judith.boudreau's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member judith.boudreau on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/judith.boudreau en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 29 Jul 2007 04:59:27 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com delhi to bangkok — Bangkok, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1185695220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1185695220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1185695220/tpod.html Sun, 29 Jul 2007 04:59:27 -0400 Thailand and India for the Uninitiated.
Bangkok, Thailand

I will write more in a day or two.
I've been on the net for about 2 hrs and I want to go and do some stuff. I was going to go swimming but our so much of our stuff had been pilfered.
The Dude and I were also very, very sick. Up until two hrs ago, neither of us had eaten a thing in three days. Delhi Belly got us. Sadly the second we arrived in Bangkok we were affected. The minute I hit the heat I was puking. I honestly don't think I've ever been that ill. We still have the odd pain but I hope the end is in sight. We spent the first two and half days holed up in our overnight train compartment and then the hotel room for an entire day. We think it was food we had eaten in the Delhi airport. The restaurant was gross and the tomato soup was sour. For the first time, waiters didn't hover either. The restaurant was probably owned by Air India. But I guess we deserved it.
]]> home at last — Edmonton, Alberta, Canada http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1143193920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1143193920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1143193920/tpod.html Sun, 29 Jul 2007 04:53:16 -0400 Thailand and India for the Uninitiated.
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

O.K I've been home now for almost two weeks. Things that have struck me since returning are...
One - goddamn its cold here. Or at least it was when we returned. It was -7C. It took me a full two days to warm up and I'm not sure if I'm there yet.
Two - the streets are sooooo quiet. You hear the odd screech of tires and the odd antagonistic honk but for the most part, the streets are organized and orderly with very little straying outside the box.
Three - the food is bland. I love the spices in India and Thailand and frankly I miss it.
Four - People here bitch too much. We have it so good and yet we bitch just to hear ourselves complain. The poorest of poor in Indian and Thailand always seemed to smile even though life was hopelessly one sided.
Five - too much vandalism and graffiti grace our edifices. We have no pride.
Six - Tim Horton's coffee cups and McDonalds crap will be our ruin. It wasn't till India that I realized what pollution was, but we are so much worse. In India burning garbage was a way to dispose of unwanted rubbage, no dumps you see. The skies in both Thailand and India were always smoggy. Burning undergrowth and unwanted stuff was a necessity. Here, we have proper garbage receptacles; yet we are slobs who seemingly prefer to be lazy and not use our advantages.
Seven- We have too many laws, bylaws, rules, regulations etc, I guess its governments way of keeping us in line, civilizing us. I think it just another form of frustration. No wonder we have road rage. In India where every car has battle wounds, people just take the chaos for granted. I only saw only fight between motorists, and I was amazed I didn't see more.
Eight - In the Canada I know, people aren't garbage. We are equal, men - women, poor, old, colour, religion - we are the same under the law. No advantage, no difference.



Well, that's what I did on my vacation. I loved it - I hated it. I can't wait till the next adventure.
]]> Toyko — Tokyo, Japan http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1140515040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1140515040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1140515040/tpod.html Sun, 29 Jul 2007 04:47:09 -0400 Thailand and India for the Uninitiated.
Tokyo, Japan

Hello everyone...


We are now in Japan, we arrived in Tokyo or Narita airport about an hour ago. We leave in one more hour for Bangkok. We have now been in the air or travelling for 17 hrs and we have another 7 to go.
The flights have been fairly smooth but we both felt a little ill after the eigth hour of flying. It was a wee bit too much I guess.
Most of the trip so far has been flying over clouds so we didn't see much of the ocean etc.
Had a weird breakfast, fried rice and pork. yummmm!

