Gorgeous Goa

After leaving the tea gardens of West Bengal I returned to Delhi for a night. I met up with the small group there for a lovely little meeting and we had dinner afterwards as well. Another visitor Jana Printz joined us also so was nice to hear of the work she does in Central Asia.

Monday morning I flew to the Indian state of Goa. It is a small state stretching along the coast of the Arabian sea with many many miles of gorgeous sandy beaches. The temperatures are more moderate than in Delhi only about 32C today but the humidity is significantly higher at 63%. I'm staying with some people that were recommended to me about a 5 minute walk from the beach. They have a lovely spot with 6 rooms. However, I"m their only guest at the moment and so I'm enjoying the glorious sunny solitude. Yesterday afternoon I went with the man who runs the place (Mario) to watch the mango pickers picking mangoes on his tree. The trees are massive so a man climbed up with ropes and then used a net on the end of a 20 foot long bamboo pole to collect mangoes. I got to eat several fresh mangoes right off the tree with the juice running down to my elbows and they were superb! I also got to try jackfruit right off the tree. While it wasn't as good as the mangoes it was still pretty fun to eat it sitting underneath the jackfruit tree.

I'm visiting Goa in the 'off season'. This is because it is 'too hot' which sort of makes me laugh when I think of the rest of India at the moment. However, in the next couple week or two they expect the monsoon rains to start so things will get really hot and really soggy then. However, for now I'm enjoying the sunshine. This afternoon my plan is to do nothing - go to the beach for a swim, read a book, and maybe have a nap...I plan to repeat this for the next two days as well because you never know when life is going to get busy and un-restful.

Friday I will fly to Coimbatore for the meetings there on Saturday and Sunday so will be special to meet some new friends.

Hope all is well in your respective parts.

On to Darjeeling

Today I'm hiding in the clouds in the hill town of Darjeeling. These hills would be considered mountains in most countries but in the shadows of the Himalayas the are just hills. I'm carrying on higher up the mountains today from a small village/tea garden (plantation) called Maikabari. I've spent the last two  days living with a Nepali family who work on the tea plantation. I have learned lots about tea, drank lots of it, and enjoyed a very relaxing time. Now I'm waiting for the train (rather to see if I can get on the train). This train is the highest in India which I suspect makes it one of the higher trains in the whole world.

I will have a few days in Darjeeling and then leave the mountains to head toward Goa which is likely in the beginning of the monsoon which does not bode well for my beach bathing.

But a bit more about tea.
1. Not native to this area - introduced about 1857 when the British supply in China was threatened by the Opium Wars (I think).
2. Grows on low shrubs throughout the hills here where it has been planted.
3. Harvested at 4 different times - First Flush (March-mid-May), Second Flush or Muscatel (Mid-May to Mid June), Monsoon Flush (mid-June to end of Monsoon ?August), Autumn Flush (Sept. to November).
4. Bushes are pruned and rest during the winter season.
5. Tea Bags are cheapest and nastiest form of tea you buy - they are made from the dust and sweepings left after all the more expensive tea components have been separated to be sold.
6. All different kinds of tea - black, green, white - come from the same plants. The difference is in the processing.
7. Oolong tea is simply a mixture of black and green teas, usually at a ratio of 70% black to 30% green.
8. Silver tips is the most expensive tea in India - it sells for about 18 000 Rupees/kg ($330 CAD/kg). The reason it is so expensive is two fold: firstly, only the buds of the tea plant are used. A trained picker working all day may be able to collect 250g of buds in one day. This mass is then cut by about 75% during the drying process. Secondly, the buds are only collected on the day of a full moon as it is believed that the buds have more potency/power/strength at this time.

Anyways, it is time to head back to the station to see if I can get on the train. Have a good day where ever you are.

Into Tea Country

Today I flew from Delhi (temp 42C) to a small city called Bagdogra in West Bengal. Then I took a share jeep (17 of us in a vehicle the size of a smaller 'full size' van) for two hours up into the foothills of the Himalayas. Tonight in Mirik the temperature is 24C and it is feeling downright cold. However, it is a welcome relief from the heat.

This part of India is tea country. I started seeing tea fields as we left the airport and they have continued up into the mountains. The tea is planted among the trees and I'm hoping to go to a plantation tomorrow and learn more about it all...maybe even pick some tea myself.

For now I'm tired after a long day of travel and ready to go to bed. Tomorrow I plan to explore Mirik a little bit and get my first glimpse of Kangchenjunga the third highest mountain in the world.

Yesterday I traveled back from Agra to Delhi and then went to the meeting yesterday evening. It was lovely to have some time with the little group that gathered and then we had supper together afterwards. So refreshing in the heat, dust, and bustle of Delhi.

Hope all is well in your various parts.

A Wonder of the World

Tonight finds me in the house of a fine lady named Chanda and her family in the city of Agra, about 2 hours south of Delhi by train. I came down on an early train this morning to see the Taj Mahal, one of the wonders of the world. I had arranged a taxi (rather the lady I was going to stay with had) and the taxi driver arranged a guide - one of those Indian I'll help you if you help me kind of deals (which get really annoying after a while). However, I was met at the train station and we headed off to the Taj. I'll post some pictures another day when I can get them up but suffice it to say this is a monumental, awesome, superlative piece of art/architecture, history, and so on.

