The turbans and saris in India totally captivated me.

We traveled in the Northern part of India for two weeks in November and while I loved the palaces, forts and exotic nature of this part of the world, the way the women and men dressed was absolutely mesmerizing.

My back ground as a fashion writer probably has something to do with why the colorful attire grabbed my eye…but maybe you’ll find them equally interesting.

Interestingly there is no wife at home, advising, “Dear, I think you should wear your navy  turban today,”  the way we western women might advise our husbands about which tie to don before going out.

Instead the turban–typically a strip of cloth five meters or less– is prescribed.  It is  a man’s “identity.”

In many instances, it has a religious significance but the color of a turban can indicate a man’s  profession or his caste.  For example,  shepherds are pink, farmers  are another color.  I often wondered when I saw a brightly patterned turban—what does that mean?

According to Wikipedia, the color can be selected for the occasion as well.  White is associated with peace and worn by elders.  Pink, often assoicated with spring, is worn during that season or for marriage ceremonies.  I noticed snake charmers in different places all had the same kind of turban.  Hmmmm.

The turban  is also an important tool in every day life.  It can provide an extra layer of warmth around the shoulders, act as a pillow  and hide small valuables in its folds.    I saw a man take off his turban and use it to pull a man in a wheel chair up a ramp at a train station.

 It was amusing to me to see the impact of every day modern life in India.  At stop lights I observed men on motorcycles, wearing their helmets with the turban wrapped under one arm and over the other shoulder, kinda like a beauty pageant woman wears a sash to indicate her allegiances.  My assumption is that when the man arrives at his destination, he takes off the helmet and spends a few minutes rewrapping his turban to resume his daily life.

The saris that the women wear are equally interesting–making them radiant from head to toe.  We saw women in the fields, walking on country roads, in the towns–all dressed in their beautiful, colorful draped scarves.

A sari is a strip of unstitched cloth four to nine yards in length that is draped over the body in various styles. It is typically worn over a long skirt of the same color and a tight fitting blouse called a choli.

They indicate where a woman is from both in color, pattern and the way they are tied.  I love this. Combined with boatloads of jewelry and the Bindi–a traditional mark between the eyes, the effect is stunning.

I even liked seeing them draped on bushes or out windows to dry on laundry day.  The splashes of color are fabulous.

]]> http://www.designdestinations.org/2012/01/turbans-and-saris-provide-splashes-of-color-and-interesting-information-in-india/feed/ 1 http://www.designdestinations.org/2012/01/walking-with-elephants-in-thailand/ http://www.designdestinations.org/2012/01/walking-with-elephants-in-thailand/#comments Sun, 15 Jan 2012 14:39:04 +0000 Susan J. Smith http://www.designdestinations.org/?p=7176

by Kate Dernocoeur, guest blogger

 She pads up the dirt road like someone quietly scuffing in leather slippers. If I close my eyes, it’s all I hear: scuff…scuff…scuff. Slow. Meditative. I could get lost in the peace of it.

She’s an ex-addict. When she came here, it took three weeks to detox her from the amphetamines she’d been given so she could work for one of her owners 12 hours a day, and for the other the rest of the time.

When I met her, she was my age—52—and safe at last. The two-ton elephant behind which I was walking will live out her years at Elephant Nature Park, a wonderful place in the hills an hour’s drive outside Chiang Mai, Thailand.The 90 acre park, situated on a bend in the Mae Taeng River, is shared by volunteers, staff, and mahouts (elephant handlers, one per elephant) with more than three dozen elephants. It is a quiet place, interrupted not even by internet bandwidth or cell coverage.

I knew little about these amazing creatures before spending two weeks in 2005 as a volunteer to help walk, bathe, and feed them. You can meet them, too, by going to http://www.elephantnaturepark.org and learning about this award-winning conservation effort founded by Lek Chaillert, a tiny woman with a huge heart, in 1996. All of the elephants have stories, many heart-wrenching, of abuse and neglect. They range in age from 8 months to 86 years old. None will ever again face the indignity or disrespect of (illegal) logging, farming, or even soccer-playing, painting, or giving rides to tourists. The elephants at Elephant Nature Park have only to be elephants, and thereby delightful ambassadors to visitors who come to see them in their natural glory.

