Je t’aime en France: France 2011

Bonjour mes amies! 

Hello friends! This post is a summary of our France Adventure 2011. To read more context on why we decided to go to France, please refer to my last post, “Je ne suis pas une romantique (I’m not a romantic).”

This is not a short post, even though I think I could have doubled the length of this post with additional details, but I hope you enjoy reading about another one of our travel adventures! If you are considering a trip to France, this information may be useful to you also.  I am very happy with how our last minute trip turned out thanks to the help of many who assisted us in routing our itinerary. We were able to discover some of the most beautiful and charming parts of France by car and still enjoy the beautiful metropolitan city of Paris. I’ve included a list of resources at the end in case you’re interested.

Schedule-

Here was our itinerary over the course of 10 days:

A. Paris – 3 nights
—-driving trip began—-

B. Avignon – 1 night
C. Aix-En-Provence
D. Cassis – 1 night
E. Saint Tropez
F. Cannes – 1 night
G. Antibes
H. Nice – 2 nights
I. Eze
J. Monte Carlo

—-driving trip ended—-
K. Paris – 1 night

Ahh Oui, So let’s get started…

So, how did we even come up with this itinerary above? I posted a question on tripadvisor.com in an open forum and simply said, “I have 10 days in France – what should I do?” I received various responses which included exploring the beaches of Normandy (north), actually were my dad’s side is originally from, as well as a response which suggested going to Paris coupled with a driving trip from Avignon to Cote D’Azur (the French Riviera). I then ran these suggestions past my boss who lived in France and he said without a doubt the Paris + Avignon + Cote D’Azur driving trip would be the best possible use of our time and that we would just love it.

So Paris + French Riviera Road Trip it was!

J’aime Paris (I love Paris)!

We arrived at the CDG airport where our first stop was Paris.  Ohhh, how I’ve longed to return to Paris. We arrived after sleeping pretty well on the flight, realizing that while we left in the morning Thursday; we would be arriving in the morning Friday in Paris. You gotta love how that works!  When we landed we weren’t feeling terribly jetlagged which was good so after some shuffling around and trying to get into our groove of adventure, we made our way into Paris on the RER train. At first figuring things out was a little bit fuzzy but after a few subway rides we quickly got the hang of Paris’ easy to use train system.

As for language, I immediately started conversing with others using my broken French which was very rusty and quite terrible truthfully, but I didn’t care, nor did the Parisians it seemed.  They could usually get the jist of what I was saying, some replying back in English, some sticking to French with me, and by the end of the trip I had become quite comfortable and a lot more confident in my abilities. I did have one shining moment where in Monte Carlo, a woman was speaking very quickly to me in French so I embarrassingly said that I am sorry, my French is terrible, can we speak in English?  She said no, your French is great and you’re doing just fine. We continued on in French and I just found it so sweet and that made my whole day! LOL!

Of course it wasn’t all roses. At one restaurant I asked the server where the restroom was… AT HIS HOUSE, lol! He was also nice about that, laughing at me when I asked this question then whispered back what I had really said to him.  WOOPS! 

So, yes we arrived in Paris.  We found our apartment which was at the Charles de Gaulle – Etoille Metro stop and located literally a few blocks from the Arc de Triomphe.  We used airbnb.com to book this flat and our particular apartment had quite a number of reviews so we felt pretty good about our arrangements. I quickly noticed how darling and charming the apartment was, just as the pictures on airbnb showed. We got settled in then decided to take a five minute nap. 3 hours later we woke up starving and decided to hit the town, or Le Marais, for the evening.

Tip 1: location, location, location! I realized on this trip, it is best to spend a few extra dollars to book accommodations in a centrally located area when traveling.  This way you don’t waste time navigating in unknown territory or waste time commuting back and forth to see all the places you want to see. We were right there in the middle of all the action and it was totally worth it!

We made our way to Le Marais and snuck into one of the first cafes we could find. That’s the beauty of Paris my friends, the typical (and ANY) cafes will be almost always be fantastic! We had a yummy dinner (see resource section for Yelp links) then walked around. We got back to our flat around midnight and went to sleep.

The next day we slept in which turned out to be the ONLY morning of our 10 day vacation we got to sleep in, and we walked to a nearby café for breakfast, then set out to explore Paris. We started with photo opportunities at Arc de Triomphe and made our way to Saint Germaine des Pres and Musee D’Orsay, then returned back to the flat to get ready for a formal evening on the Seine River for a dinner cruise.

The dinner cruise was fantastic. It was a bit spendy and formal attire was required so we brought our suit/evening dress for the occasion but it was so well worth it. It was incredibly romantic and special.  Bateaux Parisians took us up and down the Seine River where we got to admire the amazing night views of Paris while listening to jazz with a live singer and a sax player, and indulge in heavenly gourmet food. We chose Bateaux Parisians since it was the only dinner cruise which offered a vegetarian meal and it just looked like one of the nicer dinner cruises which we thought would be fun. It was well worth it and we enjoyed ourselves completely. After 3 hours, we were dropped off near the Eiffel Tower where we got in line for a taxi and headed home.

The next morning we woke up earlier so Vinit could have his already craved, café au lait et croissant and then Mark and Adam with Left Bank Scooters showed up at our flat to pick us up for our scooter tour. Adam introduced us to Mark, told us that we had the tour to ourselves that day and Mark got us situated and ready to go.

Our scooter tour was pretty fantastic. Despite the fact it cost us a month’s salary (jk, though it was pricy), it was well worth it. If you’re not really into museums and spending hours at monuments and attractions, the scooter tour provides a nice alternative in exploring Paris by Vespa. Your guide takes you all around the city and explains the history of the main attractions and then you’re off to the next site. It was great and very efficient especially if you have limited time like we did. In terms of safety, I was fine driving the Vespa amongst the cars, busses, and other bikes, but I did have problems in small places and getting started so I crashed into Vinit one time which freaked me out. And everyone else. LOL! It sounds funny saying it now but at the time it was scary.

After the tour ended, we said goodbye to our cute Vespas and we got on the metro and went to Le Marais. We were hungry and it was time to find an infamous falafel place we had heard so much about. Well, it lived up to the hype completely. L’As Du Fallafel was out of this world and I’m drooling just thinking about it right now. While we were leaving the falafel shop, we were walking next to a gorgeous girl who was tall, had flawless skin and people were pointing at her and she was walking a couple feet away from us. I think it might have been a super model or actress. But in Paris I saw so many stunning tall people, women in particular, I didn’t think anything of it except that she was catching the attention of many and people were pointing.

Tip 2: Go by other people’s recommendations and make sure they are trusted sources. I had heard about the falafel place from a few people and while we had to go out of our way to find it, it was so well worth it!  I actually used Twitter as a way to get some of the best recommendations for our trip, including this Falafel one!

Our last night in Paris before our driving tour began, it ended with what was supposed to be a 5 minute nap again (his words not mine), which turned into a 1-hour nap for me and a 5 hour nap for him. I woke him up around 11pm and got Pizza Hut take out from below our apartment. It is absolutely criminal to think we wasted a meal in Paris on Pizza Hut but if was the best damn Pizza Hut I ever had, lol… it was unusually good. Of course.  Cause we’re in France.

The next morning we got up early, arrived at the train station to catch the TGV to Avignon, except that we only printed the email confirmation and not the tickets. I won’t mention names with who did that either, wink wink. We ran to a cyber café, printed out our boarding passes but at that point the train left by just a few minutes. We were able to catch another one just 2 hours later so not a lot was lost, even though we had a freak out session during the chaos since our ticket said non-refundable and non-transferrable, unless we purchased the insurance which we didn’t. My 2006 Priceline CDG fiasco came screeching back in my head but the ticket representative was very nice about it, unlike 5 years ago when I was crying and still they would not help me. 

Tip 3: Double check all your paperwork and print outs before traveling. If there are two of you, a 2nd verification from another set of eyes is even better.

Finally we got on the train and were headed to Avignon.  I had heard about the high-speed train so am glad we got to take it, it was pretty neat. We got to see a lot of France’s countryside during the train ride which was just 2 hours 38 minutes. When we arrived at the Avignon train station, the car rental was located within a few feet and we checked in to get our rental car.

The service rep was not able to give us a GPS since we had not reserved one in advance, nor were we able to get a “European car” but we had a Nissan which looked just like a European car. That was good enough for us. I ended up falling in love with our little cutie of a car for the rest of the trip. That was my baby.

Tip 4: I know this is common sense, but when doing a road-trip in another country, for crying out loud, get a GPS. That was my fault – I thought maps would be sufficient and if you have a good map I’m sure it can work but ours was terrible and just a little bit too high-level! As much as Vinit hates the iPhone he said it saved us on this trip and it really did. The maps app on my iPhone got us to where we needed to be every time and with total competence.

We got our rental car and that’s when the fun began with Vinit driving and I was in charge of navigating.  Turns out, we both sort of sucked at our jobs.  As we were looking for our hotel, we experienced quite a few … well … interesting things. First, we took a side and desolate road by accident (twice) and the second time on this road; we saw a prostitute come running out of a shady looking van. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing either, I thought for a moment there was a circus in town maybe. When Vinit screeched off and said it was sort of scary, I realized that was no circus character.  Second, Avignon literally has these stone walls around the central part of the city so if you get stuck in one of those areas it’s literally like a maze and finding our way out was hopeless. It was then I realized just how much the US is very grid-like. In the US, for the most part all roads run N, S, E, W but in France it’s not that way at all. This means if you make a wrong turn, and you think you’ll just take the next turn and go back, you’re wrong. You’ll end up on some crazy twisty turny roads which will have you lost and completely backwards never seeing the road you were on again.

At one point we ended up driving through what seemed to be an outdoor shopping mall right down the middle waving at the pedestrian’s right next to us. Finally a man stopped us and asked what we were doing. Well that was a great question because we had no idea. What was crazy too was that with every turn we made there were these blockades which would not allow us to exit but which sort of looked like exits. Well, he showed us a little trick with how those blockades had little machines near them which would lower the blockades so you could get out. We literally thought we were trapped before he showed us that.

Vinit and I ended up switching spots during all of this, me driving and him navigating, roles we would have for the remainder of the trip and roles which suited us each so much better. 

