Ladakh Sucks

This is a lie, but it's what I'll tell people if they ask me. It's just my luck that I would find the coolest place in India then have to rush out of here because my visa expires on the third. Actually this place doesn't feel like India at all. Maybe that's why it's so appealing. I'm already thinking about coming back here either next year or the year after and spending the whole season here - which lasts from July until about mid September.

Leh sits at 3500 meters in elevation and the ride here took us up as high as 5600 meters. The road we took was the second highest motorable road in the world. I'm sure everyone on the bus was feeling the effects of altitude sickness. We camped for the night in what some believed to be below freezing temperatures. It was cold, but I don't think it was that cold. Two guys on the bus are convinced someone died of hypothermia and were replaced so none of us noticed the missing body. Hmmm. There were a few new faces on the bus...

It's a shame I'm only able to spend three days here because it took two days to get up here and will take about 19 hours to get back down to Manali, then another 16 hours to Dehli to catch my flight to Kathmandu. I've decided to fly because of the japanese encephalitis outbreak in Gorakhpur where I would have to go to get a bus to Nepal. I've been vaccinated for j.e., but I've been told that the vaccine isn't 100%, and I went off schedule on the three shot series whcih makes it a bit more risky.

This is sobering

I just read this article off Google news.

http://www.ndtv.com/template/template.asp?template=Health&slug=Encephalitis+death+toll+rises+to+100&id=77660&callid=1&category=National

I have to go to Gorakhpur to get to Nepal. Let me put this another way. I'm taking a train from Dehli to Gorakhpur, then walking 500m to the bus stand and possibly waiting an hour for the bus to the border! It just so happens Japanese encephalitis was the one vaccination I went off the schedule on, which the nurse told me did not guarantee the success of the vaccination. This is making me think I might fly into Nepal instead.

I then read this article which says basically children are more succeptible, it's more informative and better written.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/3839.html

I need to get out of India

I have 13 days left on my visa and haven't seen the Himalayas yet. 13 days sounds like a long time, but it's not. After I post this I'll look up the penalty for overstaying my visa then weigh the consequeces. I was planning on taking a slow and rough journey through Kashmir to get to Leh. That road hugs the line of control between Pakistan and India so mortar shells could be flying. Unfortunately, I won't get to find out. I'll be heading to Dharamsala to high five the Dalai Lama, then head to Mandi for a second before going to a village (Malana) in the Parvati Valley where I'm not allowed to touch anything or anyone. If I do I pay a fine and they have to sacrafice a goat, which I would have to pay for as well. I'm not kidding.

After I posted statistics about Indian men I ran into a real life example during my not so fun journey from Bikaner to Amritsar. I was at the train station in Jalandhar on very little sleep over the two previous nights. One night I was at the very back of the bus (heading to Bikaner) where the seats don't push back and some asshole decided we would sit six in a space for five. The second night the train arrived late (2am) and I slept until around seven when it got too warm to keep sleeping. This was sort of my fault because I bought the train ticket after arriving in Bikaner (on no sleep) and thought Rs 1600 (about $40) was too much to pay, so I paid Rs 250 (about $5) for a non- AC train car. I should've gone with a little less cash and a lot more comfort (and sleep).

I was going to mention the two examples. The guy at the train station started to talk to me. After a while he tells me he's very happy to be talking to me because he has to take an english proficiency test in order to study over seas, his choice being Australia. He's a good guy, intelligent and just curious about my thoughts of India, the U.S., and George Bush. He hit the right button because I'll tell anyone who wants to listen how much I hate Bush and why he's the ultimate asshole. We talked until our respective trains arrived and I wished him luck on his test and getting into university in Australia.

The second guy I met was on the train to Amritsar. I don't know how the conversation led to him asking me this, but the question was why do you dress this way? I didn't understand what he meant so he goes on about how I don't dress nice enough (for who? him?!?) and I could easily afford to dress better.

Let me describe this asshole for you. He's about a five foot six inch pudgy fuck with too much product in his hair which he keeps slicked back. He's got regular slacks and a button down shirt that's not impressing me, and sunglasses on top of his head. As I'm about to answer him his phone rings and he holds up a finger. I thought about snapping the finger backwards.

