Tag: Travel

Japan pt.3

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I again apologize to the readers who actually look at my blog, I’ve been busy with AP Exams and Finals, but school is over now!

Tokyo, March 20th: This was our last breakfast in Tokyo, after this we were taking our adventurous manners to a place more traditional. We were trekking towards Kyoto, but of course we needed to furl ourselves with our hotels complementary breakfast. I got myself a very protein based breakfast with my plate filled with: sausage and bacon, rice mixed with egg and chicken, chocolate croissant, rolled egg, chicken with radish, and fruits. Coming back, that was a lot of food to consume. I guess what they say about swimmers is true, we eat a lot and then we work out a lot.

Also I finally found out how to make my images a little more clear!

After breakfast our tour guide took us on a 2 hour bus ride to where Mount Fuji was located, now we weren’t climbing or go near Mount Fuji but more like going to a village right next to it. I picked up some Melon bread on the way which is such a soft and delicate tasting bread. It tasted like a sweet cantaloupe. While we were visiting this said village it started snowing on us, but it was such pretty snow that I didn’t care how cold I was. It was thick but when it fell on you it didn’t break. So at the end of the day my hair had thick pieces of snow in it. I got some serene photos from the village!

Afterwards we took a little detour to Kyoto and stopped yet again by another small village next to Mount Fuji, except this time we were closer. We were planning to jump onto a boat ride and gondola ride here. But first, because it’s Japan, I had to try Matcha ice cream despite the cold weather disagreeing with me. I will never get tired of how creamy and rich the matcha is in Japan, every time I order anything Matcha in America, it will never be the same. The boat ride went so well, we rid in such a fancy boat, it looked so beautiful. The water also looked very welcoming as well, it was so blue. Except when the sun was covered by clouds. Afterwards when the boat ride led us to the center where we would take the gondola ride, I realized how high we were actually going to go up. I have to admit though, the gondola was not my favorite part; partially because of the smell of sulfur the whole time coming from the volcanoes. Yes, I forgot to mention, the boat ride took us right to an active volcano.

Once the gondola took us up, we got a great view of Mount Fuji, and also up there are many cafes, restaurants, and souvenir shops. My little sister begged the heck out of me to get one of the face masks. So guess who had a spa day when she got back to her hotel. I should have never given it to her, she didn’t go to sleep until 4:00 am because she was having a spa day and calling her friends back in America. We stopped by one cafe up there, I remember one was selling black eggs, the contact behind these black eggs is that they boil these eggs in the little opening the volcanoes have that release sulfur. That’s why they’re completely black because they were literally boiled to a crisp, but the inside is just a boiled egg and tastes the exact same except it’s really high in iron. I got myself like this “hot dog” it’s more of a chicken cutlet stuffed into a hot dog bun and fried on the side as well as a black curry bread. Which is literally curry cooked inside of black bread.

Pork cutlet hotdog
Black curry bread

Afterwards our tour guide informed us that we would be going onto the bullet train and heading to Kyoto, and later when we were leaving Osaka to go to the Tokyo airport where our connection flight to Chicago was I became really confused. My sister informed me that Osaka was 8 hours away from Tokyo, but HOW DID WE DO THAT? Then I remembered the train which goes so fast. While waiting for our bullet train in the station I went to 7/11 to pick up snacks because we were most likely arrive at night time and I would grow hungry. I got Japanese rice balls with some sort of chicken filling inside and then wrapped with seaweed. As well as a sandwich from Starbucks. The bullet train comes every once in a while and I remember when other peoples trains passed over the station the station literally shook. The train really goes fast though. I was up there and speaking with my friend about how fast these trains were and then out of nowhere it sped past us.

So that was today’s little update, tomorrow I will be talking about our last two days, but alas, don’t worry. I can’t stay away from culture exposure and I’m heading to Australia this July!

Japan pt.2

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Tokyo, March 19th: After eating a hearty breakfast of chicken with sesame oil, rice with chicken and scrambled eggs, tofu, and a rolled egg as well as fruit. The chicken with scrambled eggs are so good, the eggs are juicy and with the rice it created a great flavor. Soon after that, our tour started again. The first destination was the emperors palace, as in the descendant of the emperor of Tokyo. the architecture of the house is super surreal, you see NOTHING like it in America. Our tour guide was telling us how samurais are no longer and thing and vanished because of the modernization of Japan back in the 19th Century.