We finally made it to our hotel after an hour of what felt like labyrinth driving, freshened up, then went to explore a bit of Avignon on foot since that just seemed safer. Our hotel was once again, amazingly situated in Avignon so we were a few feet away from Pope’s Palace and the shopping district.  Well, 2 coats and 2 dresses later after some serious fun and successful shopping, we slept. I LOVE THE SHOPPING IN AVIGNON by the way, and the shopping loves ME! Haha! I’d go back there for that alone!

We woke up early, did a little bit more shopping (did I mention, ummm, GREAT shopping) and headed out on the road for Aix-en-Provence.

Aix-en-Provence was a larger city than I was expecting and it took us about 45 minutes to get there from Avignon. We parked and found the heart of the city which was filled with a lot of college-aged people. We had pizza and salad for lunch, walked around for a bit, then decided to keep on moving and left for Cassis. It was good to see Aix-en-Provence though it was just a glimpse of the city.

The drive to Cassis was gorgeous and took about an hour and a half. It was a ton of fun driving in France and I learned how to be a race car driver during this drive. What amazed me is that no matter how fast I drove, I was still getting passed by everyone: the grandma’s, the semi-trucks and the bikes! I was going 150km/hr too so it’s not like I was doing the slow-poke thing by any means. During this drive we discovered tolls and as we approached Cassis there were a few extra tolls in fact. Turns out, Cassis is a preserved city.

Cassis was one of my two most favorite cities on the trip. It was a small port and fishing town which reminded me of childhood where my mom and dad would take us to Westport every year to go camping. The difference was, this fishing town and port was in France and that too, on the French Riviera so with it came that French charm and chic-ness of it all. It was quaint, scenic and charming yet still a port town. No pictures we took accurately captured its amazing presence but if I had to plan another trip back to the Cote D’Azur, I’d go out of my way to make it back to Cassis, which is not very well known it turns out. I do recommend the hotel we stayed at, which was not easy to get to but so fantastic!  It was called Hotel Roches Blanches.  Check it.

Maybe it was the fact that Cassis was our “introduction” to the French Riviera, I don’t know, but of all the places I saw, if I ever was fortunate enough to have a vacation home in France (yeah, in my dreams), I would choose Cassis.  I really took a liking to Cassis and was so glad we made it here per the recommendation of a few people, though most had never heard about it when I mentioned it.  I think it was the small community feel, it being low-key, the views, the water, the locals, the culture and the beauty of it was just too amazing and I will never be able to do it justice in trying to describe it.  The details and images of Cassis still lingers in my mind..

One of my favorite things about Cassis was the outdoor market. I managed to buy two lovely scarves from the outdoor market and soak in the smells of oils, herbs, cheeses, olives etc. For being a Wednesday, the market was packed full of people also!

Tip 5: The cities on the French Riviera are full of outdoor markets. Try to avoid buying souvenirs or goods from retail stores and explore the outdoor markets instead. The deals are great and you can get some amazing authentic items this way.

We left Cassis a little bit earlier than I had wanted to but we needed to get back on the road and head to Saint Tropez. I heard a lot of great things about Saint Tropez so we really wanted to see what it was all about.

Since we were in Saint Tropez for only a few hours, I am sure we missed a lot of the highlights, however like Cassis, we could tell this was a town with a lot of French charm, and once again, was right on the water. Unlike Cassis, St. Tropez was definitely a bit more posh and higher end. We saw some incredible yachts and you could tell we were part of a higher end crowd now. We stayed long enough to have lunch followed by ice cream and stroll down the boardwalk and take a look around some of the shops right along the seaboard and admired the ginormous yachts from all around the world.

Tip 6: Even if we could not stay in a place for a long period of time, just being able to get a “taste” of some of these cities was still worth it. If you’re limited on time I highly recommend fitting in the popular places still. They all have such fabulous (and different) character that you do not want to miss it, even if you’re just able to get a glimpse.

Saint Tropez was really beautiful but in hopes of not reaching Cannes too late, we left in the early evening for our next destination.

Cannes. Oh Cannes. If I wasn’t so hung up on making the small village-like towns my “favorites” during our trip, Cannes would ring in for me at #1. I. Loved. Cannes. I absolutely loved it! The thing I liked about Cannes was:

A. It wasn’t as high end as I was expecting. I mean it was, but only if you chose for it to be high end otherwise things were affordable which I think I was expecting a more “monte carlo” over the top style.
B. It was really comfortable. Places were easy to get to and we roamed around at night on foot and felt safe.
C. It was still close to the other cities (within 15-30 minutes) so Cannes could have easily been our base.

Tip 7: If you’re looking for a base in the French Riviera during your trip, I highly recommend you make Cannes your base. I so wish we would have done that instead of Nice because Cannes was so much nicer and felt more comfortable.

We stayed at Le Cavendish hotel in Cannes which was the cutest hotel during our entire trip. It was fantastic and offered additional things to guests such as a FREE happy hour (In France? Oui!), FREE internet service, and a hotel with nothing but gorgeous character and details. Plus it’s a block away from La Croisette which is where you want to be. Again, a hotel with a perfect location!

Let’s talk about the euro for a second.  OK, so the US dollar does not get you far in France and you will drop some serious cash while traveling there.  Examples? A drip coffee and a tea cost us $14.  How about gas costing us $8/gallon?  Our average dinner in a typical café was about $60 for two, and I don’t drink!  I spent some money on a few things such as coats, because I knew I’d have them for a long time and the quality was superior to what I would find here, and then if I did, it would probably be about the same price anyway.  So understand, it is expensive in France comparatively to the US so brace yourself… Vinit was in physical pain anytime he had to look at how much things cost there.

OK, back to Cannes!

While enjoying the Le Cavendish breakfast one morning, we were enlightened about the Mariage Freres The (tea) which was the most popular tea in France at the time, we were told. I wondered how great could tea really be then selected the Marco Polo tea to have with my breakfast. OK, so it surely does deserves the best tea award after all and I could see why. The hotel receptionist said Cannes had a Mariage Frères tea shop in La Croisette and gave me directions to it, so after breakfast we walked on foot and found the cute little shop. I brought back the Marco Polo tea and am saving it for some special moments.

After finding the tea shop, we goofed off near the Pier and then we hopped on the cute little tour train which had an English audio recording and explained the history of each site.  The tour train took us through the new and old parts of Cannes. That was well worth it since we didn’t know where to go ourselves and this nicely took us through the highlights of the town all in one shot!

Tip 8: I found many of the cities along the French Riviera had these small adorable tour trains. Take advantage of the tours especially if you aren’t sure what to see while there. We did a few tours while visiting and every one of them was well worth it!

Cannes naturally had a significant movie and film presence/influence throughout. You saw film related signs and monuments everywhere. It was exciting hearing about the Cannes festival each year there and all the big names of celebrities who show up. They also LOVE Angelina Jolie there, naturally.  When we were there, the city was getting ready to host an international conference, the G-20, where leaders (including Obama) would be there to discuss the financial markets and global economy. There were signs for the conference throughout the city.  It was definitely a big deal there.

Shortly after the little tour, we were back in our car and on our way to Antibes.  Bye Cannes, we were sad to leave you!

Antibes was similar to our experience in Saint Tropez in terms of us of rushing through it but I loved what I saw, perhaps more than Saint Tropez. The thing I remember the most about Antibes was in the town there were some beautiful and unique doors on houses and buildings. I was quickly intrigued and found myself wanting to see more. We also went through some small shops and ended up bringing home some gourmet locally-made delicacies such as mustards, jams and herbs. We stopped off for a nutella crepe and coffee which was delicious. We then headed over to the sea wall before leaving Antibes though I would have liked to have stayed longer. Even more than St. Tropez, I think.

Our next stop was Nice. Although we may not be giving Nice enough credit, or didn’t get to see some of the highlights, I just wasn’t a fan.  For one, it seemed sort of shady at night and we were staying in what seemed to be the business district. Our hotel was also pricy and yet it was the worst hotel with the worst location during our trip in France, being the only place to charge for internet, including in Paris! We never did explore Nice with the exception of a few dinners out but if I planned the trip again, I’d probably skip it all together.  There were such other cute places to see than what I saw in Nice.  At one point I even considered seeing if we could go back to Cannes and instead staying there again for the next 2 nights.

One night when we were walking from the restaurant to the tram, two men started fighting in the street. It was a desolate street with no one else around other than the 4 of us. As the men were fighting, one threw an object at a car which bounced off then came directly at us and missed our heads by a sliver. That was just a little too unnerving for me. If you’re on the French Riviera, stay in one of the smaller towns or Cannes. You can’t go wrong. I did hear a lot of good things about Nice so we may have not given it the chance it deserved, but I definitely appreciated the other coastal cities so much more.

I will say this about Nice, the food we had was outstanding, both nights. Our first night we went to La Zucca Magica and as we walked in, the restaurant was candlelit with no lights on. I read a few rave reviews about this place and in particular, got the impression this was a vegetarian’s haven. We were seated and as I waited for the menu to arrive several dishes started coming out of the kitchen, one right after the other… there were five in total:

• A lemon vegetable broth with a cottage cheese and herbs starter with parmesan cheese
• A chickpea adorned appetizer with spinach leaves filled with squash, mozzarella and carrots
• Polenta with pumpkin and cabbage accented with a Dijon puree
• Tomatoes, kalamata olives and noodle soup with mozzarella and a pinch of anise
• A light vanilla mousses with a graham cracker crust and orange gelatin layer on top

Turns out, the menu changes daily depending on what the chef gets from the market that morning. I so loved that. Can someone please do this here in Seattle, PRETTY PLEASE?

Tip 9: Submit yourself to the food in France. It’s flavorful in a way you just won’t find in the US. It’s savory, it’s indulgent, it’s decadent, it’s rich, and it’s almost ALL very yummy!

Eze was one of those places you might have read about, most likely you’ve seen pictures of it, but I don’t think I was expecting to see what I saw at all. Frankly, it was magnificent and ties for my most favorite place during the trip in addition to Cassis. It was this tiny village at a high elevation, overlooking the Mediterranean sea with stone walls and pathways which all lead up to the top of a lookout. There were shops and cafes throughout and at every turn and with every pathway you got to see yet another picturesque frame-worthy view. That is the thing I loved about France. The sites and history were all just so glorious to take in. I’ve never seen something so breathtaking like Eze.

Tip 10: I saw my previous condo tenant do this and it completely inspired me. Collect a piece of art, large or small, during your travels so that you can take a piece of the place home with you. I did that on this trip and now have a small collection to look at and remember our trip by every day.

