Culture Shock in Bangkok

Marc and I have waved farewell to India... a bit sad, I must admit. Our last day and a half was spent in Mumbai (Bombay). Incredible city. Despite our short amount of time in this massive, rather developed city by Indian standards, we managed to see and experience a fair amount of it. Well, not really, as it is so spread out, but we did venture out of the major tourist beat!

For me, it was really cool being in Mumbai, as I was just finishing up the book, Shantaram, (a fabulous read, which is mostly based in Mumbai), so I was busy checking out how places compared to the way I imagined them!

After five weeks in this grand country, I know I will be missing some things about it in the weeks to come, and perhaps even upon our return to North America. The friendliness of the people; 1 L water bottles; McDonald's!; the famous Indian head wiggle; the painted advertisements (KingFisher beer, chips, sodas, chocolate bars, building materials...) on houses, shops, fences, i.e., stone walls; the delicious food, especially the Naan bread! There are more, but I'll move on for now.

In Mumbai we realized we'd adapted to India, as much as is possible in five weeks, at least. The smells, the crowds, the garbage everywhere, the constant hassle from taxi drivers/rickshaw wallahs/street vendors, etc... Initially I simply thought Mumbai lacked the bulk of these things (we didn't see any cows, although we did see - and smell - evidence of their existence), until I took a second look around with fresh eyes and nostrils, and realized it was all there, we'd just grown accustomed to it. Having said this, however, the city is very developed, and has a much different feel from the other cities we've visited across the country.

I didn't have an opportunity to write much about South India, and to be honest, at the moment I'm having difficulty wrapping my head around my thoughts. I will point out a few of the things we noticed in the southwest. We flew from Delhi directly to Kochi (Cochin) which is on the lower west side of the country, in Kerala. From there we moved north into Karnataka and Goa to breathe some fresh air and lounge in the Arabian Sea (or, on some days, ride the waves but that doesn't sound as relaxing!). Check out the Map of Our Destinations link on the right menu bar.

Okay, thoughts. Kochi was found to be much more developed, cleaner and advanced than previous cities we'd visited in the north. The streets were lined with billboard after billboard advertising new housing (condos) - and they were rather attractive! The literacy rate is incredibly high in the Kochi and backwaters area. One region boasts a literacy rate of 99.8%! English is more widely spoken in Kochi. There is plenty of clear English signage on shops, although still not on streets - where are the street signs? Speaking of signage, the writing is different in the South, and, given the Portugese influence, Catholicism is common. We were happy to have included the South in our itinerary.

Almost forgot... Marc and I arrived at a beach in Goa, literally on the sand with our big packs on, and we hear a shout, look over and see Chris, one of the guys on our North India trip who was continuing on for a two week tour of the South, along with four others from our tour in the North. Knowing our timing was not meant to match up with their South India trip schedule, we were surprised. It turns out they couldn't stand their incompetent tour leader and ditched their tour - with no refund! Lucky for all though as more than half of our original group was back together again for a couple of days!

Bangkok hit us as hard as our initial arrival in Delhi. Who knew it was so developed? It felt as if we'd arrived home. Brand-spanking-new airport, a/c leather-interior taxi, English speaking taxi driver, lines on the roads, 7-11s and McDonald's everywhere, Mango, Zara, so many shops from home, subway and SkyTrain, air conditioning!... I suppose when tourism is your main industry it's to be expected, but Marc and I certainly weren't ready for it! Unexpectedly, we also weren't prepared to be in a vehicle driving faster than 60 km/h. The cab was cruising along at 120 km/h and it felt as if we were flying! Another example of something we became accustomed to in India. :)

Did we tell you about all of the festivals in India? Yesterday, while we're still dealing with the culture shock, we venture out on foot for dinner. On our way we encounter the main street clogged with thousands of people - drums, chanting, bright lights, flowers, gods on moving pedestals... wait, this is all seeming very familiar... Just when we thought we'd left India, we walk directly into a Hindu celebration. Small world, no?

Our hotel, pre-booked from Ottawa, is superb. Completely unexpected, and it's class! We are enjoying the upscale break and have already managed to fit in some shopping. We've also discovered Marc has suffered significant weight loss so we're on a mission to fatten him up again! It's a good thing he loves Thai food - and there is plenty of chocolate and McDonald's available!

The plan is to move north in the next couple of days, wade through a few cities and make our way over to Laos within the next two weeks.

What's happening at home (other than the Canadian dollar jumping over the US$!)? We're two months into our trip... emails, comments on our blog - keep them coming please!

Missing you all,
Trish