travels

its a celebration

2007-10-25T07:52:00.000-07:00

I have recently realized that it is possible if budgeted right to travel around the US on a motorcycle for a year for less than $10k. If this is the case then imagine mexico:) my dad turned 60 the other day, still raring and ready to go for adventure, I can only hope I have as much zeal when I'm in his boots. I was looking through not so old pictures this morning and realized that many have not been shown through public avenue, so here is a start.

Arizona you sneaky whore, or How I lost my gloves on the "Other Through Highway"

2007-09-18T08:08:00.001-07:00

I raced out of work early on friday. redy to put the wind at my back for a rousing trip up to Jerome. The back way. I had gone up past Roosevelt once before but I had found a slightly altered trip plan that brought me by what seemed like cool country. after some frantic packing (that left me without a camera:( i hit the road. those same feelings came rushing back. its the first fifteen minutes of the trip where literally anything is possible that would keep one running for months. heartbeat quickens slightly and a giddy excitement churns throughout the bike and body. a quick packing snag around river and 1st had me pulled over but quickly back to it. the trip was same old goods up till apache junction (a quick wave hello to the house at golder ranch on the way up). here i stopped to verify my directions, I had looked at the map for a grand total of about a minute and a half before i left, knowing i had to go north i figured id just wing it from there. part of the fun. but in apache junction i found that nobody had heard of the road that i had intended to take. i brushed them off as crazy junctioneers and went along my way. sure enough i found my route just a little further east down the 60. route 88 east an "other through highway" according to the maps. the first thirty miles were incredible. a cross between the 89a from p-town to jerome and zion. the superstitions rose all around and a heavy smattering of all manner of cactus littered the roadway. just a mile or so passed the yellow rock i saw the sign. "pavement ends" ok not a problem, im relatively confident on dirt. how bad can it be. (i had not seen another car for at least half an hour) keep on riding. the next sign put a little bit more of a jolt into me. "dirt road for the next 22 miles" a slight hesitation. but fuck it, ive already come this far. a trip back would cost me at least a couple of hours. what ensued was a 10 mile an hour tops adventure through gut wrenching grades steeped high with hairpin turns all the while navigating through the potholes and washboard roads. even the most seasoned veteran would have cringed at the wild road, making indian roads look like a dream vacation. 2 and a half hours later i was kissing the paved ground and looking fondly at roosevelt dam. it put me out on the other side with just enough time to gaze on another roosevelt lake area sunset, the land before time. from there it was another three hours putting me at just over 9 hours of road weariness to the puttering campfire filled air of the Jerome Jamboree. wouldnt trade it for the world, but next time on the 88 will be behind a windshield. cheers arizona, you've still got a few tricks up your sleave.

see you at the training meeting

2007-09-13T07:50:00.000-07:00

I went to a training meeting for work yesterday. not to learn much of anything pertinent, unless you consider 400k' of vending space and a customer base that stays an average of four hours on the floor while looking for vendors at an average of 3 seconds things worthwhile to take to the grave. this conference was for the SAHBA tucson home and garden show of which JWP will be a part. i still dont know why i had to go and learn about it. I just make our clients prettier:) it was definetely a reminder that i dont really fit in in that world. i sauntered in and grabbed a free water and donut, found my space in the back, took out my tattered early college notebook from my camelback, placed my helmet under the table behind me and, and waited for the onslaught. in the waiting i noticed everyone else was quite older. had neatly groomed hair, no or little piercings, hadnt pulled materials out of a backpack and were already working on interest rates or scribbling illegible work notes and the such. no point to this rant i suppose. just observation. in fact im quite proud that i dont fit in with that crowd, i would feel a might bit defeated had a sat in and talked about my wife and three mortgages with joe slick sitting next to me. On another note me and margaret went and sat through one of those time share scam thingies and it actually worked with very little hassle to get the gifts. we have free tickets to san diego with two nights paid lodging and a $25 gift cert. to the movies, and of course no timeshare:) anyhow off to another fun filled day at the JWP

i suppose i have been quite lax

2007-08-11T18:57:00.000-07:00

all in all the postings have been few and far between. to the constituents reading this hooplah i do apologize. i have been quite drawn to other sites recently and have neglected the blogging. ive created an account at deviantart, which has been relatively amusing of late. at least it has kept me posting/creating things which has been good. monday i go out on assignment to an alma matter of a few of you good folk out there. ill be running a logistical battle with hordes of angst ridden catholic schoolers as they come in for their id card photos. should be an adventure at least:) anyhow heres some eye candy for those of you that dont make it to the deviant art shoodlebop.

these are two quite recent creations that im quite fond of, they spurned from photos of my bro when we were up in the coral pink sand dunes. anyhow to all of you fine folk out there i bid you gods luck and good speed.

highway bloggery

2007-06-14T14:34:00.001-07:00

this comes to you from a kiosk at the BMW motorcycles of Western Oregon shop in Eugene. We've been holed up here for the last couple of hours taking care of a minor hiccup in the trip(to be detailed at a later sit down). Dads diode thingy dinger went out about 70 milse ago leaving his generator light lit up. a minor setback on a wonderful trip. the next couple of entries should return to full travel adventure bloggery, and i will recount the ups downs gutters and strikes of the last couple of days in full detail. until then.

wedding bells

2007-05-03T08:14:00.000-07:00

for those of you not associated with facebook...yes i have turned down that road. ill rehash it for you. tomorrow i perform my first ministerial duties, and send biscuit and lena (not their full wedding names) into the land of the married. i am slightly nervous...but not nearly as much as one would imagine. in fact the nervousness may even be just a little indigestion from last nights fricasee. anyhow, send your thoughts the way of the bride and groom tomorrow. good luck and god speed i suppose. or gods luck and good speed, depending.

on another note, ive thought of a slogan for the CFH (chickens from hell) tshirts.

"half the tread - twice the ride".

until the next

it really is the little things

2007-04-26T22:24:00.000-07:00

today i watched with hidden amusement as my coworker framed a half dozen "gentle savage" images in early colonial style frames.

i leave for the open road in a little over a month. then its a number of days of nothing but me dad and glorious adventure.

an interesting defining feature

2007-04-14T08:51:00.000-07:00

my sandwiches don't fit in ziplock's designated "sandwich" bags

fancy pants

2007-03-27T09:18:00.000-07:00

I find myself another year older. everyone keeps on asking the quintessential question, do you feel older? well i did the day after, i felt like an old old man on my death bed, i dont think i remember a hangover quite so bad. even the wedding morning after was quite diminished...or maybe its just our inability to remember pain. regardless the pants party went off with a bang. many stickers in there was karaoke and moonwalking, knee slides and good old fashioned debauchery. my favorite part was when an unnamed disappeared around four a.m. only to return a few minutes later, minus pants and shirt, but it was really the subsequent lack of reaction to the underwear clad soul that was the best part. everyone went along as if it was a completely normal event:) anyhow, cheers to all of you fine folk and your fancy pants. perhaps pictures will find their way onto the site soon.

