Ooot and abooot...

I'm back!!!

2006-04-27T23:21:00.000-07:00

Alright alright. Here I am, finally. I have been lagging on posting because, quite frankly, I haven't really felt up to it. Have been a little under the weather for the past...month or so. Basically since the posting where I was in Darjeeling and just got done eating momo's. Yeah...about those momo's. Shortly thereafter, I felt like I was going to die, then I felt like I was being punished by being kept alive. I totally knew there was something funny with the meat. Even made a comment to Cap't Crk after eating them. So it was kind of a perpetual ill feeling from then on. I would eat, then feel ill, then not eat for a day or two, then eat again, feel ill...yada yada yada, you get the idea. Vicious cycle. So that was just the beginning of the drama. We left Darjeeling, traveled on to New Delhi from Darjeeling where we caught a train from New Delhi to Agra in an effort to see the Taj Mahal (of course). I wasn't feeling so swell on that train ride and almost passed out, so they had to evacuate us to a different car of the train. You can't even imagine how incredibly jam packed with people the car of the train we were originally in was. It was crazy. Worse than sardines. Ladies banging on our backpacks to get us to move...but...there was no where for us to move to. I almost took out a guy with my backpack (accidentally). But then, I felt ill and almost passed out and crushed a little girl and then they let us ride in the train flagger car instead. So to look on the brighter side of things, my illness got us upgraded seats. Go me! Um, yeah.

Agra.
The Taj Mahal.
I am not a lovey dovey mushy person, but damn, what a lucky chick. I wouldn't mind if someone built a structure like that for me (hint hint nudge nudge), although, I must admit, it would be nice if I were alive when it was built so that I could fully appreciate it. It wouldn't even have to be that large, a good sized house would suffice. : )
It was incredibly beautiful. Breathtaking and just as you would imagine it would be according to photos. It was great.

Jaipur.
It was a little chaotic there, but normal India chaotic, we just were a little bit worn out from the chaos so it was just another city at that point. It was nice though. We went to an International Food Festival there which was interesting in that there wasn't really much representation Internationally, but whateva. It's all good. Saw the "red city". I was trying to look at zapatoes at this one little shop and the dude totally overwhelmed me and started chucking shoes for me to try on that looked nothing like the ones I pointed to and were half the length and width of my foot and was trying to tell me they would fit and he would give me a "really good price" "really cheap price" and I got all flustered and had to leave his little shop practically running in a panic just to get out of it. But, that seems to be how shopping is in India. For us anyways. Very stressful, lots of pressure. You can look at something and they're all over you to buy it. "how much you want to pay" "cheap price, cheap price" "how much, howmuch?!?" "looking is free, looking is free, how much, how much?" It's crazy. That is so not my style. As many of you know, I take forever to think about things and to make decisions and so that is just totally not my ideal shopping environment to say the least. I think most westerners that we met agree that if they were to just chill out a bit and relax and be helpful but not be so overbearing, more foreigners would step into their shops. Anywho, minor tangent. Okay, so Jaipur was okay, but nothing spectacular. We didn't go see some of the sights that Jaipur is known for, so perhaps we would have more to say about it had we had the time and inclination to visit more while there.

