Welcome back to This is India! I always have funny/weird stories about India to share with friends or family when I talk to them. This is just meant to be an honest portrayal about my life in India through short anecdotes. I also share here what I’ve been up to online outside Hippie in Heels.

What I was up to other than here:

• I’m in Vegas! I came up early to spend time with my friend who’s getting married before her bachelorette party this week. I have lots to write about from my time here so far.

Now your story,

Monsoon in Goa isn’t AS crazy as it might sound. I’m from Ohio where it rains a lot in the Spring and the thunderstorms can be pretty strong. We also get tornadoes. When I saw my first monsoon I thought hmm this is just a lot of rain.. this won’t be so bad. 

But that was the first week of June. By July you start to think Ok this is getting old… 

It’s dark by 5 PM. It never stops raining it seems (although it does). The power is in and out. The satellite dish cuts out during your favorite show because palm branches are blocking it.

The rain is so powerful it can flood in 20 minutes. Our swimming pool next to our house gets emptied before monsoon and can fill completely in 6 hours of rain.

By August it’s rough.

September, you get a little stir crazy. No friends are left in Goa, no restaurants are open. You go to a bar hoping for even a little party but there is none.

Mid October you’re like Ok THIS will be the last rain. And is is, thank God.

By April the next year though it’s SO hot and dry you are dancing to the rain Gods begging for the rain to come back!

This would have been my fourth monsoon in Goa and although I’m in Goa for most of it, I am gone all of July and half of August so it’s a nice break. (Poor Ben is stuck there the whole month of July on his own! Of course he could have come to Ohio, and me and my family would have liked him to, but he only gets so much time from work and of course has his own family to visit.)

One thing that I always can’t get over is the driving in the monsoon. A lot of people in India can’t afford cars and drive scooters instead. They will put their whole family on a scooter (wife and two kids, sometimes 3).

In the rain, life doesn’t stop and scooters still power through. We’ve been on our scooter in the rain and it’s a bitch! lol I’ve been in some seriously torrential downpours and people zoom past me on a scooter.

The other funny thing is Goans in cars hate to drive into a puddle! HATE it. They will stop traffic to wait and dodge it or just come at you head on because there is a puddle on their side. It’ll be raining so hard that their car is covered in water and mud anyway- so it always drives us nuts.

We on the other hand LOVE driving in puddles.

This is India!

Did you enjoy this post? Let me know in the comments or by sharing it with the social media links! I’d love to keep giving you travel tricks & tips so feel free to subscribe by e-mail in the big purple box below. Don’t forget you can follow me on facebook, twitter, instagram & bloglovin‘.

The post This is India! 109 first appeared on Hippie In Heels.

The post This is India! 109 appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

Welcome back to This is India! I always have funny/weird stories about India to share with friends or family when I talk to them. This is just meant to be an honest portrayal about my life in India through short anecdotes. I also share here what I’ve been up to online outside Hippie in Heels.

What I was up to other than here:

• I just got back to Ohio from my 9 day trip in Florida. It was a blast but “being a kid again” is exhausting lol. We visited so many theme parks, Disney parks, zoos, waterparks, and since it was my first week back in America after a year I ate a lot of course. Now I have some work to catch up on before I go to Vegas on Tuesday!
• My grandma is in town! She is watching Boy Meets World with me as we speak.
• Since I ate so much in Florida, I wanted to be healthy this week before Vegas. We had chicken fried steak last night (which is delicious but the gravy is really unhealthy. I ate a ton of it but thought oh I should force myself to eat the green beans too since they are good for you. I said mom these are actually pretty good! She said “yeah, that’s because I put so much bacon grease in them.” So, yeah dieting in Ohio is going to be impossible! lol
• Ben hasn’t lost his mind in the Goa monsoon yet. He’s been “gardening” and playing with the animals (and sending me videos of them).

Now your story,

I was saying before that sometimes I just don’t “India” things anymore, after all I’ve been living here over 3 years and a lot of it is too normal to me now.

We were at the petrol pump and this bus was getting filled up before our turn. I noticed the chili and lime hanging, which is very common. But then I noticed the little black monster which I have usually seen hanging by people’s houses (and wrote about in a past This is India I’ll link to below).

Superstition is so common in India and truly believed by many. You’ll see the lime and chili on a string hanging from almost all buses and big trucks, and even small cars.

The monster is usually to keep bad spirits away. They put them when they build houses as they believe the house could be haunted if they don’t.

Read about the giant dummies they hang outside houses here.

I wrote about some superstitions here.

I was telling Ben why I was taking the photo and he’s like you don’t have to look at what’s on their car- look at what’s on our own car!

These were on the car from the cars’ technical owner and it would certainly be bad luck to take them off. One is Ganesh (on the right) and most cars have a chosen Goa on them. The stuffed animal is also really common.

My driver Babu has a stuffed cow hanging from his car review mirror.

Our other car, the Omni van has an orange Ganesh and a photo of Sai Baba we’ve always kept in it.

This is India!

Did you enjoy this post? Let me know in the comments or by sharing it with the social media links! I’d love to keep giving you travel tricks & tips so feel free to subscribe by e-mail in the big purple box below. Don’t forget you can follow me on facebook, twitter, instagram & bloglovin‘.

The post This is India! 108 first appeared on Hippie In Heels.

The post This is India! 108 appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

Welcome back to This is India! I always have funny/weird stories about India to share with friends or family when I talk to them. This is just meant to be an honest portrayal about my life in India through short anecdotes. I also share here what I’ve been up to online outside Hippie in Heels.

What I was up to other than here:

• I’m in Florida now. I hope you’ll follow along with my adventures on Instagram!

Now your story,

Sometimes instead of the Omni van we drive a Bolero. It’s like a big knock-off G Wagon. I love it! It’s not comfortable at all and there’s no leg room but it’s fun to drive, has power steering, A/C, and radio.

The rain is coming soon and the right front window was stuck down so we wanted to get it looked at.

We couldn’t go to our mechanic that we always go to because this is an electrical problem, you have to go to the electric mechanic.

I’ve written before about when I went to the electric guy and I wanted to my windshield wipers fixed when it wasn’t rainy season… he was baffled.

We showed up. We explained it didn’t work.

He then tried the window button to see if it would work… nope, it didn’t work for him either.

He then had Ben hold the button “window up” while he basically beat the crap out of our door. He shook his head disappointingly that it still wasn’t working after his master skills were put in place.

He said “needs new motor… go to door mechanic to get motor taking out… bring it here I’ll fix it… take it back to door mechanic.. he will put it back”.

Why do we know where the door mechanic is? Because the Omni has had it’s fair share of door issues. All of 2014 the passenger front door was tied on with yellow rope. The door mechanic fixed that for us last year.

So, we showed up at the door mechanic and showed him that the window didn’t go up. He sprayed WD40 on our buttons (eww) and then had Ben hold “window open” while he punched and beat on the door.

It worked.

No one wanted money.. we gave him 20 Rs. for chai. Now my buttons are all sticky!

This is India!

Did you enjoy this post? Let me know in the comments or by sharing it with the social media links! I’d love to keep giving you travel tricks & tips so feel free to subscribe by e-mail in the big purple box below. Don’t forget you can follow me on facebook, twitter, instagram & bloglovin‘.

The post This is India! 107 first appeared on Hippie In Heels.

The post This is India! 107 appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

Welcome back to This is India! I always have funny/weird stories about India to share with friends or family when I talk to them. This is just meant to be an honest portrayal about my life in India through short anecdotes. I also share here what I’ve been up to online outside Hippie in Heels.

What I was up to other than here:

• I am having a long overnight layover in NYC and will stay with my friend Ann who I haven’t seen in 3 years which is amazing! I’m typing this now from the Mumbai airport. I woke up at 430 this morning to head up to Mumbai to catch my flight. Next stop, Paris.
• I head off Sunday to Florida for the next week on a trip with Visit Florida to see the best of the state. It should be a blast and I’ll update soon!

Now your story,

Ben made a couch!

We have a furnished apartment and our couches although lovely, aren’t very big.

I wasn’t really on board because Ben’s a Fiddling Fred and gets these ideas he runs wild with that end up taking twice as much time and costing twice as much as he thinks ha ha, but I did think a big L shaped couch sounded pretty nice.

The first step was picking the wood and design. He’s into “upcycling” and wanted to use palettes. There’s a “guy in mapusa” for everything – so of course, there was a guy with plywood and pine palettes. We went with pine.

Next Ben had Gangaram help stain it. I tried for like 10 minutes, but man palettes are a pain in the ass to try and paint! So many nooks and crannies – and you have to get them all to protect the wood from mold and bugs!

