Working life

It's funny.  When I'm walking around the streets of KL, I have so much going through my head lately that you'd think I'd have plenty to say.  But then for some reason, I sit down in the internet cafe and suddenly I go brain dead.  Ok, maybe not brain dead, just too vacant and lazy to bother writing anything...  Maybe just uninspired.  Or maybe just too disorganized. 
I've been reading a lot since getting here which has been nice.  Sure, I could do that anywhere, why do I need to be in Malaysia?  Uh, no real good reason, but then again, suppose you wanted to take a year off and just read all those books you've had lined up on your to do list?  Where would be the best place to do it?  Hmm, probably some place nice, comfortable, with lots of amenities, and above all else, somewhere cheap!  Unfortnately KL isn't the cheapest place I've been, but then again this isn't where I'd go if I was going to take a year off and just read.  I'd probably go to some remote hill top where there were no distractions...  As expensive as it is here, it is cheaper than home.  If you look at the Big Mac factor, a double cheese burger value meal here is only 7.15 RM -- that's just over two dollars.  Back home it would be at least three something.  Movies are only about three dollars and if I wanted to live real spartain like, I could have stayed in a dorm bed for three dollars a night too -- originally I did, but then after two nights sharing a room with some of the sketchiest bunkmates I've run into I upgraded to a private room for twice that amount.  Actually the two main expenses I've hit are going out to clubs which charge obnoxious covers (and which I haven't frequented for just that reason) and buying books.  Frequent trips to starbucks to escape the heat also have a way of adding up...
The time has finally come for me to leave it all behind though.  I've long since sorted out all the annoyances of getting my visa and tonight I head up to Bangladesh.  I know one of the main reasons I left home to travel around the world was my, err, shall we call it "reluctance" to work, but I'm looking forward to what I'm sure will be an interesting experience.  As I've never done anything like this before, I hope to learn a lot even though I have no idea quite what it is I should expect to learn...
At any rate, I don't think I'll be going on line much while I'm in Bangladesh for two reasons.  First I imagine I'll be busy working and second I don't expect the barge I stay on will have much of an internet connection -- somewhat ironic considering the barge will be carrying about 8 kilometers of fiber optic cable...
Ok, I'm going to go soak up my last few hours of western civilization. 
Take care,
Jf

More than meets the eye...

Transformers.  Robots in disguise...

Malaysia rocks -- I just saw Transformers in a theater (i.e. completely legally) for three bucks and before it was released in the states =)  I don't care what the critics were saying.  So what if it would only ever appeal to twenty/thirty something guys who grew up with the toys -- it was awesome!!!!  It actually came out last Friday but then I was in a small town in the hills with no movie theater. 

Now I'm in Kuala Lumpur.  Very metropolitan.  I spent the morning getting all the things I need for my work visa application but didn't get to the embassy early enough to drop it off so I'll have to do that tomorrow.  Then I hung out at the twin towers -- didn't go up though (I'll stop by early tomorrow morning and see if I can get a ticket to visit the sky bridge).  I was amazed by how american the mall seemed.  Reminded me of 900 North Michigan (or is it 600...) in Chicago.  There was a Chile's, California Pizza Kitchen, Auntie Annes and pretty much all the upscale clothing stores you'd expect to see all over the Magnificent Mile. 

The hills were a nice break from the heat.  It was actually cold at night.  Unfortunately now my body has to adjust back to the heat and humidity. 

Not really too much else to say.  I'm a bit tired and need to get to bed so I can get up early and head back to the embassy.  Not sure exactly when I'll be leaving for bangladesh, but it sounds like it'll be soon. 

Happy 4th everybody back home.  Enjoy your day off -- I know I will =)

 

On the road again...

