I’m a Viking!

My beard is getting long and Jenneli was kind enough to turn me into a Viking for the day!

Not all wells are the same.

Today (August 6, 2007) we focused on BSP. We were happy to see that the bore wells were dug and we quickly got to work putting the wells together. The first went smoothly and we finished it to start on the repair work. That went smoothly too until we discovered that even though the old pump and the new pump looked almost identical there were some features that the new pump had that the old hand pump lacked. One was the ability to easily remove the shaft from the pump. After an hour of trying different ideas and completely removed the old pump to have a better look at it we decided to just put in an entire replacement. Sadly we should have taken a moment to check the pipe lengths as we got it nearly assembled when we figured out our pipes were far too long to make it work. So after another hour we managed to free the old pump from the casing and but the new top on. Phew! The 2nd new pump was installed without a hitch and we scurried back to Ongole to pick up bottles for testing water quality tomorrow.

Friendship day

August 5 is friendship day and it was marked by both of us tossing our grand plans of productivity to enjoy our friends. Portraju took me out to his home town (village) and I had some incredible mutton curry. I believe it was cooked over a spit and the flavors were amazing. Also almost as amazing was our trip to the village, we had a small motor bike and with some effort we fit 4 people on it! I’ve gotten to ride on a motor bike a few times in India and though it’s a little scary it is marvelous to be able to see the country side and feel the air through my hair. It reminds me why I like my Miata so much!

Jenneli had a visit from Bindu and some girls from across the street. They spend a lot of time looking at pictures and exploring our home. We are messy as most of you know and they probably think that all Americans live so crazily. We are extra messy right now as we have stuff strewn about as we try to figure out what goes and what stays and how on earth we can fit everything into our backpacks. One of our tasks is to find a suitcase or at least something that will help get all our stuff home!

So What’s left?

It was sad to see Bryan, Ann Marie and Christian leave, though we were happy that they all had decided to see the Taj Mahal before they had to leave India for good. We think our pictures might have convinced them it was the thing to do. ;) As much as we tried to get it all done before they left we still have lots to do before we leave Ongole on the 14th, and as I discovered getting the tickets today, we need to leave a day earlier that we planned. The rain has also slowed down our work over the past couple weeks with a couple days lost to massive downpours. I should also add that the weather in Ongole cooled down dramatically after Jenneli and I arrived, which puts us in much better spirits as hellish heat isn’t conducive to getting anything done.

So what’s left to do?

JP – Check that the bases for the 2 pumps are completed, test the water quality and explain solar disinfection

BSP – Install 2 new hand pumps, Repair 1 hand pump, Create bases for the 2 new pumps, test the water quality and explain solar disinfection

SRPP – Fix the bio-sand filter, get bases made for the dalite wells

VP – Ensure 8 bore wells are dug, install 8 hand pumps, repair one old hand pump, test the water quality and explain solar disinfection


Here are some pictures of us all installing pumps:

DragonCon

As it turns out Ann Marie, Christian, Jenneli and I all got along marvelously. Christian had an easy time of it though because he brought all kinds of edible delights from the far west including Pasta, Macaroni and Cheese, Kool Aid, brownies, and tortilla chips. After that he could have been a monster and we still would have welcomed him with open arms. We spend the remaining week that we had together chatting, eating and finishing the wells in the remaining villages. As it turns out they have been to a sci-fi fantasy convention called DragonCon. Jenneli and I both would like to go sometime and as it’s in Atlanta where Ann Marie and Christian live as well as another friend I have we made future plans for maybe next year if Australia doesn’t work out.

The troublesome Bio Sand Filter

Bryan had made a great bio sand filter that would be used to show kids in SRP how a bio sand filter works and hopefully provide some clean water. Unfortunately in the move to it’s home in SRP it was broken. Ann Marie, Christian, Bryan and I went out to fix the small problem and install some hand pumps as well on the 31st of July. Basically the pipe needed to be reattached to the base of the tank. We had a plethora of glues and binding cement and Bryan set to work. After 15 minutes the Goo he used seemed to be basically set and we poored water in. Everything worked great except a leaked developed. We added more goo and bonding cement but to no avail. We made the decision to empty it out and glue it from both sides.

