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.