Next we needed the cushions! There’s a few guys for that. I’ve used Zam Zam in Mapusa (well before Mapusa, in Korelim) but this time we went with Mohammed in Parra who’s known for being pretty legit. 

It was time to sit on a bunch of cushions, negotiate the prices…. the big stuff! We got it down to a number we liked by downgrading to the “no no not good quality” stuff which was fine for us and seemed good anyways. Then it was time to wait while they glued it all together to make the right shapes. Fingers were crossed Ben measured right!

Then we had to pick the fabric and color of it…. we went with green.. then went home looked at each other like what have we done and went back to the shop to say no not green! Instead we got a nice grey. Not that it matter because we have to cover it with blankets since Goa is covered in red dirt which means our dogs and cat are too- and it’s impossible to keep the dirt out of the house, yes even with a housekeeper!

We got 4 pillows made too and I had some small ones from Fab India. Below is the finished product! It looks great. Ben did GOOD! :D

Whenever we do leave Goa, we can sell this as long as we keep it in good shape, so I see it as an investment lol ;)

This is India!

Did you enjoy this post? Let me know in the comments or by sharing it with the social media links! I’d love to keep giving you travel tricks & tips so feel free to subscribe by e-mail in the big purple box below. Don’t forget you can follow me on facebook, twitter, instagram & bloglovin‘.

The post This is India! 106 first appeared on Hippie In Heels.

The post This is India! 106 appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

Welcome back to This is India! I always have funny/weird stories about India to share with friends or family when I talk to them. This is just meant to be an honest portrayal about my life in India through short anecdotes. I also share here what I’ve been up to online outside Hippie in Heels.

What I was up to other than here:

• It was my birthday yesterday! I’m going to write a “this is India” about what a monsoon Goa birthday is like! Monsoon has pretty much hit, so this week was a lot of movie watching and chilling with friends.
• I’ve still been writing for Bravo. Never thought I’d be getting paid to write about Kim Kardashian! lol
• I have one week here in Goa before I head back to start all my upcoming adventures.

Now your story,

I recently flew back into India and landed in Bangalore first instead of Mumbai, to catch my Goa connection. I’ve done immigration in Bangalore and I remembered that they were very rude but there was no line which beats Mumbai any day.

When we got off our Etihad flight, it was 6 AM and there were only 20 people on the plane, only 3 of which were foreigners. Everyone had been sleeping since the plane was empty and we all had a row to ourselves so we didn’t get the immigration papers from the fight attendants. I realized as I was leaving but you can always get them at the immigration line. Most flights forget to hand it out or accidentally hand me the Indian one.

When I got to the immigration line there were no papers. There was no line either and I asked the guys at their boxes where the slips were to fill out. They pointed to a guy in the corner at the desk and said he has them.

I asked that guy and he said “they are out there, in the boxes”. I told him, no the boxes were empty

“they haven’t been filled with slips… there are none there and us foreigners need them”.

–“go ask your airline for a slip”

-“I have just walked 10 minutes here and there are boxes saying “immigration slips” which should be re-stocked, so restock them. I’m not going back to the plane which probably isn’t even there anymore.”

….long pause…. he signed LOUDLY and annoyed.

He opens a drawer without getting up about 10 seconds later, looks inside without touching anything. “There are no slips.”

…

“OKAY SO GET SOME!”

… he looks at me blankly, still sitting.

My god… THIS IS IMMIGRATION!” I yelled at him. “Get up and find them and restock the bins which are LABELED so clearly they are meant to be there”.

Hating me, he gets up and finds another guy. That guy had 3 in his pockets. He handed them to us. How lucky there were exactly enough? What’s most annoying is if I hadn’t yelled at him, he would have done nothing. They would have watched foreigners just stand around confused. No one was going to do any work that AM. It was still nap time for them it seemed. I hate that I have to be rude to get things accomplished because I would never have spoken to someone like that back home- I would have never needed to.

Then they sat back down on their lazy asses after us 3 got our slips, not searching for more for the next crowd.

As always, a very annoying welcome back to India as airports are the most annoying place in the whole country!

This is India!

Did you enjoy this post? Let me know in the comments or by sharing it with the social media links! I’d love to keep giving you travel tricks & tips so feel free to subscribe by e-mail in the big purple box below. Don’t forget you can follow me on facebook, twitter, instagram & bloglovin‘.

The post This is India! 105 first appeared on Hippie In Heels.

The post This is India! 105 appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

Welcome back to This is India! I always have funny/weird stories about India to share with friends or family when I talk to them. This is just meant to be an honest portrayal about my life in India through short anecdotes. I also share here what I’ve been up to online outside Hippie in Heels.

What I was up to other than here:

• It’s getting hot in Goa! The monsoon hasn’t really hit yet so we are patiently waiting for the rain. Thalassa closed which is always a good party and I’ve been hanging with the chicas in all the pools we can find to escape the heat.
• What I’m reading: I’ve just finished reading
  [easyazon_link identifier=”0062273337″ locale=”US” tag=”Hipinhee-20″]Oh Dear Sylvia[/easyazon_link] which was by an author I’ve mentioned here before and it was a quick easy read. I’m getting ready to go back to the US for TWO months (as I have trips to a few places plus will be in Ohio a lot) and this is when I get all organized and throw away a bunch of old stuff or sell it so I’m reading the famous book 

  [easyazon_link identifier=”1607747308″ locale=”US” tag=”Hipinhee-20″]the life-changing magic of tidying up[/easyazon_link] which I kid you not is SO good and will make your house so clean lol!
• Blogging stuff: I am a contributor for Huffington Post India now, which means I can write on there as much as I want. Great for exposure of my blog to people, but it’s not paid. You might have noticed there are now small ads at the top of my blog posts. I know they are annoying (I”m sorry!) but google pays me for these a decent enough amount that I really want to keep them there… Ads and affiliate sales is the main way I earn income so I hope you can look past them (or click on them and make me the big bucks! Lol jk). I’ve been writing like crazy for my freelance jobs & the blog and finally investing a bit of cash into it. I’ve hired a couple people to help me with some small tasks and think I”ll be buying a camera this summer (as of now all photos on my blog and Instagram are from my phone which doesn’t look very professional on press trips!).

Now your story,

While flying out of Mumbai’s airport I snapped a few photos out the window even though it was pretty hazy to show you what it looks like, as the views here are something that blow the minds of most people who visit.

What you are seeing below are slums. Those are thousands of homes and they go on for as far as you can see. Many have tarps on top of the houses and satellites for TV. What surprises a lot of people are that slums operate like small towns in a way. People work doing recycling, or running shops. There are chemists and restaurants. The slums seems to fill in all the spaces between the big buildings. I took a few as we got higher so you can see what it looks like from even further away.

According to this article they want to move the people from the slums near the airport and are building them houses. I find that very hard to believe. Have you heard of this project?

This is India!

Did you enjoy this post? Let me know in the comments or by sharing it with the social media links! I’d love to keep giving you travel tricks & tips so feel free to subscribe by e-mail in the big purple box below. Don’t forget you can follow me on facebook, twitter, instagram & bloglovin‘.

The post This is India! 104 first appeared on Hippie In Heels.

The post This is India! 104 appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

Welcome back to This is India! I always have funny/weird stories about India to share with friends or family when I talk to them. This is just meant to be an honest portrayal about my life in India through short anecdotes. I also share here what I’ve been up to online outside Hippie in Heels.

What I was up to other than here:

• Ben and I got back from Singapore on Tuesday and I still feel like I can use “oh I just got back from holiday” as an excuse to not work… so the work is piling up! I loved being in Singapore with Ben and his friends.
• A new trip came up! It’s in the US – I’m going to write a blog post about my travel plans for the rest of 2016 in the next couple weeks.
• My birthday is in a couple weeks and I’ll be staying in Goa hoping Ben gets Mona (my fave caterer here) to make me a cake… this is the 100th (not subtle at all) hint I’ve given him to do that so hopefully there will BE CAKE! LOL I don’t want to do anything for my birthday this year- just hang with Ben since I’ll be leaving for nearly two months this monsoon.
• Sometimes I feel like I’ve written nearly every “India” story I have and hopefully this fun “this is India” series won’t come to and end, but we shall see – the crazy India things that happen I don’t notice as much since I’ve been here so long so I don’t think to write about them but I do like giving these actual “up to date” posts since my other blog posts are often a month or so behind real life.

Now your story,

Driving in India is insane. I’ve written about it before. When we were taking the shuttle bus between airports in Mumbai, I took a few pictures thinking you might want to see just average traffic.