life is a highway

2007-01-03T22:24:00.000-08:00

true to the song, life has been a bit of a highway, in that i feel like im getting buffeted by major winds throwing me left and right and the semis arent slowing to let me go around. i do believe its time to get off of the highway and take a lonely country side road. if nothing else motorcycling has concreted my distaste for the city and heightened my love for the country. if we were meant to live in a city i would have been born with a higher tolerance for people.

on a seperate note, i am now the proud proprietor of many gigabytes of karaoke....it is fantastic. everything from queen to natalie imbruglia.

ive been holed up the last couple of days at the hands of modern dentistry, my wisdom teeth are finally on the outside, i think ill make a necklace...or perhaps a ring. anyhow heres the proof.

strap in and get ready for the ride

2006-11-27T08:37:00.000-08:00

i wonder if rocks feel anxious about turning potential energy into kinetic while sitting at the top of the hill.

a great day

2006-11-23T09:05:00.000-08:00

we've come full circle once again to the best dasy of the year. although founded on much less noble principles than many of the other holidays turkey day is my favorite. good food, good family, good night. its on this day that i stop to think back to birds that have impacted my life.

tweety - my pet dove growing up, sadly he was suicidal and hobbled over (he had a broken wing...perhaps why he was suicidal) to the neighbors cats water bowl and drowned himself. maybe the pigeons convinced him to do it. i dont know. but cheers to you tweety.

the chickens at the farm in new mexico - here are a few pictures of them

the cockfighters - apparently there was a discrepency over whom was head cheese in the coop so there was a little duking out to reaffirm things. the farm can be a savage and brutal land, its not all omelettes and fresh carrots. i stole all the eggs while they were engaged.

matthew the clubfoot chicken - their seems to be a theme of gimpy birds hobbling through this entry. anyways they are more of a spectacle than the normal birds... we had to get him back in his pen thingy; much like trying to get retarded kids on the schoolbus (luckily thanksgiving falls outside of the days where political correctness is needed, either way the politicians are rarely correct so why should i have to do their job for them)

we come to the noblest bird of them all, Bill, the mighty and all knowing print god.
controlling lives from above this fantastic fowl is the bearer of good art or the bringer of bad luck depending on your devotion. i remain a most faithful servant. To bill may all your hens have their hindfeathers plucked.

on that note i leave you all to your thanksgiving festivities. maybe take a moment and think about the birds that you are thankful for.

pics

2006-11-15T14:02:00.000-08:00

a few to enjoy...

this is ronny, the much talked about...

2006-11-06T07:46:00.000-08:00

her name is ronnie...shes a redhead, shiny redhead. she'll be whisking me away to canada come spring. i love her. pictures to follow soon. sorry to be lax about the blog bit, life is a whirlwind here. went and saw adrian belew last night. reminded me what good music is all about.

work is highly overrated, independent wealth is the obvious alternative.

see y'all on the road.

her name was polly

2006-10-20T08:52:00.000-07:00

ive never had so much fun falling in and out of love.....she was shiny and blue, perhaps the next will be different. oh well polly, chalk it up to experience. after all lucy is still in the picture.

back to the real world?

2006-10-07T11:39:00.000-07:00

after a grilling 60 hours of travel, a death battle with train food (i won) and a few new acquaintances im back "home". to most of you this is old news, ive been back a grand total of about a week and a half, but it doesnt feel like it. i havent slept in the same place twice, and only enjoyed a bed a few nights. the fat tire festival was as always a ballyhoo. time is flying faster than ever, i am midway through another longboard, eight pairs of earings deep into an entrepeneurial blown glass earing situation, knee deep in a new frame shop built in the garage, and 27 episodes down on that 70's show. its been busy. anyhow, perhaps some photos are in order.

this is the glasscutter...it is made of poplar and birch and is quite accurate. his name is jared.

its been

2006-09-16T01:38:00.000-07:00

I head to chennai on monday and and bombay subsequently. so i suppose this will be the last post from this end of the world, more stories and pictures will follow when im back in your reality.

i think that prahbad was the happiest fellow ive ever met. he smiled from ear to ear the entire time we talked. sadly i only got to spend a little bit of time with him as he was in the middle of trying to find a flat to rent (except he was only willing to pay 750 rs per month). he was adamant that he needed to find one so that he could stay in tiru during the coming years as they were going to be trying for the planet and tiru as he says is the safest place on earth.

yesterday it was overcast enough to hike...although the humidity was staggering there was less in the way of scorching heat due to the sun being blocked out. i grasped at the opportunity and headed up the mountain. the "hike" (the trail up to the two ramana maharshi caves is paved with large cobble stones) was quite pleasant, i drifted off of the trail in more than a few places climbing on top of this and that to gain a better view. the cool shaped building in the middle of this picture is the top of the chanting hall of the yogi ram ashram.

a bit further up i went a good quarter mile off of the trail and climbed to the top of a monkey infested outcropping of rocks it sported a fantastic view of the temple and the overall concrete jungle that is tiru.

if prahbad likes tiru so much i think that maybe he would find himself enjoying areas in AZ..after all if tiru is the safest place on the planet i think that maybe prescott is a close runner up.

at the top of the monkey rock. further up the trail i ran across a tree heavily laden with fruit...i asked a man sittin there what kind of fruit tree it was. "monkey eating fruit tree" he said, i didnt inquire further.

relaxing

a cool treebase in the garden by of the ramana cave.

this is part of the complex that houses one of the caves that ramana maharshi meditated in. he stayed here for 7 years total. the other cave he was in for 17. when one hears the word cave it instills some manner of primitive living style. although this may have been primitive by western style, it was a beggars paradise over here.

a rock full of curing cow poo..they use the poop for fuel and various other things, adding peanut shells and dried leaves to it as it dries to help in the burning later on. i think it could go over well next to the ready burn logs for sale at walmart.

this is the back pathway up the mountain. not 20 minutes from the serene quiet that exists on your way up arunachala.

made specifically for you, a goodbye card. counterclockwise from the lower right you find me, chincy the sadu under his umbrella of spiritual well being, and of course fred the one eyed travel hog. we've all enjoyed your company on this chapter of my life. and look forward to the upcoming reunion. until then.

photos

2006-09-08T00:39:00.000-07:00

so here are the pics from the last week or so, ill just equip each with the stories that come to mind...

by the time we finally got around to bringing things in for the laundry, everything i owned could stand on its own. solution, wear my bedsheet. luckily i am gifted with the legs for these kinds of things. the first day i had no shirt as pictured as that was at the laundry as well, i felt a bit like the village spectacle, the indians never got the staring is rude bit during their upbringing. cant say i blame them, poor folk dont see many tatooed and pierced westerners walking around half naked in a bedsheet:)

a few days before we left for pondicherry was ganeshas birthday, they erected these and many more elaborate shrines (ganpati) to the deity with the intention of throwing them in whichever watersource was closest the thursday following, this was on a sunday, we found ourselves on the beach in mamallapurum for the drowning of the ganpati which was quite the site.

