Bangkok (Dec 25)

I flew from Kunming to India with a one-night stopover in Bangkok.

I arrived in Bangkok in the evening and walked for hours with my "rucksack," which I learned is what Europeans call a backpacker's backpack, searching for a hotel that Daxiong had recommended. However, I could not find it, and settled on a dorm bed for the night. I considered being social and chatting with the travelers downstairs. When I overheard them complaining about America and Iraq that put me off, and I decided not to join them. After dropping my rucksack off, I went out for a walk, enjoying Thailand's unique atmosphere, where girls, ladyboys, and the like, relentlessly offer their services. 

At breakfast, I met Tara, an eighteen-year-old who had spent the previous year sailing the world. We both had flights around the same time so we shared a cab to the airport. We were early and chatted for over an hour before heading to our respective gates. There was a security check, and I was forced to throw away a Swiss-army knife.

My bags were thoroughly searched, and that put me in a bad mood (it always does!). After the search, security helped re-pack my bag. When I arrived at the gate, I could not find my boarding pass. I ran back to the security, but they also did not have it. Security told me I could get another one at the gate, but at the gate they told me I would have to go back out of the terminal to get another boarding bass, which was physically impossible in the time remaining before take-off. I freaked out, and was almost crying. To make a long story short, I finally did a thorough search of my bag, looking in places where the ticket should not have been, and found it in one such place.

I was off to India! It turned out this flight was not direct, though this was not indicated on my ticket. My flight from Kunming to Bangkok the previous day had also been indirect and not indicated on my ticket. I did, however, know about the stop in Bangkok. All in all I had four take-offs and landings within twenty-four hours.

Madras (Dec 26)

After landing in Madras, I used an ATM. I thought I would need the cash to buy a ticket to Bangalore, but this was not the case. I did, however, need the Indian rupees to call my friend, Kathy, who I would be meeting in Bangalore that afternoon. My flight was to leave in two hours. I walked past the ATM machine I had just used and the guard motioned towards me. I realized I did not have my ATM card. The guard said I would have to go to the city to get it, and for the second time that day my heart stopped. Then he went to the back room and got my card. He asked me for a tip, which I gave him, relieved to have my card back and overlooking the fact that I must have been scammed.

Though it seemed I had plenty of time to make my flight, poor service and communication made things hectic, and it seemed I might miss it. A man my age, Chris, who was also on my flight, introduced himself and helped me through the check-in and security process. It turned out our flight was delayed, but he could have missed the flight in his effort to help me, and I was grateful. He kept saying it was Christmas so he was doing his good deeds. The flight was bumpy and Chris, who sat on my left, and another man sitting on my right both felt sick and looked to be close to throwing up.

Slow Beginning

Bangalore (Dec 26 - Dec 30)

Meeting up with Kathy

After landing in Bangalore, Chris let me use his cell to arrange meeting my friend Kathy at a KFC in the main part of the city. He then took me, via rickshaw, to meet her, first stopping at his home, where I looked at a bunch of his pictures. On my first rickshaw ride, I saw cows walking in the middle of the street, completely interfering with traffic.

At KFC, I opted not to order any food. I did not want my first meal in India to be KFC! Kathy and I were excited to meet in India and, after chatting, decided it was time to find me a place to stay. She did not know much about hotels and after she discussed the situation with Chris, they decided it would be best if Chris would help me find a place, while Kathy and her friends would go relax somewhere. Every place nearby was sold out and we found a place two miles away.

I met up with Kathy and her friends for a dinner. Kathy thought one of our waiters was cute, but lost interest when he showed an interest in her. After dinner we went to the attached pub, where there was a contest. If you could drink three liters of beer it would be free. I was excited when one guy did it! I followed him to the bathroom but he did not vomit much.

First day sightseeing

The next day I went sightseeing on my own. Shortly after leaving my hotel three curious kids said hello to me, and I joined them as they paid their water bill. I spent over a half-hour with them, walking around and not talking much as they did not speak English. After they paid their bill, the kids went home and I continued my walk through a park, and then throughout the city.

After a couple of hours I had had enough walking. Conveniently, a rickshaw driver offered to take me around for the rest of the day for only 20 rupees (about 50 cents). He explained that he would have to take me to some shops. I said that I would definitely not buy anything. He said no problem. He later explained that he would get a liter of gas from every shop he took me to. Going into the shops was not so bad, though it was difficult to even feign interest as each shop had practically the same merchandise. The sightseeing was not bad, though I did not see anything worth mentioning. When we got to the botanical gardens, my driver said I should not get a guide. I did not understand his pronunciation of the word "guide," so he clarified, saying " 'g' 'a' i' 'd', guide." 

At an unmemorable temple that we stopped at, I carried my sandals inside instead of leaving them in front. Appropriately, I got yelled at by the guard, who said this was not my country, and I had to follow their rules. I decided not to go in the temple at all, but after walking the grounds, gave in, leaving my shoes at front and seeing this nothing temple for five minutes.

That night, I met up with Kathy and her friends and we had "continental" food, which is what they call American/European food. Then we went to a club, which was fun but not particularly Indian.

Next day with Chris

Sir, what is your problem in life?

Saturday morning Chris met at my hotel. When we left my hotel room, there was a hotel worker in the hallway who Chris felt was being too nosy, so Chris asked him, "What is your problem in life?" 

We decided to see a movie, and I said I'd prefer an Indian film to an American one, but we ended up seeing "Love Actually," an extremely cheesy American film. Before the movie started we had lunch together. Chris wanted to redeem coupons we were given when we got off our flight from Madras. We were entitled to a free lunch and a free toy.

The lunch coupon had to be redeemed in a shopping mall's food court, and we did not have a choice regarding what to eat. It was one of the worse meals I had in India, but I did not know that at the time.

Please remove that roach. And put out the cigarette. And Jeremy, here's a good joke for you.

After lunch, we walked by a pastry shop, where I pointed out a roach inside the display case. Chris promptly complained and then asked to speak to the manager, even though we were not planning to buy anything. Chris ordered the workers to get rid of the roach and helped them track it down. Chris's odd behavior kept me entertained throughout the day. In one of the rickshaws he ordered the driver to put out his cigarette. Chris told me a joke that I could not get myself to fake laugh at, I was only able to fake a tiny grin. He asked, "What does s-i-l-k spell?" He followed that up with, "What does a cow drink?" I answered water, and not the expected milk. 

Day trip to Mysore

On Monday I took a day trip to Mysore, a three-hour bus-ride from Bangalore. I arrived at 1 PM and met up with Chris's friend, Bharat, who took me around on his motorcycle for the day.

This chai stuff is not bad.

I saw a bird sanctuary, some country side, and a couple of palaces and temples. It was fun chatting with Bharat and riding on the back of his motorcycle. The palace is the only sight worth mentioning, which I looked at for five minutes at the end of the day. The highlight of the day was stopping at his friend's gas station, where we had some chai. It was my first time having chai, and I was like, "What is this? It's good." I was told that it was Indian tea.

In the late afternoon, a large piece of dust flew into my eye and refused to come out. It was quite painful, and I could not open my eye. I had to go to an eye-clinic to have it removed, and finding such a clinic took an hour. In Philly, I once I had the same thing happen and had to go to the emergency room. The doctor agreed with me that I might be prone to this, and I was not sure if he was joking or not.

At a temple in which I was not allowed to enter, Bharat and I had some masala-puris for dinner. I went to catch a luxury bus (meaning a bus that is worse, but not that much worse, than Greyhound quality) back to Bangalore at 9, but after waiting a half-hour, someone told Bharat that the bus may not be coming, so I took a regular bus (below, but similar to, school-bus quality) instead. Bharat warned me that my joints might ache afterward.

The Indian nod

During my first few days, I found the nods and head shaking of the head that indicate "yes," or "it's all good," quite amusing. It looks like the person nodding is doing the figure 8 horizontally with their head over and over again.

Indian British relationship

After arriving in India, I sensed the strange relationship with England. I asked Chris about it. He said the British used the Indians as body bags in conflicts, sending in Indians to die for their cause instead of fighting themselves, just as the US did in Afghanistan and Iraq with UN troops. His comparison to the US annoyed me, but I am used to anti-US sentiment. He mentioned that the British took much of India's gold and thus wealth, but also brought some good things. Despite his comment about the US, he said he wants to move there and take his mom and sister with him. His father died a long time ago, and his sister's husband also died recently. He said Indian people do not treat his family properly, looking down upon raising kids alone, thus looking down on his mother and his sister.

Goa (Dec 31 - Jan 5)

Off to Goa, not Madras as originally planned

Kathy's grandfather, who lived in Madras, passed away the day we were planning to go to Madras together, so Kathy headed there. Instead of joining her I took the bus to Goa, which is supposed to be "the place" to spend the New Year. It is a well-known beach and party area, like the Jersey or Delaware shore. It is on the western coast of India, the Arabian Sea.

The bus took eighteen hours instead of the expected thirteen, and I arrived in Goa at noon on Wednesday. I could not get a sleeper seat, and was lucky to get a regular seat. The ride was bumpy and I hit my head a few times.  I also saw some beautiful countryside from the bus. Upon arrival in Goa, I took two local busses to one of it's beach towns, Vagator, and then walked around searching for a hotel room. Most were sold out but I eventually found one - a cement floor with one plastic seat and a rock hard bed with no bathroom, for eight dollars a day, quite expensive for India. I preferred this room over one other that I had seen that was available, which had been simply too creepy to take. It was not so much the toilet, from which a huge lizard jumped out at me, as it was the hotel's isolated location.  I dropped my bags in my room and headed to the beach, which I was not impressed by. I was back at my hotel at 7:30 PM, and had a few hours to kill before going to a New Year's Party. I hung out with an Israeli neighbor of mine at the hotel, who was lying in a hammock smoking pot, before going to a party he recommended and would be heading to later.

The party was outdoors, at a place called Hilltop. By midnight, there were thousands of people lying around, dancing, and smoking pot. Many people were also on E as well (I found this out later. This allowed them to party for days straight). It was not my scene and I left early, after a few hours.

Nice day on the beach

The next morning I took a taxi to the main tourist beach, in a town called Baga. On the way there, from the road, I could hear the music from Hilltop. The party was still going on and would be for a couple more days. When people take E they stay up for hours.

