2 month Mumbai recap

Can you believe that we have been in Mumbai for the past 2 months? I don't even believe it. A lot can happen in 2 months and a lot has happened in 2 months. So here is a recap of the things we have done and learned in the last few months:

I have met several lovely ladies from inside and outside of the Consulate community and have developed nice friendships with them.

We won tickets through the Consulate for the Ganpati Immersion. This annual event takes place in Chowpatti Beach, which is south of where we live. James and I and 10-12 other people from the Consulate won tickets to be in the VIP area which was located right in the middle of the action and we were able to see the different Ganesha's as they made their way into the ocean. 

We have only eaten Indian food twice. Mumbai has a diverse cuisine, so it's great for us who are not used to Indian food.

We have paid an estimate of $10 a pint for ice cream, but it's been totally worth it.

Face time, Skype, Vonage and Facebook have been a great way to stay in touch with my awesome friends and family!

Hola (a VPN) has allowed me to keep watching some of my favorite TV shows. 

I do not miss driving, people here are crazy drivers and I'm not sad I am not driving. People here don't believe in blinkers, stop signs or traffic lights. Also, personal space between cars is almost non-existent.

Ubber is a great way to get around when your car or driver is not available.

Volunteering might be my new thing. 

The mall is a great escape from all the people and noises.

I will never honk my horn unecesarrily any more.

I love walking to the market at anytime of the day! 

You can get Pottery Barn, World Market furniture for a 1/3 of the price here. 

Indian People are one of the most kind people I have met.

Running on the streets is not an option here for me. I hate the dreamill. 

The Consulate loves to put on great parties and events for its employees! In the last 2 months we have been here, we have attended Our National Day Celebration (4th of July), Hail and Farewell Party, A Heritage Walk around the Taj Mahal Hotel, a tour around the old Consulate, a White Water Rafting Trip and have many more trips and tours to come.

Here in India there is a party for everything (I love that).

Every weekend there is something to do, whether it is with your friends, or around Mumbai. 

Driving distances are relative to the amount of traffic and not to the miles. If you want to go anywhere south (as in south Mumbai), be ready to be in traffic for at least 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Use that time to catch up on emails or reading.

Jewelry here is handmade and 1/2 the price of what it would cost back in the states. I bought a necklace with semi-precious stone for $80 and the jeweler says he sells it in the states for about $160. 

I haven't bought much clothing here, only a Saree. 

I may or may not have bought about 10+ elephants in the course of being here. 

Blue is IN in the Snoddy household.

There is no such thing as personal space!

We found BEEF and made meat sauce!

I still can't convert money for shit.

We attended a concert in which we were the only white people there. The music was great and the event was awesome! 

We have yet to meet a Bollywood Star (we need to get on it).

Cows here hang out on the sidewalks with no leash!

No Elephants yet! 

Here are some of my favorite pictures:

This is it for now! I'm pretty sure I will have other things to add later on. I'm trying to be as candid as possible without offending anyone.

Until Next Time,

Nats

Nepal, the land of the Himalayas, stole my heart

Labor Day Weekend, James, and some friends of ours sett off to a Kathmandu adventure. I don't remember the first time I desired to go for a visit to the Himalayan country, but, I can say that once we got the news that we were going to be posted in Mumbai, the thought of visiting Nepal started to cross my mind. So since monsoon season has been on full effect in India, going to the beach was not an option for this long weekend, so we decided to go an explore the neighboring country of Nepal.

We left on the 8am flight from the Mumbai airport and landed in Kathmandu at 11am, which is not a bad flight at all. Once we landed we had to get our visas to get into Nepal. Now that was an adventure in itself. You have to fill out a paper with the intention to get a visa, then, you go to a counter and pay for the visa, in which you can only pay with American dollars and then proceed to the visa counter to get your tourist visa. The whole process for us took a little more than 30 minutes. Once we got our visas, we hailed a taxi to take us to our hotel. The ride from the airport to the hotel took less than 30 minutes through dirt roads and the "country" side of Kathmandu.

We all stayed at the Yak and Yeti Hotel, which is a 5 star hotel on the main strip of Downtown Kathmandu. The hotel was beautiful. It has two wings and it is 6 stories high. It has a casino, about 4 restaurants and an awesome bar. James and I stayed on the 5th floor overlooking the pool and we had a king size bed. After we all settled into our rooms, we decided to meet downstairs at the bar and come up with a plan of attack. Two of our friends were waiting for a friend to arrive, so Ben, James and I set off on a Kathmandu adventure. We gathered our Lonely Planet and decided to do one of their walking tours that would take us directly to Durbar Square, where they have beautiful temples in once place.

