Finally in Goa!

Thank God I am in Goa now. Getting here was quite a nightmare. I was not really looking forward to the 41 hour train ride (so slow-it was terrible 1187 miles/1910 km), but to make things worse I caught the pig flu and was leaking fluids for the final 8 hours of the trip. OR I got some badass food poisoning from the on-board food service. Either way this was NOT a fun ride. Everything is so dirty here that you can never tell where the sickness comes from...

Upon departing the train I quickly grabbed up a hotel room and laid in bed all day yesterday. I took some antibiotics and some pain relievers and I am feeling so much better today. Still a little nauseous, but I hired a motorcycle-taxi and rode down to the beach town of Palolem. I am going to head out in a few minutes and find a beach bungalow to bunk down in for the next 8-10 days. I sure could use the rest after the sick-train ordeal and when my stomach is feeling good again I am gonna eat the hell outta some fresh seafood. Seafood is a big part of my diet back home and it has been missing in India. I am really looking forward to the variety!

And an update about my passport and visa.... everything is going to be fine. The US Embassy is handling the passport and they are issuing a new, official replacement passport good for 10 years. I will have to spend another day in Delhi getting the exit visa from the Indian officials, but this should not be too much of a problem either. I will return to Delhi on the 5th or 6th and then I depart for Paris on the 9th.

One thing that seems a little ridiculous and I need to correct... I have been in the country for over 3 months and I haven't been to the Taj Mahal. Hmmm... I can't stay here for nearly 4 months and never see the subcontinent's most famous attraction, can I?

Worst Day...

I had a pretty bad day yesterday. I was traveling between Rishikesh and Varanasi by train and during the 20 hour ride a bag of mine was lost/stolen and I am now without a few important things including my passport, laptop, a piece of ladies' silver jewelry, 2 credit cards, and about $100 worth of cash. Total estimate... about $700 worth of valuables. Gone.

There was one point yesterday morning where I stepped off the train for a few minutes to buy breakfast and a drink while we were stopped at a station. When I returned there was a man sitting next to my bag on the upper berth in the sleeper cabin. I told him to get off and he left, but I didn't think anything of it. I did not realize anything was missing until I was checking into the hotel in Varanasi last night.

As I looked inside my backpack my heart just sank as I noticed that my laptop case (with the other items inside it) was missing. I returned to the train station, but by this time of night there was nothing that could be done by about it. In the morning I was able to file a police report at the train station.

Stories of theft on the trains are common; I should have been more cautious. This thief must have been watching me and waiting for the right moment to strike. In the 2 minutes that I was gone he capitalized on the situation. Live and learn.

All in all it is not that bad. I still have an ATM card so I can get cash. I am not stranded only feeling a little wretched over the loss. I have already canceled the cards (no fraudulent charges were made). Bank of America and American Express may even cover some of the costs of the theft or replace the items, but I have to wait until their special claims office is open during normal North American business hours to see what can be done.

I have filed a report with the local police. Although, the prospects of recovering the bag are minimal and the police were rather unsympathetic. The event occurred somewhere between here and there... a 1000km stretch of India. Even in their skepticism the cops did find the sympathy to file an official report so that I can take this to the main embassy in Delhi in order to secure a replacement passport and visa immediately. I will also need some official documents to send to the credit card companies if I should discover that they can replace any of the missing items.

Everything is replaceable, things are just things, but the big deal is the passport right now. I have contacted the embassy, but being Sunday they cannot do anything for me. I will call again tomorrow morning. In addition, I have already booked a train ticket to travel back to Delhi and will be at the embassy on Tuesday morning bright and early. Armed with my police report, some photo copies of my original visa and passport, some extra passport size photos, and my original Florida drivers licence along with a few other minor forms of identification I should be able to get the thing processed fairly quickly (hopefully). The embassy is like a little slice of the US right in the middle of all this chaos, so I am thinking there should be a rather straightforward process for replacing the passport. Maybe 7-10 days or less if I am lucky.

However, I am stressed about getting into France with this replacement passport. This is the single issue I am most anxious about... being able to get into Paris without any problems from the authorities. I would be really miserable if I had to cancel/postpone this trip because of my carelessness on the train yesterday.

In my misery I had a little insomnia last night... but when I was looking back on the last several months of traveling this is the first real hiccup I have had. The only other dark spot was the passing of my grandmother this summer.

All told I have been quite lucky: the truck never broke down or even got a flat tire, I never got pulled over and given a speeding ticket, nothing was ever stolen from the truck (except for Elaine's sneakers 24 hours after getting back into Pensacola), in India I haven't been sick to the point where I needed medicine or a doctor or hospital visit, in all the hikes I haven't gotten lost or hurt, nobody has tried to threaten or attack me, I haven't gotten chased or bitten by any wild Indian dogs, haven't gotten lost too badly on the railways or bus routes in India, no Malaria. Things have really gone extremely well and I am thankful for that. Shit happens...