From there we were on our way back to Bombay, not to go back to Bombay, but, rather while in transit to see the Ajanta and Ellora caves. These caves were an architectural wonder that I studied quite a bit at UW and we were both pretty excited about seeing them. Basically, we were really really really not big fans of Mumbai but we were willing to go back to Mumbai and spend a day in an effort to get out to the caves from there. Quite frankly we were dreading the return to Mumbai, if even only for a 12 hour stopover. We were in a different part of Mumbai then we originally stayed in and actually somewhat enjoyed the day. Or, at least, it was much better than we expected. It was a more mellow, less depressing part of town. We had a posh train ticket the highest class on that train. We got back to the train station and were actually able to take showers (long overdue) in the ladies waiting room at the train station. We were all relaxed and feeling mellow. No problem. Then we were getting on the train and putting our stuff away and the Cap't got her stuff jacktified while we were on the train. Think there was a handoff because the guy that did it didn't have the bag when he was located. So then we went to the police office at the train station where "incompetence" was the word of the day. Lame lame lame. Which I figured it would be, judging by our other encounters with the police, but figured we needed a police report because the passport was in the bag. So we got to spend the week in Bombay. We got to see a lot more of Bombay. Which was good in that we stayed in a better part of town than we had originally, we got to see the consullate, a couple airline offices, got to eat at Pizza Hut, and got to see "Crash" in the movie theatre down the road. I was having more problems with my Etihad tickets. Etihad airlines sent me to gulf air to get a new ticket because the flight they booked me on was no longer running (long story) and so I went to Gulf Air and they wouldn't take me and it was just more and more drama to pile on to our already overflowing plate of drama. I was still feeling sick. Crk had no passport to get into Egypt or even to get out of India for that matter. My parental units, being the genius' that they are, know that I will do whatever I want when I want, but...they voiced their feelings about me going to Egypt, still sick and solo and missing the second half of my airplane ticket that gets me out of Egypt and I had to agree with them, but only this time, not going to make a habit of it. It seemed like with everything that was going wrong with the Egypt portion of my trip that it was a clear indicator that I was just not meant to go to Egypt at this point. So...I rearranged my other tickets which was super duper easy since we were a block for qantas airways and they don't care when I fly, my ticket is open as long as there is a seat on the plane, I can go, pretty much. So, I changed my ticket and instead of going on to Egypt I went on to Australia.

Now. I still was not feeling well. Not at all. In fact, I was feeling progressively worse at this point. So I made the mistake of eating food before I left for the airport because I hadn't eaten in 2 days and was kinda hungry. Yeah. Bad idea. Felt a little queesy at the airport as a result. I got upgraded but was definately rough flight. 12ish hours hoping you're not going to vommit on the business dude next to you. oy. I felt really ill (like yacking ill) by the time we landed, so I busted a move off the plane and did my thang and then went (or tried) to get through customs and immigration. I was sweating like it was 110 degrees and looking a bit pale and I got asked 5 million questions going through C & I. They just kept asking me the same questions over and over. 4 separate guys questioned me. I am pretty sure they thought I was a drug mule. Totally not my style. Finally after they got their knickers into and out of a knot about my tang, they let me into their fine country. I went to the hostel and went to bed. Got up in the morning and tried to make it to the medical clinic deally bob down the street but there was drama being seen. Not having insurance and not being australian and not having an appointment and it being a friday were factors that were definately not working in my favor. I basically had to go to an ER which wasn't going to happen (bank roll) or wait till Monday. Was thinking I might feel better by Monday so I skipped it. Was supposed to fly out to New Caledonia on Sat, but slept through Sat, and Sunday and flew out on Monday instead.

New Caledonia.
Incredible. Reminded me of Hawaii, the sense of familiarity was welcomed. Seemed familiar till they spoke anyway. Yeah, I basically have zero skills in French and they have more than zero but not by much in English. It was all good. Over the last year or two I have come to realize that charades works anywhere in the world. It's an interesting combination of people in NC. There are the Caucasian French, the black french and then the indigenous island folk who are considered french solely by a technicality. There is a lot of tension between groups. It is predominately a self inflicted segregation between the island folks and the other french folks. The most interesting part was that no one could figure out where I belonged so I got the island folk, black folk and white folk all trying to talk to me and pick me up to give me rides places when I was walking down the roads in the boonies. Of course I ruined the mystery when I spoke because my chopped up 20 word french vocabulary gives away that "I'm not from these here parts." I got to talk to some folks and it was really fascinating hearing about the tension and struggle between cultures on this island. Everyone I met was incredibly nice. Can't say enough about how nice those folks were. Saw 2 breakdancing competitions, hung out on the beach, saw a couple bands/muscians perform and just chilled. The island folk speak less english than I speak French, which is hard to imagine, but it's true. So charades were definately in order. It was exhausting but kind of fun in a warped way. The one english phrase they all know..."I love you". Have never had that many different guys tell me they loved me in a week. Crazy. To take a boat out to any of the islands is incredibly expensive. Well, most of anything to do on the islands is very expensive so I rented a kayak instead of catching a water taxi and kayaked around a bit. Got hella sunburned and then kicked back on the beach. Went to the zoo, walked around, hitch-hiked around the southern part of the island (which didn't take much effort, people would just pull over and ask me if I needed a ride, I would point on the map where I wanted to go and no problem). It was a delighful series of islands that I would definately like to revisit when I know more French and have more money to catch a plane out to some of the outter islands. It was great though, and was a perfect place to relax. Back to Australia again.

