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!

A Quiet Hike and a Small Fire!

I moved over to the village of Manikaran in the Parvati Valley of the Himachal Pradesh area of the Himalayan Mountains. The bus ride was long and slow, full of dusty, steep grades that give the buses some trouble. Much of the road was very narrow so that each time we passed a vehicle or truck, one of us would have to slowdown and dive into one of the numerous shoulder pull outs. Fortunately, the bus is the biggest thing on the road, so most times we had the right of way and just keep barreling along on some scary little roads and hair-pin turns.

The town, hugged up against the river in a very narrow valley, has about 1500- 2000 residents and is a pretty sleepy little place. The bulk of the village sits across the river from the main road and there are two pedestrian bridges at either end of town. No cars pass through the city, which is essentially one long, narrow bazaar with an open square. This place is famous for its natural hot springs, some hot enough to boil rice. In the main square is a very, public bath full of sadhus and extremely hot water. Also in town is a Sikh Gurdwara or temple with baths that have been diluted to tolerable levels. I plan to sample the therapeutic waters later this evening.

I was out on a little hike this afternoon and I noticed some smoke up above me in the valley. I thought there was probably a small house up above me that I couldn't see for the slope, but when I turned the corner there was a small grass fire burning the hillside. I surveyed the fire for a few minutes and then returned down hill. On my way up I had passed one man who was coming down and he must have flicked a cigarette but into the grass. About 300 meters down the trail from the fire was a large house and the folks there were outside and had noticed the smoke and fire. The man of the house was on the phone and he dialed up some help as about 7-8 men showed up within 20 minutes. Together they gathered up some old blankets and dunked them in buckets of water then swiftly went up the hill to fight the fire. I followed along.

The wet blankets worked good on the grass and weeds and the fire was out within 30 minutes. Fortunately, the area had a fair amount of rocky patches and the wind was blowing it up hill towards a steep summit. When the fire crested the ridge it kinda burned it self out and then we just had to put out the downhill, down wind side with the wet blankets. Exciting, but nothing too dangerous. The locals were quite worried though until they saw it was just a small fire. Afterwards we all shared a chai and tried to communicate with the most basic Hindi and English, but the conversation didn't get very far.

The mountains and the valley are very similar to Central California (reminding me especially of the valley I camped in outside of Yosemite National Park). Most of the hill is covered in dry grass, while the shady sides of mountains and wet areas are full of pines. Supposedly there are a lot of bears in the valley, they are especially pesky when the local corn is being harvested and dried. The bears love to come down and eat up the ears or ripe corn. In the distance you can see the snow-capped, jagged peaks of the true Himalayas, but here in the valley it is pretty warm still during the daytime. No snow here at all.

Tomorrow I will be taking a taxi further up the valley to the town of Tosh. I believe the road stops before you get to this place and you have to walk the remaining 1 km across the river and up a hill (Truly, I don't know how it will be, you get so much bogus information from people around here. Just yesterday I spent 8o rupees and a few extra hours and bus rides to avoid a bridge that was "closed." After going back and forth all I had to do was walk 2 minutes across the bridge, as it was only closed to car traffic. On the other side I caught a bus within 10 minutes going exactly where I wanted to go. The jerks who told me it was closed just wanted to charge me some extra money to take me in their taxi the long way around). I plan to stay in this town of Tosh for a few days, and will be off the grid for a little while. I doubt they have internet. Life is good and the view is amazing. Take care everybody and I hope you have a Happy Halloween!

Holiday Plans...

Hello all! I know the holiday season is a long way off, but I just purchased some plane tickets and will be in Paris for Christmas, New Year's, and my birthday. The plan is to leave Delhi on December 9th and stay in France until January 27th. After that I will return to India and hopefully get a job (ha ha)!

I am excited about the trip. It will be a nice reprieve from India and I am really looking forward to spending some time with Faustine again. This will be my first Christmas away from the family (sorry mom & dad) and I hope they can forgive me. Once in Europe we may take a few short little trips to go visit a friend from school who lives in Belgium and possibly we could link up with some fellow travelers I have met while on the road. Maybe a Castile Castle or Swiss Chalet is in my future???

Lazy, Lazy, Lazy... and Sometimes on a Rant!

Well, I have been in Dharamsala now for a little over a week and I haven't done anything. It is awesome! All I have been doing for the past several days is sleeping, reading, eating, and drinking chai. It has been so nice and relaxing I am actually a little put off by having to get back on the road. In the past few days I have been averaging about 250 pages a day and I have finished several books since arriving here. That, my friends, is the ONLY productive thing I have done. I did a few little short hikes, but nothing of note.

I have not been trying to get in touch with my mystic side by signing up for any self imposed silence during ten day meditation retreats, haven't attended any crystal magic teachings, didn't even think twice about tantric yoga, avoided palm readings and the tarot, laughed at one day reiki body energy courses, and could care less about aligning my chakra. A nice book and a cup of hot tea in the sun is way more therapeutic than some sort of group session where we "rebirth."

Honestly, I think most people that come to India seeking the mystic, attach themselves to gurus, or fall headlong into a new religion or belief system are doing something dangerous (and not at all too culturally aware). And if you come here and you think India is all "Shanti" (Hindi for peace) then you have your head up your ass! Nationally and locally there are a ton of problems that everyone knows about and yet everyone refuses to address. Women's rights, child abuse, sewage, drinking water, starvation... 600 million Indians survive on less than $2 a day! What is so just and merciful and shanti about that!?!?!

