A week of adventures in India…

I had an October break at school, and Andy Prinsen was in India so I decided to take this opportunity to see India with an IU friend who should probably have adventure as his middle name. I could write a novel on here about what we did and the bizarre things that happened on our travels, but if you have an attention span like me… I would lose all of you. So, I have decided to compose a top ten list, where you can read the headings and find your own points of interest and read on as you like… And if you don’t know where to start and don’t have much time I would say jump to point number 8.

Top 10 things that happen when you are in India with Prinsen as your guide:

1. Coffee with a fellow Hoosier in Bangkok to being the only white girl in a sea of Indian men:
I was off on my journey, bags packed (including coveted peanut butter for Mr. Prinsen) and was heading to Bangkok to catch my plane to Mumbai (the new name for Bombay after their independence). I had a three hour lay over and knew that Raef Chenery, a fellow IU alumni who I met my freshman year of college, was currently doing mission work in Bangkok for the next year, and thought hey why not try to chat with a friend for a little while. So, we planned on meeting at Starbucks and before I know it there is a familiar Indiana face coming down the escalator. It was awesome talking with him, and hearing his heart for the Thai people and just to see my very first Indiana face in three months. It was blessing talking about the Lord in the middle of Bangkok. After my ticket almost didn’t go through at my gate, I finally was about the last person to board the plane to India. I stepped on to a sea of chocolate brown faces and dark hair and I realized that one I was about the only girl on the plane and two; I am white – real white. I was slightly alarmed and frightened of these people just because their skin color looked like men I had seen on TV. But, after I saw an old Indian man laughing during a conversation with an old friend, my eyes were opened that these are people who the Lord loves and just happen to look different than me. But he knows their stories and the hairs on their heads and they were created in His image… everyone should go to a place where they are a minority some time in their lives. As we were descending into Mumbai, I looked out my window and I was amazed at all of these little gold lights twinkling on the hills that looked like gold glitter scattered on a thick, black carpet – here I was in India. After grabbing my bags I started walking out of the airport just praying that Andy would be there, because other wise I wouldn’t know what to do… and there, beyond three rows of Indian Taxi drivers shouting offers for rides, was this blonde head jumping up and down… my fears were instantly relieved as I was greeted in Bombay with good old Indiana hug from a familiar face.

2. I thought traffic was bad in Chiang Mai: Wrong
Completely wrong. There Prinse and I are walking in the dark going to meet a taxi who says that he was going to pick him up (and they all look alike at this point) which did. We hop in and I am blown away by what I see on the streets. People, cars, cows, music, smoke, lights and horns are instantly around me. Taxis make up their own rules and cram into any available space. People outside are living in the streets, garbage is in the road and people are dancing under flashing lights celebrating some kind of festival. I am slack-jawed at all of this. This is why you travel to see places you can’t imagine in your head - to see poverty, to see life as others live it. We drop our bags off at around eleven o’clock, and then venture out for a late night snack at a coffee shop. And on the way there we are literally stepping over people who are sleeping in the streets. I was thankful at this point to be traveling with a man, a man who is used to living in cities like this.

3. 14 hours of Indian-style train adventures (well 28 if you count both ways)
The next morning we wake up early to catch a 6:55 train that didn’t show up until 8:00. The 1887 train station is packed with people, and people still somehow sleeping from the night before. There are goats and cows, and trash – lots of trash. Men selling real chai (mmm) and trash, did I mention lots of trash? So much so, that there aren’t any trash cans and you just have to throw your trash on the ground because there is nothing to do with it! Andy taught me to play Indian style rummy that morning, which at the end of the week I think I was ahead in total games one. And we just sat, crowded around by Indian men who think I need help playing the game. We board the train, and we are going “Indian Style” which is about $7 for 14 hours. It was such a neat way to travel to see the people of India, and the people in the country side as we drove through. I saw my fair share of people taking dumps off cement ledges into a ditch that faced the railroad… don’t drink the water. People were constantly walking down the aisle selling hot chai tea and drinks. 14 hours later we arrived at night in Goa to a very clean and well kept train station and we were determined to find the beach that night.