Though the beach was touristy, I much preferred it to the beach in my town. It stretched for miles. I found a restaurant that had chairs you could use as long as you purchased food from them. I had a nice day. I read, ate, got a massage, and met a Wesleyan professor, who had an apartment right by where I grew up in Manhattan, on 86th and Columbus. In the evening, when I paid my bill, the manager was reluctant to give me my change. When I insisted, the manager finally did give me change, but gave me the incorrect amount. The manager said to wait a minute and implied that he would give me the rest, but after a few minutes, still had not given it to me, and I was getting annoyed. I asked what was going on and he said I should just give it to him as a tip. At that point, I was really annoyed. Tipping there is not customary, and the way they went about trying to steal my money really bothered me. I gave them a piece of my mind about their service and when they finally they gave me the rest of my change, one man made some nasty comment, something like, "Americans!"

I was starting to not like India.

Hitchhiking home

From the beach I had trouble catching a rickshaw back to my town, so I hitchhiked. One thing led to another and I ended up spending the night with friends of the man I had hitchhiked with. After eating some of their home-cooked lamb, and fake-laughing at one joke after another (these were jokes of the type that Chris had told me earlier), I joined two of them who went to play snooker. We stopped for beer, and the driver opened his beer and put it between his legs as he drove.

I decided to do my pushup workout while they played, and one of them said he could do more pushups than I could. I went first, and did 63. He only got to 55, but seemed to stop because of a breathing problem, not because his muscles were tired. He then showed off his huge bicep. He said he used to do 1200 pushups a day, and 400 pull-ups.  It was interesting to spend the evening with some Indian guys my age. They told me they refer to girls as "sharks," if they are big, and "king fish," if they are slim. If they say "I want to fuck him," this meant "I want to beat him up." I did not explain what it meant where I am from.

A few random stories

The guy who did 55 pushups told me a couple of stories. 

He and his best friend were high. They decided to play a game by train tracks, where you let the train get as close to you as possible before jumping out of the way. His friend jumped too late and as the train hit him, his body was sliced in half. He said that was why he had seriously cut back on the drugs.

In Varanasi, he was looking for drugs and ended up in a cemetery where some religious people were smoking. He smoked with them and while they were hanging out in the cemetery, a family left their dad baby there. After the family left, a guy he was smoking with walked over and ripped a leg of the baby off and then barbequed it. He said such cannibals were legal in India. In any case, this experience disturbed him immensely.

After snooker, they headed to Hilltop for the ongoing new years party, and I headed home, determined to get out of Goa the next day.

No escape

The next morning, Friday, I got up early and tried to  get a ticket to get out of town, but the soonest I could leave was via train on Monday at 10:30 PM. I was stuck for a few more days. I took my chances and without a hotel reservation headed to Baga, where I took the first room I found. I signed up for an intro course in Scuba diving for the following morning and spent the rest of the day sleeping and relaxing in my room.

Scuba Diving

The next day I went scuba diving for the first time. Two people on the boat recommended I get certified as long as I was there and I took their advice. This gave me something to do for the next two days as well. I made friends with a girl on the boat, Katy, and we had a romantic, but platonic dinner, on the beach.

Panjim and Old Goa

One evening I hired a rickshaw for two hours, to take me to check out Panjim, the capital Goa, and a nearby town, Old Goa, a key city during the time when the Portuguese lived in Goa. I saw some famous sites in Old Goa and the highlight was the church of St. Francis, where I saw St. Francis's 400-year-old preserved dead body from a distance. During the drive I saw a memorable sunset.

My last day in Goa

Three foot dosa

As time went on I did begin to enjoy myself in Goa, but was still glad to be leaving. I shared a three-foot long dosa with a Swiss man I had met diving for my last meal and then was off to the train station. 

Taxi ride

The taxi driver tried to get me to go to a shop. He said he would get a fridge if he collected fifteen coupons (one for each foreigner he brought to the shop), but I insisted that we not go. We talked throughout the ride and I had to ask him to repeat himself after just about everything he said. I don't know if I understood him right, but he said he had met a woman a month ago and would marry her the following month. He explained that his mother was very happy about this, since she was getting old.

Train to Cochin, my first train ride

Butter chicken, no nan, rice, etc.

My train would be an hour late, and in the meantime I went to a restaurant in the train station and had butter chicken without nan, rice, puri, or dosa. The server found this strange. It was delicious and I finished off the curry with my spoon.

I smelled sweaty bodies as soon as I boarded the train. I had heard many good things about trains in India, and had also been told second class non-ac sleeper was a good way to go. My upper bunk did not have a window.

Nearby were two foreigners, and one of them yelled at an Indian guy that sat on his bed, saying, "I did not pay 500 rupees ($10) for this bed for nothing, piss off!"

I slept fine and in the morning went to a door where I could see the beautiful the scenery. All in all, the train ride was mediocre. I did not have any great conversations on the train, with locals nor with foreigners, and was somewhat uncomfortable. At 2 PM, after 16 hours, I arrived in Cochin, Kerala.

Cochin (Jan 6 - Jan 9)

Iceland Lady

When getting off the train, I helped a lady from Iceland, Thora, with her bags. Thora had been shopping for business and had more than a person could carry. She rented a house in Cochin, and offered to let me stay in the guestroom. I took her up on it!

Dance performance

That night, I went to a dance performance. The audience was 150 foreigners and an Indian or two who were probably not from India. The costumes, makeup, dancing and music were all relaxing and enjoyable, though I had difficulty paying attention.

Backwaters

Wednesday morning I went on a day backwater boat trip (backwater means a place regarded as isolated, stagnant, and backward -- all of these descriptions apply to this area). It was beautiful. When not on the boat, we stopped at tiny villages that were on small islands, where we learned the varied ways the locals use coconuts. We also watched locals make rope, and did various other boring touristy activities to pass the time.

On one of the islands, Lunch was served on a banana leaf, with a tiny banana that was not ripe. The main course was a special, puffy rice that is common in the south and some little curries to mix with the rice, as well as fresh papadam. Some people raved about the food, and when I asked them what was so good about it (because I thought it was very average) they raved about the rice, which though interesting was still bland.

Jog

When I got back to town I went for a jog. Along the road locals cheered, said hello and jogged along side me trying to start conversations. It annoyed me, though I know they did not have bad intentions. Many rickshaw drivers asked me if I needed a ride. Maybe they did not realize that would ruin my workout.

For dinner I met up with some people I had met on the backwater boat tour. We ate by the water, where mosquitoes feasted on us. We had tandori white-snapper, which sounds better than it was, coconut nan, which was on the bland side and a cashew nut nan, which was delicious. 

Yoga and the rest of the day

I woke up in the morning and joined Thora for yoga. I jogged 4 km to the Yoga guy's house while she biked. The Yoga lasted two hours. I then saw some of the town, including an area called "Jew" town. Jews had lived there years ago, but now there were only a few families left. None of the Jews were Indians. For lunch I went to a candy shop, and ate more candy in one sitting than most people have in a month. I wanted to try everything.

I hired a rickshaw driver for the afternoon and as we went around seeing the surrounding area, he took care of personal errands. First he picked up a tire from a shop, and then later gave it to another rickshaw driver, who it seemed we just happened to drive by accidentally a half-hour later. The driver then took a detour to see his brother. We fed some birds in an artificial pond and had some of the paper-tasting food ourselves. After driving around for over two hours, we returned to town and he took me to his sister's apartment, where his sister and her husband fed me some fruit pudding.

That evening I took Thora to a musical concert, after which we shared a beer.

Bombay (Jan 9 - Jan 14)

First afternoon

The next morning I flew to Bombay. After finding a miserable place with no sheets - just a mattress cover that probably had not been washed in months - I dropped my things off and hit the streets. In the evening, I started talking to a Japanese woman, Yuko, who was reading the menu outside a restaurant. I suggested we eat together and she was game. We had a great vegetarian buffet. She had lived in the US before, and was fluent in English. She had come to India to go to a place called the Osho International Commune, an Ashram in Pune, which she said was the only place in the world she could be herself. She convinced me to go with her, but ironically I ended up going and she stayed back in Bombay.

After dinner some guy from New Zealand standing outside a bar said to me, "Grab a beer with us." So I did. He and a group of New Zealanders had just finished volunteer work in Calcutta. We watched cricket together while downing the beer.

Quality time with Satya

The next day I decided to walk around town. I was outside the "Prince of Wales Museum," not intending to go in, when an Indian man named Satya came up to me. I told him I was not going to give him any money. He said he just wanted to chat, to be my friend. I let him know I planned to walk around for the day and he wanted to join me. We spent the day together, going all over the city, including some bad neighborhoods. When I took pictures and expressed interest in the poverty, he interpreted this to mean I was interested in doing social work to help the locals, and suggested I show the pictures to people back home for this purpose. Though the conditions were quite miserable, the people did not seem miserable and I did not feel especially sorry for them.

Satya understood how I liked snacking, and he seemed to like to snack as well, all 100 lbs of him, so we tried all sorts of things, including a fresh lassi off the street, my first kesar-flavored lassi (I think kesar is a spice. It has rich, not overly sweet, flavor), and many snacks. Besides the lassis, he picked most of the snacks out. 

He showed me a place made for people who wash clothes for a living, rows and rows of stalls with running water. I took a picture and some guy tried to fine me, but we just walked off. While at a light in a taxi, a young girl with a baby asked for money, putting her hand on me through the window. She would not go away, and when the light turned green, she grabbed my shirt and laughed. The beggars are often rude.

We went to Mani Bhavan, a building where Gandhi stayed during his visits to Bombay. It is now a museum dedicated to Gandhi, and I learned a lot about both Gandhi and India's history. I was touched by much of what I learned about Gandhi, though I would not say I would have supported everything he stood for. After learning the basics of Gandhi and the history of India's independence, I became interested in India's history and later in the trip read a book about it (Independence in 24 hours).

