Advertisement
Published: January 18th 2009
Michi & Linda
In front of Dr. Aakash's house.The fourth day in Hubli. I'm starting to feel normal in terms of time difference. I had a 17 hours trip from Helsinki to here during which I had barely no sleep and no food. Sleep aids were provided but excitement took over and they served for nothing. Finnair food was this time not so bad, but very little and had to keep me going for the next 15 hours. I was starving when I got to Mumbai airport. After being scared "shitless" by all the warnings of travellers diarrhoea and various beings that can take over your guts, I had the courage to eat only a few almonds and drink water.
I had to wait for eight hours in Mumbai. Fortunately the airport offered me some entertainment at the beginning and a few hours passed by trying to understand what was going on. I was pointed to a wrong domestic terminal, and while trying to get to the correct one I lost myself in a huge taxi parking with no drivers and not too much light to guide my way. Also, I must mention that I had my trolley fully loaded and white trying to get over various hurdles, my
bags fell over twice, once between the cabs. It was not a nice place. However, with a help of a barefooted short man that appeared between the cabs I was able to get over the last barrier and gave him a thank you mixed with a bit of fear. All things sorted, got to the terminal A1 and managed kindly not to pay the boy who forcefully took the suitcases from my hand and carried them to the second floor (the lift was broken). I was fully dressed up in my winter coat, just like a good Scandinavian should. Some hight in my heels was there also to help me with my posture.
For the rest of the time I was trying to stay awake protecting my stuff, but all in all, I couldn't have been in a safer place with the Indian army carrying machine guns around. I did watch some Emmerdale I had downloaded to my laptop.
Dr. Anita, the wife of my teacher, was there to pick me up from Hubli airport. We took a good old autoriksha and bumped our way to their house.
Dr Aakash has been kind to partition his knowledge to us and
he was doing it full on right the first evening. Loving it! He is curing a buddhist nun (an English girl who has lived in Burma now for some time) and she is staying in the house as well. She has a condition that makes her burp constantly and very loudly. I thought in the beginning that it was a buddhist way, but learned it was her guts. She is getting better now.
The family consists of four members. We are four guests in the house. The house has two bedrooms. We have a cook and a cleaner. The food is looooooovely! My favourite, saag paneer, is being prepared tonight! I've had a lot of chapatis (Indian flat bread) and saying no to a chapati is sacrilegious.
People are very interested in us as there seem to be very few westeners in Hubli. We did spot two today while shopping in the centre. I've bought some lovely coloured Indian shirts which I will wear to the Hospital and college and generally. I also had to buy a pair of sandals as I instead by accident took my red, patent leather, 3inch heeled shoes with me. No use whatsoever.
I wish
I could get some tan. I'm feeling as white as I've ever felt. I can't even sunbathe in the terrace because of respecting the neighbours. I'm doing yoga early in the morning on the terrace and showing myself in my tight yoga gear can already be a bit offensive. Early timing helps. So, I'm trying not to be superficial and prioritising my needs. It's all going very well and I'm sooooo glad to be in Inida, at last.
Hugs and warm feelings to everyone! It's nice and hot in here.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.242s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 6; qc: 43; dbt: 0.0381s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Dandan
non-member comment
Hey nunu The trip sounds hellish actually. That's a lot of travel, then a huge wait and a big culture clash. At least you're there now and wasting no time. I'll bet it's great to be getting a little heat. Jut a suggestion but I think you need to put spaces in your text. So that it's easier to read ;-) I'll write to your regular email address next. xx