We arrived back from our trip on the Saturday evening after two long days of travel and exhaustion. We basically were sent into the city to learn about the culture and to understand better how everything works in India. Luckily for us, Anni was with us who was living in Mussoorie and traveled around India for a while. Thus, she understood a lot more about how to get around and how to not get scammed.
From the get go, we left and walked around to the taxi stop which was an easy 30 minute walk down the mountain from where we work. Upon arriving, we were swarmed by taxi drivers wanting our business, noticing that we're foreigners and charging us triple the amount. Anni bargained it down to 80 rupees which was still double the amount that we were supposed to pay, and that was our first encounter with being scammed. We then worked our way to the bus stop and got onto a bus, which has fixed prices and that was okay. However, Indian people from the mountain areas can not handle transportation and motion well at all. This created a huge issue as people were sticking their heads out the window and letting their lunch fly free from the bus. With their elbows hitting you in the head and liquid flying through the air outside the bus, it created a fun experience for all of us who were not expecting this turn of events.
The essential task of traveling to the city was to develop an understanding of the religious customs of the people as we ventured towards the Ganges river. We arrived to see people bathing in it, idols and statues surrounding the entire area and a 3-5 storey statue of Shiva guarding the area. We approached closer to observe (as it was one of our tasks) and spoke to people who were placing ashes of deceased loved ones into the water and others who were bathing in the water on the opposite side. To be honest, the water was not as I imagined it to be. The surrounding area was completely paved and well maintained, and the water actually looked clean. If I hadn't known any better, I would have assumed that the water was clean and touched it myself. The following day, it was actually within our to do list that we stick at least our toe into the water. Mm, it was pretty gross. What is more gross, is that we were actually given chai (amazing indian tea) from a man who had been working in that area for 43 years. . .from what I imagine, the water he used actually came from that river, but I don't really want to think about that since it would have been rude and offensive to not drink it. The water was boiled and placed through a filter (although, who knows when and how that filter had been washed). Yup, it was a pretty hectic and stressful trip as we were surrounded by beggars and scammed for most of the trip. It definitely gave me a different perspective of India since my original impression of India was in the mountains, with less people, more monkeys and in a clean area. It's definitely great to be back "home" and being able to relax a bit more before going out into the other city areas for our project trips.
I'm still finishing up with the orientation of culture and office etiquette in India, so I have not yet started the work. I will be traveling to the project site in February, so please pray that I will be able to put my skills to the best use and that everything will go well with the projects. From what I understand so far, we are to build a 7 storey building on a 700 sq ft plot of land. The other project is 1.7acres and I'm not sure what we're doing with that building yet. I will continue to update you all on the things we do and post pictures for you to see what I've been up to. The trip definitely had great views and we took lots of photos, so I will link you once I get them from our photographer. Miss you all!
From the get go, we left and walked around to the taxi stop which was an easy 30 minute walk down the mountain from where we work. Upon arriving, we were swarmed by taxi drivers wanting our business, noticing that we're foreigners and charging us triple the amount. Anni bargained it down to 80 rupees which was still double the amount that we were supposed to pay, and that was our first encounter with being scammed. We then worked our way to the bus stop and got onto a bus, which has fixed prices and that was okay. However, Indian people from the mountain areas can not handle transportation and motion well at all. This created a huge issue as people were sticking their heads out the window and letting their lunch fly free from the bus. With their elbows hitting you in the head and liquid flying through the air outside the bus, it created a fun experience for all of us who were not expecting this turn of events.
The essential task of traveling to the city was to develop an understanding of the religious customs of the people as we ventured towards the Ganges river. We arrived to see people bathing in it, idols and statues surrounding the entire area and a 3-5 storey statue of Shiva guarding the area. We approached closer to observe (as it was one of our tasks) and spoke to people who were placing ashes of deceased loved ones into the water and others who were bathing in the water on the opposite side. To be honest, the water was not as I imagined it to be. The surrounding area was completely paved and well maintained, and the water actually looked clean. If I hadn't known any better, I would have assumed that the water was clean and touched it myself. The following day, it was actually within our to do list that we stick at least our toe into the water. Mm, it was pretty gross. What is more gross, is that we were actually given chai (amazing indian tea) from a man who had been working in that area for 43 years. . .from what I imagine, the water he used actually came from that river, but I don't really want to think about that since it would have been rude and offensive to not drink it. The water was boiled and placed through a filter (although, who knows when and how that filter had been washed). Yup, it was a pretty hectic and stressful trip as we were surrounded by beggars and scammed for most of the trip. It definitely gave me a different perspective of India since my original impression of India was in the mountains, with less people, more monkeys and in a clean area. It's definitely great to be back "home" and being able to relax a bit more before going out into the other city areas for our project trips.
I'm still finishing up with the orientation of culture and office etiquette in India, so I have not yet started the work. I will be traveling to the project site in February, so please pray that I will be able to put my skills to the best use and that everything will go well with the projects. From what I understand so far, we are to build a 7 storey building on a 700 sq ft plot of land. The other project is 1.7acres and I'm not sure what we're doing with that building yet. I will continue to update you all on the things we do and post pictures for you to see what I've been up to. The trip definitely had great views and we took lots of photos, so I will link you once I get them from our photographer. Miss you all!
Jay, glad to hear you didn't shame the man giving you chai and you just drank it! Looking forward to the pictures, especially the monkeys!
ReplyDeletehaha thanks Ash! =) I think that I may have gotten sick from that but it's not too bad so far. I'm fighting off a cold or some throat infection. I'm hoping it's just a cold for now. Apparently there's monkey's all over the lower area of Mussoorie so I'll just grab one for you instead of a picture! It can be your birthday present.
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