First day at KYM

31/01/2011
Chennai Day 4
KYM Day 1

So let me start off with some good news - my jet lag is fixed! Just in time too to start my first day at KYM (Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram). And? Did I like it? No. Was it everything I expected it to be? No. Did I meet some decent people there to potentially travel with over the next 4 weeks? No. I absolutely LOVED it! It was way beyond what I could ever imagine for it to be like, and my classmates are awesome. Most importantly, I meet people who share the common interest in food as me, and we've already agreed to go together in search of the great food of Chennai. This is the outline of what life will be like from Monday to Friday for the next 4 weeks:
- 50min of yoga asana class at 7:30 followed by breakfast served on the school rooftop
- 50min on the principles of yoga
- 50min on the principles of asana
- 50min on vedic chanting
- 2hour lunch break
- 50min on the principles of pranayama (breathing exercise) - 50min on the application of yoga
- 20min tea break - 40min of teachings from other yoga texts
- 45min of meditative practice ending at 17:45

Yup, it's like a full day of intense classes, but the teachers are so great that I'm enjoying myself so much. I'm such a nerd as everyone knows, so I kinda enjoy being back at school! Being here made me think of Nadine a lot, my favorite yoga teacher of all time. She came to KYM twice if I remember correctly, and bought back much of what she had learnt at KYM to the classes I had with her. I look really forward to seeing her in Melbourne later this year! At lunch a whole bunch of us went to this local Indian place called Sangeetha to eat. The food was awesome, I ate with my hands, and it was dirt cheap! Yummy and cheap, my two favorite adjectives! The whole day of classes does wear you out, so I'm guessing I won't be having much problems anymore with jet lag!

Posted via email from Karen In Wonderland

Blessed

29/01/2011
Chennai Day 2

When the vehicle in front of you is driving into you, hoot.
When the vehicle in front of you is suddenly slowing down, hoot.
When the vehicle in front of you is coming to a stop at a red light, hoot.
When you are trying to overtake by crossing a solid line and driving towards oncoming traffic but don't want them to drive into you, hoot.
When in doubt, hoot.

These are the rules of driving I learnt today whilst I sat in the auto rickshaw. As a passenger, don't look, don't think, don't question. Just let the drivers do their thing as scary as it may be, because they seem to know what they are doing. Once again, organized chaos. Animals spotted: 1 goat, 1 cat, 2 chickens, 3 dogs, 4 cows (one of them was very pretty). Shaking heads - too many to count. The midday heat was almost unbearable and I decided to hide out at the cinemas, enjoying the blissful air-con and worldwide familiar Coca-Cola! I never thought that watching a movie in another country would be any different, but gosh was I surprised. Firstly, people are loud before the movie AND during the movie. They talk to each other, their phones ring, and they actually answer it and talk loudly. Secondly, halfway through the movie, it stops. There is an interval in the middle of the movie. I mean seriously? I thought there was some technical problem, but nope, people got up to go to the bathroom or to buy refreshments. When the interval was over, they played another 5 good minutes if adverts before the movie continued. Just plain weird. Opinion on India thus far? I'm loving it! People are mostly very friendly and helpful even when they look angry or uninterested. A random gentleman, who was stopped by the rickshaw driver who didn't understand where I wanted to go, too 5 minutes of his time to help me google the exact address and map of where my hotel was and showed it to then driver. Are the locals just really friendly or am I just one of the most blessed girls in the world? :D 30/01/2011
Chennai Day 3 15:30

Okay so I was going to do more exploring today but I am having a bit of a difficult time fixing my jet lag. So 3 and a half hour time difference is not huge, but "bedtime" in India equals my nap time back home so I keep waking up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep... =.= So for today I'm just going to stay at the hotel and enjoy room service, old movies on the Telly and reading up on what else I can do during my time in India. While we complain about roadworks causing major traffic in South Africa, an article in the newspaper today reads "Jumbos descend on road, block traffic for 2 hours". AND this is on page 5 of the Sunday news, so 13 elephants straying from the jungle and into the village was ranked fairly newsworthy (it got a bigger space than a strike action and an attack with petrol bombs, with a picture insert even).

