Three weeks later.

Well, it took me three weeks but the pictures are finally up for your viewing pleasure. Sorry for the wait. I like Blogspot for the writing part but the photo posting is not easy. I can write 10000 words faster than I can upload 10 pictures. But, on the positive side, the delay has given me more time to reflect, ruminate and remember (and recover!).

I have had people mention that they couldn't tell if I enjoyed myself. I can assure you that I did. I have said it before and I will say it again, Judy was awesome to travel with. I love someone who thinks I am hilarious. Now that she is retired, I am going to hire her just to hang around with me to improve my self esteem. I don't remember laughing so much as when we were together. We had some pretty crazy times in India with Suresh, who thankfully made sure we weren't too out of our league. I can't even imagine landing there without some sort of support/friendly faces to meet me. And once I was alone, I was okay because I had the chance to get my 'India legs' under me, thanks to Judy and Suresh.

India is so amazingly beautiful, I can't even begin to describe it. My pictures really do not do it justice. Plus, what can't ever be conveyed in photos, the fragrance! I anticipated that India would be full of awful smells. But, at least in the south, India smells like flowers and spices and fresh breezes all mixed together in order to intoxicate you into falling in love with the country. Job done.

I realize almost no one actually read the whole blog. It is way too long. But scroll through the pictures for a quick overview if you have time.

Thanks for checking in once in awhile. Joanne

Here are a bunch of pictures that didn't make it into the narrative in the previous posts.

home again, home again

Well. I got home just in time apparently, Lufthansa pilots just went on strike today and they have cancelled most of their international flights.

It is 4am on Monday morning, I woke up at 1am and looked at my pictures. They pretty much suck but I will post them soon. I will try to steal some of Judy's excellent pictures so that there will be at least one or two nice ones in there.

OK, my trip home. Suresh arrived at the hotel as planned. He brought the extra suitcase with Judy's stuff. We didn't deal with the packing right away though because the restaurant was about to close so we went for dinner first. My last Indian meal and we got some sort of Manchurian mushrooms. Not exactly what I was hoping for but it was good. Then we went back up to the room to pack the last of my stuff into Judy's bag. Now remember, I had already packed my big backpack, I had bought a small carry on on the car trip where I had stowed some souvenirs and western clothes that I wasn't using. Plus I had bought a bunch of stuff from FabIndia that day which needed to go into the Judy bag. Judy had called while she was packing to leave 10 days before and asked if I could bring some of her stuff home because she was over limit on the allowable bag weight. She would send a half filled bag and I could use the rest of the space for my stuff. No problem.

We open Judy's bag. It was full! FULL! There is no way I was going to be able to fit my new purchases into MY existing bags. I had hoped to put in my new purchases and maybe even empty the small carry on bag I had already filled. Um, no. So Suresh, always awesome, says we can do this. We take a few things out of the Judy bag, which was tightly packed, and moved them to my carry on, which I would have said had no more room but apparently it did. Then we attempt to cram my FabIndia purchases, mostly fabric based, so fortunately flexible into the Judy bag. Suresh just kept piling it onto the already stuffed bag. Then he tries to do up the zipper. He had to actually (or actuala as Suresh would pronounce it) sit on the bag to make it close. It was like a bad sitcom. We were laughing pretty hard by this point. But there was still more stuff left to pack. So we opened my full backpack and crammed that to over capacity too. There was so much stuff.

Closing the very overloaded bag.

I don't think this is going to work.

Suresh to the rescue, sitting on the bag to get it to close. I can't believe it didn't explode mid-flight.


** post script. I spoke to Judy today (it is now 2:30 on Monday) and she told Suresh to buy a new bigger bag but alas he did not. So let's blame Suresh for the bag issue. this is especially good since he isn't here to defend himself!! haha.

When I went to check in, I put the two checked bags on the scale. Then the woman asked me to add the carry on bag. I put it on. She looked at me. I knew I was over. I looked at her. She knew I knew I was over. I smiled guiltily and handed her the Lufthansa form for air miles that I had filled out. She let me go through without penalty. I don't even want to think about what each extra Kilo might have cost, especially since I had to check those bags in Bangalore, Toronto and Vancouver. The only airport where I didn't have to deal with all of my bags was Frankfurt.

Me and all my bags at Coffee day at the airport.