Back in Australia, I had seen Sydney quite enough so I spent most of the rest of my time out in the glorious blue mountains. And yes, they are kind of blue. It's actually this weird combination of atmosphere components that combine to create a blue haze that gives the illusion the mountains themselves are blue. Anywho, it was so incredible. It's a national park and therefore protected land. The area that is protected is the size of Holland. It's crazy. So I hiked all over the side that borders the town of Katoomba. I think I could quite possibly live happily in Katoomba or Leura. Right on the border of the blue mountains and cool little towns. I am totally enamoured with the blue mountains. The town of Katoomba is on the top of the plateau and it turns out the blue mountains are not mountains at all. It's actually a sandstone plateau with a valley and gorges below and then rises again into regions of plateau which are interpretted as mountains. It's incredibly awesome and I would like to go back again and spend quite a bit of time backpacking through the area. For sure.

I went back into Sydney to meet up with my Dad who flew out to spend a few days with me. We did some of the typical tourist things. Acquarium, shopping, flea market, bondi beach, botanical garden, etc. Was nice and was really nice to upgrade from the ghetto to a hotel. Ahhh, really nice for a change actually. Then it was up up and away. Bye to me pops and back to LA for me. Then from LA, onward bound to the Seattle area. Which, I recently arrived at and am chillin' hanging with familia, amigos and my favorite dog in the whole wide world, little Piglet. Who is looking very suave in her new haircut. Me estomache is still feeling pretty ill. No problem. It's all good. I thought I was like a human pincusion before the trip with all the immunizations but that's nothing compared what the clinics here are doing to me, but hopefully after all this lab work crud I will have some damn good drugs by next week and will be feeling as good as new! I'm pretty confident I'll be back to normal in a jiffy lube. If not...I'm going to be asked to be euthanized. So, now I have a week of cycling and chillin before I have to start my drive back down to California (hopefully without a speeding ticket this time, don't think I can afford another one of those) and return to work. pooper scooper. So that should be it for now. All and all, I had an awesome trip and even with the bad, I would do it again in a heartbeat! It was absolutely in-credible!

PS On a side note, it's kind of eerie but the other day there were bombings in Egypt in Dahab. Crk missed them by a day and a half. Scary.

PS Did y'all know that the time in India varies by 7-1/2 hours. Now I don't know about any of you, but I missed that day in school where they mentioned that there is any timezone that varies by half an hour from the rest of the world. Random, I know, but I had to throw that in there somewhere.

Oh lord.