After emptying ir Bryan applied copious amounts of glue, and plummer’s cement. We waited another hour to let it dry. While it dried we started sorting through the sand to pull out the gravel. The bio sand filter has a layer of rocks at the bottom and when we poured it out they all got mixed together. After a few hours we had it all back together and started adding water. It hurt when we realized that too much sand had leaked to the bottom and clogged the hole. Sadly we would have to take it all apart again.

Jenneli and I tackled the troublesome biosand filter yesterday the 5th of August. This time the children were fully committed to help finish the job and we had to watch what we did as it would be multiplied by 20 little hands. It made quick work of the task but it still took 3 hours. We took the extra precaution of rinsing all the sand with water and creating another interim layer of gravel to help keep the sand out. We looked on with satisfaction at seeing it pouring water out the spigot without any drips at the bottom. Hopefully when we come back in a few more days the bio layer will have been created and it will be doing a decent job of cleaning water so it is fit to drink. The kids will have to pour a little water in the top each day to help develop the layer. Jenneli and I wanted to get more done that day but we left satisfied with what we had accomplished.

What’s up in Ongole?

We got back into town to find the front door locked and no amount of ringing the doorbell seemed to awaken Bryan who we knew should be in the apartment. Ann Marie had left the day before to pick up her boyfriend, Christian, who had flown in from Atlanta, in Hyderabad. Of course it was 6am so we figured he was still sleeping. Our yelling had woken up the neighbors and landlord but not Bryan. Finally I took a deep breath and yelled as loud as I could and luckily Bryan heard it that time. He came down, looking in not the best shape and explained that he was sick with what seemed to be Delhi belly. We were happen to be back inside to get some more sleep but sad that Bryan wasn’t feeling good.

Around 10am that morning, which would be Wednesday the 25th, we all got together for some quality catching up. We showed some of the 2000 pictures we had taken and Bryan filled us in on the projects! As it turns out the wash stations are on hold but 19 wells need to be implemented in 4 different communities. Bryan also built implemented a well pump and was hoping to finish implementation of a bio sand filter. Bryan would be leaving in a week on the 31st and Ann Marie and Christian would be leaving a few days later on the 4th. We would be working to get as much completed as possible and then Jenneli and I would take care of the rest and leave on the 15th.

Back to Byriani

After a few days in Aurungabad on Tuesday (July 24th) we took a night train and headed back to Ongole. We spent Wednesday day in Hyderabad visiting the Charminar as well as some sari shopping for Jenneli. That evening we got on another night train to Ongole. As the title suggests I had the south Indian, Adhera Predesh, byriani that I like so much, both on the train to, at and from Hyderabad.


It’s bitter sweet to be back in Ongole. We are looking forward to finding out our plans for the next month before we return to California or Australia but we are going to miss seeing and experiencing a new part of India every couple days. We’ve met some really wonderful people on our journey that have helped us figure out the trains and how to do what we’d like to do. I’m going to miss those wonderful conversations with people on the trains and in café’s. With luck Jenneli and I will be able to spend a couple more weeks and visit the north of India but it’ll depend on what we need to do to complete the EWB projects that are still left in Ongole.

Ellora and Ajunta

After Goa we took off on a night train to Aarungabad which would be our base camp for exploring the cave temples of Ellora and Ajunta. We initially were going to try to do it on the cheap via the bus but Ajunta ended up being closed on Mondays and for $30 we could get a car and driver to show us both with far less hassle.




Ellora ended up being the more interesting of the two though less scenic than Ajunta. The Ellora caves were more of an exploration as there were few of the boundaries present at Ajunta. Both caves filled us with wonder at the dedication the Buddhist, Hindu and Jain pilgrims that had carved out of solid rock the temples that 1700 years later we could still marvel at. Bats were also plentiful and I’ve rarely, if ever, gotten to see so many so close. I’ll admit I jumped a couple times when one would drop of it’s perch to find another, more suitable, location.













We also got to tour a fort outside of Aarungabad that a very paranoid ruler must have built. It had huge walls, moats, traps, stairs, tons of stairs, and cannons all running up the sides of mountain. The guidebook said it had only been breached once and that was went the guards were bribed! We also wanted to know how they managed to haul several many toned cannons to the top!

“You have to go to Goa” or “OH MY! A girl in a swimsuit!”

