And here ends another chapter (12 June)

10 days went by in a flash. Come to think of it, I haven't really explain the concept of social tourism. I did thought it as a form of ocip but I was proven to be wrong. Like how PF puts it, social tourism combines social observation with tours, bringing both the worse and the best together. This is in line with what I started off with, to be a mere observer in the grand scale of things.

To be honest, the so-called worse of India (the lepers, street kids, HIV patients) turns out to be the best India has to offer. Great hospitality and warmth from both the patients and the caregivers, never failing to make us feel that we are a part of the Sumanahalli family, like a long lost relative back for a visit. I always believe that we find the best people in the most dire situation, and I met the most awesome lot here at Sumanahalli.

In addition, I couldn't have ask for better companions to travel with. I'm used to traveling alone, but this group has made me realize the perks of traveling with others, and in a sense, traveling as mere strangers first. Never met most of them at Changi airport, but now, I do consider them indispensable to the trip. From the wealth of experience abt Bangalore and India from PF and Jon, to the physicality and finesse of Ja, to the exotic knowledge of foreign land by L. From the boundless energy snd endless witty bantering by C, S and G, to the Tamil tongue of N, to the musical talent of HY. And last but not least, special thanks to SW for inviting me on the trip. Anyone of them missing from the group would have made the trip less complete.

If I have to find an event to sum up it social aspect and the tourism aspect of the trip, it would be the balloon release ceremony and Chembera peak respectively. The balloon release ceremony was a reminder to the kids (and also to everyone from the lepers to us etc) that we need to have dreams, regardless of our current predicament, to hold on to them and allow them to take flight at the right moment. Chembera peak was memorable as we conquered it together despite the arduous situation. It was a great challenge for me, and I can only imagine how tough it was for the ladies. But then, once again, it was proven that we were up to the task, even with the complications along the way. Like Captain Picard puts it, "everything is impossible until they are not". 

So this wraps up the second part of this blog, the social tourism chapter. Wonderful thanks for all who gave me such precious experience. I suspect that this experience will have an impact on how I travel in the future :)

Army daze guys!

Mark!

Don't I just love life!

The diarrhea finally hits :( (11 June)

I guess the title says it all. 10 days in India and I'm thankful that diarrhea hits only on the last day (it could have been way worst and spoil everything). So the plan for today is to take a train to cornoor and visit a tea plantation there, followed by a hike to the dolphin nose peak before ending the day with shopping at commercial road.

Took one if those antique-looking steam engine train to cornoor just for the experience. A pretty uneventful ride where we just goof around on the train. Reached in less that an hour and Chandru was already waiting for us there. Went up the hills to visit the tea plantation. Apparently it cost 250 rupees per person. As usual, we tried to wiggle our way out of paying (we have been feigning as foreigners since the start of the trip after all). But I must admit, it was pretty worth the 250 rupees, from learning that teas mainly comes from 2 bushes only, and how elevation affects the flavor of the tea. In addition, we also got to try the many different kind of tea such as Oolong, Baimudan, Green and Black tea.

Train coming into station

The train does look Harry potter-ish

Tea tasting!

The very solemn 全家幅

Went for lunch next before moving off the dolphin nose peak. Still have no idea why it's called dolphin nose peak, but I guess with other peaks named after animals, the mountains must have looked like an dolphin. Great misty view, although the visit was spoilt by a group of tourists feeding monkeys which resulted in the monkeys snatching food from other tourists and startling everyone else. Took a couple of pics and jumpshots before leaving the peak.

Great misty view!

Anyone spot the dolphin nose?

Last stop of the day was at commercial road, which was near our hostel. Since we walked past so many "home-made chocolate" shops, we decided to buy a couple started spamming tons of chocolate (can't be bothered abt VD alr). As with most night markets, everything sold is usually rather repetitive and nothing too spectacular. Ended the day with dinner near the hostel where they served horrible chicken burgers. HY's burger didn't come and she cancelled her order. Since it's almost our last night here, decided to have some kingfisher (authentic India beer) to end the day and some htht at the bar :)

Mark

Diarrhea is infectious! (10 June)

Given that we really save a lot by posing as locals, we were instructed to introduce ourselves as students from Manipur...and I gave the game away twice (though nothing much happenedHah! The diarrhea finally hits us and it's infectious. Once someone spoke of it, it enters the mind of all those who heard it. From a single rush to the toilet to everyone queuing outside every toilet at all tourist attractions. The morning consists of just pills and toilet paper. Thank God I'm still feeling fine.