2006-04-09T02:36:00.000-07:00

Prices in India:

Pizza Hut: 2 personal pan pizzas, 2 sodas, 4 slices of garlic bread, 2 sundaes $ 5.00 inc tip
McDonalds: Chicken Maharaja Mac Meal (that's right, you heard me) $ 2.50
A 31 hour train ride $25.00
Double Hotel Accomodations $ 7.00 (avg)
Gasoline $1/litre
Taxi Ride (maybe 3 miles) $2
2-1/2 hour taxi ride to airport $8
An India equivalent of a mocha frapaccino $1
A 1.5L bottle of soda $1
Mentos $0.25
Naan $0.50
Average Indian wage per day (per Lonely Planet) $1.25
Indian Meal ie. Rice and dish $1.50
Can of Pineapple $1.33
Oranges and Bananas (fresh) $0.25/lb
Value of Captain Crk's stolen stuff - bank
Me getting the H E double hockey sticks out of India after beign sick for weekage - priceless.

yacks and winding roads.

2006-03-21T05:23:00.000-08:00

The family we met invited us to visit them in Assam, where they live. Since our travels were coming too close to an end in India and that was heading further from mumbai, we couldn't make it happen, but if it were any earlier in our trip. we would have totlaly gone out of our way to visit because they were just that cool.
In NJP (where the train drops off then you have to catch a taxi to Darjeeling from there) we forgot to touch base with the fellas to find out where the competition was. We caught our shared taxi which wound through the most magnificent mountains. So...the jeep we were in had 11 people in it including the driver. first row, 3 people, second row 4 people and the trunk area had a bench on either side so the 4 of us in the trunk area sat facing each other. There was a married couple maybe in their 40's I guess facing us. I was sitting across from the lady. So...winding through this amazing mountains...she starts belching. Like...loud belches. No problem. I was thinking, lady...if you yack on me I am going to hurt you. She just kept eating too. oy. So we did wind up taking a rest stop after she had to spin around and yack out the window. nice. oy. 3 hours after leaving NJP we arrived in Darjeeling. This hillside town whose streets wind back and forth traversing the mountainside is so incredible. It is definately in the top 3 cities so far. Only downfall is the level of exhaust on the streets leaves me almost nautious after a day of walking around. We checked into Andy's Guesthouse after looking at a few very curious hotels. One of which had green turf, green walls, green bedspreads. Basically everything green. Judging by the smell it was perhaps to cover up the mold...not really sure. But...that place didn't make the cut. Andy's guesthouse was a well kept for sure. We walked around town and got some tibetan food which was a welcomed change from Indian food. Go Momo's!!! And called it day.

Mr. India and the Nuclear Family.

2006-03-21T05:09:00.000-08:00

Once on the train bound for Darjeeling, we put our bags under the sleeper bed and this @$$ came in and didn't like our bags here they were because this was a 3 tiered sleeper and he wanted a particular place under the bed to put his bag. Now. Tiny and Vishnu (our backpacks) were placed where they were so they were out of the way and there was plenty of room for his bag under the seat but just not in the exact allocated region of the under bed storage compartment. So...he beeyatched enough (all the while, this really sweet lady, Bonnie, was trying to be a mediator and translate for the dude) So we moved the bag so that he could put his bag in the particular area by his head under the bed. Then he complained that our bags were hanging our from udner the bed (which is incidentally why we arranged them in the way we did...so it would have the least impact on everyone in our cabin.) whatever. After getting that fiasko taken care of we chatted with Bonnie who was about our age and traveling with her husband, William, and her 4-1/2 year old son Jason. He was totally the cutest kid we have seen in India. No joke. Totally happy, smiley, laughing little fella. They bought us coffee which, since it was from a train and all, I was a little hestitant about drinking, but it as actually descent. We then noticed the other guys that joined us as our neighbors in the train. The big hulk like dudes. Bonnie, being Mrs. Social asked them about their bulk. Turns out they were bodybuilders. No Joke!! This totally made sense, but I guess we didn't really think of India of having huge body builders, it didn't really occur to us. They were on tehir way to Darjeelingto compete on behalf of the Services for the Mr. India title of bodybuilding. We totally made friends ith one of the dudes. The biggest one of course. For a multitude of reasons...his english was definately the best, he liked playing with Jason (which meant he was friendly) and makeing friends with a huge bodybuilder seemed like a good idea...can we say...protection. Oh yeah. I mean, who is going to mess with a 120kg dude, nor anyone he is chatting with. Brilliant.

