021; new found love...

I have found a new love. DEEP FRIED PICKLES.
It all started with drinks with a friend at a small bar called Einsteins. I've been curious about deep fried pickles, but I've never actually ordered it because I didn't want to try it alone (does that even make sense???). As I ordered the bar usual (nachos) my friend noticed there was deep fried pickles on the menu annnd hey she wanted to try it too. So there's the story.
My favourite bar food: 1) nachos 2) deep fried pickles 3) fries and everything else
Next things to try on my deep fried list: mars bars, ice cream, and butter balls. yumm.

Speaking of love (well more like an obsession in this case), I've been watching a lot of Asian dramas lately to brush up on the language to prepare my for my internship... Is it working? Not as well as I hoped, but I'm enjoying it. It's all so cliche, but I can't help to like it.

Jan 24-25; last days and aftermath

Day 19
The family went out to some fancy continental buffet to celebrate my gramma's birthday.
Just wanna say that chocolate cake tasted nasty.

Mosquito Bite Count: 24 +2

Day 20

I went out for coffee at the Marriott Hotel and it turned out that Shah Rukh Kahn (huge Bollywood star) was going to be there promoting the new show Wipeout. A little informal history lesson behind the show: Japan has some reality shows where people complete crazy obstacles courses for money/prizes. America takes the idea and has reality shows like that, the one of the more popular being Wipeout. India has its own version now.... I had a flight to catch so I couldn't stay.
On the flight home, I got really sick. All I want to say is that it was the worst experience I've ever had. Thankfully there were some really nice passengers, flight attendants, and doctors on board.  Anyways, all I could say is that I'm hella glad to be back.

Jan 23; churches, a mall and a bag of chips

 Day 18

I went to two churches in the morning: Mount Mary and another one in which I cannot recall the name... 

As you may have noticed, I visited to a lot of churches during my trip but that does not mean that I am a religious freak or anything. I just followed my mom around. But that's not to say that I don't like churches. I do enjoy the architecture. 

Mount Mary

Inside Mount Mary

Church #2 had a warning sign

I went to Inorbit Mall in the evening. They have a little midway park outside, arcade inside, tons of stores, and the food court was huge! There was a wide variety of ethnic food too. Very western. Their version of America's Starbucks is Britain's Costa Coffee. There aren't many options, and doesn't taste nearly as good, and the service was so slow... and it took them two tries to get my ice cappuccino right. The first time consisted of coffee with a chunk of ice in it... Ya, trying it once is more than enough.
New flavour chips: Thai Chili, yummm

Mosquito Bite Count: 21 +3

Jan 22; puja, pav bhaji, and saris

Day 17
I am not a "bad" Catholic. I'm just open-minded.

On Saturdays, my cousin goes to the temple for puja/pooja (prayers). I decided to go with him since it was my last weekend there. It was so different from my usual Catholic rituals. At the temple, there were several sections where you can give your offerings. Once you give your offering, the man (sorry, I don't know what the correct name is) will bless you and paint a dot on your forehead (sorry again, I don't know what the dot is called). I found one of the rituals particularly interesting: There is a statue of a Hindu God (sorry, I can't remember which one) in the middle of a room. There is a man standing in front of the statue who prays for you with the information you provide (name and horoscope). After he prays for you, he gives you a candle lamp and you carry it around the statue going 7 times counter clockwise and 2 times clockwise - DIZzZZzzzZy. Once completed, the man will pray for you once more and then you take the candle outside to put it out.

outside the temple

Outside the temple, there were TWO cows waiting to be fed. You pay for the food and then you can feed the cow (cows are sacred in Hindu religion).
* if anyone wants to educate me about the religion/what i said wrong - i encourage you to do so below!

Lunch: Smokin' Joes Pizza. The most gross-est, disgusting-est pizza evers. Where the hell is my tomato sauce? 

Large Pizza (with ham and some other nastyness) = 700 rupees = $15.56 

(oh ya, and with every large pizza, you get a free small pizza)

Dinner: Bombay's famous pav bhaji. It is pretty much bread that looks really greasy (or at least mine did) and a red sauce made of tomatos, potatoes, and some other veggies. Simple, but so good! 

