Oh Canada...

Namaste, Hello, Sosriakul (sp?!), As-salamu alaykum... HOWDY FOLKS!

Reporting live from good ol' Halifax, boy it's nice to be back in Canada. After great travels and many adventures, I was quite excited to see the maple leaf on our Air Canada aircraft in London Heathrow. My neighbour on the plane was a young German woman who is planning to stay here for 3 months, and I proudly recommended some good sights. It's reassuring after almost 4 months abroad to come feel good about coming home. Though it would be nicer if Canada was a little smaller and my Westcoast family and friends were a little more accessible...

Anyways, I'm still reflecting lots on lessons learned and memories of my travels and can't wait to share with all you folks, not to mention hear about all your news! Meanwhile, I'm now preparing for a 2 month cycling tour (that starts in a week!) around the Maritimes with the aim of empowering youth to make a difference regarding environmental sustainability and social justice issues... hope I remember how to cycle!!

I hope the beginning of summer finds everybody well! We are sure lucky to live in a country where by and large we all have the opportunities to pursue our interests and dreams...

Many smiles,
Kristy

Welcome to Doha...

As-salamu alaykum (A Muslim arabic greeting that translates as "peace be upon you") friends!!

I am now in Doha in the State of Qatar in the Persian Gulf for 4 days (to break up my long return journey). What a change from India and Nepal! It is a Muslim state and men wear white robes with head dresses (which look perfect for the heat) while women wear mostly black hijab and abbayah (viel and dress covering everything but their hands and faces) while some even wear nicab (face covering with slits for their eyes). EVERYTHING is divided for men and women. This morning I went to the cultural centre and had a personal lesson on Islam (they let me join the "Intro to Islam for New Muslims class). Man it's strict and also very very different than what I'm used to... but I was happy to learn a little bit, especially in light of our media's tendancy to link the Middle East and Islam with terrorism. The few Qatari's I've met have been hugely welcoming and very friendly (as I describe below, a minority of people in Doha are actually Qatari)!

Yup, the adjacent picture is indeed a skating rink (it's almost 50oC outside but in the mall there's a skating rink!)! And the image next is a renovated "souq" (bazaar or market) where you can find spices, clothes and all sorts of other household items. I would have loved to share more pictures of people, but that's a sensitive one. But hopefully the 2 men in "thobs" (I think- white robes and head dresses are visible).

The evidence of wealth (due to the abundance of oil and gas in the Gulf) is almost appauling (especially after spending time in India and Nepal)... nothing but new cars/SUV's everywhere, crazy expensive hotels and more to come with construction everywhere, and beautiful beige and white villas everywhere! Due to the amount of wealth up for grabs, the amount of globalization is insane... My taxi driver was Indian, we got directions from a Qatari, the owner of the hostel here is Egyptian and workers from India and Sri Lanka, my new friend/tourguide is Tunisian (sp?), I've met his friends from the Philipines and Canada, our waitress today in an American restaurant was from Romania, and we ate next to a couple British families!! It's nuts! And all their jokes are international in flavour (... though not suitable to post online).

Anyways, I hope to attach pics soon, but I'm off to meet a Canadian Muslim who is sure to join in my Tunisian friend's attempts to convince me to come work here for in the oil and gas industry for $50-60k USD - tax free!! Yup, nothing is taxed here and gas is about 20 cents/L (about 10 years ago, apparently it was free!). When asked about hybrid cars and their availability here, my friend simply responded: "Why?!". I haven't mentioned about my engagement with Otesha nor my previous employment with environment Canada, both of which are concerned about climate change...

Nways, most interesting. Leave tomorrow late night "inshallah" and will be looking forward to catching up with all you folks one way or another on Canadian soil (not to mention enjoying temps below 45oC!!!)!

Cheerios,
Kristy :)

Here is the most common sight in Doha... billion dollar condo's and office buildings are popping up like mushrooms. In the past 2 years virtually all the now existing highrises were built (as you can see if you look across the gulf in the picture above of Corniche, the road adjacent to the sea...). My goodness!!!

