14st 6; alcohol units: 0 (v.g.); cigarettes: 0 (as expected); calories: about a billion (found the indian mcdonald's, but its okay, no beef!); Instants: 0 (v.g.!!)
well mom and dad, its been a wild ride these last couple of days. luckily my hand has stayed out of my buttocks. from Jaisalmer (in Rajasthan), Alex and I took an 11hr night bus to a town called Ahmedabad. this sucked. we were in the back and frequently launched about 3 feet into the air. hours slept: 1.5 . then we caught a train from Ahmedabad at 4:00am headed to Bombay (now called Mumbai). this sucked. because we got unreserved tickets we had to stand in "cattle class" for 8 hours as we rolled into Bombay at a gingerly pace.
Mumbai is an interesting place. we spent the night there on our way to Goa and now i'm here again on the return. i like Mumbai a lot better than Delhi. Delhi sucks. but like i said, Mumbai is interesting, i've never seen so many people defecating in public as i have in Mumbai. men, women, and children just crapping by the train tracks. Mumbai is the home of Asia's largest slums. turns out people from the country moved to Mumbai for promise of fame and fortune (hence, bollywood), but turned out not to have enough education (as i'm told)... so it has turned into a sad, sad sight. my friend Misi and i watched a film called Salaam Bombay! that really illustrated the city's poverty. the Lonely Planet says not to give money to the kids that beg, because it only teaches them that begging is an acceptable lifestyle... i've been following this, but i think i'm maybe too tight with my rupees. they're just kids. maybe. lots of thinking has been done in this past week...
and remarkably i'm not depressed by it. usually when i think i get more depressed, but now i'm excited and hopeful. maybe because i did my thinking on the beach....
check out my tan...er, sunburn
mom's gonna be pissed. i did wear sunscreen. everyday. but i got a little burnt. not as bad as the ol' burn of '02 though. i'm just kind of itchy. may be because my bed had fleas and sand in it.
the beach was wonderful. we went to the southern region called Goa, and landed on Colva Beach, recommended by Ms. Shellie Binks. we budget hotel'd one night, but decided it was vacation so we high rolled it to a resort. Rs.750/- ($15USD/day) nice nice. i liked the beach. got hassled a lot by peddlers trying to sell me jewelry, sarongs, and marijuana. "taxi? henna? elephants? some marijuaaaaana?" no. no. no.
Goa is the Catholic privince of India. so just as the towns and vehicles were decorated with Vishnu, Ganesh, Om, and such before, now its with crosses and jesuses and marys. celebrated a catholic christmas midnight mass (we were late) in the native language Konkan. quite interesting. the service ended singing "Happy Birthday Jesus" in restaurant style fashion. overall i enjoyed it.
it was nice to relax. i had a good time in Colva. its a quiet beach. the natives are rather funny at the beach. first, they're all clumped up at one part of the massive stretch of sand. the extremely modest women travel 10hrs and don't get into the water and if they do, they go completely in wearing their saris and full covering outfits. the men however, who arrived in suits of sort, will strip down to their bikini underwear and run into the water giggling and holding hands with their friends. an educational experience. i also watched a game, but maybe i'll post about that later (i won't).
a friendly game of backgammon
i approached the sleazy, leathery-tan english man with a gold chain about a game of backgammon. granted, i haven't played much. only internet backgammon taught to me by Yakup Ozdalga. i just know "roll" and "move" as part of my strategy.
this guy was an a-hole. within the first two moves he says, "you really haven't played much" in this raspy, smarmy wanna-be bond voice. he was like the old guy in Snatch.
he beat me. fair. expected. but at least i got one piece in each game. he imparted his "wisdom" to me about how i could play better, "it's easy really, a simple game of numbers". thanks. then, get this, he added, "you really just need to practice more, but please... don't do it with me." butthole.
i walked away upset at his smugness over out game of backgammon. i sat down and said to myself, "at least i can play guitar better than him." issue resolved.