But once I was through the check in, the first flight was fine. I mostly slept. Then in Frankfurt, my layover was so short, I literally got off my plane, crossed the airport and walked right up to the end of the line boarding the next plane. That flight was also good. As much as I dislike Air Canada, they do treat their international passengers decently. I had movies in the back of the seat, and since it was a day flight, I tried to stay awake so I watched four movies. A Serious Man, All about Steve, and two others that I may remember eventually. They fed us and gave us blankets and pillows. Even free booze.

But that couldn't last forever, I guess. When we landed in Toronto, I hadn't realized that A. I would to deal with Customs there and not in Vancouver, and B. that I had a five hour lay over. If I had known these two things I might have tried to convince Brian and Jennifer to come and meet me for lunch. But alas, there I sat. I couldn't walk around because that stupid carry on bag was by now 800 pounds. How I came to loathe that carry on bag. At one point I just abandoned it to go to the bathroom but unfortunately, nobody stole it so I had to continue carrying it.

While I was rechecking my bags, one of the security people overheard me telling someone that i was heading to Victoria. She suggested that since I was flying Air Canada to Vancouver and Air Canada to Victoria, I should speak to a ticket agent about seeing if I could get a direct flight. Sounded brilliant. So I found a ticket agent who found a ticket that actually left Toronto a little later but flew directly to Victoria and would get me in two hours earlier. Do it, I said. So he fiddles around for a while but it wouldn't work. It seems that even through I was on Air Canada, I was actually booked as Lufthansa so no changes allowed. No problem. I was still fresh at this point (pre-five hour layover).

But then I got onto the Toronto-Vancouver flight. Now I am domestic. Dreaded domestic Air Canada! I hadn't eaten anything but half a pack of 25cent cookies that I had bought at the train station so many decades ago. I couldn't face carrying the bag to find food, plus I figured that I would be ok because they would feed me on the plane. Not so. They don't feed domestic cattle. I would have had to pay for snacks. By that time, I was so tired I didn't bother to get any food on the plane. But I wanted to sleep and they hadn't put blankets and pillows on each seat. So I asked the stewardess for one. She said that I would have to pay for them. I may have sworn here, I will leave the actual words to your imagination. I said that I had been on Air Canada International for something like 36 hours at that point and they were going to make me pay for a freakin' blanket and pillow!! So she scurried away and found me a blanket in First Class that wasn't being used. But no pillow. I wish I had just bought the blanket/pillow pack since I now felt too guilty to try to get a pillow.

So no pillow, an inadequate blanket and a bulkhead seat under the coldest air vent ever. I wondered if they were actually blowing air from the -50 degree outside air but then I realized that that would mean that it was fresh air and Air Canada would never allow that. Just to continue whining. A bulkhead seat has lots of leg room so it is a coveted spot. However, leg room is not a problem for me. In fact, I like the seat in front as it gives me somewhere to put my feet so that the blood from my lower legs isn't completely cut off by the ill formed seats since my feet don't sit firmly planted on the floor. But no seat in front here. I had to curl myself into a pretzel to get my feet up onto the seat. At one point, one of my feet was actually through to the seat behind me. I'm sure that thrilled that passenger. AND, the video screen on the wall in front was too high so all of the images were sort of black on brown outlines. Not that I had it in me to watch a video but I tried when I realized I wouldn't be sleeping. Anyway, it was an excruciating 5 hours.

We landed in Vancouver. the airport was abuzz with Olympics. There were video scenes everywhere showing various events. I watched speed track skating while waiting for my bags. Canada lost. But there were people from every country all over the place. Groups wearing matching hats and generally exuberant. But alas, by this time, I wasn't able to properly appreciate that atmosphere. In fact, I was a mess.

I found the Air Canada check in and went to ask if there might be an earlier flight. When I booked my Vancouver to Victoria flight, I had two choices, one that left within an hour of my arriving in Van or one that had a four hour layover. At the time, I thought that I would be dealing with Customs in Vancouver, so I felt it was better to leave some time. But I had already cleared Customs in Toronto and my flight had actually arrive 20 minutes early. So I hoped now, I could get onto that earlier flight as opposed to my 11:45 flight. I walked up to the ticket guy and burst into tears. Nice. He probably had to bump someone to do it but he got me a seat on the 10 pm flight. I was so grateful that I think I may have cried again. Poor guy.