Chicken with sesame oil, rice with chicken and scrambled eggs, tofu, and eggs

After 20 minutes of admiring the view and the house, we went to Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. This place is bustling with plants, we did go in a colder weather, so there weren’t as much Sakura trees. However, there was a greenhouse next to the park and that had a humid climate for many plants that couldn’t survive in the cold. There were some Sakura trees, but most of them bloom in April. It kind of reminded me of the butterfly palace that is up in Branson Missouri. Some many different types of plants were in the greenhouse, even cactuses which was a surprise to see in Japan. Sort of like seeing a palm tree in Japan. I highly recommend to come to this garden though, especially in the right time where there are many Sakura trees. Super Instagrammable and super pretty to just chill and have a picnic, which is what a lot of people were doing.

Seeing all of these people eating food and looking at the view also made me hungry. We headed towards Ahikabara (which is the section known for electronic stores and anime) and went inside the biggest electronic store, Yodobashi, which was 10 stories high filled from head to toe in TVs, fridges, iPhones, etc. The only downside were the amount of escalators you had to go up if you wanted to go to the top, which housed all of the restaurants in the store. The things about escalators here are people all stand on the left side and give people in a rush to have the open right side. Which I personally thought was super clever. We got some lunch at Soba Dining Rinya, (I hope that’s right) where I got myself some chicken karaage, that I shared with my little sister. (If I hadn’t explained before, I traveled with family and family friends). I got myself tempura rice (because I love my shrimp) and it came with a side of ramen, and my sister just got some ramen. After eating dinner and leaving the huge department store, after my little sister found a clothing store on the 9th floor and had a little shopping spree, we explored the grounds next to the store. There was a doughnut shop called Jack in the doughnuts that sold the cutest doughnuts in the world. I got a doughnut that had a layer of white chocolate over it that was mixed in blue food dye to create a marble effect.

Tempura rice and noodles

I was stuffed after lunch and the sun was slowly setting into evening. Afterwards we found the Statue of Liberty when we were exploring a little bit more of Tokyo and that was a little bit of a surprise to me.

Realizing we were getting late for our appointment at Team Labs, which is this interactive museum to one’s wildest imaginations. I loved this museum. It was super fun and it was such a great place for photos with my sister, because honestly I don’t have ANY good photos of my sister. For this experience you have to be barefoot (no socks including) and if you want to come, be advice not to wear a skirt because some of the rooms have mirrored floors as well as long pants. Otherwise you would have to rent some shorts, that are free, but if you want good pictures those shorts would ruin the whole thing. The first thing you’re welcomed to is a hallway lit with blue lights. It slowly leads to an upward hill of rushing water. Which is why socks are not allowed. The hill slowly levels up to a floor with water, which is not that high barely surpassing your toes.

Afterwards there is a room filled with towels to wipe your feet with once you’re done. Later on when you keep walking there’s a room, we will call it Bean Bag room, that is a huge room filled with a fluffy pillow like floor, it seems as if you’re walking over a huge bean bag, hence the name of the room. Next you’re introduced to the Led lights that look like stars room. This room was one of my favorites for the room was head to toe filled with LED Lights that changed colors and created a little maze for you to find the next room. The room was surrounded by mirrors, which is probably why it looked like a huge maze when really it’s only a few paths to walk on.

After exiting this room there is a hallway that has different textures of carpets on the floor for your feet to have a little fiesta. This hallway leads to a room, fish room, FILLED with water up to your knees, that have fish and flowers projected onto the water to make it seem like a pond. This was one of my favorite rooms because of how warm the water was and how calming it was to see these projected fish swim past you. There were two doorframes, one leading to the next room and the towel room to wipe your feet and legs dry as well as another doorframe that lead to a room with water that looked like lasers.

Next up is the bubble room, a room completely filled with big bubbles to have fun and kick around. But don’t actually kick them around you could hurt someone. The whole room changes colors and when the room changes, the big bubbles change as well. It was nice to come down and prep for the next room, because this room was nothing to miss. In fact this room was so peaceful I laid there for a good 20 minutes. The next room is flowers falling in space towards you. It’s this room of flowers falling into your face as if you’re floating through space and time, honestly, it reminded me so much of the Artechouse in New York City.