While there in Eze, we stopped for breakfast and had a savory vegetable crepe where whenever I see the photo of it, my mouth starts to water. Eze is worth a half day trip but it’s not a place you can spend days and days since it’s literally a small village.  After exploring Eze, we ventured off to Monte Carlo.

Monte Carlo, Monaco. I don’t even know if I have the words to describe this place. I think the best way to describe Monte Carlo is that this is a place full of bajillionaires and where everything is larger than life. It was beyond grand and the amount of money flowing through this town is freakishly abundant. In euros.  It’s the yachts, the tesla’s, the bentley’s, and meanwhile everyone is dressed to the nine in suits and designer clothes. I kid you not, I could have planted myself on a bench anywhere in that town and felt like I was at an outdoor high-end luxury car show. 

The town itself is gorgeous, too. The city is at the base of some mountains and it almost reminded me of Vancouver in some weird way though not as large and obviously with things a lot closer together.  This place was super posh, super happening and it was also very crowded. It took us 1 hour to find an open (illegal, though we didn’t know) parking spot which we did end up getting a ticket for. We finally had to drive out of the downtown area a little bit and then catch a bus in because all parking garages were full and street parking was at a premium. Monte Carlo also has a bit of an international flair where I got the sense we weren’t solely in French territory anymore. There seemed to be a lot of other people here such as Italians, Swiss, etc.

We did enjoy going to the world famous casino there where we gambled 5 euro and came out with 10.  We also admired all the stores. Monte Carlo was tied for Vinit’s most favorite place along the French Riviera in addition to Cannes.

After a fun day spent in Monte Carlo, we went back to Nice and had a wonderful dinner of tapas near our hotel. When it comes to food, I’m convinced the French are PERFECT! We got up early the next morning on a flight back to Paris and I had to say goodbye to our little car. That was extremely difficult. I loved that car so much. Sads.

Although our trip was quickly coming to an end, we were not ready for this at all. We kept saying how happy we were we at least had one full day left in Paris before heading back because we just didn’t want to leave yet. France was becoming more a part of me by the minute. I think my French was even getting better and better as the days went on…

So, we returned back to Paris. It’s amazing how much we learned from our first 4 days there because this time when arriving in CDG, we had the RER down! We confidently got our train tickets back into Paris, got off on the right stop and navigated our way to our hotel PERFECTLY. I felt like a local.

We checked into the Hôtel des Grands Hommes which was so well located right next to the Pantheon. Although Vinit was very nostalgic about our flat from the week before, we realized quickly, the location of this hotel could not be any more perfect, again! We were within a few minutes’ walk to Saint Germaine des Pres and could also walk to Le Marais. Both Saint Germaine des Pres and Le Marais were my favorite neighborhoods. You could spend all day roaming around both of them and never get bored.

During our last day, I kept telling Vinit we should eat as much as we can, after all we would not get this food for too much longer. We ate, and ate, and ate and shopped and walked so much our last day. We returned back to our hotel, freshened up then went and had dinner at Jardin des Pates. This restaurant was so adorable and if there was ever a restaurant I wanted to own, it would look just like this and then serve the food of La Zucca Magica – I have it all figured out you see :) The restaurant itself resembled a cute charming garden.  It was adorable!  We had an amazing dinner and then our last mission began….

Our mission was to head to the Eiffel Tower at night and get the much anticipated jumping shot in front of the tower. The problem was, we were very new with our camera so figuring out some of the settings to capture the perfect shot (at night) was really difficult. We actually gave up at one point then on our walk back realized we came too far to give up now so we turned around and tried again. Here is the best we came out with which is not nearly as great as the Taj Mahal picture but that was an exception which might not be able to replicate ever, anyway.

The next morning we woke up bright and early and caught our flight back to Seattle. And that my friends, concluded our most wonderful trip.

Here are a few things (not exhaustive) in addition to the tips I’ve mentioned above, we’d suggest doing differently when planning a trip with this route, along with a few things we felt we did right.

Changes we’d make:

Skip Nice, or don’t spend a lot of time there. Another change I would have made was to have our time in Monte Carlo better planned out. It’s a larger city and dealing with parking is atrocious so if you’re doing a day trip there like we did, plan it out well instead of winging it. We ended up parking further out, taking a bus in and then touring the city on a tour bus which drops you off and picks up at various stops every 15 mins. That bus ride was pricy being 34 Euro for both of us but well worth it and we got to explore more on foot this way.

Things we did right:

Hands down, the car rental and road trip was the best thing we decided to do!  The cool thing is the train is very easy to take city to city in the Cote D’Azur, but nothing beats being able to drive through the cities and then move on to the next at your own pace was incredibly nice.  As well as scenic of course. We also had a chance to really explore and see some of the most beautiful provincial sites we probably could not have seen or experienced otherwise. And, it’s just romantic, let’s be honest. Just expect high speeds and crazy drivers and you’ll be fine. Also, most cars are manual in France, so if you cannot drive a manual car, read the details during your rental reservation.

Secondly, I know we covered a lot in a short period of time but it worked out great. This allowed us get a great taste of the coast which was different from what we were expecting, again since each city had its own character. I am very glad we covered as much as we did because it was still worth it.

Lastly, another thing we did right was Airbnb was great if you are going to have a base in a particular city for 2 or more days. If you’re traveling through various places, I recommend using hotels for that instead. The reason for this is cancellation policies are more flexible with hotels vs. apartments and if you end up liking a place you want to stay longer, hotels are much easier to change vs. apartment rental with  out being charged. We did change hotels once and it was easy-breezy!  Saying that, still make sure you read the fine print of your hotel reservation. 

What I learned In the end….

In addition to me saying sometimes you just need to go to Paris, sometimes, you also need to let go of planning every minute of your life or else it could get in the way of you actually living it. We planned this trip and all that it entailed very last minute and on a whim, after experiencing a tough loss and needed to get away and refresh. Well guess what, it could not have been more perfect and was just what we needed to do.

Additionally, I mentioned in my last post that I felt a need to finish business with France and I wanted to return and explore more of it before starting on other nearby countries. One thing I learned from this trip was that, I’m not sure I’ll ever be “finished” with France. For whatever reason, this country has a really strong hold on me and each time I go, I fall in love with France just a little bit more… 

I also learned sometimes you just need to kiss in every city, too!  Yes, it’s no secret, we were totally cheesy and took a picture of us kissing in each city, which I’m sure we’ll be too embarrassed to do anything with those photos, though I think I might frame them and put them on a wall…in our bedroom.  That way when people come over we won’t totally gross them out with our “wall art.” Lol!  We couldn’t help it though!  It was one of those “When in Rome do as the Romans do…” sort of situations, except we were in France and well, this is just what French people do!

So bonne journee or “have a nice day” was something we heard every day repeatedly. Well, France, thank you — we did have a nice day. We had 10 nice days and I will never forget this trip. It was possibly the best trip of my life…in possibly my most favorite place on earth.

After all, sometimes you just need to go to France. 

As for being an unromantic person planning a very romantic trip, well this blog was truly dedicated to my wonderful husband, Vinit.  Je t’aime en France.  This translates to, I love you in France.  I really do! I of course love him everywhere but this trip was all about us and love, even if I refuse to think of myself as a romantic!

Eh, I guess this romance thing isn’t sooo bad… :)

Merci beaucoup,
-Tanya xo

———
Resources:

• My Yelp list of reviews (restaurants and hotels): http://www.yelp.com/list/france-paris-3
• Paris apartment near Arc de Triomphe: http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/59182
• Paris Metro finder (our saving grace in planning how to get around via Metro in Paris): http://www.ratp.fr
• TripAdvisor: in addition to friend’s recommendations, we absolutely trusted tripadvisor.com which was pretty spot on.
• Mariage Freres Thes: This is where I discovered the most delicious and amazing tea while in Cannes. I brought some back but you can also order it online. I highly recommend the Marco Polo tea.

Je ne suis pas un romantique (I’m not a romantic)

I’m not a romantic, I swear.  I’m sort of a simple girl with most things and don’t require a lot, especially in the way of romance. Saying this, I think I might have just planned my dream and very non-romantic vacation.

So in less than a week we’re going to France.

Why France, you ask? Valid question. In 2006 I went to Paris for a couple of weeks, missed my flight home, cried in the middle of the airport on the floor, then decided to take a train to Geneva for a few days instead before coming back. You know, the logical thing to do when you miss your flight and have no hope of ever seeing your home country again. There were some twists and turns to this trip which I don’t want to rehash and which you don’t want to hear about, but the point being, I found Paris to be an amazing city and realized there was so much more to explore.

Still, why Paris you ask, why not see a new place? Again, a great question – thanks for asking you hypothetical person, you!

In July my husband and I watched a movie. It was quite a cute movie and was all about traveling throughout Spain. That very night we came home and started looking for tickets to go to Spain for Labor Day weekend except a few things came up which made it impossible for us to travel during that holiday weekend. While we had researched traveling to Spain, I spent some time looking at maps and it was then I realized how I really longed to return to France and would rather explore more of a country I was so in love with the first time. It was almost like I needed to finish a book I had started – there was still more I wanted to see before we ventured out and began to explore other places nearby.  Or maybe my heart was still in France and I yearned to return badly.  I don’t know. But I knew I needed to go back…  

It was a Friday night in September and we were home, feeling sort of down and in the spur of the moment we decided to just plan a trip to France and get the heck out of here. We didn’t even give it a second thought. A few minutes after this decision, our tickets were bought and instead of trying to cover two countries in a matter of 10 days by going to France and Spain both, we decided to explore the hell out of Paris and Southern France and that leaves me to today, where I am excited to talk about this dream vacation of mine…

In moments like these, it helps to have a sweet, dear husband who doesn’t always understand my moods or gut feelings on things, but who trusts I know what’s good for us and then finds a way to get excited about it. 

So, why is this a dream vacation, you’re wondering – geez you ask all the right questions you little smarty! Let’s be clear about one thing, my friends. Tanya might talk about food and love and flirting with apples and loving her husband but one thing Tanya is NOT is a romantic person. Thank God too, because in this relationship I live in every day, if there were two of us romancers, I’d vomit out of pure grossness and cheeseballness. Can we pass over the ginger chews, please.  My husband has enough romancing to last me a life time and if there were two of us romancing types, we’d never get anything done in life except for gazing at each other all day. So I’m not romantic. However, saying that, I truly feel in my heart of hearts, there is a weird closet romantic side to my personality and imagination. Let me explain….