so what now uncle traveling mac?
well, good question boober. i'm in Mubai right now and will catch a night train to Delhi. then hopefully Alex and I will be able to jump on some trains to Agra to go see the Taj Mahal. i'll feel pretty stupid if i don't see the Taj Mahal while i'm in India. but, i'm at the mercy of the Indian Railways (scary thought!). new years in Delhi. Delhi sucks. then i fly back to japan red eye on the evening of the first, landing on the second. then i'll hide under my kotatsu (heated coffee table) fearing the snow outside.
in the meantime, as someof you may noticed i'll read. i finished Bridget Jones' Diary and am now setting out to conquer some Learn Hindi (little late there) and, dare i say, Harry Potter (aren't you proud Kate?). and now back to thinking while i try to kill time until my train tonight. take care all and God bless.
MOM AND DAD: well, i did it. i made it to india. safe and sound so far. we've gotten ripped off a bit, but that's all a part of what i'm calling "the backpack tax", or as it's referred to here by the natives, "the skin tax". basically, the short story is, we got charged Rs.1200/person for a one way 4 hour (actually 7) bus ride.i asked the guy in front of us, an indian national, how much he paid and he said, "Rs.310". turned out he was also doing a round trip with a tour. niiice...
then there was the overnight train to where we are now. alex and dave didn't bring sleeping bags or blankets and the sleeping compartment on our train had a stuck window! so freezing icy winds were blowing into our little sleeping area all night long. ssuck. i slept like four hours. then in the morning i was hit on by a "close talker". this guy was leaning into me and giving me saucy looks for 6 hours. rawr. this is supposed to be vacation. it was quite stressful.
right now i'm in Jaisalmer in Rajastan, India about 130km from the Pakistan border. Jaisalmer 50,000 people town surrounding a huge fort where the (evil) Maharaja is supposed to reside. though now its a museum. this is the best city we've been to thus far. outside the city is a desert. i just got done with an overnight camel safari through the desert. it was great. it was nice to sleep out under the stars on some sand dunes. and camels like to fart.
i've also ridden an elephant since i've been here. i've learned how to haggle a bit. and maybe 20 minutes prior to this post i had to wipe my butt with my hand because the "emergency" status of my restroom visit made it impossible to fetch my toilet paper. thank goodness for experience.
our next stop is Goa. we're having trouble getting down there because every foreigner in india goes there for christmas. so all the trains are full. we have ahead of us a 12hour overnight bus ride in the cabin of the bus, next to the bus driver. its all for the experience.
so far i've learned a lot about being in a third world county. india has a lot of poor people. but according to local religion, if you're poor, that's your dharma (and greg) and you must live it out. be the best beggar you are destined to be. after all, you deserve it from you're past lives. "a fatalistic country" i'm told by one guy. interesting.
there are also many cows here in india, its illegal to kill them. ironically, i think its almost cruelty to animals to have them roaming around in the streets with cars and such moving as well. they look kind of depressed. i kind of want to lead a cattle freedom march up to afghanistan to feed hungry afghans. i mean, they're not using them here!! but, i will say, the cows who were free roaming the desert looked happy. there's a conundrum for vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike.
i should go. maybe another "emergency" is coming. and, i have to relax before my 12hr. bus ride (proabably actually15). take care all and i hope you're having a MEERII KURISUMASU!! (merry christmas).
hopefully you're christmas presents will be on the way. brian, can you email me if you get the package!? thanks. that'd be great.
love, d@ve rupert - international man of mystery.
is it ridiculous to look forward to traveling because of food. like, i think india's biggest export is restaurants. and it's most famed contribution to the world (exceeding hinduism and buddhism) is its food. i will bathe in masala!
i also bought an 82 liter backpack. i won't say how much and what kind because someone will put a link on how i could have gotten it cheaper somewhere... but its kakko ii!