Our first stop was Rani Pokari, which is a beautiful white temple in the middle of a pond. This temple only opens once a year. We continued along a market street in which had tons of brass shops, which everything you can imagined made in brass, to sari's, to knick knacks, jewelry, etc. Along the market street we saw different Hindu and Buddhist temples and from time to time we would find an alleyway that would take us to plaza looking like courtyards that had different stupas. We kept walking and ended up at Durbar Square in no time. As we were going to walk in, we were stopped by someone saying that we had to go in the area. James and Ben decided that they did not want to pay and we went on our way back to the hotel. We took a different route back and we found other cools shops where we stopped and bought some souvenirs. Once we made it back to the hotel the boy’s friend has arrived so we all met down at the bar for some delicious beverages. A friend of Kevin works at the Kathmandu Embassy and agreed to meet us and take us out for the night. We went to a mall almost across the street to an Italian Restaurant. Since there were 7 of us, they put us in the wine room, with the stipulation that we buy at least a bottle of wine. Here we dined to delicious food, along side delicious drinks. I ordered the pasta carbonara, which I've been craving and it was delish. James ordered a pizza and devoured it in minutes. After dinner, we headed in the darkness (power is both subsided by regular electricity and generators) to Thamel to a bar.

The next day, we all met for breakfast and Kevin, Justin and Corina decided to stay back at the hotel and James, Ben and I set off to the Swayambhunath or Monkey Temple located on the west side of the city. We took a little Suzuki car to the top of the mountain through dirt roads. Once we arrived we were taken aback with all the beauty. Something I can't explain, but noticed that it was the same feeling I had at Notre Dame last year in Paris. I decided to call it a religious experience. Why, you might ask? well this temple is among the most sacred Buddhist pilgrimage sites. Once on the top of the mountain, you have two choices, go left and see the Buddhist side of the temple, or go left, which is the Hindu side of the temple. We decided to go right. Once on the Hindu side, my religious experience started to take place. Up on the side were people lighting candles and ringing bells. I just admired the beauty and peace of the place. In the middle of this courtyard was a giant stupa, with an eye in the middle. To say that this was one of the most peaceful places I've ever visited, it’s an understatement, even with all the people surrounding us; the peace of the place is palpable. After admiring the Hindu side we made our way down and up again to the Buddhist side. This side was also beautiful, but it was smaller that the Hindu side. Also, here is where we saw the most amount of monkeys and I am convinced that they like to have their picture taken, because every time we were going to take a picture of them, they will stay still and look at you... We made our way down the mountain to see the rest of the temples. On our way down, our friend Ben fed one of the monkeys. He was giving the monkey one cracker at a time and after a couple the monkey snatches the whole bag and ran away. After visiting the temple we rode back to town and have lunch and do some shopping in Thamel (a sector of town, which is known for their bargains). We bought all sorts of souvenirs for bargain prices and then made our way down to Durbar Square. This time we paid to go in and we can say that it was worth it. We saw the different temples and did more shopping. 

On Sunday we decided to go south to Patan, which has another Durbar Square and according to Lonely Planet it is the best one. We grabbed another little Suzuki car and 15 minutes later we were in historic Patan. We started to make our way through the quaint streets that had lovely little shops and more temples. Once we arrived at the square, we knew right away that we made the right choice in going there. This square was much larger than the one downtown and had a museum, garden and a restaurant inside the big palace. We had lunch in the palace and then we decided to do one of the walks that Lonely Planet suggested. This walk was neat because it took us through houses and little courtyards that ended in one of the most wonderful places I've seen in my life: The Golden Temple. Yes, this temple is made completely out of gold. Now that is a sight and I had never seen that much gold in one place. After admiring the temple we went back to the square to look for one of the guided that offered to show us where the best shops were. He personally walked us to the stores and we were in heaven. I bought 2 pairs of earrings and James bought a brass bowl. After shopping we decided to start heading back and grab a taxi to head back to the hotel. After a little down time, we decided to grab dinner at one of the hotels fancy restaurant. We had an early dinner, so we were the only ones there. The food was beyond good; it was splendid. James ordered the French onion soup and we all ordered sirloin steak (we had been dying for some steak). Now, I don't know if it was because we hadn't have meet since we arrived, but that was one of the best steaks I've ever had. After dinner we needed to walk of all that food so James and I decided to explore the stores outside the hotel. There we met some really nice storeowners and we bought pendants, shirts and guerka knives. 

Here are some pictures from our travels...


 
 
 
 

Needless to say that Kathmandu treated us very well and we look forward to visiting this majestic place again.


Nats