Then you’re lead out and back into the locker rooms where you put your shoes away. However, it’s not over yet because there are two sides of the building, one leads to everything that I have described, and the other leads to another hallway that shows two other rooms. One of those rooms is the nice and cool mossy room that is located outside. The last room is a room filled with flowers that are hanging from the ceiling. There is this mechanism that moves the flowers up and down to make it seem like they’re swaying and when you first enter you have to crawl under the flowers and lay there and wait until the mechanism lifts the flowers up for you to stand.

Water hill
Beanbag walking room
Infinite led room
Water koi pond
Water show in the fish room
Floating flowers, I got to lay down and admire flowers
Moss garden
Because we can’t touch the flowers we had to crawl under to be under the flowers

After all the fun photos we took at Lap Planets, it was time to head back and eat some food. Again, there was a mall right next to our hotel, so we found a ramen place called Golden Ramen and ate there. It was some of the best ramen ever. Soon after that I fell right asleep in my hotel room and waited for tomorrow’s exciting morning when we would be heading towards Kyoto.

Japan pt.1

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Hi! Spring break was a very fun time for me, I went over to Japan with some friends and had such a fun experience. I loved every sight we saw, and I loved the experience of everything. From walking on the street to the clean bathrooms with HEATED toilet seats and nature sounds provided if not comfortable using the bathroom in public.

Tokyo, March 17th: The plane to Tokyo, Japan was a nice and relaxing fight. We landed in Japan at a really late time however, around 7 or 8 pm. We checked into our hotel Mitsui Garden, it’s a very classy and nice looking hotel. At this time, I was starving, so we did some research on where to eat, with our dismay, we gave up and just went on a walk. However, to our enlightenment we found a mall right next to our hotel and inside that mall was a whole floor of restaurants. There was one restaurant that caught my interest called Beer Cafe, now I can’t drink, but it was an Italian restaurant and I know you may think, “you’re in Japan, try Japanese food.” Don’t worry, I did eat A LOT of Japanese food. It’s just with jet lag and tiredness we found the first restaurant we could find that wasn’t busy, because it was a Sunday night. We ordered Chicken Spicy Frit, Pizza, and Risotto.

After the very hefty meal it was time to walk it off as well, there was also a 7/11 next to our hotel as well. Since I heard a lot about Japan’s 7/11s I knew I had to get somethings. I did buy something for my friends back home in America who wanted snacks, and I bought myself a dessert. Sakura (cherry blossom) pudding. It was so delicate and not sugary at all. I love that about Japan, the sugar proportions are just right for my taste.

Cherry blossom pudding

Tokyo, March 18th:

The bed was so comfy I didn’t want to wake up. I woke up at 6:30 am and went down for breakfast at 7:40am. The breakfast is really good there, with everything on small plates to put on the tray. I got myself pasta, chicken in sesame sauce, fish cake, salmon, and fruit. I also got myself some bread, and the bread is so beautifully baked. It’s shiny golden and crispy on the top and so soft on the inside. There’s also a Starbucks that my friend went to while I was eating breakfast, they got a matcha scone for me to try because they know I love my matcha.

Chicken with sesame sauce, fish cake, fruit, salmon, and pasta

We were going on a tour through out Tokyo, we had a tour guide with a guy named Mizuma San, and he would be our tour guide the whole trip through out our Japanese experience. After finishing up with breakfast, I headed outside to see how cold it was, and I must say, I’ve never felt a windier city than Chicago until Tokyo. I stumbled some many times because of the wind. Also, the thing about Japan separating it from so many other cities I’ve been to is that it’s freakishly clean. I never believed it possible to have a city with millions of people living in to be so spotless of litter and trash.

We first went to Ueno Park, greeted by a huge statue of a whale, we were expecting to see some cherry blossoms, we did find some. End of March and beginning of April is when most of the cherry blossom trees bloom, since we came mid-March there were only a couple of trees. We explored the beautiful park to take pictures of the serenity of the nature and we found a monkey. It was next to its human, but I wasn’t expecting a monkey in the middle of Japan. I highly recommend coming here though, there are plenty of beautiful pathways to walk, there are multiple shrines, and a playground for kids. I did have a lot of fun on the swing set and the slide, it unleashed the inner child in me. Swinging and looking at the pond was very calming. Sure the lake was full of dead reeds, but those reeds are apparently lotus plants, so when it gets more warmer in Japan the lake would look so beautiful.

