The Houseboat

Sorry about the picture here. I don't know how to flip it (I'm a mac guy, not a PC guy.) Anyway, in Kerala you can take these tours of the backwaters. The word backwater certainly doesn't conjure up pretty images, but it was actually really lovely. Canals link everything together through palm trees, homes, small towns and river life. We rented a houseboat for 22 hours and left at 11am, arriving at our destination at 9am the next morning. We rode on the boat all day watching the scenery and the people. Everybody waves. Either they were really fascinated by these two jews from New York, or they wave to everyone. It's anyone's guess. We slept on the boat and they cooked us our meals. Currys, rice, fruit. It was all delicious, and not one mosquito bite (of course, i'm getting bitten alive as i write this now.)

Where to begin

Today I thought about 5 different things to write about, but my jetlag is keeping me from thinking clearly. I'm in some crappy internet place in a town called Varkala,
in Kerala India. Kerala is the state, Varkala is the town. It's all the way in the south of the country. We're at the beach, staying on a cliff just above it. t's beautiful and peaceful, but that's a small pocket of what I've seen so far. India is loud, chaotic and crowded. I'm not gonna write too much now as it's hot in this internet place, and i feel like i'm being eaten up by mosquitos. I will tell you about something that happened yesterday though...

We took this 4 hour flight from Delhi after staying in some cruddy airport hotel for 9 hours when we arrived from NY. The flight was fine, but when we arrive Marcia had to go and see some temple or palace or something, that she heard was really cool. "Only 30km from the airport, then we go back up 45km to Varkala. Come on, it'll be so great." I reluctantly agreed, although I would have preferred coming right to Varkala and the beach then seeing this temple. Anyway, the 30km drive went through a zillion shitty towns, one after another. There were people everywhere. The taxi driver was like 70 years old and was honking randomely every few seconds. The windows were open, there was no a/c, and the other drivers were crazy. I saw my life pass before me at least 10 times. Marcia's gulping at the cars coming to close was not helping. The 30km ride ended up taking 3 hours, and when we got to the palace at 4:35 it had just closed.

Back in the shitty taxi, it took at least 4 hours on the same road, past the airport, and the same crappy towns. Our driver looked exhausted. I was miserable and somehow managed to fall asleep in the car. I was awakened to Marcia going "what the hell????" Someone had thrown their yogurt and tandoori dinner from the opposing traffic out the window and it landed through the window on Marcia and the cab driver. When I opened my eyes, I first thought that a bird had shit all over her, then I saw onions and some sort of meat or something. It was absolutely revolting. The driver stopped and tried to help clean her and the car up.

We finally got to our hotel and saw the beach, and it was beautiful. Marcia took a shower and we laughed for hours about the yogurt-tandoori incident. It was a really great way to start India.

Yes, I've gotten my shots

I wasn't going to post again until I actually got to India. It's just a few days before I leave and everyone keeps asking me if I'm nervous. So, I thought I would get in the rhythm by writing and address that. No, I'm really not too nervous... I'm pretty fucking excited. I've been talking to so many people about India lately that I can't not be jazzed up. I just wonder how I'm going to see it all in 5 weeks...

This world is crazy. I've been reading a lot of info about India on this Lonely Planet (travel book brand) forum called "The Thorn Tree." People post everything from "Does anybody know how long it takes to get from Pushkar to Mumbai" or "Be aware of the crazy lady on the beach in Goa selling rancid ice cream." I've had to pick through the postings just to find some good stuff, but there is tons of information. A month ago, this one woman posted about how she found this great car + driver that she highly recommends. I started emailing her personally and she's been incredibly helpful. She lives in Portland, Oregon and has been to India 3x in the last three years. It's been great, but I was just thinking about how it's so odd that I'm just emailing with this random woman in the world and taking her advice. The planet is just getting smaller and smaller.

The flight to Delhi from NYC leaves on Wednesday (yes John, it's direct, and it's just under 14 hours. I know you needed to know. And if the other Jon is reading, I'm flying on a 777 with 4 engines, I think.) I've been inoculated for just about everything, and I've got my Malaria pills ready to go. Marcia, my sister, leaves with me from NY and we're heading down to Southern India to a place called Kerala for a few days. It's got beaches and backwaters and tea plantations, so it sounds like a pretty great start to the trip. Marcia is with me for just under 10 days. We're going to then head up to Goa for more beach and apparently some pretty amazing Indian food (Goa cooks Indian with Portuguese influence.) At the point when Marcia leaves, my friend Angie joins in for another 10 days starting in Goa for a little more R&R before heading up to Rajasthan: dessert, lakes, more dessert, and lots of cites called "the Blue City" or "the Pink City."

Yeah, it's all overwhelming and crazy, and I still don't have too many pre-conceived notions, but I'm ready. And I'm psyched.

See you in India.