we went to the big temple in tiru proper on ganeshas birthday, the monkeys were everywhere hanging off of everything.

the other animal that we found in the temple. i gave this guy a rupee and he brushed me on the head with his trunk:)

yes it was HOT that day, this kid was expressing the overall feelings surrounding the weather.

a few views of the temple itself.

scratch balls, sell fruit. the day consists of this for many of the vendors.this particular fellow was outside the temple in tirus fruit market. i didnt buy any of his fruits.

here we find ourself in pondicherry a few days later. a fellow across the way fixing for the lunch crowd. the daily grind of rice sambar (this being the sambar). there is not much in the way of variety in the true south indian diet. pondi sported some of the better infrastructure that ive seen in india, leaving it much easier to clean...thats not to say that it WAS clean, but the potential is there.

these boys were on a prayer of a canoe, three warped "6x6" pieces of who knows what lashed together. this was the common boat, with the occasional proper boat here and there. we didnt see their catch, but ate enough of it, the fish in pondi was fantastic. the first day we headed to satsanga restaurant, run by a frenchman it sported some of the best fish soup and shrimp mushroom cheese crepes ive had.

old lady had the right idea. we found ourselves on the ice cream tip many times during our sojourn in pondi.

something exciting was happening here, im not sure what, but exciting nonetheless there were people all around bantering about in the water sari or no. the boys swimming dress is slightly less appropriate for the "family" internet experience that i am attempting to cultivate. needless to say it left little to nothing for the imagination.

here we come to claire, aaron and me...what a fantastic old lady, bought into the sri aurobindo bit hook line and sinker and still managed to maintain her own personal identity...probably why the rest of the devotees didnt associate with her. we shared a case of beer stories and an overall grand time with this seasoned brit.

moving right along, here is a view of the temple to the south of the beach where we were staying in mamallapurum. it was used as a marina in ancient times for the maharajas ships transporting gold back to india after trading runs. the water has since recessed leaving its docks high and dry. but the temple architecture is still quite beautiful.

as mentioned earlier, the drowning of the ganpati, these ganpati were as big as a grown man and made of paper mache and some other materials. they were quickly torn to shreds by excited indians in a flurry of limb and color. we happened to arrive in town just in time to catch the event.

these giant spiny fish were washing up left and right during the ganpati drowning, they would be eagerly snatched up by the closest person, perhaps for the evening meal. it was a little unsettling to see them washing up along with stingrays and then go and swim in the water knowing that they were there somewhere lurking about.

me and manache, a 63 year old israeli man and permanent resident of mamallapurum. he invited me and aaron for tea after seeing us on the beach our first day there. a reclusive soul living in meager accomodations he sprung the best tea ive had since india. proper black tea, no sugar, no milk. i spent a good bit of my time hanging out with him. i photographed his current project (he is mostly an installation artist, working on ten+ year projects at buddhist monastaries in thailand...cool stuff) consisting of seashells and cacti, some tribute to the lifecycle in trade for a small sculpture and a daily chat and tea. he was also quite knowledgable about the surrounding caves and cave temples so we spent a good bit of time walking around there. sadly i ended up with no pictures of the caves, somehow every time i found myself over there i was without camera. i did catch a sunrise from the rock however, after an all nighter with two brits and a gaggle of aussies me and aaron headed to the cave area, which is really a bunch of massive granite boulders much like the dells, to watch the sunrise. we were a bit early and aaron couldnt handle the mosquitos and various other wildlife so he left back for the room leaving me to watch. in the end it was me, the mosquitos, about thirty goats, and twenty some odd monkeys that lined up to regail the sun.

manache working on his current project. his house has minimal electricity, no cooking devices (he uses some infusion device to heat the water for tea), and is concrete throughuot with only a small matress to lay on. he has little carvings everywhere that he is done. the sad thing about indian architecture is the concrete doesnt lend itself well to wall hangings. they are around, but few and far between.

back in tiru. i took off for a bike ride, ended up down a random back road and could have mistaken myself for being back home. cacti dotted the landscape and lizards sunned themselves on outcropping granite boulders.

it would seem that the tiruvanamalaians need to work a bit on the six feet down rule.

the first in a line of pradaxna (sp?) photos. we started around the mountain at around 4:00, but veered off soon from the group to go up to a cave on the side of arunachala. guided luckily by a german girl that aaron had met previously we found the cave (which was quite the living abode, very comfy) and watched the sunset a bit further up next to a quarter of papa g's ashes.

the entrance and a bit of the cave. if i got the story right, there was a greek guy whos wife went a bit crazy and moved up to the cave, so the greek being a good husband said nothing and moved in with her, setting it up as a proper home, with different rooms niches and all.

back down the mountain and joined the masses heading around

nothing like a bit of sidewalk art to earn your keep

along the way around the mountain there were all manner of fantastic snacks, indian style battered and fried chile rellenos, nuts, fruits, and of course the idly sambar and other traditional dinner fare.

every now and again during the 14 km my feet would start to hurt, then you would see something like this...this boy couldnt be more than 11 or 12 and was painted head to foot and lying on top of a bed of thorns. between him and the lepers who would give anything to HAVE feet just so they could feel them hurt, i didnt feel i had any room for complaint.

catch up

2006-08-31T23:47:00.000-07:00

so much has happened since the last post i dont quite know where to start. we left tiru monday night,our plans to leave earlier having been thwarted by the laundryman, who is as we have heard by rumor also the man to see should one want any manner or prostitute or drug situation. we finally got out of the door around 6 pm and headed to the bus station. as fate would have it we caught one of the private buses to tindyavanam. sounds nicer right...private as opposed to public not the case. this bus in particular was a favorite of all of the villagers as it stopped in ALL of the little towns on the way. so the busride that was supposed to take only an hour and a half ended up taking three hours. not to mention that the bus was packed..im talking a two and a half times what the bus should have been able to accomodate all standing or sitting uncomfortably...im told this is the way the indians like to travel, fulfills some preternatural herd instinct, i just felt like the bologna on an overpacked meat sandwich. we made it eventually to our destination, a pit stop on the side of the road as it were, there was a guy face down on the side of the road either dead drunk or just plain dead. we waited around a good half hour and caught the next bus to our final destination of pondicherry. this bus was considerably better although i did end up standing for 40 minutes of the 45 minute busride.