Cherry blossoms

After hanging out at Ueno Park for some time, we thought it was best to explore more historical parts of Japan, such as the pagodas and temples. On our way there I couldn’t help but notice how cute the alleyways are in Japan, all alleyways are packed with shops and restaurants and look super photogenic. Our second stop was the Senso-ji, the Buddhist Temple in Tokyo. When I tell you it was breathtaking, it was breathtaking. It was super photogenic, and the many girls and guys wearing traditional Japanese clothing such as Kimonos making the vibes of the whole place an amazing time. You can also rent these Kimonos if interested, I just didn’t want to get out of my nice coat as it was pretty cold outside. Also, everyone is super kind, they don’t get upset if your Japanese isn’t as great, they seem happy that you tried to speak Japanese then actually doing it right. Sucks for me I only knew Konichiwa and Arigato and some short sentences like good morning, good night, and nice to meet you.

Growing hungry I quickly ran towards the NUMEROUS tents selling street food, I found those candied strawberries and was going to get one but they ran out of all the strawberry ones. I found a stall selling noodles and right next to it there was a tent selling fried chicken. And of course, you can’t be in Japan without trying some Japanese desserts, thankfully there were many shops selling things. I got myself a matcha ice cream sandwich (matcha ice cream squished between this sort of ice cream cone wafer of some sort) and a sweet potato cake. This little cake soon started my sweet potato craze when I got back to the States. The cake was so delicate and not that sugary, and it literally melted in the mouth.

After eating lunch and exploring the temple and what it has to offer a bit more, we headed over to the super crowded Tokyo Sky Tower, it took an hour just to get to the elevator to exit the building once we where done. It was very hectic, everyone was mad at everyone. People wouldn’t stop pushing, and I remember some lady snapping at my friend because they were being pushed up against her backpack. Needless to say, I think everyone calmed down once they finally went down and felt the cool air and not the humid people air.

It was getting pretty late and the sun was starting to set when we reached the last destination of the day, it was a temple in a beautiful forestry park. The forest was so beautiful to walk in I just took a moment to walk around the trees and feel connected with nature again. School has been pretty hard so this was a nice snap back to reality that not everything in life should just be work. You need to let yourself take a break before burn out.

Afterwards, it was dinner time. However, I was WAY to jet lagged to care about eating, I just wanted to go straight to bed and catch up on rest before waking up early again for the next part of the tour. On our way back to the hotel, we did stop by the famous road in Japan that you always see in movies or on Youtube, the one where HUNDREDS of people are walking on. We did find an outside bakery displaying the most delicate looking desserts I’ve ever laid eyes on, so I didn’t eat dinner but I ate dessert.

That was Day 1 and 2 of being in Japan, it was so fun to explore such a beautiful country, stay tuned for day 3 and 4 as well.

India p.5

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Yes, it’s been awhile again. It is the ending of a school year therefore final exams, ap exams, ACT/SAT, a lot has been going on. However, I found some time to just write the last part of my India trip before I go to Japan.

December 29, 2023 Mumbai Madness part 1:

It was 4:00 am, my suitcase was in the back of the car and with a teary goodbye I was saying a farewell to my aaji, aajoba, kaki, kaka, and my little cousin. We were heading towards Mumbai where my mom’s brother lived. There we would meet my mama (mom’s brother aka my uncle), mami (my aunt), and my cousin. The 2 hour drive was pleasant, because I didn’t have to use the bathroom that time, and the sights I saw were incredible. I’m not used to the “city” life, so seeing all of these tall buildings were intriguing. Since I didn’t have time to eat breakfast before we left I drank some chai my mami made and some cookies I found in their pantry.

Given gifts is an understatement, I was lavished in gifts, my cousin gave me Sony noise cancelling headphones and he said even though I’m an Iphone user and maybe a hater towards Andriod things, I should give them a try. No joke, the noise cancellation on those things are SO good. For lunch we headed to an Indo-Chinese (Chinese food with an Indian twist) restaurant called Mainland China. The food there was no joke and it was an amazing time to catch up with every one, my aai and baba traveled with us to Mumbai. The thing I love about this particular cousin is that we’re the same and when we’re together we laugh about everything and everyone, even if it’s not funny. For example, my cousin and I were just eating some food and my grandma made a remark that we were growing tall, so we engaged in conversation about height. When we told her how tall we were she replied with she was a 1 and a half. I don’t know why that made us laugh but it did and I started choking on the miso soup that was served to us. Which brings us to discuss the food, which was spectacular. First off were appetizers, we had vegetarian dumplings, spicy miso soup and non spice, crispy corn chili, mountain chili sauce chicken, Japchae (which is Korean so I was confused), Hakka rice (super indo-chinese), Veg Manchurian, and some chicken (super good), as well as honey noodles and ice cream for dessert.