I called Paul for an earlier pickup and finally was on my last leg home. The plane loaded late because there was a Canada/Germany curling match on and it didn't end until 9:50 so we all waited for that, since the crew was watching I don't think we were going anywhere too soon anyway. Canada won by the way.

Paul and Chris met me at the airport, took me home, fed me fresh Cinnamon buns (made by Chris so the best ever) and tea. I was in bed by 12:30 and slept like a rock until 9:30 am on Sunday. I hoped that the extreme exhaustion had kicked me into the correct time zone but by 7pm I was already asleep on the couch. I hadn't even unpacked. I spent the day catching up on Lost. Now it is almost 5 am and I have to go to work today. That should be fun.

I was going to finish this up with some last thoughts on India but at the moment, I don't have any thoughts. so maybe later, when I post the pictures.

Some pictures of my purchases from that last day of shopping in Bangalore (and other days too). I took these once I was home (that explains the cat on the rug.)

The paper mache duck I bought because I couldn't find any real ones.

He looks kind of scared to have to represent all Indian ducks. I think he is doing a fine job.

My gorgeous semi-precious stone pendant. I LOVE it.

I bought this from a table at Hampi. It isn't real garnet, I just liked it.

My FabIndia silver necklace.

The singing Om bowl.

The Om bowl. You can see the handiwork.

My new table cloth.

The rug. Nice huh?

Detail of the rug.

Scarves.

Silk scarves.

My favourite India painting. It reminds of these beautiful trees with red orange flowers that grew in the jungle. Our Nagarhole guide called them Flame Trees. No picture of an actual Flame Tree.

The cow drawing that Suresh thought was too expensive at 50 cents Canadian.

Bird Camp!!!! YEAAAAAAAYYYY!!!

While I was in Coffee Day on my birthday, my first full day in Goa, I was reading about what to do in the area when I happened upon a write up on a Backwoods Camp for birding. I called them the same day and had a somewhat garbled conversation with someone. He said I could come on Sunday, someone would pick me up at my hotel at 6:30 am. Yeeee, bird camp!!!!

Sunday 6:30, my drive arrives. The man is also going to be my bird guide. His name is Lovin'. I kid you not (except he spells it Loven - but what fun is that). He also looks alot like Sayid from Lost.

Lovin'

It is a long drive to the camp which it turns out is on the edge of a National Wildlife Preserve (whose name I have elsewhere) in the Western Ghats. Now, I'm sure I don't need to tell you, but the Western Ghats are a birding world hotspot!! Lovin' is not very chatty but he is pretty so that is ok. I asked how many other people we would be picking up and he let me know that I was going to be the only one at the camp. He had actually called me a day before and asked about my schedule but when I told him I was leaving and couldn't go at any other time, he seemed fine with that. But I had no idea I would be getting my own individual guide. We arrived at Camp at about 7:30 and I was shown my cabin. It reminds me of the tent cabins Mom and I stayed at in South Tanzania but it was an actual building. The camp also has tents but since I was the only guest, I got a cabin.

My cabin.

Inside the cabin.

View from the deck of my cabin.

The little cairn out front. It was the only way I could ever find my cabin.

No time to loiter, we had a quick cookie (biscuit) and tea break and then out to find birds. There is a 700 year old temple in the park so that is where we started. Lots of birds sitting along the edges of the clearing. Lovin' is an amazing spotter and identifier. He even knew what page each bird was on in my book so that I could confirm (for my own counting purposes) each species.

The temple.

Spotting birds.

The days at Bird Boot Camp were quite regimented.
6:30 am - Biscuits and tea
7 am - Birding til 9:30 or so
9:30 - Breakfast
10 am - back to birding
12:30 - Lunch and a break
3:30 - Biscuits and tea
4 pm - back out there til 6:30-7
7:30 - dinner

It was awesome! AWESOME!! I loved it. And of course, traipsing through the wood behind a Sayid lookalike - I, of course, had to be Kate (not quite a lookalike unfortunately). That first day, we saw lots of birds and I got lots of mosquito bites.

As I look at my pictures, I see that I only took two bird pictures, one of the Frogmouth and one very blurry Kingfisher. I will spare you the blurry one.

Frogmouth birds. These are a big draw at the camp. They wouldn't turn around.

Jungle adventure.

A giant squirrel.

Crossing a steam on our jungle hike.

Hunting the elusive Green backed kingfisher. we never did see one but we spent hours looking. I couldn't complain because it was such a beautiful spot.