I just can't wait to get back on the road again...
Well, the wait is coming to an end.  Tomorrow I should be heading down to malaysia.  As is I've already overstayed my visa here by five days so I'll be paying a hefty fine when I get to the border.  Better than getting locked up in prison though I guess. 
Not sure exactly what my plans are, but I think I'll probably spend a few days in a hill station in the Cameron Highlands cooling off in the crisp mountain air and walking through the tea fields.  After that I'll head down to Kuala Lumpur to see a bit of the city and then on to Singapore.  There I should be meeting up with Dave -- the guy I'll be working with in Bangladesh -- to help him get things prepared to "mobilize".  After that I expect I'll head back up through malaysia, make a stop at the Thai embassy in Panang, then come back here, pick up the rest of my stuff, head up to Bangkok, get my visa for Bangladesh and then go work on the River.  At least that's how I'm hoping it will work out.  You never really know though.  Things change.
I'll successfully be leaving without finishing my Dive Master training =)  That should leave one person a bit peeved that he has to hang onto my file...  I'll be back though.  Who knows.  Maybe in between malaysia and bangladesh, or maybe after bangladesh.  Or maybe I'll just come back after heading home for September.  Speaking of which, I should really start thinking about those arrangements...
Take care all,
Jf

Die Verwandlung

It's been a good week. I had some really nice dives and the antibiotics I got for my lingering ear ache and cough seem to have helped.  

About a week ago I walked into the dive shop a little before noon intending to have a simple lunch and then go over to the other dive company where the friend I'll be working with works and try on a different full face mask.  When I showed up at at the shop, one of my friends was trying to recruit enough paying customers so that could arrange a spur of the moment afternoon dive on the small boat.  We have three boats -- big boat, medium boat and little boat (pretty much self explanatorily named).  One of them was taking students out for the afternoon and the other one was out for a full day excursion to a dive site that's further than the usual ones.  That morning a Whale shark had been spotted at one of the deep dive sites nearby though and Tom wanted to go whale shark hunting.  He succeeded in finding enough customers, but suddenly realized nobody was around to take them out so as I was eating my lunch he asked if I could lead a group of four.  Hmm...  Sure, why not.  Let me just call and see if I can reschedule my other plans... 

A few minutes later I was packed up and ready to go.  Tom, another DM, 12 or so fun divers and I all hopped on the truck to the pier, got on little boat and headed out to Southwest Pinnacle.  Ok, leading fun dives isn't particularly complicated, but it helps if you know the site and know where all the interesting things to see are.  I'd personally only done it once and that time all I did was take two girls out and make sure they got back to the boat when they were out of air.  The site we were going to is a gorgeous one but I haven't dived it too much so far so I wouldn't be the best tour guide -- fortunately the customers had only dived a few times themselves so they didn't really know any better...  Half way through the dive I heard somebody banging their tank and assumed that was the sign that the whale shark had been spotted.  Unfortunately I didn't catch the signal clearly enough -- five bangs followed by a pause and then the location -- one bang for north, two for east, three for south, four for west.  Fortunately I saw Tom and he had heard and understood the signal. 

So off we were.  We rounded the pinnacle and there in the distance I could just catch a glimpse of it.  I turned around and pointed to my divers and tried to hurry them in that direction in hopes they too could see it before it swam too far off to see.  Three spead off after it but when I looked back I saw one was hanging behind -- she had tiny feet and wore small fins that don't do much for propulsion...  Obviously the first rule of taking divers out is not to lose any of them so I turned back, grabbed her by the tank and kicked as hard as I could until we caught up with the others -- unfortunately too late to catch up with the shark...

