Time

I have an hour and a half before I leave for the airport. 

Leaving India. 

Made two good drawings. Took some pictures and had a nice snack. 

I'm far away from when I landed in Delhi just twenty days ago. 

Every year it happens. 

I'm changed. 

Folding in all the things I've seen, the people I've met and the person I am and hope to be. 

Every year, somewhere inside I ask the question, "Do you still have it?

Am I slow? Tired? Old?

Usually it's easily answered. 

Last year this trip was soft. Paris, Monte Carlo, Arles. No struggle, just travel.

Was it going to be turn down service and comp breakfasts? Do I still have it?

Fuck yea. Stupid for me to even ask this year. Overnight trains, mile walks in the heat with bags stuffed. 

I could have been harder.

Harder ...

Better.

I still have it.

The rocks

I found the one of the hard rocks on google maps . So fucking easy it was crazy. One bus and one minute walk. 

Don't ask why I was going to hard rock. It's just my thing, okay. 

It's hot. Nothing new but it bears repeating. My bus, the 332, is going by, it slows to avoid killing a motorbike and I jumpgrab the side handle. I'm on. 

I work my way inside, pay my fare and hang on. I'm watching my spot on Google Map on my phone. Fucking amazing. I'm in India and I can GPS myself with my phone. I used to do this with just my guide book and a lot of time. 

We're going. And going. And going. 

The road gets narrow and dirty. Then office tower. Bizzare.

The map says I'm at the end. 

The bus slows on the middle of traffic and I jump into the middle of the stopped cars and get to the side of the street. I walk to where hard rock is on the map.

.

.

.

Dirt.

Road over pass. 

Motorbikes. 

.

.

.

Hard rock?

No.

. 

Google did this to me before in Jaipur. The temple I was looking for was actually blocks away . A local lady helped me get where I was going so I tried the same tact. 

Hard rock was not a big draw for this crowd so I decided to abort this mission and regroup at the hotel.

But it's 3pm.

I had breakfast at 10am.

I should eat. With the heat and all I know I shouldn't run on no food for long.

Walking down the street I saw a tiny restaurant. People yammering and lining up to get in. When the locals line up its a good sign.

I got there and a young guy was standing in front of a cauldron on oil. Red oil. In the oil, chunks of meat covered in a chili based batter. I knew this because the smoke and the flavor on the smoke caressed my skin and punched me in the face.

I walked up and asked the kid what it was in English. 

He looked at me to say why are you speaking English and responded, chicken.

He pointed to the cash the cash register where I ordered one chicken potoya and a limca. Limca is essentially lime and soda water. Pretty fucking good.

In about three minutes a shallow metal tray with about ten pieces of hellish red chicken pebbles slid in front of me. Some veg and a green cilantro sauce.

Now in context because I was hungry my opinion here might be affected but that chicken was other worldly.

I crunched into chicken bone and hot chili juice coated my mouth. The wave of flavor pushed my eyes it the front of my head.

So I had more. 

My mouth,

tongue, 

lips,

and teeth were on fire in the best way possible. 

And when I needed to pull back. Limca.

I swept up the red chili and green sauce with chapati. Which was also essentially a tortilla. Perfect.

I have yet to pay the digestive price for this lunch but when it comes... It was worth it.

56H

Up early. Got a car from the hotel  to get to the airport early.

Booked my flight last night from bed. 58 bucks USD. It's a pretty good life.

Check in. Security . Board. No problem. Seat 56H. 

It's an exit row so I have to put everything overhead and it's an aisle. I prefer window but fuck, come on, there is nothing bad about this situation. 

It's going to be a full flight. Kids, older people are shuffling by. The seat next to me gets full then the other. 

It's cool. It's part of the experience. 

Until. A dude is looking at his ticket. 

56H.

I'm about to shit. Am I on the right flight?! Is it the right day?! Fuck! 

On the inside...

In the real world, I check my ticket and I'm good. Whatever, they'll fix it. 

They take both of our tickets and go to the front. 

About a minute later, the guy comes back and asks me to come with him. 

This is one of those planes with a second level. I've never been on a second level.