Short Update from the Road...

The above image is Lord Shiva meditating along the Holy Ganga. At this location I participated in a sunset aarti, or religious ceremony where songs are sung in praise of the deities. Accompanying singing were numerous prayers and there were also sacred fires where people made offerings to the gods under the guidance of some young Brahmins. The music and singing were nice and the location was serene. Blissful was one word that came to mind. But don't worry... I am not turning into a Hare Krishna.

I leave tonight on a 20 hour train ride (ugh!) for Varanasi, Hinduism's holiest city. Thank god I have the upper berth of a 3-tier, 6 bunk cabin because I am traveling 2nd class which by American standards would be cattle car class. The bottom bunk gets loaded up with all kinds of people, so many more than there is room for. And since these people are siting on the bottom bench you can't pull down the middle bunk either. So for 20 hours there will be about 12 or so of us in a cabin made for 6. There will be lots of farting, snoring, coughing, some crying, and weird burping noises all through the night as entire families toss and turn on the steel train floor.

It is times like these when I say, "I miss America." I should be thoroughly worn out by the time I hit Varanasi, but I am only planning on spending a little bit of time there. Within a matter of days I will be traveling south to the city of Bodhgaya where Siddhartha Gautama, aka The Buddha, attained enlightenment under a sacred fig tree now know as the Bodhi tree. The current living tree is a 3rd generation sapling taken from the original centuries ago (like a grandson to the original tree). After this brief stop I plan to keep moving south looking for some nice, shady beaches and fresh, green coconuts.

A Good Idea....

I met an interesting American named Troy while in Delhi a few weeks back. He told me about an fun, easy, and exciting charity that he recently started. His group is in Amsterdam, but the idea is simple and could work practically anywhere. I thought it such a good idea that I wanted to share it with you! His group is called the AlphaBet Club and you can check out their website by clicking here...

The AlphaBet Club

The basic idea is as follows:

"The AlphaBet Club is a social group of like-minded international people that live in Amsterdam and meet every few weeks, in different locations around town. It provides an environment in which it is very easy for people to meet others in Amsterdam that have similar life/travel experiences. It is also a charity focused organization where funds are raised to help others in developing countries."

The ABC part comes from their list of activities- every few weeks the group gets together to have drinks and mingle at a different location. They first start with a location that has a name starting with an 'A'. Then the second event will be at a bar, club, or restaurant that starts with the letter 'B', the 'C' and so on and so on. So a make believe list of events may look like this: Amazon Club, then Brewers Bar, then Cafe Monet, etc.

At each event the group collects $5 from everyone and this money is put towards building schools in developing countries. It has been a huge success with as many as 200 people turning up for some events and it keeps growing thanks to social networks like Facebook. They have just completed building their first school in Laos!

Even if you don't want to start this as a charity, it would be a fun summer-time idea to get everyone motivated about meeting up and going out. I'm a fan!

Too Late... Route is Closed!

While in Rishikesh I found out that it is nearly impossible to reach the Gaumukh (meaning "Cow's Mouth") Glacier which continuously feeds the Ganges river. This is a disappointment. I have been talking about this experience for quite some time. It was one of the big things which I really wanted to do while in India, but it will have to wait.

Apparently, the official route to the headwaters was closed about a month ago. I don't know who decides these things- if it is for safety or for Religious reasons or what. Even though it is at a high elevation (13,200ft) I don't think it has received any snow yet. So the challenging hike should still be doable.

One thing is for sure, I am going to keep asking around because you can't take things at face value. These guys here want me to go hiking locally so they will tell me anything to avoid going to Gangotri without spending money on their outfit. I hope they are full of shit! Wish me luck!

Driving Around the World!

Someone sent me this article the other day. Check the link below.

"I'm Driving Around the World"

It is about a man who is planning a year-long driving excursion crossing several different continents and spanning the globe. His route starts in NYC, continues down across Central America and into South America. Then he plans to put his truck on a ship and float to Africa where he will cross Asia Minor, hit Europe just for kicks, and then turn east across the Islamic countries finally getting into India, Thailand, and Cambodia before packing the car off in another boat headed for California. Seems like a difficult route!