Then William (Bonnie's husband) bought us peanuts, and Bonnie gave us oranges and raisons (all of which we said wasn't necessary, but they totally insisted). They were a totally cute little nuclear familia. After snacks and chatting we went to sleep making this our 3rd night on a train... : (

The Adventures of Captain Crk and Keny

2006-03-21T05:05:00.000-08:00

We left from chennai bound for the train station and a train ride to darjeeling via kolkata. we weren't sure if we needed permits for darjeeling because many of the northeastern states require permits to visit, so we were stopping off in chennai to check since no one could tell us definatively. Now...we've heard some stories from people about how the trains int eh north of india are significantly different than the trains in the south part of india. basically we've heard that the people are not as cool. so as a result we decided to bump up the level we were traveling up a notch to accomidate this change of people quality. so we figured, no problem. ha ha. The trainride from Chennai to Kolkata is a mere 31 hour train ride. no problem. Upon arrival we decided we hadn't had enough so Crk and Keny booked our ticket to continue on to Darjeeling. While at the train station I found these dudes that were huge but appeared to be Indian. (which by the way is very abnormal) They were totally ripped. They looked like they were on a team of some sort but I couldn't nail down what sport they woud have played because they were so built. I consulted with Captain Crk. We were totally perplexed. We gave up trying to guess and got on our train. (by the way...we have gotten some really interesting spellings for our names on the outside of the train. Sometimes we have last names, sometimes we don't, sometimes our last name is squeezed together with our first names. I think they are just not quite sure what to do with our names. Crk and Keny was by far the best listing of our names. So from here on out...it is the adventures of Captain Crk and Keny)

leaving chennai

2006-03-20T08:57:00.002-08:00

Oy. The taxi ride leaving chennai was hillarious. Now...the horns on the rickshaw drivers vehicles tend to vary significantly from one rickshaw to another and you never know what you are going to get. Usually it is a regular horn. However we have had the one that sounds like a dying duck. But this last one takes the cake. He wasn't really using the horn. Which is really abnormal for any rickshaw driver. Then...he squeezed it. The thing looked and sounded like a toot from a clowns nose. It was all we could do from not laughing so hard as to fall right out of the rickshaw. I have got a video on my camera of this horn in action. If my camera doesn't act up again, it's possible you all might get to hear this rugged and manly horn.

change to blog

2006-03-12T09:19:00.000-08:00

sorry y'all. didn't know it was making everyone register to post a comment. I changed that, so now anyone should be able to post comments or you can just keep emailing me instead if you like. whatever. : )

tired. short posting. again.

2006-03-12T08:43:00.000-08:00

I'm tired. just posting because I keep getting emails that it's time to make another posting. so.
left hampi, went south, Allepey. Caught a river ride from there and toured the backwaters. spent the night in an Ashram where Amma lives (who is a person that is believed to be spiritually gifted I guess you could say) but she wasn't there, she's on tour. The boat came early the next day to pick us up and we missed it. A little bitter about that. oh yeah. on the boat ride my jenky camera (^#$&%&*(%) said low battery, corrupted data, e51 and then proceeded to take my memory card out with it...followed by "no image". I am sooooo not happy with my camera right now. So basically I'm starting over from scratch. um okay, don't want to talk about that. grrrrrr!*%&(*#. So we went with this french filmaker and his "assistant" to Cochi (They missed the boat with us), spent the night there, then caught the train out to Madras, which is where we are. We did some clothes shopping because some new yorker chick we met on a boat ride in Fort Cochi said it's best to dress Indian when going to the north, which is the direction we are headign next. So now I have an outfit to blend, minus the whole thing that I'm not exactly Indian. But maybe I'll blend. Have been called Japanese, Canadian, American, Spanish, Phillipino, Chinese and Mexican so far. Umm yeah. Have considered making up an island and telling people that is where I am from. We have found, when you say you are from the US, the prices tend to increase. hmmm. It's funny too, because the only time I've every had much money (or better put...FELT like I had money) was last week when I went to the ATM to get money and the receipt converted my account into rupees. Ahhh, yes, that was oh so nice! Remember Christy, when you went to Canadia and their atm did that to you and you were so stoked? Till I burst your bubble and told you that was Canadian dollars. Imagine that, only multiplied by 40. No problem. I am going to frame that atm receipt when I get home. Anywho. So tomorrow we attempt to go to calcutta but we haven't booked our train ticket yet so we'll see how that goes. I'm tired, and sorry this doesn't really explain much, but I'll tell you guys all the details when I see you. Would show you pictures, but... baaaa!