While we were busy having weddings in the US, India, and Thailand (to the SAME person mind you), my REAL dream wedding was to go to Paris and on a whim, elope and get married there.  I have had this dream as my dream “wedding” my whole life.  My plan would be after us making the decision to elope, running out to buy a white dress I could find in one of Paris’ chic boutiques (as there are so many) near a super charming church (as there are so many) and we’d come running out of this stain glassed chapel with doves flying all around and strangers throwing petals at us as we had huge smiles on our faces, hand in hand, and our clothes and hair flowed just perfectly in the wind. The photos taken during this event would be black and whites and yes… I’ve watched too many movies. OK, so maybe there’s a little bit of a romantic side somewhere in me. I’ll even give you a lot of a romantic side in me, just maybe, and maybe even if there is this romantic side, maybe I’m just not comfortable admitting it. 

The reality was, I ended up having so many weddings in real-life (to the SAME person mind you) that I forgot about my original dream wedding of eloping in Paris.

So, that is an example of my romance thoughts in Paris. But it doesn’t stop there…

This is where my dream vacation comes into play.  I’ve also had this idea in my head about driving through the country side of France, travelling city to city by means of a cute little European car, venturing through small charming rustic towns, integrating with the locals, eating amazing French food, enjoying beaucoup des café au laits, and taking in the French culture with cute outfits and my super sweet and cutie of a husband in hand. Not romantic at all. I know.  So, this has been my DREAM vacation since I was probably in 4th grade when I first started taking French lessons.  I know, that’s a long time waiting now…

Well, we did it! We planned this very non-romantic trip doing all these things and I’m beaming with excitement about it.  So what are we doing exactly? Are you ready for this?  Over the course of 10 days here’s what we’re doing……

<drum roll>

…and keep in mind, in the cities we will be exploring, I have every intention of doing just what I said: “venturing through small charming rustic towns, integrating with the locals, eating amazing French food, beaucoup des café au laits, and taking in the French culture with cute outfits and my super sweet and cutie of a husband in hand. Not romantic at all. Nope.”

We are staying in a charming apartment right near the La Tour Eiffel the first four days in Paris.
We have plans to meet up with a friend I made while traveling by train from Paris to Geneva who I’ve still kept in touch with.
We will wander aimlessly throughout Le Marais and do some amazing shopping there.
We will eat the most wonderful French food we can get our hands on and visit all the cute little cafes we possibly can.
We will hit the Musee D’Orsay and see the St Chappelle Church. If I’m lucky we will come out of the church in our wedding outfits so we can add another country to our “places we’ve been married” list.
We got tickets for a formal candle lit dinner cruise along the seine river in the evening admiring the city all lit up in the night.
We are doing a half day scooter tour to cover all the main attractions.
We have tickets to the top of Le Tour Eiffel.
We will take the TGV train down to Avignon.
We will pick up our rental car and drive to the cities of Gordes, Bonnieux, Aix En Provence and end that day in Cassis.
We will then explore Cassis the next day and then head to St. Tropez, Mougins and Cannes where we’ll stay that night.
The next day we’ll do some more sightseeing in Antibes, St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Eze and Nice.
Next on the agenda is a full day in Monte Carlo before hopping on a flight back to Paris.
Our final day in Paris we will be staying in Saint-Germaine-des-Pres where we have splurged on a charming hotel, and will visit the Jardin du Luxembourg and explore everything Saint G has to offer!

Ahhhhh… bliss.  Total bliss, I cannot wait and I’m in la-la land just thinking about it!

And who’s NOT the romantic here??

-Tanya Parles

My first trip to Thailand

I write this while I’m utterly jetlagged so bare with me if most of this is incoherent, I am half asleep :)

Yes, my first trip to Thailand.  I say first because this is a place I definitely want to return to, over and over and over. I am officially in love with this country and can’t wait to explore more of Thailand in trips to come.

First impressions:

Weather: So we went during monsoon season so the weather was on the hotter and humid side. Ironically, Bangkok was quite a bit hotter than Phuket. In Phuket, the storms were very prevalent. The day consisted of a dozen weather changes from warm, clear and sunny to cloudy, downpours and thunder. Of course, I love that sorta thing.

Environment: I think for me this was most shocking and unexpected but my mom kept saying that had she not known she was in Thailand, it could have simply been another city in the US, like parts of southern California for example. She was right. It was a super clean country in every way with a tropical landscape and very beautiful. The streets and city infrastructure is also in pristine shape and maintained very well. To me, Thailand reminded me of the combination of Mexico and Hawaii. There was this constant natural fragrant smell in the air with a tropical, lush green environment like Hawaii, and with amazing food and a cute little historical town like when we went to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

(photo courtesy kamran)

People: Vinit always said the people of Thailand are very modest and humble but he was not kidding. It was very apparent right away that the people were super friendly, respectful, gracious, soft-spoken and humble. I was most impressed by the people of Thailand and their warm and inviting nature made our visit even more special. The people stood out from any other place I’ve been to before.

Food: The variety of fruit here is at a level I could not possibly comprehend before this trip. In fact, I did not know so many fruit variations existed like this! It was absolutely ridiculous. The fruit in Thailand such as mango, pineapple, guava tasted so much better than in the US. Awesta and David pointed out that the food in general just tasted a little bit better than what we’re used to and they were right. Seafood is a staple here and that was very apparent which was great for my mom. As vegetarians, we never found issues ordering either and our favorite was always the sautéed vegetables. At all the restaurants we went to, we did not have one lousy experience.  The food was extremely memorable on this trip.

So as a country and a first time visitor, these were my first impressions. Now for our trip :)

Our Arrival.

We arrived on Friday, May 27^th and Papaji met us at the airport. I was sort of nervous as this was my second time meeting Papaji and Mummyji but he was very, very warm and sweet in welcoming us and I felt very comfortable right away. We drove to Ang Thong, where he and Mummyji lived and Neda got settled into the bungalow she was staying in, and we settled into our rooms in Vinit’s parents house. The house was full of relatives who had flown in from India and I was shocked to see how many were there, whom I had met last December in India. Mummyji was so sweet and it was also so nice to see my Bhabhi as well.

That evening I had mehendi applied in preparation for the reception the next day and later on Awesta and David arrived. We all had dinner (mummyji’s cooking) and then went to sleep early.

The next day, our friends including Kamran who had arrived late in the night, joined us for mummyji’s Poha and Chai and then we began getting ready for the reception. Neda, Awesta and I got our hair done in the city of Ang Thong and then they went to the venue. Everyone left and I stayed behind so Bhabhi and Mummyji could help me get ready then off we went to Ayutthaya for the reception.

Our Reception.

We arrived at our venue and I was blown away to see all the work that had gone into this event! I had no idea! There were posters made of some of our photos, the decorations were gorgeous and it suddenly hit me what we were there for, lol!

We greeted all of the guests which totaled to be around 452 and then the event started. With 2 Thai flower throwers and 2 little girls walking in front of us, we entered the banquet room and were introduced to all our guests. We were seated at our table and two Thai dancers performed a very beautiful love story through interpretative dance. After that, my friends who joined the trip from the US were introduced and thanked by Vinit’s family for making it all the way out to Thailand to be present at such an important event for us. My mom was also introduced to the audience on the stage and she was quite embarrassed you could tell. After that, the MC told the audience I was learning Hindi and handed me the microphone to speak all the Hindi words I could say. Having rehearsed this part before, I said in Hindi that I was happy to meet everybody and thanks for attending the event. I said, while I’m learning Hindi, the words I know best are related to food such as …. then listed out all the different spices, dishes and foods I knew of in Hindi. The crowd was entertained and laughing which we were hoping my poor Hindi would add a little humor to it all.

A presentation was then shown and as hard as I tried to fight the tears I couldn’t help it. The presentation started out in showing my child hood and baby photos with some text around my favorite hobbies and other things I enjoyed doing as a child with the “Barbie girl” song. The show then switched to my college graduation at UW showing photos of me playing the song “Pretty Woman” and the collection forwarded to my life as an adult with friends and family. This same sequence took place for Vinit – first his childhood photos and then young adult to current photos. After that, came the photos of us together which told a really beautiful story about our relationship.

I was so touched and emotional I just could not hide it.

We were then asked to come to the stage and that is where Papaji’s boss greeted us, gave us his blessing then gave a speech/toast about us. He talked about how our relationship was a special one, we come from two very different worlds, and the odds of us finding each other were not great, unless we were absolutely destined to be together in which case there was no doubt about that. Another family friend presented a speech and talked about how we had been together for 4 years and how important it was to have approval of our relationship. Then the MC spoke and told us that we are not alone in this world, that although we live far, with marriage there will be our tough times and that everyone in the room was our family who we could turn to whenever we needed them. That we need not feel alone.

It was truly the sweetest thing.

After that, we cut the cake and danced the rest of the night. At one point Vinit dj’d a little bit since there were some music difficulties and it was just too much fun!  I was just very touched by every part of the event and it could not have been more perfect. I truly felt lucky.

On to Bangkok.

The next morning we woke up at the resort and just us friends headed to Bangkok. We checked into the Banyan Tree in Bangkok city and were blown away by this hotel.

We went and had lunch nearby at a nice restaurant then went shopping at MBK which was a popular mall. Later that evening we went upstairs for drinks then took a cab to Mango Tree, a yummy restaurant, and then moseyed throughout the night market where we saw a lot of *interesting* things to say the least. Ping pong is quite popular in Thailand apparently. My mom stayed behind because she wanted to nap so as soon as we entered the hotel we saw my mom patiently sitting in the lobby of our hotel. Wondering what was wrong she looked at us and said “you’re never going to believe what just happened.”

Oh no. What happened, we inquired.

She told us that the room she was sharing with Neda did not have working A/C so she told the front desk.  After 5 calls to the front desk, due to her inconvenience, they upgraded her to the Presidential Suite! They also gave her and Neda 2 vouchers for a free dinner! It was hilarious! The suite was PHat with a capital PH and we were all laughing at what just happened. My mom just looked shocked and didn’t know what just happened!

Here is a silly video shows my mom giving a tour of the presidential suite that night! You’ll get a good laugh out of it for sure!