I've also included a few shots of "The Pearl" a new multi-billion dollar development project just offshore of Corniche. It is actually an articifial island!!

Chandigarh- am I still in India???!!

Namaste, but somehow I feel hello is more appropriate at the moment!

I'm in a place called Chandigarh, in the state just below Punjab. It is a modern city planned 50 years ago by Le Corbusier, a Swiss city planner. The city is organized in a grid pattern- I'm staying in "Sector 22"! Although it makes navigating pretty simple, the buildings are all quite similar in style- mostly concrete and low density so the city is quite spread out.

Here are some things that I find interesting, in contrast to the other cities in India I've visited:
- there are gardens and green spaces everywhere!
- the signs are mostly in english and the shopping area has Tommy Hillfiger, Addidas and Levis stores
- I haven't seen one Hindu (or any other religious) shrine which usually is always around the corner whever I've been
- there is relatively little garbage on the streets
- there are even continuous sidewalks (this I still can't get over!!)
- I haven't seen one cow on the roads!

Above is an example of one of the many green gardens... I don't know how the plants manage to stay alive as I'm going through 1L of water every hour here!!! ;)

However, to keep me confused but sane knowing I'm still in India, there are rickshaw wallahs everywhere that try to get your business and chai wallahs on every sidewalk... Phew! As much as it was nice this morning to go for a long walk through "Leisure Valley" and the rose garden, I kind of miss the chaos and the different cultural aspects of the rest of India (plus mid 40oC's just tire me out!!). But off to Delhi tomorrow as my time in India is running thin!

Cheerios and many greetings!
Kristy

Jumping into Sikh culture!

Namaste, or let's go with "Satsriakal" (the Punjabi greeting) from Punjab!

After spending a relaxing 4 days in a hill station after my Hindu pilgrimage trip where families enjoy the cool temperatures (I never thought I'd say that 30oC is refreshing!!) and go for horse rides around the mountain, fairgrounds as well as enjoy ice cream (yes, life's tough!!) I decided to catch the train to Punjab. There is a large Sikh population (the main religion in the Punjab) in Vancouver so hence my interest.

The main area of interest is the Golden Temple in Amritsar. What a truly fascinating place. The Gurdwara (temple) is a huge complex made out of marble with a large pool surrounded by a large walkway. In the center of the pool is the sanctuary which is plated with gold. The religious feel of the temple is accentuated by a continuous chant from the Sikh holy book- really neat. The men almost all wore traditional Indian dress (long white kurta top with white pants) in addition to the turban. In addition to the uncut hair, which is one of the 5 emblems of Sikh culture, they carry a comb (kangha), a sword (kirpan), a steel bangle (karra) and wear a form of loose underwear to symbolise modesty (kaccha). You must wash your feet and cover your head while entering the temple. I really felt like I was in a different word...

In addition to the temple itself, the founder of the religion stressed equality in the form of social service, family and hardwork. There are communal kitchens and free dormitories for all visitors, regardless of faith. They must feed about 10 000 people a day and they even have a chapati machine! It was humbling to sit on the floor among hundreds of others while enjoying chapati and daal. And the Sikh people I met were incredibly kind (though pointy elbows were quick to emerge while trying to get onto the free bus from the train station!!).


Above is a snap of a smaller langur (community kitchen) in Anandapur Sahib. Everyone sits on the floor and seconds are welcome... neat concept! ... and yummy food too! :)

I was thoroughly taken by Amritsar so decided to go to the holiest Sikh city, Anandapur Sahib to learn some more. The landscape of the village is doted with Gurdwaras everywhere! It was neat to experience the smaller scale temples, still beautiful with the chanting and white marble walls in contrast to the gold. Again it was dorm style accomodations and I met some Indian friends that helped me navigate the town (not much english and only a paragraph in the Lonely Planet- not even a map, my travel bible is letting me down!!!).

Anyways, I don't think I've explained this well as I'm still pretty amazed by the experience. So hopefully the pictures will help! :)




Much peace to home, I hope all is going well!
Phir melange (see you!),
Kristy