The two guys in my group were low on air so I sent them back up with another group meandered around for another five minutes with the girls before heading back up to the boat.  That's when the fun really began.  I don't know exactly how it happened but we pulled up anchor, moved the boat a bit and then somebody saw it.  Just off the starbord side of the boat the whale shark was swimming around on the surface -- within 20 seconds everybody was back in the water.  Some actually took the time to put fins on but I just jumped in with my mask.  We spent the next half hour swimming around the surface with it while some other divers swam under it.  Then we hopped back on the boat, got geared back up and jumped right back into the water for one of the most unusual dives I've had here.  Normally you go down on or at least near a boughy line that the boats tied up to and one that's there for a reason -- some formation of coral on a rocky pinnacle, but at this point we weren't anywhere near a divesite anymore.  Just ten of us, a whale shark and the deep blue sea.  Soon after getting in the whale shark decided to descend -- 5 meters... 10 meters...  15 meters...  20 meters...  We followed.  Then he changed his mind and headed up to the surface.  At this point I thought it might be a good idea to find my two divers -- the girls sat the second dive out.  When I saw them and we exchanged our OK symbols and swam after the rest of the divers I noticed the crowd was growing.  We were no longer 10 but now more like twenty.  I looked over and saw one of my friends Sarah waving at me.  Huh!  She wasn't on our boat...  Then I turn around and see Kris.  Kris!!!  Suddenly it all made sense.  I knew he'd gone out on the full day boat to Sail Rock.  Apparently they'd heard about the whale shark on their way back and decided to meet up with us.  Later I heard that they had all entered the water right as the whale shark left us for the surface -- in fact it probably left us to see who the new arrivals were!  So now's where the dive got a bit wierd.  I had no idea where we were but figured we'd be fine as long as we all stuck together.  I couldn't see the whale shark but I assume up at the front somebody could and was following it because we were swimming.  Thirty euphoric divers swimming through the nothingness joking around with their unexpectedly reunited friends.  Eventually we all just stopped.  Tom went up to the surface, came back down, borrowed somebody slate and wrote "Southwest 60 degrees".  We all looked at our compasses and like a flock of birds flying in a formation 30 divers turned northeast more or less in unison and headed back to the boat. 

Back on the boat we had the brilliant idea of packing up quickly and transferring our gear over to medium boat so we could ride back in comfort like civilized people -- not to mention have a beer (not a normal occurence on the boats but stocked specially for the end of the day long excursion).  It's hard to convey the mood.  Whale sharks are kind of that elusive thing that everybody else seems to see but some people always miss.  I know a girl who's been on the island 6 years and has never seen one.  Other people come for a few dives and see them every time.  So imagine a boat of 30 divers.  Some of them here for a week amazed at their good fortune and others here for longer likewise euphoric about the strange twist of events that brought all of us back together for such an odd and unexpected and fun reunion.

 

The next morning I woke up and headed over to "big fish" to assist on an open water course for another company.  Henrik was taking out two students and during the surface interval between dives I was going to try on another full face mask. This one was bigger, heavier and zipped all the way on and then tucked into my wet suit -- so there were no exercises to take it off an put it back on again under water.  While I was there though he said I was welcome to join them on the class if I wanted to dive.  So now I've dived with two companies here.  That afternoon we went back out on a longtail -- thus named because the propeller is attached to a long stick that the boat boy lowers into the water and maneuvers to stare rather than using a rudder -- and tried out the GPS again.  This time we attached the echosounder to the stick so that it was pointing down rather than the boat...  amazingly the water was in fact deeper than 1 foot. 

 

The next day I was asked to assist on the last two days of a german open water course.  Interesting but a bit frustrating because the instructor was brand new.  The students were great but she had them all wearing wet suits one or two sizes too large and carrying too much weight.  As the DMT though it's my responsibility not disagree with her in front of the students...  Poor guys.  She took so much time to do all the exercises that they never really had any time to dive.

 

Finally spent the next two days just going on some fun dives.  It's the half moon so the difference between high and low tide is at a minimum which tends to give the best dive conditions -- low currents and good visibility.  I ended up going out with a new DMT and here's where I finally come back to explain the title for this entry.  Die Verwandlung -- that was the original title to Franz Kafkas short story "the metamorphosis".  An austrian friend of mine is just about to finish up two weeks of instructor training.  I asked him a few days into it (sarcastically) if he could feel the transformation taking place.  I was searching for the word and thought Verwandlung from the Kafka story was fitting. 

Well over the last week I've been thinking more and more about the transformation I've gone through.  You don't really notice it happening because obviously it's just one of those slow changes that comes with experience.  but then you go out diving with somebody who's new and you realize now you're the experienced one and it's your turn to lead the dive and show the other guy around.  And he's looking at you and expects you to actually know what you're doing and where you're going.  Then you think about it for a second and realize you do! 