Since we arrived in India we’ve heard from just about everyone that, if you are going to vacation in India, one stop is probably going to be Goa. As it happens after Hampi we made our way to Goa. It is rumored to be much more western in its style of vacation offerings with western bars and even women in swimsuits at the beach! We ended up not being in the most popular part of Goa, we chose a location a little to the south that the guidebook mentioned might be more interesting. Though beautiful it didn’t offer that much.


Indian males that have never seen a woman in a swimsuit, much less one in a bikini tend to gawk to the point of annoyance at any females showing the slightest bit of skin. Jenneli and I opted not to go swimming as a result. This is unfortunate because both of us have lugged swimsuits everywhere. You may be wondering ‘well if women don’t swim in a swimsuit what do they swim in?’ The answer is they swim in a full sari or punjabs, that’s right, their regular clothes. As you can imagine not many women or girls tend to go swimming. At the stretch of beach we were at there were probably 100 people. 90 males in various states of undress, swimming or playing on the beach, 6 females walking or dipping their feet in the ocean and 4 foreigners, two girls that seemed to be from the UK and us. They had on swimsuits but had sarong wrapped around themselves. Even still almost every male on the beach took a moment out of what they were doing to walked past the two girls. A few asked if they could take a picture and a few would pause after walking past to turn and gawk a little more. It took a little fun out of Goa.

On the brighter side the restaurants catered to tourists and the menus were full with English breakfasts, pasta, french fries and a good selection of drinks. We knew we wouldn’t be able to eat ‘western’ food in the coming weeks so we full advantage. Jenneli indulged in her favorite breakfast of porridge!

We also took a guided nature walk and got to see a family of wild peacocks! I also found out that Jain’s would keep peacocks as pets. I mentioned to our guide that my uncle Sid and his wife Judy have a farm and used to (and may still) have peacocks. He quipped “they were probably Jain’s in a previous life”. The guide brought along his son and it was fun to have them both proudly show us all the wildlife that the small area around the town had to offer. My favorite by far was the touch-me-nots. I had never gotten to play with them before and was truly mesmerized at the ability of the plant to move so quickly. For those that haven’t had the delight they are a small fern that when you touch the small leaves they close up and droop down in moments before your eyes. It’s the fastest I’ve ever seen a plant move.

New Photos on Webshots

Well, now that we are back in Ongole with a stable internet connection I have begun posting some more of our photos. The latest albums are:

Ongole (June)
Chennai
Pondy
Kanyukumari
Trivandrum
Kumily/Perriyar
Munnar

The site is http://community.webshots.com/user/jennelim?vhost=community or click on the title of this post or the link on the right.

I am still working on getting more albums up as soon as possible.

An Ancient Oasis

Monday evening Jenneli were back on the night train heading for Hospet, which is next to Hampi, which is the sight of some ancient ruins. We lucked out with the best train compartment we’ve seen yet! We slept well and after getting off the train found a great little hotel for $5 next to a large river and in sight of some of the ruins. Jenneli’s tender tummy had a wonderful helping of porridge as we found the restaurant on the roof to have a wide mix of world food. We took it easy till the mid afternoon at which point Jenneli seemed to have made a full recovery.

In the afternoon we visited the ruins. Jenneli said it best “This is the most photogenic place I’ve ever been”! Yeah! From Jenneli! The girl who takes an average of 150 photos a day on a trip! I’ll have to let the pictures speak for themselves, but I’ve never seen anything that looked quite so much like an ancient oasis.

It’s now the morning of the next day and I’m catching up on the blog before we have an autorickshaw tour at 10am. My stomach made me nervous last night but I believe it was the 2 lemon tonic waters I had earlier. They were very yummy but I think my stomach didn’t like all the acidity and bubbles.

Bangalore attacks!

We arrived into Bangalore in the early morning of Friday the 13th. We ended up staying a bit further away from the city than we planned because the hotels were full on account of a big convention. After settling in we headed off to the main part of Bangalore to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix! We both enjoyed the movie and so did the packed audience that cheered whenever the main characters made their appearance. We treated ourselves to Dominos after the show and went off to shop for a bit. Wrapping up the day we found ourselves in a little lounge/bar called “NASA”! I thoroughly enjoyed the décor, with space pictures on the walls, the staff dressed in airline pilot costumes, and all kinds of weird space looking stuff around.