By the end of the day we were far from my hotel, and I insisted we take the local train back, for the experience. I learned that there was a car for woman only. There was also a first class car that cost $1 instead of the 10 cents, but looked about the same, only it was not crowded. Though the train was old, it was reasonably comfortable and fast enough 

There were many strange things about Satya. I figured he did not simply want to be my friend, and that he really wanted my help in some ways, so when he told me about a jewelry business he was starting with an Englishman, and tried to find out if I was interested, I was not surprised. It was strange that he had not a penny in his pocket. I did not mind paying for our food and for us going around, but I was bothered a little by the end of the day.. I asked to use his cell phone, but he said it (like him) had no money, he could only receive incoming calls. Then he asked me to lend him 200 rupees (about $5), which he said he would give back to me the next day. I tried to figure out what the deal was with him having absolutely no money but he skillfully evaded the question. I lent him the money, against my better judgment, naively giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Drinks with Yuko and Jonathan, fun political conversation

In the evening I met up with Yuko, and an Australian, Jonathan, for drinks. I listened to their opinions on America. It was Yuko's opinion that the US went to war with Iraq because they needed to use their weapons, which were becoming dated and would soon be too old to use. Jonathan thought it strange that a date for a young American is having sodas together. I never did that, but it sounded fine to me. I said I did not like dictators. Yuko countered that Saddam was no different from the CIA.

Jonathan thinks the west makes too big a deal about poverty being bad, as it seemed like the poor Indian people smiled just as often, if not more, than we do. He related this to the poor Iraqis and how we think their conditions were bad. 

We later talked about our tastes in the opposite sex. Yuko said she liked middle-eastern guys, for example, Greeks. She then mentioned a cute Indian man she met that day, but while she was at a cave admiring some carvings and thinking about Shiva, a Hindu god, he kept moving closer to her. I can't imagine a man being annoyed at an attractive woman moving closer to him.

Yuko made the point that I should not mind the beggars. I must have complained about them. She said they depend on foreigners like me for a living and view begging as a job.

At some point, Jonathan said that Yuko did not look that young, she had, "that kind of face." It was so funny for me to watch him try to get out of that one. He explained that it looked like she had had a lot of experience. He then said that it looked like she would age well, that she would always look the way she looked now. The simple fact was that she was probably ten years older than both of us, if not more.

He guessed I was 25, but said I could be as high as 30. He got this from looking at my neck.

Jonathan also said America is being run by "Christian and Jewish fundamentalists."

More Bombay experiences

Lunch the next afternoon

For lunch the next day I met Yuko and Jonathan. I arrived shortly before the restaurant opened and for no apparent reason they refused to let me inside, so I loitered outside for fifteen minutes. Little things like this annoyed me throughout the trip. I realized at lunch that I had not eaten meat in days. Over the entire trip, I had meat a limited number of times.

Will Satya pay me back?

After lunch, Satya met me at the restaurant. Yuko was worried about me later in the day, because Satya gave her the creeps. I let him know I wanted to see the Bombay suburbs. He wanted to go to the planetarium, and I decided I would give it a try. I fell asleep during the show. Before the show, a guide spoke for ten minutes about the planets, and I had a very hard time understanding his English.

After the boring planetarium, Satya suggested we have some chocolate ice-cream, which he said had a "different taste." His suggestions the previous day were excellent, but this choice made him 0-2, as the ice-cream was below average and not interesting (like the planetarium).

We then took a train to the suburbs. Satya suggested a sweet candy made with lemon and honey. I had thought I would not like it, but I was wrong. Satya did not seem to enjoy walking around the suburb, saying it was the same thing over and over again. I found it interesting.

We visited a horse-racing track and while walking there saw a dog hit by a taxi, after which the dog started howling. Perhaps the dog had broken his leg. I was very sad but no one besides me seemed to care. The dog started hopping around, almost like it was looking for a hospital, but there wasn't one.

After the race track, he suggested we go to Juhu beach. He said it was only 3-4 km away, but after an hour in a rickshaw we still were not there, and I had him redirect the rickshaw to the train station, as I had to rush if I was not to be late. The train was packed and we had to push to get on. The train pulled away as people continued to try to jump in.

Towards the end of the ride, Satya asked me to lend him another 100 rupees. He was expecting some money wired to him, but had still not received it and expected it the next day. Idiotically, I gave this to him. He mentioned how I always seemed deep in thought. He was right. I was deep in thought about how annoyed I was with him, for various reasons.

Quick meeting with Yuko at night

Yuko and I met in the lobby of The Taj, the fanciest hotel in town. We sat in the lobby and chatted. She had been worried (about me hanging out with Satya), though she had not yet put out her tentacles to sense him. She gave him the benefit of the doubt, since he was my friend. Yet even without putting her tentacles out, she did not have any positive feeling.

She also apologized not for what she had said the previous evening but how she said it (some anti-American comments). I assured her she could not offend me.

Guru

The next morning I joined Yuko for what she said was going to be meditation. There were over 20 people in a small room, the main mediation room, and many people outside in the guru's living room, listening. There were three chairs for people who wanted to talk with the guru, an 83-year-old man. The two-hour session consisted of three people having conversations with this guy.

The first woman to speak was a Canadian. She said that the previous day, while the guru was having a conversation with one of the people in his crowd, she got this feeling that someone was hugging her from behind, a very comforting feeling, not that of being with a lover, but something else. She had this feeling even though the conversation going on had nothing to do with being comforted.

Today, what she wanted to talk to him about was his idea of predetermination, which she did not agree with. I think she really wanted to understand his logic better, but he took it as a challenge and then started calling her defensive. He brought the woman to tears. At the end of the session he apologized in his own way.

The guru talked like he felt he knew the way the world was, and was telling people how to live and how to think, though at the same time he made a point of saying that was not what he was doing. Over the course of the session he did have some thought-provoking ideas. He stressed empathy for the needy, acceptance, and god, though the god he talked about was nothing concrete. He was trying to help people achieve feeling comfortable with themselves, without guilt or regret.

Most of the people attending seemed to be looking for some purpose in life. Some wanted to change themselves. Some wanted the session to aid them in making some difficult decision. I was attending with the hope of achieving a nice state of relaxation.

I later learned this particular session was not typical. Though I can't say I enjoyed the session, I did find it interesting to watch the interaction between the guru and the attendees.

Checkout after 12 - no way Jose

Around 12:30 PM, Yuko and I ate lunch. I went to a payphone and called my hotel to let them know I wanted to check out, but they said it was past the checkout time of 12 PM. They said I could surely check out, they would not object, but I would have to pay for that night. I got pissed off and said they were rude, but I later gave them a half-ass apology.

I returned to lunch and tried to get over my bad mood. During the session that morning, Yuko had sat there with her eyes closed. I had thought she was enjoying the session and meditating at the same time. I did not realize how deeply moved she was. At lunch, she started crying and holding my hand. I just said nothing and let her talk. She decided that she had to go back to his session the next day and maybe a few more times.

Evening jog

I went for an hour jog and not that far from my hotel, I ran into slums with crowded streets. I also passed homes made of garbage bags. The jog was an adventure. I got bumped by heavy objects a few times and once I got lost in the maze of streets. I eventually had one simple goal - to get out of the maze. I would have asked for directions, but the people on the street did not speak enough English. I was finally able to get out of the maze and had a false sense that I was heading back in the direction of my hotel.

I took a break from my jog to check out a nice park, where I watched the sunset over the ocean. I then continued my jog. When things did not look familiar I decided to take a taxi. In a taxi, it still took over thirty minutes to get back to my hotel, so I had never been heading back in the direction of my hotel.

Such an amazing coincidence

Yuko and I had an amazing dinner and then sat down in Bombay's most expensive hotel's lobby and chatted. There we ran into the woman that had told Yuko about the guru a few days prior, and Yuko thought this was so strange, more than a coincidence. The idea that, "everything happens for a reason," is one I very much disagree with. I chatted with the woman's husband, who said he had been going to this guru for eight years, and had come to Bombay just to see him!

The end of my relationship with Satya

I did not call Satya again. I wanted to find out if he was just ripping me off, or really would pay me back, but decided it would be a waste my time.

Wait for Yuko?

Yuko had wanted to go to Pune a few days earlier and I had asked her to stay in Bombay an extra day so that we could go to Pune together. I had wanted to see more of Bombay. It now turned out that she wanted to stay in Bombay longer because of the Guru. She did not want to feel like she was running away from something. She asked me to wait with her in Bombay and I considered it. I figured an extra day was no big deal so I stayed.

She pointed out how weird it was that we were spending so much time together, and I thought the same.

More of the Guru

This next morning I joined her again for the guru's session. The cab meter was double what it was supposed to be, but I told the driver I would take down his number and then only paid him what I felt was the right amount. He didn't argue.

At the session, I got a better idea of the guru's idea of god, which was something like, "that which we do not understand." I liked a lot of what he had to say. His main idea was for people to be comfortable with themselves and what happens in life, and that sounds like the right idea to me. In fact, he does not think we should live any different from how we have always lived, not on the exterior anyway. We should be more at peace inside by understanding that everything is predetermined.

I was turned off by the idea of predetermination and the idea that "We do not do anything, it just happens." I wanted to read his book and see what he had to say about free will. He has written various books, and was also a successful businessman and bodybuilder. To this day, he sold postcards of some pictures of himself in bodybuilding poses from decades earlier!

Lunch

I had lunch with Yuko again and we asked to be served the food as it was ready, but everything was amazingly ready at the same time, except for the nan, which came out late. I let Yuko know I would wait one more day for her, as she was not yet ready to go to Pune, but in the afternoon impulsively changed my mind. I thought Yuko would most likely not want to go the next day, and did not want her to feel pressure from my waiting for her. I also did not want to waste a day waiting around. I left a note (with my email address) for Yuko at her hotel and took the train to Pune. I did not see Yuko or hear from her since then.

Train to Pune

On the train there were many beggars and two of them were "neutrals." Neutrals are also referred to as "hijras," or "the third sex." They are men who have had sex changes. The two neutral beggars were quite rude to me, getting in my face and kind of pushing me. Though dressed like women, they were both big and strong, though I did not feel threatened. I did not understand why they thought I should give them money as they did not look poor. Though the experience was unpleasant, it was an experience I wanted to have.

Pune (Jan 14 - Jan 19)

Settling in a nice hotel

Rickshaw driver commission

The train ride was five hours, and I arrived in Pune in the evening. I stayed in a regular hotel rather than a guest house and fully appreciated the clean sheets, towel and hot shower. Minutes after settling in my room, I got a phone call from the lobby of my hotel. It was the rickshaw driver. He and the hotel were in a dispute about whether he should get a commission for dropping me off there.

