After an awesome time in Zanzibar, it was time to head out on our next adventure … India!
We had a bit of an adventure just getting to our first stop, New Delhi! We got up bright and early at our hotel in Stone Town, to make our way to the airport. We had a pretty uneventful ferry ride, in fact it was a bit faster than we were expecting! A (relatively) quick transfer to the airport, and we were ready to go. Almost.
Apparently it is not uncommon for people to be turned away at the India airports if you do not have your Yellow Fever card to prove you have received the inoculation! We had our cards…until they were stolen from our rental car in a smash-and-grab on our way to Marseille! Of course, we didn’t realize that this was the case until we were getting ready for our trip to India.
In the Dar es Salaam airport in Tanzania, we had to sign a waiver that we were travelling without our complete documentation, and that we would have to take responsibility for any costs incurred as a result. We were allowed onto the plane, and after completing leg 1 to Addis Ababa, I spent a good portion of our 4 hour layover working the phone line frantically to get new cards issued from our travel clinic. You see, the nurse we were dealing with originally had left the company, so now it was a whole new process to figure out how we could get our cards. The travel clinic was able to send us copies of our invoices showing we had paid to have our shots, so we had “something” at least.
In the meantime, both Katina and I were scouring our hard drives and our online storage space to find scanned copies…I had definitely created copies of all of our important documents, so they had to be somewhere!
No luck.
5 minutes before boarding our plane, still no cards. Ok, we’ll roll the dice then.
We arrived in Delhi after a smooth flight, and hoped for the best! We filled out all the necessary paperwork, moved to passport control and braced ourselves for the dreaded question…
Which never came!
Passports stamped, we headed quickly to the baggage claim…we made it!
Next task…getting to our Couchsurfing host’s place!
We are being hosted by Ravi and Anju Puliani, along with their son Pravan and Ravi’s father, who Katina had met on Couchsurfing.com.
Ravi was one of the first people to reach out to Katina back in February last year when she posted our intent to take the year to travel within the family forum on the CS website. From the beginning, Ravi was very enthusiastic about having us stay with his family in Delhi, and would often comment on our blog posts. In fact, he has his whole family following our blog! 🙂
From the airport we had what I’ve been told is a “typical Indian cab ride” – where we close our eyes tightly when it looks like we’re going to have a head on crash…and when it doesn’t happen we just laugh nervously and wait for the next near miss… One of Ravi’s friends, Neera, had commented on my Tanzania post, and I think she got it absolutely right when she said “you ain’t seen nothing yet”!!!
Still, for all the head-on-near-misses, everyone seems to make it through with only minor dents and scrapes to their vehicle!
We finally arrived safe and sound, no worse for wear at our new home away from home!
We were greeted warmly by Anju and whisked inside their beautiful home, and after our introductions we shared tea together and got to know one another better. We were thrilled when Ravi came home for lunch and we had the chance to meet him in person for the first time! We felt like we were reacquainting with old friends rather than making new friends! Both Anju and Ravi were extremely gracious hosts, opening their home to us and insisting that we make ourselves at home. Later, we had the absolute pleasure to meet their son Pranav, who works as a Chartered Accountant and came home to share dinner with us as well
Anju cooked up a storm and we had our first exposure to “real” Indian food (more on that in coming posts!). It was very flavourful, and nothing like we have ever had before. While the four of us Canadians saw a fine gleam of sweat begin to form on our brows from the spice, Anju said “I made the food a bit bland today, just because I wasn’t sure how you will like the spice”…and then Ravi said “Yes, and we will slowly notch up the heat by a few degrees every meal until your eyes start watering…then we know we have reached the right level”!
So far, no tears!
And if you’re wondering…I did eventually find our scanned Yellow Fever cards! 🙂
Comments
26 responses to “A warm welcome to India!”
India, when I see the pictures and read your vision, I think that is how I think India is, from seeing in articles, documentaries on TV,….. I really hope you have a great time there, and as with CS I’m pretty sure it works out well.
I can imagine the two of you must have been very stressed, not finding these cards ! I think I would really get stressed, knowing for sure that you have them, and can’t find it immediately. But you found them, luckily, what a relief :).
Friendly greetings,
Ingrid (Loenhout)
Hello Ingrid!
We are having a great time here in India! Not only have we had the opportunity to experience food and traffic, but also the metro system! It seems like there is always ‘rush hour’! Despite the busy-ness and the traffic, there is a real life to the country, and people have been very kind and helpful.
Oliver and the gang, thank you for the accolades. I wonder, whether we deserve so much.
RAVI
Ravi,
I am sure you are very deserving of the gracious words from Oliver, Katina, and the girls. Though we have never met I am sure we would get along well and enjoy many discussions with you as I have with Oliver and Katina!
Hi Joe,
You “hit the nail on the head”…and I think you and Ravi would get along amazingly!
Hello Ravi!
We have enjoyed our time with you and really appreciate all you have exposed us to in such a short time. You have been very gracious hosts and we are fortunate to have met you and had the opportunity to spend time with you and your family!
Great (scary) pictures of traffic in New Delhi! I’m with you on eyes firmly closed while letting driver do his thing! Looks as if you will have another amazing CS experience. This is such a great way to really get to know a place and its people . Again, very brave of you all ( but just from my perspective, although reading your blogs about this, you may have me converted by the end of your trip!) .
Re the inoculation , you have made me aware that I have not scanned/copied my records and I am going to do that asap! Thank you for the awareness lesson! Also very glad that you found said copies!
Re the food….now THIS I will be most interested to hear about . Hopefully there will be recipes forthcoming ?