 What an experience! Every day, I strode alongside the herd on its walkabout  up the road and back.  We also scrambled up the hill to tie strips of cloth blessed by Buddhist monks on trees, to prevent deforestation.  In the heat of midday, an elephant is wonderful portable shade.

Bathing twice a day meant ambling to the riverside beach, splashing in, and finding someone to scrub and toss water with a basin. The elephants love water.  Even better: mealtime! According to“Elephants in Thailand,” by Adam Flinn , elephants consume about 300-600 pounds of fodder and 40 gallons of water daily (which is why keeping them in the city is dastardly). About 1:00 pm every day, a truck arrived filled with squash, bananas, pineapple, cucumbers, and more. We offloaded and rinsed it of pesticides, then fed the elephants from the feeding platform. Later, some were not above doing a bit of food scavenging!

Lek’s dream is to conserve habitat and preserve the Asian elephant. From millions of elephants roaming much of the planet at one time, according to Flinn, there are maybe 30,000 Asian elephants left, and only three or four thousand in Thailand (down from over 100,000 at the start of the 20^th century). May we all see the benefit of her efforts.

Here’s Kate giving her elephant friend a cool down during her experience at the Elephant Nature Park.   Her next adventure: walking across Africa.  We hope she’ll share her experiences here on DesignDestinations.org

Another New Year Celebration in the Memory Bank.

Like many people, we spent it watching a “ball” of sorts dropping on to a city street.  This was our second year to hang out in Traverse City with good friends enjoying the festivities of this charming Northern Lower Michigan town.  Here are some images from the experience.  If you’d like to read more about celebrating Traverse City style, check out this blog post about last year’s Traverse City New Year’s.    Both were great.

While most people’s thoughts have moved on to football games on TV, New Year’s resolutions and plans for 2012, I’m remembering the visual delight of the scenes up north.  Hope you enjoy with me.

I’m also remembering my best New Year’s Eve ever.  We spent it in Japan in Koyoto ringing in the New Year Japanese style with our family.

Read about this experience here.    It will also stay with me.

I love the holiday decorations in New York City.

They make me laugh. They make me smile.  They make me happy.

Ok, I admit it.  I’m truly a sucker for holiday decor.  Schmaltzy, cutesy, clever, sophisticated, red and green or odd ball mixes.  I’m always amazed when I see “decor” created from found objects like these  Jerry Cans in Chelsea Market.

 Not sure why I am so entranced with the festive lights and hoop-de-doo..  Is it the creativity?  The promise of a special time with family and friends.  The end of a year and beginning of new.  Time to reflect, refresh and enjoy.

Maybe because I don’t do that much decorating at home any more, operating under the philosophy that “less is more.”   A few Paperwhites. Some wonderful reindeer that a dear and special friend gave me.  I’m into “keeping it simple.”

It’s not “simple” in New York.   It always amazes me to see how New York jazzes up for the holidays….and tourists like me….

Here’s collection of holiday scenes that attracted my attention  in the Big Apple this year.  Wishing you all a peaceful and happy season.

Seen in a hip Japanese clothing store in SoHO.

Tiffany’s went over the top this year.   Tourist posing for photo.

Meandering the top floor of Bergdorf’s on Fifth Avenue is always a visual treat.

Some of the best tabletop ideas come from NYC

New York at night from a Bicycle Rickshaw.  Such fun.

Beautiful Jewelry display in the window of a store on West Broadway in Soho.

French Macarons on the Upper East Side.  Luscious.

Gotta go to Chelsea Market to see this.

ABC Carpet and Home was thinking “pink” this year.

Spotted on the High Line. Do you think they know it is December? Someone needs to tell them.

I always go to see Rockefeller Center.   The tree is spectacular.

And look at this wall of  lips…..in a window in the Meatpacking District in the  Diane Von Furstenberg shop.

If you’d like to look back at Holiday Decor in New York on other trips click on these links.   Fleace Navidad. or a Foodie Christmas.  Barney’s windows.

Or take a look at the Sights and Scenes of the Holidays.   There are a few more in Scenes from a day in New York.   Enjoy!

I love New York and I’m not the only one to feel this way.