4.“If we start swimming the next thing we would hit would be Africa.”
After an amazingly good Indian meal at a restaurant that evening – we finally walked out on the beach. All I could do was stretch out my arms as wide as I could and breathe in the fresh air. I realized this was the first time I had seen a sky this big since I had left Indiana… and the first time my eyes had ever seen the Indian Ocean. God is so big and so vast, and so good for letting us experience this kind of freedom. Andy said, “Zim, do you realize that if we started swimming the next thing we would hit would be Africa?” What a crazy realization, what a big world.

5. Two Indiana kids in the middle of an Indian jungle on a motorbike
The next morning Andy gets the bright idea to rent a motorbike and drive ourselves down to Palolem (a beach further south where Matt Damon filmed the beginning of Bourn Supremacy – watch it if you want to see where we were!) . On the map it said it would be about and hour and a half on the highway, which we find out later is just dirt packed down hard winding up and down hills. Someone along the way tells us to take the back road, it’s shorter. Well, 3 hours later it turned out to be the best “short-cut” I have ever taken. The roads wound through the countryside, up and down jungle mountains through different small villages and random places. At one point we had to take a ferry over a river… which was sweet. But the highlight had to be when we were the only motorbike on the road on one of the tallest points around because all the other hills were below us. We then came around this turn and I realize that what I am looking at over in the distance is not the sky – but the ocean that is above the mountains. I learned in art class that the horizon is always at your eye level, so when you are on top of a mountain the ocean goes on forever. It was one of the most beautiful things I have seen in my life… it really was a great “shortcut.”

6. Boy slaps cow, girl pees pants (almost)
This section was written because when I was discussing titles for my blog entries – this was Andy’s favorite. There are these literally holy cows that own the streets. They walk in the middle of streets, stick their heads in stores, chill on the beach – they are everywhere. They might even pass you in traffic and that is okay with these people because they are seen as holy creatures. Needless to say that you can’t find beef in India… So anyway, one night Andy and I are walking back from the beach, and we are on this dark little beach street, with no one around except us and two cows. Since Andy has been in India for 3 months, these cows have been strutting around him for weeks just begging to be slapped. Andy says, “I have been waiting to slap one of these cows for months, I guess now is the best time if any.” And before I know it, he has wound up his hand for the perfect position for a loud slap on the fanny and all I hear is this huge smack. I don’t know what about the moment made it so funny, or if it was just the fact that Andy was so surprised that the cow didn’t even react to this India fantasy of his – but I had to bend over and stop to keep from peeing my pants because I was laughing so hard. We laughed about that moment for a few more days to come.

7. Rock Climbing with Chacos, Surrounded by the Indian Ocean
On Palolem beach, there is this little island attached by a few big boulders in a little inlet. We had been eyeing the possibility of checking it out and the huge rocks surrounding it since we had been there. So we put on our chacos and swimsuits and head out to the little island. The bounders start off big and smooth, and the further we get around, the bigger and more jagged they get. Climbing over these rocks with a guy who knows a lot about rock climbing was such an adventure for me. I never thought I would do something as crazy, or as dangerous as this. At one point to try to meet our goal of climbing all the way around the island meant that we were going to have to climb vertically for a few feet. Did I mention that there is an ocean and other big rocks below us? But, since I trust Andy and his wilderness survival skills, I go listening to him to tell me where to put my feet as I climb up this crevice filled with big Indian weeds to give me some traction. Prinse then climbs on ahead of me to check out the next move and realized that my climb I just did was harder than he thought… which made me feel pretty sweet. After he checked out our next moves, he realized that it would be too dangerous to go, because if we fell into the water we could be swept under the rocks… if Andy thinks it is too dangerous, you know it is time to turn around. What a day that was…