I had stopped at the hotel earlier in the evening, and then looked around at other hotels before deciding to come back to this one. The hotel management asked if I had committed to coming back, and in fact I hadn't, which the driver knew from talking with me. This is probably why the driver did not try to charge me a ridiculous fare.

I think the driver got a commission, though I did not really want him to get it either since by this point I was fed up with rickshaw drivers and the commission schemes that make things difficult for tourists.

Osho Meditation Resort

In the morning I was off to the famous Osho Ashram, a mediation resort. A hotel worker gave me directions to the ashram in the morning and told me to make a turn at the place where "they burn the dead bodies."

The one-time leader of this Ashram was a guru named Osho, who had been anti-religion and about whom I heard various stories. One person said he was kicked out of the USA. Someone else said that the CIA poisoned him. I did not do enough research to find out the facts. He had flaunted his wealth, and owned something like a hundred Rolls-Royces when he died at a relatively young age.

As part of the registration procedure, an AIDS test is required. Then you go through an orientation, and if you test negative, you are given your ID.

Orientation

I expected orientation to be strange and it was. There were various instructors, including a couple. We did short versions of various meditation classes. In one of them, the instructors put on music and started dancing like crazy, running all over the room smiling. Soon, everyone started dancing. I was the last one to dance.

The orientation ended at 1 PM and I received my ID, which mean I tested negative. This gave me the go-ahead to participate in the meditation sessions and activities on the resort. It seemed everyone had lunch in this commune's particularly western and over-the-top clean cafeteria. At lunch I noticed some Taiwanese people speaking Chinese and started chatting with them. They invited me to visit them in Taiwan.

My first meditations

I did three more meditations that afternoon. There was lots of dancing in the first two, and the last one led me to a deep sleep. I breathed inward as slowly as possible, and imagined a gold color filling my body, and then black flowing out of my body while exhaling.

The robes

All mediations require participants to wear a maroon robe with the exception of the evening meditation, which required a white robe. The idea is that everyone here is equal, and they do not want it to be a fashion contest.

There are people who check your dress before going into the evening mediation, and I was told my white robe was off-white. She would let me in but next time maybe not. She also scolded me for having a gray shirt underneath the robe so I took it off. Lastly, she pointed out the gray in the heel of my sock, so I took those off too.

Night party

After the last meditation, I went to a party on the resort called "Hollywood/Bollywood." Everyone was dancing, without much alcohol. There was even an 80-something year-old getting down!

When I headed home a guy outside handed me an envelope with a paper inside, which I read in my hotel room. The first sentence said, "If you don't think everything happens for a reason, then rip this into one-thousand pieces because it will be useless to you." I ripped it up.

Thoughts after my first day

Many people were at the Ashram to find themselves, I realized. I just wanted to see what the place was about

Day two

First meditation

My first meditation of the day was called, "love mediation." The first part consisted of sitting back to back with someone and saying "shhhh" with your hands up, imagining love raining on you. The second part was done to music. It consisted of going around the room switching partners and performing a routine. First, you held the person's hands and sang, "I want to love you, I want to love you, hold me tight ... I want to love you, I want to love you ... never let you go." Then, you would hug them and sing, "Feels so good ... feels so good ..." Often you would end up with a partner of the same sex.

Later in the session you would find a partner, hold their hands and say, "I see Osho in your eyes." Then you would say "namaste," which is Hindi for hello.

The last part of the session consisted of dancing alone to music. I thought the part where you say, "I see Osho in your eyes," was REALLY weird.

After meditation, I had lunch with two girls I had met the night before, Indians, Geeta and Richa, and an English friend of theirs, Rishi. The English guy ended up being the only other person I met at the Ashram who thought much of what went on was crazy.

Second meditation

After lunch I did another meditation where I first sat and hummed for forty minutes, then sat with my palms up for ten, down for ten, and finally lay down. I was exhausted while doing this. I often felt exhausted after the meditations.

Outside the resort I got a snack from a street vendor called gulgula, a fried ball of wheat and flour with mints inside of the type you chew on after an Indian meal. When I went back for more, the vendor said he knew I would come back. 

Ohm meditation

At night, at Rishi's recommendation, I did the "Ohm meditation," an intense two and a half hour session. I needed to interview for it, to make sure I was ready to do it, though I heard the real reason for this interview process was to prevent Indian men from participating.

Before the meditation I met a Greek woman outside, who seemed normal and logical. I told here that I did not feel like I was getting much out of this place, and that much of it seemed like serious bullshit. She said she understood where I was coming from and thought I should give it some time. Everyone there encourages newcomers to give it time! There is a morning meditation (from six to seven in the morning) and you are supposed to do it for 21 days straight, and for an a minimum of seven days!

I told her there was no way I could ever think that things happen for a reason, and she said, "You think that you sitting down next to me right now was not for a reason?" I said I did think it was completely random, and she said I had a ways to go. I told her I was so not spiritual, and she then asked what I meant by that and after I responded recommended I not think about it like that. When we were finally read to go inside the room (inside a pyramid), she said something like, "See you inside where I'll be yelling at you."

There were a few hundred people in the large room. Before the meditation session began, one of the leaders explained that there had better not be guys touching women where they did not want to be touched (and he singled out Indian guys by saying they were often the ones that did this!). He also said not to try to skip an activity that you don't like by going to the bathroom and sitting there for fifteen minutes. He said he knew all the tricks.

The meditation consisted of eleven stages, eleven minutes for each stage, and included the following:.

• Screaming at each partner for 10-20 seconds, saying "I am better than you because <anything>", as loud as you can. (What you say is supposed to have nothing whatsoever to do with your partner and may not be a reason. For example the <anything> could be "the sky is blue."
• Saying to each partner, "Please love me, don't hurt me," 
• Dancing as sexy as you can (keep in mind, this was with people of ALL ages)
• Dancing wildly
• Walking around acting like a crazy person (literally)
• Crying (this was most difficult - all I could do was get watery eyes no matter how sad a thought I thought)
• Laughing (in an exaggerated manner)

By the end of the two-hour mediation, close to 1 AM, everyone was sweating. I enjoyed the physical activity and the acting involved in the meditation but was not affected in a deeper way. Maybe I learned a little bit about myself when doing some of the free association during the screaming.

There were not rickshaws around, so I jogged home afterward. At one spot on the street were a bunch of parked rickshaws with the drivers sleeping in them. I felt bad for being so rough on them, though later when I related this story to an Indian man, he told me not to feel bad, that they did just fine for themselves.

Day three

In the morning, I moved to a hotel closer to the ashram.

In the afternoon, while sitting around at the resort, an old woman started talking to me, saying this was the most beautiful place on earth. She had been to this ashram seventeen times and now visits for periods of up to six months, spending most of her time here in silence!

I had been trying to give the ashram a chance, but liked it less and less. I often could not wait for the meditation sessions to end. Everyone walking around in robes seemed so cult-like, though most people seemed normal.

At night I went to a ceremony for the people who became sannyasins, where they got new names. It was not much different from most of the resort's activities, with the usual dancing, to live music this time. In the center of the floor, in turn, were special dances for each person becoming a sannyasin. A group of people would surround this person, give them flowers, while the new sannyasin looked like they were having a very long orgasm.

Scammed

As I was returning to my hotel around midnight, a guy called over to me, saying "Excuse me." I was going to ignore him but for some reason decided to go back and listen to him. (There are always Indian guys saying, "Excuse me," "Hello Friend," "How are you," - and girls saying, "Papa.")

He said that he hadn't seen me at the ashram in a few days. He said he was the chief chef. I didn't meet any chef but thought maybe I was just forgetting. His English was good, and he was dressed well. He explained that his motorcycle had no gas. I asked how I could help him. He said he needed money for a rickshaw to get some fuel. I asked what he needed, and he said two to three-hundred rupees. Since I believed him at the time, I gave him 300 ($7). He was thankful, though not overly so, and said he would cook me something special the next day. Then he asked if I was single and by the end of the conversation, he was offering me prostitutes, using very crude language. I headed home in a disturbed state, starting to wonder if I had just been scammed. The next day, he did not meet me at my hotel to pay me back as he had promised and when I went to hunt down the head cook, I learned that he was not the man I had met the previous night.

I should have noticed the way the man was somewhat hesitant in asking for my help, and the fact that I had not remembered meeting him. I felt quite stupid, being suckered twice, first in Bombay by Satya and now again. I should have better heeded the warnings. People in India  often seem sincere, nice, and friendly, but there are many, many scammers, and I should not have trusted ANY stranger. I learned my lesson. I felt like both laughing and crying, frustrated with myself and India.

Conversation with Rishi

I ran into Rishi, an Indian guy from England, and we talked about the meditation I had done the previous night based on his recommendation. He explained that NIs (Native Indians) are rarely allowed to participate. That is the term he used, and I thought it might have a negative connotations, though he used the term in front of two native Indians who were sitting with us. He knew about the discrimination to prevent NIs from participating in the mediation because of the times people were surprised that he had been given the OK to enter the Ohm mediation. Upon hearing him speak, they would sigh and say, "Oh, you are from England," and his admission was no longer questioned.

Rishi had said that he owned a very successful business in London. Later, when he found out my age, he said something like, "You must hate me," and I sincerely replied, "not at all, why would I?" And he said something to the effect that he was so young and had so much, as if I would dislike him because of that. I laughed in my head that he said this, but did not mention it, not wanting him to feel awkward or stupid.

It was interesting that he had been to India so many times, but I knew much more about certain things than he did, like street food. He always stayed in nice hotels and thus had had completely different experiences from mine.

We talked about "white robe," the daily evening meditation session, which neither of us could stand. At the session there are a few times when everyone screams "Osho." They say it is the sound, not the word that matters, but I think they should have a sound with no meaning rather than the name of the group's leader - it gave the place a cult feel. At white robe, one of the activities is speaking gibberish. The first time Rishi went to this meditation and heard people start speaking gibberish, he thought everyone was going crazy.