We will try to write in Bangkok, but trust me sleep is going to be our first priority. Perry has had no real sleep in about 48 hrs and I'm not far behind.
]]> back to bangkok — Bangkok, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1143020340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1143020340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1143020340/tpod.html Sun, 29 Jul 2007 04:40:29 -0400 Thailand and India for the Uninitiated.
Bangkok, Thailand

would appear I hate long good-byes.
In twelve hours we are in the air. The temperature in Bangkok is 35C. Today while meandering about the city for the last time I noticed I wasn't sweating, or even feeling overly hot. I'm even kind of brown. I have finally acclimatized only to head back to the frigid north.
Its 6:00pm, the whole city has just paused for a minute while the national anthem is blared over loudspeakers. We are on Khoa San Road escaping the heat and passing street hawkers as they forcefully sell their wares. Roses, trinkets, croaking frogs, maps, zippos and other portable goods all brought to your table side, want it or not. Food and drinks are never brought to the table simultaneously. It's as if the servers are proud to have made each item and want to present it accordingly.
We are less than a block from where the continuing anti-government demonstrations have been held. The Democracy monument is clean and orderly today. No sign of the latest show of mass discontent. I'm told, taxi drivers refuse fares to this area whenever the marchers appear. They are in favour of the prime-minister and will toss you out if you discuss politics.

We took the overnight train from Suran Thani, after a 4 hours bus trip from Krabi. The centre of Thailand and this city are far from tourist central. Written English is hard to find. The landscape passed by the bus peacefully until the next tooth jarring pothole. We drove by lotus and fresh water pearl ponds and beautiful teak homes. The crowds of people disappear here and markets sell what people need. Plenty of fruit and veggies, meat in all its glorious cuts, fish - dried or fresh, nuts, chicken in every form hang from hooks, spices, clothing, tools, housing supplies and hats; the variety is endless. It's amazing the stuff you can find residing under a beat up tin roof. Life is lived for the most part on the street. There are people who do your laundry, cook and mind the children. Everyone works but the pay scale is foreign. It's based on percentage, makes sense since this truly is a free market society. The porters on the train work 28 days straight with two off for good behaviour. Their wages are based on the meals and drinks they sell. We met one fella who had a girlfriend on either side of the tracks. Smart guy...as the railway certainly doesn't put them up in hotels for the day, so he spent every other day, portside with la girl du jour. Last night the porters hinted at wanting some whiskey, not do subtly, so we obliged. I don't think it happens very often and it was hilarious. This morning they were all a little more sheepish yet still not afraid to ask for a tip or hurry us all off the train.
Everyplace we've been has its own unique character. The tuk-tuks changed from covered motorbikes to side-saddle to tiny mini-vans, the drivers remained the same.
Ok. I'm cool now, so it's off to more last minute adventures
]]> Surant Thani — Surant Thani, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1142847420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1142847420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1142847420/tpod.html Sun, 29 Jul 2007 04:38:14 -0400 Thailand and India for the Uninitiated.
Surant Thani, Thailand

Surant Thani
]]> Krabi — Phi phi to krabi, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1142847240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1142847240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1142847240/tpod.html Sun, 29 Jul 2007 04:35:01 -0400 Thailand and India for the Uninitiated.
Phi phi to krabi, Thailand

Last day in the Islands.

