Opposites Attract

It is true what they say, opposites attract and things always seem to come in pairs. We have seen this quite a bit through our travels. This is clear from Erin needing to sleep with her gloves and sometimes even a hat on! (Embarrassing, we are Canadian after all!) to the two of us spending a day at the beach. It is strange to have such a contrast in the same country. The North and South of India are truly two completely different places.

Next we have Varanasi, the holiest city. A man sits by the river and prays... that is of course until his cellphone rings and he takes a break from his interaction with God to chat with his friend. In the same city you walk down tiny alley ways, having to fight for room between motorcycles, people, and of course, cows. (Never forgetting to keep your eyes on the lookout so you don't step in that holy cow shit). It all seems so hectic and strange to have motorcycles, people and cows all in the same place and then you see a woman touch a cow and then her forward as she says a prayer to this holy animal. You have to appreciate that someone can find a moment of peace in all of the chaos.

Kolkata was interesting as there were moments when you could almost be in New York City, all of the yellow cabs, but then of course it is time for the goats to come home from their day in the field and they fight the cabs for room on the road (Hey, I'm walkin here!)

And of course there is the food, always delicious. I particularly like it down here in the South where they serve your meals on banana leaf. Erin and I had a lesson at breakfast one morning from the man working in the restaurant who clearly saw us struggling. Though, no matter how good the food is, you always need a little reminder of home... and because you have to try it! So yes, I did my India McDonald's visit, and it was delicious. But all those Bic Mac lovers will have trouble because even at McDick's you can't order beef or pork products.

India makes its own rules, and you have to figure them out as you go along, which is usually always good for a laugh. 

Cultural Immersions

 Our hostel in Varanasi introduced us to many new cultural experiences. Two repeated performers included a traditional sitar and tabla player. Their hand movements were so incredibly fast!

 After their performance came a traditional shiva dance.The large Korean tour group that seemed to appear from nowhere at every one of these unannounced performances loved clapping along to this part.

We also made our own attempt at some traditional body artwork. It now looks like we let 5 year olds draw with henna all over our feet. We're stuck with it for 2 weeks... at least!

Our new friend!

Anne Marie and Glen, expect a small package in the mail sometime soon. Nobel will be so excited to play with her adorable gift :)

Holy gangas

 After all the mughal history in Rajasthan, we are now in holy Varanasi... where the gangas river is worshipped as a goddess, is a direct gateway to heaven and is just full of a lot of holy shit... from WAY too many different sources!

 Still, the energy and spirituality in this city is amazing!

The Taj

Taj Mahal. Seen it. 

We finished off our tour of the Rajasthan province with a morning view of the Taj Mahal. It was as impressive a structure as it looks. Perfectly symmetrical in all its parts from the gardens at the entrance, to the long fountain leading up to it, and the matching mosque and answer room that sit on either side. The only asymmetrical point is the second tomb stone of the mughal emperor who built it. Laura and I were both very impressed by the building, the details, and the love that went into building it. It's crazy that this amazing work of art was created simply to house the emperor's wife's body after death. Literally all that are inside are two tomb stones, one of which is not even meant to be there (the emperor started building a matching black marble Taj Mahal across the river for his own body, however he was stopped by his son for being crazy and thrown in jail... mughal retirement home? haha)!

Colourful Saris

Laura and I, or should I say Puja (apparently Laura sounds very similar to the Hindi word for... penis! So our driver has renamed her Puja). We are now in the Rajasthan province of India. It is known as the area of palaces, forts, kings, and queens, however, what has been one of our best experiences thus far was meeting a group of women and children along the road. These villagers were working in the fields when we stopped quickly to capture Laura's ideal picture of beautiful colourful saris against a dusty brown backdrop. Instead of snapping their pictures and jumping back in our car, we were overwhelmed by an excited and friendly welcome from everyone. We were surrounded by people greeting us, wanting to say hello, shake our hands, hug us and touch our hair and pasty white skin. It was the strangest experience to be so adorned by a group of strangers who we could not even understand.

Culture Shock

I've heard of culture shock but culture switch is a new one. On a regular basis people here ask us "you from?" and Erin responds "Canada". The problem is she ALWAYS says it in a Britsh accent! I'm assuming this only confuses the locals even more. Why is this canadian girl speaking with a births accent. It makes me laugh everytime she does it. Oh the wonderful world of traveling. I heard it can do stange things to you bit this was icing on the cake. What wil this adventure bring next ?