Sir, we apologize. You've been upgraded...

I'm cool on the outside but I'm pretty happy on the inside. 

Seat 16j, A short glass of fruit juice and my lunch order in I'm putting my feet up. 

It's going to be a good flight. 

Well done Hyderabad. I'll see you again.

Hyderabad

Train gets in at 7 o'clock.

It's 80°

I checked the map on my phone. It's 3.2 miles to my hotel. Only an idiot would walk from the train station to the hotel.

Pretty much everyone of these cities looks the same to me now. Asphalt. Trees. Random cows and dogs. It's good. My feet are okay. I just slept for 10 hours on the train this should not be a problem but...the heat. I'm starting to sweat and the the little autorickshaw drivers are hovering on me. They're pretty persistent at the train station. I look like I'm fresh meat to them, but I'm waving them off with my hand, low to the ground and shaking in a manner that means no. 

I'm walking. My bag slung over my the top of my head and it's resting on my backpack. I'm alternating between carrying the bag at the end of my arm and carrying it on the top of my shoulders on my backpack. It's a long way and I'm walking through cow shit, horseshit and dog shit. Every couple of minutes an autorickshaw driver comes up and tries to get me in. I'm saying, "No, I'm good" and they smile, because I don't look good. 

I keep pushing. It's hot I get to nice street with the trees on each side so I have some shade. 

The buses aren't stopping. If they got me up the road a bit it would help but they blunder by sounding their horns. 

I remember that on the map it says my hotel is near the red hills and the road starts to rise. Nothing horrible but with sweat in my eyes and my shirt sticking to me it's somewhat unpleasant.

The trees subside and I'm in the open. Sun on me. The rickshaws keep coming but I keep waving them off.

I'm on the same page on my phone map. I have to be close but the road keeps going up. 

I sit down for some water on the steps of a business. I've been walking for and hour and a half. 

I stop in a market and buy a club soda and a coke. I'm planning for the end. At this point a bus rickshaw or motorbike is not an option. I'm getting there myself. 

Walking the street you can see a brand new office building next to a man in a shack frying bread for a nickel. The extremes can be severe. 

I'm still going up and I pass a talk thin man leading two blind men down the roadside. I can't imagine what it's like to be blind walking on the road with busses rickshaws and everything screaming around you.

Map says turn left.

Left. 

Down. 

It's here. 

The reception welcomes me to the pearl city. I'm offered a drink check in.

Fuck.....,

Shower.

My bucket of ice comes and....aahhhhhhh

I feel good. Tired but good. 

Seeing the town for a bit and moving on.

Times running out.

Leaving town

I'm pretty tense on travel days. 

Lots of shit can go wrong and since I was little it's been a phobia. 

I check my tickets , passport, money, clothes, toothbrush , everything. 

I have a routine and if I follow it I'm usually good even if something does go wrong.

So I packed last night. Booked hotel. Checked the train ticket, passport..,, etc.  So I slept okay.

This morning, breakfast. Coffee. Two hours later, dump. I'm on schedule. 

I wanted to take the bus to the train station. But I was getting nervous for some reason. So I hired an autorickshaw.  It's a 50rp ride. First guy wants 200. 

I know it's a negligible difference in dollars but by this time my reserves are low and I don't like to get pegged as a dumb ass with an open wallet. I'll tip that big no problem but if you want to  put your hand in my pocket like that, I won't do it.

Next guy goes for 150. Bad. But better. Could still do the bus but I want a bigger margin at the station. We go. 150.

I'm used to the noise, the constant cutting and dodging of every fighter on and in the street.

We are at the station and I wait. The train is there and I'm on. 

Twelve hours to Hyderabad. 

One guy is singing and two guys are taking the way old women talk at the landromat .

It will be a long ride.

Bangalore

5am

 I'm in a tiny car on the way to the airport. My plane isn't until 7am but I don't like surprises on a travel day. 

I'm groggy but the panther crossing sign we passed is keeping my eyes on the side of the road. 

The outside if town is dirty and a little broken but not worse than anywhere I've seen at home or other places. The idea of India being ravenously poor and dangerous I think is a matter of perception. 