After he's done with his call he doesn't let me answer and moves on to a different subject. Women. He asks if I'm married or have a girlfriend. I tell him no and he asks me if I'm saying that because I don't want to tell him her name. I'm about to throw f-bombs all over him. Then he asks if I've ever been in love and I say yes. He asks why didn't I marry her. I didn't want to get married. He says so you just used her and dropped her? I can't fucking believe the never of this guy. Voices are getting raised and I'm drawing stares from people on the train. He goes on about how it's my duty to keep the woman I'm in love with and marry her.

Somewhere in that mess of a conversation we agree to disagree. He tells me he's training to be a flight attendant and wants to work on his english. I told him he needs some more work (and wanted to say most male flight attendants are homosexual).

There. Half of the Indian males I had a conversation with were assholes.

There. I said it.

When I was in Hampi I discovered that a lot of people there hate Israelis. Note they hate Israelis, not Jews. This is because Israelis come here because it's close and cheap and they can drink and do drugs all they like, which I guess is not allowed in Israel. It shouldn't be a big deal for them to have a good time, but then they get out of hand. I've heard stories of Israelis not paying for meals or rooms and just leaving. They also treat the locals like they are beneath them. These are the same people once persecuted by the Nazis, curious. I don't think the Israeli people visiting India are much acting like the chosen people.

After I left Hampi and went to north India where all the tourists are, I finally saw first hand how Israelis act towards locals. The stories I heard are true. I've witnessed both men and women act like complete assholes and treat every local they encountered like a sub-human. The fucked up thing is the people of India know Israelis count for a lot of their tourism so they try to make the Israelis feel more comfortable by doing things like having Israeli food on the menu.

A guy I ran into was a total dick to me because he mistook me for being Indian. I have met Israelis who are good people. One of them felt like she had to apologize when she told people she's from Israel. I know how she feels. The other was kind of a drugged out rasta dude. He was way out there, but he was nice and cool to everyone.

That was my main observation. the other ones I want to make are:

I believe half of the men in India are assholes and I'm not the only one. A question a French guy asked me was if I was able to meet and have a good talk with any locals. I can count on my hands how many friendly people I've met here who haven't tried to screw me. At least I'm not a woman. Someone in Mamallapuram pointed out to me that women (travellers) are seena s money bags or whores and have to dispell this quickly. Men as just seen as money bags, maybe whores by some.

99% of rickshaw drivers are definately assholes, but everyone knows by now I'm a bit biased.

I've got a fever of a hundred and three

I ate something bad and have been bed ridden for the past two days. I think it may have been the samosas I bought from a street vendor listed in Lonely Planet. I don't quite trust the doctors diagnosis because he didn't bother to do the routine things like check my blood pressure and listen to my breathing. It less than two minutes he told me it was travellers diarrhoea and prescribed me some drugs that are making me loopy, but no longer feverish. My fever was almost 104 degrees. After his diagnosis I had to give him some baksheesh ( bribe or offering). At that point I didn't care, I needed to stop feeling horrible. In the haze of my fever I nearly wrote my last will and testament. Because of my illness I will probably skip out on the camel safari I had planned.

The past two days have been pretty hellish as Jaisalmer is fucking hot. Fortunately it's dry desert heat, but I have been dehydrated as well. I was extremely weak and stopped sweating until just a few hours ago when I took an electrolyte drink to help me retain water. I'm supposed to stay here for a few more days to make sure it's nothing too serious. My self diagnosis told me it was either typhoid, heat stroke, or again possibly malaria. I ruled out typhoid because I remembered the vaccination I took in pill form. Malaraia as I stated previously has all kinds of symptoms. Heat stroke seemed likely because I was walking for five hours during the hottest part of the day a couple days ago and according to LPs health section I had a lot of the symptoms, one being aggressiveness. I nearly picked a fight with a local because he snapped his fingers at me to move my bag, sat too close to me, and started to sing (every male here is a contestant for Indian Idol).

So my plans are still to go up to Ladakh to see the Himalayas before the roads close due to snow. The later I go the less touristy it will be. Afterwards I still plan on going to Nepal to meet up with a friend of two Canadian girls I met in Goa. I will probably only have a short time in Thailand before I meet up with the folks in Vietnam, but that's fine since I have a lot of time in southeast asia. I do have to be in Thailand on 8 October to celebrate the birthday of a woman I met in Mamallapuram.

Ouch! Stomach cramps.

