Blogger pulls! A week or two ago they changed their whole system over and now I can't publish this journal to my site any more - stink!
There's probably is a way around it but these things are hard to sort out when you're travelling, so in the meantime i'm having to post it on this nasty blogspot site with all these ads. Sorry in advance for broken links from this site, it'll take me a while to weed them out at snail pace shared Indian modem speed.
Grant and Simon's Travel Journal
Saturday, July 05, 2003
Posted by Grant, 12:16 AM | 
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Reply to this postTuesday, July 01, 2003
Everyone wants a piece of you in India. You can't escape it. Let someone point you in the right direction and they'll ask you for money. Let someone take you to a guesthouse and you're asking for it. Even when you take off your shoes to enter a temple they'll be waiting for you on exit turned around so you can slip straight into them - but for a fee. It's amazing how friendly and helpful people are, it's just disappointing that they will invariably always ask you for money, or to buy something for them at some stage, it's a reality you just have to learn to accept.
But these are desperate people. An hour (or day) or two helping you, or nagging you, or whatever, is worth it for the chance they'll get something out of it in the end.
At Howrah railway station in Kolcata after several minutes of ‘persuasion’ I finally let a young boy shine my shoes (sandals actually) for 10 rupees. Although I didn’t think this was over generous (10 rupees = about 40 NZ cents) he proceeded to follow me and Simon for a couple of kilometers with a sad desperate look on his face in the hope that a man with such wealth could spare a little more. He even followed us half way over the Howrah bridge - the biggest in India also said to be the busiest bridge in the world (it’s a pretty cool bridge actually). Sure I felt stink about it but you give money every day – sometimes 200 rupees or more - and you’ve just got to make a call between who really wants it and who actually needs it.
One of the biggest problems in India is the educational system. The public schooling is shite - ask anyone in India, especially the kids. The teachers have no motivation for teaching well - or even turning up sometimes - and the schools are ridiculously under funded. There’s a lot of corruption here, especially in the government and that trickles all the way down the line, it doesn’t leave much for the people on the last rung. There’re very few India families who can afford public school for their children, the only real chance for a decent education, the others have to hope for sponsorship from abroad. In Bodhgaya the public school is so hopeless I meet two kids who just refused to go, they didn’t trust it to teach them anything. Instead they hang out of the streets hoping to latch onto the odd tourist and charm some dosh out of them, or play the tourism game earning the occasional bit of commission for hooking you up with a guesthouse or some local transport. All the time they’re improving their English (or another foreign language) as they go. It’s easy to see why they do it really.
But these are desperate people. An hour (or day) or two helping you, or nagging you, or whatever, is worth it for the chance they'll get something out of it in the end.
At Howrah railway station in Kolcata after several minutes of ‘persuasion’ I finally let a young boy shine my shoes (sandals actually) for 10 rupees. Although I didn’t think this was over generous (10 rupees = about 40 NZ cents) he proceeded to follow me and Simon for a couple of kilometers with a sad desperate look on his face in the hope that a man with such wealth could spare a little more. He even followed us half way over the Howrah bridge - the biggest in India also said to be the busiest bridge in the world (it’s a pretty cool bridge actually). Sure I felt stink about it but you give money every day – sometimes 200 rupees or more - and you’ve just got to make a call between who really wants it and who actually needs it.
One of the biggest problems in India is the educational system. The public schooling is shite - ask anyone in India, especially the kids. The teachers have no motivation for teaching well - or even turning up sometimes - and the schools are ridiculously under funded. There’s a lot of corruption here, especially in the government and that trickles all the way down the line, it doesn’t leave much for the people on the last rung. There’re very few India families who can afford public school for their children, the only real chance for a decent education, the others have to hope for sponsorship from abroad. In Bodhgaya the public school is so hopeless I meet two kids who just refused to go, they didn’t trust it to teach them anything. Instead they hang out of the streets hoping to latch onto the odd tourist and charm some dosh out of them, or play the tourism game earning the occasional bit of commission for hooking you up with a guesthouse or some local transport. All the time they’re improving their English (or another foreign language) as they go. It’s easy to see why they do it really.
Posted by Grant, 7:17 PM | Reply to this post
Reply to this postPEELING
Peeling was our last destination in Sikkim. Sikkim is by the way, a small area of India right between China-Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. It' still an area not recognised by China, so the army presence there is huge (see GANGTOK).
Peeling is quiet in comparison to other Sikkim villages (cities really, by NZ standards, at least population wise). The ride to Peeling was exceedingly bumpy and high, and the clouds were swamping us, but the view was serene, if not panoramic.
One of the main highlights of Peeling was a visit to a Tibetan temple. In fact, the temple was a Hindu temple, but was occupied by Tibetan monks, and was also a school for young monks. These monks often commit themselves (are are committed) to the service of Buddhism from as young as six, and they all expected to be monks for the rest of their lives.
This particular temple is famous for it's eight feet high wood carving, which a previous Abbot painstakingly made over a period of five years. The carving is huge and really detailed, and kind of depicts heaven and hell. It has about five layers, and the hell-heaven bits seem to overlap. Parhaps even more memorable was the paintings, which covered all aspects of the temple. Being Hindu, many of the more common deities were depicted, including the more nasty of them, such as the god Kali, who is usually seen standing on humans, wearing human skulls as a necklace, and looking just a little peeved off.