The next day our driver came to pick us up and after thinking we were going to see the Emerald Buddha, we found ourselves at the Human Imagery Museum, aka Wax Museum. We were annoyed at first since we made it clear where we wanted to go but ended up somewhere else, then decided to make the most of it and had a lot of fun with the museum!  We decided to just flow…

After that we went to see the real Emerald Buddha and palace in the center of Bangkok but it was so hot that day we felt like we were melting.

This is a photo of Vinit and Kamran wearing some super silly pants. Upon entering the palace we were told that we could not wear sleeveless or shorts so I put on my sweater and Kamran and Vinit were forced to rent pants. THESE PANTS. The funniest part was I thought we’d see quite a few people at this attraction wearing similar pants. NOT. Not a single person was wearing the outrageous pants and in fact even the Thai’s were staring at Kamran and Vinit as if they were clowns. It was just too funny.

After that, we went back to the hotel, snacked, and Vinit, Kamran and I ordered room service which consisted of pizza and phad thai.  It was perfect!

That evening Vinit and I went for a very luxurious couple’s foot massage at Banyan Tree and decided this is our new favorite hotel chain. We were addicted to the Roselle tea, the scents in everything they used on us (lotions, oils, etc) and we came home with a few nice Banyan souvenirs. This hotel is off the hook. I highly recommend it!

That evening we met with everyone at Saffron for a lovely dinner then headed up to the Moon Bar at the top of the hotel. It was mind blowing!  The view overlooked the city and we could see everything!

That night we sadly said our goodbyes to David and Awesta since we were off to Phuket the next day and they would be returning back to Canada.

Island Time!

We arrived in Phuket and were a little unsure about it since it seemed like a small town. We arrived at the Amari hotel which was okay but being we just got spoiled rotten at Banyan Tree we were being a bit pricy at first with our accommodations and started looking for a villa to rent, lol!

Distracted by the weather, we got situated in our rooms and the weather outside went from sunny and clear skies to monsoon type conditions! It was totally crazy! We ventured out into the pouring rain and went to an ocean side restaurant which was fantastic with the monsoon rain and winds in the background, it was quite fun! The next day we planned to go to Phi Phi so we went to sleep after that.

We woke up and the monsoon like weather was still going on. Unsure of how the day would progress, we talked to the concierge who told us to wait an extra day before going to Phi Phi. The latter half of the morning the weather started to clear very nicely so we went shopping in the town and then headed to the beach. Suddenly the weather shifted again and we found ourselves in an Italian restaurant ducking for cover, where we had some good ol’ Italian food. We ran back home and decided to eat in at the hotel and called it a night. We decided rain, shine, monsoon or blizzard, we were going to go to Phi Phi no matter what the next day.

We woke up ready to go and a driver picked us up for our private boat tour. We were then told the waves were going to be around 6 ft high so it was important we all be prepared for sea sickness and to take some Dramamine to help with it as it was an hour boat ride. We took the pills but I was super nervous about the whole thing. We got into the boat and the first half of it I felt terrible! Once I started slowly feeling netter (Dramamine kicked in) then my mom felt terrible, then Vinit felt terrible… We arrived to Maya Bay and my mom and Vinit lied down on the beach in trying to fight off the nausea.

We then headed around the islands for a boat tour a little bit more and were dropped off at Phi Phi where we strolled about the little market there and had pizza for lunch. At this point the weather was taking form yet again so our boat driver found us in the market and said we had to go back to Phuket right away before the weather got any worse. We all took another dose of Dramamine and were all fine on the way back even though the water was definitely choppier.

The night we went to a restaurant called White Box and had a nice modern restaurant experience and then off to sleep we went!

Back to Bangkok we go!

The next day we dropped Kamran off at his hotel as he was leaving early in the morning on Saturday and Neda went shopping with us before catching her flight.  We realized our trip was coming to an end and we were all quite sad about it.

(photo courtesy kamran)

We were a bit pressed for time so we didn’t get to do the shopping we had wanted to before Neda had to rush to the airport. We then headed back to Ang Thong for some quality time with the family but before that we did insane shopping. This is the part I wish my friends could have done with me but we had not discovered it then. We finally found the cheap and amazing shopping there we heard so much about!

Family Time.

The next few days were spent with the family while several of the relatives left for India. I had some nice chats with Papaji and one night Mummyji told us childhood stories of Vinit which were just hilarious. Papaji kept stressing the fact that he felt I was working too hard and to just take it easy, money wasn’t everything. I assured him I was enjoying everything quite a bit but that I would watch it.  He and Vinit went to get haircuts one day and after they got back Papaji said that Vinit was a really great guy and that if there are ever problems in the marriage to please never give up.  It made me sad on one hand, that the fear of divorce was apparent not just to his parents but to others in the community being that I was American.  On the other hand I could not have agreed and understood those fears better since rates in the US are so much greater than other places.  I could appreciate the reinforcement of "through thick and through thin" and I realized our relationship is a first time kind of thing for them so there were some very valid concerns.

It was a really special bonding time and I would not have traded it for anything.

It was sad when it was time to leave but I left feeling like we had a very fun filled and happy trip. It could not have been any better. I’m in love with this country and I am getting to know my in-laws more and more.

It was nice to be able to be in Thailand and spend some time with my in-laws though it felt very short.  The time was very endearing and I’m so happy with the time spent with them.  I am excited to see my relationship with my in-laws growing and there is so much love I feel between us.

As for my friends who accompanied us on the trip, they absolutely MADE this trip for me.  It was so nice having them there and I am beyond appreciative for their presence.  Each one of them who came along, made it so special for Vinit and I and I will be forever grateful to each of them.  In fact, as each friend departed, I really missed them and it made me realize just how much I treasure those close to me.  The dynamics of the group were a lot of fun too and I’m pleased with how everything turned out.

This was indeed the most wonderful trip full of moments I’ll never forget.

-Tanya

Bangkok, Here We Come!

Alright friends, we are off to paradise.  I already heard from my friend who has been there since Sunday.  She talked about not wanting to come back.  I just got a little bit more excited :)

Expect a Thailand Blog Post shortly :)

xoxo

Voyager (Travel)

Nothing touches me more than those who are socially aware and are able to advocate for a more united world. It might be the Aquarius in me but I’m always very touched by people who are trying to make a difference.  I find, especially here in America, it is so easy to get caught up with what goes on right in front of us, forgetting what is out there beyond what we can see. It was great seeing Les Nubians last night and being reminded of their mission to unite and bring people together from all over in promoting social responsibility and being participatory at a more global level.  At the end of the day, I realized – I could care less how big Kim Kardashian’s butt really is, but world peace… now we’re on to something.

Les Nubians are citizens of the world and you can really feel it in their presence. Last night at their concert they talked about 3^rd world countries such as India, Brazil and several others who are doing great things in building a better nation for themselves. They ended that thought with, watch out everybody, Africa is next!

Love it!

This song is one of my favorites and comes from an album they released in 1998, Princesses Nubiennes and is my favorite album to date though I haven’t given more recent album enough attention such as Nu Revolution.

If you like this song, check out makeda and les portes du souvenir. Enjoy :)

Under a blazing sun
N’ Djamena-la-Belle is woken
The muezzin calls to the believers of his sweet voice
Thanking the Almighty of its kindness.
I take in my memory
The flavours of these hours,
The songs and the voices, the pains and tears
Over there, I saw war and hope but,
Somewhere else, we make a better difference.

Leave far and discover
Which air the humanity inhales
How others live
Under other lights.
Travel

Travel, nothing is more essential to me
Pack my bags, in search of other images more real
Than those of the current shop windows,
Mirrors of ignorance and extreme smugness.
I declare myself a universal citizen
I offer myself an earth woman’s passport,
Decide that any earth will be mine.
Rio, Yaounde, Paris, it is all the same.
Each his karma, mine is to be a Nubian.

Leave far and discover
Which air the humanity inhales
How our contemporaries live
Under other lights.
Far from here

Travel
Go far, always go farther.

Paradise in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

This *ridiculously long* blog is the story of a quick 4-night and 5-day mini getaway we took April 15-19 to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I tried to recount our trip during a flight back from Mexico so hopefully I’ve properly captured the highlights here.

Thursday

Sonia and Mukhi arrived at our house at 245AM, picked us up and dropped us off to the airport. Bless their hearts for being so thoughtful and willing to do this. I kept telling Vinit there’s no way I would let anyone bring us to the airport at such an hour but he said the Gadkari’s insisted! Sonia’s little prego tummy was looking so very cute too!

They dropped us off at the airport and we caught a very early flight to PHX. We were both very sleep-deprived so being excited about PVR was not at all existent at this point. We got on our PVR flight from PHX and tried to sleep when we could along the way. I was freezing cold during both flights and was pretty cranky. We finally landed in PVR and I was nervous about eating, breathing, what to drink, was ice OK, etc. We made it through customs and we proceed to exchange USD for pesos. We got pretty ripped off at the airport and we quickly learned never to exchange money at the airport. Even our hotel gave us a much better rate, had we just waited. While trying to figure out the cab situation, a very friendly man greeted us by the name of Guillermo. He asked us what plans we had while in PVR and we told him we had only made one reservation and that would be for Zip lining on Saturday. He asked if were there on our honeymoon and we told him we were so he suggested Rhythm of the Nights. He also told us not to go snorkeling this time of year as it was not good snorkeling season, though we would be told it is, and he gave us many tips on how to stay safe, how to bargain with the locals, basic know-hows in Mexico and where to avoid getting tricked or scammed. Then there it came… he then told us he was with a timeshare company located in Puerto Nuevo and if we agreed to sit thru a 1 hour presentation we would get:

· A cab ride right then and there from the airport to our hotel

· 2 rhythm of the nights tickets (worth $95 each)

· 1 bottle of tequila

· Transportation to and from the Puerto Nuevo site

We hesitated for a while but he assured us we did not have to buy anything and there were no obligations. Us liking the sound of free, we accepted his invitation and signed at the dotted line. He informed us he would pick us up at 10AM the next day and that was that. Next thing we knew, Guillermo arranged a free cab for us and off we went to our hotel, The Westin Spa & Resort. We arrived at our hotel and oooh’d and awww’d the beautiful hotel which stood before us. As the Westin never disappoints, we were greeted by a tiny thin man with Elton John glasses named Pedro and he was a very kind and warm friendly man. He helped us get checked in and we were escorted up to our room, room #1101 on the 11^th floor overlooking the ocean. Our room had modern décor, richly painted walls, with the signature Westin white comfy bed. Our room was gorgeous! Our view was even better with flowers falling into our balcony from above. We had huge smiles on our faces. HUGE!