After lunch, we went to sea link, which is this huge bridge over the sea and is supposedly supposed to have a lot of beautiful views. Even though it was very sunny and humid, I couldn’t see the view at all because of the all the pollution. The bridge lead us to the other side and the building my Mama works in (which has a beautiful view).

Later as the sun began to set I was getting restless, all this sight seeing was nice but I felt like having a drink #coffeebreak. So we stopped at Marina International Hotel to get some tea and coffee, the top of the hotel is called the dome, because there’s no ceiling. However, it was reserved for 21 and up because they turned it into a night club with alcohol so we had to relocate and found a cafe in the same hotel. My sister ordered some hot chocolate, my cousin ordered a peach tea, and I got myself a Frappuccino. My other family members who were also there got some chai and other things and my mom’s cosuin (my maushi) who we met up for coffee ordered a cafe mocha.

Cafe frappe

After a coffee break we went out for dinner at a Middle Eastern restaurant. We had hummus and pita, chicken kebabs, I forgot the name of the next three dishes next to the kebab, and baklava.

December 30, 2023 Mumbai Madness part 2:

I had an amazing night and so waking up early was super easy. I did go to bed pretty late because I was extremely caffeinated thanks to the huge glass if Frappuccino I drank. For breakfast we had vada pav, if you recall from my other post on the India journey it’s bread with a potato filling. After eating we played a game of charades and rapid ramble.

Afterwards, we went on a walk on the side of the beach, and not like a sandy peach, but a rocky beach. As we were walking on the side of the beach we saw this HUGE crowd outside of this house, I soon find out that is the house of THE Shah Rukh Khan. I was screaming I was fangirling, SHAH RUKH KHAN??? I was breathing the same air as Shah Rukh Khan. I was surprised, I thought the apartments in the back was his house, but his house is the marble, which looks so cool. Also the beach looked very nice too.

I started growing hungry but my Mami told me that we had a reservation at a very famous seafood restaurant in Mumbai. I forgot the name. Sorry, it’s been four months since I was in India. The thing I loved about this restaurant though is that they showed you the food you were going to order WHILE IT WAS STILL LIVE. The shrimp below weren’t live, but the crab that I thought was adorable and adopted as my pet was soon consumed by my family and I.

This was a melancholy lunch however because it was our last day in India. That night we were packing up our stuff, and I didn’t want to sleep. I knew if I woke up in the morning it would be time to leave. So I stayed up as long as I could (bad because we had an early morning) and hung out with my cousin outside of his apartment before heading to bed. The next morning after waking up we got ready and then we headed back to the states.

That was the Indian blog! It took a while to finish, I apologize but with juggling school time, extracurriculars, and others, I’ve been a little busy. I hope you enjoyed and the Japan blog will come out after Spring Break.

India pt. 3

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December 25, Day 4: The Proposal

Now the title for this section might surprise a few, as if who would be proposing, well….you’ll see. That morning when I was devouring that poor omelette on my plate my mother came along and mentioned something about visiting the place where my dad proposed to my mom. See the meaning of the title now? Apparently, my dad proposed in a parking lot (so romantic) and on April fools day (to which my dad says he did that in case he was turned down). So now we were all going into the car, not the same one there’s a lot of people, but divided I tuned out the world and looked at my surroundings. We were traveling to FC Road, remember the first blog post for the Indian trip I went to MC road? My kaki was giving me a little tour whilst in the car. While driving I saw a college COEP (College of Engineering), that my mother said is where she went to college. Supposedly the school’s 100 years old, to be completely honest, it looked like it. We also drove past Sancheti hospital, the hospital where my kaki’s dad (my grandfather, which for some people is crazy because they don’t address their aunt’s family as anything since the aunt married into the family, THAT’S NOT HOW INDIAN FAMILIES WORK) lost his leg in a medical accident. I’ve always held a grudge for the hospital since.

