Incredible India

That's what the campaign promoting tourism in India says and I have to agree with that statement. India is pretty incredible. But it's also hard to get your head around all the things that are going on. It's just so different to anywhere I've been before. And everyday I start to like it even more.

One thing that needs getting used to is the constant noise. Literally constant. The hindupop blazing from every shop and restaurant (although I have to admit, I'm getting quite into it and might have to grab a few cds to take home), the roosters waking you up early in the mornig, the cars honking their horns, children shouting their greetings to you as you walk pass them (they are always very eager to greet you), dogs figthing, shopkeepers trying to lure you in their shops, the prayers that seem to be going on all the time and the monkeys jumping on the roof and as the roofs are sheetmetal the rattle is LOUD. The monkeys are quite cute from afar, but the have already "attcked" Liina twice. The first time I wasn't around, but she was reading on the balcony when one jumped in her lap and another time we were walking through a corridor and a monkey jumped out of nowhere and climbed on Liinas shoulders to get to the roof.

Another constant thing is the smell. The smell varies but it's always quite strong. It's a mix of incenses they smoke, animals, the horrible smell of the bad sewerage, sometimes weed (especially in Pushkar), the different foods they sell on the street.. Oh, I've forgot to mention the food! Food here is absolutely delicious. I didn't even know I liked indian food so much before I got here.We haven't had a single bad meal here and it's also ridiculously cheap. Just one night we had a lovely meal at a rooftop restaurant overlooking a lake and enjoyed two different curries and the total price didn't even come up to 3 euros!! Of course we have wandered to a few swankier places where the prices are easily doubled, but in general in basic good restaurants, that's the price range forlocal food.

So last time I wrote we were in Agra. After that we made our way to Jaipur, were we enjoyd a lovely evening in a italian style rooftop restaurant and got to know the owner as well. He was very proud that an italian woman had trained his chefs. He was friendly and amused us with his stories. Liina was charmed by him and thought he was hot! (I must keep an eye on her..) Jaipur was only a quick stop since I was eager to get to the small and calm town called Pushkar. Or so I thought.. Pushkar was everything but calm, as we found out on our way there. The weekend we picked to go there was the annual Camel Fair. The small town fills with 50 000 camels (yep, that right!) and 200 000 people for a week of festives. During the week the camel owners, who travel for days to get there, trade camels and at the weekend it's the festives with performances and competitions. Even though it wasn't as quiet as I had hoped, I was pretty excited about seeing the camels! Pushkar is the holy city of hindus and they have quite strict rules in town. Rules like you can't eat meat, or eggs, you can't drink alchohol, women and men can't embrace in public.. I think that's a silly rule, even though there hasn't been anyone I'd particularly like to embrace.

I've had this birthmark on my forehead all my life and it normally gets red only when laughing or crying but when we arrived in Pushkar, it was so red that our hotel owner thought I'd been to temple already, since that's what they do there, marking their foreheads with a red mark. Maybe that's just my inner hindu waking up.. WE already have been given Hindi names, I'm Gita and Liina, my sister is Sita. In India, they try to name their children with very similar names (I guess my parents were influenced by the hindu ways, naming me and my brother Anni and Onni.)

The trips gone well so far, we've really enjoyed ourselves and we've stayed healthy. But I have had these strange musscle pains and because I'm in India, I've been a bit worried, especially since I just read that Emma Laine (this finnish tennisplayer) got some virus while playing tennis in India and this was one of her symptoms. But then again, I'm propbably just being paranoid, like in the beginnig I was sure I had an ameba in my eye, because I've heard it happen to a friend of a friend, when really my eyes were just reacting to the dust and sand. Have to hope it goes away or then I just have to find a spiritual healer who'll fix me.. Hope you all are well!