We quickly unpacked and changed then decided to check out the tikki bars we saw from above in our room. We headed over to a bar and Vinit ordered a margarita and I ordered a virgin pina colada. Still nervous about the ice there I drank half when I decided if I drank anymore I’d surely get ill. We went back up to our room to get ready for the night when we heard a knock at our door. Delivered by the chef himself, were decorated chocolate covered strawberries and a chilled bottle of champagne in a bucket of ice with flutes, compliments of the Westin! Wow! We quickly took down a couple of the strawberries saving the rest for later and we got ready for the night. We made our way downstairs and talked to Pedro about how to get around town. He told us that the bus was the best and easiest way to get around and gave us directions on what we needed to do. We ventured out to the downtown area, a 25 minute bus ride from where we were staying and we saw an absolutely beautiful city full of hillside houses and restaurants, a gorgeous boardwalk, and lots of fun little shops. The architecture was also very beautiful. We stopped in at a restaurant called “Punta” and ordered vegetarian fajitas which were extremely fresh and very tasty. By this time I was starting to warm up to the food and drink there without worrying too much about illness and I finally started to really enjoyed myself. We walked along the boardwalk then found the bus stop we needed to be at in getting back to our hotel. We called it an early night since we would have to wake up fairly early to meet Guillermo and we had already been up since 245AM.

The trip was looking good so far and we were super excited to see what PVR had in store.

Friday

Annoyed we had to wake up early, we forced ourselves to get up at 950AM to meet Guillermo at the front of our hotel at 10AM. Standing and waving to us from the street which was in front of the resort he flagged us down and we greeted him at his car. Guillermo was a friendly guy, there’s no doubt about it, and he picked us up and took us to Puerto Nuevo so we could look at timeshares we knew and he knew we’d never buy. Guillermo was quite helpful too! I confessed I was a paranoid American and I asked him about the crushed ice in PVR and he told me quite honestly, every place used purified water and this includes purified ice there, but he said he was glad I asked rather than being nervous the rest of the trip. He assured me to just drink bottled water, not tap water, and that the restaurants and hotels were really safe there, oh and to definitely avoid street food. I asked him about a few restaurants, one was a restaurant at the top of a mountain which a spectacular view, one was Barcelona Tapas. He did not even hesitate to recommend Barcelona Tapas saying the food was to die for but the other place had lousy food though of course a great view.

We got to the Puerto Nuevo resort, which I do admit was amazing, and we were greeted by some more people who did some paperwork on us and then introduced us to our agent. Our agent took us to the resort restaurant and we were then fed breakfast from quite an elaborate buffet and our agent attempted to develop rapport with us. We talked about some of our traveling habits and goals and then asked us to leave the waiters a tip for breakfast and off we went to look at some units. We knew this was part of the deal. We looked at some unbelievable model units then the agent took us into a room where he started working the numbers, calculating how much we would spend in a lifetime on vacation and how this deal would save us money on that. It was interesting to hear his schpeel on everything actually and we ended up learning quite a bit! We obviously pushed back as we were not ready to drop $43K on a timeshare and informed our agent we were not interested. Well he tried even harder. Then other reps came and tried even harder and harder and Vinit finally started telling them he never paid his bills on time and only made minimum payments, trying to convince them we would never qualify anyway. It was hilarious. They still tried even after he said that.

After two hours of being there, they finally gave us our free Rhythm of the Nights tickets with a bottle of tequila and we were on our way back to the hotel in a cab. We reached our hotel and were welcomed back by Pedro’s smiley face, and hurried to our room where we changed into our swimsuits and headed to the beach. We found ourselves a nice cozy straw hut on the beach where we proceeded to order margaritas, and more margaritas… and more margaritas. When I refer to ordering “margaritas” in this blog it means the following:

Vinit = blended margarita.
Tanya = blended virgin strawberry margarita, not a lot of lime.

We also discovered the best tortilla chips and guacamole we ever had on our trip while ordering beach food service to our little hut. We relaxed and enjoyed the sun then moved ourselves to the pool area where we both swam. It was paradise for sure. We were in PVR heaven.

We went back to our hotel room and got dressed up for our “rhythm of the nights” experience, courtesy Puerto Nuevo Resort and Guillermo. Pedro gave us perfect instructions on how to get to where we needed to be, then told us we were in for the perfect, most romantic evening Puerto Vallarta had to offer us. We arrived at the marina and waited to board our boat. At around 6PM, we boarded our boat with about 100 other people, mostly couples and off we went. Once on the boat, it was booze city – free drinks being passed around by the waitstaff until you told them to stop and in my case it was bottled water. The staff entertained us for the next hour as we journeyed to a location you can only get to by boat.

As we began to approach our destination, we could see the land was lit up by tikki torches and candles everywhere along the beach. We could see beach side dining tables and in the trees were painted people beating drums and blowing into shells. The beat of this place was fantastic! We were immediately fed from a gourmet buffet outside and seated at a candle lit table on the beach bordering the water. There were crabs right in front of us on the rocks peaking out of the ocean! The food was out of this world and we did multiple rounds. The service was top notch and we were literally in the wild, near a jungle just bordering the ocean. Towards the end of our dinner, we saw two more boats, larger boats with more people arriving at the dock. We were then escorted up into the rainforest and seated in an area where all around us those painted people peaked at us from the tops of trees, or behind Mayan statues. Seconds later the show began and we proceeded to watch a very beautiful theatrical, interpretive and artistic Mayan dance performance. The dancers were incredibly talented and in such perfect shape. It was fantastic. A very magical experience I must say!

I recommend this to anyone who goes to PVR. The time we spent at the condo site earlier, waking up early and having to meet Guillermo, listening to all that talk about time shares and trying our best to falsely convince the sales people we were ridiculously in debt, was worth every minute for getting to go on this rhythm of the nights tour for free. Completely worth it. For the record, everything Guillermo promised us as a deal to attend the presentation was received.

Once the show ended, we were boarded back onto our boats, while the other two boats stayed and had their dinner, and it was a party boat all the way back to shore. There was great music, lots of drinks being served even quicker this time, and everyone was dancing all over the boat. It was a lot of fun to watch.

Saturday

We managed to sleep in finally and woke up around 1130AM. We had to quickly get up and head to our Zip line Tour pick-up location which we later realized was in the Romantico district. We took a cab as we did not yet trust our navigation skills and we checked in for our reservation. We realized we had not yet eaten breakfast yet so we asked if there were any restaurants nearby and the tour representative informed us, nothing we would have much time for since we only had 20 minutes till we would be boarding the bus. We found a nearby gas station and I bought croissants and some gas station coffee and we were on our way. I was feeling very anxious and nervous at this point. Turns out later, so was Vinit. I didn’t know what to expect from zip lining but I was very scared. We got on the tour bus, along with a group of 6 other people who were together and vacationing from California who looked slightly younger than us, and the driver told us we would be at our destination in about 40 minutes. The roads were windy and pretty scary and we made our way into the jungle. I do admit, as nervous as I was, the drive to the jungle was simply gorgeous. It was the windy roads, the local living with roosters alongside the dirt streets, the locals selling fruits and vegetables; all very fascinating to see how people lived, and in a very lush and tropical vegetation area. We did pass one place which was called “Alfredo – The Emperor of Fettuccine” and I laughed and laughed when I saw such a name. Hilarious title for a place!

As soon as we got to the rainforest, we were greeted by some others who told us we could lock up our belongings in their lockers. I proceeded to put my purse and wallet in the locker, then the man locked up the locker and kept the keys. WTF. I asked the others in the group if they were going to lock up their items and they said no, as they only had backpacks and the whole place seemed just slightly shady. We were then greeted by a group of loud, possibly drunk, and wild and crazy dudes who informed us they were our tour guides and then they yelled out, “Welcome to the Jungle, baaaaby!” I just about fainted right then and there. Even more nervous now, I told them I was scared and they said not to worry, it would be a lot of fun, that is, if I lived through it.

They suited us up with helmets and a harness along with a pulley I could barely even carry it was so heavy and off into the mountains we trekked. Now, one thing to note about zip lining if you ever plan on going on the Los Veranos tour is, you need to be in somewhat ok physical shape. I myself am not, so combine a nervous stomach with fainting like feelings then being told I have to go hike uphill in a jungle in the hot sun, not a good combo. I felt like total crap. We finally got to our first zip line when I just want to pass out and they literally strapped person by person and sent them off, them yelling and screaming the whole time. These guys were absolutely crazy!!! I have to say (after the fact) the energy coming from these guys made this adventure so much fun. I had no time to even hesitate as before I knew it I was zipping down my first line not knowing what was going on. OK, so that wasn’t so bad. On to zip line number two which meant more uphill hiking which was even harder to climb than before. From there, each zip line became increasingly longer, increasingly higher and you it took a good few lines till I settled down and was no longer nervous.

The guys were just insane though. They were screaming and doing crazy stunts the whole time and having their own little side party while creating a dvd for us which we ended up buying. The crazy tour guides then started going tandem on the zip lines with the participants filming reactions of people screaming. And then it was my turn. I begged up and down for them to not ride with me as they wanted me to go backwards and they let me go ahead though now I wish I would have just gone with them for better CD coverage. Vinit was well into it at this point also doing his own stunts with the guys and for the trickier lines, the guys were going tandem with Vinit for added adventure. One of the last lines I went on, I finally let two guys come with me one in front, one in back and it was a fricken blast!! They asked me before leaping off the platform, “Are you ready to be a Ninja, baby?!!!” YES, I WAS READY!! We had the TIME of our lives!!! It was total adventure and as we kept on zip lining the various lines; it only got better and better and was loads of fun!!

Once the zip lining concluded we were then dropped off at a tequila hut where they encouraged you to drink (which meant, pay 3x the normal amount for anything) and I had a $3 diet coke. There was a river nearby and some people on the tour were making their way into the water to cool off from the sun’s heat.

After this was finally over, our bus driver with margarita in hand, escorted us onto the bus and proceeded to drive us back to the city from the jungle. Nervously watching our driver drink and turn on the windy roads, he made a beer stop at a local market where we saw all the crazy tour guides. The crazy guides got on our bus with beers in hand and proceeded to sing all the way back at the top of their lungs. That was the most entertaining bus ride I’ve ever had. “To the windows…. To the wall…” Fricken hilarious!! “All the people on the bus from India put your hands up!” They were too funny! One of the participants from the group, referred to as “paquia” by the guides, was *encouraged* to down his beer on the bus which he did. The crazy guides would not leave that guy alone since it was his birthday!