I have only seen a tiny fraction of the country and the people I've met so far have been great. 

I get to the airport and get on the plane make it to Bangalore and I'm okay. Off the plane and you know I've got a I have to take a shit but I can tell that the event horizon this is pretty far off so I decided to get some coffee. 

As I get older, the importance of a regular and comfortable bathroom visit is an in believably high priority and keeping in tune with the defcon status is always a prime concern. 

But at this point I'm off the plane I just getting some coffee before I jump in a taxi or bus or whatever. I feel okay I grab a coffee put my bag down. There's a comfy chair. I lean up against it, I have two sips of coffee and go from defcon four to defcon two. Which is bad. Now I have to pick up my bags, have to and this cup of coffee and find the toilet. 

It's on the other side of the terminal. I go through a little maze of partitions and I find it.

All stalls occupied. So I wait and I wait and I wait what seems like 20-30 minutes but is probably like two and one of the doors opens. There's  an airport older gentleman with the suit and a little pin. He works for the airport. And he opens the door and our eyes meet. 

He looks like he just committed a crime. 

He nods his head to me and he turns around and he takes some tissue paper and wipes down the seat and then he come out like walks away like he just drop the bank. 

I have to go in. 

I have no choice right now.  Fortunately for me the atmosphere could sustain human life maybe the smell of the streets had deadened my senses but I leisurely conducted my business and made off to my hotel. 

More later

Ps dinner, lunch actually my schedule is jacked up. Lunch was awesome. Huge prawns, fried and spicy and garlic. Wow!

Every silver lining though...

The restaurant was small and they were playing techno music which I hate, and the waiter literally watched me eat. 

And when I took a break he tried to chat with me. 

I'm not that entertaining. I swear.... 

Holi pt 2

Went back to the pink city. 

The Main Street, full of people, some animals, noise. I could have stayed straight but i turned right, down some stairs into a back street. 

A lot of people would never come here. Narrow, dirty, broken but I like to go where no one wants to go. And it made me trip.

The lane got tighter . Groups of men covered on colored dust yelled at me..,

Happy holi!

Came up to me wiped color on my face and embraced me with genuine affection. 

This happend a couple of times until I came to an intersection and I saw men dancing and clouds of colored dust. I went over and every one hugged me wiped color on my face. 

Some guys came down the road one with a drum and everyone sat down and it was a party

http://youtu.be/fbXSRlqOCNY

I danced and sat in the street and clapped my hands to the drum. 

It was one of the best moments I could have imagined 

This is what I came for...

Udaipur

I don't even know what day it is.

I'm on the rooftop café of the hotel,  I just had an Indian breakfast which consisted of small bowl of pickled vegetables some bread and some yogurt. And a cup of coffee so I'm likely to get the shits later but it's part of the experience.

The heat is getting to me but it's really amazing just to sit here on the top of the hotel and watch the birds fly by and hear the music in the streets.

Downstairs in the street there's yelling there's the constant drone of motorbikes and what they call autorickshaw's or tuk-tuks, just everything. Everything all at once. When the city gets up it's up and you better be up with it. So I'm just hanging out today I booked my plane for tomorrow. I'm making a big move and I'm expecting, well I expected it to be a lot different but I really don't know what to expect anymore.

I kind of stumble around and the more things that I find the more  I'm just amazed. The colors the art. Udaipur had a history of art and you can see it on the city. My hotel has hand painted trimming everywhere. It's fantastic.

it's it's really a lot of what I was expecting India to be like but not really is not really everything that I expected so am I'm just opened everything and seeing how things can unfold in front of me so I am finish up here and then head out to the city.

later

Holi

49

Left the hotel late. I wanted to see the red fort and the museum of modern art. So far I've been stumbling along. 

Yesterday started holi. I haven't seen the spontaneous color bombs in action but I did see a few people with greens and reds on their faces. Hotel guy says holi doesn't really go until the 17th. I'm a little bummed but these things usually work out.

Metro to the red fort. Walking around the station I found a small temple. Along the wall was a rod with some brass bells. I could hear the bells clanging every so often and I found them. 

