(lowell's rant)
WOW. So today our adventure began for real. And I must say that everything I had been told about the food, the people, the driving, the smells, and the whole experience was true. Everything takes on a whole new dimension however when you experience it yourself. The driving I knew would be crazy because others had told me it would be, and I had seen pictures and movies. This however was my life and it was me in the car in the crazy streets. It was my life on the line and so it seemed word. I seem to have jumped ahead of myself. rewind.
After a long day of flying, we landed in Delhi at 5:00am local time. We were tired and slightly out of it, as per usual it seems, as we went through customs and bag collection. We walked out into the main arrivals area and we were greeted by a kind man who was holding a sign that read "Mr. Lowell Taylor and Zabu Kurian." (That was us) He was a small man from Nepal. His name was Thapas and he was dressed in all white. Thapas had been waiting for us for over an hour by the time we finally waddled out. He did not speak English so he was unable to laugh at all my funny jokes. hmmm, come to think of it, maybe he could understand it and they were just not funny.... Oh no, Couldn't be the case. *smirk* either way, Zab and Thapas spoke in Hindi and I sat in the car and watched beautiful India go past before my tired eyes.
We drove about 30 min from the airport before turning down a very shady looking road. We then turned off this little shady road onto an even more shady alley way. Then we stopped. This was to be our home for 2 days. We were worried. When we walked into the hotel however, it was nice. It was a 3 star hotel. Indian ratings. =) Not that you care, but the name of this fine establishment was "Clarks International." We were too early to check in so we went for breakfast on the 5th floor. (not so important either. Feel free to skim. I have a tendency to over factualize {not a word} my posts I think.) We looked down from the patio and saw people sleeping on all the roofs and along the alley way and roads. We were not feeling very secure about our location.
Breakfast was a buffet consisting of mostly deep fried spicy food! it was good. Defiantly not my regular mini wheats and all bran! There were two German girls eating also. We found out that they were on their way to an orphanage to volunteer their time and get hours towards their social work degrees. They did not have a ticket and were just hoping to get one for a good price by showing up at the airport! We hope it all worked out for them. After breakfast we checked into our room. It was good. It had 2 single beds, a tv, a bathroom, and a fridge. Oh, ya, No squaty potty! bo ya! I am lucking out on this trip. There have only been a few.
Zab and I decided to go get a SIM card for his cell phone so we could make calls. We got dressed in our shorts, put our back packs on and walked into the street. Bad news. We were instantly surrounded by beggars, vendors, and auto rickshaw drivers. Oh ya, there were cute little boys there also trying to get our money. Our best efforts to keep them away were working-ish, but there were getting to be more and more. So after we bought two big jugs of mineral water, we retreated back into the hotel to wait for Thapas! He came and drove us away! What a man! From then on we wore pants and no backpacks. We were trying to fit in. This did not work too great. Oh well. It was a good thought.
He brought us to a cell phone place and helped zab get it all figure out. We have a working cell phone with us at all times. Yeah! This adds to the feelings of security, even though we are with a driver or at the hotel most of the time where we have access to phones.
Thapas drove a small white car (brand name: Indigo) with air conditioning! This little detail matters in India! It is so nice. We would get out of the car and feel the heat engulf us. The temperature is good. Low to Mid 30's with high humidity.
We then drove through the crazy, wild, entertaining streets to: India Gate, the Parliament Buildings, Raj Ghat, and Rhastrapati Bhavan. They were cool buildings. Old and um... Indian.
We then went to Kashmere Cottage Industries. It was a beautiful shop with Kashmere and Pashmena shawls, rugs, jewelry and so much more. Will Smith and his wife had been there 5 months before. We saw pictures. The things there were beautiful and expensive.
We then were dropped off at a nice little India restaurant where we ordered some food. go figure. It was wonderful. We had Kebab, Nan, Rita, and Chai tea. It was fantastic! I love Indian food. Let’s hope it loves me!
We went to an underground bizarre. Here we practiced bartering. We were not good at the beginning, but it got much better near the end. We bought a few cheap shirts and I got a pair of ‘authentic’ fake camel sandals. =)
We had a good time there. We got a lot of attention as we walked through. I was amazed at what all the sold there. Everything! Even ipods! We tried bartering for one, but he was hard and didn’t sell me an iPod for $10. Oh well.
We then went back to the hotel at around 5. We were tired so we decided to have a nap.
