Ahhh, Hampi

A few weekends ago ten of us ventured over to Hampi, a city famous for its ancient ruins in the neighboring state of Karnataka.

Getting there was full of adventures including sharing seats on the train, meeting attractive French men who actually made me LIKE French people, peeing over open train tracks while trying NOT to pee all over myself, and finally arriving stinky and tired, but very excited.

The ancient temples were beautiful and it was so interesting to learn a little bit about an old civilization that lasted only brief time. One morning we even got to participate in bathing Lakshmi, the revered elephant of one of the temples. After her bath and “dressing” we got to receive her blessing. A lot of it was done for the show and money, but how many times do you get to bathe and be blessed by an elephant in India, I ask you?

We ate delicious food in places overlooking a river that looks like I imagine it did thousands of years ago. At one point, we got dinner AND entertainment at the Mango Tree when a huge snake fell out of the tree and onto Eryn, another intern. Things are just never boring in India.

When it was time to go home we were pretty reluctant. Partly because we loved it there and wanted to see more, but mostly because heading back we didn’t have ANY seats on the train and had the pleasure of enduring a 12 hour stinky, bumpy, hot-then-freezing-cold INDIAN bus ride full of creepy, drunk Indian men who liked to sit too close to us and puke out windows.

One good thing did come of it though. I mastered the art of relieving my bladder in public leaving none the wiser. If ever you need some tips on that matter, I'm your girl. And yes, I realize that pee is referenced a lot in this post. Just go with it.

A Little Bit of Indian Culture

The past two weeks have been full of learning experiences, to say the least. I love getting to experience the true culture of places I visit - far more than the "culture" that you see on TV or experience in tourist areas. I don't know how all of India really is, but here are just a couple things I've seen here in Hyderabad in the south:

Rickshaws and Roads. Rickshaws are like 3-wheeled "mini taxis" and it's the type of transportation most people here use if they're going somewhere too far to walk, but too short to endure the bus (Though buses are very inexpensive to ride, they're outrageously crowded here and often don't come to a complete stop. They're referred to as "running buses" for that reason. They're super uncomfortable and you typically only take them if you're going a distance farther than half an hour away.) Rickshaws are also known as "ricks" or "autos" and they're definitely not built to transport several large Americans at once - but we do it anyway.

Autos are the little yellow 3-wheeled vehicles. 

They break down all the time. Our driver was actually kind enough to give a fellow auto driver a "push" while we were driving one time.

The roads are always very crowded and the pollution is awful. I suppose there are technically traffic laws, but they mean nothing here. Lines are ignored, stoplights are only obeyed if the police are there to enforce it, and horns are actually used more as a courtesy to let someone know you're near them than as a tool to tell someone they've pissed you off. Needless to say, with as many people as are one the road (both walking and riding), horns are a constant sound here. It's gotten to the point where they all just blend together for me and I don't even hear them anymore. 

This was at a point where the stop lights were actually being obeyed so the intersection is clear for once.

The roads (called "lanes" here) are super crowded and there are so many people walking that crosswalks (if they exist at all) are never used. My first day here, it felt like we were in the video game Frogger trying to get across a highway. It freaked me out the first day or two, but now we're all pros at crossing an extremely busy street. I've learned it's best not to really look to hard before crossing, or else you'll lose your nerve. Motorcycles are also everywhere, usually with at least 2 or 3 people on them (sometimes up to 5 or 6). I'd say for every car and rickshaw, there are close to 2 motorcycles or mopeds around here.

West Marredpally Road, the area of town where we live in Secunderabad.

Shopping. Buying most things in India is a whole new experience. Most of the things we buy are from little markets along streets, and most of the things you buy from there are bartered. Unless the price is already given on a price tag, you can usually expect to haggle WAY down whatever price the seller offers. Many people here think that all Americans are rich, so they typically tell you a price that's about twice what it should be. We have a few favorite places to shop for clothes and cool items around here - namely James Street Bazaar, Charminar, and Shilparamam Crafts Village. But you really have to be firm, or you'll get  ripped off big time.

James Street. Shop after shop of haggling goodness. 

Charminar. It used to be a mosque, but is now mainly a tourist attraction with loads of shops in the surrounding streets.

 Charminar is pretty much the bangles capitol of the world!

Inside Craft Village. Ganesh is a very popular god around here.

Though the majority of the population can barely afford to survive, the top 20 or 30 percent of Indians LOVE their malls! There are probably 4 or 5 big malls just around Hyderabad. Their stores are very American-ized and so are their prices. Nothing is cheap at the malls here (except for KFC, which a few bucks cheaper than in the states). And they're big on security all over the place too, with full on metal detectors and areas to be patted down outside of entrances to most large buildings. It makes sense that they would be though, considering all the dangerous countries surrounding us in India.

Seriously, 5 stories worth of mall right here. 

A typical security checkpoint outside a large building.

All in all, India is great. A lot of the stereotypes are true, which is really funny, and a lot of things are way more intense than I could have imagined. But we're loving the experience!