my kids think i'm cool, i think. i got that impression today as i was leaving. i felt like i was a king...
weekend sleep experimentation
this weekend i did karaoke on friday night. i still love it. its a lot of fun. then i came quasi-early (1ish) because i was tired. i got home and ended up staying up for a long long time. it might have been caffine induced. i sat awake at my computer watching the clock tick by and by. i was editing video (the gallon challenge) and talking to friends back home (dave and gary, who rule). and then the time came for the sun to rise... so i grabbed my guitar and my black book and went drove down to the river to sing some songs as the sun was rising. it was great. there was even a train in the distance, and if you know anything about me and heavy machinery, you'd know it was perfect. my fingers about froze off though. so my time was cut short, but the sun did rise and push away the fog. then i stayed up longer. until about 2 in the afternoon or so. now comes the sleeping. i slept until 5, where i turned down an invitation to go to Kyoto to drink all night, and went back to bed.
i rose at 2 in the morning. i thought i totally screwed up my sleeping equilibrium. i thought i flipped myself. i was genuinely scared about work on monday... then i got some food from the convenience store. and came back and watched some ghostbusters while editing video. started falling asleep so i took the chance at around 4 and went to bed and woke up about 10am. safe and sound. well rested. order. so not only did i stay up ridiculous hours, i slept ridiculous hours. both the yin and yang of sleep deprivation.
abrupt ending to the post
this post needs to end. i'm going to india. have fun while i'm gone. i think india has the internet, so maybe i can post. or not. keep the website going while i'm gone will ya. ok. take care care. oh, and mom and dad (and the rest of my family and friends), i do love you and wish you a well holiday season. i miss you all.
so... prepare to barf. yesterday i took a bath (huuughhh!) and it was quite like a chris farley sketch as usual. but it got worse this time. first off, i'll say the bath was INCREDIBLY relaxing. something about heating your body up to 75 degrees celcius. no central heating in these parts. that means the temperature inside my house is directly correlated to the temperature outside. it's only dropped below zero once i think thus far, but its a little different to not have heating. luckily, my tolerance for cold is going up.. and all i have are the sniffles sometimes.
back to the bath. so i'm taking a bath and after a couple of minutes of pushing buttons that i can't read, i initiate the personal jaccuzi function of my bath and things start heating up. not only does stuff start heating up, but stuff starts coming out of the drain on my bathroom floor (you'll have to remember my bathroom is all one appliance...so somehow the drain in the shower part has an outflow point on my bathroom floor). it's pretty much your standard hair and muck and filth that you'd expect to be regurgitated from a clogged up drain. after exiting the bath, i investigate the clogged up drain, because its still causing crap to be spit out on my floor.
i open press my hand through unimaginable filth and unscrew the drain. drain undone. here i was greeted by the second and third ring of dante's inferno. i'm greeted here by this substance that had the color of lint (a blue-ish sort of color). BUT! because lint in actually 90% dead skin, it had the consistency of gooey human flesh. it was raunchy. and it smelled like feet, or gooey rotting human flesh. filling my tiny apartment with this wonderful aroma... i couldn't really do much after this so i closed the door and decided to tackle this tomorrow.
tomorrow came like it usually does and i found myself face to face with this disgusting foe. so armed with a ladel that i will never use again i started scooping this good out of the hole. here i was greeted by hair. not my hair, OH NO! but my predecessors. this was a lot of hair! it was enough hair to make a shag dog costume for a horse. manes and manes of hair. bbBLUUGHaghghah! gag reflex. the ladel fell short. so i used one of my hands that i will never use again.
moral of the story: i cleaned that drain and now its crystal clear. i've learned the joys of renting and coming after someone. scooping up their filth months after they've made their getaway. why wasn't this a point in my predecessor's letter: SHOWER DRAIN: ALWAYS WATCH YOUR BACK!! ? it was disgusting. that's my story.