There are a lot of new-age types in this town and it is almost absurd to see a couple (probably from Boulder, CO) decked out in bright colored Goretex with a $700 camera taking pictures of a woman washing laundry or a "guru" taking tea. Their outfits alone far exceed her annual income. Another thing just as absurd was seeing a woman haggle down 10 Rupees on a pair of socks at a charity shop that supports local villagers, especially women. I mean, sure, we all want a good deal, but good God, 10 Rupees is 20 cents in the US- I think you can afford that!

In perspective it just seems so ludicrous sometimes and it must be offensive to the locals. After seeing the neon yellow woman snapping close ups of the holy man and his morning tea I imagined a scene in my head. Imagine yourself, on your way to work in the morning, having a quick coffee at a local cafe. A group of Indians walk up, beam smiles at you and start chattering in a language you don't understand. They pull out a huge camera, point it right at you and start taking photos. In broken English they tell you that you look like a most beautiful American and that you are a fine specimen that their friends back home will love to see your strange outfit and funny hat. Huh? Is that really what we want to do to these people? Maybe I am a little too cynical for my own good, I admit, but after being here a while it just makes me laugh at how clueless some people are about their fellow human beings feelings and emotions.

I don't want to give the impression that I am having a bad time in India or anything like this because the opposite is true and I am really having a wonderful time here. I just think some western tourist's here need to take a step back and look at the big picture instead of paying some instant guru to shake crystals and gems at them while chanting something they will never, ever understand.

Teachings from the Dalai Lama...

After a few days in Delhi I returned to the Himalayas. Delhi is not my cup of tea... at least as a traveler. I think the city would be pretty good to live as an expatriate, but there is a whole economy based on ripping off tourists in the city! Their network is vast and sophisticated! And after spending all day outside your nose and throat hurt from the pollution... the worst pollution I have ever seen in my life!

But enough about Delhi because I am back in Dharamsala. Today I attended some teachings given by His Holiness the Dalai Lama himself! You, the Dalai Lama, hordes of monks, and a thousand devotees all sitting outside in the sunlight on the plush grass beneath some evergreen trees. A cool autumn breeze is blowing as clouds bump up against the mighty Himalayan range in the distance and occasionally the shadow of a hawk dances across your face. There is something magical, something moving, something organic about a hundred Tibetan monks chanting and reciting mantras. It does something to you. You feel it in your soul. You get goosebumps and your hair stands on end.

Such a nice experience and it is all free of charge. He is giving a series of lectures on his faith over the next ten days and so I plan to attend each day that he is holding sessions. Might just be a real Buddhist the next time you see me. I'm a vegetarian now and who would have seen that one coming?

Also, I finished a really good book this week called White Tiger that dealt with the some of the realities working in India. In a similar vein as Slumdog Millionaire, this book portrays a more accurate picture of the reality that most Indians live and die in.

Cricket Mayhem!

I had the chance to attend a cricket match last night while in Delhi. There is a short tournament between multiple nations going on in India right now and this gave me opportunity to see a double header. I have been seeing a lot of cricket on TV over here (it is practically the only sport that matters in India), but I still didn't fully understand the rules, scoring, and terminology. It was still a lot of fun, and I think I pretty have it figured out now after watching about 5 hours of it yesterday. Fortunately I got to see the home team, the Delhi Daredevils, play and so the crowd was packed out and fully engaged in the match.

The Daredevils batted first and their batsmen really crushed the oppositions' bowlers (pitchers). Along the way there were some exciting wickets, which is their term for an out when the bowler nails the pins behind the batsmen or when one of the team members catches a ball before it hits the ground.

All in all the sport is kinda similar to baseball, but a little slower and maybe a little less athletic. On TV it is kinda boring! That said, there were plenty enough activity to keep me entertained at the stadium including dancing, screaming, cheering Indians all around and lots and lots of fireworks. The stadium didn't skimp on the sound system either and I think I will have permanent hearing loss from last nights matches. Every time there was a lull in the action or a decent play they were blasting music and everyone would cheer and dance in a frenzy. Everyone was in a good mood because the home team really walloped 'em. And there were lots of cheerleaders around that would dance to the music and it was hilarious to see how these Indian boys go crazy for white women with blonde hair and short skirts. Every time the girls were performing there must have been 10,000 drooling boys staring at them and nearly as many cell phones taking pictures or capturing videos. The young men and boys here act like 14 y/o Americans when it comes to women. They have no clue! All in all the cricket was good, cheap fun and I would be willing to go back and catch another match should the occasion arise.

Northern Update... Narrowly Escape Jihad

While in the north of India I almost (stupidly) headed into prime Jihad territory. I was planning on heading to Srinigar in the Kashmir region and I had heard from other travelers that it was nice and what not, but then I got myself some news via the ol' internet and found out otherwise. The most damning report goes as follows:
Britain's Telegraph reported-
[Indian officials] alleged 60 Taliban fighters captured in the Pakistan army's offensive to re-assert government rule in the Swat Valley earlier this year had accepted the deal and were now waiting with an estimated 300 jihadi fighters to cross into Kashmir.
Indian officials are now braced for a series of incursions and border battles in the next two to three weeks as the militants make their move.
Officials said the militants were offered a "jail or jihad" choice by senior officers of Pakistan's ISI intelligence service and that the plot had been discovered in a series of intercepted telephone conversations.
In addition, I found articles describing among other things a grenade getting thrown at a police vehicle in Srinigar last week and a bus getting attacked at a military police checkpoint on the road I was ultimately going to travel down.In a nearby town, which I had zeroed in on while breezing through my travel book is now a terrorist hot bed with lots of insurgents. Sounds like a nice place, huh? I was literally two hours from getting on the bus to Srinigar when I found out the news. So I was stupid and lucky. I got a refund for my ticket and then caught a bus going south and I am now in Delhi. Yesterday I spent 18 out of 24 hours on a bus! And the bus ride to Delhi is kinda a funny story too.
Normally, on a sleeper bus you have your own berth. You get a narrow little bed and it has a window and a little ladder down to the seats below. Well, last night I had a "double" sleeper berth which is maybe a little bit wider than a single and is in no way cheaper. "Double" means I shared it with a Sikh man for 12 hours. We were literally spooning at one point in the night. Most of the time we just laid there ass to ass like some human lovebugs. It was not enjoyable.
However, I am now in Delhi which is a big, nasty city. I will probably be here for about a week or so and then head back north to Dharamsala and some other mountain communities (although far, far away from Pakistan). The Dalai Lama will be delivering some teachings and lectures from his home abode in the Himalayan foothills and I hope to get my enlightenment on with his spiritual nurturing. Plus, it is a lot cooler, less noisy, less trashy, and all around more enjoyable up there than down here in Dirty Delhi. All is well and I actually have to meet someone this week about a real job opportunity in India. That will be quite the change of pace for my unemployed ass!

