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Vincent is an ex-student of mine - he used to be in Ottawa
for a few years, studying at the Carleton University, when he opted to go
back to his homeland, Malaysia in July 1998. But not before visiting India
en route, despite my warning him not to vist it during the monsoon season.
He mailed me an account of his experiences in India, which I thought was a
wonderfully descriptive account of his experiences in my homeland. I asked
him if he would share it with others, and he submitted me his memoirs.
Thanks Vincent!
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MY TIME IN INDIA
~ Vincent Chiew ~
The trip was awesome. I can’t wait to go back to India
again. Initially I plan to visit for 6 weeks but I had cut it short to 2
weeks. Why? Because I get sick three times in two weeks. Most of the time
I just live between my bed and the washroom, vomit and diarrhoea badly.
And some of the pill I’m taking is double the size of any pain killer
pills. I get so week and tired. So I decided to go home early instead of
spending all my money in medical bills. Only when I get really sick then I
realize that I want to see my parents and I miss home badly.
I meet dozens of interesting people in India. Some are nice and some are
real asshole. Being an oriental tourist is even worse than a Caucasian
tourist. Most Indian seems like never see an oriental for a century. I
guess this is understandable because India never really been Chinese’s
first choice for vacation and is even odd to meet Chinese backpacker. Most
of my friends and families think I am a nut. In India, sometimes it is
really annoying to walk down the street like being watch as walking naked
down the street. People are anxious to see foreigner but they pose no
threat. It does take me sometime to get used to it. Most of the time I
just try to avoid their eyes.
My first day in India is being an nightmare. I arrived New Delhi after
midnight. Before I left, I read about and had been warned that if a
foreigner arrive late a night, the taxi driver will try to rib tourist
off. Here how the bad experience go…… I step out the airport and then make
a few phone calls and check for room and rate around the town. And I found
one at a good location with a real bargain price. Then I get on a taxi.
After a while the driver start asking me a few questions which seem rather
nice. Then he told me that some part of the city road is close at night
due to security reason. So I might not be able to get to the particular
hotel that I want to stay. Then he also told me that there are some sort
of international exhibition going on in Delhi so most of the hotel is
fully booked or occupied. Then he suggest that may be I should leave New
Delhi first day in the morning; and he said that he will drive me to a
tourist information centre and if I am lucky enough it might be still
open. From the moment on, I knew I am in big trouble. My guts just tell
myself that this fellow is trying to rib me off. Thing about that is it
possible to have a government run tourist information centre still open in
the middle of the night. But I don’t know what can I do, so I might as
well let him take me wherever he want. He end up bring me to a, what he so
called, "tourist information centre. The "tourist information centre" is
locate somewhere in a back street dark corner. Practically it is closed
with no light on. He get off and pound on the door. It is so loud that I
thought the light of next door is going to turn on. After a while the
light is on and a guy open the door then I of course go in and check it
out. And inside it is about a size of a toilet, roughly about 150 square
foot. Then I end up in a really small room that can only fit a working
desk with three chairs with one and two at each side. A gentleman is
sitting at one end and I am sitting on the other side with three to four
guys stand at the door. The gentleman look like late twenty or early
thirty with a beer gut. He look like haven’t shave for a while to impress
ladies. He open up a map of India and ask me what my travel plan is in
India. Then he told me how bad the weather is and whole lot of reasons
that I should leave New Delhi and go somewhere else. And he said he can
arrange me the first train or bus in the morning to leave New Delhi. Then
I was sitting there and thing what should I said to make sure I can leave
in one piece. I am so worry and keep asking myself what the hell I am
doing in India. So I make up some really stupid reason to refuse to leave
New Delhi, because I think the ticket he is going to give me is probably
fake or is severely overcharge. So I told him that I have to report to the
High Commission of Malaysia in New Delhi for my own personal security
purpose. But they told me that it is no need and just pursuing me to get a
ticket. The tiny room getting so tense after a while because of my strong
resistance and his powerful will to get my precious saving out of my
pocket. So he end up with bad temper and I also talk loud and rudely. For
the moment, I totally forget about my safety and just don’t want to
compromise. Luckily I leave there in a piece.