22:15
You would expect that eating at a hotel would be somewhat expensive, but I'm on holiday so I'm just going to go all out. This is exactly what I had for my dinner for one: soda water, chicken Tom yum soup, mushroom salt and pepper (some mushroom dish with salt and pepper), crunchy lamb (wasn't that crunchy but it was nice), naan, bottled water, mango ice cream. All of this cost me around R90. Yeah it's probably a bit expensive for India, but in my world its still really cheap! There's something about eating on your own at a restaurant, you really get to enjoy every bite you take. There's no one talking to you distracting you from your food. It's kinda nice. I really enjoyed dining with me tonight, plus that waiter walking around the restaurant with an electric mosquito squat/racket thingie. Ooooh first day of school tomorrow! Better get to sleep, would not want to be late!

Posted via email from Karen In Wonderland

Jet lag sucks......

30/01/2011
Chennai Day 3 15:30

Okay so I was going to do more exploring today but I am having a bit of a difficult time fixing my jet lag. So 3 and a half hour time difference is not huge, but "bedtime" in India equals my nap time back home so I keep waking up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep... =.= So for today I'm just going to stay at the hotel and enjoy room service, old movies on the Telly and reading up on what else I can do during my time in India. While we complain about roadworks causing major traffic in South Africa, an article in the newspaper today reads "Jumbos descend on road, block traffic for 2 hours". AND this is on page 5 of the Sunday news, so 13 elephants straying from the jungle and into the village was ranked fairly newsworthy (it got a bigger space than a strike action and an attack with petrol bombs, with a picture insert even).

22:15
You would expect that eating at a hotel would be somewhat expensive, but I'm on holiday so I'm just going to go all out. This is exactly what I had for my dinner for one: soda water, chicken Tom yum soup, mushroom salt and pepper (some mushroom dish with salt and pepper), crunchy lamb (wasn't that crunchy but it was nice), naan, bottled water, mango ice cream. All of this cost me around R90. Yeah it's probably a bit expensive for India, but in my world its still really cheap! There's something about eating on your own at a restaurant, you really get to enjoy every bite you take. There's no one talking to you distracting you from your food. It's kinda nice. I really enjoyed dining with me tonight, plus that waiter walking around the restaurant with an electric mosquito squat/racket thingie. Ooooh first day of school tomorrow! Better get to sleep, would not want to be late!

Posted via email from Karen In Wonderland

*blessed*

29/01/2011
Chennai Day 2

When the vehicle in front of you is driving into you, hoot.
When the vehicle in front of you is suddenly slowing down, hoot.
When the vehicle in front of you is coming to a stop at a red light, hoot.
When you are trying to overtake by crossing a solid line and driving towards oncoming traffic but don't want them to drive into you, hoot.
When in doubt, hoot.

These are the rules of driving I learnt today whilst I sat in the auto rickshaw. As a passenger, don't look, don't think, don't question. Just let the drivers do their thing as scary as it may be, because they seem to know what they are doing. Once again, organized chaos. Animals spotted: 1 goat, 1 cat, 2 chickens, 3 dogs, 4 cows (one of them was very pretty). Shaking heads - too many to count. The midday heat was almost unbearable and I decided to hide out at the cinemas, enjoying the blissful air-con and worldwide familiar Coca-Cola! I never thought that watching a movie in another country would be any different, but gosh was I surprised. Firstly, people are loud before the movie AND during the movie. They talk to each other, their phones ring, and they actually answer it and talk loudly. Secondly, halfway through the movie, it stops. There is an interval in the middle of the movie. I mean seriously? I thought there was some technical problem, but nope, people got up to go to the bathroom or to buy refreshments. When the interval was over, they played another 5 good minutes if adverts before the movie continued. Just plain weird. Opinion on India thus far? I'm loving it! People are mostly very friendly and helpful even when they look angry or uninterested. A random gentleman, who was stopped by the rickshaw driver who didn't understand where I wanted to go, too 5 minutes of his time to help me google the exact address and map of where my hotel was and showed it to then driver. Are the locals just really friendly or am I just one of the most blessed girls in the world? :D

Posted via email from Karen In Wonderland

First Impressions

28/01/2011
Hotel Airport International - Mumbai

First impressions are everything, right? My first impression of India? Well I've arrived in Mumbai for all of 2 hours and so far these are my thoughts...

1. They need to do something about their airport. It's so congested and it seems like departure and arrivals are all together and all over the show. That said, it was fairly organized chaos. Ahhh, such is India. 2. I have no idea what they are saying. And yes, they were speaking English to me. I am going to have to get use to that! 3. Besides not being able to understand them clearly resulting in many of them having to repeat themselves several times, they have been super friendly to me, the first time visitor. 4. The airport I booked near the domestic airport sent a young boy to wait for me at arrivals. I'm so glad I was going with him and not some of the other dodgy looking people. 5. Are there traffic lights in India? I didn't seem to see very many, and when I did, there were cars going in all directions whether the light was red or green or flashing amber to them. I'm confused as to how their roads work so far. 6. A LOT of dogs. Oh look, there's a black one. And a white one. Ha a brown one. Wow a pack of them, rummaging or eating something over there... Hmmm and a topless man standing next to the pack of dogs as if they were his. 7. Huge mosquitoes. There's no ways that I will forget to take my malaria tablets!