8. Sunsets, Motorcycles, dolphins, monkeys, and dead baby turtles: all in a matter of 10 minutes
Andy, I have realized, has this obsession with motorcycles and the motorbike that we took the other day wasn't quite big enough for him... so he decides that he needs to rent a Royal Enfield about a 350cc bike. He took it out for a two hour joy ride one morning while I took his awesome journalist camera and took pictures on the beach (my two best shots are attached). At around 5 o'clock Andy said hey I have to show you this road I found, and we have to have the bike back by seven. So, we put on our helmets and off into the jungles of Goa we go... Somehow there was this amazingly new nice road with lines on it -- and no one else driving on it, up the mountain... it was a beautiful ride something where you think you are in a movie. Then we came to this intersection where the road straight ahead of us was about six feet wide but we could see it lead straight to this beach and the sun was setting, we got there and there was NO ONE in sight on this beautiful beach. Andy, being Mr. Adventure says, "I just got to try this." And he starts driving us down a sandy hill on the beach. Neither of us realized that a heavy bike + 2 adults = sinking in sand. After we realize this we are already on the beach and realize that I need to get off and push. I at this point start laughing hysterically because what honestly could we do, pushing a few hundred pound bike up a sandy hill... Andy then thinks that if he goes forward the sand might be harder... Wrong. I at this point am laughing so hard I can't contain myself, because what are we going to do! By this point 2 Indian ladies with there kids have made it down on the beach and are just watching us, and Some how with Andy on the bike pushing with his feet, and me pushing from behind with sand kicking up everywhere we make it back up to the top of the hill. As I went back to grab the helmets I said Hello and made my way up the hill still laughing at the situation we got ourselves into. Then at the top of hill he is sitting there, afraid to turn off the bike because we don’t have much gas as well, I look and notice that there is a sign behind him. I say "Look, we are on a protected beach for sea turtle preservation!" He says, "Quick, we got to get out of here!" I am still just laughing at what just happened in those past 5 minutes... We continue to take this awesome road, and through the thin layers of trees we can see the beach and the sunset. The next thing I know there is a dolphin that jumped completely out of the water in line with the sunset. I just start shouting "Did you see that!" I was overwhelmed with all of this excitement that was happening. Then a few more minutes down the road we see these 3 big animals in the road and at first we just think they are dogs... nope they were BIG monkeys with huge tails just chilling in the middle of the road. We honk our horn and they hobble out of the way... It turned out to be quite a ride on the motorcycle and we returned the bike with 30 minutes to spare. God was so good to us!

9. A day in Bombay
We arrived back in Bombay at 6am on Friday, and my flight wasn’t until 11:30 pm that evening. Which I was stoked about because this meant I got to one spend more time with my friend, but also see this city in the day light. It is a neat city that was originally owned by Britain so all of its buildings look like they should be in London, but are decorated with Indian people selling things along the streets. The old black taxis crammed the streets and the double-decker buses flew by in a blur of color. In the middle of the town there was a huge field where people were playing cricket and relaxing in the sun. Since Andy doesn’t get the chance to have western food much, we had lunch at Pizza hut which tasted just like America… mmm. After one last rummy game we got into our taxi that evening and back home to Chaing Mai I went. It was surprisingly hard saying by to a friend, and reminded me that I won’t see those people who really know me for another 7 months… but what an overwhelmingly blessing of a week it was in India with Andrew Prinsen.

10. My eyes opened…
This past week opened my eyes to the beauty of the Lord, and how he created each person in this world in his imagine, and that is beautiful. My mind has also been open to the necessities of life and how much more we have than what we need – and how much less others have. During our ride back to the airport Andy was looking out his window and says, “There is India happening out there.” We were stopped for a brief moment and there was a woman brilliantly dressed in her fuchsia sari, washing a metal bowl in the street in front of a shack composed of anything to keep the rain out, which was dimly lit from a single bulb inside. This was her life, this was her home, and this is her day to day life. And what do I live with? Why do I live in abundance? Why did the Lord choose me? What can I do to love the people of this world?

Looks like I wrote a novel anyway…