"Hmm, White Rock.  This is one of the favorite sites which you'll find we go to so often you may quickly get sick of it.  There's a turtle that sometimes hangs out around 210 degrees off the south boughy.  Wanna go turtle hunting?"  And just like that you realize two months ago somebody was saying pretty much the same thing to you.  Ok, I know that doesn't sound like much of a transformation.  That's more like moving into a new town and slowly learning where all the cool places to hang out are.  It's more than that though.  I don't know exactly how when or why it happened, but a few weeks ago I noticed I wasn't using the flutter kick anymore.  I've almost completely switched over to the frog kick.  I remember when I was a new diver I asked a few people why it was so popular with experienced divers.  One of the answers was it doesn't kick up as much sand.  The other day I was out with a dive master who took two "paying customers" out for a fun dive.  They were new but they were good divers.  They weren't waving their hands all over the place.  They had good boyancy control.  But I noticed when they swam close to the sand they tended to kick it up.  Then I looked down my chest at my feet and noticed I was even closer to the sand but wasn't kicking any up.  "Wow, it's true, the frog kick really is good for that!" 

Navigations gotten a lot easier too.  I know jumping in the water and swimming in one direction, then turning around and swimming back doesn't sound all that complicated, but you have to understand.  When you're down there, you can't see as far.  That and the location of the sun isn't as obvious so it does make it a bit harder to just keep going in a straight line unless you check your compass rather frequently.  And that's something that's slowly becoming more habitual -- constantly keeping track of what direction I'm headed so I'll have a general idea of which way to go back.

Mainly it's just a matter of confidence though.  It's a good feeling.  

 

Ok, I need to get going.  Still not sure when I'll be heading to bangladesh, but from what I hear it sounds like things are finally starting to happen and it should be relatively soon...

ciao,

Jf

things change quickly...

Well a day after I last wrote the guy showed up again.  I guess when he said he was coming back saturday, he meant the saturday a week after I expected because he was indeed back on Saturday...  Anyway, the bangladesh trip is still on, just not sure exactly when.  Last I heard he expected we'd be going late this month.  From life experience though I have to assume that's probably a hopeful expectation.  So maybe later.  Who knows.  Will just have to wait and see.
In other news, I'm now a bar man.  Two nights ago I spent my first time on the other side of the bar!  Woo hoo!  My resume is really shaping up now!  Mostly I just served beer and helped clean up, but I did make a few cocktails.  Next time I'm sure I'll be making more and before you know it I'll be a regular Tom Cruise from Cocktail =) 
Not much else to talk about.  The other day I went out on a boat with another dive company (the other guy going to bangladesh works there) and we played around with a GPS and echo sounder that we'll use for surveying the river before we lay the cable.  Then he took me out to try on the full face mask that we'll be using when we occasionally need to go in the water.  It was different.  About ten minutes under water after taking the mask off, putting it back on and clearing the water out of it I suddenly remembered I could breathe through my nose if I wanted.  I'd gotten so used to breathing through my mouth under water...
That's pretty much it for now.
Take care all,
Jf

I'm alive.

I'm safe.
I'm still in thailand.
Not diving much recently.
Enjoying a book -- the devil in the white city.
Feeling a little bit stuck in limbo...
And apparently, somehow, typing on a dvorak keyboard...
Ok, that last one isn't true.  I don't know how to type on a dvorak keyboard, but somehow I accidentally switched the settings over to it and had to figure out how to switch them back before i could continue with this message.
A little over a month ago I met somebody here who works in commercial diving.  He offered me a job on a barge.  Sounded interesting but he didn't know the timing back then so I didn't think too much of it.  A few weeks ago he said they'd gotten the contract and would probably be going at the end of this month.  I said I was interested if the offer was still there.  He said it was.  Last week he needed to go to singapore for a few days though to start mobilizing some of the equipment.  I was hoping to fill out some visa forms before he left, but he didn't have them yet.  He isn't back from singapore.  I'm slowly starting to think I won't be working on a barge in bangladesh after all.  I suppose I should have gotten his contact information before he left.  Oh well. 
I guess that means it's time for me to figure out what to do now and where to go next.  I'm sick of sitting in the same place.  Need to get back on the road.  I don't think I'll finish my dive master training before I leave -- that way I can always come back and dive for free and I have no real intent on working as an official dive master anyway.  I'll finish the book part though.  That way I can get rid of the dead weight before leaving. 
So I guess in the next few days I'll be flipping a lot of coins trying to settle on a new direction. 
That and looking for cheap flights.
ciao

crappy keyboards...

