US, US, baby

Clearly I’ve taken on the traveler persona and become less of a makeup gal. Somewhere along the way, I just decided it wasn’t worth it to wake up every day and go through the whole daily routine. Not that it takes all that much time. But, you know. It kind of went out the window around the time the whole smelling-clothes-before-wearing them routine started. (I’m really going to have to clean myself up before landing in NYC next month)

But, I do still pull out the MAC eyeshadows every once in a while. I didn’t realize, though, that I hadn’t really done that while volunteering at the children’s home.

On my last day at the home, though, I had put on makeup for the bus ride back to the big city. The kids’ reaction to seeing me in makeup was hilarious. You’d think I looked like Tammy Faye Bakker. The older girls just told me I looked pretty (but kept wanting to touch my face). The younger ones, though, couldn’t stop staring, asking about it, and touching it.

Who knew that my not-Korean purple MAC eyeshadow would bring so many memories from this travel experience?

I think this might be a Muslim Barbie on these suitcases in Doha, Qatar. Or maybe is it a Muslim Skipper? It’s really been a long time since I played with the blond plastic dolls…

But those are definitely Bambi.

Thought I’d pop up another “Name That Tune” one for you…

This time I was at Dilli Haat in Delhi. It’s a bazaar-type place with craft stalls from most Indian states and food stalls from a lot, too. If you’re in Delhi and have only a limited amount of time to visit the country, Dilli Haat is a good place to go to experiment with a lot of the country’s cultures. (You should definitely get the Rs. 20 — about $.50 — fruit beer from the Nagaland stall, too…fun because it’s fresh and fruity but also because you won’t actually get it in Nagaland…a dry state!)

While perusing a stall, I heard a familiar song coming from the nearby Manipur food stall. Thought I’d let you try to guess it. I have to admit, it’s a bit more difficult than an Usher song…and not just because the sound quality ain’t so hot…

It’s not the Dollar General Store (or even the 99 Cent Store, for that matter). But this new store in Shillong does have some American stuff in stock.

Keep in mind, though, that 99 rupees is like $2.50-$3 (depending on the exchange rate).

While in Tripura last month, I visited another temple that had a man-made “lake” with revered tortoises. I barely saw the tortoises, but the fish…now they were massive.

As you can barely see them in the real photo, I messed around with saturation so you could see just how humongo they were…keeping in mind the dog in the photo is a full-size one.

Walking away from them, I passed another rack of those USA hankies. I probably should have bought one as with my cold, I’d run out of tissue long before. Ah, well…

Getting from Shillong to Agartala last week was quite an adventure, to say the least. Instead of giving you a full-on narrative, I thought I’d just compare my trip there to what a typical journey of equivalent distance would be in the U.S. for me…

India vs. USA

Approximate Distance:
500 kilometres vs. 310 miles

Mode of Transportation:
bus vs. plane or car/truck

Estimated Travel Time:
20-24 hours vs. 5 hours 10 minutes

Actual Travel Time:
43 hours vs. 5 hours

Escorts:
have to travel in a convoy through a high-insurgency area vs. only following the men with guns if you’ve been speeding

Finding a Place to Stay:
kicked out of first guesthouse because the state minister is coming and needs to sleep there vs. checking into a Marriott, Hilton, or Best Western

Finding a Place to Stay, part II:
go to the “party” building to ask the Communist Party of India (Marxist) — the ruling party of the state — if we can still sleep at the guesthouse…told “no” but they help find another room vs. um, communists in the US?

Road Food:
rice and vegetables eaten with the hands vs. drive-through food from Taco Bell (eaten with the hands, too)

Bathroom Break:
bamboo outhouse with a dirt-floor squat toilet vs. not needed for a 310-mile journey (but always have McDonald’s in an emergency)

Roadside Souvenirs:
USA handkerchiefs vs. “Someone Who Loves Me Went to X, and All I Got Was This Stupid T-Shirt” shirts

OK, so I have to say that seeing Om Shanti Om (or OSO as it is often referred) has really made me think.

First off, the biggest upset to me is that the director, writer, and choreographer is a woman. How is it that India, a country known for its male-dominated society, can still have a woman’s film be the year’s biggest hit and the US can’t? Now don’t get me wrong, I realize Bollywood isn’t all flush with women directors or the US doesn’t have quality ones…but I guess what puzzles me most isn’t the quality at all. It’s the money. Indians are shelling out millions of rupees to see something that is nearly all a woman’s point of view…when has that happened in America? I mean, not even our dear-to-our-hearts Sex and the City is a full woman-run show/movie.