Day four

I woke up early for the "Dynamic Meditation," and hated it. First you had to exhale as strong as you could, with quick breaths, from the nose, and then start screaming, then jump up and down, screaming "who" from deep inside - supposedly, from your sexual center - before a rest and some dancing. Each of these stages lasted ten minutes and I simply could not keep up. My back hurt, and I could not scream that much. I could not wait for it to be over, and rather than do the other morning meditations, I went to my hotel room when it ended at 7 AM and relaxed till 11:30. Then I headed back to the Ashram to do a "Heart Dance Meditation." This consisted of singing three songs. One had the words, "I am so happy to be alive, to be able to look into your eyes." We would go around the room saying this to each person while looking into their eyes. Another was something to the effect of "don't let things get to you, if you take it easy, life will take you on its shoulders." This was also said while looking at a partner and then holding their shoulders. It was funny when some people would not look you in the eyes.

After lunch, I went to a demo session. This one was on "Ayurvedic Massage," and scheduled for thirty minutes. It took 75. The leader asks for a volunteer and, after a second to give eager participants a chance, I raised my hand and got to be the massage subject. He asked me to take off my robe, then my shirt, and when I lay down, he pulled my shorts down so that half my ass was visible. I am comfortable with my body and did not have any problem with it, but it was funny. There were twenty-five people in the room. He then gave a demo of what he would be teaching. First he put oil and some herbs on my body and used the under-part of his palms to get deep into the tissue in my back. Later he used his legs to massage my back, telling me to put my head up like a swan and then digging into areas of my back. Lastly, we did some stretches, where I would apply pressure while he was applying pressure. It was quite nice. The guy explained that he asked patients, "What part of your body needs support?" instead of, "Where do you feel pain?" He said this avoid patients blabbing, and telling irrelevant stories.

Room service

I ordered room service and the guy who delivered it to my room would not leave. He kept trying to say something to me, but I could not understand him. I finally closed the door and called the main number to find out what he wanted. They were not sure and said to forget it, but I asked them to call back and let me know (which they didn't). Fifteen minutes later he came back to my room and again started speaking in unintelligible English or some other language, but I still had no idea what he wanted, and never found out.

Day five

My first meditation consisted of breathing slowly for a half-hour and then walking really slowly for a half-hour. The second one was dancing to different drum beats for 45 minutes before lying down for fifteen minutes. It is funny when people's cell phones go off in the middle of a meditation! I also attended the "No Mind" demo, where the instructor simply had us speak gibberish for fifteen minutes and then sit silently for another fifteen minutes. I don't like talking gibberish. 

I made this my last day! I felt five days was a fair shot to give it. In the afternoon, I tried to go on a tour of the Osho's former house, but since my socks had some gray in the heel (not 100% white), I was refused admission.

That night I went with some new friends to a Hindi movie. There was not nearly as much singing as I had expected. Rishi was psyched for pizza afterward and hyped up some place called Pizza Express, but I found it average.

*** Jon's edits up to here

Day in Pune without any meditation

The next day I explored Pune and checked out Gandhi's ashram. While there, I realized that I had had enough of the Gandhi mania. I seemed to be reading the same facts about him over and over again. I then went to a museum and it put me to sleep. That evening Rishi and I went to another movie. In the theater, cell phones rang multiple times. Once a man picked up his phone and spoke in a loud voice while walking toward the theater exit. The girls seated in front of us were laughing for no apparent reason, at particularly unfunny parts of the movie. Rishi said, "This is why I don't like going to movies in India," and proceeded to call some Indian people monkeys, though he is Indian himself! 

I had been planning to leave Pune the next day, but instead left by cab that night for the Bombay airport after booking a flight to Ahmedabad, in Gujarat. We arrived in Bombay Airport at 2:30 AM and my flight was at 6 AM. I tried to sleep, but it was tough because of the many mosquitoes in the terminal.

Ahmedabad (Jan 20)

My flight landed in Ahmedabad at 7:30 AM and I took a rickshaw to a guest house. The rickshaw from the airport did not have working breaks, so the driver used extra caution and drove slowly. I tried to get on a morning bus tour, but since I was the only person to show up for it, they told me to come back for the afternoon tour instead. I killed the time by walking in some different neighborhoods. I saw no foreigners, and was treated like a celebrity. People were constantly saying, "Hi, how are you?" and shaking my hand. I was even asked for my autograph, but unfortunately neither the kid nor I had a pen. Maybe the kid asking for my autograph was a scheme for him to then ask me for my pen. Indian children were constantly asking for a rupee or a pen. They simply said, "Rupee? Pen?"

My guide book mentioned the traffic in this city being particularly bad, and I quickly found out why. Crossing the street was a challenge and I was hit by a motorcycle, though it did not hurt.

That evening I ordered room service (I think the food is cooked at a nearby restaurant) and watched English sitcoms all night, as this place had satellite TV.

The next morning I did a tourist walk of the city, called the "Heritage Walk." It was not as illuminating as my solo walk the previous morning, though I did see lots more temples than I did on my own, and learned that all the towers around town were for feeding birds.

That afternoon, at 11:30 AM, I left the city via bus for Udaipur. The man next to me paid 100 rupees for his bus ticket while I paid 180. He brought up the subject. People were always asking what I paid for things. We arrived a couple hours late, at 6 PM.

Udaipur (Jan 21 - Jan 24)

A collection of annoying experiences during my first full day in Udaipur

I was excited to finally be in Rajasthan. I was looking for a homestay and ended up in a room of a house where a guest house's owner's family lived. When I discussed the price with the women, she said, "As you like," but when I told her that I would like to give her 100 rupees per night, she said that was not enough. She wanted 150, which was the same price as a room in their guest house (and not nearly as nice as the room in the guest house).

The next morning, as I walked around town, people were constantly saying hi (about every minute) and also usually wanted something. When I walked by a row of rickshaws, each driver would ask if I wanted a ride. As my days in India wore on, I found walking in the street more and more unpleasant. Even relaxing in the park to get some peace and quiet was not an option. For example, I was in a huge park watching some kids play sports while I tried to read. Immediately, two students came up to me. One said, "Pen," and I said, "Pen what?" Then he said "One rupee?" and I replied , "You want to give me one rupee?" Their English was not good enough to understand that. Then they sat next to me, and when I got up and walked away, they followed me for a few minutes.

As I walked around the city, I had to try not to make eye-contact with shop-keepers in order to avoid short conversations, or the awkward feeling I would get when ignoring another human being. I should note that experiences like those I just mentioned were not particular to Udaipur, but I decided to write about them here.

This particular day had a few more typical experiences. A shopkeeper saw me looking at an advertisement for a musical performance, the location of which was not close by. He let me know that there was another closer place that gave performances. It seemed considerate at first. Then he told me that his friend makes suits and wanted me to check them out. I got used to walking away but it still felt rude and sometimes someone would take offense and say something nasty.

Even when you buy something simple like popcorn, the vendor tries to charge you double.

It was weird when the family I was staying with let me know their son could teach me to play cricket, but that I would have to buy a cricket ball for "ten rupees."

Particularly in Udaipur, stepping in cow dung was a daily experience. I had to constantly be on the look out to avoid multiple incidences.

For lunch I met up with a man I had met on the bus from Hyderabad. His name is Shyam, a 26-year old married Indian guy who owns a few businesses. We went to his house, watched cricket and had lunch served by his wife. Lunch was cauliflower in some curry, a couple of rotis, papadan and some rice with a few peas and spices. We sat on the carpet and ate together while his wife and mother remained in the kitchen. His house was simple but spacious and clean. After lunch, he also showed me around on his small motorcycle for a little while before returning to work.

Day 2

In the evening I had a mediocre Yoga lesson. The instructor's attention was not completely on me, which I half -expected, as the day before he had been watching TV as he spoke to me. When I arrived for the lesson this night, he had the TV set on. I was thinking of seeing if he would leave it on while teaching me, but instead had him turn it off before we started. He said that he was going to do that anyway. His 13-year-old son sat with us and did some of the Yoga. We were interrupted by a phone call, and then a guest. I decided to leave. An hour was almost up anyway and I was not learning much.

In the evening I had some great deserts. One great thing about the bakeries, and the shops in general, was that they let you try things and did not give attitude if I decided not to buy.

The novelty of cows, goats, dogs and sheep roaming freely had at this point completely worn off. Similarly, walking around both ancient and modern cities became less interesting. Instead, what stood out was the pollution, deteriorating buildings, the garbage everywhere, and the harassment.

Day 3

On Friday I spent an hour at City Palace, where some king used to reside. It was beautiful. I probably should have hired a guide. I rented a regular bike and went to a field club, to find out whether I could learn to play cricket. I had debated staying in Udaipur for another week if I could study cricket, but I got a mediocre impression at the field club's office and decided instead to buy a ticket out of town the next morning, for Jaisalmer, where I planned to see the desert.

That afternoon I bought the 15-year-old son of my guest house owner's a ball, and he was generous enough to play for twenty minutes, asking afterward, "Was I happy now, did I learn a lot?"

Bus ride to Jodhpur

Saturday morning I took a bus from Udaipur to Jodhpur. The bus averaged 30 km/h and made frequent stops for locals, who would get on and off wherever. Many of them had to stand up in the aisle. We arrived after seven hours, only one hour late, at 3 PM. My ultimate destination was Jaisalmer, and this was only a stopover. That night I was scheduled to leave on the 11:15 PM (sleeper) train. I decided to break my trip this way so that I would not have to be on a bus for twelve hours.

Jodhpur

Immediately after arriving in Jodhpur, I asked a rickshaw driver to take me to the city's famous fort. Rare is it that a driver will not have his own suggestions. (Side comment: I do not think female drivers are allowed - I did not see one female taxi or rickshaw driver. I also did not see one waitress). He convinced me to visit a small marble palace first, only ten minutes from the main fort. While at the palace, I overheard a Chinese-looking woman speaking English with a French man, and from something the girl said I thought she spoke Chinese. I started talking with her in Chinese and I guessed right that she spoke it. In fact, she was from Mainland China, not Taiwan (usually the Chinese-speaking tourists I ran into were from Taiwan). We were both excited - me to speak Chinese with someone and her, probably just because she thought it was cool to speak Chinese with a foreigner. We made plans to meet for dinner at the restaurant in the main fort at 7:30 PM.

