Hello Internet, long time no see. I almost died without you. What am I saying, I am dead! Anways, I'm currently in a private Lounge in HONG KONG! I just had lunch which was hong kongian food. It was amazing to say the least. I have literally been to four cities and two countries in the past 10 days and it's been SO busy. I did have a day or two to sketch, but the constant travel has me very delirious... I've taken a couple pictures here and there but don't worry I will take loads in my next destination: JAPAN! We board our flight to Tokyo in a few hours! UGH IM SO EXCITED!
Like I said in my last post, I went to wedding in this part of India where my family origantes from, its a small town but there are many groups of villages in this area and the area is called Chettinad. It's towards the tip in India, so it's very dry and very hot. Basically, my great grandparents lived there and now we go back for occasions and to visit family that still live there. Anyway, this place, Chettinad is known for its GIANT MANSIONS (and also food but that's for another time). That's right basically everyone lives in a mansion, no big deal.. So, when we were there I bought this amazing book on the history behind these houses and their architecture. The book weighs like 20 pounds but it's definately worth it! From family stories this is what I've gathered:
Back in the day, my great grandfathers would work in foreign countries like Malaysia, Burma, etc... They had businesses there, which turned out to be a huge profit and everyone became wealthy as heck. They would send back money and goods to the family. Soon, they even started to loan money to the kings (crazy I know). When they would come back to the motherland to visit or when on holiday, they brought back valuable items and natural goods which then were used to make these giant mansions. For example, Tikh wood (is that how you spell it?), Italian marble, and Gold. Except after WWII, a lot of the countries kicked out the businessmen and took all their assets and wealth. Soon after everyone moved back to India they had to start over. And soon, people started to move abroad to the US, Britain, Canada, Australia, etc (like me!) and these houses are not occupied very much. Some have even been torn down for money and the valuable infrastructure.
The story is kinda sad but many houses still stand. Lots of people are repairing and renovating them to keep their rich history which is amazing. I do have a couple pictures, but the internet here in Hong Kong isnt the best, so I will try to post them in another post on the blog asap. Basically, I learned a lot about old architecture and these valuable houses and even my family's history. So the lack of Internet may be okay, oh who am I kidding, I cried everyday longing to know what Dan Howell and Phil Lester may have tweeted or uploaded to YouTube.
Also, I'm really mad! I'm travelling so much but I can't catch ANY pokemon since I have no internet in outside places or any data since im out of the US. So, I'm nowhere near becoming a Pokemon Master and im screaming my head off.
Okay, goodbye from excited yet angry Kavitha.
(For people who don't know what "edutained" is it's a mix of educated and entertained its internet lingo most prominently used by Dan Howell and his audience (aka danisnotfire) it's okay if you don't know cos you shouldn't spend all your time online like me). Okay bye now, see you in Tokyo (maybe, I don't promise anything. I'm a Snorlax).
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