Evidently I’m not the only one to Love New York.  A recent issue of New York Magazine reports that New York expects to hit 50 million tourists by the end of 2011.

This influx of travelers is the major reason the post-Lehman recession wasn’t much worse in New York.  In fact, a media program is in effect to encourage tourists to “Just ask the locals” and for the locals to be engaging, friendly and warm.   Apparently it is working.

Well, I don’t know why the 50 million who are traipsing about the Big Apple like the city but I know what what I like.

  First, New York is visually stimulating.   Whether looking at the wondrous windows of the holiday season, art deco ornamentation or city scenes, I am constantly enthralled with the visual marvels.

I also love the people.  This little girl ice skating with her mom caught my eye as did a lady with blue hair (alas, didn’t capture on my camera.)  I did get the woman walking down Fifth Avenue wearing gold antlers.  Wonder where she was going? And don’t you just love the little girl doing “the splits” on her class field trip to Chelsea Market?  

  While some things are constantly changing (see my blog on Soho), some things stay the same. For example I never get tired or less excited about the big tree at Rockefeller Center.  I suspect most of the 50 million tourists get to this landmark no matter what time they come to NYC.

I love the   creative  fireplace  made from boxes, fabric and thread  at Anthropologie,  fireplace at the Saks coffee shop/bar…….and how fun…..pink shoes in December.

It’s great to go into stores we don’t have at home…..or even in Chicago. This trip I was particularly entranced with the French Bakery store on Madison.  I am passionate about French Macaroons.  If I lived nearby,  I’d probably be stopping in for a simple luxury every day.

Wanted to get over to Dylans Candy Shop, but didn’t.  It’s always a “treat.”  In fact, I came home with a list for “Next Trip to New York” file in my Eveready notes that included this East side treasure.

Mostly I love New York because I get a sense that dreams come true in New York. People come to make it in theater, business, whatever.  Probably most interesting to me recently is the story of the High Line.

It’s a great success story and has provided millions a wonderful “walk in the park.”  I love the last sentence in the book written by Joshua David and Robert Hammond.   “We were inspired by others, and I hope the High Line will encourage people to pursue all kinds of crazy projects, even if they seem, as the High Line once did,  the most unlikely of dreams.”

If you don’t know what the High Line is, click here.  If you want to learn even more, here’s a great book about its development.  High Line The Inside Story of New York City’s Park in the Sky by Joshua David and Robert Hammond.

If you love New York, the way I love New York, please enter your thoughts about what you like in the comment section.   Thank you.

In case you don’t recognize this silhouette, it is the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero making its way towards the sky.

Poking around New York in Soho last week I thought about something the teacher of the Zen Buddhism class I recently attended said.

He explained that in Buddhism, nothing is believed to be permanent.  There is no future, no past, only now.   Everything is changing.

Weird to think about Zen in the midst of the cacophony of the sights and sounds of New York City.  But I did.

The everything changes is what occurred to me about Soho. Soho is a small area South of Houston Street between Greenwich Village and Ground Zero.

I remember going there in the late 80s when I traveled to New York twice a year to write about the big fashion shows for the Grand Rapids Press.  Jim Starkey, the Press’s head of photography and insatiable traveler, took me to Soho, saying,  “Susan, I think you are going to love this part of  town.”

He was right and I did.  This was the hey day of artists renting loft spaces and the advent of small galleries and clever  little shops. I amused myself for hours, meandering about ogling interesting people, cutting edge art and trendy stuff all housed in old warehouse buildings from the 1800s.

Well, my Zen teacher is right.  Everything changes.  The rents skyrocketed. The artists had to move out. While there are some creativity going on, the big chain stores moved in……Bloomingdales, Victoria Secret and soon an Apple store. Doesn’t get more Main Street that that.

Coolness has clearly moved on.

I see  a hint of the crazy, funky fun old days  here and there  and it is a great spot to Power Shop …..but mostly I understand the sometimes nutty, very creative  folks have moved to Chelsea and  the Meatpacking District near the High Line…

Or maybe out to Brooklyn.

The edgy vibe of the downtown gallery is gone.

If you know where it went, will you add your experience to the comment section? I’d like to find it.

Strolling along the High Line is one of my absolute favorite things to do in New York City.