We went to a really popular South Indian restaurant, I ordered idli which is like this savory rice cake that literally melts in the mouth, and shared a dosa with my kaka. Dosa is like this nice, fluffy, savory pancake. Idli normally comes along side chutney which is a sauce and sambar which is almost like a soup you eat it with (or typically poured on). I also had this amazing coffee with it, I have no idea what the coffee is but it was amazing. We were at the restaurant to meet my mom’s college friend, and it was really cool because he works in Cybersecurity and I absolutely adore Cybersecurity.

After eating lunch we did go back to the mall from the previous blog which why not? After that though it was a pretty chill day, but I was getting restless. I always get bored if I’m doing nothing, I have to be doing something. Especially because I’m back to a country I haven’t been to in a long time. I always have to try something new. So I went with my kaki and mom to go vegetable shopping. It wasn’t bad, only bad reason was there’s no grass so a lot of dust was going into my nose and I was sneezing non stop. Even though Pune is a city, my family lives in the more “town” side. I say town in quotations because it’s so big with skyscrapers and everything but it’s not the main city part.

Then for dinner we had another very very famous and typical Marathi street food, that again we didn’t get from the streets but a restaurant. We got pav bhaji. Pav bhaji is a sweet bread roll coming along with a nice vegetable curry that you eat together with. I didn’t take a picture because my family did absolutely devour that meal, and by the time I was eating everything was almost gone. Then before going to bed I talked with my sister and cousin and laughed at my sister who was panicking because she put hand cream on her feet.

December 26, Day 5: Travel Day

No I’m not traveling back to the USA, this is the day were we started the trek towards my aai and baba’s house in a city called Satara. Now Satara compared to Pune, it’s not a busy city with skyscrapers, see Satara is more of a scenic and historically rich area. See this is the area where Shivaji Maharaj, the king Maratha Empire, had his forts. Maratha Empire are people of Maharastra. We are also referred to as Marathas or Marathis.

Waking up at 5:30 is not desirable. However traffic in India is BAD, and we needed to beat the traffic. So for breakfast I just had some milk (which is weird because it’s sweeter then American milk) and Ladoos (which is like a sweet ball, like grits but roasted in ghee and then coated in a sugary syrup and then shaped into a ball). We did beat the traffic which is good! So we got to Satara at 8:00 because it’s about a 2 hour drive from Pune. The car ride wasn’t bad and then it took a twist. I forgot I drank milk and didn’t use the bathroom before we left so the last 30 minutes of the drive I HAD TO PEE. We found a really clean bathroom but you guys, I’m AMERICAN and I CAN NOT squat and pee. It’s not POSSIBLE FOR ME! So I held it in. After using the bathroom I ate some breakfast over there and then headed out with my dad and my grandparent’s driver to explore a fort owned my Shivaji Maharaj. Breakfast was Sabudana Khichdi, which is tapioca pearls, and sheera which is like an Indian pudding.

To be continued

India pt. 2

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December 23, Day 2: Shopping

The sun beamed from the curtains and into the room as little cracks. It was now morning, but I was super jet lagged so I woke up around 5:00 am and tried to go back to bed finally waking up to the light pouring out from the window. We had poha which is literally rice that’s flattened. It normally contains nuts and chev which is like a sort of chip to make it crunchy. Sometimes if you put lemon it has a nice tangy taste that’s just perfection. Today was going to be a day of exploring so I ate as much as I could so I could go and explore Pune. Before heading out to the Phoniex Marketplace, which is a huge mall, I played badamsaath with my little sister, little cousin, and my aai. Badamsaath means badam 7, I actually have no idea what badam means but the rules of the game is the person who holds the 7 of hearts has to play first, then once that’s laid everyone has to put cards done numerical order on that 7 of hearts. If you hold another 7 you can put that down to start another sequence of numbers.

After playing 3-4 rounds of the game and my mom and kaki (uncle’s wife, my aunt) came back from the fish market so we can have grilled fish for dinner. We all headed into the car to drive to the mall, we meaning my aaji and aajoba (my dad’s parents), my aai and baba (my mom’s parents), my cousin and sister, my mom and dad, and my kaka and kaki (my aunt and uncle). Whilst in the car and beginning to park a little girl approached our vehicle and held onto our door handle and wouldn’t let go. She was holding a tin bowl, my sister got a little scared but she’s not as used to the poverty difference in India then the little state of Arkansas that we’re from. She didn’t go for a good ten minutes, the thing is when someone approached your car with items to sell or just approaching your car all you need to do is look away. Don’t look at them. If you do they think you’re deciding whether or not you want the thing they’re selling. So just look away unless you want what they’re selling. I advise if they’re selling a fruit and your a foreigner in India don’t eat it, always eat fruits that can be peeled, apples, bananas, cucumbers, and so on.

