We got to the elephant village as it starts to POUR rain. It was the dry season and Bibal informed us that what we were seeing was nothing short of a miracle. Miracle or not, we were frustrated, wanting to see elephants not rain. Fortunately, as if a sign from God, it stopped raining as soon as we got out of the car and walked up to the elephants. We paid our entry fee, a steep 2 dollars, and walked back to see them being trained. One of them, an older one, was being whipped hard with a bamboo stick and it was very very tough to watch. The guy was hitting her as hard as he could and after every hit the elephant would let out a scream of pain. One of them sounded like a lion’s roar, filling up the whole area with sound, it was terrible. We saw three baby elephants chained to trees as well, they were adorable but again it was sad to see them chained up like that. We walked across the camp to another elephant which was chained to a tree by itself. We were allowed to take pictures pretty close to it, but not touch it. Finally Lindsay wanted to know if we could “meet” the elephants, and Bibal asked the camp guy. In a very shady turn of events, the guy wanted 20 rupees each from us in exchange to actually touch the elephants. We paid our 40 cent bribe happily and walked down to the river where one of the elephants was being bathed.
We sat there and watched them bathe the elephant for a while before they started beckoning to us. Apparently we were being asked to enter the river and help. Not thinking about the fact that the water was probably contaminated with God knows what, and there was a wild elephant laying there, we jumped right in and gave the elephant a bath. It was a lot of fun and a pretty darn unique experience. She got up and we high tailed it out of there, but later were allowed to take pictures with her. We were low on time but wanted to ride elephants as a way to finish off the day. Another group of SASers showed up and got to ride before us, but when it was our time we were very excited. We got on the elephant bare-backed and rode down the street and back as she was led by one of the trainers. It was so cool to ride right on the animal instead of on a seat and I got to sit up front. I’m pretty sure I never stopped smiling. I gave one of the guys my camera and he took a million pictures too so I have PLENTY. Afterwards we got off, it started to rain again as a sign that we should leave, and we told Bibal to drive real fast back to the ship. About a half hour in we passed the other SAS group who had a 15 minute head start on us, and ended up making it back in just over an hour. Bibal shared so much about his country with us on the way and we learned a ton. We found out he had an arranged marriage coming up in the summer and that he hadn’t met his bride yet but that he was very excited and not nervous at all. When we made it back we paid him the 1200 rupees he said the cost would be and another 800 as a tip. That 17-18 dollar tip clearly made his day and it was great to see him smile so big. We told him it was a gift for the wedding and for the first time on the whole trip, someone didn’t ask us for more money as we were leaving. We walked through the short line, got back on the ship, and India was over.
People have asked me a number of times since I’ve been on the ship “Would you go back”. I think they ask me because I have had very little positive to say about the country when asked about it. The honest answer to that is that yes I would absolutely go back, there are just about 180 countries that I would choose to visit first. Here are a few things that I learned from my trip though.
1. In India, everyone is trying to sell you something without fail.
This obviously depends on who you meet and where you go, but everyone we met wanted to scam us and it honestly got tiring. I really miss people helping because they wanted to help. In a sad way it was probably a lot like the US in that regard, we aren’t exactly helpful to tourists either. We really had to learn to question everything everyone was saying to us and assume that they had different motives than it would appear.
2. It is as far away as is possible from the US.
It was the halfway point of our journey in terms of distance and days, and fittingly so it was as far away culturally as I could imagine. To borrow from the Wizard of Oz for the first time in my life, I really wasn’t in Kansas anymore.
3. You MUST visit a third world country to appreciate first world life.
I know some would disagree with this, but I don’t believe you can fully appreciate what we have in the US without having seen the level of poverty, hunger, and pollution plaguing India. People in the US are unhappy with minimum wage jobs at $7 an hour, $30,000/year jobs, and 2000 square foot houses. 75% of the country of India lives on less than 2 dollars A DAY and shares a house that is smaller than the average US prison cell with the other 10 people in their family. Pictures really can’t do it justice. I really believe you can’t fully appreciate how good we have it without having seen the “worst” of the world.
4. Despite all of the negatives, the people in India seem happy.
With the exception of beggars, the people seemed to be as happy as any we had seen. Even if they were clearly poor, wanted your money, and didn’t know where there next meal would come from, they found some level of joy in life or were good at pretending. I think there is a lot to be learned about being happy without the joys of material goods, but it is a hard thing to learn once you have enjoyed a life of luxury.
5. Logistics are a b_ _ _ h, plan early.
For any family, friends, or future voyagers who are planning on going to India ever, plan everything in advance. If you don’t you will not get to where you want to go or you will overpay for it and have to deal with the hassles of people thinking you are rich and wanting to sell you everything under the sun. Most of our hassles could have been avoided by planning a month earlier, so DO IT. If you are reading this and going on a future SAS voyage, do India independently but start planning it as soon as you get on the ship. Don’t wait until India is the next country up, plan it early and you won’t regret it. You can save a ton of money and have a way better experience. The Taj is definitely worth it, but there is probably a lot to see in southern India too if you want to save money and probably have a more relaxing experience and a more legitimate immersion.
So that’s it for India, I don’t think I’ve whined as much as I could have but at the same time I doubt I did it as much justice as it deserved. I enjoyed my time there and am glad I went, it just wouldn’t be the first place I returned to and is so far my least favorite port. That just goes to show how awesome the others have been.
Now MAURITIUS.
I can’t tell you how excited I am about Mauritius. I’m sitting in preport for it now and Mr. White just read some quote by Mark Twain about how “Mauritius was created first and then heaven was made in the image of Mauritius”. It is supposedly an island paradise off the east coast of Africa which still has pristine landscape and watersports galore.
Our tentative plan is to go to Blue Bay, on the opposite corner of the island that everyone else on SAS is going, rent a boat of some sort or get on a snorkel trip, see some cool fish, float around, maybe jet ski, scuba, or whatever. It looks truly remarkable and I am PUMPED. We are staying the night in a hostel and the next day probably just hitting a beach. We are only there for two days sadly, but it will be fun nonetheless. I look forward to updating you on how much fun we had very soon! (Back from Mauritius, was fun. Will post updates soon J)
Please don’t hesitate to email me. I know these blog entries are all overwhelmingly long, and very few people probably read them at this point, but if you ever make it this far and want to ask me any questions or just say hi I would be delighted to write you back. Tdmalinowsky@semesteratsea.net
-Thomas
"All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it."
-Samuel Johnson
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