After all that mess I request the driver to drive me back to the airport
but he refuse. I was thinking to stay at the airport until the next
morning and look for another place until the morning. He drive to few more
hostel and he talk to people there in Hindi and he just told me that the
place is full but I can tell he is not telling the truth. The trick he do
is he just drive among all those dark, dirty and nasty back street to show
me how bad thing is in India. I can see dozens of people and family
sleeping on street. Indirectly he put a lot of psychology threat on me, so
that I will go to one of the hotel he recommend. Which is going to over
price because I will have to paid for his thick fat commission by just
sending me there. I realise that it is absolutely not wise to make him
mad, otherwise he will just leave me who know somewhere in the middle of
the night. So I end up going to a hotel that is over charged. I paid US$60
for a hotel that might is only worth 10 to 20 bucks or may be even less
than that.
The next morning the first thing I do is go find another hostel which is
recommend by the lonely planet travel guide book. Of course, I am really
mad at first that night. But after that I sit back and think what had
happen. Then I don’t know should I get mad or should I laugh. Because it
does indeed a very interesting and unique experience which money couldn’t
buy. I always complain about why adventurous travel can only done in the
old day and today people can only read about it. Then I realise that today
the adventurous travel still exist but just in a different way.
The second day the same thing happen again but this time instead of taxi
driver, it is the turn of motor rickshaw driver. Of course this time I
know how to handle them. And it is an essential skills and knowledge
traveller will learn after the first lesson.
In New Delhi, I meet two travel buddy. It is because two of them my
journey become so much fun and full of memories. Megan is from Republic of
South Africa. She is doing her degree in Belfast, Northern Ireland. And
Vector from Spain. He just finished his degree and want to do some travel
before consume by a nine to five job. Megan has a long curly hair. As an
African, she has a pretty fair skin with big bright eyes. She laugh all
the time and love long shower. She is funny and talkative. Shopping for
souvenir seems like her first priority in India. She is tough with
attitude but a little bit fussy. Vector travel with his guitar. He love to
play flamenco music. So Megan and me have a lot of wonderful flamenco
music for the whole trip with India atmosphere. What a combination. Vector
has a short curly hair. He is very skinny, look like a drug addict. But he
does smoke a lot. Megan and I both thing he is a hippie but he don’t think
so. I and Vector get really close in a few days. I feel like I have
already know him for a long time. We are so close that we even cross our
leg when we go to bed, and play like a kid on the bed. It is so nice to
behave like a eight years old kid again sometime. We spend most of our
time in a state call Rajasthan.
Like most of other places in India, it is difficult to find place that
will sell meat. Most of the Indian still consider their country as a holy
land. So it is not easy to find a restaurant that will sell meat and
alcohol. That is why I get so weak. I am half vegetarian in Canada, which
mean I only eat meat when I eat out. I don’t cook meat at home. Even I
don’t cook meat I still have four to five meals have meat serving per
week, but suddenly in India I have become a full vegetarian, I get don’t
used to it so it make me feel weak and have no strength at all. It is
difficult. Especially, in a small town call Pushkar; don’t even think
about meat and alcohol in this town because you can’t even find any place
that will sell eggs. Because they think it is a sin to eat eggs since it
can produce a new life. Pushkar is a place that I really enjoy staying.
Not just only because it is small (wait until you spend a few day in Delhi
then you will know) but also the kind of sound I can hear. Every evening
all the temples (about hundred of them in this tiny town) play their
pre-recorded chanting. It does sound noisy but very peaceful. The place I
stay in Pushkar have an amazing view to the Pushkar lake. The place have a
garden with nice tall palm trees facing the lake. Pushkar doesn’t have
much to see or do, so I spend most of my time in the garden just relax and
do some reading. The book I read in this trip is THE DUTCH SEABORNE EMPIRE
1600-1800 BY C.R. BOXER. It is a dry reading material but the content is
interesting enough.
My experience in India is sensory overload. There are always something to
get my attention. Either how people dress or how they behave. It is every
hot and humid in India. Food is good in India; but not quite clean. That’s
why I get really sick. I only watch what I drink but not what I eat. I
simply eat whatever come across and whatever that I never try before.