Rajasthan

I've got a wicked headache right now. I've been in Rajasthan for over a week now. My first stop was in Pushkar. I didn't like the laid back lifestyle at first, but then it grew on me. My next stop was Udaipur, the most romantic city in India. I thought it was crap and people all around me were getting sick (stomach) from something so I decided to get out of there. I'm in Jaisalmer now and may be setting out for a camel safari the day after tomorrow.

I need to go lay down.

Goodbyes and monkeys

I said a very quick goodbye to Mark and Lucy. I felt like I got kicked in the gut when they drove away in the rickshaw. It's the same feeling I had when Iain, Adrian, and I parted ways as well as with Gerald and Hermance.

It doesn't take long for me to get used to having people around me, especially when travelling with them. If they are like minded people, it's a quick and strong connection because we spend most of the day together. Because of the amount of time spent together, we get to know each other fairly quickly and they become my surrogate family for the time we are together.

. . .

I'm in Agra now and saw the Taj Mahal this morning as I arrived on the train. The hotel I'm staying at has a perfect view of the Taj from it's roof top. While I was sitting up there listening to Weezer (Holiday) and doing a little bit of writing, a good sized monkey appeared just three feet away from me. I was a bit startled cause it knocked over a chair. We stared at each other for a moment and I looked away feigning boredom. What I really thought was if it lost the stare down it would get pissed and chew off my face. It just ate the mango peels someone left out and went down the side of the building.

Speaking of monkeys there is only one black faced monkey with a long prehenstile tail living in Varanasi. This monkey rules the neighborhood and strikes fear in the hearts of all the other monkeys. When it leaps from building to building it's one of the most graceful things I've ever seen. The neighborhood people scream and shout out of love and hate for it when it appears in the morning and evening.

The black faced monkey is a smart one as well. One of the guys in the neighborhood attacked it with a stick. The monkey followed the guy back to his room and waited for him to come out. A small monkey is intimidating enough, but the black faced one looks like it's the size of a small child.

I can't think of a title

The bus ride from Chennai was trying, but nowhere near the hell of the bus leaving Goa. I arrived in bangalore early in the morning, and woke up to a street lined with healthy green trees. I wasn't sure I was in India, until we turned the corner and there were cows and other sorts of livestock roaming the streets. Bangalore is one of the IT capitals in India being ultra modern and classic India without the feeling of hopelessness I had in Mumbai. Bangalore could pass for any "western" city with all the positives and negatives.

After not being able to find a place within my budget, I booked a train to Hospet later that night. I bummed around Bangalore and saw the Fantastic Four movie. It was crap. Don't go to see it. I bargained with three rickshaw drivers before I found a resonable offer and got back to the train station. The train was my first air conditioned train. I wanted a regular sleeper, but would have been wait listed so I decided to just pay the extra money. I expected something grand. My bedding was damp and little cockroaches were running around in the coach. Bollocks.

The next morning I talked to the big white guy who was in the berth behind mine. Both Mark and his wife Lucy are of British descent, and both live in Hong Kong. Lucy was born there and Mark has lived there for eleven years. You can see the gears grind to a halt when people ask us where we are from.

Mark suggested I should take an autorickshaw with them to Hampi and split the cost. We've now been hanging out for over a week. I ran into them at a perfect time because I was sick of making decisions and being hassled. Mark is good at making things happen and because he's 6'3" and according to him, funny looking, people don't even look at me. They can't even see me sometimes.

Hampi was amazing, but raining most of the time we were there. I can see myself going back and spending a month wandering around. We got a place across the river from the bazaar. There were at most five other travelers on that side of the river, so it was nice and peaceful. The countless boulders and green rice paddies were what we woke up to everyday. Although the mosquitoes were killers at night because of all the stagnant water from the paddies. I had to trade my Tevas in for shoes at night and the only exposed part of my body was my head. The mosquitoes were biting Mark through his pants! We were eaten alive.

Mark, Lucy and I enjoyed the slow pace of life in Hampi for five days before making the long haul trip to Varanasi. We spent three nights on two different trains to get here. I'm slowly reaclimating to the heat and the pollution. Tomorrow I'm heading to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and they are going to Kolkatta. I'm trying to sort out when I'm heading to Nepal, Bangkok, and Vietnam. The dates on all the flights are open. The only thing I have to do is meet the folks in Vietnam on October 15.