Architecture schtuff...the ruins...

2006-03-12T07:17:00.000-08:00

Not all that much better of an inet connection, but we'll see. here goes.
So a quick little bit about the little architecture and impression of these here parts...
I think coming from a western country such as the US and seeing India from that perspective is such an incredibly intense experience. The countryside is scattered with poverty and garbage but the landscape is so gorgeous and as are many of the people. the ruins from times past lie right outside a now populated city whose economy is primarily reliant on tourism to the ruins. The ruins themselves are magnificently carved and designed structures that are partially recognisable as tradiditonal Indian architecture...but...with some buildings seeming almost greek acropolis styling in nature. (seriously). Palaces, bath houses, temples are spread across the valley as are ice cream, mineral water, postcard and sticker vendors...as well as rickshaw drivers (of course!). The granite post-lintel construction of some of the temples seems out of place among the ornately sculpted temples adorn with plethora of symbolism. the phenomenal artistry level represented in the sculpture work throughout is remarkably precise and just incredible. These are the same sculptures that showed up in my textbooks, but they are just so unbelievable in person. With the mere ruins being so incredible I couldn't even fathom how extraordinary places such as this would have been back in their prime when they were thriving. The ruins are wicked cool.

Just a quick note...

2006-03-02T02:40:00.000-08:00

This connection is kind of booty so it's going to be short. Met up with the French dudes, hillarious. Thought I would die laughing. Was great company. However, we discovered cops in Anjuna are shady characters. Big story about that later. Lounged around in Anjuna. Switched guesthouses and stayed at a much better family run place. Super clean and hot showers. Went on motorcycle ride. Was a bit wigged out, but...no problem. Left Anjuna, bus was waaaaay late. Wound up on a local ghetto bus for 4ish hours to meet up with our real bus which was broken down somewhere. Supposed to be a 11 hour bus ride, really more like 16-17 hour bus ride. Sleeper bus. When the dude hit potholes the whole bus would let out a little scream as us folks on the top story almost hit the cealing, then came crashing back down on the bed. No problem. In Hampi now. Lots of incredible ruins here. Have seen them at University in my architecture textbooks, but nothing like seeing them in person. It's unimaginable. Wicked crazy cool hot doggy to the max ace groovy. basically. Um, lots more to tell, but connection is too slow. Going to explore around these here parts tomorrow and then perhaps on to Bangalore the next night...

Hippyville + India = Anjuna

2006-02-27T03:43:00.000-08:00

We took a bus over from Panaji to Mapusa and then on to Anjuna. We met someone really nice on the bus right. He just started talking to us and was just super nice guy that helped us transfer buses in Mapusa to the bus that goes to Anjuna. We arrived in Anjuna and walked around looking for somewhere to stay. We wound up staying at a place the lonely planet book recommended, but um, I really don't think we were staying in the same room taht the lonely planet author stayed in. yeah. We paid for 2 nights so we will be staying there again tonight then switching to a nice family run Mary's Guesthouse down the road for tomorrow night. Much cleaner, nice family, friendly, very pleasant atmosphere. Yesterday we lived a life of leisure and walked around and did basically nothing but lounged. It was great! We were walking back to...our palace on the beach (or something) and we met some french dudes that were on motorcycles. They were hillarious. So we got a drink with them and hung out for a bit. It was really nice company. They wern't a big fan of Americans and practically told us to jump off a cliff when they found out we were American, but then we smoothed things over with them and it was actually quite nice. We may meet up with them in a bit to grab dinner together and hang out. We'll see.