This is merging onto the highway. The driver had his hand on the horn the whole time… actually, they ALL had their hands on the horn. I understand the honking in India in intersections (because there are no stop signs so you honk to say “hey, I’m coming, it’s my turn!” but in traffic, it’s like “what the eff, I’M TOO IMPORTANT for traffic! I am too special” or that is what it seems like to me.

If you look across to the right there are like 5 or 6 lanes of traffic plus the 2-3 trying to merge on. It’s lots of fun! Lol They say the hierarchy puts buses like the one I was on right at the top… unless there is a cow. Cow trumps everything!

This is India!

Did you enjoy this post? Let me know in the comments or by sharing it with the social media links! I’d love to keep giving you travel tricks & tips so feel free to subscribe by e-mail in the big purple box below. Don’t forget you can follow me on facebook, twitter, instagram & bloglovin‘.

The post This is India! 103 first appeared on Hippie In Heels.

The post This is India! 103 appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

I’ve said this a few times on here…

“Do as I say, not as I do.”

As a travel blogger, sometimes I feel pressure to make sure I’m saying the right things, giving the best advice, and not leading someone astray. I wrote a little about that in my post The Truth About Traveling India Alone after a reader thought my advice for girls to travel India alone wasn’t the best.

I’m not perfect obviously and when I do mess up, I definitely get called out on it.

My education background is nursing, not geography, writing, or spelling (I’m sure you’ve noticed!). I don’t write anywhere near perfectly and I also don’t travel perfectly.

Anything I’ve learned about traveling, is from experience, which means I often learn from my mistakes. Sometimes I repeat those mistakes! I have gotten part way to the airport and realized I don’t have my passport. I’ve calculated time wrong and had to beg an airline counter to rush me to an airport gate. I went to the wrong airport in Bangkok once and had to rush to the other one when I realized my airlines check-in counter was nowhere around.

I don’t hide my mishaps on here and I often tell people “I don’t do this, but you SHOULD do ___ ” . I believe in this advice that I give and wish I could always follow it myself.

My own travel advice I struggle to follow

1. Don’t wear leggings in India

I have mentioned that wearing tight leggings/yoga pants and not wearing a t-shirt long enough to cover your bum, is showing a bit too much. I live in yoga pants and in Goa because it’s okay here, so sometimes I’ll wear them to the airport and when I land in Mumbai I’ll wrap shirt around my waist. Sometimes I wear them when doing adventure things to- but no, I wouldn’t wear them to a temple.

Jeans in India are fine in my opinion. I saw girls wearing jeans even up in Northeast India tribal areas.

The longer I stay in India, the more Indian girlfriends I meet. I see them wearing whatever the hell they want, and so I start to too – but I don’t advise people to do so.

2. Do your research comparing flights

I have shared that you should look into flights in advance and watch the prices. Statistics show that you should book about 40 days out for the best price. I do search my top 3 sites to see who’s got the best deal, but sometimes I’m so excited I just book the best price I see that day!

I don’t have enough patience to wait and watch… but you should because it saves money! I definitely don’t have patience to travel hack or use frequent flier miles. I actually just reviewed a service called Next Vacay where you pay $25 for a year of flight alerts from the airports closest to you which is a lifesaver since they have found return trips USA to India for $300 and I usually pay $1200. Eek!

3. Show up on time for your flights

Should be a common one, and I usually have the best intentions to show up really early but for some reason I am always miscalculating time and making the most ridiculous flight errors. I guess the percentage isn’t that high since I fly a lot but at least 2x a year I’m basically sitting in traffic somewhere nearly in tears!

I also know and tell you guys that you need to book a train ahead of time because they are often full. That doesn’t stop Ben and I from just showing up and getting on and paying the conductor for a seat no one showed up for. This can and has failed, and you have to get off the train. Obvi not the best thing to do.

4. Read about a place before you go & plan

I wish I did this every time I travel but sometimes, like my recent trip to Unawatuna, I wing it. It costs more which is why I tell people to prepare ahead of time but the more I travel I find that I don’t have time to do so much research. It’s fun this way, but also can cause headaches like rocking up in Hawaii with no car or hotel and figuring it out after a 40 hour journey from India… stressful.

• how to travel with no plans

I’m in Unawatuna.. what should I do… check tripadvisor lol 

5. Experiencing the food of a new place

I definitely DO try the food of any place I go. I am so into eating lol, but I can’t deny that I go to McDonalds, Starbucks, and other places when I travel, especially in India.  A lot of the reason is because I can’t get these things in Goa and when you can’t have them, you crave them more.

I wrote about how I try to keep it real when I travel so I’m not ashamed of this but I guess it’s something that people like to judge travelers on. You gotta be yourself to find yourself is what I always say.

TGIF in Mumbai

6. Keep extra cash in your luggage for emergencies

You should do this. You should have back up money in your hotel room just in case. I basically never remember to do this. I am often traveling and have no cash on me. I am always have taxi drivers stop at the ATM because I don’t have any cash on me to pay them.

• how to handle money abroad

7. Have data on your phone to follow maps in a taxi

Ben always makes fun of me like I’m a teenager in England that won’t pay the money to “top up” their phone. I never have recharge and data on my phone. I have a pay-as-you-go in India and never remember to top it up. I catch myself all the time in a taxi wishing I had data to map out the path so I don’t pay extra getting lost or going on a “let’s make the meter go up joy ride”.

• how to get a SIM in India

lost on the side of the road with a broken down car

8. Don’t hitchhike or go off with strangers

I guess I feel like I have a good judge of character and might meet friends as I travel that I end up having a drink with. I hitchhiked in Albania and even here in India. In fact, I pick up hitchhikers in India. You totally shouldn’t do this! I shouldn’t do this either! A US women hitchhiked to her home in Manali (super touristy town) and was raped by 3 men in 2013 which is a year after I first came to India. Of course, there are MANY cases like this here.  I no longer hitch rides but I do take little old ladies into Mapusa and little girls begging in Anjuna to new places to beg which are on my way. So far, seems harmless.

9. Don’t get drunk & stay out late when you are traveling alone

Don’t do it… because you make yourself vulnerable to bad situations. Have I done this? Yup. Because sometimes you don’t plan it and just have one too many! I don’t try to not follow this advice but sometimes break it (very very rarely!)

10. Try to stay fit while you travel

I have had guest posters give this advice because I can’t even write about it- I’m that bad at it. I’ve had guest posters write how to stay skinny while you travel & how to stay healthy while you travel. I believe in this advice and try to follow-up but very often fail at this advice. I’m actually trying a lot harder at it recently.

from my guest poster (linked above), cuz I can’t do this awesome stuff!

The post 10 pieces of travel advice I give… that I struggle to follow myself first appeared on Hippie In Heels.

The post 10 pieces of travel advice I give… that I struggle to follow myself appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

Welcome back to This is India! I always have funny/weird stories about India to share with friends or family when I talk to them. This is just meant to be an honest portrayal about my life in India through short anecdotes. I also share here what I’ve been up to online outside Hippie in Heels.

What I was up to other than here:

• Work, work, work. I have been having website server issues which would bore you to hear about but it’s been the worst & costly. If you ever try to come to my site and get a “403 error” on the screen I would love if you would screenshot that and sent it over to me on email or social media.
• I am looking for hire someone who knows how to use Rewardstyle & Shopstyle if you’re reading this and you’re a VA, email me please.
• Reading: a book I’m not sure about yet called
  [easyazon_link identifier=”0062273337″ locale=”US” tag=”Hipinhee-20″]Oh Dear Sylvia[/easyazon_link]. It’s good so far. Would love some suggestions on what you guys are reading. I like books that are like “Girl on the Train” or “Gone Girl”, which I guess have a a more intelligent word for their genre that “who done it?” novels… psychological thrillers?
• Ben and I are off to Singapore on Thursday. Not gonna lie, we’re stoked to get a Burger King (or 3). We’ve got a wedding and will be back to Goa Tuesday.
• Writing: I got published on Huffington Post which was super cool, even though they don’t pay for the articles.
• I’m going to try an use Snapchat while in Singapore and give it a go again. I’m not sure if I like it yet. If you have it, you can see videos and pics on there. Username: hippie-inheels. Share yours with me so I can follow you back!
• Lastly, working out. An awesome blog reader, Kaitlyn, commented that I should check out “toneitup” for work out videos and I did. They are great! I’ve been doing them every day which will pretty much be canceled out with all the fast food I’m sure to eat in Singapore.

Now your story,

I don’t know why it took me so long to share a pic of our veg seller! We go here for our weekly veg (when we feel like cooking that week) and fill up the little metal bowls with what we want to be weighed out.

