I am so tired.
It is 3 a.m. and I'd
Like to go home now
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
INDIAN MEN
Before leaving this wondrous country I have to make a couple of comments regarding Indian men: they all seem to be fascinated with themselves, their hair and their facial hair. All the guys Peaches and I have encountered during our trip were in some way interesting from a beautician's point of view. Indian men, no matter how rich or poor they are, all seem to be very aware of themselves and their place in society and then there's the hair....In every social strata they take great pride and great care of their hair to the point of seeming really natty and somewhat fastidious. They touch it a lot, smooth it constantly, toss it when it's long, and they also color it, which is kind of weird. Especially when the older men seem to use a type of henna that obviously covers grey but also give their hair a surreal orange tinge, in certain cases faint in other arrestingly bright.
I don't know if it's because, having really black hair in most cases, they start to go grey prematurely, but many use hair coloring and it becomes a little strange especially when it contrasts with the facial hair. Now this is really fascinating: I have never seen, other than in my great grandfather's portrait or those of Kaiser Wilhelm, mustaches like the ones on the Indians: handlebars galore! Many different kinds: from discreet mustaches to totally wild ones and sometimes beards to go with them...and in certan cases a particular style that makes them look like lions with mane and everything.
Women with their long straight down-to-there dark hair are positively boring....but the guys in India seem to be spending a lot more time on themselves regardless of their place in society.
Peaches and I have amused ourselves ogling a couple of lookalikes that were in our hotel in Kovalam: we had Indian Elvis, for example, and a guy who was a dead ringer for Russell Brand...as I said hair and facial hair...what a winning combination!
I don't know if it's because, having really black hair in most cases, they start to go grey prematurely, but many use hair coloring and it becomes a little strange especially when it contrasts with the facial hair. Now this is really fascinating: I have never seen, other than in my great grandfather's portrait or those of Kaiser Wilhelm, mustaches like the ones on the Indians: handlebars galore! Many different kinds: from discreet mustaches to totally wild ones and sometimes beards to go with them...and in certan cases a particular style that makes them look like lions with mane and everything.
Women with their long straight down-to-there dark hair are positively boring....but the guys in India seem to be spending a lot more time on themselves regardless of their place in society.
Peaches and I have amused ourselves ogling a couple of lookalikes that were in our hotel in Kovalam: we had Indian Elvis, for example, and a guy who was a dead ringer for Russell Brand...as I said hair and facial hair...what a winning combination!
Friday, January 1, 2010
Food, Glorious Food
For those of you who were loyal Peaches readers during the first incarnation of this blog, you have probably realized a notable absence in this version thus far: full and detailed descriptions of each and every meal eaten.
If it is not already obvious, I am a proud foodie. Certainly there are a handful of things I will probably never eat (brains come to mind, no pun intended) but there are only three things I've tried that I actually dislike the flavor of: papaya (tastes of vomit), beets (taste like dirt), and ketchup (just disgusting.) I'm proud to report that in addition to recently retrying ketchup, (yup, still hate it) during this trip I tackled both my papaya and my beet phobias. I had a piece of papaya a few days ago at breakfast, and while it remains my least favorite tropical fruit, I will admit that it is tolerable. Last week at Devi Garh, Bobo (also not a fan of the beet root) and I drank carrot-beet juice, and actually enjoyed it.
Anyway, onto much more exciting details of delightful Indian delicacies. The variety of food is, as one might expect in a country so large, incredible. Delicious lamb stews and kebabs in the north, aromatic coconut curry prawns in the beaches of the south, and tender, flavorful veggies just about everywhere. The food map of India very much resembles the geographic map of India; Food in the northwest of the country tastes more like Middle Eastern fare, whereas the spicier stews and sauces that flavor foods in the south resemble dishes I sampled in countries like Thailand and Cambodia.
In fact, it was while backpacking Southeast Asia that one of my travel companions, Fritz Ravine, bestowed upon me the epithet of "lady in the street, freak at the buffet." I. Love. Buffets. And last night's New Years' Eve gala here at the Leela Kovalam was a buffet to end all buffets.
