Tollywood!

One minute you’re hot, the next you’re not. Such is the life of a Tollywood star! On our second day back in India Kim and I were approached by a man who asked us if we’d like to be extras in a Tollywood movie. Tollywood is Tamil Nadu’s version of Bollywood. Hell yeah was our immediate response. We not only had a chance to be movie stars but we were also going to be paid $20 each for our efforts!

We were told we’d be picked up the next morning at 8:30 and taken to the set. So when we woke up the next morning at 7:45 and there was a knock on our door and a man standing there saying ‘Ready’? We were like, ‘Well, no actually we’re not. We were told to be ready for 8:30 and its only 7:45’. Already we were being difficult “stars”!

The set turned out to be an English bookstore. I couldn’t have picked a better place to spend the next 10 hours. We’d expected to arrive and see a bunch of other foreigners milling about but, to our surprise, we were the only ones. We were fed breakfast and then it was off to work. The scene that was being shot, from what we could gather, was girl meets boy or “hero” as they referred to him, in a bookstore. For the first scene Kim and I were in the background and we’re pretty sure we were in the shot. All we had to do was pretend to be browsing at books. That was no problem as we both found plenty of books we were genuinely interested in. I even bought a few at the end of the day! After that scene they didn’t really need us so we just loitered about outside and drank chai until it was time for lunch.

It was after lunch that the action really began. The director called me over and told me I’d be shooting a scene with the “hero” and that I’d have to say a line in Tamil. I was instantly nervous. My heart started pounding and my palms got all sweaty but I thought I’d give it a go. I had to say the following line – Mundrawade Tamil parum shangum. I’ve written it phonetically because I have no idea how to spell it. Furthermore I have absolutely no idea what it means! I suspect it’s a reference to a famous temple in a town called Madurai but that’s only a guess. I had to say the line for the director and he seemed extremely unimpressed with my first two attempts. All I could think was, ‘Well, excuse me but I don’t speak Tamil’! But my third attempt must have been better because I got a thumbs up and a smile.

When the time came to do the shot they decided to put Kim in the scene with me which instantly made me feel better. He didn’t have to say anything though, lucky bugger! We never received any clear direction from anyone as to what we were supposed to be doing or where we were supposed to be looking. I only knew that I had a line to say and that Kim and I had to follow the “hero” as he walked by. So we winged it and although I absolutely nailed my line I was looking down when I should have been looking up so we had to do another take. By then I was so nervous that I completely screwed up my line and we were told to go sit down. They then did another take without us and then moved on to the next scene. Tollywood is so fickle! About an hour later as things were wrapping up for the day they called us over, told us to stand still, powdered our faces and asked us to look straight ahead at the camera. So, we’re pretty sure we’re still in the scene after all. We just weren’t good enough when it came to talking and walking. But the standing still, looking straight ahead thing we nailed!

At the end of the day when we received our pay of 750 Rupees or $20 CND each we felt as if we’d really earned it. The crazy thing is that 750 Rupees is more than most people in India earn in a day or even a week. Even crazier is that the money remained in our pocket for less than an hour. We bought some toiletries, got some credit for our phone, had some dinner and that was it, it was all gone. That was just one more experience that made us think about where we come from and all the privileges that come along with being born in countries where daily life is not a constant struggle and the thoughts of shelter, food and safety are not daily concerns. We’re lucky, plain and simple.

African Adventures!

Africa certainly wasn’t what we expected but one thing’s for sure, it was an adventure from start to finish. Yes, that’s right, to the finish! We’ve left Africa and we’re back in Thailand. Why you ask? Hmmm, where to start?! (There's a lot to tell so this is a long one!)

We left India on August 2nd and even though we weren’t ready to leave we were excited about the adventures that lay ahead. If only we’d known! It seems India didn’t want to let us go too easily either. We got a flat tire on the way to the airport! Looking back now we’re pretty sure that that was a sign, the first of many, telling us that Africa was not where we were meant to be.

We flew into Dar es Salam. Tanzania and met up with Dani, Jo-Ann and Angela, my three friends from home who had been volunteering in Uganda for a month. It was so good to see them after eight long months. BIG hugs all around and straight to the airport bar we went to get reacquainted and catch up. After 3 ½ months of not drinking Kim and I were enjoying the effects of a few beer!

The next day we were off to the tropical, island paradise of Zanzibar. It’s a beautiful place full of white sand beaches, palm trees and crystal clear turquoise water. One of the first things we noticed when we arrived was the Maasai wandering about. The Maasai are a tribe of cattle herding people and many of the younger Maasai now find work as security guards at the numerous hotels around the island as they’re renowned for being fierce warriors. You may have seen footage of them on National Geographic jumping several feet in the air from a standstill while holding onto a large staff and singing tribal songs. It wasn’t uncommon to see them down by the water’s edge just jumping and jumping and jumping. Boy can they jump! With their strong features and blankets in traditional colors and patterns wrapped around them they made for a stark contrast to the beach environment that surrounded them!