So basically, today is a traveling day, where we were suppose to get to Ooty city. But before leaving, we were to pay a visit to Paul. Paul is the auditor for Sumanahalli, and was responsible for helping us get accommodation at Wayanud. A little more abt Paul, he founded the Anoop Foundation in memory of his late son. His son drowned in a river 4 years ago during a football match and Paul set up the trust foundation in his name. The foundation sponsors education and sports, giving children below the age of 13 opportunities to try out new things such as swimming, rifle and archery. From Paul's office, we went to another NGO audited by Paul which focuses on conservation and cultivation of medicinal herbs. 

The visit to Paul's office set us back abt 3.5 hours, from there it's a mad rush to Ooty. The journey there was rather torturous...imagine a bus full of sickly passengers worried abt soiling their pants. Gone were the times where we sang like "rolling in the deep" etc on the bus. Reach near Ooty around 4pm where we had lunch! And guess what!!! WIFI!!! Been deprived of wifi for the past several days (yes, I'm a slave to wifi, but who cares). Was informed that the peak we were suppose to visit will be closed at 530 (it was 515 alr) and we decided to make some changes to the itinerary 

I guess we were all for going for some form of massage/pedicure/facial, so we went online to look for beauty parlors in Ooty. Decided to do a facial there and we spent almost 2hours there pampering ourselves. Went for dinner after. Did I mention that it was C's birthday. Midway through dinner, Ja and I went to look for candles and found one which cost 40 rupees. It's like 8 candles in one which is suppose to open up like a lotus flowers and plays a short music as well. Got a cake from the restaurant...apparently, the girls wanted to give him a surprise too and ordered cakes as well (aren't we all so sweet?). So we sang bday song like twice with twice the number of cakes. 

Priceless expression!

Impromptu bday celebration

After the bday celebration, it was to the hostel. No wifi, but at least there's hot water! :)

Mark!

PS: I think I might have VD (violent diarrhea)

"I am from Manipur!" (9 June)

Given that we really save a lot by posing as locals, we were instructed to introduce ourselves as students from Manipur...and I gave the game away twice (though nothing much happened).

Had to wake at 430am in order to visit the nature wildlife reserve. Set off without breakfast and reach there before 7, where we were informed that only 40 jeeps are allowed into the sanctuary. Due to the drizzle, we really couldn't see much...just 2 tuskers, a peacock and a couple of deers and boars...nothing v spectacular. That was the first time where I gave the game away, when the ranger with us asked me where I was from and I replied "Singapore" casually...which resulted in killer stares from group.

Went for breakfast next and then towards some cave. The journey to the cave seems eerily familiar to the journey the day before to Chembera peak (finally knew how to spell it). The easy start, the downpour, the slippery rocks (but then again, every trek starts this way). Nothing eventful happened on the trek to the cave...even the cave itself was unspectacular, but then again, it has always been abt the journey instead of the destination.

In the cave!

Proceeded on to some lake/hot spring/cold spring (I still have no clue what it is till now). Had to access the lake via a river, where everyone got on and the "captain" steered the boat manually using a rope tied across the river and manual labour. I gave the game away here again when asked where i was from, which my group make sure i will not forget it again; Reached the lake, which in essence felt more like an outdoor swimming pool with the Indians taking a dip. As curious as I am, I was the only one who tried to enter the "hot spring" and got a little wet while attempting to get on top a rock). Got as twice as i left the lake...this time, I was sure I was from Manipur

Me...not too sure what I'm doing though...probably acting cute as usual

Lunch was at some random hotel in the street, where we had chicken fried rice and the bill went up to slightly over $6 per person, the second most expensive meal we had after that crazily exorbitant dinner at Hard Rock Cafe on our third night...totally wasn't worth it. Next up, we went to Echo Resort. Echo was supposedly the organization that sponsored our vehicle, and the resort is an revenue generating arm of Echo. Stop for a pretty lengthy break, while I sip on some tea and cookie before moving on to our next destination. 

Next up was shopping for ethnic clothing. We parked at the hostel and took a walk to sindur...which was much further than it looks. When we got there, it seems like everything was closed, but then they opened up for us to shop (now we are obligated to buy something). Went through tons of stuff, swapping sizes and colors. I finally settled for a red Indian shirt (guess I could wear it to surprise my friends back in Singapore). Murphy's law always strike. It had to rain once we got out of Sindur...so we braved the rain to get to Cinnamon for dinner. Gorge myself to death with 6 slices of pizza. Thank God for Chandru, who went back to fetch the van and spare us the agony of walking back.

Final destination in India is Otty! Heard there's a fair bit of trekking tmr as well 

Mark! 

Chiong sua! (8 June)

Seriously, I really need to learn the names of the place I'm visiting. So the itinerary for today is just to scale a mountain and then visit a man-make lake. Sound simple enough right...

Was drizzling on the way to the foot of the mountain. After breakfast, the rain subsided and we carry on with our plan. The guide got onboard at the foot of the mountain and we went informed that the peak of the mountain is closed as it is summer and as a result of a forest fire. Thus, the hike became a 1 hour event from the a full day event. 