we arrived in pondicherry at 9:45 giving us just enough time to find suitable accomodation. we had intended on staying at the garden guest house right off (a super cheap joint, 70 rs a night, as it is generally only for devotees of the sri aurobindo ashram located in pondi), but were thwarted by the lack of vacancy therein, so wandered about for another 30 minutes until coming upon a much less cheap hotel that we decided to hang our hats in. pondicherry was generally delightful, having been set up as a french colony early on it boasts a much stronger infrastructure than most indian cities, and also carries with it all manner of fantastic french cuisine as well as proper bread and pastries. we gorged the first day on shrimp and mushroom crepes, fish soup and beer for lunch and grilled fish for dinner, all of course had at indian prices. the rest of the time in pondi was spent mostly with this woman that aaron had met on a previous stint there.

a trip of an old lady, claire is 62 years old, smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish couldnt warm takeout without a maids help, and is a well read devotee of sri aurobindo(on the outs with much of the rest of the ashramites). we spent our mornings eating idly and chiding about this and that, went and saw her magnificent garden in the late afternoon (more a forest really, or the beginning of one at least) and went toe to toe with her and a case of beer in the evening.

we left pondi thursday in the early afternoon, bringing us to our current location, a stones thrown from the beach at the ramakrishna guesthouse in mamallapurum. we were ucky enough to catch the drowning of the ganpati (it was ganeshas birthday last sunday, so they made a lot of likenesses and then drowned these "ganpati" in whatever water was available, here it being the ocean, on thursday) it was a wild scene indians flailing about in the water....a number of giant spiny puffer fish looking things washed up and were being regailed about by indian boys. (pictures to come at a later date)

we spent the rest of the evening wandering around the beach and retired late in the evening.

this brings us to today save the slight hiccup in our sleeping pattern caused by the giant lightning strike that almost started a fire not 15 yards from our room.

a few pics

2006-08-25T01:44:00.000-07:00

ive been told that i should include more of the people that have zipped in and out of our lives during our galavants here and there. so here are a few more of deb and harriet david...also ive been on a bit of a sunset kick so there are more of that same ilk. monday we head to pondicherry via bus, and stay there for a quick bender, then its off to the beach body surfing, beer, and fruity rum drinks for the rest of the week before we kick back here to tiru.

harriet and debs in a moment

debs, harriet and david

mount arunachala

these two were from the hill overlooking tiru on one side and this valley on the other. it is right up the hill above a cremation ground, and a funeral procession came while we were up the hill, luckily this poor chap was just being buried, so we werent subject to the human barbeque that would have ensued otherwise.

overlooking tiru

buses trains and brahma bulls

2006-08-22T03:27:00.000-07:00

Ive been running through my head the best way to put down on “paper” the events of this last week. By events really there are only a few, and mostly travel. I think I just needed to get a few days out before I could look back with a level head to Wednesday the 16th. This was the day that we officially headed out of manali. Our bus was at 5:00 in the afternoon leaving from new manali and supposedly arriving in new delhi 13-14 hours later. We sauntered around in the morning, getting our daily dose of momos from the Tibetan café we had grown so accustomed to and meandered around the shops till it was time to head into town. We got a rickshaw and loaded our gear in, I have traded backpacks with aaron as he cant carry his big bag anymore with his arm in the shape it is. We got to the bus stop the customary half hour early, and I gorged quickly on a samosa (maybe not such a good idea right before a bumpy ride) and we settled in for the gauntlet.

We had no idea how much of a ride we were going to be getting. About three hours later, I was not sure if I was going to make it the whole way, I sincerely thought that I would be a mentally broken man by the end of the trip. I had ridden on buses before, town buses going hither and thither, experienced the turns, crowding, smells and everything else…but it had not readied me for this ride. The first three hours brought us to mandi, the town we had been in previously and to our first stop for chai and dinner or whatever. I just sat on some steps and recovered, readying myself for the next bit. Remembering the motorcycle trip up, I was sure that after another two or three hours we would be close to out of the mountains and on to flatter ground.

However, it was not the intention of our busdriver to give us such a clean and pleasant ride. Instead he took off on a lesser known road, a single lane job straight down the mountain, mostly unpaved. I was sure our driver had gotten confused with driving and being the head man on an Indian bobsled team, he careened down the mountain leaving us bouncing around like pinballs in the back. He would pass other people on the road in places im not sure you could have walked around them and keep at speed. By hour eight I had not slept at all, every bone and muscle in my body hurt, and I was praying that I would make it through the night. But we were barely halfway through. We made it eventually, by the end I was yearning to be sick on a train again, it would have been a cakewalk compared to that nightmare. We ended in delhi 16 hours later at 9 in the morning, barely human.

The trip left me feeling slightly off at first, and sure enough when we got to our hotel I availed myself of the facilities almost immediately giving in to another case of the delhi belly, fluids exiting all ends quicker than I could replenish keep them. during all of this aaron headed out to find a decent hospital so he could finally get his hand back in healing shape. He returned later that night to find me a skeleton of a man imbibing Indian HBO in between trips to the bathroom, he had found what he thought was a good hospital, and he had gotten an appointment for the next morning as the doctors he had seen said that he needed immediate surgery or he would risk losing movement in his thumb. this turned out, as you will read, to be a bit of a misdirection.

I felt much better the next morning and so headed into the hospital (rockland medical center) with aaron for moral support. The first thing they asked for when we got through the door that should have tipped us off to the events that were to transpire was a 5000 rs deposit. Aaron gave it hesitantly and headed into the opd to find his doctor and get ready for surgery. As he tells the story, he awoke a number of hours later post anesthesia to find his hand already casted, when he inquired to his doctor the doctor told him that they decided after they had put him under that he didn’t need surgery after all and they would just set the bone right (which they did in fact) and then cast it up. This seemed all well and good until aaron got the bill, it seemed that even though they hadn’t done any surgery, they had decided that aaron needed to pay for the time that he had been in the surgery room and all of the additional fees associated with surgery a whopping 15,000 rs all told. Needless to say he was livid, but they sent him to the hospital financial goon who laid it out telling him he could either pay or they would call the police. He conceded and we left legs between our tails back to the hotel, and rested up the rest of the evening.

We had gotten our train tickets at some point during all of this, leaving the 19th at 6:40 from new delhi central train station. We had decided to take it easy during the day, so we headed to the everest café at around noon (checkout time from our hotel) for a quick bite. In the everest I had an excellent pad thai and we laid out the day, or the day was laid out for us as it were. We met a girl named katrine (from paris) first and chatted a bit soon enough our group grew by one as a wiry big nosed fellow named ed came in. he was from Scotland and spoke with a brazen and excited Scottish brogue. After a good bit of chiding about we all decided to head to a hooka bar about half an hour away, and enjoy a better atmosphere, a hooka and a few drinks. A great way to end a raw couple of days. The result of this excursion was me and aaron rushing hurriedly to our train, we barely skirted in arriving at our platform a light two minutes before departure and settled in having left ed and katrine to their own delhi devices.what followed was a blinding 36 hour jaunt down to Chennai. this was almost pleasant though, as the memory of the busride was still heavy in my mind. The scenery was beautiful and the people pleasant.