We usually get a lot more than we did on this trip, but in the end got what you see pictured below for 100 Rs ($1.50). I think she gives us an okay deal because we use her a lot, but even so I’m sure as foreigners we are paying more than what it really costs. No point is bothering over $1.50 though since we’re more than happy with it. I’m curious how much this would cost back home: 6 big carrots, 5 big potatoes, 5 red onions, two bunches of spring onions, garlic bulb, 5 tomatoes. How much would it cost in your country? and Indian readers, how much should this cost!?

This is India!

Did you enjoy this post? Let me know in the comments or by sharing it with the social media links! I’d love to keep giving you travel tricks & tips so feel free to subscribe by e-mail in the big purple box below. Don’t forget you can follow me on facebook, twitter, instagram & bloglovin‘.

The post This is India! 101 first appeared on Hippie In Heels.

The post This is India! 101 appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

Welcome back to This is India! I always have funny/weird stories about India to share with friends or family when I talk to them. This is just meant to be an honest portrayal about my life in India through short anecdotes. I also share here what I’ve been up to online outside Hippie in Heels.

What I was up to other than here:

• Nothing too crazy going on. We’ve got our flights sorted for Singapore. We’re going there to see his friend Dom get married which I think I mentioned before. I’m going to be reviewing a flight for Singapore Air who I’m working with on a project, so I’m excited about that! I’ve never flown with them.
• I have been writing a lot for Bravo lately, and wanted to share this piece about the Olympic torch (which has it’s own twitter!). I was researching it to write this article and learned something interesting. Although the olympics have been going on since BC, the torch relay is only 80 years old. It was invented by Hitler’s people during the 36 Berlin Olympics – they wanted the torch to tour German cities to spread their propaganda to their people. This was the Olympics Jesse Owens won a bunch of medals. I just finished reading 
  [easyazon_link identifier=”0143125478″ locale=”US” tag=”Hipinhee-20″]Boys in the Boat[/easyazon_link] not too long ago which was about the US rowing team over there at that time. I find it all so interesting! If it interests you check out the book as it kind of tells about Berlin using the Olympics for their own gain. If it doesn’t interest you, don’t bother with the book as it’s really long and SO detailed about history.
• I wrote a little tid-bit about where I’d take my mom on a vacation for mother’s day which is being featured in the Huffington Post Sunday. You can see the original piece here. Happy mother’s day mom!

Now your story,

Attention: New car repair shop, Assagao!!

Ben and Babu are now the fine owners of a car repair shop. They have repaired one car, ours, and for a small fee can repair yours too.

Things they can do:

• Hide your rust with gooey stuff so that you pass car inspection
• Sand your car with sandpaper
• Spray paint the car… the whole car, windshield wipers, bumpers, and all.
• Offer those passing by “time passing” as they can watch this masterpiece free of charge!
• Awesome Bollywood jams
• A chance of seeing the python who lives in our garden
• Payment accepted in Rs. or Beer.

In all seriousness, our car is up for inspection and there is 0% chance the body of the Omni would have passed this year. Repairs are finished, but we haven’t had inspection.. I’ll let you know if we pass!

This is India!

Did you enjoy this post? Let me know in the comments or by sharing it with the social media links! I’d love to keep giving you travel tricks & tips so feel free to subscribe by e-mail in the big purple box below. Don’t forget you can follow me on facebook, twitter, instagram & bloglovin‘.

The post This is India! 100 first appeared on Hippie In Heels.

The post This is India! 100 appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

Welcome back to This is India! I always have funny/weird stories about India to share with friends or family when I talk to them. This is just meant to be an honest portrayal about my life in India through short anecdotes. I also share here what I’ve been up to online outside Hippie in Heels.

What I was up to other than here:

• I finally finished the book
  [easyazon_link identifier=”0804172706″ locale=”US” tag=”Hipinhee-20″]A Little Life[/easyazon_link]. It was a whopper! I definitely suggest it.
• I have been writing like CRAZY. I wrote 2 article for Bravo this week, 7 for another freelance website (about Jordan) and 9 for Hippie in Heels about Jordan- so there is a lot of info coming soon! I also had an awesome beach day, went the Nilaya with some friends (an awesome pool) and started working out again. I worked out last monsoon time for a couple months but then stopped and just couldn’t start again. So, it sucks… and I hate everything about it but I’m doing these 10 minute work outs now because I cannot diet! I have dreams about Chipotle burritos. I have dreams about the frozen isle of grocery stores.. life is food and food is life… hahaha just kidding (not kidding at all actually)! Do you guys know of any good youtube butt/leg/abs work out videos? Who needs upper body strength…
• A Plus did a little mention of 11 travel bloggers (Hippie in Heels was one). It’s Ashton Kutcher’s website so that was pretty cool.
• Ben’s been gone all week in Mangalore. I’m thinking about going back with him this weekend on the train. Anyone been to Mangalore? What’s worth seeing there?

Now your story,

Driving in India is always interesting. I’ve written about how I learned to drive a stick shift here and learn to dodge cows, but I don’t know if I mentioned what it’s like driving a taxi. Our Omni is an old taxi and Omni’s are almost always used as taxis in India, although not as much these days as they were actually outlawed for a period of time.

One of the fun things about driving are the things you see and the funny ways people look at you. Lots of people have a laugh, as many Indians do, about foreigners driving a very beat up Omni. My Delhi friends get a kick out of it and tell me to turn the meter on.
But the best thing about an Omni is that people hail a cab… and we stop to give free cab rides. It doesn’t happen often enough, and more times than not it’s drunk men trying to find a party, but we do our part when we can.

I offer rides to backpackers sometimes but they think I’m trying to kidnap them. We took this little lady to the market last week and she was happy to hop right in, no questions asked, except what our religion was. 

This is India!

Did you enjoy this post? Let me know in the comments or by sharing it with the social media links! I’d love to keep giving you travel tricks & tips so feel free to subscribe by e-mail in the big purple box below. Don’t forget you can follow me on facebook, twitter, instagram & bloglovin‘.

The post This is India! 99 first appeared on Hippie In Heels.

The post This is India! 99 appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

Welcome back to This is India! I always have funny/weird stories about India to share with friends or family when I talk to them. This is just meant to be an honest portrayal about my life in India through short anecdotes. I also share here what I’ve been up to online outside Hippie in Heels.

What I was up to other than here:

• We’re building a couch from scratch… I’ll be sharing about it in a “this is India” in the future so I’ve been taking lots of photos of the process.
• I should say I’m catching up on work but I’m not really. Azad, our Keralan buddy came to town with 3 of his friends. If you remember way back, he’s was a rickshaw driver Ben met in Kovalam but then they became BFF’s when Ben lived there and eventually Az came to work for Ben in Kochi and Ratnagiri so he’s like family these days. They came to have a little party at the Saturday Night Market!
• Coming to India? Lonely Planet’s ebooks are 50% off through the end of the month! Just use code APRIL50. Click through here to get yours.

Now your story,

Today I’m sharing about Ben’s birthday! He turned 30 on Feb 18th and wanted nothing more than to chill with his dogs (easy enough for me! lol). We went off to Keri beach which is about 1 hr from our house, maybe 40 minutes. With a hot engine under your bum, two annoying dogs, and Indian heat and traffic, it’s not a fun ride in my opinion… but we got there in the end.

Omni had actually never seen the beach before (that we know of) because we found her outside our house about 6 months ago and hadn’t taken her ourselves. Taking dogs to the beach is kind of a pain in the ass here because the beach dogs are in little gangs and they actually will bite you if you try to stop them from attacking your dog. It happened to Ben in Kovalam. Our Huckleberry died from rabies even though she was vaccinated, so we are really careful about keeping them from being in dog fights. Plus, Shanti is a Houdini and can get out of her collar if she wants to. Her head is weirdly smaller than her neck lol, it’s got to be!

Omni was terrified of the waves. We tried to drag him in and he left claw marks in the sand like he was being tortured. So, we decided not to force him because it seemed mean. Shanti loves the waves but only up to her waist lol, she’s also a little baby. If you hold her, she will go in. The car ride back covered in sand and dog slobber was just as fun as the car ride there ;)

I had Mona from “On the Go” make Ben’s cake. She does catering and made a strawberry shortcake with chocolate covered strawberries and brought a side of profiteroles and chocolate sauce. We did cake before going to dinner, in case we were in food comas after dinner. Ben got some Ray Ban’s, speakers & radio for the Omni, shoes, and some other bits from his family.

Babu and a couple of his other friends came by the house after we got home from Sakana, and Babu brought what every Goan needs at their birthday: champagne and fireworks. 