Tomorrow, we begin the journey home.
I wish, I wish, I wish we had spent the entire vacation here. I wouldn't have traded the whole experience for anything, but this is paradise. We've spent the last two days in Krabi, Aonang Beach. Endless beaches punctuated by soaring, ragged cliffs rounded at each end by the elements.
In Phuket, the largest, most developed of the islands you find the most diverse places and economies. We visited another Burmese Baptist village where pigs lie nonchalantly shaded under sticks and stone huts. Roosters and children run freely greeting you with various calls, 5 baht, 5 baht, cock-a-doodle doo. Everyone here sells something; it's a vast, fierce free market economy. The ladies peddling monkey food at the temples sounded eerily like their charges. 10 baht, 10 baht. We passed lychee, mango, banana and jackfruit orchards and the three generation investment Teak plantations. It takes a teak tree 100 years to grow as big as the 50 yr old big fella elm growing outside my front door. Phuket is also booming in real estate. Shops dominate the center of the island competing with rubber, pineapple and palm farms. Tourism is the main industry here, anywhere, it seems in Thailand. Yet, 20 years after tourism began its boom, people here are still resolutely their own people. They speak in their own incomprehensible way, their lazy tongues ending every word in a nasal soft ah. Even children in small tourist villages stay clear of direct contact. They cannot or have not learned much of any of the languages of their guests. The people here are very proud but private. I guess I can't blame them. They see people with such wealth everyday. Foreigners from places they will never visit and yet everyday they open their doors to us.
The Phi-Phi Islands are just beautiful. There are two islands; the smaller is a national park where the film "the Beach" was made. The larger has a sand swath between two mountains. When the Tsunami hit, it cleared a path flattening everything in its stead. Pictures of before and what now remains or what has been rebuilt are staggering. Much of the center of the island is still being rebuilt.
The first night here we went on an evening cruise. The proprietor, Aladeen, is a 19 year old kid who scraped up the money to open his first business, a large tour/party boat. He and his crew were all new to each other that night but they took us to some great spots, fire danced and took our pictures for their new brochure. We are going to be famous for years to come... The beaches here are white, soft pulverized coral - no sand mites at night. The atmosphere is laid back and the food is great.
The tuk-tuk drivers of the Andaman Sea are the longboat sailors. They will take you anywhere for a price and fast... Where you want go, pee-pee eyelahn 500 baht, 500 baht, but by God; I wish they'd leave us alone. What ever happened to 'If I need ya, I'll call ya."
Krabi is still in the midst of a growth spurt. The beach we are on the verge of being the next best thing. The hotel we're staying at is the coolest one yet. The Phra Nang Inn, a multi award winning hotel, is built in two wings. The first is done is a land theme, the Beetlenut wing. We are in the Coconut wing, dedicated to the sea. The walls are plastered with sand and shells and other surprising accruements. The exterior of the building is overgrown with beautiful flowers, trees and ivy overlooking the sea. The common areas are done in Bamboo and Palm wood and shell designs. Just lovely.
Today we went on a final cruise round the area. We snorkelled amid neon striped fish that actually bit me as I was fed them a banana. It hurt.
I panicked, I'm allergic to the little sea dwellers. We swam on a couple of beaches that defy description while being transported to each mach speed on a very powerful speedboat. In the distance you can see pearl farms appearing as stick picket fences run amok. Fishermen with beads of bell shaped light bulbs strung cross-boat bows ply their trade. At night the horizon doesn't remain hidden for long, the lights are switched on softly illuminating the distance.
The Thais give great massages. We enjoyed many, for the price we pay at home...I'll miss this service a lot. The bus service here and in most of Thailand is in the back of pickup trucks, neatly lined with plank seats and roller bars...just in case. In most of Asia; I'm told, the horn is used frequently. Here it is a friendly reminder or a tap on the shoulder and like the Caribbean, a way to say hello. In India they lay on the horn, constantly, not caring if it's a rude gesture or not. At home it's cause for a fight.
Tomorrow we catch the overnight train to Bangkok, after a brief stay in some place that starts with an S??? One more night in a crazy city then the long journey home.
I'm tired. A full day of sun, a wonderful lobster, shrimp and crab dinner, pampering...
It's been tough. I see ya all soon, probably out slogging in the snow...
Or maybe, it'll start to melt. he he.
]]> Koh Phi Phi — Koh Phi Phi, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1142674080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1142674080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1142674080/tpod.html Sun, 29 Jul 2007 04:31:04 -0400 Thailand and India for the Uninitiated.
Koh Phi Phi, Thailand

Hello from Thailand.

Today we leave for Krabi. We've just spent the last two days on the Koh Phi Phi Islands. The only export here is fun and great memories.
The Tsunami did a lot of damage here. Now the most of the buildings are new or are being rebuilt and most sidewalks still remain remarkably flat. To the unknowing, history has been replaced and life carried on. There are many sign and loudspeaker systems on every beach directing to the evacuation paths and a few sweet memorials.
We dined on fresh lobster, actually getting to pick the poor buggers out of a tank of several species including the local monster Thai lobster. We watched the fire dancers juggle flame and contort to heavy beats from our restaurant table.
Menus and signs here all murder the English language. Sapaghetti, filet miggnong, bloddy mery are amongst my favourites. You are left to imagine and shudder at what the translations are like in other tongues. The islands are filled with tourists and ex pats from all over the planet. Strangely I haven't met one American. The people here are mainly Muslim, a happy variety. Unlike the north of Thailand where Wats out number all the churches in Italy, the south has mosques but there are far fewer. The culture is so integrated with tourists. A primary school is built mid-beach tucked between hotel bungalows. Homes for the locals and rooms for rent co-mingle. The people here are lovely. We rented a longboat and took our second tour of the islands, snorkelled with a colourful array of fish and visited beaches built for two cut from limestone cliffs. Monkeys stood us up, but hey - Life is easy, no worries eh mate!
]]> PHUKET — PHUKET, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1142155620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1142155620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1142155620/tpod.html Sun, 29 Jul 2007 04:28:19 -0400 Thailand and India for the Uninitiated.
PHUKET, Thailand