We made some great friends while on the island. Canadian Cole and Ra and Tara, two Aussie girls were our companions for many funny moments. We also met some, how shall I put it, very interesting characters! Unbeknownst to us we managed to befriend the president of Zanzibar’s son and his sidekick, the hard drinking ex- golf pro! Kim and I found them quite entertaining and enjoyed a few afternoons and numerous beers with them. It turns out they aren’t very well liked by the locals however. For good reason we were soon to realize. Without going into too much detail let’s just say that corruption is rampant in Africa and power is definitely something that can be bad when placed in the wrong hands.

After a week and a half spent chilling on the beach we decided to check out Stone Town, Zanzibar’s quaint capital. Stone Town is a labyrinth of winding streets and alley ways. One time when we were lost (one of many) we asked a passerby how to get to the gardens where they have a nightly fish market and his response was to just smell for the ocean and head in that direction. Fair enough! Speaking of the fish market, what an amazing place! Every afternoon as the sun was fading a hundred or so stalls laden with fresh seafood and other goodies would be set up in the gardens by the harbor. You just pick what you want and they’d cook it up for you. We’d get a lobster skewer, big chunk of kingfish, massive crab claw, salad and a chapatti for around $7. Yum! Wash that all down with a cold glass of fresh sugar cane juice and we were in food heaven.

One night we decided to go and check out a reggae club we’d heard was really good on Saturdays. I don’t know if good is a word I would use to describe this place, scary and strange maybe or even interesting but definitely not good! Kim received quite a lot of attention right off the bat from the female patrons. He soon realized it wasn’t the kind of attention he wanted to be receiving though. I think every girl in that place, except for us, were prostitutes! They soon realized that Kim was taken and backed off, befriending me and the girls instead! As the night progressed things got weirder and weirder and we decided that we’d better go before people became any more intoxicated. We rounded up the troops said goodbye to the prostitutes and got into a cab that was, luckily for us, waiting outside. Stone Town isn’t exactly the kind of place where you want to be walking around after dark. Once we were all piled in and ready to take off about 10 guys surrounded the cab and started yelling and trying to get the driver to unroll the window. Things were definitely a little tense and once the beer bottles started to smash we were like “drive, drive!” We escaped unscathed and looked at each other in bewilderment and said “what just happened in there?!”

It seems the excitement didn’t end with our night at the club. Just leaving the island turned out to be wrought with drama! When the day came to move on we turned up with plenty of time to catch our 4:30 ferry back to the mainland. We waited patiently for boarding to begin but when nothing happened for quite a while we began to suspect something was wrong. Kim overheard someone saying that one of the ferries had broken down and now all the people that normally fill two ferries would have to fit onto one! People were beginning to push and shove and you could sense that it was going to be only the strong and fast who would make it on the boat. Once boarding finally began it was mayhem but we all managed to push and shove our way on and secure a spot outside by the toilets! We were in a perfect position to watch all the activity as things became quite hectic once the staff announced that no more people could board. People were begging to be let on and some just jumped on anyway. One guy wasn’t so lucky though and missed the boat splashing into the water instead! In the end the staff had to resort to violence and started hitting people with thick ropes just to keep them back. After a fair struggle we managed to pull away, completely over loaded and brimming with people, and waved goodbye to those left behind.

We went back to Dar es Salam where we met up with a friend of a friend who was to become our tour guide for our 4 night/5 day safari to Lake Manyara, the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater. His name was Safe and as he liked to say, “With Safe you’re always safe!” We spent two nights in Dar while we worked out the details of the safari. On our second day we went out for brunch at a restaurant not far from where we were staying. It was recommended as being a good place and it seemed to be popular with the business crowd. Our meal was one of those meals where everything went wrong from the get go; a rock hard piece of cake, a waiter who ran away as you were talking, forgotten cups of coffee, wrong orders, pizza that took forever and a plate of slightly off tasting chili prawns. None of this is a big deal except for when the off tasting prawns give you e-coli. Who was the lucky person who ordered the prawns? Kim! Now the adventure really begins!

Kim started to feel bad that very night after eating the prawns. We weren’t sure what was wrong but thought that after a good night sleep and rest he’d wake up feeling better. It turns out that sleep and rest were hard to come by! The next morning we were up at 5am to drive the 9 hours to Arusha which is where the safari would start from. But wouldn’t you know it, the minivan broke down, 7 times, and what should have been 9 hours turned into 16! By the time we finally arrived Kim was feeling even worse but we put it down to a long day and hoped again that sleep would make him feel better. The next day we were up early again. For what though we’re not quite sure as we just sat around and waited while shopping was done and equipment was loaded onto the vehicle. All poor Kim wanted to do was lay down and sleep but it seemed everything was working against him. We didn’t have far to drive to our first stop on the safari so that was good at least!

We arrived in Lake Manyara in the afternoon and even though Kim was feeling bad he wanted to see some animals so he came with us on the first game drive. Lucky for him because it turns out this was the only one he came on. We were all pretty excited to be in our extended Toyota Landcruiser with pop top roof for optimum wildlife viewing! Driving through the park was a pretty surreal feeling and it didn’t take long before we were spotting elephants, hippos, zebras. wildebeests and giraffes. Kim managed to enjoy himself but it was clear that he really wasn’t feeling well and he now had a fever so we went back to the hotel and called a doctor to come and see him. We were heading to the Serengeti the next day and we wanted to make sure that he got the all clear from the doctor to go ahead with the safari.