Almost everything in India is old, that is what make everything in India
look unique and special. India is also a very dirty country. Is not the
country don’t want to keep things clean but with its population size it is
difficult to keep thing nice. Severe poverty and poor education system
make things worse. Whether a country can be well developed and rich is
highly depend on the quality of the population not the quantity. India, in
fact, facing dozens of problems which somehow either direct or indirectly
link to its population size. India is so crowded that I can hardly breath
sometime when walking around.
And people drive restlessly. Cow just everywhere and people carry their
goat across the street in the center of the city. Once I did take a two
hours bus to another place for a day trip, I get on the bus early in the
morning while it is still have dozens of seats. But later when the bus
start filling up, it is miserable. It is pack and hot like hell inside the
bus. And some Indian seems like can’t travel without carry along with
their kitchen sinks. I have a lady carry her goat up the bus and another
lady with her farm produce. It is just no fun at all but I really enjoy
the experience.
I also once sit on the top of a bus for a four hours journey, I thought
I’m going to get kill after half hour departure from bus terminal.
India is also a very poor country. Except some of the main highway, most
of them are poorly maintain. In some part of the Rajasthan, which is a
pretty remote area, you will find two way highway with only one lane to
drive on. That’s mean when you encounter traffic from the other direction,
both vehicle driver got to have half of their vehicle go off the highway.
Truck accident is also really bad in India. During the trip from New Delhi
to Agra, almost the whole 6 hours drive we just see trucks full of farm
produce. And along the way, we saw enough accident in few hours for our
whole life. And I thought it is going to happen to me. And it almost
happen. I still can recall that Vector, Megan and I rent a car with a
driver drive us (to cover the Rajasthan state)from Jaipur to Pushkar. It
is a double lane highway. I am looking at all those trucks from the other
direction. Suddenly, one of the truck is gradually drive from it lane to
our lane, I noticed and asked the driver to watch out. It is approaching
us with a really fast speed, and our driver give the truck a long honk and
pull off to the highway and emergency stop under a tree. And what I saw is
that the truck driver have his hand on the steering-wheel but have his
head out of the truck and looking at the back for another truck After the
honk, then the driver realise what happen and quickly pull back to his own
lane. I think those irresponsible truck driver might be having a race (I
guess). We are all sitting in the India make 'Ambassador' car and freak
out. And our driver are laughing and ask us are we OK or not. For a while,
I really don’t know what to say. Our driver is a Nepalese. He look like
John Travolta in the movie of Saturday Night Fever but is a India
sub-continent version. At thebeginning, I don’t realise he is not Indian
until he told us that he is Nepalese. Then I just notice somehow he does
have the kind of Chinese minority look. Like Tibetan, the shape of his
forehead and nose are different from Indian and look more close to Chinese
but not quite like Chinese.
I also did a two days one night camel safari trip. I spend a night on the
sand dune. This is the closet thing I can find in India that look like
Sahara. The next morning I woke up and sand has become part of my body. It
is windy but not that chilly at all. I only sleep on my sleeping bag with
two three layer of blanket. I can hardly sleep that night because I just
looking at those stars for almost whole night. I’m so excited. It is an
amazing experience. Imagine that no high rise or tall object, no light, no
moon and no cloud. The night sky just fill by stars. I never see so much
stars in my whole life before. The most interesting things in the safari
trip is that people there dry their camel or cow dropping then used it as
a burning fuel, you know just like fire wood in Canada. What so special is
that in the safari trip the porter make us some buns with salt and sugar
then it is bake in the fire which is fuel by animal’s dropping. When I
look at the whole progress, I was thinking that "Oh my god, am I going to
eat that?". I try one small piece of it and hey, what do you know, it just
taste great. I end up have at least three or four of them. I still sort of
remember what is taste like but I can’t describe it.
There are so many amazing palaces and forts in India. Most of them still
in good shape. Taj Mahal is the best. It is amazing to visit places like
this. When I just sit on the floor and thinking about being there and what
a beautiful world it is. India is just about 5 hours flight from Malaysia.
But it is just a very different country. For sure, I will go back to India
again. May be the same destination again or may be some where I never been
before. Not just only the culture difference, fascinating food and amazing
architecture but also people there make things every interesting. Another
things is, India is a real bargain place for backpacker to go. Just taking
a bus or train is also an adventurous thing to do.
Those days in India were short, but full of all kind of little stories and
memories.
And is all these experience make up the source of wonder in this journey.
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