Today I woke up and went out to the hotel restaurant to have a soda and just kick back and write a postcard to my favorite mother (brownie points right mw). Then this Bavarian dude sat down at my table (you know how those German folks are right Anne). And started chatting with me. He was actually really nice and it was nice to chat about traveling with him. Chris (the German dude) traveled in SE Asia and around a bit, then to Australia but I missed him there by about 3 days, then to India. He's going in a similar general direction as us so we may cross paths again, but since it's a big country...who knows.

We are going to be around these here parts tomorrow and then hit up the Wednesday market here and then take a night train to Hampi from here. Theoretically. So I'll chat with y'all in a few, from Hampi or around those parts!

oh yeah. by the way, it's super hippy here. lots of hippies that somehow got in a time warp and wound up in these parts. Quite a few older white dudes with tie dye and long grey hair mobbin' the streets on their scooters. It's great. It's also Tecno mecca. A couple clubs and Tecno music in the restaurants. crazy dude.

Goooooo uhhh.

2006-02-27T03:25:00.000-08:00

Yo yo yo! What's a crackin' witch y'all? Hope everyone is doing just splendid. I am in Ajunta, Goa right now. That's right T-dawg...goooooo uhhhhh. ; ) We arrived in Goa via the overnight bus. Now. At first this was a posh bus that the seats reclined. They seemed ("seemed" being the operative word) to be more comfortable than airplane seats so we were pleasnatly surprised. 14 hour bus ride "no problem" C and I thought. Well. Not so much. After about 5 hours our booties were killing. So then you start shifting every hour or so from one cheek to the other in an effort to get comfortable. We think it may have been the angle of the seats, dunno. Anywho was an interesting ride on so many levels. We would often wake up to a honk and the bus jerking to one side, followed by a car zooming by in the other direction. Then a jerk back to the other side of the road. He drove this big @$$ bus like it was one of those little rickshaws. Crazy. At any rate, we arrived semi-traumatized, but alive.

We went to Panjim first. Spend one night there. Saw their carnival. Lots of floats and lots of tourists, both Indian and from abroad. Was a totally different crowd once we reached goa. Women wearing jeans, tank tops. Regular casual clothing. Very relaxed mellow atmosphere overall. We stayed at some dude's house that was called "Park Lane Lodge". Really...it was some dude's attic that had been partitioned into several rooms for tourists. A little hoody, but alright. We got up the next morning really early since check out time was 8am (good lord) and made our way for the bus station.

a quick thanks...

2006-02-24T03:35:00.000-08:00

so back to the bed bug bites...forgot to tell Shannon, Craig and Yvette thanks. The day after I got them (the bites) they had this funny ring thing around them. I kinda freaked out, reminded me of a small scale version of all those nasty bug/spider bite pictures we were looking at right before I left. And those stories of people having to have flesh cut out to remove the flesh eating bacteria from spider/bug bites. Thanks guys! You guys are great!!!

oh yeah...

2006-02-23T22:19:00.000-08:00

almost forgot. So my ausie bed bug bites are still here 1 week later. no problem. homeyslice is covered it mosquito bites. I'm sure glad I'm not. Hawaii mosquitos and Cali mosquitos don't like me usually but the Kaiser chick said the Indian mossies would like me so she made me all paranoid, but I'm trying desperately to prove her wrong. Down with malaria beeyatch!

16 million people and constant honking...

