Blogs

Excerpt from http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/:

From the foothills of the Himalayas to the backwaters of Kerala, to the slums of Calcuta, to the ashrams, to the beaches of Goa.... India will fascinate, shock and excite.

So, strap on your seatbelt for a rollercoaster of a travel experience around this incredible sub continent. You will love it or hate it. You'll not forget it.

India is nicey. It is spicey. It is dicey, and if you are not careful it will be bery bery pricey my friend. Beware of touts and scams.

Highlights
• Taj Mahal, Agra, Uttar Pradesh
• The Great Himalaya Mountain Range
• Palaces and Forts of Rajasthan
• Sunny beaches of Goa
• Backwaters at Kerala
• Asiatic Lions Sanctuary at Gir National Park, Gujarat
• Golden Temple, Amritsar, Punjab
• Ajanta & Ellora caves, Maharashtra
• Andaman & Nicobar Islands

Excerpt from http://lloyd-pres-lindia.blogspot.com/search/label/Lifestyle%20Change:


By day 5 or 6, I began wearing earplugs to bed, as we have developed "pressure pump" issues and the multitude of lazy dogs in the neighborhood are staying up all night barking because it is cold. I almost forgot the horns...constant honking.....and the construction noise.....(the pump problem still exists, even at the time of the writing of this blog entry on the 27th)

We shopped for window treatments that first weekend; our flat has a very generous amount of windows, which if you were a goldfish would make you quite at home.....Linda is being a trooper.

Our noisy pump issue has escalated by day 7, and we now have a leaky "geyser". Yes a geyser was leaking in our house....not the kind you find in Yosemite Park.....the ugly device that a person relies on for hot water to take a shower.....a 5 minute shower, with alternating pressure that is driving Linda and I crazy. She can't wash her hair, because the hot water runs out, there is water all over the floor because of the leak.....we are showering in Preston's bathroom, she is doing make up in another, our clothes are in separate rooms......musical showers.....dogs barking, pumps running and cycling on and off......ear plugs.....and we are experiencing India. Just when things are going well, she sneaks up on you and reminds you that she is still here.....at her finest.


Excerpt from http://bfriendlyindelhi.blogspot.com/:


Remember: this blog is for all of us spoiled Western people who grew up to believe our life is the "norm". Well, once you do a bit of traveling in your life time, outside countries of cheese skinned inhabitants that is, you will soon realize that we have lived a pretty sheltered life, kind of like being Truman in the Truman Show. When I see how hard people have to labor here to get some food on the "table" (most people dont actually have a table) , I am in awe of their determination and attitude.
How, for example, would you like to clean someone´s ear with a Qtip to earn your living (see photo) or

* deliver refrigerators on a bicycle rickshaw in 40 degrees Celsius
* carry bricks on your head all day while wearing a sari , your baby crawling around your feet in the sand ready to fall into the next drain hole
* iron shirts with a hot coal iron under a tree or in an apartment parking lot
* talking to impatient Americans in the middle of the night about their insurance policy or credit card statment while desperately pretending to be an American yourself and then trying to sleep in a hot, noisy room during the day remembering you are in India
* hold the door open for shoppers all day long wearing long sleeve pants and a shirt with a wool cap without ever sitting down
* clean the [bathroom] with a broom and a bucket
* sew clothes in your neighborhood sitting outside while flies and mosquitos bite you
* be the maid of some spoiled as hell middle class people who treat you like [dirt], dont even let you use their bathroom and whose little boy kicks you in the shin while you have to cook, clean and walk the overweight, misbehaved pet dog
* Teach 40 kids in your classroom to learn by heart.... at a school to which you have to travel 90 minutes by bus or metro mornings and evenings packed with people like sardines and cook your family dinner when you finally reach home
* work as a security guard for apartment homes walking around the buildings at night whistling a whistle and beating a long stick to the ground as your weapon against intruders
* begging for a living because you have leprosy or are just old and without relatives

OK, you get the picture, and I have not even mentioned any factory work, child labor like making matches and a ton of other ghastly jobs in India. Unless you work for a corporate company or the government, there is no pension. No welfare, no unemployment. 5 day work week? HA! Even R.G has to work on Saturday, and most shops are open 7 days a week. When you need a plumber on Sunday, someone will come from the slums to do the dirty job for you.