The grounds cover many acres but the designer of the Taj constructed it in such a way that when you look at it there is nothing behind it but sky. This and many other countless details combine to make it a beautiful, striking, fantastic piece of art...but in reality a tomb. Perhaps the most beautiful gravestone in the world;-). Following our exploration of the Taj we went to the Red Fort a fort and palace where the king who constructed the Taj actually lived. This too is another amazing piece of Mughal architecture with marble baths, fountains, inlay work with semi-precious stones, massive walls, huge gates, etc. By this point in time the sun came out and it got VERY hot. The high today was 46C according to my guide. After the Red Fort and the obligatory stops at the craft shops we went to the B&B where I am spending tonight. A lovely lunch of egg curry, rice, roti (basically Indian tortillas), yogurt, etc was prepared. I had a bit of a nap and then set out to see some more sights.

The afternoon was similar to the morning - exploring the ancient history of Agra. Tomorrow morning I return to Delhi and will be with the sisters for meeting in the afternoon which will be very nice. On Monday I head to Darjeeling to see the tea plantations and hopefully enjoy some cooler temperatures in the mountains.

Hope all is well in Canada. 

Welcome to Delhi

I arrived safely to my bed in Delhi approximately 0200 Indian Standard Time which is 30 minutes offset from the rear of the world. My flights were long but uneventful once I found a new flight to get on. One thing I noticed immediately upon exiting the airport ( other than the surprisingly dry heat) was the smog and dust. I suspect the rates of lung cancer and asthma and other lung diseases are significantly higher here than in less populated/polluted cities.

I'm staying in a very nice B&B. The lady who runs it is very friendly, upper class, and opinionated. However she is also helpful so it is quite enjoyable staying there. The apartment is very close to the sisters Bach and I plan to meet up with them this afternoon.

First Impressions:
1. So far all the developing world cities I've been in smell the same (they have a particular kind of stink which isn't terrible but not exactly pleasant).
2. Developing world drivers are all slightly crazy.
3. Westerners in general (myself included) are very ignorant about India.
4. I love mangos - we had some mango for breakfast today - they were delicious.
5. I woke up to the sound of wild parrots (or some related species for the ornithologists out there) which means in definitely not in Alberta any more.
6. I'm going to get fleeced left right and centre while I'm here.

Anyways, this morning I've been to a historical site with the tallest stone pillar in India as well as a famous iron pillar. The stone work on Qutab Minar was fantastic as well as over 1000 years old.

After taking the metro to Humayans tomb a stylistic predecessor to the Taj Mahal I wandered in the public gardens for a while. I then met up with the sisters (Olive R and Suseela) for a cup of tea and then McDonalds for dinner. There was no beef on the menu at this Mcdonalds and the flavor of my maharajah Mac was definitely Indian. I then made my way home and crashed for me first good sleep in days.

Today (Friday) I'm off to explore some of old Delhi so I'd better hit the road.

Getting Closer

I've arrived safely in Frankfurt. The challenge now will be to make it to my connecting flight to Delhi. Because of all the mix up my bag is not tagged all the way through so I could have a few challenges today.

Flying across the Atlantic to Europe today was a bit frustrating. It has always been a dream of mine to explore Europe and coming in today I watched our map with all the names of places I wanted to visit but knowing I was just passing through made me realize that I definitely want to come back. (Oops, I think that sentence might be a bit run on). In fact judging from the number of places I want to go I think I Need to arrange somehow to come and work here for a year.

Our flight from Toronto was uneventful. I managed to sleep about 3 hours which wasn't too bad. However, I think I'm going to be totally done by the time I get to Delhi.

Anyways I'd better get ready to disembark. Hope everyone in North America is having a good sleep.

Onward an Upward

So they've found me a new flight. I leave for Frankfurt tonight at 10PM. Then I have a tight turn around to catch another flight to Delhi arriving approximately 10 hours later than originally scheduled. I will now arrive 00:35 on May 17. Anyways I've had a sunny and somewhat boring day at Toronto Pearson International.

Pre-India Experience

So, I arrived to onto to find my Air India flight has been cancelled. I guess the pilot of our flight decided to go on strike. The ladies at the check in counter are working diligently ti get us on alternative flights while we wait. However the waiting lounge here is very comfortable so we just have to wait and see how we will continue our journey. Woogie (my furry friend) is keeping me company so will practice my flexibility the most important trait of the traveler.

Off to India I Go

I realize it has been a very long time since I last wrote a post...this is largely in part to a very severe lecture we had about patient confidentiality, public vs private lives, personal representation online by medical professionals, etc. Thus I won't be blogging about medical issues any more - the internet is just too open and an inadvertent comment, read by the wrong person could cause me professional damage.

But now that I've got that out of the way onto more important and exciting things. I finished medical school and last Thursday I graduated. It was pretty exciting to finally be done and to have those elusive letters MD behind my name. It still feels a bit unreal.

I start residency in Halifax at the end of June. I'm going to be doing a residency in Internal Medicine so it will be lots of work but super interesting. However, in the interim I'm going to India for a holiday. I even got a special hair cut to get ready for the trip. I land in Delhi on Wednesday and I leave Calgary in the morning...so I'm all packed up and almost ready to go. I'll try to keep you updated of my adventures as they happen and hope you enjoy.