As a bonus, they took a kids’ bike who was passing by and went for a wobbly spin down the road. It’s a cool bike. The kid said his dad bought it for him from some “foreign hippie”. We want one, so if you’re reading this and are the foreign hippie bike builder, hit me up! 

This is India!

Did you enjoy this post? Let me know in the comments or by sharing it with the social media links! I’d love to keep giving you travel tricks & tips so feel free to subscribe by e-mail in the big purple box below. Don’t forget you can follow me on facebook, twitter, instagram & bloglovin‘.

The post This is India! 98 first appeared on Hippie In Heels.

The post This is India! 98 appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

Welcome back to This is India! I always have funny/weird stories about India to share with friends or family when I talk to them. This is just meant to be an honest portrayal about my life in India through short anecdotes. I also share here what I’ve been up to online outside Hippie in Heels.

What I was up to other than here:

• So, we are back in Goa today and very tired! I feel “shattered” as Ben would say. I flew back with Etihad (love them!) through Abu Dhabi & Bangalore and had really long layovers. By the time I got home, Ben had already been home 8 hours and had a nice long nap. I’m such a neat freak I can’t sleep when I get home from a trip. I have to shower, clean the house, do all the laundry, etc until I can relax. I’ve been that way since I can remember! While we were in Abu Dhabi my dad warned us not to cuss & be inappropriate because an American had been put in jail from the Abu Dhabi airport when she told off some men who tried to “help her” outside the airport. Man, if we got jailed for that in India, I’d have a life sentence.
• Arriving in Bangalore was super annoying which I’ll share about in a future story haha
• Overall we had a really good trip in Jordan. Ben really loved it, maybe more than I did. I’ll be writing about an itinerary, what you can wear there, our favorite places, and more over the next month. At this point, I’m way behind on work since I didn’t do any in Jordan but really just want to go the beach and read. Check out
  [easyazon_link identifier=”0804172706″ locale=”US” tag=”Hipinhee-20″]A Little Life[/easyazon_link] by Hanya Yanagihara. It’s so long and weird (and intense) but a really good story about 4 male friends from their college days all the way up to when they’re old, based in NYC.
• I contributed to this piece about favorite beaches which was picked up by the Huffington Post.. woo hoo!

Now your story,

While driving to Mapusa, we realized the car was doing this weird zroom zroom thing (I’m no mechanic…) but it felt like when someone drives an automatic and keeps pushing the gas then letting go, then pushing, and letting go which is enough to make me car sick.

We stopped on the side of the road to a mechanic Ben had visited in the past. He’s like “dude the car is acting weird”. The mechanic and his friend jumped in, took it for a ride, and starting fiddling. Normally it’s Ben fiddling (and breaking) things.. I call him Fiddling Fred.

Highly recommend this car repair shop… it doesn’t look like much lol but very nice (insert approving head wobble).

Our engine is conveniently located under the seat. Every mechanic knows how to fix an Omni, so we trust pretty much any Indian mechanic who starts fiddling in our car.

It’s looking a mess, but he finished fiddling and off we went. The car worked fine. It took 5 minutes and since he felt we had already paid from the last time, it was free. This is not the way it works in America. Funny how some things here are 10x more difficult then things like this happen and you’re like, yeah this country is pretty cool. ;)

This is India!

Did you enjoy this post? Let me know in the comments or by sharing it with the social media links! I’d love to keep giving you travel tricks & tips so feel free to subscribe by e-mail in the big purple box below. Don’t forget you can follow me on facebook, twitter, instagram & bloglovin‘.

The post This is India! 97 first appeared on Hippie In Heels.

The post This is India! 97 appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

The brand new Langkawi 3D museum was such a silly fun way to spend the day. Ben took a little bit of time to get into it, because at first it can feel a bit embarrassing taking weird photos of yourself hanging with painted pandas… but eventually we started acting like kids and had a laugh.

It’s funny that in Asia, to me anyways, it seems people are more apt to take lots of photos. I see more selfie sticks here, more people taking selfies, and so it just seems perfect to have a museum like this. People were having such a laugh!

This place is actually really impressive, the biggest in Malaysia, and was hand-painted by 23 Korean artists who on average are 60 years old and the last of their generation. There are over 100 pieces of 3D art to play around with. We didn’t post with all 100 because how is that even possible?! Here are the silly ones we took!

This is located in Oriental Village and you can spend a whole day here doing the 3D museum, skycab, shopping, and much more I explain over in this post: what to do in Langkawi.

The post Funny Peek Inside Langkawi 3D Museum first appeared on Hippie In Heels.

The post Funny Peek Inside Langkawi 3D Museum appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

Welcome back to This is India! I always have funny/weird stories about India to share with friends or family when I talk to them. This is just meant to be an honest portrayal about my life in India through short anecdotes. I also share here what I’ve been up to online outside Hippie in Heels.

What I was up to other than here:

• Ben and I are in JORDAN! It’s amazing. Follow on Facebook or Instagram for updates. Tonight we are doing “Petra by Night” tour which should be cool. I’ve eaten so much food… it’s not ladylike. I keep saying I’m going to eat less, but then I keep traveling to these places that have such good food that I’m afraid I’ll never have again.. sigh!
• My Insta was on this Matador article as 25 travelers killin’ it on instagram if you’re looking for more people to follow, check it out!

Now your story,

India is full of funny signs. I’ve written about the road signs before that say things like “safety on the road means SAFE TEA at home” and the other clever things they come up with.. “don’t go to HELL MATE, wear a HELMET”.

The best… “AFTER WHISKY, DRIVING RISKY”

You also see these clever warning signs in ATM’s, trains, and planes! I took a photo to show a few examples. We are also being cautioned in India.

This sign is telling us that the girl who looks like a foreigner in jeans(or a really white, modern Indian), is actually drugging the little old lady and is going to steal all of her belongings! The girl’s thought bubble is saying, “if she drinks eats this intoxicated BISCUIT all her GOLD ornaments are mine!” BEWARE! lol but seriously, this happens on trains!

So, this sign is saying you can have a crore of insurance payout for only 14 rs per day (goes to show how many people are paying into this in India!) but if you look at the bottom corner……it is a caution that if people are calling you from this agency offering you a bonus, it’s a fraud call! Don’t pay them for fake insurance. Of course these things happen all over the world, but it seems most advertisements here have a caution on them.

The State Bank of India ATM in Goa… “NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER share your confidential information with anybody.” That’s 9 never’s people. I think you better take note!

This is India!

Did you enjoy this post? Let me know in the comments or by sharing it with the social media links! I’d love to keep giving you travel tricks & tips so feel free to subscribe by e-mail in the big purple box below. Don’t forget you can follow me on facebook, twitter, instagram & bloglovin‘.

The post This is India! 96 first appeared on Hippie In Heels.

The post This is India! 96 appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

The streets in Langkawi (Kuah and Cenang especially) are lined with spas! You can get all kinds of treatments at a big variety of price, with hotels and resorts being the highest. They are really big on reflexology here, I saw a lot of Thai massage, and mani/pedi places. Another big thing was the “ear candling” so obviously we HAD to try it.

Ear candling & reflexology @ Terati Patai Cenang

We tried at Teratai on Patai Cenang near Underwater World. The 30 minute foot reflexology was 38 ringgit and the ear candling was 38 ringgit. The total 76 ringgit is equal to 20 USD. A full body massage here is 88 ringgit. The reflexology was great and as always hurts a little. In case you’re unfamiliar, it’s using pressure point that ease problems in relative areas of your body. I know what you really want to know about though, the EAR CANDLING! Lol.

awkward…

What is ear candling?

Ben was the one who volunteered for this. On the way over, he had severe sinus pain on the plane. We’ve both been sick, and his hea is shit so he decided to go for it. I was getting a massage at the time but this is how he described it: They dug around like they wanted to poke his brain, pulled out chunks of gunk with sticks and hooks, then put a candle in his ear, which created a suction and pulled out even more little bits of gunk.

The treatment is meant to relieve sinus pressure and pain. Ben swears it worked. Other than relieving pain, he can hear better as well. It can cure swimmers ear so is good for those in the water a lot. If you’ve ever had any type of ear problems like tubes or perforation, don’t do this! The stick poking reminds me of the ear cleaners on the streets of India.

Contact: They have a free pick up service I noted on flier, so if you want to call it’s 04-9551822.

Bali traditional @ Ratu Maya Spa

This one specializes in “Bali Traditional Treatment”. I know I’m in Malaysia, but each shop has all different types: Swedish, Malay, and Thai… but the Malay was pressure points and I really wanted something a bit more relaxing. The massage here was great. I got a 40 minute neck shoulder massag for 60 ringgit.

Contact: next to Underwater World, call at 012-407 2075.