The doctor came to see him and his diagnosis was that Kim had malaria. He felt it was unnecessary to do the blood test because he sees about 30 – 40 cases of malaria a week and said that Kim’s symptoms of fever, lethargy and an achy back all pointed to malaria being the culprit. He prescribed a course of medication to be taken over three days and told Kim that by tomorrow he’d be feeling better and that there was no reason why he shouldn’t go on safari and enjoy every moment.

Long story short, Kim didn’t start feeling better the next day. Instead, he felt progressively worse until he finally ended up in hospital back in Arusha. Thanks to the doctor’s misdiagnosis Kim suffered through 4 long days bouncing around in the 4 wheel drive, sleepless nights camping in the Serengeti and high fever that began to cause hallucinations towards the end. He didn’t get to enjoy any more of the game drives, see any of the animals, eat any of the food or enjoy any of the amenities at the beautiful lodge we stayed at in the Ngorongoro Crater. To add insult to injury the Ngorongoro Crater (it’s really a caldera) is one of the geological wonders of the world and Kim didn’t even get to drive down into it. Pretty shitty deal when you’re a Geologist!

The end of the safari finally came and we made it back to Arusha which is the largest town in Northern Tanzania. We drove straight to the hospital and Kim was immediately admitted. We got a private room and they allowed me to stay and have a sleepover every night. That’s a good thing because I’m not sure what Kim would have done if I wasn’t there. Although the nurses were very sweet the standard of care is definitely not what we’re used to and I had to constantly go and remind them that it was time to check Kim’s vitals, ask them for tylenol to bring down his fever, ask them to replace his drip, monitor the replacement of the drip to make sure that no air bubbles made it into his bloodstream and fetch food and water. The doctor that was caring for Kim, however, was very good and we had a lot of confidence in him which was a comfort to us both. All in all Kim was in hospital for 6 days and it wasn’t until day 3 or 4 that he was finally diagnosed through blood and stool cultures as having e-coli. It was such a relief to finally know what was wrong. Within days of taking the correct medication he was feeling better, extremely weak and still in a bit of discomfort, but better. Kim was discharged on the condition that he stay close to the hospital for the next few days while awaiting the final test results. That was fine with us as Kim had no energy and wouldn’t have been able to go very far anyway.

We found a small hotel just down the street from the hospital and went there to recuperate. It was a bit more expensive than what we would normally pay but it had a big, comfy bed and a flat screen TV which suited us fine as watching TV and sleeping was all we were going to be doing! It was a cute place with friendly staff and a free breakfast every morning that they served you in your room. We had been there three nights already when we woke up one morning to realize that we had been robbed, while we slept. Yep, that’s right, while we slept!

We woke up early after the best night’s sleep either of us had had in almost 2 weeks. Kim drew back the curtains to let the morning in and said - “Why’s the window open?” At the same time I noticed my earrings strewn across the floor and said – “Why are my earrings on the floor? I put them on the computer last night. Hey, wait a minute, where’s the computer?” We had a quick look around and noticed other things missing as well and realized we’d been robbed. We just couldn’t believe it, it seemed crazy that someone had been able to take stuff from us as we slept but that’s exactly what happened. It looked like the person or persons who did it cracked the glass on our window and loosened the bolt that locked it. Then they must have pulled back our curtain and used a stick with a hook on it or like instrument to reach into the room and grab items that could easily be pulled through the bars and out the window. Yep, that’s right the window had bars on it! Then they took care to close the curtain again and we were none the wiser until we woke up in the morning. They made off our computer, camera, i-pod, headphones, money belt with cash and cards in it and various other items. Even as I type this I still can’t believe that it happened while we were asleep in our hotel room that had bars on the window! Looking back now we’re pretty sure it was an inside job.

After we dealt with the police, filed our report and changed hotels Kim and I talked about it and we decided that if we were the kind of people who believed in following signs, every sign was telling us that Africa was not where we were meant to be. So we took a bus to Kenya and booked a flight out of Nairobi to Bangkok. Why Bangkok? It was the cheapest place to replace all our electronics that were stolen and after the horrible food in Africa we were looking forward to feasting on green curry and sushi. Japanese restaurants are everywhere in Bangkok! After that we decided we would go back to India, the land of chai, street cows and yoga! As I said in the beginning, neither of us were really ready to leave India so it made sense that we were both feeling a pull to go back.

So there you have it. Africa was definitely an adventure through and through! Kim's made a full recovery, our stuff's been replaced and we have some good stories to tell our kids one day. And just because Africa wasn't where we were meant to be right now doesn't mean we won't be going back one day!

Dani, Jo-Ann and Angela you guys made the whole trip worthwhile. Seeing you was definitely the highlight! Memories to last a lifetime. That's what it's all about : - )