I continued from the palace to the fort and arrived at 4:30. Much of the fort was a well-organized museum, which I was at first disappointed by. The headset I rented gave interesting explanations and it turned out to be surprisingly enjoyable. The part of the fort where the royalty had lived had beautifully stained windows. This was the most interesting of all the forts I saw in India. I did not have nearly enough time, as the museum closed at five and the fort at six. I watched the sunset after the museum closed and chatted with a Japanese woman who also spoke Chinese.  I still had an hour and a half to kill before the Chinese woman and her seven friends would arrive at the fort's restaurant for dinner. I went to the restaurant early. The restaurant was outdoors, physically on a part of the fort, and was right by a lookout. I did some pushups before my Chinese friends arrived. Dinner was enjoyable, and afterward they took me in their privately rented mini-van to the train station.

I had booked the best train ticket available, three-tier (triple-bunk-beds) a/c. There were many more foreigners in this section of the train than in the non-a/c section. The car was clean enough and we were given sheets, a blanket and a pillow. There were no beggars and most of the people slept, though I read for most of the time. We arrived in Jaisalmer at 5 AM and I headed to town to look for a place to stay. I looked for a guest house inside the fort. The fort in Jaisalmer was like a city, with many locals living inside, in houses. Let's Go says the fort has 99 circular bastions that surround a labyrinth of houses and shops that winds its way around the old palace."

Jaisalmer (Jan 25 - Jan 28)

The guest house I liked the most was a converted haveli inside the fort . The Indians I met explained that a haveli is a house designed to have good circulation. Directly translated, it means, "wind house." It has a courtyard and many windows to let the breeze pass through. Let's Go defines it as "A Rajasthani mansion, traditionally painted with murals."

Unfortunately they did not have any nice rooms available. Since the guest house workers wanted me to take their camel safari, they let me hang out on the roof to watch the sunrise, which was amazing. I watched the sky turn red, while I tried to stay warm under the blanket they gave to me. Though they were being nice in hope that I would take their safari, I felt like they were genuine and did end up taking their safari.

After sunrise, I left this guest house and found another one, in the fort's wall. It had a great view of the city. I dropped off my bags and roamed the city (both inside and outside the fort) while kids asking me for pens and rupees.

I watched the sunset from the roof of my hotel and then went to investigate the different camel safaris, mostly run by guest houses. Each advertised that they did this and that special thing, and after becoming frustrated, I realized it was impossible to differentiate between the different offerings. After speaking to some customers who were happy with their safari experience with Paradise hotel's safari, I decided to do their one-night two-day safari, leaving the following morning. I had come to Jaisalmer particularly to go on a safari in the Thar Desert, and I did not see a reason to put that off.

Camel Safari

Day 1

On Monday morning a group of four of us, two Italian men and one girl from Finland, were taken by jeep to the desert to meet our guides and camels. It was a half-hour out of the city. When we mounted the camels, I was instantly in pain. I needed to spread my legs wider than I was used to, and had a type of pain specific to men. Later in the trip, it was my butt and back that were in pain, and to make it worse, my thighs became irritated.

After riding for an hour we stopped at a tiny "undisturbed" village, which was disappointingly uninteresting, and where kids still managed to ask us for pens and rupees. Women also tried to sell cloth. We stopped at a couple more villages over the next two days, but I always stayed on the outside with my camel.

The safari was kind of like taking a nice hike. I did not like riding the camel, so the breaks, where we rested and ate, were my favorite part. It was also nice to just relax and not be talked to. The desert was mostly dry grassland with shrubs and cacti. We slept on the only sand dunes in the vicinity, described by Let's Go as the "spectacular Sam sand dunes," under four blankets each. As these were the first I had seen, I did not know if they were spectacular or not. It was strange how it's all grassland except for a tiny area that has sand dunes.

We also had dinner on the dunes, by a small fire. After dinner, a young boy, most likely from a village, came by and tried to sell us a beer. Besides me, no one was interested. We all went to sleep early. When I woke up in the middle of the night, I made sure to look up at the sky. As it got deeper into the night, I could see more stars.

Day 2

Conversations with the guides

I decided to walk next to my camel for most of the second day. I think the other people in the group felt they had to stay on their camels, after all it was what they had paid for. I had some private conversations with the two guides, one of whom was married but had fun with many foreign women who went on his safaris. He explained that longer trips were much better for this, and the most likely candidates were European single women. He also told me certain lines he used, one of which was something about the stars. He said full moons made hooking up almost a sure thing with European girls. Though he had hooked up with many partners, he had yet to have success with Koreans, Japanese or Chinese. He said he would often take women on a "night ride." I found the conversation quite crude and eventually got bored. Both guides were Muslims, and they admitted that they would sometimes eat during Ramadan. 

I was not sorry when the safari was over Tuesday afternoon.

When I got back to the hotel that ran the safari, a Chinese man I had met in Udaipur a few days earlier was waiting for me. I had left him message that I would be there that night. We chatted.. It was easier for me to hang out with Chinese than other people. I think having strange things in common make it more enjoyable for people to randomly hang out. He explained how worried his friends in China were that he was traveling in India alone.

A full day of hanging out

I checked out the inside of the fort. About three-hundred people live inside, and along with the people are the cows, cow-shit, and trash. I then left the fort and tried to walk as far away as I could get from the fort, off the beaten path. I listened to my walkman to relax, and help me to not hear the kids asking for money and pens.

Bruises

The day was a particularly unlucky one. First, when I woke up and wandered to the bathroom, my knee hit something really hard - it would hurt for a few more days. Later, a bull decided to put his horn into my side. I actually wondered why this had not happened before. Later, a kid asked me for money and reached into my pocket for it. I slapped his hand away, angry, and he laughed.

I do not know what is more annoying, the constant "Hello, my friend," "What country?" comments, or the frequent occurrence when someone seemingly normal has a nice conversation with you but at the end of it wants you to go to his or his friend's shop to buy jewelry.

I decided my next destination would be Pushkar. Though the town was supposed to be full of pot-heads, it was also supposed to be clean and free of rickshaws, and that's what made me want to go. There was an indirect train that left Jaisalmer at  11:30 PM. At 5 AM, I got off and waited two-hours for the connecting local train that would take me towards Pushkar.

Ajmer (Jan 29)

On the local train I met two Muslim men making their monthly pilgrimage to a temple in Ajmer. Muslims, Hindus and Christians all went on pilgrimages to this temple! Their English was good enough to sustain a conversation, and they shared their chappatis and spicy chips with me.

A few hours into the journey, three 20-year-old boys that had been very curious to meet me finally came over and chatted, but did not have much to say. One complimented my Sony CD-man (I frequently got compliments on it on this trip, though it is quite old). We ran out of things to say and I went back to reading and attempting to study Chinese, which I did not do much of on the trip. The three boys could not think of what to ask, and I also could not think of anything I wanted to ask. The lack of conversation disappointed one of the men sitting across from us (I could tell from his facial expression).

The train arrived in Ajmer at 1 PM. I got off and instead of taking the bus to Pushkar, only a 30-minute ride, I decided to stay for a day. From the train station I walked around and looked for a hotel, ignoring the touts. I did not like the first few I saw and was soon in an area where there were no more hotels. I returned to the first hotel I had seen, which I decided was fine. I then set out to see the city, and walked toward the pilgrimage temple. 

Pilgrimage temple

In the temple, a Muslim priest who spoke English chatted with me and introduced me to a foreign woman, whom he said was his sister (in the religious sense). He then took me around and we ended up by his office, where we had quite a strange conversation. He asked if I had a girlfriend and why I was not married, which were normal questions. But soon, he asked if I had had sex, and "What feeling that was. Did I like it?" Then he asked about kissing, and mentioned guys with guys. He said, "What did I think of that?" I said it was OK if people wanted to do it but that I did not want to, that I just liked women. He persisted. At one point he said there were too many gays in New York. But then he started asking more questions, even though I felt I made it clear I was straight! He asked, "What did it feel like for a guy to kiss a guy." He said next time I was in town I could stay with him. I finally decided the time was right to leave. I had stuck around because this was one of the weirder experiences of my life, but enough was enough. I told him I'd walk around the temple more and just got up without giving him a chance to convince me to chat some more. Minutes later I left the temple complex. He spotted me leaving, and I waved good-bye.

I asked the man outside the temple what I owed him for watching my shoes. I had thought it was free but I saw people giving him money. He said, "As you like." After I paid him and retrieved my shoes, a random Indian guy asked me how much I'd given him, which I thought was none of his business and so I ignored him. Tiny incidences like this really got on my nerves.

Jog

After walking around, I started jogging. I ran by some kids playing cricket (about twenty of them) and when they saw me they started cheering and invited me to join them. First each of them they shook my hand. None of them spoke English but I managed to bat once. Then they wanted me to referee and I tried to explain I did not know the rules. I did not stay long. I jogged back to my hotel, where I read and then fell asleep very early.

The next morning I took a walk and realized I did not need to spend any more time in the city, so I returned to my hotel, packed my bags and headed to Pushkar.

I asked a cycle-rickshaw (that is a rickshaw with no engine, like a regular bicycle with a small carriage in the back) to take me to the bus station. After riding for five minutes, the driver (bike rider) asked someone on the street about the bus stop, and realized he was going the wrong way. He then turned around and took me back to the virtually the same place I had gotten on, as I could board the bus right there. In other words, what should have been a half-minute walk took ten minutes on this bike. He still expected the fare he had quoted me for going a few kilometers. I gave him what I thought was more than fair, and got on the bus to Pushkar, where I arrived a half-hour later.

Pushkar (Jan 30 - Jan 31)

I settled on the first guest house I found and then went into the town. A man on the street told me this was a special day and took me to the lake, where another man put some paint or ashes on my forehead, said some prayers for my family, and then asked for money. I gave him 10 rupees (25 cents) and he put on an act where he said how offended he was. He said most people give forty dollars or euros. Then the man who had dropped my off with this false priest, and lied to me when he told me it was a special day, wanted money, but I did not give him any.

In town, I got some freshly squeezed fruit juice and instead of downing it in seconds, sat down and enjoyed it. A few pot-heads were also sitting on stools in the street, and one of them had a bag of shirts to give the child-beggars. When he ran out of shirts, he took the one off his back. I noticed that none of the kids smiled in thanks, they simply took what he gave them.