We got up from our nap at 9:30, and then went to bed again at 9:45. We were very tired. We slept until 5:40. Near 12 hours of sleep!
(sorry, no time to post images here. We have updated pictures on the flickr acount through. Please use the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/runlowellrun/)
Monday, August 07, 2006
Sunday, August 06, 2006
MORE IMAGES!
We will be uploading more images of our adventures when we have a chance. We do not want to load the blog with too many, so if you have a hankerin' to see more of Lowell, Zab, and this beautiful world we are seeing, check the link below:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/runlowellrun/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/runlowellrun/
Day 5: Flight London to New Delhi
(zab's rant)
We were already very very short on sleep but we woke up at 6 am and left through the Tube to heathrow. As I collect Starbucks mugs from different places I went looking for one. We were flying to Kuwait and the gate was really cold. There was a nose cam on the plane and we saw the take off but the pilot was weaving all over..and the guy next to us leaned over and said that the pilot was drunk...haha. Slept through most of the flight and landed for our stopover at the airforce /army laden airport in Kuwait. The skies in kuwait were the oddest I have ever seen. It was GREY...but no clouds and one couldnt see the sun. We ate a cliff bar had turkish coffee then went over to Delhi. Slept and then got into Delhi.
More Blogs should be up within the next 15 hours. Feel Free to comment..its nice to see them when we are here.
(lowell's rant)
Not much to report for this day. Get ready, the days got packed after this.
We will be getting the images for this day as well as the rest of the blogs hopefully this evening, We have a full day ahead of us in paradise. Stay tuned.
We were already very very short on sleep but we woke up at 6 am and left through the Tube to heathrow. As I collect Starbucks mugs from different places I went looking for one. We were flying to Kuwait and the gate was really cold. There was a nose cam on the plane and we saw the take off but the pilot was weaving all over..and the guy next to us leaned over and said that the pilot was drunk...haha. Slept through most of the flight and landed for our stopover at the airforce /army laden airport in Kuwait. The skies in kuwait were the oddest I have ever seen. It was GREY...but no clouds and one couldnt see the sun. We ate a cliff bar had turkish coffee then went over to Delhi. Slept and then got into Delhi.
More Blogs should be up within the next 15 hours. Feel Free to comment..its nice to see them when we are here.
(lowell's rant)
Not much to report for this day. Get ready, the days got packed after this.
We will be getting the images for this day as well as the rest of the blogs hopefully this evening, We have a full day ahead of us in paradise. Stay tuned.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Day 4: The London Eye
(zab's rant)
Today we did the touristy thing…besides our gay friend talking about his drama career on the bus, our trip from Cardiff to London the trip was uneventful. We put our packs into storage and at an English pub and drank the English beer.(ewww)and took the tube as we have before, through to the London eye..or millennium wheel. We then went to Westminster Abbey it was really good but no flash photo. One thing I found out was besides being rather expensive it is crazy how few washrooms are around…and behold when we do find one it cost from 20p-50p (50c to a loonie) to use the facilities so you tend to pre plan your visits. After supper at an Italian pub that the BBC was filming in we went to reunite with kids from my youth group in Kuwait…some pics should be there it was fun. My plan was to move to England after I was done my Education degree in a yearish and this trip as definitely reaffirmed it. I love this country.
(lowell's rant)
So I zab didn't mention it, so I will. We woke up at 6:00am and walked 30 min to the castle bus stop. We actually were not tired. weird. After the trip into London and other stuff zab mentioned, we went on the London eye. It is a giant farris wheel that holds aprox 15 people and goes around slowely for 30 minutes. It is very high and you can see all of London from it. Very fun. I think they were jealous of the Eifel tower so they built this. After westminister abby we went for starbucks and then did some people watching in a famous square that I do not remember the name of. It was a really good experience. Then we found a house full of zabs old friends in another part of the city and we spend the evening with them. It is now 2:40am and I am still doing the blog so that all of you can see what we have been up to! Be thankful. I will go to sleep now as we have to wake up at 6:00am to get to our flight to India. So 3 hours of sleep tonight! Bo Yah! We have almost 12 hours of flights tomorrow though, so we will sleep on the plane! Oh, and just so you know, English Beer is just as unpleasant as Canadian beer. =/ I am not a fan I guess, but we had to try the english beer.