The tour bus dropped us at our hotel and by this time we were famished. We dined at one of the many restaurants located at the Westin and this ended up being our most expensive meal of the trip at $50USD for a late lunch. We headed back to our room and freshened up to go out downtown for a night of clubbing.

We headed into town by bus and stopped at the well-known “zoo” club. It was pretty crazy… servers walked around giving tequila shots to women, shaking their heads then grabbing their chests! One of the servers came up to me but I quickly declined her offer. We had nachos at this venue and people watched along with listened to great music which had corresponding videos on their screens all around. It was great! After over eating we decided we needed some air and hit the boardwalk where we walked up and down the strip which was pretty packed full of people. We hopped in a cab, headed back to our hotel, and against our initial will while on vacation, decided to get online to let everyone know we were OK. This meant calling my mom and updating our Facebook statuses.

It was indeed a fun, fun, fun adventurous day.

Sunday

We woke up around 10AM and we had our agenda planned for the day which included first and foremost, shopping. We wanted to explore the downtown area as well as the Romantico District since we had heard a lot of hype about it. We also wanted to get in some beach time but that was definitely not as high in priority. The other important agenda item we had was to finally make our way to the recommended, well rated restaurant, Barcelona Tapas which was located downtown with a supposed panoramic view of the city. This restaurant we were also told was extremely romantic for couples as well.

Feeling pretty comfortable with our navigation skills at this point, we took the bus to the Romantico District and found ourselves at the ocean front, trying to choose a lunch place. We settled on a restaurant which we talked the host into still serving us breakfast though it was about 1pm at this point and he sat us at a table on the beach. Vinit ordered a vegetable quesadilla and I ordered a vegetarian omelet. Vinit inhaled his food and was in awe with how tasty his quesadilla was. Apparently there was very little cheese and an assortment of sautéed vegetables which he just could not get over. My omelet was great but as my paranoia took over, I started to question the eggs, though of course they were just fine. Being paranoid at the time, I ate but just a few. I have a feeling the times in which I found myself paranoid had to do with things I was seeing which made me question what I myself was eating though mine was perfectly safe. We watched people walking around selling old and stale skewers of fish and various meats on the beach in the hot sun which just looked like a case of food poisoning if I’ve ever seen one.

After lunch, we continued to walk along the streets in this district only to find that a lot of places were closed on Sundays. We made our way back to the downtown area by foot when we realized we had not gotten anywhere in terms of shopping. Frustrated we found a taxi who took us to the well-known flea market nearby and we bought a few souvenirs there but for the most part, there were minimal booths and the bargaining was not as good as we had hoped.

We made our way to a bus stop and we took the bus to the Galleria, a popular shopping mall in PVR. As soon as I walked into the mall I was in heaven with Starbucks right in eye’s view. Haha! The funny thing was, I didn’t even have anything from Starbucks but the comfort of seeing one made me really happy. We went to a store called Liverpool, which is sort of like a Macy’s only there’s just so much more, and Vinit listened to Latin music in search of finding new tunes, and I moseyed around. I ended up buying most of my gifts for friends there at the mall as well as a few souvenirs for myself. While shopping, Vinit discovered Japonase, which were these nuts, or at least like nuts and he really loved these.

Around 630PM, we headed back to the hotel on the bus and quickly changed into our swimsuits for some beach time before the sun went down. We laid by the pool and ordered some margaritas and just enjoyed the relaxation time after being on our feet all day trekking around the city. We must have walked 5 hours straight, I swear.

We headed back to our room only to find our bed adorned with towels in the shape of a heart and beautiful flowers on our bed. Did I mention I loved the Westin? We got ready to finally head to the long awaited, super hyped, Barcelona Tapas in the downtown area.

We greeted Pedro on our way out who by this time felt like family. He told me I looked very Bonita and when we told him where we were headed to, his eyes got big and he rubbed his stomach saying we were making him very hungry. He said this was an excellent choice and we would not be disappointed. We hopped on the bus and headed to the city for the final time on our trip. Having done our research we knew exactly where to get off the bus and we hiked up a couple cobblestone street blocks which were around a 30 degree incline, and low and behold there was the place! After climbing 3 or 4 flights of stairs as this restaurant was multi-story we made our way to the top. The first thing we were asked was if we were honeymooners which we responded yes to and they sat us at the best table in the house. We were immediately brought a complimentary tapa, the garlic potato salad along with bread and olive oil. The table was candle lit and everyone was right, it was extremely quaint and romantic. We had a view of the entire city and area from our table and we were sitting up pretty high.

It was an absolutely stunning view.

We proceeded to tell the waiter we were vegetarian and then saw just how many vegetarian options the menu had. Everything looked so decadent. He advised that the way in which the restaurant worked, we should order 3-4 tapas (appetizer-sized dishes) and so we followed that advice. I would love to be able to tell you what we ordered but frankly, I have no idea but here’s an attempt. The first two tapas that came out was a chilled eggplant dish with a roasted red pepper on top, along with a stew of vegetables soaked in a tomato puree topped with manchego cheese. The next round of tapas was the sautéed mushrooms with a white cream sauce and red chili flakes which made this dish very tasty and a little spicy. Lastly, was my favorite dish of the entire night, an amazing bed of fettuccine accompanied with asparagus spears, squash, some sort of native chilis, spinach and other vegetables tossed in a light alfredo sauce. That dish was to die for. I finally got my Alfredo, the emperor of fettuccine! By the time this round of food came, we were much too stuffed to eat any more so we ate what we could and took the rest to go. The waiter then brought us Americanos and a honeymooner’s complimentary crème de tequila on some chilled ice. Vinit drank the tequila and told me I’d never ever like it but I thought what the heck, I’m sure I won’t like it but since it was complimentary for us, I could at least try it. Well, I actually liked it. I took in total maybe 5 sips or so as I was too full to take in anymore but loved the taste. I asked the waiter what the name of this was and he said that you could only get crème de tequila in Mexico, not in the states. He suggested if we wanted to take any back with us that we visit the distillery where it is made nearby. I liked it, but not enough to seek it out.

We left Barcelona Tapas and concluded this was the most amazing dinner in the most romantic setting we could have possibly had. It was heavenly.

Monday

We woke up around 10AM and called the Westin Spa. We scheduled a couple’s massage beach side as a way to end our beyond perfect vacation. Well, it just became a little bit more perfect. Our appointment was at 11AM and I know I have never had such a pampering massage in the States. It was amazing. Not only did they cover every inch as you listened to the waves crash in front of you, but the head and face massage included was amazing. The eucalyptus aroma combined with the ocean smell made this experience heavenly bliss.

After the relaxing massages, we hurried back to our hotel to do the small amount of packing needed and we asked room service to heat up left overs from Sunday’s amazing dinner. We checked out and headed to the beach for a couple more hours of some good rays. After all, we did not get a lot of beach time not realizing just how much PVR had to offer. We laid on the beach and ordered margaritas and their infamous chips and guac along with cheese quesadillas and soaked in the last few moments we could.

Around 230PM we headed to the spa where we were able to shower and get ready and then headed to the lobby to say good-bye to Pedro. Pedro was unfortunately on his lunch break so we left him a note along with some pesos and thanked him from the “honeymooners.” We hopped in a cab and arrived at the airport just 5 minutes later where we had to wait in a long line to check-in.

As we were walking to our gate, we passed multiple duty free shops when I decided to ask if any of the shops sold the delicious crème de tequila I had tried the night before. To our surprise, we found it so we bought a bottle. It’ll be interesting to see if I actually consume any but one thing I can say is if I do, it’ll forever remind me of our memorable night at Barcelona Tapas. Vinit bought himself a good bottle of tequila and we then boarded the plane.

We were very sad to leave. This was indeed an amazing honeymoon/spontaneous vacation for us. We really had the time of our lives and this was a trip we will never forget. Our plans, our time, the place, everything we did, could not have been any more perfect. We both marveled and raved with how wonderful it was and we decided we will definitely be returning, perhaps next time, as Vinit kept saying, with a little yoni singh in tote.

I feel this trip brought my YoniSingh and I much closer. As many know, we have not yet gone on a vacation, alone, where nothing was required of us but to just relax and enjoy each other. I realized one thing: I definitely have the best YoniSingh a girl could ask for. There were a number of times he carried my purse, the beach bag, our towels and I’d look and realize I had nothing in hand and he wouldn’t even let me carry anything. The way he takes care of me is something like I’ve never experienced or seen. Just when I thought I couldn’t love him more than I already do…

Mucho Gracias Puerto Vallarta! This was a trip of a lifetime for us!

My India Adventure

While I always thought I’d have this great blog at the end of my first trip to India, I unfortunately didn’t have a chance to document all the feelings and emotions I was having while there.  I wish I would have but the memories I have of our trip are still very vivid, being back a few weeks now.   This blog will hopefully not offend anybody as what I write is simply perspective and observation.

First and foremost, my impression of India in one word is: different.  It is different from anything I had ever seen, anything I’ve ever known and while many people said it was something you had to experience to understand just how different it is, I realized they were absolutely right.  I don’t think I could have pictured or imagined the reality of India at all before having seen this country.  I think initially for the first week or so, I was having a hard time getting used to the environment, the cities, the poverty I would see, the food, and the way people lived.  It wasn’t until the tail end of the trip things finally started to feel more normal and I began adjusting better.

Below is a collection of my main observations during our trip.  To give some background, here are some trip facts:

·           18 days in India
·            6 cities
·           11 flights with a total of 46 hours flying time
·            3 days in a car with a driver driving from city to city
·            1 case of Delhi Belly
·            6 pounds weight loss
·            2 weddings, 1 being my own (future blog entry)
·            1 of the world’s 7 wonders

Starting out with a couple highlights: There were some beautiful, beautiful things I observed while in India.  One of the things I loved seeing as we drove from city to city were the colors all around.  It’s quite common to see dilapidated small towns with a backdrop of buildings and strings of beautiful colors which hung on clothes lines.  Of course those clothes would be the women’s sarees hanging out to dry.  As we were driving, you’d also see roadside restaurants with outdoor seating, and a group of men sitting in a circle, having their afternoon chai together.  I took one photo of a woman, riding on the back of a motorbike with a man driving.  This particular visual I saw all the time and I was extremely fascinated by this.  There was something very feminine and intriguing about this woman who trusted this person so much in the heat of India’s traffic, as she looked so unconcerned and comfortable sitting very lady-like with her legs hanging off of one side of the bike, often times holding a small child.  Her saree blew in the wind and her head was often covered.  It was another visual I’ll never forget about while in India and something I obviously have never seen before. I don’t know how to explain it but it was a gorgeous visual.