PLANE TRIP TO PHUKET
]]> CHAING MAI — CHAING MAI, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1141982400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1141982400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1141982400/tpod.html Sun, 29 Jul 2007 04:24:04 -0400 Thailand and India for the Uninitiated.
CHAING MAI, Thailand

In Thailand we missed a good full two days. We ended up on Antibiotics because of the Indian experience. The train trip up north, a 13 hr trip in an overnight bunk, was misery. The next day in the hotel wracked with pain wasn't much better. But...once we actually started to explore Chang Mai, northern Thailand, we had a blast. "The new city" is really a 700 yr old walled city. Much of the wall is destroyed but enough stands to impress. Chang Mai is a much slower city, with winding roads and back lanes and a night market to die for. We went on a bamboo raft ride, rode the elephants, saw a Wat or two and visited some Burmese Baptist Thai villages. Then we flew to Phuket.

We drove an hour from the airport to the hotel, it the food and the people in Phuket (Poo-Ket) are amazing. We got bit by sand mites whilst walking at night along the beach, met a couple of monkeys, elephants, butterflies and saw James Bond Island et al. Fantastic.

We are now in Phi-Phi, pronounced Pee-Pee, the most idyllic island ever. "The Beach" was filmed here. No vehicles just the unique Thai longboats roar around. We've had great food, seen amazing scenery and we are happy...
]]> Jahlandar, India — Jahlandar, Punjab, India http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1141976040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1141976040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/judith.boudreau/thai-india-2006/1141976040/tpod.html Sun, 29 Jul 2007 04:19:28 -0400 Thailand and India for the Uninitiated.
Jahlandar, Punjab, India

Hi all...

Well it's been adventure so I'll begin at the beginning of the trip to hell and back.

We checked out of our hotel in Bangkok at 12 noon and squatted by the pool to escape the mid-day heat. By the end of the swimming session I resembled a pink quail's egg. With slightly more colour than normal and freckles in spots I didn't know I could get them. The rest of the day we meandered around Bangkok and watched an enormous aerobic class taking place near the city hall square of "Krungthrepmahanakorn Amornrattanakosin Mahintrayuthaya Mahadilokpob Noparat Rajataniburirom Udomrajanivej Mahasatharn Amornpimarn Awatarnsatis Sakatadtiya Wisanukamprasit" or Prutnam as the locals call the city of Bangkok. We watched children leaving school in their uniforms that are similar to the Japanese Anime? cartoon characters/super heroes, short sleeves with big loose bow ties and blue shorts or skirts.
We walked around Khoa San road a wee bit more and then it was time to depart for the airport.

Our flight was due to leave at 2:45 am but departure was delayed a further 45 min. We should have taken this as a warning!!!! The harbinger of things to come. We finally got air born but 10 minutes into the flight we were turned around and sent back to Bangkok. Never, ever fly Air India. I repeat NEVER EVER FLY AIR INDIA. Even the Indian people laughed when we told them of our troubles. They never fly Air India unless they couldn't avoid the aggravation. We sat on the tarmac for 4 1/2 hours before we were asked to leave the plane. Then we boarded buses and were dropped in the middle of now where. Bangkok has a huge airport. We had to ask several people before we managed to find out where we were supposed to go, find our way through security again and then it was another 4 hours before anyone from Air India bothered to explain what the hell was going on. After waiting over 10 hours and hearing conflicting stories we finally made it on to the original plane, with much trepidation. What was supposed to be a four hour trip to New Delhi, unexpectedly found us in Bombay 6 1/2 hours later. Another trip through security found us boarding 747 to Delhi with now more expected problems. The doors wouldn't close. But eventually after sitting in extreme heat, no A/C, we passed Air One (this was our only brush with Bush) on the tarmac and we were finally headed to Delhi. We arrived at 10 pm local time and of course we missed our train up north. We insisted Air India put us up in a hotel, which they did...but it was a glorified Super Eight. As it turned out, Air India owned the hotel (probably because they were losing a fortune putting up their many disgruntled customers). We were told The Centaur was a 5 star hotel but it was a filthy joint that need a darn good cleaning and a hell of lot of bleach. I ordered a mulligatawny soup and the slop the sent me resembled the soup only in its dish water brown colour and the cannelloni had no similarity to anything I've ever eaten in my life.