This bring us to yesterday, we arrived in Chennai at 6:30 in the morning of the 21st got a quick breakfast, and wanting to be done with our travels in one stint immediately caught another bus (a four hour gig) over to tiruvanamalai. This bus ride was much more pleasant, although packed, we had Aarons big backpack slung across our laps and another person squeezed into the seat next to us. We passed through beautiful countryside, people living in thatch roof huts no different than they had for hundreds of years, brahma bulls littered the streets, with their huge horns painted different exotic colors doing various kinds of work. We finally arrived around noon to Aarons home, stopping briefly for a quick bite and coffee at ute and Volker. The rest of the day we spent relaxing, although we took a couple of hours to head to the arunai orphanage. The children were great fun to hang out with, I helped them with their homework while aaron and babu discussed things with a prospective donor and then finally we headed in for the night.

Tiru will be an entirely different time than what we have been doing for the trip so far, this morning we woke, showered and headed in for chanting with ma devaki at the yogi ramsuratkumar ashram, an experience in itself they had me lead a chant as apparently they like to stir up the newcomers, it felt much different than chanting in the U.S. Ma Devaki has a certain way that she likes to do things, and wouldn’t hesitate to stop someone that had started a chant if it wasn’t the chant that she wanted sung next. At one point during the chanting a giant cockroach looking thingy made a beeline for me from across the room, I turned it away with a quick flick but it left me a bit unsettled as after it had made a beeline for me it went to the direct center of a casting of the yogis feet on a lotus flower….i think I may have flicked the yogi away from me after chanting was a giant meal, free for any that had come. It will if nothing else be much cheaper staying down here.

these bowls are for cooking rice according to aaron, the bigger one the size of a hot tub.

where the rice for said bowls come from

a few water buffalo doing their thing in mud wallow on the side of the train tracks

maybe this is what flagstaff looked like in the beginning...a conglomeration of tents sprung up next to a railway.

this lady didnt look very happy about anything, i dont blame her, she was a beggar at some train station about 12 hours into our trip down to chennai

this fellow looked a little happier about his situation, he was also at the same trainstation...i will call him the firebaba

the next couple are for the aesthetists....

a brahma doing some work

wedding crashers

2006-08-16T00:27:00.000-07:00

Apparently i neglected to expand on this issue of the wedding, i thought i had written about it earlier, but not so. anyways, it was a day a week plus back, when we were still staying at the rockway cottage. me and josh(the kiwi) and marine(from holland) had decided that we wanted to play our hand at a little fishing, so we went into new manali and rented the tackle needed (sadly fly fishing isnt a thing with the locals...actually fishing period isnt much of a thing, at least not recreationally.) and bought a few extra spinners.

we headed south of manali about 17 km to the base of a little town called baragram. where we perchanced to meet a local named tuesday, who apparently had nothing more pressing to do than accompany us on our little jaunt. we fished for about half an hour and it became exceedingly clear that the trout would not be invited by our cheap lures and the sort, and the river was running high and murky due to all of the rain we had had. we decided to cut our losses.

at teusdays recommendation we hiked the 3 or so km up to baragram with him at the lead. it turned out to be quite the learning adventure. all of us at one point rubbed up against stinging nettles, only to have tuesday explain that if you grabbed some of the fresh pot leaves and crused them up and rubbed them on the afflicted area it would alleviate the sting:)the town was a beautiful little town, blighters running about hither and thither, bowling wickets and crickets and the sort. we ran into a dog that had a strong distaste for westerners, barking only when we passed by, leaving tuesday and the rest of the locals in peace. after exploring about for a good while we decided it was time to head back down the mountain, on the way stopping so that tuesday could show us all the ways of making the charras, as well as to take frequent apple breaks.

finally we found ourselves at the base of the mountain, back on the road that the rickshaw from manali had dropped us on. which is where the wedding comes in. it turned out that one of tuesdays friends was getting married, and he said he would like nothing more than to bring us as his guests to the festivities. apparently here it is considered good luck to invite perfect strangers in to your wedding reception, so we quickly got over the initial anxious embarassment of crashing the wedding. we were warmly invited to folk dance with the wedding party (only the men, none of the women participate in the dancing), and then brought into a giant tent where among other men manalis senator poured us whiskey after whiskey, getting cross if we sipped to slowly. after a number of drinks we headed to the next tent, a block or so down the road on the other side, the feed tent as the kiwi(josh) called it.

there we sat down among 150 or so other folk, and they brought rice and lamb and various other dishes, filling your plate faster than you could finish the last helping. finally we found ourselves done, and lounging outside on the grass, it was getting late, so tuesday offered to get us on the right bus back to manali. he put us on, made sure we were charged the correct fare, and as quickly as he had appeared that morning he disappeared back into the folds:) a memory not to be forgotten.

2006-08-14T00:17:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow puts us back on the road. A 14 to 24 hour bus ride on the non-ac down to delhi. Ive grow quite fond of manali, but its time to leave her behind. I get free coffee and snacks at the bob Dylan coffeeshop and most of the locals say hello and are quite jovial to us now as they’ve become accustomed to us passing everyday. we’ve had friends come and go, I ran into marcel on his way to delhi the other day, he gave me a ride to kullu and we had a bite to eat on the way, he’s headed to meet his dad and go motorcycling with him for his 60th for a couple of days.

The more people I meet the more I realize how much more of the world there is to see. Our main man from israel, david, headed up north to leh this morning, and we will meet the pomes (prisoners of mother England) for lunch in a few hours. Its interesting how much more you open yourself up to meeting new acquaintances while one the road.

We are on a bit of a schedule I suppose, the three day boat to the andamen islands leaves on the 25th, and we need to be down there with ample time to board her with all the necessary paperwork.

The mornings have been gorgeous blue skies, leaving the snow capped peaks in full view. But it has turned to torrential rains in the afternoons the last two days, leaving us holed up in one spot or another sipping a chai and reading. Robert Ludlum has become a staple, his books being cheaper at the local bookshop than most everything else. Good action filled vacation reading.

yaaaaaaak...these fellows were sauntering through manali the other night, we caught sight of them from the bob dylan cafe.

a bit of cricket, a gentlemans game if you can figure out what the hell is going on, this was up in the small village that tuesday brought us too, just before we went to the wedding.

the man responsible...this is tuesday, i wiry little fellow, with more energy than a three year old on speed.

a view from baragram, the small town that tuesday brought us to.

a more recent photo, me, harriet, and our friend david holed up in the room at the appleview cottage. david and harriet were talking longterm by the next morning, parisien honeymoons and the sort:) a pome looking for commitment

coffeeshop economics

2006-08-11T04:34:00.000-07:00

its funny how things work out, i spent one hundred some odd rupees on a sketchbook today as i was going out of my head not having one. sat down in a coffeeshop and sold a quick sketch for four hundred rupees:) quick money. we have moved accomodations once again, now staying at the appleview cottage. right in the middle of an apple orchard, makes breakfast cheap. back up to 150 rs per night though from 100, but a very nice place.