Another memory I have was while we were driving from city to city, I would see vast areas of land all around with beautiful colors out in the fields, which would be women harvesting crops.  Women also carried water on their heads in these large metal/aluminum containers and walked along the streets.  Such a beautiful image which continues to stick in my head…

I saw men holding hands with each other and women holding hands with one another.  There was something very sweet, beautiful, and endearing about this gesture where in the U.S everyone automatically assumes a same-sex sexual orientation.  Not the case in India at all.

One interesting thing I observed was that in India you don’t really see people in the cities with addictions or substance issues.  I’m sure it exists in pockets or maybe in areas with more money, but I remember when we went to Puerto Vallarta this last year, we saw quite a high number of alcoholics amongst the population, both younger and older people.  Even in the US, if I step out of the west entrance of my very own work building I will encounter quite a few strung out people high off of something or the other.  In India it was not this way at all.  I really believe people are simply trying to survive in an overpopulated, poorer developing nation that they simply don’t have the time, want or resources to add an addictions problem to their list.   I also believe this was not a commonly seen epidemic there because of the family structure and the unit support which comes along with that.  Because of this, I also didn’t think crime as we know it here, was very prevalent there.  The biggest crime I saw during the time I was there might have been pick pocket-ers (not encountering, nor seeing one) or maybe the crazy drivers who would have no shame in running you over.  I felt like I was playing a game of Frogger every time I had to cross a street.  That alone was the scariest part of the trip.

Cities: I have to say Mumbai won my most favorite city award while in India.  There seemed to be a good vibe in Mumbai and one day we went down to Marine Drive and visited the Taj Hotel which was just gorgeous.  Mumbai felt most familiar to me, compared to the other cities we visited so I think that is also another reason why I loved Mumbai.  I didn’t get to see a whole lot while in Chennai but being the first introduction into India I didn’t have too many positive thoughts on Chennai.  The one thing I noticed were the service workers in Chennai (restaurant servers, etc) were extremely sweet and pleasant.  Of all the cities, and to most of my friends’ dismay that are from Delhi, Delhi was sadly my least favorite though that assessment might not be completely fair since that was the only city where I was sick.  The main problem I had in Delhi was that I could not breathe.  I felt very asthmatic and found it to be very dusty (orange dust) compared to other cities I traveled through in India.  I would blow my nose and my tissue would be black.  I also found it very expensive, at times, more expensive than the US. The Taj Mahal was squeaky clean but Agra seemed fairly dirty.  Jaipur had a lot of beautiful history and was a lot of fun with some good shopping, as everyone had told me about.  Indore was similar to Jaipur, though the streets of Indore seemed to be narrower and more crowded with stronger odors, but I really found the food there better than anywhere else, hands down.

One thing I found common no matter where I went was that cities and roads are very dirty comparatively in India.  The infrastructure and environment is very run-down which I’m still trying to understand if that’s due to weather, due to lack of government initiatives and programs, or due to the population numbers and it being hard to manage and control.  When I first got there, I remember feeling like some of the areas in cities looked as though they went through a war relatively recently and the cities were still working to restore themselves.  Again, was this the case when there’s so many people and maintenance is something hard to do?

Poverty: While in Chennai we were stuck in traffic (common whichever city you’re in) and along the road sat a young man, a young girl and that girl was holding a baby.  The young girl looked barely old enough to have had the child, so her being the mother was possible but not certain.  They were sitting on a piece of cardboard, almost resembling what might have been their home, their hair ratty, and their faces very dirty.  I was watching them from within our taxi when the girl spotted me, grabbed the small baby and ran up to my window and started asking for food.  The look of such a young girl (with possible child) making gestures to me to give her food stuck in my mind for a day or two after this happened.  Then this same scene happened repeatedly during the trip and I sadly became a bit more desensitized.  At times our car was mobbed too by children off the street.  I still don’t know how they knew so quickly I wasn’t from there, as I usually wore sunglasses everywhere.

But poverty runs rampant in this country and for people like me who are not used to seeing it; it definitely takes a toll and pulls on the heart strings. I felt helpless.

Food: Yeah, so food was challenging and took some time getting used to because I was being a big wimp.  In the beginning I did not want to touch the food whatsoever and found myself eating sparingly, and eating snacks which I had packed from the US.  Once those were done, I would only eat a few bites of something I somewhat trusted during the day, still not knowing where the food was coming from, and of course having a bottle of water I barely trusted as well.  As long as I knew the source, I was fine.  When arriving in Mumbai I remember being so weak from not eating and from the heat, I was slurring my sentences and Vinit said I was not very coherent.  Vinit had me eat cereal with soy milk and I fell asleep after that and was fine but it was a bit scary.  By the end of the trip, I was eating till my heart was content but only with homemade food.  Indore was definitely my favorite food spot while in India.  While everyone warned me about the spice levels I would endure in Indore, I had no issues at all with that.  All of the Jain food I had was out of this world and exceptional and I would love to know the secret ingredients for how they make their food so incredibly tasty without onions, garlic and ginger!  I fell in mad love with the indo-chinese vegetarian noodles I found everywhere I visited which became my staple throughout the trip.  I never did indulge in the street food, nor did Vinit, in fear of falling sick.

Famous Places: The Taj Mahal was by far the most magnificent structure I have ever seen in my life.  When you’re looking at it, you have no doubts how such a structure made it to the world’s 7 wonders list.  It’s simply breath taking.  I also found the lotus temple to be quite peaceful being the only place in the entire world which openly accepts people of all faith as a central place to pray.  You felt so peaceful being there.  I visited the Shree Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai which was an experience in itself.  The masses were all rushing to get into the temple, there’s stomping, chaos and pure madness from the people.  Then once you’re in, everyone is fighting and pushing to get in front of Lord Ganesh to pray.  We paid a little money to a person who brought us to the front of the crowd to get us in and out of there quickly.  I quite enjoyed the Indira Gandhi Memorial in Delhi.  That was surreal seeing so much history about this woman and her family and all they had achieved in India.  Khan Market was disappointing as I found it very expensive, but was a neat shopping area to walk around.  Chokhi Dhani, a recreated Rajasthani village would have been more fun the day we went, had I been in a better mood.  I was very hungry so the village-like setting had me less than thrilled after recovering from illness the day before though I would recommend it to anyone going to Jaipur from what I saw of it.  Gate of India is a good place to go for a few minutes and take pictures but not a lot to do there.  Qutub Minar was pretty nice, with a lot of Persian history.  Jaipur was filled with various palaces and rich history.  The Bukhara restaurant in Delhi lived up to its famous name with the most mouth watering (yet very, very pricy!!) Indian food you could possibly imagine.

Culture: I actually expected something different from what I experienced when it came to culture.  I expected more outward American bashing; I expected more rigidity, lots of mean stares and dirty looks.  For the most part, I found people respectful, very nice, even giving special treatment to me at times for being a foreigner.  I also expected some interesting looks from others for the sole reason I was an American stealing away one of their own by marrying a native.  Nope, nothing like that either, and I had always wondered how Vinit would be with me in India and if he’d be more self conscious or more conservative.  Nope, he still held my hand and acted the same exact way as he does here, even if those ways were not very common things you saw in public there.  The culture is a rich culture which I already knew, but it was not the kind of culture which I felt was blatant or which I had to follow in order to be treated well there.  I saw so many variations of Indian culture and traditions too; at times it felt I was traveling through different countries, rather than different cities.

One thing about the culture and way of life there which you won’t find here is that this is a society with no rules.  Anything goes!  Here in the US, if you want something done, things are not done on your time but done on the person providing the service timeline.  Not in India.  You can pretty much have anything done at anytime and people are very nice and polite about it.  Here everyone acts as if they are doing you a favor if they do something you request when you want it done.  I found this amazing right away when I got there.  This rules observation did not just apply to service either; it was across the board… no rules while driving, etc :)

Showering: Over the course of 2 ½ weeks with the exception of when we stayed in 5 star hotels, I didn’t shower.  I learned how to take a bucket bath which is the common method for bathing.  You’ll see in households you’ll have a bucket with a cup which resembles a measuring cup in the US.  There is a spout next to the toilet and you fill the bucket up with water.  In the bathroom which were typically a lot smaller spaces than those you find in the US, you bathed right there in the middle of the bathroom, near the sink or by the toilet and the water flowed down a drain which was also near the toilet.  That took some time getting used to.

Animals: I saw camels, cows, buffalo, donkeys, pigs, boars, elephants, monkeys, a roadside snake charmer, and countless numbers of street dogs trying to survive.  I saw mosquitoes everywhere.  I was terrified of mosquitoes since I knew they were the carriers of malaria and for my first trip I was most afraid of getting sick.  I did get bitten quite a bit but so far all has been well J I was prescribed an anti-malaria medication to take while there however, due to side effects, I could not continue it after just a few days.  I also saw cockroaches which were the size of small birds.  They were humongous!

In conclusion…

Overall, I would caution any hypochondriacs or obsessive clean freaks from venturing out to India as one would find it tough in such a circumstance, like ANY other 3rd world country.  I think in order to really enjoy the experience; it really requires one to set aside any expectations of India being anything like the U.S or a developed country you’ve visited or else you will miss the beauty and highlights of this country which you will not find anywhere else.  Having those sort of expectations there will only make you miserable which I found to be the case for me in the early part of the trip.  Once I got over that, I absolutely enjoyed India, the real India, its people, its culture, the food, opening my eyes and seeing an incredibly beautiful, culturally rich, and an amazing country before me.  It was such a wonderful experience!

Going to Paris

Since I was 10 years old I’ve wanted to go to Paris.  I’ve taken four years of french in HS + 1 in college and have waited for the day to actually go there and experience the French culture.. well it’s almost time!  In a little over two weeks, I will be on my way to Paris!  I’m so excited!  I just have to document that!