After reading the article I took a long bus ride through the mountains. I would have rather been sitting in the passenger seat of a nice Toyota SUV than the back of an old, dusty, beat-up POS bus... BUT... I also would have gotten lost a million times over if I had to do the same trip by myself. I haven't really seen maps here and none of the streets are marked in English. It is extremely difficult to navigate using road names; basically you have to use landmarks. When ascertaining directions a local may say, "Go to the orange temple, turn left, go past the well and then ask someone there for more directions."

I usually have a decent sense of directions but I get lost here within a matter of blocks. I do not envy this guy at all... he is going to face some very, very, very frustrating travel delays along the way. You would not believe how slow travel is here until you live it. So many roads closed for bad bridges, new construction, or clearing landslides. Hell, our bus got delayed about 5-10 minutes behind a large and motley pack of sheep, goats, cows, donkeys, dogs, and boys the other day.

Ohhhh.... and so many cars fall off the roads! Very recently, there was an accident in the town of Tosh where I was staying for a few days. There, a taxi fell into the river only a matter of weeks ago killing two men. Apparently, the guy was backing up at night and just went too far and oooops, right off the cliff. From the village you could see the little white car all crumpled up and resting in the creek at the bottom of the ravine! The superstitious taxi-wallahs were charging extra to take anyone to the town because they feared the road was cursed. Also, while on the bus yesterday the Times of India had a front page article about a bus falling off a cliff (not far from my route) killing most people aboard.

I don't think a non-native has the fortitude to tackle these roads and I sure as hell wouldn't want to get lost and start asking for directions in Pakistan or Afghanistan with a fancy foreign car and a New York accent like the guy in this article. To each their own, I suppose! What do you think?

The Beatles and Yoga?

That's right, I am in Rishikesh. The old city where The Beatles got some learnin' in Hindu philosophy and also the epicenter of Yoga. I just caught my first glance of the mighty Ganga and at this point it is cold, clear, and "clean" (by Hindi standards the entire river is so pure that it can cleanse the mind, body, and soul no matter how much shit is floating in it). I read somewhere that if you stand on one foot in the Ganges from one new moon to the next all of your worldly problems and medical conditions will be cured. I'm not going down this route, but I may take a dip in the waters here or a little north of town. Also, I would love to do some whitewater rafting which takes place just a little bit deeper into the mountains- and its cheap, but who knows if these guys are the real deal or some fly by night bums? Of course they know what they are doing.... Sure.

One thing I am not gonna do is head to the ashrams or do any yoga. I just cannot get into that stuff, especially when I see that one of the ways to cleanse the body involves vomiting. I couldn't translate the other 3 ways to clean the body, but the Indian food has "cleansed" me twice so far on my journey if you catch my drift. Oh, and another thing... supposedly the town is so holy that it is strictly vegetarian here (definitely no beef anywhere, but usually you can easily get chicken). Not that I really want to eat tons of meat, but could you imagine a city like this in the US? I wonder if they have booze? Hmmmm.....

Again, I just have a short few minutes to make this post. Today was such a long day I spent about 11 hours on 2 different buses. I left the city of Shimla, which is boring (but maybe nice for and Indian style honeymoon, cheap suites complete with round beds and lots of heart shaped mirrors!!!), at 9:30 AM and finally got checked into a room at 9:00 PM. And the worst thing about today's trip is that if you look at it on a map, it seems like Shimla and Rishikesh are right next to each other. Ugghhh... traveling on mountain buses and curvy mountain roads is tough! I only have 4 more weeks in India and I was hoping to go all the way to the south and then I need to get back to Delhi for the flight. That is a LOT of miles to cover and not a lot of time. Not complaining, because even the bus rides beat another day at the ol' office!

Take care and let me know how things are out your way!

Great time in the Valley...Back on the Grid!

Wow... The valley was great. I stayed in an ancient little town called Tosh set deep into the Himalayan Mountains. It was a magical place- old, slow paced, almost medieval except for a few places catering to the tourists. The road runs up to the town but was blocked by a small landslide so you have to walk a small way. The power was cut the first night, but it was suprisingly warm. The cook left for the southern tourist season after the first day and the town was running out of supplies like butter, beer, eggs, chocolate, spinach, mushrooms, chicken, etc. etc. etc.... The town's stores had pretty empty shelves!

The most amazing thing about the valley was the landslide that I witnessed. Across the river from us a rock outcropping started tumbling down the steep slope. Huge boulders the size of small cars were splintering huge conifers with a tremendous thud. The mountain kept moving and tumbling for the next 2 days and things were still moving around when I left the village. At the bottom of the valley, all the dirt, rock, and trees formed a dam to block river's flow and a new lake was being made (I hope they are prepared downstream for when the dam breaks). It was surreal to see the mountains moving and I had a great time so far up into the mystical valley. Sorry, but I don't have much time for a proper update today, just something quick!