Today we did the touristy thing…besides our gay friend talking about his drama career on the bus, our trip from Cardiff to London the trip was uneventful. We put our packs into storage and at an English pub and drank the English beer.(ewww)and took the tube as we have before, through to the London eye..or millennium wheel. We then went to Westminster Abbey it was really good but no flash photo. One thing I found out was besides being rather expensive it is crazy how few washrooms are around…and behold when we do find one it cost from 20p-50p (50c to a loonie) to use the facilities so you tend to pre plan your visits. After supper at an Italian pub that the BBC was filming in we went to reunite with kids from my youth group in Kuwait…some pics should be there it was fun. My plan was to move to England after I was done my Education degree in a yearish and this trip as definitely reaffirmed it. I love this country.
(lowell's rant)
So I zab didn't mention it, so I will. We woke up at 6:00am and walked 30 min to the castle bus stop. We actually were not tired. weird. After the trip into London and other stuff zab mentioned, we went on the London eye. It is a giant farris wheel that holds aprox 15 people and goes around slowely for 30 minutes. It is very high and you can see all of London from it. Very fun. I think they were jealous of the Eifel tower so they built this. After westminister abby we went for starbucks and then did some people watching in a famous square that I do not remember the name of. It was a really good experience. Then we found a house full of zabs old friends in another part of the city and we spend the evening with them. It is now 2:40am and I am still doing the blog so that all of you can see what we have been up to! Be thankful. I will go to sleep now as we have to wake up at 6:00am to get to our flight to India. So 3 hours of sleep tonight! Bo Yah! We have almost 12 hours of flights tomorrow though, so we will sleep on the plane! Oh, and just so you know, English Beer is just as unpleasant as Canadian beer. =/ I am not a fan I guess, but we had to try the english beer.
Day 3: Welsh Girls, Graves and Grub
(zab's rant)
I can safely say that I enjoyed this time thoroughly. We slept in after having a very tiring day. (The night before, I started to doze off while conversing and then jumped with regular bolts of awkward awareness. Finally they ushered me to the bed .) Anyway today we(David, Lowell and I) went over to Cardiff bay. We took a ferry over to Penarth and went to explore some cliff faces along the beach. While walking our way back we got into a conversation with a couple of girls who were fasting and praying . they were so shocked and praising God to have run into us. So we sat there on this abandoned cliff face and shared and prayed. One of the girls was a singer and she sang for us in welsh. After that, we hiked you a hill and went to the highest point a, 17th century church. The church was surrounded with a graveyard. I was fascinated by this as it had a mysterious air about it. Gravestones from the 1800s. We then went over to David's girlfriends place, Mali, and her daughter Ella. Ella is officially the cutest baby I have hung out with. We had tonnes of laughs and Mali was all about teaching us proper English. I told Lowell that we would begin to get an accent and sure enough by the eve we were surrounded enough by the accent that when we were conversing with each other we caught ourselves unconsciously speaking in British English and sheepishly act like it never happened.
(lowell's rant)
I couldn't sleep in too long in the morning, so I got up, got some devos in, wrote a post card, and then took my camera into zabs room and woke him up! grumpy zab. so cute. They day was excellent. Wales is a great country. I had welsh cakes! And I think what my mother made us as kids were welsh cakes. I need to confirm this. But mother, yours are better! I want to come home and have some good ol' canadian welsh cakes. Oh, and I had a squash experience. Mali and David offered me a Squash drink. I like squash (the vegetable) and said I had never had it in a drink before. But when they handed me lemonade in a bottle I wondered if they forgot what they offered. I filled my glass and took a sip. WOW. It was concentrated! They laughed and told me I needed to dilute it. So squash here is liquid juice concentrate. We walked home in the dark (yeah for walking into stuff) and then went to bed at our regular time. 1:30am ish.
I can safely say that I enjoyed this time thoroughly. We slept in after having a very tiring day. (The night before, I started to doze off while conversing and then jumped with regular bolts of awkward awareness. Finally they ushered me to the bed .) Anyway today we(David, Lowell and I) went over to Cardiff bay. We took a ferry over to Penarth and went to explore some cliff faces along the beach. While walking our way back we got into a conversation with a couple of girls who were fasting and praying . they were so shocked and praising God to have run into us. So we sat there on this abandoned cliff face and shared and prayed. One of the girls was a singer and she sang for us in welsh. After that, we hiked you a hill and went to the highest point a, 17th century church. The church was surrounded with a graveyard. I was fascinated by this as it had a mysterious air about it. Gravestones from the 1800s. We then went over to David's girlfriends place, Mali, and her daughter Ella. Ella is officially the cutest baby I have hung out with. We had tonnes of laughs and Mali was all about teaching us proper English. I told Lowell that we would begin to get an accent and sure enough by the eve we were surrounded enough by the accent that when we were conversing with each other we caught ourselves unconsciously speaking in British English and sheepishly act like it never happened.