We soon reach the midway point, where we were suppose to trek on foot from there on. The weather was great, with a cool and refreshing mountain breeze. Since it was a 2km trek, and the path was pretty gentle, I guess everyone took it easy. Chit chatting, singing songs along the way. I even broke away from the group and went on a different path (only to get chased down)

We reached what we thought was the end of the "trek", a tower with a toilet and a great viewing point. As typical Singaporeans, we started our weird acts in all tourists attraction. Soon enough, we heard our guide call out to us. Apparently what we thought was the end of the trek is just the beginning of it.

 From the viewing point

Group pic at the end of the trek!...or what we thought was the end

So here comes the mountain path. Omg, the terrain was treacherous and slippery. The guys were armed to the toe with 2 x 1.5 litre water bottle and food, and some of us wore just slippers (I dun think I could have make it with just slippers). Midway through the climb, it started pouring...not just a drizzle, it was almost like a torrential rain. At this point in time, we were already scaling on rocks instead of paths, which made the climb all the more challenging. The only consolation we had was the spectacular view, the misty forest pic that always get posted online. The rain was intermittent, coming on and going off without warning. 

The trek up. Love the mist!

We soon got to the peak, where we were greeted by this heart-shaped lake. Spend some time there trying to replenish our energy, rehydrate and munch on some bananas. Ja, Jon and I tried to bash through to get closer to the lake, but decided that it wasn't worth the effort. Now...imagine our horror when we were informed that we had to hike down the same path

The love lake! <3

Midway through the hike up, Jon lost his slippers and was doing the hike barefooted. The downhill hike was especially tough on him, since he can hardly land on the gravels and stones to gain traction due to the pain, while the smooth paths were too slippery for him to walk on. The rain and win has gotten s lot heavier by this time. As a result, the rest of the gang hiked downwards first, while Ja, Jon and I took our time, with Ja lending his hand to Jon while I just covered the rear. You will not imagine the number of close shaves we had, from the near misses at the edge of the cliffs to the countless cuts on our hands as we steady ourselves on all fours. Without a doubt, this was the most physically challenging activity I had in my life...though it was quite rewarding at the same time

We finally made it to the gentle section of the hike, from there one, it was just a walk through the merciless rain to our bus. By this time, Jon could not walk on the path any longer, so I piggy-backed him for a short distance through the rocky path. Thankfully, our bus driver was kind enough to allow us to enter the bus in our drenched state. By this time, the soles on both my shoes has been completely torn off. Our original plan was to proceed on to one of the largest man-made lake in India. But given our state, we decided to just head by to our hostel to clean ourselves us. 

Washed up, did laundry, and went out for "lunch". It was around 5pm then, and dinner was supposed to be at 730. Ordered macaroni and ginger tea (to fight off the effects of being drenched in the rain). Went to the hypermarket and got myself a bar of snickers and some chocolate cookies before returning back to the hostel to meet Sumanahalli's auditor and our landlord for dinner. They were especially nice, ordering Chinese food knowing that most of us are Chinese, and even picked up the tab at the end of the meal.

So this is all for the day! Going to a wildlife nature reserve tomorrow...at 5am...

Mark

PS: Jon is so going to rewrite his itinerary for today for those coming on the second run

We do love our jumpshots! (7 June)

So we were to leave Sumanahalli today, but not before visiting the market. The original plan was to visit the market in the morning, before leaving Sumanahalli for Mysore. As usual, as the school bus needs to send the kids off to school, the day started a little later (but no complaints here, all available time goes to wifi)

Went to support (HIV) to pick up several patients to the hospital to collect their meds, which resulted in us running a little late. Nonetheless, we reached KR market with a little time to spare and Uncle Mazda gave us a short tour of the place. From the garlands, to the live poultry, to the fresh fruits along the way, the market felt more like a slum than a real slum. Crowded, messy and confusing.

Cow chowing down trash

The market looks more like a slum than a slum

The raw meat smells the worst!!!

I think I'm both scared and excited 

As the bus has left us, we were suppose to take a public transport back to Sumanahalli on our phone. Jon has previously gave us many harrowing stories abt taking public transports, from buses never stopping and passengers having to jump on and offboard. Luckily it was the off peak period and we were at the interchange, so we were spared all of that. Bus conductors are usual in most countries (especially developing ones), but having separate compartments from male and female passengers was still a first. The ride was as bumpy as it could, my ass was flying off after going past every hump.

They still practice having bus conductors 

We were soon back to Sumanahalli, where we had to collect our bags and leave for Mysore. Father George gave us a bag of mangoes for our trip. Of course, before leaving, we had to do jumpshots, and this became a trend for the rest of the day (and I presume for the rest of the trip). The bus was surprisingly comfy with air conditioning. A little squeezy but I had worse before. 