2006-02-23T21:15:00.000-08:00

How ya'll doing? So...right now I am in an inet cafe in Mumbai. It has been such an interesting couple of days. Where to start...I've got so much to say, but I'm lazy, so we'll see how far I get.

Plane left Sydney and stopped off in Darwin. On that leg of the trip I was sitting next to a really nice Indian lady that was totally helpful and informative and was just overall delightful. She said she would help me get a pre-paid taxi upon arrival into Mumbai and make sure I didn't get ripped off...aka "Tourist rates". Everything was hunky dory, bonding and all that shiznat. Then we got off for the stopover and...kinda good, kinda bad, I got upgraded so my seat changed. Went back to her seat to tell her and she said to meet up outside customs. No problem. So, went through customs, and the lady got pulled aside at customs and they went somewehre to search her bags. oy. So I waited about 10-15 minutes and she didn't come out of the little room. Not sure what that was about. She seemed normal. So, was getting worried, so I figured out the taxi stuff myself. It was the most insane taxi ride I've ever been on. I don't think there is such a thing as a "rules of the road" manual in India. Everything goes. Especially the horn. I swear, he must have been laying on the horn half the ride. It was late at night, so there were people camped out everywehre along the roadside. Mini-bonfires here and there along the road wehre people were cooking. Maybe 15 feet off the main road people threw down a blanket and that is where they spent the night. It's not really that they are homeless in the sense we're used to, but rather, that is their home. Anywho. We got lost. He couldn't find the hotel. 2-1/2 hours later, we arrived. No joke. Met up with my partner in crime. Was sooo good to see a familiar face. There are just so many people here it's crazy. It's like new york...on steroids. Like...way worse. Crazy dude. So, it was late, so I slept. Slept in until around 6am ish, when the honking of cars started in again.

Since then we've been walking around and seeing the city. Taking crazy taxi rides and bus rides and eating Indian food (I'm a little paranoid about getting sick, but whatever). Tonight we are catching a bus to Goa. It's going to be a 14ish hour bus ride. No problem. I am actually looking forward to getting outta mumbai. There are 16 million people in Mumbai. I'm not sure if it is the same way everywhere in India, but hopefully it is a little more mellow elsewhere. If not, I think the both of us will be insane by the time we leave for Egypt. No problem.

Did the bed bugs bite?

2006-02-20T13:54:00.000-08:00

So...I'm in Australia, Sydney actually. Yeah, totally stayed in the ghetto last night. It was quite delightful. I think my right arm alone has approximately 15 little bites of some sort on it. No Problem. So...to backtrack a little bit. I left Olympia, and drove up to Olympia, and got a ticket on the way. No problem. Yup. First speeding ticket. Blaaaaah. Um, then spent a few days in Olympia hanging out with my favorite mom. Then I ditched little Piglet and left for LA. I spent about a week in LA hanging out with Julie, Marcus, Anne, Jean-Luc and some other cool peeps. It was really really really cool to hang with the group, it's been almost freakin a decade since we all hung out together! How crazy!!!! Time flies. We went to hollywood, drove around a bit, went to PV, partied a bit, Anne fell off a curb and spend the time on crutches! (hope you're feeling better Anne!) Then I left for the airport, which sucked because they all got to spend another ngiht hanging out together, but that's how it goes I guess. Hope you guys had a miserable time without me and just wallowed the whole time. (just kidding, hope you partied the night away and have more curb stories and photos from the night.) So I got to the airport, got on the plane and 13 hours later I was in Sydney. Took a bus to the center or centre of sydney and the hostel I wanted to stay at was full, so I stayed at a different one that was ghettoooooo. It's all good. A little stuffy int he room, kinda dirty banos, rooms small, low ceilings, and overall a bit dingy. This morning in about 4 mintues, I am getting off the net and checking out and checking into a different hostel. The one I originally wanted. Can't wait. Tomorrow morning I get on the plane again and 13 hours later I will be in Mumbai, with any luck!