Hello there!

I have just arrived in the northern city of Dharamsala. This is the home of the Tibetan Government in exile and also the Dali Lama's abode. It is very nice here because the weather is finally cool and the town is quiet and very green. There is less noise and pollution here than in any other Indian city I have visited thus far. Also, there are a ton of western tourists here and I am sharing a room with a man from Amsterdam whom I met on the bus yesterday. I think I am going to stay here for several days as it seems to be a very relaxing place. May get some massages, go for some hikes, and listen to some lectures on meditation and Buddhism. Unfortunately the Dali Lama is out of the country right now, but he will be back in a few weeks and will be delivering some teachings in English. I may travel around for a bit and then return in two weeks time to hear what the master has to say. In the mean time I hope to do some more traveling around this Himalayan region and hopefully squeeze in some long hikes, some whitewater rafting, and maybe even a few horse rides through the mountains.

I was in Amritsar the past few days and enjoyed my time there. This is the holiest city for followers of Sikhism and is the location of the Golden Temple. The Golden Temple is a beautiful structure that appears to float upon the middle of a man made lake at the center of the complex. Each day tens of thousands of Sikhs visit the temple to pray and ceremoniously bath in the water. As part of the complex, the Sikhs have made it very easy for all to access the site by providing meals and dorms open for all faiths and all visitors. So I joined the hungry masses in the dining halls where they serve 30,000 meals a day and stayed in the foreigners dorm. All of these services are provided free of charge, but a small donation is accepted. I think this is a testament to the inclusiveness of the Sikh religion which is an amalgamation of Hinduism and Islam. I don't quite understand the religious philosophy, but they are a hard working lot and very friendly and I would recommend that everyone take a trip to the Golden Temple of Amritsar if ever given the chance.

Camel Safari!

While in the deserts of western India I had the opportunity to go on a camel safari. It was a great experience and something everyone should do if they ever get the chance. Check out the video below!

A group of us went out into the desert for two days and one night- so it was just a short trip. Some trips go for as long as 15 days. Afterwards, I was glad that I went for just two days because I was sore. The camel is a rough ride and they don't give you stirrups for your feet. When I got off the camel at the end of the trip I was walking around like an old man! I hope you liked my desert get-up. I later gave the turban to one of the camel drivers as a gift.

These poor desert people have very little opportunity and there really isn't much development that far out. Most people just become sheep herders as farming has proven too difficult as the region gets drier and drier each decade. They said they had about 2 cm of rain this year and it was the sole rainstorm for the past 3 years.

The communities have electricity, but all of the well water is brought in by truck. A common sight in all the mud hut villages are groups of women dressed in bright saris and jingling, dazzling jewelry all delicately balancing silver pots of water on their heads as they return from the village well. These women are very beautiful and their stares can be arresting. They work so hard and are beautiful while they do it. I have a lot of respect for these village women.

The dwellings are very simple and often have thatch roofs, no doors, and no glass for the windows. When you stop in the villages, groups of young children run out to great you and will follow you into the desert for a short distance before tiring and heading back towards home.

Amazingly, you can get a cold beer on the desert dunes. The villagers know how to make a buck and truck out to meet the tourists with a sack full of cold drinks and other "necessities" like whiskey and cigarettes.

The guides cooked us lunch and dinner and we sat in the shade and napped through the hottest part of the day. Temps were well over 100 degrees though. At night it was nice and cool and we slept on blankets under the stars. There were tons of dung beetles crawling around and more than once I woke up in alarm as a beetle was crawling across my body or up my pant leg.

In the video I showed you a short clip of the camels with tied up legs. Just to clarify, that is what they do to the camels when we stop for lunch or for the night. They hobble the animals so they can't get to far and so they can't run away from the camel drivers.

It was a great time even though it was hot and it is something I would love to do again.

Rat Temple!

Check out the video below... It pretty much explains it all!

This was surely a memorable experience for me. The rat and the elephant headed god Ganesh are good friends. Actually, Ganesh rides around on rat-like creatures. This gives the rat some credence in India and people come from all over the country to pray and pay homage to rodents at this small temple.

As I said in the video it is good luck if the rats touch you and especially good luck if you are able to see the white rat. I received both honors, so I should have good luck for quite some time. It seems that I am getting a life time of good karma in the span of just a few weeks. So, who would have joined me in the rat temple, and who would have avoided the place like the plague???

The India/Pakistan Border Crossing Pep Rally!