Some men bowed rang a bell and turned around a few times. Some men rang two or three bells bowed and left. 

I like the sound of a bell.

I put a few rupees in a box and with one finger a clanged the bell on the furthest left. 

Once. 

It sounded clear and clean. Brass makes that noise. 

And it was gone.

I got lost but my fucking phone got me turned right. 

In the street was a dog. 

This place is flooded with dogs but this one was in the street pissing. Not with one leg up but stretched out, front and back legs extended out and his back hips pushed downward, WOW

I was mesmerized. By the time I thought to get a picture he was done and gone. Fuck...

Red fort was beautiful. Did a drawing. It was getting late. I get paranoid on travel days. I may have put too much on the agenda. 

Metro and walk to the museum. 

The museum had an exhibit by an Indian artist...,,subodh Gupta 

Chromed sculptures and some put together found pieces.

One of the sculptures had a caption, "You can't finish all your work in one lifetime."

Sometimes you come across nuggets when you need them.

Tuk Tuk ride to the metro station and back to the hotel. Shower and scrape and check out.

Another Tuk Tuk ride to the train station. Hotel guy says the ride will cost 100rp. My driver says the meter is broken. 200.

Bfd. We go.

Half way to the station we stop. There is traffic but the man on the car in front of us is bandaged up and my driver asks some questions then gets out and starts pushing the car.

Nothing much is happening ...

So fuck it.., it's my birthday, I get out and start pushing too. 

They get to the side and my driver and I look at each other. 

We are good people...

A little ways further driver pulls to the side and puts on some kind of uniform top. He smiled at me and said something. I don't think it was English but we are bonding over the course of this ride. 

Then it's over. 

I'm 49.

Next stop Jaipur ...

The chickpea is your friend

I'm still beat but I had more of an India day than I've had than any other day that I had more. Three meals of Indian food.  My head started to hurt. I don't know if there's something in it or whatever but I decided rather than layoff the local food I'd go deeper in the pool. 

I went to recommended restaurant from lonely planet and it was fantastic. Chann masala a spicy chickpea stew. Fucking great. Sat next to a couple planning on going from here to soviet Georgia. Pretty awesome. I listened while I stuffed my face. 

I was feeling better today. I went to the train station by my train ticket for tomorrow. The morning train was booked so I will end up and Jaipur in at 10:00 PM. Finding a hotel that late will be a little it work it'll get done. It always does. 

Buying that the train ticket I had to wait for about 45 minutes just to get seen by an agent, I made my way to an older Indian man to help me out. He made the arrangements, printed the ticket. The train ticket was 430 so I handed him a 500 rupee bill.

He paused said something in Indian and just kind of looked at me. I looked back at him and I wasn't moving so he went to return to his friend and asked for change the friend handed him 70 rupees. He handed me me a 50 with the 20 laying in front of him. 

And we look at each other.

I know that look man but I was going to see that 20. So I left. 20rp is about $.30 not a big loss but the tone that it was done. 

very unusual was that.

Then came back to the hotel laid down for little bit and went to dinner. 

I didn't do much today other than buy my ticket and walk around and come and get a better idea about this place. it's crazy there's a lot of stuff to to buy but it's all crap and I've got enough.

so I think I'm in for the night and more later. 

Paharganj

So change hotels yesterday. I get on the subway and one subway stop away it's a completely different world.  Hundreds  of people in the street. Cars, buses, bicycles, rickshaws... everything in the street but no one touching. No one bumping. No one even yelling. Everyone knows what to do and they just keep doing it, 

I go down the street and I take the right turn onto the the main bazaar road and it's just like I thought it would be. The road, or what used to be a road now is broken down asphalt and the noises get louder.  The path gets tighter and we are packed in but no one still no one touches anyone. 

I did get the student where a younger person will come up to you,  tries to be helpful. Saying he is trying to help you get to where you want to go you to go and you get funneled into a travel agency. This douche wants to sell you a trip for a bus ride or whatever. 

This hasn't happened for a while but I got out of there unscathed and got on the subway. 