2006-08-09T08:03:00.000-07:00

As they say, best laid plans of mice and men…..today, however, had nothing to do with either, and everything to do with machine; and the failure therein.

We were well on our way outside the clutches of manali when the fishtails kicked in. at first, granted first was only a split second, I thought that maybe we had hit an unfortunate patch of gravel and we would soon right ourselves and maintain course, this was quickly nullified in my mind and replaced with the imminent. We’re going to go down. It becomes just how apparent the subconscious mind has to do with survival in a situation like this. Although it was to quick for me to do anything but react, that was all that was needed. Since it was apparent that we were bound for the ground it was time to brace. And brace I did, clutching fast on the handlbars as they would hit before me and bringing my legs closely in to the side of the bike, sheltered by the massive crash bars, and luggage rack that stands out much further. My mind was lightly confused when I saw aaron right side by side with me, but as I was in shock I am still not certain if this occurred during the sliding or after as he bounced up and went running into the nearest house for help….those of you reading with nerve racked eyes will notice the immensity of that last sentence.

He was up and responding. Meaning he was still alive, had full mobility, and presence of mind. Somehow he had managed to get off and out from under the bike during the whole thing, he ended up rolling a number of times as far as he can remember. This was perhaps a saving grace, but at the same time, a dooming factor in the injuries that he sustained. Heres the next part, yes there were injuries sustained.

I was slower to get up, for no other reason than I was disoriented, and more interested in the real reason that we had ended up in this situation in the first place, racking my brains trying to think if there was something I could have done to stop this tragedy. This was quickly answered with a close inspection of the rear tire. I use the word close lightly as it was not necessary to even know how to ride a bike to ascertain the reason of our mishap….a nail or some such maniacal device had wrenched its way into our tire, instantly popping the inner tube (here motorcycle tires are still run on the inner tube system, as opposed to the tubeless setup in the states, rending a catastrophic blowout more likely, as opposed to the tire going flat slowly due to a puncture.) we were headed for the pavement the moment that tire blew.

Soon we had found aid, one of the neighbors had heard the screeching of metal on asphalt and had come bounding out of their house. They helped us inside and gave us a glass of water and a place to sit and calm our nerves. We decided that we had better see the doctor and make sure that our wounds were solely superficial, and not worse things lurking behind a disguise of shock. They quickly called us a cab, and one man offered to join us on our jaunt, a welcome companion.

I was the first under the scrutinous eyes of the jovial doctor. He looked me up and down took my blood pressure and pushed and prodded here and there. (mainly around the wound on my stomach as that was the only one I was worried about.) nothing. Minor scrapes and bruises, I’ve had twice as bad falling out of my desk at school…ok maybe not that minor, but ive definitely had worse off my skateboard.

Then he turned to Aaron, he was scraped in much fewer arenas, but it was obvious to see that there might be more of an issue. The area in between his thumb and pointer finger had swollen considerably and looked in need of attention. They took a quick xray and quickly found the problem. A dislocated thumb; nothing to get sick over, but it would have to be cast. This solidified our next plan. We will sell the bike. It won’t be easy to travel period with his big backpack, but to be on the back of a motorcycle would be damn near impossible. That decided we headed back to Manali, leaving the motorcycle in the hands of the people who helped us, as they knew a mechanic who would come get it to fix the tire.

One trip to the hospital later is where you will find us in the pictures. Aaron was cast up, and we were ready to go. As a quick note to readers, the bandages (other than the cast) are quite more dramatic than the scrapes that lie underneath. The one on Aarons right hand is only about the size of a dime, and mine range from the smallest on my right thumb, smaller than a pea, to the one on my abdomen, which is about the size of an eraser.

Cheers all, we live to fight another day.

2006-08-04T23:23:00.000-07:00

a view up towards vashist, the next town up from manali, me and a friend craig walked up and enjoyed a lunch with an english chap we met on the road.

view from the same road

the first night in mandi we stayed at the raj, the former palace there:) very nice, and cheap.

the man that fixed owren got nitty gritty with her, pulling of parts, soaking them in gas and then hitting them with the soldering iron, he was an adventurer for sure:)

owren under the needle, after which she found herself with new clutch plates, brakes, forks, and a number of various other tidbits

the center market in mandi

mandi streets

a view in mandi

2006-08-04T23:13:00.000-07:00

for some reason it would only let me put up four pics on the last one, we'll see what this does.

back in delhi, a quick trip faring the delhi roads while i was still getting the hang of owren. this was a giant swimming pool that kids and such were playing in, as well as a herd of water buffalo pictured here in flying v formation:)

a motorcycle is a luxury or cult vehicle in the states, here it is family transport, ive seen families of five crammed on a little 150cc jobber, here we have mother father and son on their way to the daily grind on their vespa.

this was the tomb of tughlaqabad, a mughal ruler, there were miles and miles of ruins to wander about in, infested with giant ants, rats, and centipedes.

photo narratives

2006-08-04T22:55:00.000-07:00

finally got around to sizing down a bunch more photos. manali is incredible, a little bit touristy, but our hotel is far enough off of the beaten path that it stays nice and quiet, nonetheless weve met a bunch of good folk there. im headed to throw some tackle at the beas river tributaries, the water here is clean and you can eat the fish out of it...at least so they say. im headed over there with a couple of buddies from the guesthouse, aaron declined coming with hesitation, but as he has work to do on the website decided staying in today was his best bet. anyhow, here are the photos.

this one brings us back to delhi, the morning of our departure. 5:00 am to be specific. me and aaron are not morning people. this was the precursor to a grilling 13 hours on the motorcycle up to mandi, where owren headed in for surgery.

the bushes grew thick on the side of the national highway up to mandi

upon closer inspection of said bushes

11 hours in, we'd been through three kinds of weather, rain, sun, and trucks. aaron deleted the photo of himself as it was equally as intense and he didnt want it getting out.

alive and well

2006-07-30T22:13:00.000-07:00

we're alive. as is the bike in a matter of speaking, she damn near fell apart underneath us yesterday. to be expected almost, we put her through a grilling 13 hour ride through rough country yesterday, i feel like ive bridged some gap in my life. we took a picture of me after aboiut hour 11, in some little town in the himalayas, i looked like a crack addict in recovery, sunken eyes, and hollow features, but rife with life:) it was by far the most intense thing ive ever experienced, if i wasnt dodging trucks and cars, it was monkeys and cows. but here we find ourselves, in a town called mandi, nestled in the foothills of the himalayas. its gorgeous here, the mountains surrounding are remeniscent of the smokies, all covered in mist and clouds. we are going to hole up here for another day and try to get the bike back to running condition before we kick of to our next destination, probably another 4 hour ride or so, only a little under 100 km, but all small mountain switchback roads. my hands look like lobsters, burnt to a crisp, i forgot to put sunscreen on before we kicked out yesterday. we stayed in the former raj's palace, the raj mahal bhavan last night, figured we'd treat ourselves to some comfort, its the first hot shower ive taken since i got to india, i about melted. stll it was only 440 rupees for the night, a little under $10 us, but tonight we will seek meeker accomodations, save a penny or two. aaron was easily as haggard at the end, his butt is not used to riding, so he found himself bruised and battered, we were a sight that only a mother could love. the weather here is incredible though, and i eagerly anticipate what other excitement today and tomorrow will bear.