Secondly, I have to say that the movie’s gratuitious beefcake scenes are a bit bothersome to me. Sex scenes don’t bother me. Nor does nudity. But putting LOOOOONG scenes into a movie that do absolutely nothing to move the plot along but are only there for viewers to ogle the actor/actress, just aren’t comforting to watch. And when PDA (public displays of affection) are a huge no-no on the streets or in the movies because of the sexual implications, how can you tell me that the extended scenes of a shirtless, muscle-y guy, throwing water over himself aren’t sexual? Really now.

Finally, I’m a bit confused by the Bollywood movies’ portrayal of love and passion. Every movie has a love story. But I can’t figure out why. Not to be cynical or stereotypical, but I have never heard an Indian (here or of my Indian-American friends) speak about love in any manner near the same way the movies portray. Things are always far more logical. So I’m wondering…is the society repressing this idea of love that everyone truly wants? Or is it western society and our ideas of love influencing the plots of Bollywood? Or are the movies representing a shift in Indian society’s view of marriage and love? I have to say, it’s probably a bit of all three. As I’ve learned, people pay to see a reflection of themselves; they want to connect with what they read, hear, or see. And, so I’d say Indians really MUST believe in love. But just can’t show it.

Other random things to note about the movie:
1. I understood pretty much the whole thing…which is a pretty good feat considering it’s not in English (but does have some English phrases like “Who’s your daddy?” and “I’m saying I’m pregnant” for times when I guess saying the equivalent in Hindi just doesn’t have the same effect).
2. There was a LOT of cat-calling when a pretty girl would appear on screen. The only reason I note this is because in Shillong, I have NEVER felt disrespected as a woman, nor have I seen any public leering of other women. I wonder what it is about being in a theater that suddenly makes the men feel comfortable doing it…
3. I wonder how much Maybeline paid for their sponsorship of the movie. They were noted in the opening credits, and one scene was a big makeover scene using all their products, with nice long shots of each.

I went to the Ho Chi Minh Museum before I left Hanoi. One of the exhibits there used “documents and artistic images” to explain how the world was during the Industrial Revolution. “These changes had a great impact on Ho Chi Minh’s thinking in his quest for national liberation,” explained the sign at the beginning of the exhibit.

What kinds of items represented the Industrial Revolution? A $34.95 buggy from Sears, Roebuck & Co., of course.

Cough, cough “These taste like sh**.” That’s what one of the two Dutch boys said on our first night in Laos. He’d just taken a puff of his newly purchased local cigarettes and clearly didn’t approve. He ended up snuffing it out and bumming a Camel off the French guy in the group.

As a non-smoker, I can’t attest to the quality of the local cigarettes, but if the number of Marlboro and Camel boxes at the local stores are any indicator, I’d say the foreigners (and maybe even some of the locals) here definitely dig one of the South’s popular exports.

But, the most entertaining part of seeing the cigarette boxes in nearly every convenience store is the fact that the whole city/town of Luang Prabang is an UNESCO World Heritage site, which means smoking isn’t supposed to happen anywhere here, as signs on nearly every building remind people. But, as long as people here can get non-poop-flavored smokes, I’m pretty sure they’ll be able to smoke on the streets or in the outdoor restaurants.

I’ve always looked fondly upon teddy bears. On the day my parents picked me up at the airport, my mom and dad stopped to buy a toy to greet me with. They picked up a teddy bear “because it was made in Korea…just like you,” or so my mom says.

That bear is still around (and in quite good shape, I must add), and it’s always made me like its brothers, sisters, and cousins. And because of my affection for bears, I’ve always known the legend of how they came about: When Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt was on a bear hunt, they searched and searched for a bear. Eventually, they came about one (some accounts say an old bear, others a baby bear) and the hunting dogs grabbed into it and those with Roosevelt captured the bear and invited him to shoot. The president said he couldn’t shoot a captive, injured bear, and the incident then inspired a political cartoon with a sad, weak little bear in it. (Some accounts say the president did, however, order the bear be put down to end its painful injuries). So in 1902 when cute cuddly bears made in the US and Germany started sprouting up across America, they were of course called “teddy bears.”
Great story…and one that I wish I could’ve read at the museum. Alas, I couldn’t read much at the museum. Most of it was in hangul and sans translations. And I don’t know if I’d really call the museum a “museum” either. Sure, it did display some teddy bears throughout time — including American favorites like Care Bears, Teddy Ruxpin, and the Beanie Babies — but the majority of the floor was dedicated to bear displays, I guess they could be called. It was much more of a show than a museum. It was kind of like seeing what the world would look like if it had been teddy bears that had been at those historical moments or been those historical figures or been featured in famous pieces of art.

Here are just a few of my favorites:

bears on board the Titanic (note Jack and Rose in the “I’m the King of the World” pose)

bears battling it out on the beaches of Normandy

Elvis bear (who I bet doesn’t like Hound Dogs either)

one giant leap for bearkind on the moon

remember the Terra-Cotta Warriors I saw in China?

hmmm…
Mona Lisa bear

bear-y good art, eh?