Foot scrub & massage @ Ayer Hangat Spa Village

This was a nice surprise! We went to Hangat village to see the hot spring, but I didn’t realize there was a spa. They had a special which was 30 minute foot massage and scrub for 35 ringgit (10 bucks).

After soaking your feet in salt water filled with flowers, you got rubbed down with salt and a fruit similar to a lime. The massage was incredible and I highly recommend! They had all the little touches like ice cold towel over your eyes (it was a hot day) and laying down during the foot massage which almost never happens. She massaged me an extra 10 minutes for no reason – nice! A full body, full hour Malay massage is 130.

Did you enjoy this post? Let me know in the comments or by sharing it with the social media links! I’d love to keep giving you travel tricks & tips so feel free to subscribe by e-mail in the big purple box below. Don’t forget you can follow me on facebook, twitter, instagram & bloglovin‘.

The post Spa in Langkawi… What is ear candling?! first appeared on Hippie In Heels.

The post Spa in Langkawi… What is ear candling?! appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

After so much time in India, it seems I am turning Indian, but I’m not the only one. I see many expat friends changing the longer they stay in India. It’s the small things I catch myself doing or someone points out to me. It’s almost impossible to immerse yourself in a culture for a couple years and not change a little bit. A culture like India that is so strong and unchangeable, which means inevitably you yourself will change to fit in. 

Disclaimer: No, I don’t actually think I’m turning Indian. This is just a fun post! Try not to take it too seriously ;)

22 Ways You Might Be Becoming Indian

1. You start doing “the head wobble”

The most obvious to the people around you will be “the head wobble”. If you’re doing this, you’ve let India in. Sometimes I do it on the phone and I forget they can’t see me answering. You don’t know exactly when the head wobble became your primary form of answering questions but to be honest, you kind of love it along with the “tsk” noise you probably make (combined with the angry head wobble) when someone pisses you off (I’m talking to YOU, internet company).

In case you’re unaware the head wobble can mean literally anything from yes, no, maybe, probably, or it’s not likely but we’ll see tomorrow… just with a little different facial expressions, speed, and angle! Here’s a video to help you decode. Although, they make a joke of it you can really decode once you see people do it enough.

2. You buy VERY local food

You don’t like to buy bread from anyone except the local bakers that send out boys on bikes. They come by ringing their bell, and you have your 18 rs ready to get 6 pao or poi for the next few days. You might know which shawarma stand is the best or which shop makes the best sweet lime soda. You definitely have a secret restaurant to get home-cooked Indian meals or hot soup when you’re sick. You can even text the owner and ask her to please send it to your house when you really can’t be bothered to leave home.

3. You have a friend and helper, you call him “babu”

You need help in India and your best buddy, who you call “Babu” per his request, can help you with just about anything. Sometimes in conversation your expat friend will say “Babu” and it will take a few minutes to realize you’re not talking about the same Babu. Now you know you have to say, “my babu… her babu” to differentiate.

My Babu is a taxi driver and helps me with tons in Goa. He seems to know all the answers.

Then there are “the boys”. Need the car washed, the carry-out dinner picked up, ran out of phone recharge, or ran out of milk while cooking? If it’s become second nature to pay someone to go take care of things like a true “middle class” Indian would, you’re slowly becoming Indian. It’s nothing to feel bad about as it keeps people making money!

4. Your bindi obsession

If you’re a girl you want to wear one every day all day, and if you’re a guy you love to see girls wearing them. Girls hate when they get sweaty and it comes off!

But you’re really out of control when you start having this problem: even though a packet costs about 20 cents, you stop just before putting on your “good blue one” and think, “no I should save that one for a special occasion!” What?! You’re insane. (Also, I hear they’re going out of style but I pray it isn’t true.)

clearly dressing Indian is not on this list

5. You don’t need toilet paper anymore

You think it’s nice for an added drying off, but totally not necessary anymore thanks to the sprayer. No more details needed here.

6. Your Hinglish comes naturally

Sometimes you write/speak in broken hindi-english when you’re trying to text or speak English only. Example:

“Rachel, is it cheap?”

“ha, 70 rupees only.” 

If you read my blog and think I sound like English is my second language, that would be a combination of my lack of true writing skills and the integration of talking with friends from Assagao all day, people who help at the house, or people I do business with on the phone.

You are starting to add “only” to the end of sentences and use fragments as sentences far too often. Oh yes, there are times that “time passing” comes up in your conversations. Maybe you’ve even learned to speak cow… aka you make the noises the cow herders make when they are in the road and sure enough, they scatter.

Conversations with local friends might go like this, “my allergies are bad.. because of the A/C… tsk tsk…it’s so bad..” Then the locals agree yes, allergies are 100% because of A/C (nothing to do with dust or animals, obviously).. You may have learned infections, rabies, and dry hair.. are also all due to A/C. You find yourself agreeing when a friend says, “The dog is behaving badly… maybe it’s the A/C! Making him crazy!” … Yes, you’re becoming Indian!

Many Expats Also have a housekeeper, although that’s not necessarily “Indian” and is more rich Indian just like rich Americans have them. The other guys are security (and gardeners, electricians, snake catchers, bug squashers, mechanics, and carpenters!)

8. You drive & don’t bat an eyelash at the craziness

You used to think driving was such a challenge so you started out living in India with a driver taking you everywhere. Now, you don’t break a sweat even in the worst of traffic. You pass two semi-trucks at a time now (around a curve when you can’t see what’s coming. Just kidding. I hope you’re not that Indian driver). 20 cows in the road? No problem, you, your cow noises, and your car or scooter will get through.

9. Oil.

So much oil… on your skin… in your hair… on scars… You’re probably really into coconut oil. You might have also be deep-frying a lot. If you saw the commercial for an air deep-frier and thought “no, I’ll keep my big pot of pure oil to cook everything in!”, good job… you’re turning Indian!

Your beauty regime has changed. You put olive oil in your hair once a week and wrap your hair in a turban, or crack an egg and put the yolk on your head, and you’ve been warned to wash your hair way less. Hair dressers have told you your hair is not good at all, and have threatened to cut it all off. After you looked at the gorgeous thick hair of the Indian girls around you, you have finally started to trust their opinion. FYI, you might want to make a lemon sugar scrub and keep it in the fridge since you can’t buy your favorite face wash here.

10. Sweet lime soda or sugar cane?

You use to hate both, the sugar cane even made you sick. Then suddenly one day, you thought, “man I need a sweet lime soda…. Wait why am I thinking this.. I hate sweet lime soda!” Slowly, you started to like it. You stop on the street and pull over the car for a sugar cane. You’re starting to become confused about your identity now ;)

11. You know how to get by without an oven

Having no oven, frozen foods, or using a microwave doesn’t phase you anymore. You used to think you couldn’t live without these things. Hello, we all NEED frozen pizza! Although everything takes much longer, and you actually use a gas stove you light with some “clicker” (I know!)…

You might be unlucky enough to have one burner only (did you catch that only?)… so when you fry bacon, you set that aside, then you bake beans, set that aside, THEN you make mac n cheese… THEN reheat it all a little bit.. then eat!

12. Ok, don’t get mad at us… but we’re line jumpers

You jump lines like nobody’s business. It’s the ONLY way to get things done around here. Now, you won’t jump if the line is a nice straight single file… but if it’s a messy free for all, you’re going to be first. If someone is too slow to hand over your boarding ticket at airport security, you’re squeezing past. Indians don’t bat an eyelash, as they think, “ah smart girl” since cutting in line is an (annoying) staple in Indian culture. Western tourists on the other hand almost have their mouth fall off as the gape thinking, “screw that girl! Who does she think she is!?” 20 minutes later when you’re done with what you needed and they are still in line, not budging, you know they’re contemplating doing the same thing. Give them a few years and they will start doing it too.

On the other hand… just imagine someone trying to jump line in front of you! Hell no, you will step in front of them or smush up against them and bump ’em to the sidewalk!

13. You might not have played Holi

You don’t play Holi every year. Guess what, lots of Indian girls are “over it”. Shocking, I know. It was a thing to do as kids, or for drunk guys… but many of your Indian girlfriends stopped playing. You still like it but as each year goes by, it gets less appealing.

Plus, one and half months later you had multi-colored hair because you didn’t know you were supposed to oil it heavily before and the colors have horrible chemicals in them. Here’s a blog post about what Holi in like in North India.

14. You indulge in Indian celebrity gossip

Indian celebs are 10x more arrogant than US ones.. that’s the truth. You watch Looks Who’s Talking or Coffee with Karan and laugh over the crazy answers celebs give. “if you could have dinner with one person dead or alive who would it be?” Indian celeb answer: “Myself.. I am the most interesting person I know”. You find yourself clicking on Guiltybytes blog to see who Alia Bhatt is dating… even though she drives you crazy!