2006-07-29T04:43:00.000-07:00

another adventerous food for the list. today for lunch alice made us sheeps stomach. that was a hard one to field, i got through it by diverting my mind while chewing through the rubbery substance, turning off as many senses as was possible, trying not to let the idea that i was ingesting stomach get through to any relays. i made it through my portion and was relieved to look over and see arron having just as much trouble as me. to our dismay when we were done alice said that dinner would be fun too. we'll see, we might forget about dinner, i can only handle one eating adventure a day.

packed the bike to the gills this morning, and took her for a quick spin to see how she would handle the weight, she took it soaringly.

-owren with all of her fixins, ready to go.

this saucy looking fellow is a-tul the father mechanic of owren this was right after my first experience riding the bike, in heavy delhi traffic. i was rather flustered after the experience.

me and aaron, ready to go.

north

2006-07-27T02:13:00.000-07:00

we're set, today was spent heggling in and out of various shops down in karal bagh, the local motorcycle dealer district. we had needed to pick up a few remaining items, bungees and a helmet for aaron, now it just stands to pack up the bike and relearn to ride the damn thing. we planned out our route last night, it will definetely be a test of man and machine, uptting both to its utmost endurance. we kick out at the crack sunday morning if all goes well, from there we will try and make the 350 some odd kilometer trek up to a little town called mandi, rest there for the evening and evaluate our situation. from there we head to manali and then leh, deep in the heart of himalayan country. luckily we read more about the route that aaron had originally planned out, as we found that the road had sustained a major mudslide, leaving travellers to hike a grilling journey, while their packs are suspended by wire and transferred to the other side of the gorge created by the slide. needless to say we will not be going that way. my stomach is growling for the chana bhatura stand that sits across from the internet cafe, ive been craving it since the first time we got it the other day. the food has definetely been incredible. it will switch when we head up north, less heavy gravy like dishes and more noodles, the product of being so close to tibet. i am excited to get on the road, although ive not seen nearly all the sites in delhi, it will be good to head to some small towns.

adventure

2006-07-24T01:43:00.000-07:00

im sitting in a grimy little internet cafe that sports internet service for 15 rs per hour, just under 33 cents an hour or something:) theres so much to recount from the last couple of days, i feel like ive lived a year in a matter of less than a week. ill start in bombay the night before bollywood. smatterings of rain, bombay is experiencing the rainy season, so every couple of hours they would have a torrential downpour for a good couple of minutes.me and aaron ducked into a little restaurant for a quick dinner while the rain subsided. a scattered menu, this place was apparently famous throughout bombay. a place called baraimya or something. we ordered a few items off the menu and then aaron suggested that i try the house specialty, mutton bhuna, easily translated to sheeps brain. feeling in a spirited mood i went along with this tyrade, only to find myself covering the remaining bits of it up with as much of the rest of the food as possible so i could choke it down, it didnt help that aaron likened the substance to cream cheese, turns it into a visceral as well as mental challenge. the worst part was the chunk wavering on a two inch by two inch scale, one could identify rivers and mountains in what used to be a bleating synapse relay. what an adventure. from there we went back to our accomodations and headed out to try and find a club for the night.

instead we ended up walking around aimlessly through bombay slums till the wee hours of the evening. when i say slums it is different than anything you could imagine though, these are people living in tin and garbage bag constructed huts, on the side of a major road usually, they sleep on the sidewalks, whole families, with no blankets, and only rocks or shoes for pillows (one guy we saw had removed his prosthetic leg and was using it to support his head while he slept in an alleyway) at the same time there was no sense of danger. we were the only two white guys for miles and miles im sure, with hundreds of indians passed out in front of these hovels, and hundreds more taking evening walks. they dont walk during the day cause its to hot, instead they walk during the night and late into the night at that. a strange experience.

the next day we headed to meet the guy that had hooked us up with the bollywood adventure at 7:30 in the morning a quick bite to eat at a place called leopolds (made famous by the book shantaram) and we were off on an hour stint waiting for a bus to take us to this area called bandagar where there is a pretty hefty club scene. we (there were 42 of us, mostly westerners) were hearded into an air conditioned room, probably a vip area in this club poison. in the club part of the place was bumping music and a couple hundred other extras working at various takes in the movie. after a little primping and preening they had all of our hair and the girls makeup done and we were escorted out onto the dance floor where a giant of an indian was shouting commands, ordering more energy like it was something of a menu. this went on for a good bit, and then the star entered, it turns out this movie "don" (a bollywood remake of the godfather, with added tidbits like saucy club scenes:) stars the number one actor in india, this chap named sharu khan, apparently we had been cast for a high budget production:) we did some more dancing and then they started pairing us off, they quickly seperated me and aaron as we were causing to much noise and inattention in our little group, i as made to dance with some british bird, and he was made to sit by the bar, then my fifteen minutes came, they powdered up me and the british girl (taking away the glistening sweat and grease that had compounded in the non airconditioned hulabaloo) and placed us directly in front of the camera, we were made to gyrate to some b techno song for a good number of takes before they moved on. the rest of the day was pretty humdrum, till they let us out at five, 500 rs richer with a little food in our bellies.

once on the bus the asistant director showed up, apparently she had been fond of our antics, and pointed at me and my dance partner, asking if we could stay till the end of production, another week or so, i declined adding that bombay wasnt ready for me. we were carted back to our meeting place from the morning and all went our seperate ways, but we made plans to meet the two british girls (kate and julia) and this boy matty from australia (a great character) in a bit for drinks at a sports bar. it turned out that a bunch of pepole from the production were meeting there so we had a sort of post production party. then things started to go south, me and aaron had made plans earlier to meet up with these two british guys that we had met at a club called enigma at a five star hotel, the club is a bit expensive, but the british guys were staying there and said they could get us in for free as they had vouchers. however, indian clubs are wierd, they wont let two guys come in on voucher unless they have girls with them, this was not really a problem as we had befriended kate and julia, and we al decided we could cover mattys ticket as he wouldnt be able to get in with the voucher. as i said earlier there were problems though. when we all got up to leave one of the indians that lived in calaba (the area of bombay we were staying) got up and told me that i couldnt leave with the girls, i calmly told him that one they werent his to say what anyone could do with them, two they wanted to come, three they had boyfriends(which they both did, back in britian) so it didnt matter his intentions as they werent being fulfilled (this guy was a grimy nasty guy who had been following them all day in and out of the bollywood production). he became angrier and told me i would have to pay the whole bill which i declined, he then suggested we go outside. i had never seen such a ridiculous display, he was red in the face over things that werent even under his control. after a while of him spitting like an angry cock his friends pulled him aside and we got out of there and headed to the club.

