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Archive for October, 2007

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slightly irritated so the words are harsh

Tuesday, October 30th, 2007

OK, so this will be short. I have been permanently tarnished. Some butterscotch eaten, fleece wearing, football loving dumbass baggage handler stole my camera in Joberg. For the entire time in Indian, for every second of every day, we were on guard. We worked hard to not be the victim, and then what happens. We get back to South Africa, we begin to board the plane to Maseru, where you have to skycheck all of your bags and what happens, and my camera and my headlight get stolen. The first time I let my bag out of sight, when I thought it was safe, all of my pictures get stolen. All the camels, forts, Taj, trains, cows, all gone…sons of pregnant cows I am pissed. Add in the fact that the plane could not land in Maseru, so we spent entirely too much money staying in Joberg it’s been a rocky return to Africa.
Ok so I have managed to cool down, and ready to give a few more highlights. More like observations and emotionally interludes of perplexed mental abstracts of me saying internally “what the fuck!” For instance, Devi was an inspiration to the people of India. She created what I called the ‘invisible man effect’. In this, I mean that if I walked in Devi’s wake, I was unseen, 100% invisible. I could have stripped naked and, and lit my pubic hair on fire, and no one would have noticed a naked white guy screaming in agony. I have also mentioned that the Lesotho cows are the rock stars of the livestock world; well the cows of India are the Rock Gods of the livestock world. With the exception of the cow that attacked Devi (the bruise is about the size of a kiwi that has been run over by a studded tire from a 04 matrix), the cows in India have a presence to them. They walk with a “I am cow, you shall bow, and say Oh man wow, or else you’ll feel the horns of plow with echoing sounds of pow! Cows are seriously part of every normal day life, they sip tea in the coffee shops, sell photos of their kin chewing what amounts to Christmas decorations, charge toll on narrow streets, and shit everywhere with a mere shrug. Devi and I are writing a coffee table book on cows of the world; we are accepting contributions and will be giving the finished book to all family members for Christmas 2008. So keep space free because we will be terribly upset if it’s not front and center. What would any adventure be with out the obligatory run from the law? We were driving from Jaisamler to Jodhpur when we came onto a police roadblock, with real cops, real army men, real machine guns, and real attitude. It appeared to be a tourist tax collecting station, of which we had seen before and paid with out questions. This time however, our driver only slowed, and barely opened his window. The cops approached and suddenly if not a little erratically our driver hit the gas, swerved a little into the gravel as not to kill any cops with guns and sped of with the law chasing us on foot. I felt like asking “what the hell?” but a realized my voice would crack like the days of puberty, I turned to see three shades of brown, but only saw palely white girl wild-eyed saying “what the hell”right back to me. So we continued to speed with nervous glances over our shoulders every few seconds to see if the cops with guns were giving chase, alas no.
Ok in the office and gotta fly.
should wirte again in three weeks

The roof is sideways to the camels hump

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007

Yes, Its been awhile since I posted, and in all honesty I have forgotten most of what we have done, so bare with me if my entry seems a little cluttered. We are in Jodpur for the next two days until we fly to Mumbai for the trip back to Africa. Jailsilmer was incredible, the camel trecking perhaps the best adventure we’ve had in India. We spent two nights and three days in the Thar desert, with our camels (Raja & Sona) and guides (Turok & Dadia, who was eight years old). Yes, one of our guide was 8 yrs old, and he was a total professional, he was the low man on the totem pole, he took care of the camels and carried stuff around and so, not to mention he walked almost the entire time. Camels are incredible, from the very moment you meet them, you understand how uncluttered their mind is. Camels do a few things very well; walk slow and chew cud. In fact a Camel spends about twenty minutes a day sleeping and the rest chew cud. They chew cud when walking, when drinking, when running, when eating. They are also very huge. I did not understand the immensity of camels until I got on Raja for the first time. My head was easily 15 feet in the air. Enormus creatures who command a lot of respect. They are peaceful, semi-graceful (for a camel), and a blast to ride. By the third day our asses were bruised, groing tired, and my back was so sore. Our first night in the dunes was full of humor, as we were accompanied by two German tourists. At about 3am a voice started calling in the distant, “hello, where are you”, “Hello”, “Heelllllllooooooo”. This voiced continued for easily an hour. It got near and far, had various different levels of stress from friendly, to anger, to fearful, to all out hysterical. I thought that is was some Indian guy trying to find us to sell us something, so I kept quite. I do remember thinking, oh great now he is mad, please don’t let him find us. I listened to this screaming forever, thinking that it was somebody important that Turok would greet him. Finally the other german tourist, called out “Were over here”, I immediatly scolded her for telling the anger Indian where we were, but “Paul is not in his bed” was here response. Opps!, the crying voice I had been listening to was the lost german tourist. I got my light and went and found him…..I laughed for quite a while of how we (Devi heard him too) mistook teriffied German for a Indian salesman..Skip ahead to our last moments in Jailismer. Devi got attacked by a cow, and not a little nudge either. This guy tried to shiskabob her. He scouped down low, to come up under her bum, and then tried to launch her. All for no reason, she literaly just walked by. READ. She is ok, 100% ok, just a scratch on her booty. We have been trying to understand the philisophical nature of cow attacks, in the last few hours….ok, need a icecream.

Taj and onwards…

Wednesday, October 17th, 2007
Hello!!!! I'm writing to you from Jaipur, in Rajistan, the most sexist state in India apparently (according to one of our travel guides, and my own take so far). We have rented a car and driver to take ... [Continue reading this entry]

a tear in the sea for you and me

Wednesday, October 10th, 2007
So our beach time has ended, we went for our final swim this morning and the Ariabian sea pretty much rejected us. The riptide was so strong, that we could only get a few meters out before the push/pull/tug was ... [Continue reading this entry]

Just another day in Paradise

Tuesday, October 9th, 2007
Good evening!!!! Life can be absolutely magnificent sometimes, can't it? We are Varkala. Originally, we were upset by what we had come to: a tourist-packed area. however, as it is not high season yet, it really ... [Continue reading this entry]

Konkan Rail

Saturday, October 6th, 2007
This is just a little excerpt (?) from a letter to my parents: Oct5/07, 11:30 - on the train - Konkan RAilways. Headed from Benaulim (Margao) Goa to Kochi, Kerala. 16 hours I believe. The train was a ... [Continue reading this entry]

Me, Devi and the Hog

Thursday, October 4th, 2007
So my turn. India. Let me think where to start the story. The bus ride form Mumbai to Goa, was quite possibly one of the greatest adventures I have ever had. To start, its important to understand that the center ... [Continue reading this entry]

HEaded South

Thursday, October 4th, 2007
I see that Sam has abandon everyone on here, he doesnt' even know I've written anything in India yet. Remember that everyone - DEVI cared to share the experiences we have with all of you! So today started off Monsoon-like. ... [Continue reading this entry]

Goa con’t

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007
Kay say hey? (how are you?) Hum tik (I'm fine). thanks to Christine (say hi to Aji and everyone for me!)and Julie and Steff for writing here on the blog. I've heard it can be difficult. ... [Continue reading this entry]

Living the fine life in Goa

Monday, October 1st, 2007
Good afternoon everyone!!! I am writing from beautiful, lush, wonderous Goa. The reason I am so happy, is that i have just got out of the shower - AND I HAD SOAP!!!! I must say, one of the ... [Continue reading this entry]