15. You speak a little Hindi or local language

Maybe you took classes during monsoon or in a big city class like ones in Bangalore, or you just started picking it up. You probably like to practice with your Indian friends and surprise drivers with grammatically incorrect nonsense.. “Hi friend… that tree is green. You are good. I like many vegetables. That cow is pretty!” Man, that felt good but the driver has no idea where to take you.

On the beach in Goa when the women come around trying to sell sarongs, you tell them in Konkani no thanks and they laugh, but leave you alone.

When someone cuts you and you’re not in the mood to play line jumping games, you crack out in Hindi, “I am standing here” with a mean little attitude. When someone pushes you in a crowded place, you say, “don’t touch me” or maybe even pull out a new gangster one friends teach you like “you’re finished!!” 

16. Deadly wild animals are the norm

King cobra by the trash cans? Another 8 foot python in the back garden? Monkeys screeching as your wake up call or coming up to take a drink of the pool while you’re floating in it?

It’s all becoming pretty normal to you. While at one time, you couldn’t even look at a photo of a snake, now you swerve past a monster python in Goa or don’t take a second glance at a snake charmer’s open basket.

17. You have a shop for everything

It used to be a prime parking spot at Walmart and getting all your errands done in one place, easy peasy… so maybe it took you a while to get used to having to go somewhere new for each errand: the electric shop for special screw-in light bulbs, Royal foods for chicken, Ajays for beef, the market for veg, the flower guy, the hardware store on the corner, and the tailor to make new crop tops or a leather bag because you can’t buy them how you like them. What used to take hours, now you can do pretty fast!

local butcher

18. You have new vocabulary for your phone (USA people)

What’s your mobile number?

“double eight, double eight…”

In the US we say cell phone not mobile, but you’re probably picked up the Indian/UK way of talking about talking on the phone. “I’ll send you SMS” you tell people, rather than saying text message. And double this, double that was something you got used to fast.

19. You act like you “know” India like a local.

You don’t… but who can blame us? Some things start to make sense from state to state. While driving in Goa and having some huge SUV almost run you off the road, or ride your tail but not pass when they can and you might say, “look at the plate.. of course they are from Maharashtra! They think they own the road!” 

When talking about work in Kerala: “it’s impossible to get work done in Kerala… those unions!” 

Or in Ratnagiri one might say “all the pretty girls are from Ratnagiri!” when you drive past clusters of gorgeous women in the fishing village. You might even catch yourselves talking politics of India, but let’s be real you’re only right 1/2 the time!

20. You’ve become a bit more demanding

You don’t want to admit it… but it happened. At a restaurant or hotel when you’re told it’s “not possible, sir/madam”,  you want to know why. Here’s an example: I stop at the restaurant of the hotel on my way to my room and ask, “can I have an empty cup.. I want to make tea in my room.. there’s a kettle in there”. 

“no, madam… it’s not possible. Have tea here.” 

“why isn’t it possible… just give me the cup, I’ll bring it back”

“madam, new management… new rules.. we have never given a cup away…”. 

Well, needless to say you take your cup and they can just stare in disbelief while you walk away with it. There are such silly reasons at hotels and restaurants where it’s NOT POSSIBLE when it easily is (sometimes for some people, but not for others).

Indians do this on a much bigger scale like when traffic cops try to stop the car saying you can’t go that way and the driver does whatever he wants anyways and pretends not to hear… but hey fellow expats, we’re getting there! Although, don’t be the one on the plane demanding they take your phone to the cockpit and charge it ;)

21. You have to ask for spice

You hate that because you’re a foreigner, they tone down the spice to non-existent. So, you have to tell them to make it normal. In Goa you used to think the Goan sausages were too much to handle, now you have it on your pizza! You eat the same thing as a friend in town and they get a very sick stomach, while your stomach of steel helps you feel just fine.

22. You ask the question, “What are you doing this monsoon?”

No more “what are you doing this summer?” You know what all your friends are up to “in monsoon”. Even people in the north will come south to explore Goa in the monsoon at amazing discounted prices.

(23. even though this post is titled ’22’… whoops!)

You love the funny laws and festivals

… even if you don’t understand them. You love when people go by with giant Ganesh’s and throw them in wells… or when they climb human pyramids to grab a bowl of curd and actually risk their lives (although it’s not curd, its money). You don’t bat an eyelash when people go past in a huge group singing and playing drums. It’s become the thing in India you love. Although, the dry days that accompany so many holidays aren’t your favorite.

So, are you becoming a little bit Indian?

The post Expats | 22 Ways You Might be Turning Indian first appeared on Hippie In Heels.

The post Expats | 22 Ways You Might be Turning Indian appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

As I mentioned, living in India as an expat is much breezier than backpacking through India for a variety of reasons like budget and familiarity.

Before I started my kickass goMowgli tour of Karnataka I had to get myself to Mysore from Goa. I’ve been on a bit of a I-hardly-have-an-income budget, so instead of flying I opted to go by bus. GoMowgli staffers use the Volvo’s when they come to Goa and assured that it’s a breeze of a 16 hour ride. I figured okay what the hell- I’d rather do 16 hours straight and watch movies/sleep then have to take a train which switches in Bangalore with a small wait in the middle of the night.

All was swell… the bus had about 10 people on it. All men, but I wasn’t bothered because I’m used to being the only girl and on a Volvo it’s always safer than local transport (I would explain why, but I’d probably come off saying something politically incorrect).

The Bollywood music was blaring on the TV in the front and I was struggling to sleep… but all while in my cozy A/C bus with an empty seat next to me, legs stretched out.

Little did I know it was about to all change. The Volvo Fiasco.

We’d been on the road about an hour and half when the bus stopped and some men got out and starting tinkering around with the this or that and after an hour informed (not in English I might add) that the clutch was broken and we’d have to take another bus, but no fear, it had arrived!

I looked out to see a packed to the brim local bus and let out a, “Oh hell no!” I am not taking an effing local bus all the way to Mysore!

“oh no ma’am, this is just for 10 km, then we get to a bus station and get a better bus.”

Well in that case…. okay. (looking back, he was obviously lying to avoid getting yelled at by a crazy foreigner.)

I grabbed my backpack, small electronics backpack, and FULL SIZE PILLOW I brought thinking “hey, it’s a Volvo and I’m going on a proper bus tour after, I might as well be comfortable.”

I literally could barely fit in the local bus and struggled holding all my stuff for the 30 minutes to the bus stop.

Once at the bus stop, we waited around for about 45 minutes while local bus after local bus came through packed too full to fit us 10 stranded Volvo people.

Finally, the last bus of the night came and we were told:

get on or get a hotel.

I talked to Ben who knew some people near where I was but I finally decided screw it, if I don’t do it now I’ll end up doing it tomorrow all day. Ill sleep in Mysore.

To say that my anxiety was high would be downplaying it. I don’t know what came over me, but I had tears in my eyes telling the Karnataka Bus People (whoever they were) that this was bullshit- we’d paid about 10x the price for a nice bus and now are jammed on a local one STANDING with all our luggage (on local buses in India there is no place for luggage except tiny space on top which fits all of nothing) for 13 HOURS!

I got on begrudgingly and dropped my purse while trying to get up the stairs. With my big backpack on my back and the small one of my front, I looked down but like a pregnant person couldn’t see my feet. I was looking and couldn’t find it as the bus pulled out. Like a lunatic I yelled, “Stop the bus!! I can’t find my purse! I think I dropped it at the station”  The bus attendant picked it off the floor, rolled his eyes, and said something extremely hilarious to the other Kannada speakers on the bus. Ha, ha crazy white chick is having a melt down! 

Then I almost got lucky.

After time I got a seat, only for the bus attendant to decide he’d like it and I’d have to get up. Back to standing.

Ages later, a seat opened which was a 3-seat bench already seated with a mom, dad, and child. The child was in their lap and there was space for me! I sat down but within 5 minutes the sleeping 5 year old was lying across us all with her head in my lamp. My god…. I couldn’t even put my pillow in my lap and lean on it, lest I suffocate her.

Around 4 AM a new seat opened and I called it faster than I’ve probably done anything in my life to luckily get two hours of sleep on and off before arriving in Mysore.

 Why am I venting about this little thing? Because…

This kind of thing happened ALL THE TIME as backpacker. But I haven’t “backpacked” India in two years. I forgot how hard it is. Since being an expat, I fly more or take 2AC trains. I drive a lot and local buses have been a thing of the past. Even shitty food is in the past since Goa has the best food.