Something new to us both were the beautiful wall paintings of people copulating. This included demon like creatures, and also Krishna himself with a woman, even while he meditated!.
Other highlights were a pretty cheap one day package tour we indulged in, which took us to a sacred lake, some waterfalls (just like NZ ones, only spicy), a big high bridge, and the temple again. Outside of the tour an afternoon was spent visiting the ruins of the old Sikkim capital.
Of course, the most important event in Peeling was the great festival of my birthday!. The occasion was unfortunately forgotten by all parties, myself included, until it was already over NZ time. Fortunately a few hours remained of the Indian day, so all was not without hope. A big thanks to Grant for organising a few beers and a cake (Indian style - a pancake with banana, jam and candles). We shared these with some travellers we had met from Israel, so thanks to all for the good times.
Speaking of beers, we were lucky enough to sample some of the Sikkim special brew called Chang (not to be confused with the Thai Chang beer). We had heard tales of this drink, and went on the hunt, however found all the restaurants that normally served it closed. Luckily for us, a family invited us into their home, and prepared some for us, so a big thanks to Peeling hospitality!.
The unique drink comes in a small wooden barrel, and is filled to the brim with millet grains. You have a hot pot of water, and poor the water into the mix, then proceed to drink the Chang with a straw. You keep filling it up and it gradually becomes weaker. I don't think it compares to a good old chilled NZ beer, but the process is dam fun!.
On the way home there were fireflies everywhere, and these little insects are so mesmerizing to watch flying around in the dark, and made the walk home quite physadelic (maybe the Chang helped too...)
The last memorable detail from Peeling was the trip out, which was a great introduction to Indian transport during the monsoon season. The road we were supposed to travel along had a mudslide, so we had to take an alternate route, which then also had a mud slide. The jeep then got a flattie, and we had to return to the nearest city and swap jeeps. The replacement was conveniently a smaller jeep designed only for the short trip between Peeling and Leking. So, at one point we had 17 people on this jeep designed for about 8!. Anyway, we ended up making our train with about an 45 minutes to spare, covering the 90 or so kilometres to Silligori in a hasty nine hours.
Peeling was our last destination in Sikkim. Sikkim is by the way, a small area of India right between China-Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. It' still an area not recognised by China, so the army presence there is huge (see GANGTOK).
Peeling is quiet in comparison to other Sikkim villages (cities really, by NZ standards, at least population wise). The ride to Peeling was exceedingly bumpy and high, and the clouds were swamping us, but the view was serene, if not panoramic.
One of the main highlights of Peeling was a visit to a Tibetan temple. In fact, the temple was a Hindu temple, but was occupied by Tibetan monks, and was also a school for young monks. These monks often commit themselves (are are committed) to the service of Buddhism from as young as six, and they all expected to be monks for the rest of their lives.
This particular temple is famous for it's eight feet high wood carving, which a previous Abbot painstakingly made over a period of five years. The carving is huge and really detailed, and kind of depicts heaven and hell. It has about five layers, and the hell-heaven bits seem to overlap. Parhaps even more memorable was the paintings, which covered all aspects of the temple. Being Hindu, many of the more common deities were depicted, including the more nasty of them, such as the god Kali, who is usually seen standing on humans, wearing human skulls as a necklace, and looking just a little peeved off.
Something new to us both were the beautiful wall paintings of people copulating. This included demon like creatures, and also Krishna himself with a woman, even while he meditated!.
Other highlights were a pretty cheap one day package tour we indulged in, which took us to a sacred lake, some waterfalls (just like NZ ones, only spicy), a big high bridge, and the temple again. Outside of the tour an afternoon was spent visiting the ruins of the old Sikkim capital.
Of course, the most important event in Peeling was the great festival of my birthday!. The occasion was unfortunately forgotten by all parties, myself included, until it was already over NZ time. Fortunately a few hours remained of the Indian day, so all was not without hope. A big thanks to Grant for organising a few beers and a cake (Indian style - a pancake with banana, jam and candles). We shared these with some travellers we had met from Israel, so thanks to all for the good times.
Speaking of beers, we were lucky enough to sample some of the Sikkim special brew called Chang (not to be confused with the Thai Chang beer). We had heard tales of this drink, and went on the hunt, however found all the restaurants that normally served it closed. Luckily for us, a family invited us into their home, and prepared some for us, so a big thanks to Peeling hospitality!.
The unique drink comes in a small wooden barrel, and is filled to the brim with millet grains. You have a hot pot of water, and poor the water into the mix, then proceed to drink the Chang with a straw. You keep filling it up and it gradually becomes weaker. I don't think it compares to a good old chilled NZ beer, but the process is dam fun!.
On the way home there were fireflies everywhere, and these little insects are so mesmerizing to watch flying around in the dark, and made the walk home quite physadelic (maybe the Chang helped too...)
The last memorable detail from Peeling was the trip out, which was a great introduction to Indian transport during the monsoon season. The road we were supposed to travel along had a mudslide, so we had to take an alternate route, which then also had a mud slide. The jeep then got a flattie, and we had to return to the nearest city and swap jeeps. The replacement was conveniently a smaller jeep designed only for the short trip between Peeling and Leking. So, at one point we had 17 people on this jeep designed for about 8!. Anyway, we ended up making our train with about an 45 minutes to spare, covering the 90 or so kilometres to Silligori in a hasty nine hours.
Posted by Simon, 4:41 PM | Reply to this post
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