Friendly bike rider

That afternoon I went for a jog. I was initially thrilled because nobody was bothering me and I was jogging through beautiful countryside. A man riding a bike, with his son sitting in front of him, started chatting and I smiled, though I was not happy to have my jog interrupted. He invited me to see his farm and I decided it would be OK to stop my workout for a few minutes. Afterwards he asked for twenty rupees, for his son, he said! I left his farm quite annoyed. My jog was no longer peaceful and my mood was ruined. During the rest of the jog, I sped up and/or raised the volume on my walkman when I passed children, to avoid their chasing me and avoid hearing, "One pen, one rupee." I was used to this but it still bothered me.

Special Lassi

I had been planning to leave Pushkar the next day, but that night I had a "special lassi." The shopkeeper suggested I have a light dose, but since I had never had a good pot/hash high before, I insisted on a regular dose. The lassi is special in that hash is mixed in. The green-colored lassi tasted good to me, and I finished it in a minute. The guy who made me the drink started chatting with me, and I was glad when he stopped, because I found the conversation annoying. He was feeling sorry for himself being in India and rambling about America.

I was at the restaurant by myself, and continued reading the book I had been reading before the shopkeeper interrupted me. I was wondering why I wasn't feeling anything from the drink. About twenty minutes later, I realized I had not understood the last few pages. I wondered how the book had just gotten more confusing. I then tried going back a few pages, but realized that I was not feeling right. Just trying to read was giving me a headache. All of a sudden I was not sure if I could talk or stand. I forced myself to say something to the shopkeeper, and it came out slowly. Now I wanted to try standing, but was afraid. I did not know what to do. I had my backpack with me, with my passport and plane tickets inside, and was worried that the people at the store might have made my drink strong to rip me off. I decided it would be best to get back to my hotel. I was able to stand by myself, though it was not comfortable. I gave him the money and avoided a conversation, rushing out of the shop and then going home. Outside, it seemed like there were so many lights.

I was sure my hotel was just down the road, but I asked someone which way just to make sure. I asked which way the bus station was, because this was right by my hotel. I then walked that way, but it didn't look right, and when I asked someone else, they told me the opposite way. It felt like I was lost in a video game. If you've ever been to Tokyo, it was the same feeling. That is, bright, every intersection looking the same, and no one around who speaks English. Also, I felt like I was walking in slow motion, and talking in slow motion, and my memory had changed to a very short-term one. After going back and forth on the same street for ten minutes, I ended up back at the restaurant, and asked one of the waiters to help me back to my hotel, explaining that I was having a little trouble, but trying not to let them know that I was completely messed up. When the waiter started walking with me, I got paranoid and did not trust him either. I did not see many foreigners, even though this was the tourist street. When I saw a girl, who looked very pretty to me, I went up to her, and felt like a retard speaking to her, literally. I told her I had had one of these lassies, was messed up, my hotel was very close by, but I could not find it. I said I know I might be being paranoid, but I was not comfortable with this guy helping me, and would prefer a foreigner. I apologized for bothering her, explaining I did not want to make her feel weird. I was even more conscious about apologizing because she was pretty and I thought maybe many guys bothered her. I did not want to make her feel unsafe, but did not know the best way to put her at ease. The fact is, she felt fine, and knew what I was going through. She said she would help me, and I told the waiter that this woman was my friend and would help me, thanking him.

She was there alone but meeting up with her friends. Though my hotel was only a few minutes away, she did not take me back to the hotel right away. We had some conversation, but this was very difficult for me, and I just tried my best to answer her questions, constantly apologizing and explaining that I was messed up and could not remember anything. I did not ask questions, except when I had to in order to avoid being rude.

Her friends did not show up and instead she went somewhere to meet them. She met them at a guest house's restaurant. My high was very strong, and my head was spinning, my memory becoming shorter and shorter. The woman who was sitting across from me was a very nice lady, but she was a blabber-mouth and it was giving me a headache. It may have been annoying under normal circumstances, but now it was not only annoying but difficult, and I did my best not to be rude, finally laying down on the cushions (we were sitting in cushions on the floor rather than chairs) and resting. I ordered a Pizza, hoping that would help. I had not had dinner.

I rested until the Pizza came, and remember the feeling of eating the Pizza and not really tasting it, or at least forgetting and/or losing the taste in my mouth seconds after each bite. That night, two of the guys in the group took me back to my hotel after first walking the blabber mouth back to her hotel. The high was not getting worse, and after speaking to a few people that night, was not worried. I slept fine and the next morning I woke up still high but better.

I wanted to get food in my system ASAP and went to restaurant to order some food. I went to a place that I had read about, which was supposed to have terrific chocolate balls. The menu said they had "special ones," and I emphasized that I did not want the special one, just the regular one, with no hash. I was afraid they would not understand, but not afraid enough to prevent me from ordering it. I still had the experience of short-term taste!

After breakfast, I walked around some. I was able to find my way back to my hotel fine at this point, and slept for a few more hours. That evening I felt a lot better, though still not 100% recovered. I tracked down the people who had helped me the previous night, but they had dinner plans. I did my best to express my thanks. Then I ran into the two Italian men and the women who I had gone on the camel safari with in Jaisalmer. We all just happened to be in Pushkar. I met the two Italians for dinner.

On to Jaipur

All in all, I ended up staying an extra day in Pushkar because of the lassi. Before sunrise the next morning, I tried to catch a bus to Ajmer. I waited with locals at a tea stand by the side of the road. We all sat around a fire. The bus did not come as I had expected, so after thirty minutes I went to the bus station and from there caught a different bus to Ajmer. From Ajmer, I took a local train to Jaipur, arriving at 11 AM. It was a relatively short trip.

Jaipur (Jan 31 - Feb 4)

In Jaipur, I stayed at the guest house of a friend of the woman I had stayed with in Cochin, Jay. Jay picked me up from the train station. That afternoon, he took me around on his motorcycle (along with his two kids) to see a place known as Monkey Temple, which contained a sacred pool where we watched worshippers bathing. In the late afternoon he took me to a polo match. This was the first time I had ever seen the sport played.

I spent a few days in Jaipur. The old city is Jaipur is known as pink city, but Jodhpur's blue city looked much bluer than Jaipur's old city looked pink.

One night I met two of Jay's friends. They asked me to tell Mr. Bush a few things. They are Hindis and think Bush's policies regarding Pakistan are inconsistent with what America stands for. As I had just finished reading a book, Freedom at Midnight, I knew how India was divided into Pakistan and India and also a bit about Indian history, and the tension between Muslims and Hindus. It was nice to have a conversation with people who did not want something from me, and to hear some opinions from locals that were reasonably educated.

While in Jaipur, I made my travel arrangements for the remainder of the trip. I had considered going to Nepal but the plane ticket I had wanted was unavailable. So I planned on spending the following week in Agra, Khajuraho, Varanasi and Calcutta, quite a full schedule.

Bus to Agra

On Wednesday morning I took a bus to Agra, where the Taj Mahal is located. I had wanted to leave as early in the morning as possible, to allow plenty of time to see the Taj Mahal. Jay said he would take me to the bus stop at any time I wanted, but he did not really want to get up to take me to the 6 AM bus, and suggested 7 AM. At the bus stop, they said there would be no bus at 7, only 8. I bought a ticket for that bus, but at 8:45 AM, when I asked at the ticket stand, I was told the 8 AM had been cancelled. A bus came shortly after 9, and I arrived in Agra at 3 PM. I often chose to do things the local way and the result was that I spent lots of time waiting at train and bus stations, or on the slow trains and buses. I figured this would make the trip more authentic .

Agra (Taj Mahal) (Feb 4 - Feb 5)

When I got off the bus, I asked a rickshaw driver to take me to a particular hotel from my guidebook as I had no time to waste. The rickshaw driver said that the hotel had changed its name, but I had read about this common scam. They say that so you go somewhere else. I said no, it hadn't, and asked them to take me to the particular place I was pointing to on the map, which he did. The hotel was there, with the same name I had originally said. However, I did not like it, and settled on another place. I dropped my things on my bed and rushed out to see the Taj Mahal.

I grabbed a snack at a restaurant outside, and the manager said he was also a guide, showing me some badge. On the badge was a ridiculous hourly price. It was funny that there was an hourly price listed on the badge, and I think it really was an official badge as he did not have to pay to enter the Taj Mahal, but who knows. He and his neighbor took me around. He wanted to study his neighbor's English, I think, so for much of the time his neighbor did the explaining.

The temple

The Taj Mahal was beautiful, as I expected it. I guess it was stunning, but I was not in awe. I stayed a couple of hours and it plenty of time. The details regarding where the different marble was from was described to me. The impressive inlay work (inlay is precious and/or semi-precious stones cut into certain shapes, and placed into finely carved holes in the larger marble structure) was also emphasized. The main building was smaller than I had expected and we only spent ten minutes inside. Most of the time I spent at the Taj Mahal was walking around and admiring the main building, the surrounding buildings, and the garden. It would have been a nice place to have a picnic.

Quality time with the guide

After we saw the Taj Mahal, I hung out with my guide. He told me about a Japanese girl he had fallen in love with, a tourist. From the different stories I've heard, I think a lot of tourists use Indian men (as sexual objects). In the evening we went to a Hindi film. I agreed to go with him only when he answered my question. "Yes, there would be many songs in the movie."

Fatehpur Sikri

The Taj Mahal was beautiful, but I did not have the urge to go again during my second day in Agra. Instead I took a local bus to Fatehpur Sikri. I was psyched to see this place because Let's Go said it had, "an immaculate ghost-palace and abandoned city." When I arrived, I first saw a place called Jama Masjid (since the names of places only make reading about them more confusing, in my opinion, I normally exclude them. I am only putting the name of this place here to give an example, and because I don't know what to call this place - it was not a palace). In the center of Jama Masjid was a mausoleum. A man about my age offered to show me around, and I let him know I was not going to pay him, but he said he just wanted to show me. At this point, comments like that became funny. I let him show me around, and afterward he asked me to come by his shop. For once on the trip, and mainly because the trip was almost over, I bought something.

I then went to the palace complex, and a guide showed me around. His English was horrible and when we finished the tour, I looked around by myself, and relaxed, as there were places I could sit and read.

I took a bus back to Agra. At one point the bus did not have enough room to pass another stopped bus, but tried anyway, causing part of the side of the other bus to come off. The bus did not stop.