At the mall we first stopped at Mac because my little sister really enjoys wearing makeup, she got eyeliner there that was waterproof which is cool I guess. We also went to a number of shops. I think my favorite stop had to be Starbucks though, there was a variety of different items and the iced chai was super good! Better then the Starbucks in America but India is home to chai so that makes sense. (Also if you say chai tea in India people will look at you funny because chai means tea). Even if they’re not drinking chai that Americans are accustomed too they’ll still say chai. For example, Earl Grey chai, etc. I also advise if coming to India not to eat ice because you might not know where it came from. I took the risk and got a slight stomachache but felt better after a while.

Coming out of the mall ready to get home to take a nap for the jet lag was hitting again I spotted a camel running down the street, so that was interesting. After that we grilled the fish that we brought over from the market to eat. It was pretty good but I have a pet peeve, I HATE fish bones because they’re so delicate that you can swallow them but it’s such an unpleasant feeling. Also there’s so many fish bones, like little ones that look like hair.

December 24, Day 3: Party

The third day was a very busy day for me, I wasn’t able to take as many pictures because today was the day that I was meeting all of my family on my dad’s side so we could all celebrate my Aajoba’s birthday. It was going to be a very busy day, last night we made diya’s (lamps) out of chapati dough so we could use those for the arthi (a type of way to worship someone). When doing arthi you light a candle, diya, or anything ignitable and then hold that thing and use it to make a circle motion. For breakfast, before going to the hotel where the party was being hosted I ate some appe, which is a sort of savory pancake ball made of rice batter and coconut milk.

A big oopsie I took no pictures of the party because I was too busy meeting people on my dad’s side for the first time. I always am able to see my mom’s side and my mom talks about them a lot. However, my dad rarely talks about his family, maybe because they weren’t super close. For my mother, she always was close with almost everyone in her family for they all lived next to each other, or she would stay at their house for sleepovers, or they would have parties all the time. I met my sister in law, which in India we address all of our cousins as sister and brothers, so it was my cousins wife that I met. We talked for a while and we got to know each other, so it was nice. I also met my baby cousin who was so cute.

After the exhausting party however I wanted to go for a drive to explore Pune at night, since I couldn’t drive but I was getting restless at home I tagged with my mom, kaki, aai, and baba who were traveling to a gold shop to buy some gold jewelry, which is crazy because it’s real gold they’re selling. The fact that so many people think Indians are all poor yet so many people in India are flocking towards gold shops tells something. Oh my the driving rules in India are so scary. First off, in America if you honk without reason you can get fined, however in India people love to honk. Honking is basically the indication to move out of the way, even though the cars there have indicators. Even if you did nothing wrong, someone will honk at you. Also motorcycles don’t like to use indicators, even though again it’s provided, they prefer to use their hand. (My dad when he was young liked to use his foot). Plus seat belts aren’t required, unless you’re the driver. Also most people driving aren’t licensed, but don’t worry even if you get caught you can BRIBE THE COPS WITH MONEY. WHAT???

While driving I felt like getting ” street food”, I say that in quotations because it came from a “restaurant” (more like a building making food really quickly but not necessarily fast food). You could get food poisoning from street food so I didn’t want to risk it so my kaki walked me to this building, again not necessarily a restaurant more like a food store with no front wall, meaning no door or wall that would normally hold a door. Does that make sense? We got Maharashtran street food, vada pav. I LOVE VADA PAV! It’s my most favorite native Maharashtran food. It’s literally a potato sandwich but with spices and chilies. I’m sorry for not showing the potato part of the sandwich. The potato part looks like a ball of fried potato which you then put inside the bread, squish it, and then eat it.

So far, my India adventure had been successful and fun.

India Trip (mostly a food blog)

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It’s been a few months, my fault, I’ve been studying for finals which are now over! Recently, two days ago, I flew back from India and because of that I’m extremely jet lagged. I woke up at 6 am despite going to bed at 10:00 pm and am fully energized. This blog post has been more of a food blog for I’ve done nothing but eat my grandparents food and meet family.