Don’t know what this is?  Well, let me tell you.

The High Line is a park created on an elevated train bed on the west side of Manhattan between 12th and 30th streets.

It was slated to be torn down, but two guys (Joshua David and Richard Hammond)  met at a community meeting and decided to tackle the project of saving it.  Their saga is truly fascinating.

Their vision in the words of Josh David about his early interest, “I felt what I think is the spark of most people’s interest in the High Line: Wouldn’t it be cool to walk around up there, twenty two city blocks, on this old, elevated thing, on this relic of another time, in this hidden place, up in the air?”

 It is cool and after a long struggle, it opened two and a half years ago.  To read more of the history about the High Line, click here.  Only the first section was open when I wrote this blog post.

Last week I had the chance to stroll not only that part of the High Line, but also the extension, which opened last summer.

 It is terrific. It just keeps getting better.  And there is more on the way.  The third and final section is yet to be completed.  Stay tuned. When it opens, I’ll go back.  Here’s a photo of where the  High Line currently ends.  Exciting things are happening here.

 The newly opened  section includes a lawn, more terrific views of the city and of the East River, some sculpture and innovative architecture, views of every day life in NYC, wild but carefully planned landscaping and a lovely way to enjoy a beautiful day in the Big Apple.

Other destinations in this part of town are the Gallery District between 10th and 11th Avenues, shopping in the Meatpacking district,   The Chelsea Market and the Standard Hotel for lunch or drinks.

I’d also like to mention a new book about the High Line called “High Line The Inside Story of New York City’s Park in the Sky” by Joshua David and Robert Hammond.  If you want to learn about how this all came about, I highly recommend this book.

Do visit the High Line if you get to NYC.   In the words of Robert Hammond, “Some people think of parks as being an escape from the city, but the High Line works because it never takes you away from New York.”

It is a a memorable to to enjoy the city and a great walk  in the park. You won’t be sorry.

 If you’ve been following DesignDestinations, you know we toured the Northern Plains of India on an Abercrombie and Kent trip recently.  The tour  was packed with “old buildings.” Seems like every day we visited a palace, a fort or a temple–sometimes a series of them.

Interesting. I loved it.  Seeing these historic structures is a great way to learn the history of the area–how the people lived and worked, where they fought their battles and worshiped their gods.

Now that I’m home, it is tending to all blur together  so I decided to focus this blog post  on the highlights of what I remember.  What stands out in my mind now that I am home and immersed in the minutiae of every day life.

First of all,  Fort refers to whole towns–walled for protection and housing thousands of people, most of whom are there to service the ruler (Raja, Maharaja, King or whatever name he went by) and his family, extensive harem and military.

Probably the one that sticks out in my mind most is Fatehpur Sikri.  Construction began  in the desert starting in 1570,  not too far from Agra, site of the Taj Mahal, with a mix of Indian architecture, Persian and Islamic architecture..  Taking 15 years to build, it served as the capital for 14 years.  It is a huge structure that housed almost 30,000 people but only for 22 some years.  The story is that it was abandoned   because of lack of water.

The grounds are amazing–built of red stone and encompassing buildings and courtyards for all aspects of life–including the Elephant Stamping ground.  This is where the king sat in judgment of all wrong doers, flanked by a couple of wives to consult with.  If he deemed the person on trial was guilty, the person would be chained to a post and then specially trained elephants would stomp on him until he died.

The area now is a peacefully grassy spot, with only a small post to remind one of it’s bloody past.

Another fort and palace I enjoyed was the Amber Fort outside the city of Jaipur. 

The king, according to our guide, led a rough life defending himself from invaders, touring his kingdom, dealing with the fierce elements of the desert so when he returned home, he wanted luxury.  And he got it.  His apartments were stunning. All the silver made me think of a 1960s Disco Parlor.

His 12 wives were located nearby, always bathed, perfumed and waiting to provide company and pleasure.

But what interested me most was the guides statement that “part of the reason for building these fabulous palaces, forts and military housing was to keep the people busy.  It was a bit of a public works project,” he explained.

 Then  he said,  “These structures are still providing employment.  A major industry in this area is tourism.  This Palace provides jobs for folks like me and everyone else who makes sure you have a terrific time when you visit us.”