Hello Herta,
It seems that despite the number of Tuk-tuk’s or taxis we get into, we still have that nervous laugh after each near miss! It’s stressful, but we are learning to ‘just go with it’. As they say, when in Rome… 🙂
As with all of our CS experiences, Ravi and family have been most welcoming and will definitely be one of the highlights of our trip. We learn much more with these experiences than we do just visiting the sights and photographing the monuments. Being with a local is definitely the best way to go!
As for food…you’ll just have to wait and see what gets posted! No spoilers here! 🙂
So if I have a problem with the spiciness of cinnamon gum, I should probably avoid traditional Indian cuisine?
Hi Colleen,
In terms of spice…well, they have a level of heat which makes you sweat, and then there’s a whole other level where your lips and tongue swell up. It’s pretty amazing! Worth doing! It will make your cinnamon gum seem bland!
Great first introduction to India, looks like you have been lucky to have found such great CS friends. People really amaze me with their willingness to host. Enjoy the food and the sweat!!! Love to all, Doreen
Hi Doreen,
People have made all the difference in our travels to date…and I don’t expect that to change anytime soon.
Holy cow that traffic – the show Don’t drive here went to India, unbelievable.
HOme made indian food – I am jealous, it will be very interesting to compare that to what we get here…..enjoy, it is a country I would love to see one day
Hi Nicole,
I’ve been trying to convince the tuk-tuk drivers that I will pay them extra if they’d let me drive their buggy…but so far no takers!
Hello Tutte family !
You are one lucky family . I have been following your blogs and am envious ! Enjoy India . Hope you are visiting the Taj Mahal . I always talk about your trip to the kids in Art class . They are so interested as to where you are and especially looking at Mikhaila and Zoe,s pictures . Safe travels . Love , Mina
Hi Mina,
We’re so glad that you’re enjoying our blog posts! Say “hi” to the MLCP gang for us!
India has been awesome so far. We will be heading to the Taj Mahal, and are really looking forward to seeing it!
Hi, Oliver and the Gang, Dad and I were watching David Suzuki’s programme about “The Monsoon” last night and they showed villages and cities from all over India, and I thought “that’s were my family is” (I know that it’s not Monsoon season right now). Our thoughts are never far away from you all. We had seen the comments of your hosts on previous postings and both said, how great it is for you meet so many wonderful and friendly people. It warms my heart to read that there was no strangeness but rather like seeing old friends after a time of absence. Will you be driving there at all? And I did not know, that the food is so spicy as to make you break out in a sweat 🙂 What a wonderful adventure! The photos are great, especially the traffic shots – I can’t even imagine. Love and lots of Hugs
Hi Oma,
The people we have met has made our travels very rich indeed. It doesn’t matter what country, culture, language, or religion people are, we have always been able to find common ground. We were in the railway station in Amritsar and were wondering how to get to the Golden Temple, and a man offered to walk us to where a free bus takes pilgrims from the station to the temple every day. Little acts of kindness like this help to maintain our faith in the human race despite what other things are going on in the world
As for driving…not likely, unless I can convince one of the tuk-tuk drivers to let me have a go! 🙂
Uncle Peter and I just saw a show in Niagara called Mystic India, and we both loved it. The upbeat music, dancing and colourful costumes were truly amazing. I felt like getting up and joining in; the only problem was that I probably couldn’t keep up with them, so I just enjoyed watching the show. Uncle Peter was glad that I stayed in my seat. Little did he realize that my feet were moving at all times.
I wish I was able to understand the stories told through their songs and dances. Perhaps, they can include this in their programs next time. Glad everything worked out for you!
Hi Aunt Mary,
I can only imagine what the production was like in Niagara. I found a youtube video of a trailer to the show here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP5HSn83Lm0) and it looked pretty amazing! I think Uncle Pete should get up and dance! Dancing is great for the soul!
Hi Oliver, I am so happy that you guys have been able to meet all the wonderful people in the world and here you are again meeting Anju, Ravi, and Pravan. They are so kind and thoughtful! I can hardly wait to try Anju’s recipes as you know how much Papou loves Hot spicy food! Baba
HI Baba,
We are truly blessed. And the food is awesome! We were in a shop today and I was eating a samosa (bought from one of the street vendors and totally fantastic!) – and the sales person at the shop asked me “aren’t those too spicy for you?!” It didn’t seem that spicy, so maybe I’m getting used to it!
Love your India post and your description of traffic her . ” Squeezing in”.
Spoke with Ravi yesterday and got to know about your stay in Delhi and about all the interesting meals you cooked for them and also about the party hopping story.
Anju and Ravi are a wonderful couple and there hospitality is par excellence. You are lucky to have them host you.
You guys truly INFORM , INVOLVE AND INSPIRE.
Cheers to India!!!!!!
& Cheers to all of you !!!!!
HI Neera,
We’ve been really looking forward to meeting Ravi and Anju since we first made contact…and you’re right, we’re very blessed to have met such fantastic people in our travels. For others reading the comments, I’m not going to spoil our upcoming blog post about our “party hopping”… it was another example of an amazing experience you really can only get if you travel with/like a local!
Oliver,
Crazy traffic pictures!! So glad you found your cards! I would be tearing up by now for sure from the spice!! I do love tha flavours but the heat doesn’t always love me. So glad you guys are faring better!!
Ginny
Hi Ginny,
You have no idea on the traffic! What we’ve seen here makes Toronto rush-hour look like “amateur hour”! I guess with 1.2 billion people, there’s going to be some traffic! The spice has grown on us…we have a better tolerance now, though sometimes our faces do turn red and we tear up as well!