I witnessed a very weird event last night... The official closing of the India/Pakistan border. Each night just before sunset the soldiers of both India and Pakistan ceremoniously parade around for awhile and then officially shut down all cross-border traffic. Cutting off inter-country transit is not unique, but what is unique about this particular event is the amount of pageantry and ceremony complete with fancy uniforms, coordinated marches, and huge numbers of spectators who come to witness their countries cocky display of military might. The event draws so many spectators, on both sides of the border, that large grandstands have been constructed to give visitors a view of the narrow road and iron gates where most of the action takes place. Check out the video below.

As you can see from the video there is a lot of yelling, staring, shouting, crowd cheering, foot stomping, and a lot of macho marching- all part of a decades old tradition and puffed up display of nationalist bravado. It was interesting to see and I thought the whole event to be rather comical. The whole ordeal takes about 45 minutes to complete and it ends with both countries slowly lowering their flags in unison (so that neither country's flag is higher or stays longer). I think it is really funny that this huge event takes place each night and always in front of a packed crowd of avid supporters.

You can barely see quick shots of Pakistan (which would be at the far left end of the road where the men kept marching towards), but they had eerily similar uniforms, shouts, marches, and stomps. The crowd was smaller on the Pakistan side (surely a sign of pride for the Indians) and their cheers were quieter. Also on the Pakistan side the men were on one side of the stands and the women were on the other and there was no mixing. As far as I know, this is the only border crossing where this type of ceremony takes place.

The Blue City of Jodhpur!

I have just spent the past few days in Jodpur which is a very old city located in the western region of the country kinda near the Pakistan border. The city is a maze of tiny streets and alleys filled with small temples, bizarre bazaars, chanting sadhus, painted elephants, pungent aromas, swirling winds, open sewers, and sweltering heat!

The city was quite enjoyable, but the people here have pretty bad manners and the businessmen in this region lack any kind of ethics. Just about everyone is looking to squeeze as much as possible out of every single transaction whether a 15 rupee water that should only be 10, a 60 rupee taxi that should only be 25, or a "handmade, pure silk" scarf that is really a blend of cotton and silk and made by a machine. If you ask for a little, they give you a lot. Like if you say you want a chai (which is normally about the size of a shot), these unscrupulous guys will bring out a chai bigger than everyone else around you is drinking- the biggest you have ever seen in India- and then give you grief when you tell them you want the regular size. It is like dealing with that guy, James, at Four Winds International food in Pensacola! Even if you give a beggar something, they don't say thank you, they immediately ask you for more. The entrepreneurs all call out and even chase down tourists and dealing with their constant pestering can be quite a chore.

However, I did a lot of shopping over the past 2 days and was able to ship the 16 pound package out today for around $75. I guess that is a good deal (well, only if it makes it back home), This part of the country is world renowned for its textiles and some of you women out there would have gone crazy for this stuff and would have easily spent hundreds of dollars. You can actually end up getting a great value if you bargain hard and the quality of this stuff is unrivaled. It usually takes about 15 minutes of bickering to get the price to come down about 25%. Who really ever knows what the true "Indian" price would be for this stuff. The worst is when you walk into a shop that says fixed price and then there are no prices on anything. What a load of crap!!! Indians all over have warned me that the businessmen in this part of the country are real assholes, so I was already expecting it and they haven't let me down.

They only really good guy I met in this city was the proprietor of the guest house I am staying in. He helped me take care of some business and gave me good advice, but even here I think he was skimming a little bit off the top for things he was providing. I am sure that he got a cut of some of that $75 shipping fee, because he called up the company and had them send a boy out for the package. Either way, Yogi's Guesthouse was a nice place to stay, in a quiet part of the city, and was a great value. I would stay here again.

Oh Nooooooo!

Damn rats!!! Look what they did to my truck (which has been parked at my mother's house in Milton, Florida).

My mother emailed me the other day that they tried to crank up the ol' chuck truck and it wouldn't start. So they opened the hood, and.... well... you see what happened. The rats have chewed through a few wires and things and just I hope they haven't done too much damage ($$$).

Check out the Veggie Market!

About every few kilometers there is a market like this. Some are huge, some are small, but in every city and every village there is some kind of open air market selling just about everything imaginable. Sometimes it feels like there is a flea market on every other block. Check out the video below which just shows a quick little clip of the veggie market.

Also, I have started seeing a few urban camels and elephants now. I think in the next few days I might see the dancing sloth bears too. In the tourist areas the animal tamers come around and make these animals do tricks for cash. I am not sure how I feel about the use of an endangered species to make a profit. Kinda gives me a bad feeling you know, like collecting or buying ivory. It just contributes to the species' decline.

Short Video Showing the Local Stick Dancers...

Almost every Hindu Temple in the entire region has been hosting dances like this each night for the past few nights for this festival. Check out the video below.

Climbing Girnar Hill

I stayed in the city of Junagadh and woke up early to tackle climbing Girnar Hill (which I accidentally misspelled in the video title-oops). It was a tough climb for me and even early in the morning it was dreadfully hot. I was soaking in sweat and to make things worse, it seems Indians have an amazing ability to avoid sweating even under the hottest conditions. I don't understand it, but I can be pouring sweat while the Indians next to me will be barely showing the slightest bit of moisture on their brow. There must be some ancient technique they haven't shown me yet.

Check out the video below.

This is a truly religious experience for many Indians and many Hindus and Jains try to make the pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime. The trail was crowded with barefoot pilgrims as the Hindu lore states that climbing the hill barefoot earns one a place in heaven.