I looked around at guides, souvenir hawkers, elephant drivers, the guys who brought us from our bus to the palace on little jeeps and understood. A lot of people are working today because of that king.    And then there’s the hotels, restaurants, touristy shops, yadayadya.  The palace is keeping a lot of food on the table for the locals, including these snake charmers.

I’ve been to a lot of palaces, chateaus and villas in my life.  I like touring them whenever we travel. In fact, this trip made me think in an odd sort of way of a trip Jack and I made on a student budget when we were first married.  We traveled from London to Inverness Scotland, visiting a “castle a day.”  I was immersed in English history then. This trip was like that–temple, fort or palace a day.

I have never visited one with quite the structure that the palace in Udipur boasted.  Actually the City Palace there is now four structures–two hotels, private housing for the Royal Family and the historic palace, built and added onto over 400 years.

What interested me was that unlike Western style grand residences, I saw no big stairway, grand hall or the like.  Instead the palace was built with a series of inner courtyards, used for entertainment, business, gathering or whatever and the passage ways connecting them and the private apartments were narrow and winding and difficult to navigate.

We were told that this was so invaders couldn’t reach the royal family.  Not being able to see around the many corners of the maze like steps and stairs, they risked having their heads chopped off by hidden guards.  Made sense but, my of my, must have been a real job for servants to navigate to perform their royal duties.

Something else I found interesting about this palace was the mosaic of the Peacock, the national bird of India.  This piece of art was created over a hundred years prior to the advent of Art Deco in France.  Hmmmm.  Wonder where the French got their inspiration?

The last palace I will mention is one we stayed in. It’s the Taj Lake Palace in the middle of a lake in Udipur.  Oh my. Stunning destination.  Would be a great spot for a wedding……

Originally it was built by a young royal to be a “pleasure palace.”  Evidently the fellow had so many wild parties that his father, the king, said, “Enough of this in my  house …..uhhhhh…I mean palace……build your own and take all this revelry and  commotion elsewhere.”

So the Prince did and the palace in the middle of the lake turned into quite the non-stop fun destination.   In recent years it was renovated as an absolutely astounding hotel that caused me to cancel out on some of the sightseeing to be able to relax and enjoy the surroundings.  If you look at these photos you can see why.  Truly a DesignDestination.

Is this history repeating itself? I wonder what the young prince would think of his party place reinvented as a pleasure palace for tourists.

I’ve run out of time and energy. Going to explore  the Temples separately.  The ones at Khajuraho deserve their own blog.   Stay tuned.  You’ll see why.

Riding an elephant  is an unbelievably “jerky” experience.

I was really surprised although I don’t know why, that every ponderous step caused me to sway from side to side, some times with considerable impact.

It was fun though.  We were at a resort in Rajasthan, India where the elephants play polo like in the days of the Raj in India.  I would have liked to have watched a match.  Hard to imagine these huge creatures lumbering around a polo field.

I thoroughly enjoyed our elephant greeting.    About a dozen lined up to meet us, riders keeping them in a row. It was all part of a well practiced drill.   We were given bananas to feed them.  How fun to hold out a small treat and have the big beast reach out the trunk and take it.

An elephant is important in India  for transportation, tourism and as one of the Hindu gods.  Ganesh is the Hindu God of knowledge and the remover of obstacles or God of elimination of troubles.  We saw carvings and paintings of him frequently on temples, forts, palaces and public spaces.

 We also saw elephant sculptures at doorways and learned that elephants are symbols of welcome.  In fact, there is even meaning given to whether the trunk is up or down.  Up  is a symbol of good luck, fortune, and basically optimistic  and down means “welcome.”

Elephants are a big part of the tradition in India.  They were used for ceremonies but also as part of the military.   It was interesting to se the “elephant doors” of large forts where spikes were installed to prevent invaders from using elephants to knock down the doors to gain entry.

Today elephants mostly give tourists like me rides.  Our guide told us that “buying an elephant is like buying a bus.”  First, they are expensive–somewhere around $25,000.  One has to have proper registration and be able to prove that one can take care of the animal. It takes an elephant a good six months of “training” to be able to work in the tourist industry–giving rides around the major historical venues.

