Thanks Everyone Brilliant to read your comments and receive so much support regarding this blog - from Indian nationals and foreigners alike. I hope to continue to generate so much active debate in future blogs. Cheers, Ellen
PS - Johan, no I didn't travel first class. Who is arrogant now?
Great blog Really nice to read with hard but appropriate vocabulary(?). Rohit, lets do some maths. guess what would happen when you go to a place which has 50 times the population living in an area which is slightly less than half of your native place. This means there are on an average 100 people occupying the same area as 1 person at your place with very limited resources. What would you get? a SHOCK!! No wonder things are done in group here as there is litrally NO personal space. And it is a fact that westerners are seen as the walking money-making machines here due to obvious reasons, and hence left with even lesser privacy than Indians. You can't blame them for complaining at times.
I think the blog is great and your prejudices about goods and bads might have made you see it in a negative way. Its better to present India in its true flavour as it is not luxury but curiosity/chaos/entropy/energy that brings people here in India. People won't stop coming here at all, in any case Showing everything in positive shades would be injustice to the tourists whose expectations would be thrashed on arriving here
Please don't be critical about my spelling mistakes; I have tried had not to have any. English is not my mother tongue (neither Rohit's)! :D
Keep writing :-)
-Kashyap
Evocative Blog Hi Ellen, thanks for another evocative blog. As you say, no greater compliment for a blog than that which stirs passion amongst it's readers. You've clearly described your own experiences and nobody can ask or expect more than that from a personal travel blog. Safe travels and hope you're having fun out west!
Arrogance "Blokes had to pay Rs 500 for entry, which restricted the sleazy, local element" So now the local "element" is sleazy? You have the audacity to go to a country belonging to other people, then implying high entrance fees are there to keep the locals out and you, who are by implication then not "sleazy", in?
By the way, did you travel in third-class trains all the way? I spend four months travelling through India by train, and always found first class on intercity trains to be of a much better standard than your description.
This blog makes people want to visit, not stay away Rohit - you are fooling yourself if you think that westerners dont already know/have heard these things about India. If anything, Ellens chirpy, upbeat, infectious tale told here will make people want to see past the difficulties associated with travelling through India. I have never had India on my "to visit" list, but Ellens account makes one think about it.
Rohit - I've accepted your comments for public view because everyone is entitled to their opinion. Once again I'm honoured my blog and account of India has evoked so much passion in a reader. I look forward to reading your fair and balanced account of India on travelblog. Ellen
Not again Someone gave u a good dressing down for showing India in poor light in your previous entry. Well guess what, you have done it again and you rightly deserve another round of criticism
You have gone on and on about everything under the sun and in the process have created an unfair picture on minds of those who have never been to India.
Don't even start to say you have written things as you saw them. Yes there are so many things that could be improved and done in a different way, but there are hundreds of things that are so bloddy great and unique to India and you have conveniently failed to highlight them.
To all those reading this blog. Don't make your judgement reading this woman's blog. She is neither fair nor balanced.
I can't wait Your blog has brought back all my memories of India and I can't wait to get over there - less than 3 weeks now! Hope the rest of your travel is going well and look forward to the next installment
This is not the way to portray Kolkata.You have shown Kolkata in bad light and have insulted India.Remember that the cultural heritage of Kolkata is way beyond your dreams............and your imagination(i.e. if you have it)..............
Thanks Ellen for the most touching of all your blogs !The photos of the children who have nothing and are completly thankful for any thing they have are priceless and left me a with a few tears, I can only imagine the personnal reward you got from teaching there, it can only make you think of all the superficial things we all think we need, certainly made me think. Glad you enjoyed the experience a great memory...keep on enjoying..Cheers Jeni
very inspiring Ellen, I was waiting for your blog entry from India and it was worth the wait! Thank you so much for the detail, the pictures, and for sharing your heartfelt enthusiasm for the school and the kids. I am planning to visit this region on another trip to India and will definitely visit the school and help out in any way that I can.