Jenneli enjoyed it too right up until they asked us if we didn’t want to sit in the “family section”. Which is a partly enclosed part of the bar where men AND women can sit. I partially understood how she felt as memories of the dance club in Mumbai came back to mind. We had a drink in the “family section” and left to go rest up for the night at the hotel.








The next day we took a tour of the botanical gardens which were full of honeymoon couples trying to figure out what to do now that they are married. Some seemed incredibly happy some looked more like they had been having better days. The gardens where littered with large amounts of trash as most places in India so we enjoyed the incredible trees and flowers. After the gardens we went to FabIndia, Jenneli’s favorite store in India. She wanted to shop for a while and I decided to head to a small bar for a beer as sitting in FabIndia can’t hold my attention for the 2 hours Jenneli might be in there. At the bar I met a great fellow who grew up near Chennai and had been to America and Europe. We had a great conversation and he asked if he couldn’t take Jenneli and I out to dinner. Had I known at that point what I know now I would have politely refused.






Jenneli explained to me, as we picked her up from FabIndia, that she wasn’t feeling to good and that we also needed to get a mouse for the laptop. The nice fellow suggested that he could take us to a shopping mall and then to the hotel. The mall was great however getting to the hotel turned out to be a problem because of traffic and he asked if we couldn’t stop at a nice bar to wait out the traffic. At this point Jenneli was not feeling well at all but she though she might be able to handle it. The bar turned out to be the same NASA place we were at the previous night. Jenneli made a turn for the worst and I apologized and we bolted for the hotel. The next few hours Jenneli was not in good shape and just as we debated going to a hospital she improved well enough to sleep. It took 2 full days of bed rest but she is now better. We think it was a pretty bad case of of Delhi belly but it could have been food poisoning. Sadly we had to use up the last of our antibiotics we have with us. We have more back at Ongole, so we’ll have to cross our fingers till then.

The Hindu

The Hindu, as is written right under the title, is “India’s national newspaper since 1878”. This is the main English newspaper that I read daily, if possible. Each state also has local paper and I also try to pick these up if I can. At only 10 cents they are good entertainment on the busses and trains. They also contain a sudoku which Jenneli and I race to see who can finish first. (I have yet to beat Jenneli) It’s interesting to see what the paper picks up. Stories range from the immigration bill that failed in the US congress to the demolition of a building built on illegal land. I learned yesterday that a outbreak of hoof ‘n mouth disease was underway at the zoo we visited in Triviandrum and they had to close because animals were dying. Two had died the day we had visited, which explained certain exhibit closures and the security present.

Reading the paper I have also noticed a few trends:

1. Property and real estate is big news. Builders will bribe government officials for land rights that will end up being reclaimed by the rightful owner or the government itself. Homeless will try taking over unclaimed land or even claimed land if they can get away with it. Often the court will have to decide who ultimately owns a piece of property.

2. Corruption. There is always a corruption scandal of some form or another at the local, state and national levels.

3. NRI are important. NRIs are Non Resident Indians. It may be that the English paper just has much more focus on NRIs but the paper will follow any story that impacts NRIs, that includes immigration, visas, terrorism in the UK, even when NRIs are elected to office in foreign countries. When the Nimitz docked the paper reported that the only Indian born sailor was a cook on board.

4. No city is ready for the Monsoons when they happen. The month before the monsoons the papers ran stories about how the problems from last year are still present and that government mismanagement is to blame for not being prepared. The government claims things will be better. The monsoons are pouring down now and the papers are covering how many cities were not prepared, like last year, for the monsoons.

5. Education is important. The papers are full of ads for higher education, courses in IT, engineering, degrees from colleges, the paper runs stories about student entrance exams, educational trends, prices and the like. The local papers will publish the names and photos of the top students in the area and where they are likely to go to college. The paper will also include educational supplements about a particular subject or field. The paper has the normal crossword but may also include math problems, chess problems, sudoku, brain teasers and story problems.

