Jaisalmer: "We were somewhere on the edge of the desert..."

I turned a corner in Jodphur. I began to see the India I expected when I got lost in the back alleys of that blue city. I received more acts of kindness and welcome in one day there than I did in weeks in dharamsala and delhi.

Now I am in Jaisalmer and I think I am where I need to be. Bhang shops, motorcycle rentals and camel safaris are all possibilities here.

jodphur thoughts and such

- Today I saw a man cleaning garbage off the streets and alleyways by scooping it with a metal bowl. His shirt read, "being human". He sure was being human. speaking of being human, let's talk about poverty and the meaning of life for a moment. On a planet with 7 billion people, about half of them live chest deep in flithy poverty, another billion live in regular poverty, another billion in their respective country's definition of "middle class", then about a billion and a half are considered upperclass &/or live in western countries with high standards of living. out of those billions of people, only 1.3 million have the heavenly luxury of living in Hawaii. that is .0001% of the people on the planet. you'd sooner win the lottery than end up in hawaii. the more I travel the more I appreciate hawaii, home is something special. So, why am I here?

- on a similar note, I now can't help but condone the US foreign policy that protects our way of life. Highways, strip malls, flushing toilets, the EPA, the FDA, government regulations, refrigeration, birth control, etc... God bless the united states...?

- If you have traveler's diarrhea and you need to take a piss, make sure you sit down when you relax your muscles to pee. trust me on this.

- India. I don't know. it's hard to trust a country that makes you sick twice in two weeks.

- I am lost and confused.

No more street food.

Udaipur

I feel like I am traveling again.

Haggling

There is nothing I hate more than haggling. I'm too soft spoken and thin skinned to be good at it, but at the same time I feel compelled to use every trick in the book to deprive these poor local merchants of my gringo dollars.

Haggling is such a crazy activity, it's incredibly complex if you think about it. The basic context of two human beings with conflicting motivations of desire and greed for monetary and material wealth is difficult enough.

But then throw in the tricks and strategy of haggling and you have an incredibly intense game of wits.

as a foreign buyer you have to best-guess what the appropriate price is for a product, and the same product can be priced entirely differently based on the region, the shop owner, and even which street you happen to be on at the time. You have to wonder if the merchant is really not making money when he doesn't go lower or if he's just playing hardball or refusing to sell low. You have to consider the fact you are a rich foreigner and it wouldn't kill you to give him an extra one or two dollar in price, but at the same time, it's a matter of principle that you don't let yourself get boned. then there's the quality of the goods to consider,...etc...i could go on and on.

the strategies for haggling are numerous as well, straight take it or leave it offer (but you have to be willing to walk away), the solicitation of bids from different vendors, the ability to walk away, buying more than one item for a discount, etc... i could go on.

Supposedly, foreigners pay less than they would back home, the merchants make money and everyone is happy. But for me, I always wonder...what if I could have gotten it for less? what if...?

nope, don't like haggling.

How do you keep your mind off things that are bothering you?

I travel around the world. It's a little extreme and expensive, but it works.

Update: To His Noodliness

I guess what i was trying to communicate in the previous post was how traumatizing and demoralizing that bout with food poisoning was. I can deal with acute stomach pain (the sharp stabbing kind), but the vague dis-ease and enveloping malaise I experienced took a heavy mental and emotional toll. It was as psychically draining as it was physically draining. Despite the fact I expected to get sick in India, I wasn't prepared for the adverse effects upon my psyche.

To His Noodliness

When your entire world gets reduced to one toilet and bottles of water, everything else loses meaning. Himalayan mountains, Starbuck frappucino's, Mercedes Benz's, Facebook, houses with white picket fences...these things don't mean much when all you desire and all you need is a western-style toilet and toilet paper.

And I've never been more grateful to Vishnu/Buddha/The Flying Spaghetti Monster for anything than for the blessing of having access to a western toilet these past few days.

Let us all take a moment and bow our heads to our respective gods and give thanks for good health, regular bowel movements and firm stool. Because it's these little blessings you take for granted and don't appreciate until it's not there.