It was a good day and a nice hike, but now my calves are killing me. I think I got a little dehydrated that day and later on that night I took a tortuously hot, bumpy, and long 13 hour bus ride to get to the next city. I think sitting all bunched up on the bus made things a little worse as I wasn't able to stretch out and move the lactic acid around.

Videos from Diu!

I finally got to a place that had a strong internet connection and I was able to load up my videos from Diu. I have split them into three separate 2-minute-long clips and they are hosted at YouTube. Enjoy!

I really enjoyed this place because it was small, quiet, and relaxing. The town was really cheap and the hotel ample, but the food was not so good. The fish here are very small, so lots of tiny bones to pick out which is a real chore if they throw the fish into a veggie broth or mix it with rice and vegetables and I think the prawns (shrimp) may have been frozen and not local.

Just in case you were wondering....

Damn... I miss this so much. I would do a lot for a good ol' cheeseburger right now, especially something like this cheeseburger, from Five Guys in Chicago, which has been on my mind a lot lately! It looks so D E L I C I O U S!!! It is in my dreams even. I am getting tired of spicy vegetables with flat bread...

Festival of Nine Nights- Navratri

Last night was the start of Navratri, or the Festival of Nine Nights. This festival is very popular in the region I am traveling through. During these nine nights and ten days, nine forms of Shakti/Devi, a female Deity, are worshipped. On the first night of the festival young children and young adults performed traditional dance routines for the villagers. The young dancers wear traditional outfits, and in the case of the women very flashy, colorful, dresses with many sequins and mirrored "buttons." In most of the dances, the young men and women held sticks (almost like drumsticks) which they rhythmically cracked against one another to keep the beat while a small band played and a Hindu prayer song was blasted over the speakers. In all of the dances, the dancers moved in a circle around a Hindu shrine for Shakti and do many twirling, jumping, and stomping moves alone and even sometimes they turn to one another and knock sticks with a partner.

Even here the society is divided along sex lines. Only boys, or only girls dance on stage at one time. The crowd is equally divided- the men sit in chairs in one area, while the women sit on blankets and tarps in a separate area. The sexes rarely co-mingle in public. The dancing was fun and festive and goes on late into the night. As soon as one "temple" finishes its dances, everyone packs up, grabs their chairs and walks a few blocks away to the next "temple" where things are just getting under way. Some of the dances go on until 3-4 am and some of the dancers are as young as 3-4 years old. Dancing like this will continue for the remainder of the festival.

Today is also a Muslim Holiday. Eid is today which marks the end of Ramadan, a month long holy time when truly devout Muslims fast all day.

A Video of More Religious Caves

In this video you can see the two most famous cave sites in India- Ellora and Ajanta. These two areas are separated by about 70 km in distance but both located in Maharasthra State. The two sites are quite large and represent a range of religions in very close proximity (which is a testament to the religious tolerance that has prevailed for thousands of years in India). At each location there are many separate caves in various states of completion and decay. Check out the video, which unfortunately, does the real thing no justice.

Click Image Above For Video

Some carving are a thousand years old. The anthropologists still debate exactly how long the excavations and carvings took to complete and their estimates range from centuries to just a few decades. The thing I kept thinking about was the way in which these carvings emerged top down from the stone (they are all cut right into the cliffs and hillside). At some point, early into the cutting and high up on the hill, the stone-cutters must have been directed to start the top of the temple, then several meters lower make a dome, then below that design and carve sculptures of elephants, and pillars, etc, etc... It is fascinating because we always envision a building being constructed ground up, but for these ancient builders the plan was reversed and came to life from the top down. I wonder if there was ever a master plan, or if the temple just emerged piece by piece.

An Old Man and his Old Loom

This is a short video showing an old man using some very old techniques to produce a hand-made silk sari. The process is very slow and can take many months to complete. One of the reasons it take so long to complete just one sari is the fact that they are usually about 8-9 meters long. The women wrap and wrap and wrap the sari around themselves in some intricate pattern that I will never understand.

These types of saris were very high quality and were usually reserved for special occasions like weddings or holiday celebrations and cost upwards of $100 (which is a lot to an Indian). Some of you folks at home need to let me know what kind of Indian gifts I should bring back. I am sure some of you women would have loved this fabric store because the saris, shoals, and other shimmering, detailed items were very beautiful, flawlessly crafted, and amazingly soft.

Supposedly this is a 2000 year old technique he is using (but again, they will tell you anything if they think it will help them make a sale). They said that this style of production will die with the current generation as all of the weaving processes are becoming automated and mechanized as now silk products are churned out by loud, congested human-less mills.

One hallmark of Gandhi's movement was his belief that wearing hand made, Indian produced cloth would promote a national industry that could help to pull millions of India's poor out of poverty. He held many drives to rid the country of machine spun and especially foreign produced clothes. This, coupled with his strict asceticism, led him to wear the white loin cloths that he is so often remember for and he usually made the cloth (and sandals) himself.

Indian Popcorn!

Here is a very short little clip showing one of the street vendors cooking "popcorn." There occasionally are street vendors who sell American style popcorn, but a taxi driver called this style of cooking popcorn. It is quite delicious, very inexpensive, and found wherever there are big groups of people. After your corn is sufficiently charred, the woman removes it from the fire, takes a slice of lime or lemon and dips the citrus wedge into a spicy masala mix of salt and various peppers. She then rubs the delicious spice mix onto your corn and it is served to you with a few husks to insulate your little fingers from the heat. Pretty delicious- I have had several!

Relaxing in Diu...