It was blazing hot. At one point, we were in some field or other and Lovin' said it was 99 degrees (what is that in Celsius - a thousand?) Side note, the power seems to have gone out in the internet place but the computers must be on generator). No lights or AC though. I have to mention the wildlife in my cabin. When I first arrived, there were some spiders, kind of like daddy longlegs. They were big but seemed pretty harmless. But I accidentally stepped on one when I first arrived. By lunch, there were more. By bed time, they were massing, I assumed for a vengeance takedown. I had a shower and they really seemed to like moisture so I had lots of company. They were on the bed too, at one point I opened my eyes and one was right there in front of my face, staring at me (well, I couldn't see his eyes but I assume).

The big spider, before the kill off.

The next morning, I mentioned to Lovin' that they were kind of out of control. He told one of the 'boys' to clear them out. I hoped it was with a broom but I didn't ask for specifics. But when I returned to the cabin that evening, there was the familiar perfume of my old friend 'Raid Max', the only thing that kept the cockroaches at bay when I lived in Mexico. No spiders though. But, never fool around with an ecosystem. By nightfall, my room was full of moths. Then the next day, new spiders but these ones were big and hairy and looked like they could jump and bite. Then that night, there was an infestation of dead ants in the bathroom, they had reversed beached themselves into any standing water they could find, the wash bucket, the toilet, any little puddles of water, there they were - drowned. But at least, everyone else stayed off my bed. that's all I ask of my insects.

After two full days of Lovin' attention (haha - Loven is happily married with a baby by the way) new people arrived. It was a group of 11. Actually it was two groups, 6 Swedes and 5 Brits. The Swedes were hard core birders. the Brits were flaky. there was one couple who were not birders, they just thought it sounded relaxing. the other three were a older married couple and a female friend. the husband only wanted to take pictures of the birds, he didn't care about IDing them. But the two ladies were so stereotypical of old British ladies that I think someone should start a murder mystery series about them, two doddering ladies who stumble upon Murder whenever they are out using their binoculars. (Look, Hillary, there is a Jungle Babble. Yes, I see it Joan, but what is that in the background? A Body! and I see a clue next to it!! - as played by Angela Lansbury and Helen Mirren). It is getting bloody hot in here and I still can't see the keyboard. Anyway, I got stuck with the Brits. The non-birding lady kept pointing out the exact same bird every time (red vented bulbul) and I would say, that's a red vented bulbul and she would laugh. She was actually quite funny but no birder potential whatsoever.

My little British birding group. Obviously they have spotted something to the left, probably a Red Vented Bulbul.

That third day was a bit of a washout, I wish I had gone with the Swedes but it sounds like they didn't get much either. Although I was still stacking up the new birds just not the exciting ones. I am such a bird snob. That night, we went nightjar searching. I was the only woman to join the group. It was pitch black out and we had to climb a rocky hill to get to where the Nightjars hang out. The other ladies didn't think this sounded like fun. Wusses. So me and 5 men, all 6 ft or taller, headed up the hill. I only had my wee headlamp that Melissa had given me before the trip to light my way (I left my big one from Lea at home to save space - who would have guessed I would need the extra volts to not stumble and roll down a rocky hilly path). I made it and we found one beautiful Nightjar. I can't remember the species, but it was chestnut coloured and let us walk right up to it. It was just sitting on a rock, peacefully minding it's own business until we got too close and then it took off.

A picture of my nightjar, stolen from the internet.

The next day the Brits and I went on a field trip to Bondla National Park. More birds. Lovin' was going to drive my back to Panjim at the end of the morning and he had set himself a goal of me getting 75 new birds. I got the 75th just before we left the park. By now, he was more talkative and told me all about meeting his Russian wife and how he asked her to marry him after only one month.

I also took the opportunity to ask how it was that I ended up by myself for two days. It seems that his partner, when I first called, couldn't really hear me. When I said had read about the camp in Lonely Planet, he thought I said I wrote for Lonely Planet. No wonder I got special treatment. It worked out for me but I felt bad for Lovin' who gave up his days off to wander the jungle with me. But Lovin' was a nice guy and didn't seem to hate me for the misunderstanding. As we got close to town, he even asked if I had seen a Jacana yet. I said no so he took me on a side trip. He said he felt bad that hadn't seen as many birds on the last day so we stopped by a pond and picked up another 11!! (A rock dove - that completes my list - a Simpson's reference, you thought you were going to get away scott free - not) I gave Lovin' a big tip when he dropped my at the hotel. Paul, you need to come to bird Camp.

