Monday, November 30, 2009
I went to India last week, for a holiday with the boyfriend and his colleague friends, also en route to one of the colleague friends' cousin's wedding in Delhi.
Normal temperature in the day was 26 deg C. Normal temperature at night was okay with just one heavy jacket outdoors, and indoors was very warm. India in late Nov is hotter than Europe in high summer. We went to Jaipur, Ranthambore, Agra, and Delhi.
Things I would have not packed, in retrospect:
1. So much warm clothing and warm socks.
2. An umbrella.
3. A headscarf. The temples which are open to tourists are liberal enough to not make tourists wear a head covering.
4. A 500 mL water bottle. The humidity was low enough, and the place dusty enough, that we bought lots and lots of water, so I simply changed the 1L water bottles after finishing each one. The airline was also generous with water.
Things I would definitely have packed:
1. Surgical face masks. The place is dusty in the way that Singapore is perpetually hazy during the forest-fire periods. But India is MORE dusty than that. There's nowhere to escape the dust, unless you stay indoors with all the windows closed. Be forewarned.
2. A cap, instead of the umbrella. I ended up using the hoodie of my windbreaker to shield my head from getting sunburned.
3. Super-duper good lozenges. Thankfully someone had some.
4. A heavier face and body moisturiser. I shared the bf's after a while.
5. Eyedrops. Also stole the bf's after a while.
6. An acceptable-looking wrap or jacket to put over my sari while in the open night air at the wedding.
7. More T-shirts, instead of the warm clothing.
8. A hairdryer.
Things I was happy to have:
1. Enough disposable underwear, and thermal underwear which went under the sari.
2. Sweets and snacks, for staving off motion sickness. Coconut sweets, good. Sng buay, good.
3. Some biscuits, for basic sustenance in an eating cycle made weird by the rigours of a full itinerary.
4. Antacid tablets, stolen from the bf's stash.
5. Iron tablets.
6. Vitamin C. We didn't dare to eat any uncooked vegetables or fruits there, and Indian cooking doesn't really use a lot of vegetables (cauliflower and palak spinach aren't sufficient).
7. Sneakers. Since everywhere was dusty, wholly covered footwear was good.
8. Face sunblock.
9. Lip balm. Although lip balm in a tube is better for keeping dust out than lip balm in a small pot.
10. Hand sanitizer and tissues. Toilets were generally okay, but the toilet paper and soap dispensers were suspect.
11. A very thin windbreaker, for part of the days outdoors.
12. A heavy lined jacket, for nights outdoors.
Normal temperature in the day was 26 deg C. Normal temperature at night was okay with just one heavy jacket outdoors, and indoors was very warm. India in late Nov is hotter than Europe in high summer. We went to Jaipur, Ranthambore, Agra, and Delhi.
Things I would have not packed, in retrospect:
1. So much warm clothing and warm socks.
2. An umbrella.
3. A headscarf. The temples which are open to tourists are liberal enough to not make tourists wear a head covering.
4. A 500 mL water bottle. The humidity was low enough, and the place dusty enough, that we bought lots and lots of water, so I simply changed the 1L water bottles after finishing each one. The airline was also generous with water.
Things I would definitely have packed:
1. Surgical face masks. The place is dusty in the way that Singapore is perpetually hazy during the forest-fire periods. But India is MORE dusty than that. There's nowhere to escape the dust, unless you stay indoors with all the windows closed. Be forewarned.
2. A cap, instead of the umbrella. I ended up using the hoodie of my windbreaker to shield my head from getting sunburned.
3. Super-duper good lozenges. Thankfully someone had some.
4. A heavier face and body moisturiser. I shared the bf's after a while.
5. Eyedrops. Also stole the bf's after a while.
6. An acceptable-looking wrap or jacket to put over my sari while in the open night air at the wedding.
7. More T-shirts, instead of the warm clothing.
8. A hairdryer.
Things I was happy to have:
1. Enough disposable underwear, and thermal underwear which went under the sari.
2. Sweets and snacks, for staving off motion sickness. Coconut sweets, good. Sng buay, good.
3. Some biscuits, for basic sustenance in an eating cycle made weird by the rigours of a full itinerary.
4. Antacid tablets, stolen from the bf's stash.
5. Iron tablets.
6. Vitamin C. We didn't dare to eat any uncooked vegetables or fruits there, and Indian cooking doesn't really use a lot of vegetables (cauliflower and palak spinach aren't sufficient).
7. Sneakers. Since everywhere was dusty, wholly covered footwear was good.
8. Face sunblock.
9. Lip balm. Although lip balm in a tube is better for keeping dust out than lip balm in a small pot.
10. Hand sanitizer and tissues. Toilets were generally okay, but the toilet paper and soap dispensers were suspect.
11. A very thin windbreaker, for part of the days outdoors.
12. A heavy lined jacket, for nights outdoors.
# {scribbles of SM} @ 10:59 PM 
Thursday, November 05, 2009
HT: No To Rape campaign against the marital rape exemption in Singapore.
http://www.notorape.com/petition/
Here is the episode of Get Rea!, hosted by Cheryl Fox, which focuses on marital rape and was first broadcast on 14 September on Channel News Asia. It features moving interviews with two women who have had personal experiences of marital rape, as well as No To Rape. http://www.notorape.com/blog/2009/09/18/get-rea-includes-victim-testimony/
Segment 1 of 3:
Segment 2 of 3:
Segment 3 of 3:
http://www.notorape.com/petition/
# {scribbles of SM} @ 9:24 PM