Hello All!
I have now made it to the small island town of Diu located in Southern Gujarat on the Gulf of Cambay. This small, sleepy community was a Portuguese colony for about 500 years and has only been under Indian governance since 1961. Some of the locals speak Portuguese, which is kinda weird. It really reminds me of the small, beach towns that I visited in Brazil, especially because the language, but also because the buildings and the forests look really similar too. There are tons of cows running around this town as well. I walked around for about 2 hours today and I must've seen 200 cows. Its kinda hilarious- but you definitely have to watch your step. There is a huge fort here, built by the Portuguese, but financed by Indian Mughal rulers or kings. These two groups formed and alliance to protect lucrative trade routes and ports along the coast hundreds of years ago. The town has a population of about 20,000 which is a nice change of pace from the huge, overpopulated, and hyper-polluted cities I have been visiting. I plan to stay here for several nights and get some good rest and relaxation along the coast. I may sit for several hours tomorrow in the shade of a coconut tree and read my books. I hope all is well back home and I am excited that football season has kicked off (even if I can only see the highlights on the internet). Go Gators!

A little observation...

While at times it seems that there are Indians everywhere and the masses of people and constant hustle and bustle of everyday life can be kinda stressful, the cultural attractions of India are devoid of crowds. For instance, in a city of 4 million people I saw more people working at the City Museum of Ahmadabad than patrons. They had to turn the lights on for me and it was well after noon, so I knew nobody else was in the museum at the time I entered. This museum held a great deal of information about the city's history and also contained some paintings, textiles, sculpture, and also interesting anecdotes about Gandhi (who spent much time at an ashram , or holy residence, just outside of the city. Gandhi made many important speeches during his "Quit India!" campaign for Independence here and also started his famous salt march just outside of town. The art museums of Mumbai were lacking of onlookers and similarly deserted are many of the religious caves that have been cut into rocky hillsides. For instance, Elephanta Island and Sanjay Gandhi National Park, both situated virtually right in Mumbai, were scantly populated by tourists- maybe even more westerners than Indian families on vacation, too. This trend isn't universally true, as the religious pilgrimage sites can be quite full of people (and livestock) and the active temple areas are swarming with locals. So if I am feeling a little burned out by all the crowds, I am just gonna take a visit to a local cultural attraction and breathe a little sigh of relief.

Urban Livestock!

The amount of urban livestock is really impressive. There are literally cows, water buffaloes, and goats all over the place. Even in cities of 2-3 million people there are "farm" animals everywhere. To a lesser extent there are also dogs, cats, horses, donkeys, and sheep living amongst the city populous. Even on busy roads you will find cows laying in the street, in the middle of intersections just non-nonchalantly chewing the cud. Usually the cows, which are holy, have attendants to steer the steers out of harms way, but I guess sometimes those attendants take the day off. Or maybe some animals are too divine to have humans telling them where they can and cannot go. I am not sure, but there are a lot of these city dwelling cows and they find a lot of food in the rubbish and refuse that piles up in certain areas. It is not uncommon to see these animals chewing on cardboard or paper. Sometimes the cows' horns are painted in bright orange, red, or blue and occasionally you see an animal with rainbow painted horns that reminds me of a pack of Lifesavers. I don't know what it means, but I think it is a way to distinguish who owns them and to keep track of them based on the color patterns. As far as the goats, I think they are always owned by someone. I believe that they are not holy and at many restaurants you can have goat meat, commonly called mutton since British times. I think they provide a lot of milk for cheese and things too. At some point I will capture some footage and post it online to show you the zoo of animals let loose on the metropolitan streets. When you combine all the people, honking cars, noisy buses, street vendors, bicycles, motorcycles, auto-rickshaws, and animals it creates a rather surreal show!

Whew... things are getting a little tough.

Well, since leaving Mumbai things have gotten a little tougher. I am still having trouble getting a mobile phone and have given up on this. However, I have already spent about $75 to get a wireless card for my laptop so that I can surf the internet anytime anywhere. I have been trying now for over 2 weeks to get this thing working, and every damn time I talk to the bastard manager at the mobile company he says it will be activated in the morning. It is getting ridiculous and I would rather have him just tell me the truth then feed me some more crap about this and that.

I have now experienced some real train travel on India's rail system and you get what you pay for when you purchase a ticket. It seems that you pay one way or another, if you get a super cheap ticket you are gonna pay for it in inconvenience. I purchased a general class ticket and this was a total mistake. It was about a 6 hour ride to go maybe 150 miles or so (not so fast, lots of stops). But in general class you are not guaranteed a seat and it is utter mayhem at the train station when the train stops. There is a crush of humanity going both ways, off and on, all converging with luggage and babies and elbows at the small 2.5 ft wide doors into the rail car. Men are literally jumping on and off while the train is moving pretty fast, some people are waiting down on the ground on the opposite side of the platform so they can get at the doors where there will be less of a fight to get in. When the train stops, the poor women folk have to beat men about their heads to get off the train. And once you get on, don't expect any kind of a seat, just be hopeful you can have a tiny little spot to stand where you aren't getting in the way of the boys and girls selling chai tea, peanuts, and snacks or near some babies with stinky pants. When you do this for a few hours, inevitably someone near you will get up and you will have a nice warm seat. Several hours later, you arrive almost on time at your scheduled destination, but the whole event can be rather stressful. No longer will I purchase a general ticket to travel. The ticket cost about $3.75, but in hindsight, I paid a lot more for it.

I have been fighting off a cold for the last few days and now have the leaky bowels just a tad AND I have some kind of bugs from the cheap ass hotel rooms. I saw a few bed bugs at the place in Mumbai and I guess they got me worse than I initially expected. I am hopefull that it isn't scabies, although this ancient scourge is a fairly common problem in India.

