India (Artemis Birthday)

Feb.13-15 Mumbai, India (picking up Caleb's friend Jesse)

Feb.16-26 Rajastan, India (tour around the north to Jaipur, Agra, Jodpur and Jaiselmere_

Feb.27 Delhi, India (overnight train to catch a flight out of India)

Feb.28 Tel Aviv, Israel (land in Israel and meet grandparents, Gissa and Steve)

March 1-2 Ein Geti, Israel (swim in the Dead Sea)

March 3-5 Jerusalem,Israel (touring the amazing holy city)

Lots of stories to come!
Lianna