Wedding plans

I have to take a quick minute to blog about wedding plans. (In case you didn't read the first couple blog posts Jenneli and I are engaged now!) We’ve been on a lot of buses though Kerala and you can’t do much but sit, think, and look out the window. This results in wedding plans being the topic of about 1 out of 4 conversations. Nothing is final but maybe by the time we return home we’ll have a good idea of what we want. Jenneli has a million and one ideas and it’s been fun to hear all the activities she would like to do. Even if we had a month long wedding I’m not sure we’d have time for the “perfect” wedding. Still I know that what we end up with will be fun for everyone!

Potter's customer support line

So as you might have guessed Bangalore would be one of the cities we visited and we are now on the night train to it. We had joked back in may that it would be nice if we could watch the new Harry Potter movie in Bangalore as it’s one of the most modern and English speaking cities in India. Through no effort on our part we are doing just that tomorrow when the movie comes out. We are kind of hoping that there will be at least a little fan fair the opening day.

I also completed buying the rest of the train tickets we’ll need to complete our journey south. It only took 3 hours :) I’m getting better. For the first time I also had to get a waiting list ticket at the train station, though, apparently I can get a real ticket once I get to the local station by requesting to be part of the tourist quota which bumps up our likely hood of getting a ticket.

In other news we still haven’t heard about Jenneli’s possible position Australia but at this point we are thinking it’s unlikely to happen. We also don’t know exactly what the month of August will bring. If Anne Marie needs help with EWB projects we’ll stay in Ongole. If not we really want to make a trip north through upper India. We probably won’t know till after we get back to Ongole, which will be on the 26th of July. In case you are wondering our tickets out of India are set for the 28th of August.

Dream Boats

After the mountains of inner Kerala state we took a bus to the coastal city of Cochin. We ended up sitting near the front of the bus and had grand views of water falls, jungle, tea estates and our life flashing before us. We stayed at a small hotel in the old part of Cochin called fort Kochi. $7.50 for a night stay isn’t bad, and it had tv, luke warm water and a clean room. We treated ourselves with a fancy dinner, spending quite possibly the most yet on food at $35. On the way to dinner we noticed a theatre that played local Kerala shows. We decided to see the show before dinner and won’t forget the experience any time soon.

In the morning we got up and headed down for breakfast. As it turns out Chochin is famous for it’s backwater cruises and there are day trips and over night trips. We had thought about an overnight trip but didn’t get it worked out the night before the manager informed us that he called on our behalf and a trip was available if we were interested. We debated the pros and cons and decided to go for it. We ate in a hurry and packed up as the car was already waiting to take us to the boat.

The boat turned out to be a very cute little houseboat/straw hut complete with a fan, lights, bedroom and private bathroom. Three crewmembers were there to cook, drive and captain the 24 hour tour of the backwater. We were worried that it might be boring as the boat trip on the lake in Thekkady became pretty uninteresting after the first 10 minutes. We needn’t have worried as it was peaceful and we could stretch out and relax. The food the chef prepared tasted great and kept our bellies bursting. In the evening we docked along side the canal and slept to the wonderful pitter-patter of the rain hitting the water. Ten geckos also provided us with entertainment as they consumed all the little bugs that the lights attracted. This turned out to be our first night in India that we didn’t hear car horns! I really recommend it if you get the chance, quiet, romantic and all around wonderful!

Off to the country

Jenneli and I had been planning on seeing the jungle of southern India and now we finally were going to see it! We took an 8 hour bus ride to the Periyar wildlife sanctuary and upon arriving noticed how much cooler it is. 72f! The cool is much appreciated even if it’s accompanied by large amounts of rain. We took a boat ride around the nearby reservoir and got to see a giant squirrel and a bunch of monkeys. No tigers but apparently few ever do.

After Periyar we took another bus to Munnar which catches me up at least to the town I’m currently in. I had been hoping to catch up with the blog on the bus but because of all the rain it’s been a bit dangerous to use the laptop, plus the bus is a bit bumpy to say the least. In fact the bus is a bit like a roller coaster on the high mountain roads around here. Jenneli and I have had to hold our breath a few times as we careen around corners and pass within inches of other buses barreling down the road in the opposite direction.

Today we took a rickshaw tour of munnar. The landscape here is amazing and luck followed us and staved off the rain at each of the places the driver took us. Truly as we drove around the rain would pour and then the sun would come out right before we stopped to see an attraction. We were almost chilly at times and are not exactly looking forward to the return of heat and humidity. Apparently Ongole is back to being a large sauna.

