excursion to Udupi
Yesterday Avinash's dad drove us to Udupi which is on the western coast of India on the Arabian sea. The roads are so rough here that the ride was something like a roller coaster and a trampoline - hard to describe. My head hit the ceiling of the car several times as he manoeuvred around cars, trucks, rickshaws, cows, dogs, you name it. We probably averaged 11 MPH, so it took forever.
We met a temple elephant who was very clever. If you handed her a banana, she took it gently with her trunk and stuffed it into her mouth and chewed it. If you gave her a rupee coin, she blessed you by bonking you on the top of the head with her heavy trunk, and then she handed it to her mahout who was sitting in a nearby chair. We got such a kick out of this procedure. Avinash, his dad, and Linda all got "blessed" while I took pictures. She even knew not to eat paper money, but to hand it over and bless the giver.
The beach at Udupi was crowded with people, but unlike any beach you have ever seen. Unlike in the USA where people are all sprawled out of the sand sunning themselves, here the children and the men mostly go in and out of the water, and the women in beautiful colorful saris wade a bit. Children run around gleefully, and others just stroll on the sands. I'll be able to show you in pictures later.
Our blistered feet and coughs and colds are slowly improving, so we are doing well.
Linda is here with me, so I'll let her add her two rupees (tee-hee).
Hi All,
Yesterday was Mom's first experience with the really bad roads in India. She now understands why flying and the train are such attractive options in comparison! She had neglected to take any motion sickness medication before we left, and after a couple of hours of up and down, stop and start, and constant swerving, honking, jolting, and so on, we were both feeling pretty green. I had put my patch on just before we left and I had an extra one I gave mom, and eventually we stopped for a rest and the medicine started to work. Motion sickness is something that fortunately does not afflict Avinash, but his mom has it and she wisely decided to stay home.
On the way there we stopped at a small hilltop of black stone, where there was a monolithic Jain statue of "Bahubali". We had seen one before which was slightly larger, but it was still impressive at 32 feet. The views from the top of the hill of the surrounding palm-covered Western Ghat mountains and the valleys of tropical trees were not to be missed, even though the mercury was surely around 100 and the humidity very high as well.
On the way home after dark, we could see the diya lights for Diwali outlining many houses and hear the sounds of Diwali firecrackers as we passed Hindu households.
Today we are relaxing around the house and Avinash is working on his dad's computer problems. We may take a small (but time-consuming) trip to the nearby city of Madikeri, a cooler hilltop area where there are beautiful coffee plantations.
We met a temple elephant who was very clever. If you handed her a banana, she took it gently with her trunk and stuffed it into her mouth and chewed it. If you gave her a rupee coin, she blessed you by bonking you on the top of the head with her heavy trunk, and then she handed it to her mahout who was sitting in a nearby chair. We got such a kick out of this procedure. Avinash, his dad, and Linda all got "blessed" while I took pictures. She even knew not to eat paper money, but to hand it over and bless the giver.
The beach at Udupi was crowded with people, but unlike any beach you have ever seen. Unlike in the USA where people are all sprawled out of the sand sunning themselves, here the children and the men mostly go in and out of the water, and the women in beautiful colorful saris wade a bit. Children run around gleefully, and others just stroll on the sands. I'll be able to show you in pictures later.
Our blistered feet and coughs and colds are slowly improving, so we are doing well.
Linda is here with me, so I'll let her add her two rupees (tee-hee).
Hi All,
Yesterday was Mom's first experience with the really bad roads in India. She now understands why flying and the train are such attractive options in comparison! She had neglected to take any motion sickness medication before we left, and after a couple of hours of up and down, stop and start, and constant swerving, honking, jolting, and so on, we were both feeling pretty green. I had put my patch on just before we left and I had an extra one I gave mom, and eventually we stopped for a rest and the medicine started to work. Motion sickness is something that fortunately does not afflict Avinash, but his mom has it and she wisely decided to stay home.
On the way there we stopped at a small hilltop of black stone, where there was a monolithic Jain statue of "Bahubali". We had seen one before which was slightly larger, but it was still impressive at 32 feet. The views from the top of the hill of the surrounding palm-covered Western Ghat mountains and the valleys of tropical trees were not to be missed, even though the mercury was surely around 100 and the humidity very high as well.
On the way home after dark, we could see the diya lights for Diwali outlining many houses and hear the sounds of Diwali firecrackers as we passed Hindu households.
Today we are relaxing around the house and Avinash is working on his dad's computer problems. We may take a small (but time-consuming) trip to the nearby city of Madikeri, a cooler hilltop area where there are beautiful coffee plantations.
posted by Linda at 8:18 PM
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