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Trip Start Aug 28, 2008 Previous
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  Delhi, India
Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Hi everyone, here is the latest from the road...

I ended my Nepal trip with three days at Chitwan National Park, a safari park located in the southern region near India. I came with the intention of seeing some wild tigers and rhinos (they're rhinos...) but all I got on my day-trek was a family of monkeys trying to pee on me from the tree tops. Still, the park was cool since it has a varied landscape of forest and tall grass (up to 6m by the end of the season)... you really feel like you are in the wild. Other than the walk, I took a lot of time to sit by the river and read two books and the latest edition of the economist. This was the best way to pass the time until the bright-red sunset took full effect by about 6p.

Leaving Chitwan, I took a bus headed to the border town of Sunauli where you walk over into India. Before we could even get out onto the highway, our bus came to a halt along with the rest of traffic. Apparently there was a mob of rickshaw drivers up ahead who blockaded the road because another rickshaw driver was killed by a truck driver the night before. Now the "rickshaw driver association" wanted approx $5,000 for his death or they were gonna kill the man (the blockade was to get the other drivers to hand him over). This is what happens in a country wo drivers insurance. Also, the police just kinda watched this happen and didn't do much in the way of enforcement. I know all this b/c our bus finally forged to the front of traffic after an hour and I could see these guys brandishing sharp sticks and other assorted weapons. All in all there were about 40 of them, angry as hell.

As I was discussing the situation with the bus operator (I got friendly with him during that hour break), he said to me, "Why don't you talk to them?" I told him he was crazy, I wasn't going anywhere near this crowd. But then I started to think that maybe there was a reasonable way to work things out. He took me over to the ring leader, who was holding a thorny bamboo stick. In between his shouting, he listened to the bus operator tell him I was from the US and needed to catch a train at 5pm. I simply smiled at the guy, said in broken Nepali that I liked Nepal... but he just continued to yell (he never seemed to stop yelling), and then finally he said, "Ok, ok, you go!" And off our bus went. I got a small round of applause from the French tourist who were too afraid to leave the bus. I started thinking that maybe there is a future for me in diplomacy.

Things were running very late as I got to the border. But more disturbing is the way the bus operator just hopped the bus at the last stop and left us to a throng of rickshaw drivers (not the same ones, but equally excitable who would drive us the rest of the way. By the way, the guidebooks totally oversimplify this transition, it was truly a pain in the butt.

As I crossed over into India, I had Bob Marley playing in my head, and for good reason. I felt like I was leaving the US to go to Mexico. Suddenly there were throngs (I am liking this word today) of people, some just hanging out by the border, still even more traffic. The scene was chaos. Little did I know this would be the protocol for India as a whole. I ducked into a jeep with some other tourists and we split the ride to Gorahkpur, the closest train station. Still this was two hours away, and needless to say, I missed my train. Tired from the day, I decided to spend the night in this town with this Finnish boy, Jon. We split a humid, noisy hotel room near the station and it was by far the worst night of sleep I had. The mosquitoes were relentless, and fearful of getting malaria, I went to bed full clothed with bug spray - still did not work. I've since learned my lesson and traded up for an AC room in Delhi.

Next day, we had lunch at none other than a mall in this very poor, transit town. People in the mall were enamored with us, one kid even chased down the rickshaw on our way out and wanted me to come home with him after a two minute conversation. It is unbelievable the kind of attention I get here, esp from other men. I feel like Brad Pitt or someone. You will be someplace and people will just start to crowd around you and just watch you. It takes some getting used to, and its not harmful. I just don't think many of them see a white face too often.

So, then I caught the train to Delhi. But then I realized I caught the wrong one. No worries, a family man told me, its just the local. You can get off at Bati for the express. In the meantime, I had the pleasure of spending time with his family in the standard cramped sleeper car. They were lovely people, fed me bananas, and the dad even helped me to carry my stuff off the train. The kindness you get here sometimes is overwhelming.

In Basti, more of the same staring. I had to wait about 30 minutes for my train, and clearly I was one tourist who had gotten off the beaten path. No worries, I took a leak on the side of the building and threw a banana peel onto the tracks before a monkey fought me for it. I was just trying to fit in.

When I finally did make it to my train, I found my sleeper car a bit cramped with my luggage (I now have two bags thanks to the crap Ive been collecting). But still it was upper level. Its tough to describe the train, but its basically a series of bunk beds organized into compartments, kind of like a barracks on wheels. Feeling hungry, I decided to order dinner, and for $0.70, got a veg meal, which I thought would be safe. Of course, four spoonfuls into my dahl (lentils), I fished out a giant cockroach. Yuck. Oh well, at least the chic peas looked safe to eat. Besides, I was hungry! The train continued all night, making frequent stops. Every few hours I would awake with a stiff neck and walk around, have a conversation and watch people watch me. Even at 2a, there were people EVERYWHERE! They should call India the country that never sleeps. 5:30a the next morning, I wasn't feeling so well, and so I went to use the bathroom and watch the sunrise through the smoky morning air. The smell here is incredible, something is always burning.

8a, I woke up to someone whacking me on the back. I was in Delhi. I got a room that is luxury by Indian standards and spent the day recovering from cockroach stomach and going to Conaughlt Circle, where I had lunch with all the cool in Delhi, at the MacDonalds of course. I thought some Western food would be a good change of pace. I had the spicy chicken version of the Big Mac, and it was quite good.

So, thats it up until now. Im hoping that I will just keep adjusting here and learn my way around. One thing I've learned to do is to sport my bandana, sunglasses, and now longish beard. It confuses some about whether Im also Indian as well.

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