Munnar is home to tea estates. They cover the hillsides in a huge green patchwork quilt. The constant rain keeps the colors vibrant and the occasional sunlight gives the mountains a magical glow. The air here is clean and fresh, something we’ve had a lack of the past few months, years if you count LA.

Tigers are impressive!

After arriving in Trivandrum we sought out some accommodation. Jenneli had to put up with me viewing 3 different hotels, but I’m glad we did as we ended up at a great little hotel that had a restaurant on the roof. We need to waste some time so we took an autorickshaw to the zoo. Am I ever glad I did! We got to be about 2 meters away from a tiger and a jaguar. The jaguar was gnawing down on a bone while the tiger made some very throaty noises and clawed around the cage. The tiger had been separated from the rest of the group because she had 3 cubs and she was not pleased by this. The rest of the zoo had some interesting animals as well but I won’t get the sound or sight of the tiger and jaguar out of my mind for a while.

3 Big bodies of water and a statue

We arrived at 8am and discovered the very tip of India is quite the view. You can see the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian sea all at the same time! There is also a magnificent statue of an old poet a half kilometer off the coast. We also enjoyed a cute little park and relaxed taking in the view. There wasn’t much else to do so we went back to the train station and took off to Trivandrum. The best part of the day was finding that the train station sells books with train times for the entire rail system. This simplifies a large part of the pain that is buying tickets online. It also allows Jenneli and I to plan travel away from the Internet!

Night trains and machine guns

We were sad to leave pondicherry, especially since I was sick for half of it, but tickets had been purchased and we had a night train to the tip of India from Chennai to catch. Catch it we did. We got to the station early had some great food and hopped on our train after. Shortly after we got on an armed guard got on and scoped out the car. As it happens some security people from the government were going the same way we were. We had an armed guard two compartments away for most of the journey. We could sleep at ease knowing that nothing would happen to us or our luggage.

www.IRCTC.co.in = Confusion

There are several ways to get tickets in India, which is convenient, however none of them are intuitive. Lets start with online reservations. First off a town may have more than one name, in the 1990s the government decided to make India more Indian by changing many of the names. Bombay became Mumbai, Pondicherry became Puducherry, Calcutta, Kolkatta to name a few, added to this the local name of the place may not be the official national name. This means I often get to do a wiki search to find out possible town names to find the station names. After I have the start station and end station I have to find out if a train actually goes between the stations or if there may have to be a junction, as the online system can’t figure that out. I have to search for each of 5 types of seats as some trains only have seats and some only have sleepers. After finally finding a train between the two stations I have to see if there are seats available, if there are I can reserve a ticket online. If not I have to pick a different day or get on the waitlist for a possible ticket later. To buy 2 tickets took me 6 hours in an internet café, granted I had to figure out plans and everything, but this gives you some idea. You can buy tickets at the station but there are lines and communication problems to deal with. At least at the internet café you can check the wiki for town names.

Pondicherry aka Pondy aka Puducherry

The morning of the 2nd we took a 4 hour bus ride to Pondicherry. It started at what's claimed to be the biggest bus station in asia, and I have to say it was HUGE. The bus ride went quick and we were pleasantly surprised at how pleasant the Pondicherry turned out to be. It was founded by the French and still had many influences including the architecture and naming. It turns out it also kept a large part of the cuisine and we enjoyed some wonderful sudo French food. Our stomachs enjoyed the bit of change and we spoiled ourselves with a bit of wine. We stayed the first night in a little ashram, which is kind of a place devoted to meditation and spirituality. The second night we spent in a more standard hotel, though there wasn’t much difference between the two except the ashram did have a wonderful garden.

The second day didn’t exactly turn out that great for me. I had great plans of showing Jenneli a wonderful little art bar/restaurant that served some fabulous French food and mojhitos. As it turned out I ended up getting a little sick. I had been fighting it for a week but the bug in my system won out and I had to take Imodium and antibiotics. I recovered but wasn’t up for too much so Jenneli went out on her own and gave me a wonderful surprise of Pizza Hut! I had wined the day before that we should get some but Jenneli wanted to try the local food, which turned out to be a great decision as we had some fantastic food. I really enjoyed the pizza hut and soda and went back to sleep. I’ll have to show her the art bar next time.