Forgive me if I sound irreverent and a little flippant, but my gratuity is sincere and humble.



Ramen

Recap: Dharamsala

Dharamsala is interesting in the sense of life in a spiritual community. there are monks everywhere, mantras and "om mani padme hung" mantras being played on stereo's, lots of people walking around with prayer beads. Pictures of buddha's and the dalai lama are everywhere. There are lots of classes and lectures here on buddhist philosophy, meditation, yoga, tibetan cultural arts, meditation retreats etc... it's interesting because everything is a constant reminder for you to practice.

having said that, dharamsala is a bit more dirty and grittier than i expected. I was hoping it'd be different from the rest of india but it's still pretty dirty and noisy and crowded. however the people here are much nicer than the rest of india.

And although it is a buddhist community, there is a definite sense of westernization. There is a new-age hippy vibe to this place. There are so many westerners walking around dressed in local shawls and jewelry, carrying around prayer beads...It's hard to take them seriously.

But I can see the benefits to living in a spiritually oriented community, everything and everyone is on the same page as you.

Also, it is very cold up here.




This is the dog I befriended. I call him "Slice" for the pizza slices I fed him to win him over. I like him because he's a very bashful dog. He has a really funny way of holding his head down (you can see it in the picture), and he won't really look you in the eye even though he's happy to see you. I like him because he's been guarding the door to my room every night, his presence oddly makes me feel a little safer.

Delhi Belly

Six days, I made it six days. It started off with simple diarrhea. The pain wasn't even bad, I thought I got off easy as I went to bed that night. Then the fever, body aches and general sense of malaise set in. This wasn't just a case of travelers diarrhea, this was straight up food poisoning.

Luckily, it ran it's course over the night and by morning I felt less sick. I spent the whole day in bed to give myself time to recover and because I still felt pretty wasted.

edit: Travler's Diarrhea has a mean recovery time of 3.6 days.

Bucket List:

item #27: See His Holiness the Dalai Lama. check

Day three?

Everything coming out of my nose is either red or black, blood or pollution.

I wanted to leave New Delhi two days ago, but I have to stick around to see the Dalai Lama speak tomorrow.

I do not like this city. not at all.

Day Two

One way ticket to India: $817
Auto Rickshaw, Paharganj to IHC: 80 Rupees
Delicious chai from cart vendor: 12 Rupees
Ten pills of Diazepam for 17 Rupees: priceless

But seriously, I'm over it. Ready to move on now. Delhi is noisy, polluted and crowded. I Need fresh air and space. And streets where i don't need to work so hard to stay alive.

India: Day One

The Paharganj area I am staying in right now. Full of dreadlocked hippies and old European women. I took one bite of the thali below and knew I was home.


The noise, the smell, the crowds, the traffic I aint ever seen before, the food....

Love it.

I ain't leaving this place.

Recap: The Eigth Wonder of the World:California

Endless suburbia. Box stores, freeways, mountains, radio, wind.
The American Dream and Babies
GPS
Family
America

some travel songs, not all, some

Here I go Again
Wild World
Running Down a Dream
World at Large
Road Tripping
Me and Bobby McGee
Wherever I may Roam
The Way
Around The World
I've Been Everywhere
On the Road Again
The Distance (why not)


and when it's time to go home:
Homeward Bound

India T-Minus 1 day

Okay, upon further research I realized that big chunks of my itinerary are in some cold ass places. I'm talking sub-freezing. I knew the Himalayas would be cold, but for some reason I didn't think it would be that cold. I was a little daunted at first, but upon further consideration, the idea of me freezing my ass off in a Himalayan village, neck deep in snow in the Kashmir Valley, and drinking chai on a snowy cafe veranda fills me with optimism and joy.

India: T-minus 3 days.

squeeeeeeeeee!

The hardest part of a 1,000 kilometer journey is taking the first step

Sitting here in the comfort of my own home, I am vacillating between confident eagerness to start a new backpacking adventure and debilitating fear about starting this new backpacking adventure. It's the strangest feeling in the world, one that I remember vividly (see June 9, 2010 post) from the start of my CA trip.