I never get that still there people lying in the street there are dogs everywhere every few feet him but it works everyone is there and everyone is just doing it just getting by finally get to my hotel.

I never get that still there people lying in the street there are dogs everywhere every few feet him but it works everyone is there and everyone is just doing it just getting by finally get to my hotel. 

The room is okay.  Ive stayed in a lot worse but it is definitely much different than the last place is loud I am locked in at night and locked up during the day their constant warnings about pickpockets. Even outside the door of the hotel a man insists we are friends is trying to help me find a restaurant or go for a drink. 

My guard is up for every jackass trying to put me in a popcorn machine but I'm also hypersensitive to what is going on. The children going to school, every beggar and every dog laying in the street. The smell of cooked rice, or piss, or flowers and always over it the noise. 

I slept last night, twenty feet from car horns and people buzzing underneath my window. 

It was great. 

Walk

Fuck.

I started the day with breakfast at the hotel. I spent all day yesterday asleep, so I was ready for today.  Prepared to be out all day. Just two blocks from the hotel. whatever I saw monkeys in the street. 

The smell of shit and piss  everywhere.

Car horns always around. Street traffic surging in the street. 

This is really what I was looking for.

It smells like piss and shit. You could see people had shit on the walls and in the corners of where were they could find a spot. 

I just made my way through the city. I didn't get hassled. I've been mixing in pretty well. I've been asked for directions twice. 

I got all the way out to the India gate and one of the archaeological sites. I walked until my feet hurt and then when they hurt too much then I started walking back to the hotel.  

it's been good it's been good so far. it's hot. I'm sweating. I can't believe everyman that I see on the street has an undershirt on and most of they have sweaters on. it's 80 fucking degrees out here. One guy had on a down jacket. Wtf.

I'm going out tonight to pick up some more stuff and see more the city see what it's like.

More later.

3am

I was wildly optimistic.

Come back to the hotel. Had high tea (utterly pointless) and laid down for a nap,

Nine hours later, here I am.

The sun is deceptive. I could feel it on me but didn't feel how much it takes until I hit the shade and when I hit the bed, game over. 

Now I know my adversary I will plan Better. 

Changing hotels. See a new part of the city. 

Later. 

Getting a ride to the hotel. 2 am

http://youtu.be/wagdJIXsL9Q

Cabs and cab rides

In general, I hate people. Mostly short sighted, small minded inconsiderate people and that is a big number of people. 

But when I travel it flips.i like the struggle. Figuring where the bullshit is and working around it. And meeting genuine people and appreciating that they exist.

Off the plane, through immigration. Customs, I'm at the curb. 2am. Metro doesn't open until 5am.

I prefer the bus but the cabs lined up are 1940-1950 something's. They could only be cabs I think like the New York checker cabs. 

I think cab rides can be dicey. I've heard it and I believe it. I've only had one slightly inflated ride in china but I've never be robbed or hijacked so I think my instincts work pretty good. 

I line up for a prepaid ride. The locals are on me, " where are you going?" " my car is here sir..." But I go to the line and there is and old beat up yellow and black cab. 

The driver had trouble getting released from the lot. I'm assuming he doesn't match the picture on the license. Bug we make it though.

The ride was good . The driver had his buddy with him and he talked with him the whole way . 

Both guys were good , 

Don't know what they were saying, I'm pretty sure I did not exist to them but that's cool. They were real. 

I didn't see much  on the way over. 2am the city was pretty dead and do was I. 

I'm at the hotel waiting in the lounge waiting for my room to get free. 

I've had just a small taste of India so far. I like it . 

This was a good idea.

Zurich

I'm fucking exhausted.

You know what time it is.

I'm in the lounge.

Hungry all there is is muffins, coffee and  bananas.

 I can't sleep on the plane. It doesn't work for me.

Each stop has been pretty clean so far I don't know what the  last one will be like. 

It's starting to sink in. 

I'll be 49 in six days. 

So many things I thought were absolute are now just concepts. Age, wisdom, time. Everything is variable .

Only one hour of free internet here so I'm going to load up on news for the next leg. 

One more 8 hour flight and I'm there ...