I got some concrete dumped on me by some construction workers today as well. The idiots up on the roof of a 2 or 3 story building were pouring concrete and some got splashed over the edge and nailed me. I was upset, but it wasn't such a big deal as I walked about two more blocks, found a clothing store and got a polyester polo fashion-shirt for about $6.50.

I have over-estimated the infrastructure of India-this was a near-sighted miscalculation of mine. I thought that internet connectivity would be much more ubiquitous than it really is. I have had a tough time getting on the net, and when I do find some internet cafes, they quality of the computers is universally shitty. It is like surfing the net at 1996 speeds and on more than one occasion the internet connectivity has totally failed and everyone has had to go home for a while until the connection may or may not re-appear several hours later. I sure hope that this bureaucratic bastard gets my damn wireless card activated like he keeps promising so that I needn't worry about internet cafes anymore.

All in all things are OK. These are just some normal trials and tribulations of traveling abroad in a strange land. I have seen some amazing things in the past week and am enjoying the people watching too. I am going by bus tomorrow night to the large city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat state. I plan to spend a maybe 2 nights there before taking another overnight bus to the island town of Diu on the southern coast of Gujarat. The beaches are supposed to be nice, clean, and relaxing, but as I am quickly learning in Indian, I must lower my expectations to avoid disappointment.

More Buddhist Caves in Mumbai's Sanjay Gandhi National Park

In this 3 minute video I take you to some large and intricate caves found about 25 km north of Mumbai's city center. To be sure, the entire National Park is encircled by slums, apartments, factories, and bustling urban sprawl. Click the Image below to go to YouTube to watch the video.

(Click Image Above for Video)

There were reports that leopards within the park killed 20 people a few years ago. Finally, the wildlife management team did something by trapping and relocating several large cats. There are small little groupings of squatters all through the park, which is strange to see. You will be walking along and then all of a sudden there will be a grouping of 5-20 hut like houses together in an area with tons and tons of kids running around and lots of wild chickens. It is very interesting, but I presume that some of those little kids did look pretty tasty to some of those wild leopards. Its tough being a kid in India from what I can tell.

However, these caves were really pretty cool and were very well maintained. I think in the video that I said they may be 2000 years old, but in truth I think they are a lot closer to 600-1000 years old. People probably lived in them until the 40's though. Take care and enjoy the video!

Send in Your Thoughts and Ideas!

Here is a new idea I came up with.

If you have anything you want me to investigate or a question you want me to answer or are just curious about anything or how things work in India or what something might look like over here send me a quick little email at FloridaSzy@gmail.com or post a comment on my blog and I will try to answer it with a video or through a new post. Send in some stuff!

A Visit to Elephanta Island!

Here is another video hosted at YouTube. Click the image below to go to the video. Please allow some time for the video to load up if you are using a slow connection.

(Click Image above for Video)

Originally this island had a different name, but the Portuguese renamed it because at that time there was a large stone elephant sculpture which has since deteriorated and been moved and reassembled at a Mumbai museum. This was a very nice place and I should be travelling to some other Buddhist carved caves in the next few days. I believe that there are thousands of caves like these around the country, but many archaeologists consider the above carvings to be among the most beautiful in the country.

Small, but cheap!

Check out my TINY hotel room. Its kinda comical how small this place is! I am sure there are smaller places out there, but this is the smallest place I have ever stayed in.

Hope you enjoyed the video! Ever stay in anything smaller?

One week later...

Hello... I have been in India for a little over a week now. All in all things are good. Check the video below for a quick update.

Also, last night I went to the Hard Rock Cafe of Mumbai. This was the most American-like place I have been so far in India. I looked on the menu and they did have a 100% Beef cheeseburger and hot wings too! I still wouldn't really care to eat them though after seeing the meat markets. I mean, just because this place is swanky doesn't mean that they are getting their meat from anywhere more special than the rest of the city! The main reason I went was because I heard that there was an Indian rock band playing that night. They were ok, but nothing special, kind of run of the mill pop-rock stuff; the guy sung with a strong British accent and their amps kept cutting out during the show. But now I am looking for even more Indian rock and roll venues or shows. I would love to catch some more music while I am here in India's most cosmopolitan city. Once I leave here I doubt there will be much of a modern, western music scene. Ohhhh... and one thing that was TERRIBLE about the hard rock... right before the band went on the all male wait staff of about 12 jumped up on a small wall and did a rather flamboyant dancing bit to the Village People's YMCA. It was so bad only a French person could love it!

First Video Post from India

Click the Picture below to view the Video at YouTube. Again, the video was to large to post on the blog so it is at Youtube... allow some time for it to load up if you are on a slow connection.

(Click Pic Above to Watch Video)

Mumbai is a massive city and the shear amount of humanity here is overwhelming. People are literally everywhere. As I wasn't sleeping so well just yet I got up at about 5:30 AM and walked around the city. At this time you can see the huge number of people living in the streets of Mumbai or sleeping in cars and trucks.

I used a guide named Terance who appears in some of the video to show me around the city. We went to many destinations, some straight out of the travel book and some off the beaten path. At one point we walked for nearly an hour through Mumbai's largest slum settlement housing millions of residents. It was quite a sight to see... an assault on the senses of sight, smell, and sound. It was supposedly the neighborhood in which some of Slumdog Millionare was filmed. I was very impressed by the amount of activity in the slum- people were making things happen, not idly sitting around. You can get just about anything you want in the slum too... they had an arcade full of old skool video games, barber shops, meat markets, schools, temples, plumbers, auto-mechanics, psychics, everything but BEEF! The tour of the city was quite enjoyable, but fast paced and hot. I feel like I saw just about every tourist attraction the city has to offer within a 8 hour day.