We had arranged to take a taxi to Jalahnder, Pujab the next morning. We were told the difference in payment would be slight as it would cost us extra for the last minute tickets and cab fare to the station. But of course...No taxi awaited us in the morning and the price had no jumped to triple the original arranged price. We were so upset we decided to take it anyway. $150 Canadian.

We arrived in Jalandher at 10 pm the next evening, a full 46 hrs after leaving the city of Bangkok proper. It should have taken us approx. 12hrs, at least, according to the original plan to reach Jalandhar. We spent ten hours (quoted six), in the cab with no A/C or shocks to speak of, to drive 430 kms (It would take approx. 31/4 hrs in Canada, or at least here in Alberta - where speed limits are sometimes just a suggestion, he he). It was a rude awakening. The roads in Bangkok were a teaser. This was sheer chaos. Everything you can imagine on a main highway was there. Stray cows, horses, oxen and donkeys pulling overloaded carts, bicycles, scooters and motorbikes with up to 5 passengers, three-wheelers (tuk-tuks here) trucks, buses, cars, SUVs, dogs and people on foot. You can't drive here without a horn, brakes are negotiable. The few street lights, red lights, are scrum session with everyone elbowing for space, one inch at a time and honking for the shear sake of noise.
We could not reach anyone on the phone till we made it to town. Every time Romeo called, whether from Bangkok or India, whoever answered the phone hung up because (of course) the spoke little or no English. Or as I later found out...Our accent and accelerated rate of speech was too hard to understand.
Our first night we stayed in the hotel owned by a Punjab ambassador to a European country. This place was equivalent to the first hotel but with better food. All mattresses in India are thin, cardboard thin, no fluffy mattress tops here!!! The people who picked us up were pleasant enough to us, but by God they treated the staff with little more than contempt. One guy had been a cab driver in NYC for 15 years. I guess he saved all his venom for his return. Of course they took advantage of our hosts hospitality and ate and drank (Peter Scot - I'll explain more later) till the wee hours. We probably wouldn't have slept anyway. There was a wedding banquet in the halls below and guests were erratically shooting air born in celebration of the recent nuptials.
They next day 5 of us piled into a compact car and headed to the wedding, 3 hrs away or in India about 50 kms away. The most beautiful buildings in India are in order of importance/impression...car show rooms, banquet palaces and the homes of the rich. Everything else is in some state of decay. India is a beautiful country, but blinders are needed.
The wedding banquet was held outdoors which was a good idea because the inside of the "palace" was pretty gruesome. The toilets alone sent cold shivers up me spine.
There were scores of colourful tents set up with more food and booze imaginable, a stage of dancers who entertained for 5 or so hours in the heat of the day and a ton of servants waited at your beck and call. Kudos to them all... The food and drink tents kept moving from the front area to the back then to front again.
The wedding itself was held in a temple a few kms away. It was a very simple building in the midst of repair. Its dome was being rebuilt. The inside walls were unadorned and white, women in swaths of coloured Punjabi suits and saris provided the eye candy. A group of classical musicians played and sang throughout the ceremony as did the priest? behind the simple alter? draped in gold cloth. The Bride wore a beautiful red sari, decorated with gold thread with crystal and pearl beads, hennaed hands and arms and the yellowiest of gold jewellery. The red turbaned groom's suit was made of finely spun silk, gold and white richly blended and embroidered. In a Sikh ceremony, the bride and groom literally tie the knot. They walk around the alter 4 times, aided by family, in symbolic gesture of what the road ahead, what marriage really entails. It was very moving and thankfully very brief. Unlike some of the orthodox weddings I have been too.
Outside the premises, security guards kept the beggars away but they congregated around the temple and outskirts waiting a rambling guest. They would run and converge on us foreigners in the blink of an eye and they did, once, was enough of a lesson. There were line ups to take my picture. I'm a rare commodity in these places. White and Female. I was trying to be polite but Romeo and several friends had to rescue me or the sessions would have never ended.