About two years ago, I volunteered to work as an art therapist with Tibetan refugee children in Dharamsala (north India) and it was an amazing experience. I wrote about it on my blog, lemonindi, but I wasn't allowed to post any pics of the kids -- the organizers were worried Chinese authorities might patrol the internet looking for "escapees" from Tibet.
It would be great if more people from the "first world" would avail themselves of these kinds of experiences to find out how most of the world lives, and also to find out that beauty, joy, contentment and happiness can be found anywhere, and do not depend on material richness.
Thanks again for a great blog!
Can We Make A Difference It's a crime that hunger and such unsanitary conditons still abound in so much of our world. Aftrer all these years of prosperity we haven't been able to eliminate such conditions. If the money that is spent around the world on WAR ,could be diverted to uplifting the people in such circumstances, we could then say, WE HAVE MADE THE EFFORT.
As usual Ellen, your descriptive blogs transport us to where you are, Keep it up and enjoy. Bob
enjoyed I really enjoyed your very, very acurate summing up of what makes bangkok. Very easy to relate to if you have been there and experienced it. If you have not well Ellen you have summed it up, Will be watching out for your blogs.
hello from Canada Hi Ellen, I am really enjoying your blog! I've read several and have quite a few more to go. I am looking forward to an entry about your time in India (I just returned from my second trip to India -- you can read my blog at http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/lemonindi/). Hoping ot hear more about the volunteering you did. I am in Toronto -- where are you in Canada? Cheers!
Ah, the memories ... Great depiction of Khao San Road - you had me reliving the memories! Hope the travelling world is treating you well. Work life doesn't agree with me at all ... but today is officially the end until Jan anyway. Dave will come back from Oz and join me, and then we'll hit some sun in Morocco and escape the Ireland chill.
Take care, Suz
Right back at you! Thanks! You're not so bad yourself! Thanks for the exceptional company, great humour and good times. Don't think Vietnam knew what had hit it!!!! xoxo
Fab Times! Wow! Just readind that blog took me straight back to the brilliant times that we had! Them memories will be with me forever. Ellen you really were such a star to travel with, I don't believe there was ever one day that past us by without long durations of laughter and fun! You really are a brilliant person!
A Different Experience Hi Ellen, sounds like Singers was a very different experience to that of the rest of SE Asia - amazing how it can be so different yet so geographically close, eh? We found the same after crossing over from Malaysia by bus - what a contrast. Glad that you made it to Changi - one of the highlights for us. How's India going? The weather in Ireland has turned decidedly chilly and with the twinkly lights on the Christmas tree, it feels a whole lot different from Xmas in Cambodia last year! Safe travels, Andy
closely associate it to India Though not as much poverty-striken, Cambodia sure resembles India, a lot of SE Asian countries, for that matter. The photos convet a lot. Have fun!
Awww shucks! I can tell by your status updates on facebook where you are! Cambodia looks fun, I like the blog post on this one. Did you ever buy the snake that little girl was selling? :)
I'm an Aussie girl who's mad about travel! Me and my pack have covered lots of ground over the past few years ....
2003 - 3 months leave to backpack Europe & Canada
2004 - Holidays in Bali, Indonesia
2005 - Holidays in Turkey, Greece & Thailand
2006 - 5 months leave to travel around the world - India, Nepal, to China, across Mongolia and Russia, through Eastern and some of Western Europe. Then home via Canada and the US.
January 2007 - Holidays, North Island, NZ
September, 2007 I decided I needed a break from the corporate grind and resigned from Ford in Australia, to do a year ... full info
Ellen Around the World
Ellen
Thanks Everyone
Brilliant to read your comments and receive so much support regarding this blog - from Indian nationals and foreigners alike. I hope to continue to generate so much active debate in future blogs. Cheers, Ellen PS - Johan, no I didn't travel first class. Who is arrogant now?