The elephants only “work” a few hours a day and then require rest.  “They have better work conditions than we guides do,”  our friendly ambassador to Jaipur told us.  “They really don’t work for very long each day before they get fed and time for a rest.”

I learned that in March an Elephant Festival is held in Jaipur.  At this point I have no plans to return to India…….but the call of an Elephant Festival might be too strong. I had such a good time at the Camel Festival.    Hmmmmm. A chance to see Elephant Polo?  Could happen.

 Photo credit: cheeseweb.eu

From Wikipedia:

Elephant Festival is a festival celebrated in Jaipur city in Rajasthan state in India. It is held on the day of Holi festival, usually in the month of March.The festival features Elephant polo and Elephant Dance. The Elephant Festival begins with a beautiful procession of bedecked elephants, camels, horses and folk dancers. The owners proudly embellish their elephants with vibrant colors, jhools (saddle cloth) and heavy jewellery. It is quite a treat to see female elephants wearing anklets, which tinkle as they walk. One can see people sprinkling ‘gulaal’ (colored powder) perched on top of the elephant. The most beautifully decorated elephant is awarded. Elephant polo, Elephant race, the tug-of-war between Elephant and 19 men and women are the featured events of the festival.

I’ve been in  a lot of traffic snarls in my life but never one caused by a  herd of camels. This happened to me recently in  Rajasthan, India.

It wasn’t on a remote country road either.  It was on a major roadway through the area where beautiful white marble is mined.  Camels, cows, dogs, and camel carts plodded along while buses, huge trucks, motor cycles and overloaded cars zipped  in and out of the traffic lanes, trying to make their way through the chaos.

Our bus slowed down and eventually stopped to wait while the long necked creatures looped along oblivious to us, with the shepherds at the front and back of the herd made sure none got away.

We learned that camels are notorious for wandering off. They don’t like to be herded or confined.  Independent critters.

Camels were a major reason for this trip to India.  I wanted to attend the Pushkar Camel Festival in Pushkar, India.  And it was well worth the trip.

The Camel Festival occurs every year late October/early November and is tied to the lunar calendar.  The last night is always full moon when 2 million people swarm this tiny town in the middle of nowhere for a religious ceremony.  We didn’t stay for that event, but we did get a glimpse of the fair,  drawing thousands of people and their camels

It made me think of our country fairs.  Lots and lots of animals.  In addition to the camels for sale, folks brought horses and cattle to the week long shindig.   There was a wonderfully colored carnival, balloon rides and lots of folks eager to make a buck, I mean rupee.

I enjoyed seeing the gypsies who would preen and pose for a few rupees, the snake charmer, guys selling all manner of jewelry and trinkets.  It did get tiring to keep saying “no thank you.”  They seemed to be deaf to my lack of enthusiasm.  When we did give a few rupees to these young ladies a half dozen showed up and followed our camel cart for 15 minutes.  Persistent.  Later gypsies entertained us at our tented camp.

The stalls  set up on the outskirts of the camel selling area not only had jewelry and rugs and stuff like that for people, but also the necklaces and bells to decorate the camels.  Food created tempting odors, drawing me for a look.

The local retailers brought out all their best in hopes of enticing tourists like us (not many of us actually) and all the folks who made their way in from the country to enjoy the festival or mela as it is called.  It was absolutely delightful to observe the women in their colorful saris, the men in the vibrant turbans, small children excitedly pulling their Moms and Dads along the way.

I loved all that but I really loved walking around the camels and their owners, watching the men crouched on the ground doing deals and even a camel getting groomed.  Amazing sight.

Our guide and tour director, Bhawani Singh, told us that the actual negotiating for a camel happens with hand signals under a towel or piece of fabric (turban?) so that no one else could see the price.  Oh, how I wanted to stop and get one of these guys to show me how this works. Who knows? I might have come home with a camel.

Potential buyers poked and prodded the patient animals, making sure they were getting a good deal.  Then I sensed a lot of conversation took place about the deals, prices and state of the camel market.

 It was interesting to see a camel being driven away after a purchase was made.  Mostly they are bought by families who use their camel for transportation, pulling a cart to and from their home in a small village out to where they have some farm land or taking produce to market.

Made me feel a very long way from home.