After the afternoon attractions, we were invited to a private club. There we met the mayor of rural Jalandher and his cronies. More Peter Scot. He was everywhere. Indian scotch served up always in the same fashion. First came the highball glasses, then a bottle of water, then two bottles of soda then Peter would arrive followed by snacks. Same story every time. Indians don't eat dinner or lunch, they eat snacks.
We met another friend at the wedding who took us under his wing and brought us back to his house, where we stayed for the next few days. His father is a state government minister and federal MP as was his father before him. A family institution since the beginning of Indian independence. So from that time on we had police escorts, a roomy governemnt SUV with a red revolving/strobe light on top and A/C to drive around in. It was quite nice actually. The disparity between the rich and powerful could not have been more obvious though. Even beggars generally gave us a miss.
If vehicles didn't move when expected, the army guards would jump out and point a gun in the offenders face forcing them to promise never to make the same mistake again. One man, a truck driver, even cried and begged for his life when confronted with an ak47. We think he was spared because of us, but then...we could be placing our importance rather high.
However, the vehicles have precedence. A vehicle is allowed to pass once, if it slows down and then tries to pass again, its good-bye sailor. You don't get a second chance.
The next morning we were awoken at 4:00am. The local priest in the village temple started his prayers, over the loudspeaker; he spoke a little and then sang the holy book words till day break. Then came the street vendors peddling their bicycle through the village singing their wares. Each with a different tune, a harmony of exotic melodies.
The minister's house is huge with courtyards and balconies, a guest house and meeting house across the pathway, a school for girls and a memorial garden set up in his parent's memory are also within walking distance within his village. The village borders the city and is really a special subdivision with specially chosen neighbours.
The next night we went to the evening wedding reception, paid for by the groom's father, an even fancier shindig. Again held outdoors at another "5 Star" hotel/banquet palace", Tonnes of food under more beautiful tents, drinks and entertainment. I actually shot a gun into the air and almost deafened myself and shortly after was stopped by the second in command chief of the Police Rapid Action Force (for the 7 lower Indian states) and given a stern warning. Not, as I erroneously thought, because I was a woman, but because it is illegal for anyone.... There are signs everywhere forbidding such action but not one man paid attention. Thankfully, he is the groom's father's brother so he let my indiscretion slide with a smile.
We met a guru dressed in the finest silk outfit, who had sitar students in T.O., the family hosting him were all doctors but he was the "most auspicious guest".
We were taken to villages; saw how farmers lived and how they farmed.
Punjab at this time of year is like Alberta mid summer, mid twenties during the day - cool at night. They too have 4 distinct seasons but unlike ours, theirs are Hot, Foggy, Rainy and typical prairie summer. Punjab or all of India really is flat, Saskatchewan type flat but Punjab has water, unlike the rest of the country. When we flew from Bombay to Delhi we could see the land is dry, brown from above. It kinda looks like the back of an old peasant's hand. Slightly rounded mountains and shallow valleys predominant the sun burnt landscape.
In a country where water is a premium, I was shocked to see the complete disregard for water. Every waterway is polluted, canals and rivers are dumps. I saw a dead dog, bloated and floating, in the same water children played in. It's beyond disgusting. In Bangkok any standing water, including the smallest plant pot has fish to number the amount of mosquitoes, not so in India. Standing water there is putrid.


I will write more in a day or two.
I've been on the net for about 2 hrs and I want to go and do some stuff. I was going to go swimming but our so much of our stuff had been pilfered.
The Dude and I were also very, very sick. Up until two hrs ago, neither of us had eaten a thing in three days. Delhi Belly got us. Sadly the second we arrived in Bangkok we were affected. The minute I hit the heat I was puking. I honestly don't think I've ever been that ill. We still have the odd pain but I hope the end is in sight. We spent the first two and half days holed up in our overnight train compartment and then the hotel room for an entire day. We think it was food we had eaten in the Delhi airport. The restaurant was gross and the tomato soup was sour. For the first time, waiters didn't hover either. The restaurant was probably owned by Air India. So I guess we deserved it.
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