A good buffet is like a culinary version of those choose-your-own-adventure books I used to read as a kid. If you start out with sushi, you might move onto BBQ lobster; If you begin with homemade pita chips, hummous and giant capers, you have a nice segue into veggie kebabs. You never really know exactly where the buffet will take you, and each trip up to the table is like a new chapter in an ongoing quest for satiation.
This buffet had it all: from calamari to cucumber salad, pasta to palak paneer. There were entire sections of this buffet that we did not even have the time to explore, much less the stomachs large enough to sample. Dessert stretched the entire middle section of tables, and featured triple chocolate mousse cake, pistachio napoleons, tropical fruit mini-tarts, yule logs of all colors and flavors, and a make-your-own-sundae station.
The delicious feast, coupled with entertainment that included fire-eaters, a Bollywood dance troupe, a bellydancer, and a live DJ, made for a fantastic New Year's Eve on the beach under the stars.
If it is not already obvious, I am a proud foodie. Certainly there are a handful of things I will probably never eat (brains come to mind, no pun intended) but there are only three things I've tried that I actually dislike the flavor of: papaya (tastes of vomit), beets (taste like dirt), and ketchup (just disgusting.) I'm proud to report that in addition to recently retrying ketchup, (yup, still hate it) during this trip I tackled both my papaya and my beet phobias. I had a piece of papaya a few days ago at breakfast, and while it remains my least favorite tropical fruit, I will admit that it is tolerable. Last week at Devi Garh, Bobo (also not a fan of the beet root) and I drank carrot-beet juice, and actually enjoyed it.
Anyway, onto much more exciting details of delightful Indian delicacies. The variety of food is, as one might expect in a country so large, incredible. Delicious lamb stews and kebabs in the north, aromatic coconut curry prawns in the beaches of the south, and tender, flavorful veggies just about everywhere. The food map of India very much resembles the geographic map of India; Food in the northwest of the country tastes more like Middle Eastern fare, whereas the spicier stews and sauces that flavor foods in the south resemble dishes I sampled in countries like Thailand and Cambodia.
In fact, it was while backpacking Southeast Asia that one of my travel companions, Fritz Ravine, bestowed upon me the epithet of "lady in the street, freak at the buffet." I. Love. Buffets. And last night's New Years' Eve gala here at the Leela Kovalam was a buffet to end all buffets.
A good buffet is like a culinary version of those choose-your-own-adventure books I used to read as a kid. If you start out with sushi, you might move onto BBQ lobster; If you begin with homemade pita chips, hummous and giant capers, you have a nice segue into veggie kebabs. You never really know exactly where the buffet will take you, and each trip up to the table is like a new chapter in an ongoing quest for satiation.
This buffet had it all: from calamari to cucumber salad, pasta to palak paneer. There were entire sections of this buffet that we did not even have the time to explore, much less the stomachs large enough to sample. Dessert stretched the entire middle section of tables, and featured triple chocolate mousse cake, pistachio napoleons, tropical fruit mini-tarts, yule logs of all colors and flavors, and a make-your-own-sundae station.
The delicious feast, coupled with entertainment that included fire-eaters, a Bollywood dance troupe, a bellydancer, and a live DJ, made for a fantastic New Year's Eve on the beach under the stars.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Peaches Is Back!
Hello, friends! Your girl Peaches in back in Asia and back online, blogging away as I tour the land of a billion people with a **new** partner in crime (to be introduced to you shortly.) We landed in Delhi this evening, a city that holds the dubious distinction of being the most polluted world capital. Fabulous. Our lungs will thank us for leaving early tomorrow morning by train for Ranthambore, where we will stay on a tiger preserve. Fret not, I brought only cinnamon; No pepper. And let's hope our train doesn't get lost. I will warn you now that this is only the first of many references to my second favorite Wes Anderson film and the tiger-in-the-bathroom scene from The Hangover, so you might consider rewatching both now.
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