Interactive Map

Posted by jenny on Jun 25 2008 | Uncategorized

PART I: NEPAL + INDIA

We traveled by plane, train, rickshaw, boat, bus, foot…you name it.

Click on each star along the route for a glimpse into our adventure.

21 comments for now

21 Responses to “Interactive Map”

  1. # Sonu

    LOVELY AND WONDERFUL BLOG!!! MY CONGRATULATIONS.

    10 May 2009 at 7:57 am

  2. # Nanette

    I adore your site and made myself a cup of chai instantly! I took my first trip out of the US this past winter and traveled to South India. I was in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Our house guest didn’t think I would like chai and prepared coffee instead. I asked her if I could have a cup of the chai that she had made for herself and she grinned from ear to ear! Certainly not a Starbucks Chai latte, but oh so much yummier. I’ll never forget how pleased my hostess was that I loved it so much as well as all of her cooking. I’m already planning my next trip! Thank you for the lovely site. I’ll enjoy reading it from the beginning.

    24 May 2009 at 6:13 am

  3. # ankur mehra

    hello,

    i dont know if it is of much relevance or not.
    i am not such a chai enthusiast, i am more of a traveler. i have seen some of the best tea gardens in India. i have been to darjeeling, ooty and munnar(kerala) in that order with some years gap in between every place.
    at darjeeling, the weather was so great that the look of every tea garden was amazing.
    ooty’s itself was such a beautiful city that i loved the tea gardens there better than darjeeling.
    but when i went to munnar, the tea gardens there were the best. the simply attracted me to them. the way they were evenly cut and well maintained was simply awe struck. i like munnar because of the tea gardens unlike ooty where it was the other way round.

    otherwise, tea culture at Ahmedabad (gujarat) is huge. having a cup of tea with your friend/ relative is an experience there. people share every cup of tea they have. they never have a cup of tea alone. the amazingly large number of tea stalls at every nick and corner of the city is a complete reflection of this fact. tea is available 24hrs at roadside vendors. people in the costliest cars come to have tea at these stalls at 3 or 4am.

    i hope these places could also be added to your interactive map.

    04 Jun 2009 at 3:08 am

  4. # jenny

    hi Nanette, thanks so much for your comment and for visiting our site. i love hearing about when people first discovered chai! my first cup was from my husband ‘here’ but soon after i was drinking it several times a day in Nepal and India, on the street and in homes. i’m so lucky that i have a devoted chai wallah for a husband…i drink it almost every day! and even right now. we’d also like to go back, but we’ll have to wait now til littl’ Tulsi gets bigger! hope you enjoy our site and our book, too, someday… jenny

    13 Jun 2009 at 9:30 am

  5. # jenny

    Hello Ankur, namaste! thanks for your comment and visiting our site. it’s nice to hear about the tea gardens in kerala. patrick and i have been wanting to visit kerala and will, someday. when we do, we’ll be sure to visit munnar. unfortunately we did not get to visit gujarat on our last trip although we would have liked to. this is why these places are not “on the map”. however, maybe i can make an extended map that includes places of tea and masala chai recommended from others like you. if you have any photos of these gardens or chai stalls, please email them to me, and i’ll include them when i do. i think that’s a great idea, especially those traveling around India where we did not go. thanks Ankur! jenny

    13 Jun 2009 at 9:37 am

  6. # Torunn

    Like your chai site!

    I love chai!
    I must admit that the first couple of times I tasted chai I found it was too sweet… But I remember the first time I got the taste if it.

    It had been a cold night in the Thar desert just outside Jaisalmer. Me and my boyfriend was waking up to the weird gurgling sounds from the camels and a delicious, hot steaming masala chai in a steel mug. The chai wallahs this time was the smiling and friendly camel-safari- wallahs. They usually washed the mugs with sand in the desert. We got the warmth back in our limbs, watching the beautiful sunrise over the sand dunes while we drank the delicious, sandy chai… he-he.

    Ever since I enjoyed the differnet kinds of chai all around India and make my own cup here at home (Norway). Masala chai with lots of ginger is my favorite.

    10 Jul 2009 at 11:12 am

  7. # jenny

    thanks for sharing about your sandy masala chai in the desert! we loved your story. and the image in my head of the camel chai wallah is magnificent! thanks for sharing — we hope to be blogging again soon. Tulsi and our summer garden has kept us so busy. peace, jenny

    10 Jul 2009 at 11:54 am

  8. # Ajay Reddy

    Hi,

    I got here from Seth Godin’s blog post. And I’m blown away! I love traveling and even more so when it is out of the normal. All the best for your book!

    17 Sep 2009 at 7:36 pm

  9. # roger

    nice map! can you tell us more about how you made the map? it is beautiful, almost looks like it was made from chai ingredients. what paper is it?

    best, roger

    18 Sep 2009 at 12:50 pm

  10. # jenny

    thanks, roger. glad you like it! i’ve been doing a lot of little sketches for our book with tea bags and cinnamon on old scrap papers. same for this map. it is fluid and fun and seems so perfect for this project. are you an artist?

    18 Sep 2009 at 4:23 pm

  11. # Monil Dalal

    Hi!

    Liked to concept of writing on Chaiwallahs!

    During my design education, i do remember many of my friends used to do system design on this subject! And they used to come up with quite good amount of design intervention ideas on improvising chaiwallahs social condition!