(lowell's rant)
I couldn't sleep in too long in the morning, so I got up, got some devos in, wrote a post card, and then took my camera into zabs room and woke him up! grumpy zab. so cute. They day was excellent. Wales is a great country. I had welsh cakes! And I think what my mother made us as kids were welsh cakes. I need to confirm this. But mother, yours are better! I want to come home and have some good ol' canadian welsh cakes. Oh, and I had a squash experience. Mali and David offered me a Squash drink. I like squash (the vegetable) and said I had never had it in a drink before. But when they handed me lemonade in a bottle I wondered if they forgot what they offered. I filled my glass and took a sip. WOW. It was concentrated! They laughed and told me I needed to dilute it. So squash here is liquid juice concentrate. We walked home in the dark (yeah for walking into stuff) and then went to bed at our regular time. 1:30am ish.
DAY 2 – Sleep deprived Wonderers
Sleep. Who needs it? A couple of strangers trying to find their way through a new city where people speak a different language, that’s who. (No matter what you say, in
(enter zab’s rant)
For those who don’t know,
(continued
So we rode on the bus through the English country side. We both fell asleep. I felt like I did through most of university. insainly tired. We met David at the bus stop which is at a castle! COOL. We walked home in the spiting rain and then talked for the rest of the evening before going to bed at another foolish hour.
DAY 1: Brushing elbows with the Sam Roberts Band
(zab's rant)
(BY THE WAY please know though pursuing writing I am by no means putting any real effort into these blogs. They are quick thoughts put together usually at one in the morning after a day of 3 planes/travel.)
Going on 3 hours of sleep we headed to the airport and with barely as much anticipation as needed for this trip. THANK YOU JULIE for driving us to the airport . The real magnitude of excitement began to hit me when we were at the gate. Anyway on our trip to Toronto there was a group of guys that we came to find out, were the Sam Roberts Band. It was fun talking to one of them about experiences and life etc. We conned them into doing something for us…..
(lowell's rant)
Planes are fast. The world however is very large and so it takes time to go from point A to point B. Our point A was edmonton, and point B was London. We were in toronto at some time, but it doesnt count as a number. Does Toronto count? maybe A.5. So anywayz, we sat a long time on small airplane seats. We got free food and went to the bathroom 10,000 feet above the earth. All good! We hope to keep you updated more regularly when we are in India. Yes, you heard it here, we plan to be regular in India (hopefully not too regularly haha).
(BY THE WAY please know though pursuing writing I am by no means putting any real effort into these blogs. They are quick thoughts put together usually at one in the morning after a day of 3 planes/travel.)
Going on 3 hours of sleep we headed to the airport and with barely as much anticipation as needed for this trip. THANK YOU JULIE for driving us to the airport . The real magnitude of excitement began to hit me when we were at the gate. Anyway on our trip to Toronto there was a group of guys that we came to find out, were the Sam Roberts Band. It was fun talking to one of them about experiences and life etc. We conned them into doing something for us…..
(lowell's rant)Planes are fast. The world however is very large and so it takes time to go from point A to point B. Our point A was edmonton, and point B was London. We were in toronto at some time, but it doesnt count as a number. Does Toronto count? maybe A.5. So anywayz, we sat a long time on small airplane seats. We got free food and went to the bathroom 10,000 feet above the earth. All good! We hope to keep you updated more regularly when we are in India. Yes, you heard it here, we plan to be regular in India (hopefully not too regularly haha).
Sunday, July 30, 2006
DAY 0.5 :Sunday 2:30 am
Zab:
This is the night/morning before our trip. Lowell and I were doing the last touches to our trip. Our mascot is "pepto"...can you figure out why? Find it. anyways its early and my eyes are getting burly. Talk to you from the other side of the globe. Thanks for all your love and prayers.
This is the night/morning before our trip. Lowell and I were doing the last touches to our trip. Our mascot is "pepto"...can you figure out why? Find it. anyways its early and my eyes are getting burly. Talk to you from the other side of the globe. Thanks for all your love and prayers.
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