i wish that were the end of the ordeal, it was i guess for me as the rest of my night went relatively smoothly. aaron however had some kinks of his own to work out. when we got to the club he learned that everyone could get in save him because he was wearing shorts, this sent him on a roundabout search for someone in the hotel he could trade his shorts with for long pants (which incredibly he found, a bellboy in the establishment agreed to this hesitantly) and we all jaunted in having met up also with the two british guys. from there it was fine till aaron took his shirt off in the club, security pounced on him within seconds, threatening to remove him, somehow he stayed, and we round out the night with no more hiccups save the fact that we got back to our pad at five something and had to be at the train station at a little before seven. i opted to sleep for an hour, while aaron decided to wait it out. this precedes the next day and another adventure. the 29 hour train ride to delhi in a non airconditioned sleeper car.

we wandered into mumbai central train station at around 6:45 dazed and not the least bit awake. made a quick purchase of some cookie cracker things to tide us over during the ride so we didnt have to purchase the less than trustable train fare and slid into our car, we were in beds 67 and 70, top berth a stones throw from the bathroom. this turned out to be a stroke of luck, as got the fever at about 10 that morning, which is really where the adventure of the train ride begins.

i had fallen quickly asleep on my rock of a mattress, but woke feeling queasy few hours later, everyone around was dead asleep as well pending the brutality of our 29 hour jaunt. i sluffed off my uneasy stomach hoping it was just slight train sickness, i couldnt have been more wrong. fifteen minutes later i was running to the bathroom, swaying and gagging the whole way. this only worsened when i flung open the door to what they called the W.C. a pool of urine and feces sat stagnant in front of what they were trying to pass of as a toilet, smears on the wall recounted the indian use of the left hand being done maybe just as the train hit a turn, the occupee having to put his shit covered hand on the wall to brace himself. this compounded my situation, flinging me into violent convulsions, leaving me barely enought awareness to mind my step and hold myself far enough away from touching anything. the first of many i slowly crawled back to bed, heaved myself up on the top berth and waited fifteen minutes till the next attack came. this continued for a number of hours, leaving me dry heaving and clutching my sore stomach by the end, which was not really the end at all but the begging of something new.

this whole time i had been warding off the growing sensation of needing to poop. brash, but theres not really any other way to put it, i was now desperate, i could almost taste the backup, so quivering i leaned over and poked aaron as i knew he had toilet paper in his backpack. but woe is me, aaron had packed during his stupor at 5:30 or so that morning and the toilet paper was nowhere to be found, thinking quickly as it as now a dire sense of emergency, i tore a few pages out of the back of the lonely planet guidebook and staggered down to face this next obstacle. ill let your imagination play this section out for you, but leave it to say that i contemplated throwing myself from the train a time or two. 29 hours later, a few more trips to the bathroom and another cuople of pages out the lonely planet we found ourselves in delhi.

i had made it most of the way out of my sickness, still nowhere near full health, but good enough to walk even if slowly. somehow we made it to aarons ex girls house, where i fell on the bed and slept, she nursed me back to health over the next couple of hours giving me some manner of indian medicine. which brings us to yesterday and me back in the game. most assuredly not an experience to forget.

yesterday we went to koral bagh the local motorcycle area in delhi, and began our hunt for a trusty steed, thinking this was going to take a few days we were surpised to come across a man selling a '94 bullet electra for 21,500 rs. less than we had planned on paying after a bit of looking we decided this was our best play and went on to the heggling. after a few hours we had convinced him that for us to take the bike he needed to put on new tires, a back rest, mirrors, brakes, luggage racks, fix a few cables here and there and give the bike a good once over, all inclusive:) he winced a few times but was a good man, so after a test drive we put a bit of money down and both signed a few documents. this puts us give or take to about now, tomorrow afternoon we go and pick up the bike, and commence the next chapter of our adventure.

bombay

2006-07-18T23:49:00.000-07:00

made it here in one piece. i strolled into the funnel spiders lair at about one in the morning last night, the human grease as thick as butter on my arms. aaron waiting at the airport to greet me. a quick reunion and we were on our way to the red shield, bombays finest. tomorrow we play our parts in a bollywood film, the concierge at our establishment has a friend who has agreed to pay us time and meals for a days work as an extra in his film. we met a woman who had recently been through a similar excursion. by her telling it sounded as she might have been the rotisserie chicken in one of the latest in bollywood, at least i have my hepatitis vaccine. went to a fish market today and an outdoor extravaganza its like a petree dish here, teeming with life some good some bad, but life. feels more vibrant than anywhere else.

the adventure continues.

2006-07-10T07:58:00.000-07:00

soccer, who would have thought...for a brief moment while watching the game and conversing with three old salty french men a part of me enjoyed the game. perhaps its time to remodify the list to solely british, haikus, and the medical system. we are in a small town overlooked by the last fifty years or so, it was a chore to find a location to use the internet, luckily this one came with a full size pool:) this part of the trip is rounding off, soon it will be another world, and a different set of social mores to skip off of. i think i could live in france for a bit, spend a good while here at least. hevre, or milo as his friends called him...the plus soule of the old french men at the cafe was a breath of fresh air, nothing like dipping a sanga soaked being into a pool of rose wine soaked french conversation. there was no judgement on the part of his companions, they were content that this was the way things worked. i think i will walk and have a beer tout seul ce soir, the people here are a joy to watch.

2006-07-04T11:45:00.000-07:00

i think this is the post area, my german it would seem is worse than my french, that is to say nonexistent. i had forgotten about the feeling you get when faced with a person that has no idea what you are trying to communicate about and you feel like if i just say it louder theyll get it. savages:) an odd thing being surrounded by folk that you see or have seen on an everyday basis in a world so removed from the normal. tomorrow leads us into the amusement park world of ´germany, an adventure to be sure, i was told i will be one of the "adults" on this outing, apparently these people still dont know me so well. it has been good to reencounter some old friends, people i had not imagined i would ever see again, i guess thats the thing about this life, the more things change the more they stay the same as they say. out of reading material, ive taken to reading the back of soap boxes in the bathroom, not that i can understand but still something to look at.

2006-07-03T00:26:00.000-07:00

here we have it...my first blog:) and it got a tirer, i dont quite remember what that means, im sure after another week in france it will come back. chocolate croissants are just as good as i remember. and i successfully communicated with my host and his girlfriend, that being the real feat to be proud of as she is deaf and only reads french lips. naomi is in good spirits, a little tired but happy. tomorrow we take the train up to switzerland and then over to germany. wish we had more time for paris, but well make the best of it while were here (i cant find the apostrophe on this confounded european keyboard)