ok, the left shift key on this keyboard doesn't work and a lot of the keys stick a bit in general so excuse the lack of certain punctuation and capital letters...  OUCH!  yowswers, the caps lock does work, and i needed to emphasize that because i just smacked my foot on the chair where i scraped it the other day on the boat -- uh, that where refers to the location on my foot, not the chair...  talk about misplaced modifiers... 
yeah, i know, it's been another two weeks since i last checked in.  i hear krk is back at hwt.  the world very well may be coming to an end.  i'll hold out a bit longer though.  hopefully until the real end of the world.  in the meantime i'll just enjoy life in paradise...
speaking of paradise.  i'm going to complain a little bit here.  it's raining -- a lot.  not just buckets, but the last few days its been overcast and rainy all day.  i shouldn't be complaining because a few days ago i was afraid it would hit 45 degrees on Friday.  it didn't.  actually friday was quite beautiful.  but since then the clouds hit and now it's a bit chilly.  still, better than 45 degrees of heat!  for clarification i'm talking in centigrade...
i don't know how much longer i'll last here though.  haven't figured out where i'm going next, but i think another month of this and i'll be happy to leave.  it's nice here, but it just isn't the place for me. 
i feel like there's huge holes in my thoughts here.  it's true.  i keep jumping from topic to topic when i'm not ever talking about anything.  i'm feeling a bit scatter brained tonight.  Think i may have a bit of a cold and it's clouding my head. 
maybe next time i go online i'll actually have something to say.  oh yeah, visa runs.  Was going to talk about that.  too tired to right now though.  sorry.
next time...

yowsers!

didn't realize I've gone two weeks without checking in.  Sorry about that.  Like I said, internet is a bit expensive here, and as my favorite britishism goes, "I just can't be bothered" to go through the trouble of going on line.  Life is pretty laid back here.  I'm paying about a hundred dollars a month for a room 10 minutes from my dive center.  Most people rent bikes (uh, that is a motorcycle), but so far I've been perfectly happy walking around and occasionally hitching a ride when I need to go further.  There's always taxis -- pick up trucks where everybody hops in the bed -- but you can't "split" a ride because the charge per person no many how many you are.  They also don't haggle -- there's a set rate for specific trips (rates which I personally find exorbitant).  Although apparently they won't let you haggle, but occasionally they will rip you off if you don't know any better.  One guy said he spent 200 bhat (one dollar is 35 bhat) to get here from the harbor.  That ride normally only costs 50. 
I eat a lot of thai food which hasn't gotten boring yet.  And yes, that includes thai satay.  Now whether any of this is really authentic stuff that thai people eat, I don't know.  but I eat it. 
My "bungalow" is clean and comfortable and consists of a bedroom and bathroom -- no kitchen.  But it's nice. 
I finally ate durian the other night!  That was something I've only waited the last 7 or so years to try.  It was a bit of a let down.  Supposedly it stinks so bad you don't want to eat it, but it tastes delicious.  I didn't think it smelled particularly bad or tasted particularly special.  It was good, but nothing extraordinary. 
Diving's been nice, but I've taken it easy.  Some days I make 4 dives, some days none.  Usually I'll do a few days of diving followed by a few days off.  The people here are friendly and always changing.  I'm amazed by the number of germans!  I'd say 20 percent of the people here are german and I end up spending a third of the time speaking german rather than english. 
As for my back pack, I'm considering downsizing, but haven't taken any steps in that direction.  I lost my sleeping bag in india.  I have way too many wool sock for this climate.  Every day I pretty much wear the same thing -- one pair of boxers which have become my dive boxers (as in I wear them under my wet suit) and my swimming trunks.  My black long sleeve patagonia shirt (which is so dirty it can probably stand up on it's own now!) During the dive I strip down to the boxers and afterwards put on the shorts but usually go shirtless (which is how the shirt has lasted the last week or so without a wash).  Afterwards I head home, shower and put on my "clean clothes".  A different pair of boxers, a second pair of shorts, one of two shirts, and of course the same flip flops.  So for as much as I have in my back pack, I'm really only using 3 shirts, three pair of boxers, two shorts and flip flops.  I could easily ditch a lot of stuff given this life style.  Even after leaving the beach life, I'd like to down size a bit.  I'm curious if I can fit everything I need in a 10 liter dry bag...
That's about it for now. 
Enjoy the working life =)