Agra Fort

The next morning, I saw Agra's fort. A guide outside told me it was so many kilometers around the fort, and had over a hundred palaces . He was trying to convince me that I needed him, but I passed up on him and entered alone. It turned out that the fort was huge, as he had said, but most of it was closed, and the part where one walks around was not large at all. I spent an hour there, and liked it. That afternoon, I flew to Khajuraho.

Khajuraho (Feb 6 - Feb 7)

I quickly settled on a hotel, and then  checked out the amazing temples. They are known for their explicit sexual sculptures carved into the temple walls. I found the temples beautiful and the grounds particularly serene and clean. At the temple someone pointed out two tiny owls sitting in a tree. The carvings were crazy. One carving depicted a man doing it with an elephant, and another depicted a man satisfying three women at the same time. The majority of the carvings were not explicit, but the explicit material was what I enjoyed taking pictures of.

I met a nice couple while walking around the temple complex, and we arranged to have dinner after a night light show I had been planning to go to. At the show, the temples were illuminated while the story of the temples was told, but more beautiful than the temples was the way the grounds were lit up by the full moon. The moonlight lit the entire area like I'd never seen before.

Dinner lasted almost four hours, as we had no problem making conversation.

The following morning I checked out the less touristy temples for a few hours via a bike that I rented, and in the afternoon flew to Varanasi.

Varanasi (Feb 8)

Evening on the Ganges

I arrived in the late afternoon. I had less than twenty-four hours, so I immediately left for the holy Ganges River. The rickshaw driver that took me asked where I was from. When I said I did not want to talk about it (instead of saying the truth, or saying Holland, which I had started telling people to avoid their annoying comments about America) he got upset and put his finger to his lips, saying he did not enjoy talking with me and that we would not talk. I felt I had hurt his feelings, and my attitude had nothing to do with him specifically. Once I got off the rickshaw, I let him know that it was nothing personal.

I quickly found a boat to show me around. My boat driver stopped at the ghats where bodies are cremated.  Ghats are the steps on the riverbank that lead into the river. I was able to see from up close the bodies being cremated and it was interesting, thought I had expected it to be freakier. The bodies were wrapped, so it did not look so strange. A man at the cremation ghats explained the cremation ceremony and afterward took me to see the old women who lived in a hospice on the ghat, waiting to die. He expected my empathy and a big donation.

I learned that holy men, pregnant women, people bitten by snakes, and babies have their corpses thrown into the river without being cremated. Unfortunately, I did not see any of the floating corpses.

While on the boat, I made friend with my driver, and he let me row myself. I hinted that I wanted to go his house. He was sharp, and took the hint, inviting me over. After the boat ride, we walked for a half hour along the riverbank. We navigated unlit streets as the electricity was out, an everyday occurrence. I held his arm as we went up the steps in his building.

Dinner and late night

I spent a few hours mingling with his immediate and extended family. I had originally told the driver I was from Holland and being consistent with this lie was uncomfortable, but I had no choice. One of his niece's had a tutor who was at her house and the tutor asked me to speak in my language. I somehow managed to avoid this.

I got back to my hotel at 10 PM and immediately went to the hotel next door to hang out with a man I had met on a plane a couple days prior, who was staying with his Thai girlfriend. I found this fifty-something year old man with a twenty-something year old Thai girlfriend interesting. He had a lot of good stories. We talked for over an hour.

When I returned to my hotel the hotel receptionist let me know that my mother had called three times. I had told her I would be in after 10:45 PM, so when I was not there when she called she freaked out. In the lobby, I met three English girls who were hungry but did not know where to eat. The only option was nice hotel next door, where I had just been. They wanted a male escort so I joined them. They ordered three plates of French fries.

Day 2

The next morning I took a tour of the city, which started on the Ganges River. We watched an unspectacular sunrise from our boat. A few other people on the tour, who had been there years before, had expected a much livelier scene, with many more bathers. This holy river was, to me, the most interesting place I had visited in India.

In the afternoon I walked around Varanasi with one of the English girls I had met the previous night. She often stopped to look at clothes and we also stopped for tea. I would have preferred to walk around. I would have gladly spent more time in the city, but I had to catch slow train to Calcutta. Of all the places I visited, Varanasi was my favorite.

Train to Calcutta

My train departed Varanasi over an hour late and arrived 7 hours late the next day, at noon instead of 5 AM, almost a 19-hour ride in total. Half the time, the train was stopped either at stations or in the middle of nowhere. It seemed that the train hardly moved.

Calcutta (Feb 9)

I almost got in a fight with the driver who picked me up at the train station. We had agreed to the price of 40 rupees. He picked up other passengers even though he had agreed not to. When we arrived at my destination, he refused to give me change from my fifty rupee bill, not for any particular reason other than that he wanted the extra 10 rupees. I started to yell at him in the street but to no avail. Finally I decided to go ape and grabbed him by the head, kicked him in the balls and grabbed the fifty I had just given him out of his pocket. I should have kept the entire fifty, but I gave it to him after he first gave me the ten rupees in change. (I just grabbed the money, there was no kicking!) 

After finding a place to stay I set out to see Calcutta. I had only five hours of daylight to check out the city. I walked around until my legs hurt, and did not see any foreigners once I escaped the vicinity of my hotel. I also took two rides on Calcutta's subway.

On the street, I asked a man how much a two-rupee pastry was (I knew from experience the approximate price). First, he smiled at his friend. Then, he said ten rupees, so I walked away.

I saw a bunch of businessmen eating at a group of food-stands, and selected the chat stall. Chat is an Indian dish that is a mixture of spices with crackers, yogurt, sweet sauce, chickpeas, and small cubes of potato. It was the best Chat I had ever had. This was also the first time on this trip I had eaten chat. That night I got chat from another place, and it was mediocre.

I noticed that there were no cows in the streets, resulting in a relatively clean city.

I had a quiet night and next morning I left for the airport at 6 AM.

Food

The Indian food was the highlight of the trip. I ate off the streets and in both nice and hole-in-the-wall restaurants, and everything was delicious. There were amazingly sweet sweets, and so many sweets shops. Some of the sweets were made from milk and others from sugar, honey, and oil. Some were even too sweet for me. I ended up eating mostly vegetarian. The vegetable curries were great, as were the pakoras. I had tons of fresh fruit. Some standouts from this category were the fresh cut papaya, the fresh pineapple juice, and the sugarcane juice. I also liked the sliced cucumber mixed with salt and pepper. There were some interesting flavored lassies; for example, saffron and kesar. I often filled up on fruits, sweets and snack-foods. I just could not resist the constant temptation. The kulfi (Indian version of ice-cream) did not stand apart from kulfi I had had in America. I would not say the Indian food was so different from the Indian food in America.

Miscellaneous

• Transportation - I had heard so much about how amazing the trains were. The prices could not have been much more reasonable, but even the best quality sleeper was not particularly nice. The buses shocks did not work well .
• Accommodation - There was an abundance of guest houses and hotels, many of which were reasonable in quality and price. I did not have any trouble sleeping, but the physical rooms were dumpy enough that I hardly ever wanted to rest in them.
• Shopping -  I did very little shopping, because I did not want to carry much in my rucksack.
• Women - it was rare to speak with women throughout the trip. If you stop to ask an Indian woman for directions, you will likely be ignored. Once in awhile I was able to speak with married women. I think the only time I spoke with Indian women my age was when I was with Kathy and her friends.
• History - I found India's modern history (the last hundred years) to be very interesting.
• Names - the names of forts, palaces, etc. where overwhelmingly confusing, not to mention the words used in explaining the history of these places. To make things super-confusing, even when explanations were given in English, for many terms, like those used king and queen, localized words were used (like maharaja for king / prince). In addition the Hindus and Muslims each use different terminology.
• I learned the term, "love come arranged," means an arranged marriage that children request because they love each other. Learning about arranged marriages was interesting in many ways.
• A couple of times people said, "Give me a missed call," meaning call them on their cell in order to give them your phone number (with caller ID).
• English is not as widely spoken as I had expected - I just had unrealistic expectations. Though many people spoke some English, it was usually not enough to make an interesting conversation. Communication took sustained effort, even with the reasonably-educated. English is far from the national language, though I know some locals do read the English daily newspaper instead of the Hindi one.
• I could not figure out why I often heard, "Good morning," during the evening.
• It was hard to figure out the sanitation system. In the entire seven weeks, I saw only a couple of trucks that picked up piles of garbage from piles on the street. There were few if any garbage cans (I don't remember any). I've been told that Indian people are particularly clean (meaning the bathe a lot and wear clean clothes). Even on the backwater boat trip I took there was garbage in the water and on the small islands where people lived.
• I found the different quotes and sayings very annoying, whether it was from some quack guru or Gandhi.
• An interesting aspect of their national sport, Cricket, is that after a big game ends, everyone gets on the field and plays, regardless of age. I also saw people playing cricket all over the place, in the middle of the street, the park, etc.
• Indian bills are often stapled together. Because the bills are stapled together over and over, often there is a big hole in a part of the bill. I think rubber bands work much better.
• I rarely if ever saw an Indian man and Indian woman that was not a couple walking in the street together. I'm sure it happens in the big cities, but I simply didn't see it.
• Maybe more annoying than being ripped off was the following phenomena. I would go to buy something and one person would say the right price (for example, water for 10 rupees). Moments later another person would say a higher price because I was a foreigner.
• When I would buy things, people often looked surprised that I wanted my change.
• I found the fact that there were difference prices for tourists and locals offensive. For example, it might cost 2 rupees for an Indian person to enter some tourist site and $2 (or 100 rupees) for a foreigner. Further, the prices for foreigners were quoted in American dollars.
• Some tourists said going to Pakistan is like getting back to civilization. I guess it is not nearly as crazy there as it is in India.
• I found the amount of pictures tourists took annoying. It was as if they were traveling for the purpose of taking as many pictures as possible.

Conclusion

Though I was often frustrated and annoyed, I think I will return to India. I doubt that I will create such a hectic itinerary again. Next time, I think I would prefer to go to just one place and learn more of the culture. India was fascinating, more different than any place I have ever been to. I really am glad I went despite all the complaints in this write-up. I admit it was not too fun, but it was an experiences I had wanted to have.