It’s seriously stressful and annoying. Luckily, I slept all day in Mysore because I wasn’t there as a backpacker, but I remember when I was on tight schedules to see everything and would skip sleep to see temples or palaces. Sleep was never a priority when backpacking.

Expat life in India is a spoiled existence. I love it. Thank god for this goMowgli trip- it was my first tour but came at a great time because I am no longer a sleeper class, local bus, 250 rs guesthouse girl. I can do Volvo bus, even 3 AC train, or a 500 rs a night guesthouse… as long as the bus doesn’t break down.

If you’re lugging a backpack around Goa, I promise I’ll stop in my Omni and give you a ride wherever you’re going (for 15 rs per km. JK!)! I needed my own backpacking India Pep Talk.

Seriously, people who backpack India, especially solo, deserve some kind of award… most likely an award of Patience.

Did you enjoy this post? Let me know in the comments or by sharing it with the social media links! I’d love to keep giving you travel tricks & tips so feel free to subscribe by e-mail in the big purple box below. Don’t forget you can follow me on facebook, twitter, instagram & bloglovin‘.

The post A Reality Check |I forgot how hard backpacking was first appeared on Hippie In Heels.

The post A Reality Check |I forgot how hard backpacking was appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

A handful of bad things happened while in confusing and hectic Varanasi, and at the moment a cow threw me into a wall, I’m pretty sure I was thinking “ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!!?!” It was one bad thing too many.

Here’s what happened.

Ashley, my fun lovin’ English buddy had just been pick-pocketed and was so “it’s not a big deal” (while I remember being pick-pocketed in Barcelona and going all karate-kid on some dudes) and she was off looking for her wallet at the train station.

I was feeling super sick having just left the hospital from one of many Dengue appointments, and spent most of the afternoon puking my guts up. I headed home on my own while Ash did her thing.

Varanasi has tiny little roads, like Venice… but filled with cow poop.

The rickshaws can’t take you down, and those who travel with rolly suitcases really regret it after the cow poo build up in the wheels.

I was told there was no such thing as a mean cow in India. Having been in India a while, I thought cows were my little pals. I would walk past them, pet them, whisper jokes to them and they’d laugh about what a hoot I am…  I mean, this guy below loves shopping for scarves as much as I do. Kindred spirits.

This next cow though… he just gave me a bad feeling. He was big and was looking right at me.

I thought I was going to vomit again and/or pass out because I was still feeling really sick, so I didn’t want to take a detour. I decided to just walk past him nonchalantly like I always do.

I think I thought about it too long- because he was pretty annoyed with me, so much so that he THREW ME into a wall with his head.

It happened so quickly I wasn’t sure what to do! He didn’t even move his feet. With just neck power, he whipped his head against me, and his horn cut my bum (and ripped my pants open, whoops, I’m sure the locals were all look at that scandalous disrespectful white girl with her ass out!).

He actually picked me up into the air and jammed me between his head and the wall. I put my hand up to protect my face and my hand got busted up a little bit, road rash style.

As soon as he let me go, I ran to the end of the alley around a corner and peeked back at him to see if he was chasing me. He still had not moved his feet. He was straight chillin’. I took a photo, obvi.

I told my guesthouse owners what happened and they were basically like, “No, that didn’t happen. Cows are nice. You are a liar.” 

Okie dokie.

By the time Ashley came back (without her wallet) my entire left butt cheek was black and blue. We ate a sad lunch on the rooftop before going to the confusing Ghats to cheer ourselves up by watching cremations.. so that sounds a little weird, although it’s a real party feel at the Ghats- people here don’t fear death like most people.

Ever since, I’ve been a little more hesitant around cows. Obviously they are everywhere. I actually wrote an entire post about how much I love cows. I’m not going to let one bully (get it? BULL-y) get me down.

It was a not-so-nice reminder: cows are wild animals. That is one of my many tips to remember in Varanasi for the next time. Duh Rachel.

The post That Time I Was Headbutted By a Cow in India… first appeared on Hippie In Heels.

The post That Time I Was Headbutted By a Cow in India… appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

There is so much to say on this vibrant place that I’ve done a few separate posts that will be up soon: Varanasi travel tips, What to Expect at the Ghats in Varanasi and below is my little introduction to Varanasi and to the crazy we got ourselves into.

Man, Varanasi did NOT go as planned!

I had been a little pampered traveling with Chloe. In India, traveling alone is just as stressful as it is exciting because when things don’t go quite right and you’re stranded it always seems worse when you are alone. Now that Chloe was headed to Rajasthan and I was going to Varanasi, I had a pit in my stomach to be back on my own (or maybe it was the Dengue side effects still).

Getting to Varanasi was a headache to say the least. It involved a long train from Agra to Allahabad. I slept well overnight. I think I grossed people out as I hadn’t showered in 3 days… but I was tucked into my sleeping bag with my backpacked chained to the bottom post (make sure to pack a bike chain in India).

There’s almost always a stop-over on very long, non-direct train routes. From 3-7 am, I slept on the floor of a train station in the dirt, exhausted until my train to Varanasi came. By the time I got to Varanasi I was just delirious. I was starting to feel really sick again because I still hadn’t taken a rest to recover from Dengue Fever.

I’m not gonna lie, I was pitying myself quite a bit- all alone in a shitty train station with my stomach doing somersaults, but then a family invited me to sleep with them on the cow-shit covered floor which was really nice so I curled up next to them.

When you get into Varanasi, the first thing you need to know is there is a backpacking area to stay in that has budget guesthouses. Just ask for Old Town or Main Ghat. Don’t pay more than 200 rupees for a rickshaw.

The rickshaws can only take you so far, then you must walk down the narrow lanes, holding your backpack, while you hop skip and jump over cow shit. You can try to avoid getting head butted by a cow (or fail like I did). 

Where I Slept

I wanted to stay at famous Alka guesthouse but it was booked. He owns another, so I stayed at it’s sister, Teerth Guesthouse, for 700 rupees a night. It was just as good.My friend, Ashley (who I met in Pushkar), showed up a day later and we split the cost.

The guesthouse was clean, had decent food, and had a great location. Staff was very friendly. They have a guy who will come do massages in your room; obviously I took full advantage of that. Contact details: D. 8/9 Kalika Gali, Varanai, 221001, e-mail at teerth_guesthouse@hotmail.com to book.

We met many people who stayed at popular backpacking guesthouse, Ganpati, and loved it. It was more ideally located, but over my budget.

Varanasi gave us head-aches and butt-aches.

Varanasi is the most spiritual place in India, where pilgrims come from all corners of the country. Travelers stand near the Ghats watching the cremations in awe. That’s something for another post though.

On top on Varanasi being an overwhelming place to be, we had some really interesting things happen to use there.

• I spent 12 hours in the hospital after I passed out at my guesthouse. I hadn’t been eating because I was so sick and well no food means no awkward moments on buses and trains. I should have stopped traveling to recover a couple weeks after Dengue fever, but instead I kept going. The doctors in Varanasi were shocked by my lab values, and although they wanted to admit me, after I got my fluids I went back to my hotel to sleep. I took a handful of pills that initially caused me to vomit for hours, but finally cured me within a week. As a nurse, I hate that I was that “Left AMA (against medical advice) patient”.

• Before leaving Varnasi, we had to get to the train station at 6 am to get in line for the opening of afternoon tatkal (sound confusing? It’s explained on my post about booking trains in India) in order to get the limited available tickets to Delhi where we each had flights booked out of. She was off to SE Asia and I to Goa.

• Another horrible thing happened- A dog along the river bit Sophie, another girl I met. Now, these dogs are known to chew on bloated bodies that wash up to the shore. As you can imagine she went to the hospital asap.

• THEN Ashley was pick-pocketed at the train station after we got our tatkal tickets. When she went back to look for her wallet, I headed toward the hotel and…

• …got head-butted by a bull (tell you more about this later!). Big time. Like, he destroyed me.

So obviously, things didn’t go super smoothly in Varanasi but it didn’t stop me from loving it there. I’ve never been somewhere so interesting and shockingly weird, but in a good way. There is so much to say on the place which is why I’m doing separate posts on different topics.

Varanasi is the place in India where the dead are brought to be cremated and find salvation. Tourists come from far and wide to take a peek into the interesting ceremonies at the Ghats on the Ganges. We put aside our problems and spent a few days exploring the most ancient city I’ve ever been to.

More to come!

The post Introduction to Varanasi: It did NOT Go as Planned first appeared on Hippie In Heels.

The post Introduction to Varanasi: It did NOT Go as Planned appeared first on Hippie In Heels.