You Thought I'd Died?
Umm... I've been a bad blogger. BUT my return to full force blogging is imminent! It's been about a month since I've posted, and it's been a month of trains and planes, crossing borders and changing time zones. I'll recap!
At the end of March I went to Thailand. Thailand is an absolutely amazing travel experience and I loved it! I met up with Montes there and we had an excellent time. Glittering temples, beaches, delicious pad thai and other food, jungle and mountain treks, an elephant ride, bamboo rafting, go-go girls and ladyboys (transvestites) in cosmopolitan Bangkok-- quite a combination of things.
The cosmopolitan-ness and modernity of Bangkok deserves more than a mention, because it absolutely blew my mind. This trip to Thailand was my first experience in Asia, outside of the South Asian subcontinent (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan), and I'd forgotten that the rest of Asia could be QUITE different. Bangkok has just about every Western store or chain restaurant that I know, including Starbucks (it is embarrassing to admit how happy I was about this). People also drive Volkswagens there, which was quite comforting as I have started to miss my family's two-- no Volkswagens anywhere in India. Women wear short skirts and (gasp) tank tops-- items of clothing that I have not seen, or thought of, in months. Drivers actually pay attention to traffic signals and remain in their lanes. Beggars don't tap on your car window. I'd say Thailand is a fantastic travel spot in part because it lacks much of the chaos and hassle of, say, India, but still retains an exotic Asian-ness. For me, for two weeks, it was just perfect!
I flew back to Delhi with Molly and after a week here, we took the train to Calcutta. Calcutta too is wholly different from Delhi-- more crowded, more lively, more colonial architecture and less greenery. It was a fun and interesting two days, although sadly I didn't get to eat any Bengali food (apparently quite different from other Indian cuisines).
After Calcutta we flew up to Kalimpong, a hill station near Darjeeling, at the foothills of the Himalayas. I'd made plans a long long time ago to come to a research center in Kalimpong for anthropologists who study the region. The research center was great, with a well stocked library and kitchen. I did a lot of reading on that area of India (West Bengal), and on the many ethnic communities that live there-- Nepalis, Tibetans, the indigenous Lepchas, Marwari traders from Rajasthan, and the Bhutanese who came from the nearby border with Bhutan. One thing that makes Kalimpong an exciting place is its proximity to various borders-- those of Bhutan, Nepal, and Tibet. I also continued my disability research by meeting with several families in the town who had disabled children, and by making regular visits to a school for hearing impaired girls. The school was especially interesting to me and I spent some wonderful and moving afternoones with the girls, although was frustrated by the double barrier of my ignorance of Nepali and their difficulty in hearing the translator that I'd brought wih me. The girls had come to the school from small villages in India and Nepal, and all were bright, lively, and super nice. I'm curious to know what will happen to them in the future and hope there's some way of remaining in contact.
Molly's still up in Kalimpong but I flew back to Delhi two days ago, by way of Assam (which is totally NOT between Kalimpong and Delhi, but somehow that's the way the flights work). I was starting to miss Delhi and am quite happy to be back, but I leave AGAIN, in just a couple of hours. This time I'm going to Islamabad, Pakistan for a Fulbright in Pakistan conference thingy. The conference is two days long and I'm going to give a short presentation on my project (presenting=panic), and then will spend another few days there to sight see and meet with people in Islamabad. The Fulbright people are trying to arrange meetings for me with health professionals, health and disability related NGOs in Islamabad. I have absolutely NO research related contacts in Islamabad but I DO have two friends there- yay for Khayyam and Sehar (Tariq... Yale 05...)!!
At the end of March I went to Thailand. Thailand is an absolutely amazing travel experience and I loved it! I met up with Montes there and we had an excellent time. Glittering temples, beaches, delicious pad thai and other food, jungle and mountain treks, an elephant ride, bamboo rafting, go-go girls and ladyboys (transvestites) in cosmopolitan Bangkok-- quite a combination of things.
The cosmopolitan-ness and modernity of Bangkok deserves more than a mention, because it absolutely blew my mind. This trip to Thailand was my first experience in Asia, outside of the South Asian subcontinent (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan), and I'd forgotten that the rest of Asia could be QUITE different. Bangkok has just about every Western store or chain restaurant that I know, including Starbucks (it is embarrassing to admit how happy I was about this). People also drive Volkswagens there, which was quite comforting as I have started to miss my family's two-- no Volkswagens anywhere in India. Women wear short skirts and (gasp) tank tops-- items of clothing that I have not seen, or thought of, in months. Drivers actually pay attention to traffic signals and remain in their lanes. Beggars don't tap on your car window. I'd say Thailand is a fantastic travel spot in part because it lacks much of the chaos and hassle of, say, India, but still retains an exotic Asian-ness. For me, for two weeks, it was just perfect!
I flew back to Delhi with Molly and after a week here, we took the train to Calcutta. Calcutta too is wholly different from Delhi-- more crowded, more lively, more colonial architecture and less greenery. It was a fun and interesting two days, although sadly I didn't get to eat any Bengali food (apparently quite different from other Indian cuisines).
After Calcutta we flew up to Kalimpong, a hill station near Darjeeling, at the foothills of the Himalayas. I'd made plans a long long time ago to come to a research center in Kalimpong for anthropologists who study the region. The research center was great, with a well stocked library and kitchen. I did a lot of reading on that area of India (West Bengal), and on the many ethnic communities that live there-- Nepalis, Tibetans, the indigenous Lepchas, Marwari traders from Rajasthan, and the Bhutanese who came from the nearby border with Bhutan. One thing that makes Kalimpong an exciting place is its proximity to various borders-- those of Bhutan, Nepal, and Tibet. I also continued my disability research by meeting with several families in the town who had disabled children, and by making regular visits to a school for hearing impaired girls. The school was especially interesting to me and I spent some wonderful and moving afternoones with the girls, although was frustrated by the double barrier of my ignorance of Nepali and their difficulty in hearing the translator that I'd brought wih me. The girls had come to the school from small villages in India and Nepal, and all were bright, lively, and super nice. I'm curious to know what will happen to them in the future and hope there's some way of remaining in contact.
Molly's still up in Kalimpong but I flew back to Delhi two days ago, by way of Assam (which is totally NOT between Kalimpong and Delhi, but somehow that's the way the flights work). I was starting to miss Delhi and am quite happy to be back, but I leave AGAIN, in just a couple of hours. This time I'm going to Islamabad, Pakistan for a Fulbright in Pakistan conference thingy. The conference is two days long and I'm going to give a short presentation on my project (presenting=panic), and then will spend another few days there to sight see and meet with people in Islamabad. The Fulbright people are trying to arrange meetings for me with health professionals, health and disability related NGOs in Islamabad. I have absolutely NO research related contacts in Islamabad but I DO have two friends there- yay for Khayyam and Sehar (Tariq... Yale 05...)!!
posted by Molly at 10:31 AM
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