The first of many jumpshots. We are such naturals at it

Lunch at KFC! Seeing KFC is tantamount to seeing water in a desert. A group of us shared a bucket of fried chicken, and I went to a nearby cafe for some cool quality coffee (seriously, food is like the only source of comfort here), and we were soon on our way. Our first tourist attraction was the Mysore palace. The perks of having an Tamil on the trip is that we can pass off as locals. The local Indians pay abt 40 rupees to enter but the foreigners are charged like 200 rupees. So we pass off as local Indians (as impossible as we look...though Jon said just to keep repeating that we are from moneepuu). As we entered, G was caught with a camera, but things were quickly settled with a 10'rupee gift to the security. Without a guide and knowledge of the language, we were basically flying blind in the palace, so we just came up with our own history of the place (some archduke etc etc) and smoke each other (the palace is the first institution in India to have ceiling fans blah blah blah). No tourist visits by Singaporeans is complete without jumpshots, so we did a couple in full view of the India locals

Another one in front of Mysore palace. I really like this one! :)

An hour later, it was back to the bus, and on our way to the next state (I'm still having a lot of trouble with Indian names...took me 2 days to remember Sumanahalli). A long ride where we past time with our playlist (they had to go play like my Cantonese songs, batman theme and the imperial march -.-). But oh well, we reach eventually. Was originally suppose to be 2 rooms, one for the guys and another for the girls, but it became one for everyone. The only improvement from Sumanahalli is that this place has hot water, though u need to fill it with a pail. Went for dinner at a roadside stall after dropping our bags...and it seems so natural to talk abt how violent our diarrhea will be the next day. 

Mark

A full fledged tourist in India 

Last day at Sumanahalli :( (6 June)

Technically, there's another day tomorrow, but we're leaving tomorrow and this is supposedly the last full day of activities. So the plan for today is to engage the kids at the St Joseph convent school.

As usual, the kids were damn excited to see us! We were suppose to be there for flag raising, but I think we missed it. So we went straight into computers lessons, teaching the higher grade students how to use Microsoft word and PowerPoint. I actually doubt thru retain much of it, but it's still good to be aware that such programs exist and what possibilities they bring. The students range from the demure angelic and ever-eager to learn girls to the devilish clowns in class that nearly made me snap at them.

PF in action!

One of the 3 kids I'm coaching 

Midway through, we joined the students for lunch, where I sat among a group of little girls. As usual, I gobbled up lunch quickly and ran around to play with the boys, trying out a little of their cricket, trying to topple a stone wall from afar with a ball and being made used of to borrow the volleyball. The lower grade boys were obsessed with my height, which resulted in me having to carry them up and down (that little paternal instinct leaked out)

All enthusiastic to get in front of the camera!

So demure looking!

After lunch was back to computer lessons, where we continued to conduct classes while the principal round up the school for a little surprise. After being segregated according to their age group, we each went to the group and tried to engage them a little. Since we were supposed to talk abt dreams, I went around asking every kid in the group for their name and what they would like to do when they grew up. Common answers among the girls include teacher and doctors, while the guys almost unanimously wanted to be police officers. A few interesting ones include being a sister and engineers.

Broke up into grps to share about their dreams and ambition

The highlight of the day was definitely the balloons. The plan was to give everyone a balloon, write their dreams down on the balloon and then release it as a school. So each of us took like 30 balloons each and started giving them out to the kids (it really felt like being Santa). Given the the rain was coming, we decided to skip the writing off dreams and proceed with the release of balloons. After a thankfully short speech by the principal, everyone released their balloons together, and the sky was filled with a myriad of colors as the students let loose as their dreams took flight. Our day at the school ended with a short interaction with the students, where I engaged them in simple sports like volleyball and dodgeball. 

Us giving out balloons! Really felt like Santa for the day

We went back to complete our mural painting, and waited for the next activity at support (which houses HIV patients). They were sending off one if their long term staff and we were invited to attend as well. Members of staff and Father George offered kind words to the leaving sister while we were suppose to put up a short perform (which we didn't prep at all). It got a little emotional, with all the sisters sobbing and offering hugs. At last, we decide to sing 'I'm Yours" (thankful for the last night sing-along session in bunks) and luckily I happen to have lyrics on my phone. Thank god for musically talented HY and Jon on their ukuleles and Ja on his guitar. Dinner came soon after and was served with ice cream. At this point in time, anything cold and sweet is greatly appreciated. We stayed at support for a while longer and had sing-along sessions there with the girls (their bunk is at support). The indians wanted a dancer and naturally C got all our votes (and i got it down on video :p). Took a late night walk back to our hut (the only good thing abt our hut is its location!)

Dancer from support

Father George and the other sisters

Dancing PK! Support vs Singapore!

Mark!

Starting to miss this place

PS: I really love the kids here