    As Ankur as mentioned in Ahmedabad, tea is a culture in it self. There is special tea called “cutting” :) As people keep drinking mug full of tea they kill their appetite. Also whenever they meet any friend or relative even outside home, just to have a chat they offer chai to each other on the near by tea stall. Or in the shop if any customer comes to purchase some good amount of stock, to great them shopkeeper ask for tea. Now in each of this scenarios there is something called “cutting”! Cutting is half cup tea which people can finish fast and get back to their work!

    The tea is quite significant to few of the very great institutions in India! And that itself is a study in its own sense! Each institution has one tea maker outside the main gate and students – professors will surely go once to this place and discuss about all varied subjects! The teawalls are also getting quite good amount of knowledge while listing to their discussion and also actively participate. I can relate this as i have seen this happening outside my design institute NID (National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad) and IIM (Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad).

    Hope to see such many interesting fact, stories in your book! Best of luck!

    Regards,
    Monil

    21 Sep 2009 at 10:43 pm

  12. # Curious

    Absolutely Incredible Website and Adventure!!!!!! I’m speechless at the extent of creativity as well as your passion for travel. Hopefully one day I’ll get there too ;)

    Keep up the awesomely awesome work!

    21 Jul 2010 at 12:07 pm

  13. # charita

    i LOVE your blog. So informative and fun! Being Indian, I’ve learned more about chai on your site than I ever have! Congratulations! I look forward to your book!

    Namaste,
    Charita

    28 Oct 2010 at 1:16 am

  14. # Kirstie

    I finally enter the chai pilgrimage. So, beautiful and loving. I love the chai wallah photos!

    I am truly inspired.

    Thanks for your lovely work.

    Namaste,

    Kirstie

    07 Feb 2011 at 8:51 am

  15. # Jose Joseph

    Thanks for your blog! Its wonderful.

    I’m a chai addict. While I was working on some projects in Mumbai ( Bombay ), a “cutting” of Chai got you through some stressful times ( better than cigarrettes or beer ! ). If you visit Mumbai you should try the street side tea stalls.
    Chai is better made in copper vessels.

    My dad was a manager of a tea plantation in Kerala. Chai is served in glasses in Kerala and goes through the process of airation ( simply by allowing a stream of chai to travel between two tumblers through the maximum distance between the right and the left hand ). The quantity served in the stalls there is much more than Mumbai, Chennai or Bangalore.

    In Mumbai be sure that you are not served Chai made of re-cycled tea leaves. Its horrible. There is no prana left in it!

    I am in Singapore now. The food courts here do have an Indian chai stall. You will get a generous helping of Chai.
    Usually 5 times a ‘cutting’ that you get in Mumbai. owever after having that you may not have an appetite to eat anything else!

    All the best!

    May I use your picture of the cinnamon sticks that you have on your site. I want it for an article that I’m writing.
    Thanks!

    11 Feb 2011 at 4:16 am

  16. # Charu

    I came across your blog while doing my research on tea, for I work with my father in his tea business in Assam. I was surprised and a little disappointed to not see Assam on the map as it is known to contribute generously, infact a majority, to the tea production of the country. The flavor and the aroma is different from the famous Darjeeling tea and tea from the Ooty-Munnar belt.

    We have tea manufacturing factories in Assam and currently supply our tea to the domestic market and to auction centers. We have a vision to start tea exports by the next season.

    You should visit Assam when you come to India next.

    The site looks fabulous and the book is much awaited. Good luck!

    16 Feb 2011 at 12:59 am

  17. # jenny

    Namaste Charu! Thanks so much for visiting our site and for your comments. YES! We have researched Assam tea and of course Assam (tea) will be represented in our book!! We love Assam tea and drink it every day, by itself or in our chai. When I created that map, I included places we were fortunate to visit. Sadly, it didn’t work out for us to travel to Assam (for several reasons), and since we didn’t know anyone in Assam, the obstacles won over. Luckily, we were able to visit many estates in Darjeeling and Sikkim so that we could learn about tea processing first hand. Thank you for your observation — this morning I added Assam to the map even though we could not visit during our ‘chai pilgrimage’. But yes! Next time, we would love to visit your family’s tea factory. Thank you so much for the invitation.

    Please stay tuned! We hope our book will be out this Fall — it is very close! Thank you again, and Namaste. PS I’m so happy you enjoyed our site. :)

    17 Feb 2011 at 10:45 am

  18. # Atul Goswami

    Jenny and Patrick,

    Namaste!

    This is Atul from Rajkot-Gujarat-India.
    Really like your site also your art…. i also love chaai, hay have you ever bin in gujarat (spl in saurastra region http://groups.drupal.org/files/images/rajkot-map_1.jpg)?? this place is also very famous for CHAAI.. :-) it is a land of CHAAI LOVER

    When ever you will come here (rajkot) just let me know we will explore CHAAI over here also, our heartly invitation to visit here and stay at my home. You can contact me on 09924814711. atsgoswami@gmail.com

    Thanks
    Atul

    27 May 2011 at 5:02 am

  19. # Ashwani

    I have been woking on chai project from last couple of years and more I work on it more I understand and Love it. I have hundereds of articles on Chai. I have been drinking Chai since I was a kid and still I love it as it is. When I moved to Australia in 2005 I started having Coffee after sometime I got off it and continue with my Chai and started working on Chai and gradually got so much into it that it is hard to come out its still long way to go.

    06 Mar 2012 at 4:26 pm

  20. # jenny

    So nice to hear from you, Ashwani. What sort of chai project are you working on? Would love to hear about it. :)

    06 Mar 2012 at 4:50 pm

  21. # Ashwani

    Hi Jenny & Patrick,

    I left couple of messages but none of them appear so just wanted to know if you have received them yet.

    08 Mar 2012 at 7:14 pm