PROS:
-On the one hand, I really want to go. I have lots of experience and confidence from my Central American trip so I know I can do this.

-I know I'm going to have a good time, I know I probably won't die, get robbed, get raped or have my organs harvested.

-?????

-And I really need to get away from Hawaii.


CONS:
-But on the other hand, there are lots of things that are quite terrifying and make me think twice about what I'm doing. For one thing, the language barrier is going to be worse than in CA because of the different languages of the countries I'm going to. Unlike Latin American, I can't travel through many countries with just one language, and I sure as hell am not going to bother learning Thai, Hindi, Vietnamese and Nepali.

-And India is kind of the big question mark. It's something I'm looking forward to, and many people I've met said that it's a love or hate kind of destination. I am cautiously optimistic that I'll like it, but...India is dirty and poor, man.

-And squat toilets. Jesus, don't even get me started on the squat toilets.

-Then there's the money issue. Do I really want to spend thousands and thousands of dollars I can't really afford? What really kills me is paying rent on an empty house again.

-And let me tell you what is going to happen when I finally return home. I'm going to start working in the restaurant again and instead of going back to school or finding a real job (like I said I was going to do last time), I'm going to end up working there for another year, spending every minute hating the business and myself . Then, when next summer rolls around I'm going to tell myself "one more backpacking trip and that's it. I'm going to get a real job after I come back." Wash, rinse, repeat.


The image I have of myself stepping out of the airport into the chaos of New Delhi alone with all my earthly possessions hanging on my back, vulnerable to any thief with an inclination, is terrifying and yet so titillating and enticing...........the truth of the matter is, those are the moments I live for. Those "where the hell am I?" and "Where is food and shelter?" panic attacks are half the fun of backpacking.


CONCLUSION: I'm going. That was never in doubt, I just thought I'd try to share the weird conflicting thoughts and emotions roiling around in my head.

NOTE TO SELF: Go to Kalamazoo, MI.

Allah, please don't let NBC cancel Community. You already took Firefly from us. Mercy! Grant us the small cult comfort of weird quirky humor that is Community.

Preparations

Getting visas, doing research, packing clothes, filling prescriptions, buying toiletries, etc... is important of course. But equally important for being prepared for this backpacking trip is watching and reading the appropriate movies and books. I'm watching movies like Fight Club, Lost in Translation, Outsourced, etc... to remind me of how weird life is. I'm reading books like Cat's Cradle, The Alchemist and Chuck Palanhiuk novels to remind myself that sometimes you have to blow off your own jaw with a double aught in order to be born again.

And of course, Shantaram. The Gregory Roberts novel that started this whole thing. If I had to give one reason as to why I'm going to India, Shantaram would be my answer. I am going to India because I read this book.

Onwards to India

I just booked my flight to India. I'm pretty sure this is going to happen this time. I haven't been feeling very excited about this backpacking trip until now. I guess it never felt "real" to me, like I was never sure it was going to happen. But since I booked my ticket and started gathering my supplies, I am beginning to feel The Excitement. It's not only excitement I feel. It's a chaotic blend of emotions.

I am feeling:

Fear: Because I'm going to India, man!
Excitement: Because I'm going to India, man!
Hope: Maybe I'll find the meaning of life?
Pessimism: What's the point? why waste money? I need to find a job.
Optimistic: I know it's going to be an experience, one way or another
Confidence: I did central america, i should be able to do India/Nepal.
Nothing: sometimes I just feel bored.
Doubt: Do i really need to do this? What is my objective?
ennui: What is the point of doing anything?
Panic: vaccines, medicines, language, visas, so many things to do.
Dread: diarrhea, language, sickness, tiredness, diarrhea, injury, death, squat toilets, diarrhea, 15 hour train rides.
Alive!: Fuck objectives and reasons! I'm going to india, man!

conclusion: I'm a moody bastard.

Expensive Repair: 0
Me: 1

Between this and the liquor commission thing, I feel justifiable.

Every dish I cook with Russet potatoes end up as a variation of mashed potatoes. No, I'm not complaining.