Journal 20

Thursday, July 6, 2006
Friday, July 07, 2006

Dear Journal,

Today we did what I have been looking forward to the whole trip – we went to the ZOO!!! I was so worried that I wouldn’t be able to go because I was sick, but I finally felt better today, or maybe I just made myself feel better…either way, it worked and I was able to go. After I only ate a slice of toast and a small portion of rice yesterday, I was very weak and not sure if I could go.

Yesterday we went into town to do some pearl shopping and most of the group bought many souvenirs for friends and family at home. I don’t like shopping here in India because everywhere we go people just swarm us and try to sell us everything in the store. I am not sure if this is only because we are foreigners or if this is simply how they run their stores here, but I don’t like it. I am the kind of person who likes to look around by myself at my own pace. I don’t even like it in the States when I am shopping and one of the sales people comes to the dressing room to see if you need anything else, I would much rather just go and get it myself. So after I spend about 10 minutes trying to get away from people at the store trying to sell me stuff (of course in a polite way) I sat down and waited for the other people to finish their shopping. After about an hour and a half of pearl shopping we continued on to “Music World” where some of us wanted to buy some CDs and movies. Since the shopping took longer than anticipated we decided to eat out. Even though most of voted for something not too experimental, since three of us were still recovering from a nasty stomach virus, we somehow ended up at a South Indian restaurant. We all ordered and even though we all agreed that the atmosphere was a little odd, because we were the only people in the restaurant and the whole waiting staff of about 6 people stood a few feet from our table staring at us, we all had some well-deserved food. The food was good, and even though I only had some rice, we all had a good time just hanging out with the group and catching up with everyone. When we got home I thought I was going to have a backlash and get sick again so I called it an early night.

Then this morning, knowing I would be going to the ZOO, I felt much better. I got up at 7 a.m. to have some breakfast to prepare me for the day. I knew I was going to need some energy. We left the guesthouse at 9:30 a.m. so that we would be able to be back by 3:30 p.m., since part of the group was leaving for Hampi. I love going to Zoos and I am not even sure why, but I always have a good time. When we arrived at the Zoo, we got a map to decide which part of the Zoo we wanted to go to first. We all agreed that we wanted to see the white tigers, the lions, the monkeys and of course the elephants. We walked through the zoo, which was actually very pretty. There weren’t too many people there and it wasn’t too hot yet since it was still pretty early in the day. The first thing we saw were monkeys…I love monkeys. If I could have a pet monkey, I would J and after Satya told me that for 200 Rupees I could by a monkey if I wanted to, I was seriously considering it until my conscience kicked in and I decided that that wasn’t going to work…realistically. We saw the lions and Jaguars, the hyenas and the white tigers, but the best was yet to come…the ELEPHANTS!!! Ever since I have come to India I have wanted to see some Elephants, not because I had never seen one, but because I thought that since I was going to be in India I should see some elephants. But what I really want to do is ride on an elephant.
I did not get to ride an elephant, however, an elephant did kiss me and that was awesome. When we arrived at the elephant area we were disappointed because the elephants were very far away and we could hardly see them, but as soon as we arrived at the front of the fence, one of the guards started talking to Satya, who then informed us that for 20 Rupees (less than 50 cents) we would be able to ride an elephant. Needless to say I was ecstatic. One of the men standing by the elephants then brought one of the elephants up to the fence where we could pet it. All of the sudden the elephant reached for Abbie’s ponytail with its trunk and right away I though it was going to eat it, but then I realized that it was giving her a kiss. One after the other, the elephant gave all of us a kiss, or what they called it “a blessing.” This was so cool and very exciting, and even though we never got to ride the elephant, at least we got kissed by an elephant. Not too many people (at least people that I know) can say that they have been kissed by an elephant.
So, my verdict is that even though Hyderabad wasn’t the best Zoo I have been to, getting kissed by an elephant definitely made the experience worthwhile. And I definitely would still get a pet monkey if I could…