Just went on my first dive in Thailand today

and it was great.  I was a bit stressed this morning.  Couldn't fall asleep until late last night, woke up tired, packed, walked 45 minutes with my backpack over to the dive center to get a room closer, was drenched in sweat...  Then this morning we had CPR "instruction" and after lunch we went out on the boat for two dives.  I was the "rescue diver" which basically meant every few minutes somebody was yelling "Pizza! Pizza!"  -- code for "help! help!" during simuated exercises so everybody else knows the person isn't really drowning. 

Well, it was my first time diving with budhaview, so it was obviously my first time using their equipment or riding on their boats or using their protocol.  For that matter it was my first time doing any of that anywhere other than with Dive India in Andaman!  What a difference -- in andaman we road little 12 person boats (those were the biggest) that were pretty much old boards of wood glued together propelled by an agricultural motor intended for pumping water on farms...  The boats we road today were quite a bit more sophisticated -- and big!  Everybody actually puts together their tanks and regulators -- something we only did for practice in andaman -- the boat boys took care of it for you on the boat.  So it was a different experience.  That and the XXL wetsuit here is quite a bit bigger than XXL I was used to -- so I was wearing an oversized suit which messed up my boyancy.  I did ok though, and I have to say by the time we were headed back on the boat, I felt wide awake and energized!  It was amazing.  There's just something about spending a little time under water that makes everything else around you seem so much better.  

Ok, time for me to go socialize with some new people and see if I can get a decent nights sleep before my tests tomorrow...

 

I know, I've been bad...

Haven't updated much lately.  I'm back to island life and with that comes hyper expensive internet connection fees...  I've started my rescue dive course and once I'm through with that I can start dive master training.  They basically let you dive as much as you want as long as you want (within reason -- that was their wording anyway).  Given that the thai government lets you stay here a cumulative 90 days within every 6 months and no more than 30 days in a row at one time (meaning you have to run to the border and then come back if you want to stay longer than 30 days), I expect I'll be here a few months.  So if anybody feels like visiting in Thailand, just let me know!  The DMT program sounds relatively flexible, so it's not a big deal if I leave the island for a week or more and come back to resume the training.  So I'd be up to some side trips to malasia, burma, cambodia or vietnam too (or anywhere else nearby...)

The last few days of sleep deprivation have caught up with me though and last night I overslept.  I was supposed to show up at 9 this morning but didn't wake until 9:45!  Usually I'm up as soon as it's light out so I didn't think I'd need to set an alarm.  I won't be making the same mistake today... 

Ok, I'd better go before I run up this internet bill.  Just wanted to say I'm having a great time here so far.

 

Bangkok women really are fellas

That's the pneumonic device they taught us in dive training so we'd remember what to check during our buddy check -- B is for boyancy, W is for weights, R is for releases, A is for air and F is for final (I think)...  That and the male is always right -- as in you should always have the male side of the weight belt on your right side. 

Anyway, I have to say some beautiful Thai girls just walked by outside the internet cafe I'm sitting in and I couldn't help wondering if they really are girls...  As you can probably guess, I successfully made it to thailand.  My last few days in india were quite a blur.  I took a bus from kerala back over to madurai where I caught a very cheap flight back to chenai in time to have late night drinks with a former colleague who just happened to be in india on business for Hewitt! 

My bowels are going to burst so I have to get going.  I wanted to check in quick though and mention that new photos are up.

ciao

Absolute Madness...

