then Thomas and I decided to explore the city.
The main form (and cheapest) transportation (besides buses) are the
auto-rikshaws or tuk tuks. Someone had warned us that you most likely
won't get to the destination you want because they pretty much take
you where ever they want to. If they take you to certain shops they
get "points" which they can redeem for gas money or a tuk tuk driver
shirt. So you can imagine how many stores you end up going to. It's
hard to because of the slight language barrier.
I realized how different society in India perceives girls as opposed
to the US. Because I was traveling with Thomas I think many people
automatically thought we were together. We decided it was easier that
way because if we started to explain that we weren't things got
complicated. It was as if, they didn't even understand the concept.
I'm not sure I can even compare it to something in the US. In one
shop the guy was talking to us about differences in the cultures. He
said that a girl would never ever be allowed to travel the world as I
was. He also said that the parents would pay for it if their boy did
that. He said the parents paid for EVERYTHING until the son/daughter
was married. Crazy! Both him and the taxi driver said traveling as a
boy with a girl would never be allowed. The taxi driver said he
wasn't allowed to kiss his wife until after marriage. It sounds
bizarre but when you're there you realize it's just different than
what we are use to. Not in a bad or good way. Just different.
Our tuk tuk driver also stopped at the marriage temple randomly. Not
sure what he was trying to suggest with that one….
We also stopped by the tuk tuk driver's house. This was after we told
him we wanted to go to the train station. We sat on plastic chairs in
his living room while he wife made us milk tea, his 5-year-old
daughter danced for us, his 8-year-old son kicked a ball, and we
watched a video that a passenger had made while in his tuk tuk. Can
you imagine your taxi driver in the US doing that? I mean we have
places to be man.
Anyways, eventually we made it to the train station. We didn't know
where we wanted to go but we knew we wanted to take the first train
going to somewhere around 5 hours away.
It's one thing not knowing where you are going when you're in the US
at a train station but it's a whole new level when in India. We got
sooooo many looks as we were staring at the board trying to figure out
where to go. We finally got our tickets though. For a dollar fifty a
piece. They say nothing on them about leaving time or from what
platform they leave. WTheck? So we asked the friendly guards who
directed us on our way (the train was arriving/leaving in two
minutes!) The second part that was difficult was figuring out what
section we were suppose to be in. There is second class, first class,
sleeper class, and then various AC cars. We wanted an AC car because
everyone told us it was so worth it. We figured out eventually that
this train didn't have AC cars. Awesome.
For those of you who don't know, the bathrooms in India are
interesting. 1. They have no toilet paper. 90% of them at least
don't. Every once in a while in a super Westernized place they will
but it's very very rare. 2. The toilet is a metal pot thing in the
ground. There are two foot pads (for your feet obviously) and then
you squat over it. Well on the train the toilets lead straight to the
train tracks. There are signs everywhere pleading passengers to not
use the toilets while the train is stopped (because then the train
stations start to smell like one big port-a-potty). Because of the
toilets the trains smell AWFUL. The 95 degree weather does not help
the situation.
What makes it even better is that there are people that walk around
and sell food. I don't have a problem with selling water but once you
start selling legit meals out of a metal bin thing I begin to get
sketched out. Anyways we survived and arrived in Varkala, Kerala
around 9pm. We made it to a hotel (their one and only AC room was
rented already). It had a great view of the ocean. We went to the
restaurant there. It was outside on the water. It was awesome.
The whole tuk tuk ride was bizarre because the only place we wanted to
go was the train station. Every other stop was chosen by the tuk tuk
driver even though we insisted we didn't want to stop. It was as if
he knew what we wanted better than ourselves. It was difficult
because we would get angry and say we did not want to stop but deep
down you knew he didn't have bad intentions. It was a hard limbo
trying to grasp that part of the culture.
Three words to describe tuk tuk/taxi drivers: "Ok, no problem." (Said
in an Indian accent when you were 90% they were going to take you
anywhere they wanted to take you anyway.) Now many of you are
thinking, all you have to do is tell them not to do that but trust me
it's not that easy. After they take you to a store against your will
what do you do? Get out, not pay, and try and find another tuk tuk
(who is going to probably do the same thing). Or go in and refuse to
do any others or else you're not going to pay him. There are not many
options.
PS. Kyle and I were "working out" yesterday night (last night) on the
observation deck. We could see land, lights, and a lighthouse which
we had learned earlier in the day was Sri Lanka when Kyle said, "Sri
Lanka's in the middle of a civil war." I cannot capture the feeling
that hit me in that moment. We were so close to this war stricken
country yet it was still so distant. My mind isn't able to wrap my
head around it. 50 miles away people are fearing for their lives
while I'm sitting here angry that my sea didn't win the fashion show
competition.
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