December 22, Day 1: The Journey

The tiring adventure started with an easy 1 hour and 30 minute flight to Houston, Texas. Not knowing how long and extended the 9 hour flight to London and then the other 9 hour long flight to Mumbai was I decided to NOT sleep. Other then that everything else was nice, I had business class for every flight so it provided me a more comfortable journey. The only thing was I think a dog sat in my seat last cause there was a lot of dog hair, but no harm done. There was slight turbulence for some parts of the flight but I found out that singing in the plane helps keep me calm. Walking out of the Mumbai airport and out into the humid and polluted air was a huge wake up call. It was currently 3 am at this time and I was busy examining the crowd outside the airport for my grandparents (my moms parents) who will be taking me to Pune (the city where my dad grew up) to visit my other grandparents (dads parents). They didn’t tell me however that Pune was a 4 hour drive from Mumbai. Thanks for that. It was nice though, the drive, I got to see Mumbai during night time. The thing about Mumbai is it’s very densely populated and ok driving. Pune on the other hand is very dessert like with just straight up city but no grass. Seriously I looked everywhere and couldn’t find any grass. Also the driving is terrible, no one follows the street lights, to the point I question why are they even there.

Finally reaching at last I had some breakfast at my uncles house (shares the house with my grandparents). It’s been a while since I last saw my aunt, uncle, and little cousin. My uncle looks nothing like my dad he’s much taller which really made me think, why didn’t I get the tall genes? No one on my moms side is tall, and sadly my dad is quite short so I got the short genes. My aunt made some sheera which is like a sort of cake but made with semolina which is a different type of grain so it has a different texture. It’s really good when you pour some milk in it, or you can have it on the side.

I was going to go back to bed because I was EXTREMELY jet lagged, but my little cousin was persistent and wanted me to be there when she performed her Christmas play at school, so I gave in and went to see it. For kids, it was pretty good. Afterwards my aunt went to talk to the principal to let my little cousin get out early, so while my little cousin was in class and my aunt was in the office I was totally and completely lost. I decided to explore so I went down the stairs, one of the teachers stopped me and said “Do you want to go onto the elevator?” but I was like why not get my steps in so I said “no”. He kinda looked at me weird so I continued walking down the stairs finding out soon that it led to a wall. How convenient. Finding my aunt wasn’t too hard after that and we got out of the school, another thing about India is belts aren’t mandatory, I mean the police don’t care enough. I understand a little though, there are a lot of people in India and it can be hard to keep track. Little later after we reached my grandmas plural because both of my grandparents were there served me some cauliflower bhaji, Chapati (the bread), some dal (which is like a soup), and I actually forgot the name of the green things.

Afterwards I took a nice nap, but soon grew hungry. My aai (which means mom in Marathi is what I say to call my mom’s mom) said we were going to meet another uncle at MG Road, which is a famous marketplace. Unlike a mall, MG Road is a road full of shops and very crowded. At MG Road, my aai, baba ( father in Marathi but again what I address my mom’s dad), kaka (what you call the father’s brother), and cousin came with me to meet my other uncle ( who I call *insert his name* mama). So how I’m related to this uncle in other words (my mom has a brother, that brother is married making his wife my aunt, my aunt’s brother is who we’re meeting), and of course my parents and sister were along. Together we explored the marketplace, we first went to a dessert place called Theobroma, a famous dessert shop. OMG those brownies there are so good, aka best decision I’ve ever made. Later we found a cafe called cafe peter and wow the first thing walking in I see BTS??? Cardboard cut outs but that was a little surprising. My cousin and sister as the designated BTS fans they are ran towards it to take pictures. Once I got the menu I scanned quickly and found RAMEN??? It was so weird, but I obviously chose that. It looked really good. Then I realized, I got to pee, but I dreaded what I knew I would have to face. For starters, Indians love to use water to wash instead of wipe with toilet paper so they don’t hurt the environment anymore with paper. I luckily had toilet paper on me that I had to use and then throw away (not flush because that can start plumbing issues) because I’m too American to use water.

Whilst eating an employee came over handing my little cousin and sister snowman headbands. Apparently they wanted a picture of my cousin, sister, and I for their Instagram and my little cousin was thrilled at that idea. Later afterwards we went to Biba which is an Indian dress store and I’ve been dying to go to one for my closet is dry of Indian clothing. I later found the perfect one, Indian dresses may be super hard to put on but once it is you feel on top of the world or like a princess.

So far the first day was pretty fun, it’s nice to rekindle my Indian side and it was nice for my dad to be happy and feeling nostalgia.