For the rest of the evening, I just hung out in my aunt's salon watching people get their hair done, face done, putting their sari on too. Who knew it takes that much skill to put on a piece of cloth. I REALLY wanted a sari - the designs were just beautiful, intricate, and shiny. I would have no occasion to wear it on but it's just so pretty! I probably would use it as an extravagant curtain or table runner (Nate Berkus brings out the home designer in me).

Something worth mentioning is Hrithik Roshan's aunt came by the salon that evening. Roshan is a huge Bollywood celebrity.

India's To Do List:
See a Bollywood Star ✔-ish

Mosquito Bite Count: 18 +3

*looking back i really wish i bought a sari!

Jan 17; Not even tinted windows can blind one from observing corruption

Day 12

Just a few steps away from my aunt's house is a stall with everything a convenient store has. It's quite convenient. I wish I had one of these outside my house.

On my way to do more shopping, I encountered corruption through my own eyes.

My cousin drives a car with tinted windows and tinted windows are apparently illegal, I know not a smart choice. But anyway, the cop pulls us over and he asks for my cousin's licence. My cousin who doesn't have his licence on him at the moment, talks to the cop to the side. As the cop takes out his notebook/ ticket book, my cousin slips a bill in the notebook. The cop leaves us alone and the we go on our merry way. Oh yes that really did happen. 

While roaming the city, I saw many schools. On the outside walls of one school, students drew pictures that convey some sort of anti-global warming message. 

deep frying food

Naturally, I got hungry while shopping so I had this thing called a paneer frankie - SOOOO GOOOD.  It's paneer and a little bit of veggies wrapped in roti. 

Bottled Water + Dosa + Paneer Frankie = ~$3

Mosquito Bite Count: 10 +1

Jan 16; Chickens in the morning & Hornets in the night

Day 11
I went to the market in the morning and I saw this:
Organic, fresh chicken, straight from the market. Yum? uhhhhhh....

Choose your chicken

Watch your chicken get slaughtered.

I wish this system existed in Canada so people knew where their food was coming from...and what exactly they were eating. And maybe even think twice about what they eat.

Note, I'm not a vegetarian (for health reasons) although I plan to be.. but that's another topic.

In the night, I watched The Green Hornet (in 3D). The theatre totally meets Canadian standards. Unlike theatres in Canada, there are intermissions. At first when the screen went blank and the lights came on half way through the movie, I thought the fire alarm went off or something...cause that's what usually happens at the theatre I used to work at. But no, it's just time for snacks and washroom breaks. but hey, if you don't feel like getting up, one of the employees can get snacks or even a blanket for you. Unfortunately, there is nothing he can do to bring the washroom closer.

Mosquito Bite Count: 5 +5
(bug repellent isn't as effective as it should be...)

Jan 14; Dirty Delhi no more

Day 9
Delhi was the cleanest city I visited during my stay in India. The country's capital went under considerable restructuring before the 2010 Commonwealth Games - before that it was a hot mess and it looked like many of the other Indian cities.

Place # 1: Humayun's Tomb

Apparently Obama came here and since then business has been booming.

side one (front)

side two (back)

Place # 2 Bahá'í House of Worship (Lotus Temple)

Due to the time constrain, I was not able to go inside. Plus it was crazy packed! 

Place # 3 Qutab Minar

The detail on the various sculptures are so amazing/pretty/i'd hate to be the person to do that. 

the sun wasn't working with me.

People used to be able to go to the top, but due to the amount of  attempted and successful suicdes, it's been closed off to the public.

Iron Pillar

Place # 4: The Bazaar 

I FINALLY got to go to the bazaar. It's full of....stuff: questionable street food, purses, clothes, pillow cases, boots, knock off chucks, yes you name it. There's also some pretty annoying salesmen. They shove whatever they are selling which is usually place mats, face towels, debit card holders (debit cards are only starting to get big), and toys, in your face. So annoying. Also, it was sooo crowded.

knock off converse

 Place # 5: mall

Change in density, the mall was pretty empty. There were several floors - not enough room for horizontal development so up we go. There were mostly European and American stores like Puma, Lacoste, McDonalds, Baskin Robbins, United Colors of Benetton...

For dinner I ate at this place called the Kebab Grill (I have the menu, which I'll probably scan and upload later....). I had this amazing paneer tikka roll. It's paneer (which is cheese) and grilled veggies wrapped in roti. Out of all the delicious food I ate in India, this was by far my favourite. 

Paneer Tikka roll = 90 rupees = $2.10