All in all things are good... the worst thing about the city is how dangerous the traffic is. The cars, trucks, taxis, motorcycles, auto-rickshaws, bicycles, bullock carts, buses, and pedestrians all participate in a noisy, maddening dance, defying all laws of traffic, in an collective effort to speed down the road in the most dangerous way possible. No hard and fast laws or rules exist and crossing traffic at some of the largest intersections is very nerve racking. Its a mad dash... kinda like the video game Frogger where you guide the frog back and forth avoiding oncoming cars until you cross the road to safety. I'm getting accustomed to it now, but it is still crazy! More video to come soon!

Oh and I apologize for the poor shooting and editing quality of this video. Some of the shots are kinda crappy and I crop out my own head several times! Gotta get better.

New Experiences...

I did happen to see some holy cows today... and a few street goats too. The most off the wall thing to happen to me yet in India occurred earlier today on the street near a large monument called the Gateway to India. This structure near the Taj Mahal Hotel is dedicated to the first English King who visited India ceremoniously at this point... Think Paris' Arch de Triumph. It is a rather touristy area and so there are a large number of Indians trying to separate Westerners from their money. One man, a "doctor" stopped me and said I had soap in my ear. When I stopped he handed me a card and stuck what appeared to be dental tools into my ear and proceeded to relieve me of ear wax. It was a bizarre experience but well worth the $3. He originally wanted approx $20. No way! I am still experiencing some trouble getting a cell phone in India due to some bureaucratic reasons... hopefully tomorrow I will be able to finally circumnavigate the problems.

Incredible India...

Whew... after a pretty brutal 16 hour plane ride (during which I watched Star Trek, The Great Buck Howard, Valkyre and 3/4 of Bolt) I safely arrived with all my luggage at the Mumbai International Airport. Customs was a breeze and I was able to get money (which goes a hell of a long way around here) out of the ATM. I grabbed a baby taxi (3-wheels open air- just like the movies) and was able to make it to the Hotel. However, at the hotel they were having electrical issues and transferred me over to another hotel that they also own or manage. The room is nice and the AC works great. It has a western style toilet and shower and even has a flat screen TV with 72 channels. So this place isn't exactly a primitive world. Last night a ton of stray dogs were barking all hours of the night and so I didn't exactly sleep well, but I am adjusting to the time change very rapidly. The area around my hotel is really slummy and I will be moving to a better location near the Taj Mahal Hotel of Mumbai tomorrow afternoon. This area of town has more tourist activities and is all around nicer and more modern. I am having some trouble getting the internet connected to my laptop at the hotel so I am writing this from a dingy little internet cafe. Tomorrow I should be able to get a cell phone set up and will post that number here for people who want to call. I shopped around for a cell phone today and found out what documents are required to activate the phone. Also, I registered with the US Embassy, should any problems arise and I visited the Indian National Tourism Office. They gave me some decent information.. some stuff I am going to look over tonite. All in all things are good and I am not worried and I don't feel unsafe. I won't be going out on foot tonite in the neighborhood around my current hotel though. Tomorrow night is Saturday and it is the start of a big annual 10 day long celebration in Mumbai. Tomorrow night I will hit the beach avenues to do some people watching or cultural immersion. Tonite I am just gonna kick back and watch some good old Hindi music videos on the TV and get some sleep. Take care and I will be posting again soon.

Roll Out...

Today is the day. In just about ten minutes I will be leaving my home in Milton, FL and I will be headed to the Pensacola Airport. It seems that we should have fairly smooth weather and when I land in India in about 2o hours I will be entering a hot humid world climatically similar to FL, just stinkier and full of millions upon millions of people. I will be in touch so don't worry... one of my first goals will be to get a cell phone. And I am addicted to the Internet so I will certainly be making updates to the blog and sending emails. Hit me up... let me know how you are doing and just send me a quick shout out... I know I am gonna be homesick, so all the emails from home will be much appreciated. Take care!

Flying to Mumbai on Wednesday...

Hello All!
It's almost time to fly to India. I have most everything taken care of and I have been spending a lot of time with my friends and family. I will be leaving on Wednesday August 19th and will be in Mumbai for several days- maybe even a few weeks. From Mumbai I plan to travel north through New Delhi on my way to the headwaters of the Ganges River. It is said that one dip in the freezing waters at the base of the Ganges glacier is supposed to erase the sins of your ancestors. I plan to get up into the Himalayas before winter sets in and the passes get snowed up some time in October. From there I will make a new plan and decide whether to head east or to head south. It's a pretty open ended excursion that I am on. Also... I just wanted to let everyone know that they are more than welcome to come and join me for a little while. I know that it may seem difficult, but really its not that expensive and once you get to India everything is super cheap. You will actually spend less money in India than you would in many, many American destinations. I will be thinking about everyone and I will surely miss my home, my friends, and my family. I will keep the blog going and once I get to India I am going to purchase a cell phone. I also have skype set up on my computer if anyone does the VoiP thing. I will be using skype to call back to America. Take care and keep in touch.

The boat before it broke down...The hike in the Canyon at Lake Powell

The North Rim Grand Canyon Campsite among the Aspens

The Chuck Truck!

Spent a lot of time behind the wheel- 10,000 miles.

The old pin ball machine made it safely to Bagdad, FL.

Watching the Rockies at Coors Field in Denver with Greg.

Caught a snake and scared the hell out of some girls.

Faustine and I at one of the many waterfalls in Yosemite National Park.

Stepping out and looking over the edge at Grand Canyon National Park.

The truck finally crosses over the 100,000 mile mark. Keep on truckin'.