For the afternoon, I wandered around town for a while and stopped by my new favourite jewelry store, New Bazaar run by three Kashmiri men. One of whom was single and the other two decided we would be the perfect couple. They invited me to evening tea but I declined - I had blogging to do. I bought some more stuff and went back to the hotel to bed.

The next morning I went back to the bus station to catch a local bus to the train station. It was $21R for the bus as opposed to $600R for a taxi. The bus station I arrived at was two blocks from the train station. By now I had aquired another bag, (I have alot of bags - and I would like to note for the record that I have used all of the bags I brought and then some for all of you bag naysayers. ) But this meant I was lugging alot of stuff, in the hot hot mid day sun.

I made it to the station and had to figure out where my train would be, that wasn't easy, of course, but I made it and eventually the train arrived, miraculously on time.

The Train Station.

The stairs I had to carry my many bags over.

My first attempt at a self portrait, waiting for my train.

Now, I'm sure you all remembe but let me refresh you on Val and my experience on the train in Thailand. We sat and were served tea and dinner. then as darkness fell, the car steward arrived and turned down the beds. He made each one with fresh sheets and blankets and pillows. Then he put up curtains to give a bit of privacy. This is what I was expecting when I got a sleeper ticket for my overnight train back to Bangalore. Not so. It all started out ok, but I immediately realized that the trains in India in reality are not as romantic as they sound. I couldn't get a lower bunk so I had to take an upper bed, which meant travelling backwards the whole way (I think that if you get the crappy bed you should get the good chair, but that is not the way it works, it seems.)

My 'deluxe' seat.

My second and last attempt at a self portrait. Don't I look excited about my seat. As a bonus feature, check out the sweat pouring off me.

Anyway, we went through some mountains and I took some pictures (I haven't been taking that many pictures since Judy left). The scenery made that one hour worth it. Then it got dark.

Views from the train window.






Going into a cave.

Inside the cave, the sign announced that it is handcarved.





After a while a train person stopped by to tell me not to buy any food or drinks from strangers because there would be drugs in it. Not that there might be drugs, there definitely would be drugs. As it turned out, I wished someone had drugged me, at least I could have slept. As the hours passed, I realized that no nice car steward would be showing up to turn down my bed. So I climbed up to my hard, plastic lined bed and tried to sleep.

They looked bad enough before everyone arrived.

That does not look comfortable.

Yup. Nothing more to say.

First there were lights and noise. Then there was snoring. But mostly my problem was that I had a makeshift pillow and I didn't have enough water. But at about 1, I realized I could shove my makeshift pillow into my new bag with my fabindia purchases and make a bigger pillow. And low and behold - smart Morning Joanne had hidden some water in there for dopey Night Joanne to find. So pillow and water issues resolved. I finally fell asleep. Until 2am. that's when the real lower level bed passanger arrived on the scene to find someone else in her bed. Side note: do no piss off a Indian lady - they yell - a lot. so there was lots of yelling and light turning on and who knows what all was going on down there, I didn't dare look over the edge. That went on for way too long and someone official had to be called. More lights and ticket checking I think. Yea, power and fans back on. Anyway, long story slightly shorter. Very little sleep and I missed the stop I wanted to get off at.

I wanted to get off one stop before my actual destination but they didn't make any announcements and I didn't have a window to see where we were. But no worries, I got off at the next one which was only 4 kms further away. Auto rickshaw to Kamat Hotel, the first place I stayed at. Alisma, you will appreciate this. I said I wanted to go to Kamat Hotel (at 5:30 am) and was taken to the Kamat Restaurant. Eventually I remembered and started saying Lodging, Lodging. After alot of asking random men, we found the place and I went to bed.

It is now my last day in India. I have 90 more minutes until Suresh arrives. Did I mention that Judy wasn't able to take all of her stuff back with her so she left some with Suresh for me to take back. However, left alone with a FabIndia only a block from my hotel, I have done some damage today. My comment the other day about Christmas presents made me realize, everyone should get Indian Christmas presents! And I bought myself a rug. A RUG for Jimminy sake! That should take up some space. So, we are finally caught up. My next post will be from Canada. See you on Monday. Joanne