I have no idea when I'm gonna post all these onto my blog but I promise to write everyday that I am here. It still seems kind of unreal that I am here all alone. Princess Karen in India. Yeah so I'm not that much of a princess compared to some of you reading this (yes you know who you are haha), but still I live a pretty comfortable and pampered lifestyle back home. Looking forward to Chennai tomorrow and settling in over the weekend!

xoxo
K
28/01/2011
10:15 Mumbai Domestic Airport
Curry for breakfast? Um no thanks, I think I'll stay with toast for now. The service is so good in India thus far, but I think that's probably because they were expecting a tip or something. I didn't manage to exchange money until this morning so didn't have any money to tip anyone. Plus, an Indian expecting a tip from a Chinese? Well that's just silly. Travelling alone as a woman is a bit intimidating I must say. It will take some time for my courage to build up. But I must also remember what my dear friend Emic said, "Remember you are just a little girl, don't be brave and go do stupid shit on your own.". Leaving all my dear friends and traveling on my own also introduces some loneliness. Suddenly I don't have my girls with me to laugh and gossip along the way. But that is the point of this whole trip right? For self exploration, for the challenge, learning to be truly independent and being totally out of your comfort zone. I sure picked the right place to do that. The upside to traveling as a woman in India though is that at the domestic security check, you have your own queue, which happens to be much shorter!

28/01/2011
20:48 AMJ Raj Palace Sundar room 305 - Chennai
This is my home for the next 4 weeks. Besides the choice in decor I cannot call my own, this feels like home! Mossies are at a minimum level and shower works like wow. I chose the right place. One thing I've noticed since I arrived is that some of the people working at the hotels are really young! They look like they could be in grade 10 if not younger and that makes me feel a bit sad. Most of us, if not all of us reading this, are so privileged yet sometimes we struggle to see it. We complain about the smallest of things and think to ourselves, "Oh what a hard life I have!". Seriously? Sure things don't always go our way, but when you look carefully, we are surrounded by privileges. Oh and I know why people say you must bring earplugs when you come to India. Gosh the hooting does not stop! Like ever! Hooting on the road here is a form of communication on the road. "Get out of my way", "You're coming into my way", "I'm gonna move into your lane now so get out of my way", "fuck off", "no, you fuck off!". Sitting at the hotel room, you can hear the constant hooting going on outside in the streets. Taxi drivers back home seem so tame in comparison.

One thing about Chennai, as the plane was approaching the city, I gazed out the window and saw a wonderful mix of colored houses. Buildings were painted pink, purple, green, yellow, blue etc. It was such a pretty sight. The roads are undeniably chaos, but appeared to be a little better than Mumbai.

Shit I need to sleep and fix this jet lag! XOXO
K

Posted via email from Karen In Wonderland

India here I come.....

27/01/2011
On the way to India......

So here I am 5 hours into the flight to Mumbai, India, and slowly it occurs to me that, OMG I'm going to India! Many people have said to me lately how brave I am to do this, honestly at this precise moment, I'm not sure if I'm brave or just plain stupid. But too late to be considering that now, all I can do now is hope that my organizational skills are amazing and everything goes smoothly.

Current concern #1 what if my credit card decides not to work in India?? I only have US$500 on me and my 2 credit cards so let's hope that doesn't happen otherwise I am screwed!

Current concern #2 I hope the hotel doesn't mess up my airport transfer! I don't want to be wondering around the Mumbai airport after midnight to exchange money and find a taxi to my hotel all on my own!

Whilst it hasn't hit me yet that I've left behind my family and friends, out of the comfort of my own home for 3 whole months, anxiety is certainly building. Am I gonna cave and book a ticket to go home earlier? Am I gonna end up staying in my hotel room the whole time too scared to go venture on my own? What if the other yoga students don't like me and I don't make any friends??? (okay let's be realistic, who doesn't like me....)

Anyways let's just hope for the best and see how it goes!

Xoxo
K 3 hours from Mumbai mid-air...

Posted via email from Karen In Wonderland