Physically I'm back on the mainland of India, but psychologically I've already left it and I'm sitting on a nice tranquil tropical island somewhere in Thailand.  I've decided to end my India trip a bit prematurely before really seeing all that much.  Somehow my heart just feels it isn't in the right place.  Andaman had given me new direction -- one that I hadn't expected.  I've bought a ticket leaving from Chenai to Bangkok next Thursday.  Actually I attempted three times to buy the ticket through orbitz, and each time they gave me the same response a day later saying I needed to rebook my ticket.  After the third day and third attempt I gave up and went directly to the carrier, successfully bought the ticket and even saved a few bucks.
So now I'm just biding my time waiting to get out of here.  I thought maybe I'd spend the week hanging out in Mammallapuram and Pondicherry relaxing, but my first night in mammallapuram (after having already paid for two nights) I met two germans (yes girls) who were leaving the next day for pondicherry.  We made plans to meet up the next morning for breakfast and then visit the caves together.  Afterwards over lunch as we were saying our goodbyes, they said sorry for leaving me all alone again and joked that I could always join them.  Hmm, why not.  An hour later we were sitting on the corner waiting for a bus.  Tonight we're heading toward madurai which is complete and total insanity for me because I'm quickly going further off in the wrong direction and in five days I'll probably find myself on a 30 or so hour train ride back to chenai.  Then again maybe I'll get lazy and hop on a plane.  Who knows.  That's so far off in the future why think about it right now...
In the mean time it is nice to be moving around (it seems to be the state I'm most comfortable with) and of course hanging out with people.

lost in paradise

well, I decided to extend my stay in paradise by an extra two weeks -- increasing my odds of being killed by a falling coconut. 

With the extra time I decided to sign up for a scuba diving course and I just finished the first 4 days (one day of instruction and three days of practical training/diving).  It'd been great!  The theory was easy for me, but I was a bit worried I wouldn't take so well to being under water -- I've always loved being in the water, but my ears are a bit sensitive and I didn't know how comfortable I'd be with the mask and regulator.  I tried snuba once with my family in hawaii -- basically a scuba tank on a raft hooked up to a hose limiting how deep you can go but also requiring little training -- but I've always wanted to do real scuba and now I've had the chance to learn in one of the best places to go diving!  Yesterday we saw a great see turtle.  The coral is always beautiful to see up close, and of course swimming with a school of fish is just an altogether surreal experience.  I've signed up for the advanced course later this week which includes 5 more dives.  Then I'll be headed back to the mainland next week.  From there who knows...

Ok, like I said, the internet connection here is a pain to come by so you probably won't here from me again for a while...

death by coconut

Well, aside from the possibility of a major shift in tectonic plates, and the occasional tourist who takes too much drugs and goes missing, the main hazard here seems to be falling coconuts.  Yesterday morning I stood up from the breakfast table and started to walk toward my hut when a coconut fell right in my path about 10 paces in front of me.  Good thing I didn't get up a few seconds earlier!  I asked a friend here how many people actually die a year from falling coconuts.  He kind of shook his head -- not because he diddn't know, but because he really didn't want to tell me the number!  You hear them falling all the time.  Still, the odds of getting hit are probably similar to those of getting struck by lightning. Maybe a little higher.  Coconuts never fall in the same spot twice though!  Ha ha, fortunately nobodies stupid enough to believe that one...

Technologies a funny thing here.  I think there are three or so internet connections on this island -- all dial up.  Two days ago there was no electricity -- they ran out of petrol and apparently they like to wait here until the run out before ordering more.  The same thing happened with beer two weeks ago -- they were ten days with out it.  Yesterday there was electricity, but no dial tone.  All the while my cell phone kept plugging along just fine though -- sms is the way to go here...

Soaking up the rays and praying the earth stands still...

I'm in Andaman now -- the main island. I flew here this morning and walked from the airport to the port. I figure I'll be flying out of here so that will give me time to stay here on the way out.  Best now to head toward a secluded island and stay on some hut on the beach with no plumbing...  Of course after the last 2 hours walking (it wasn't that far but I took a few wrong but scenic turns) I could definitely use a shower!

The wedding in Calcutta was nice and I'll have to describe it a bit eventually, but for now I just wanted to check in and say I may be going off the grid again for a little bit.  I have no idea if havelock island has any internet connections.  Then again I have no idea if the ticket I bought is for real or if I spent too much on a counterfeit...  We'll just have to hope for the best. 

Ah, incredible india...

I was sick yesterday.  I don't know what I ate that did it, but I can think of a few things!  I think I'm going to go back to being ultra conservative and picky about what I put in my mouth.  You miss out on some good stuff, but then again you don't die...

One thing I noticed was that I was a lot less patient and tolerant of some of the petty annoyances here yesterday when I wasn't feeling well.  My hotel for one -- it's overpriced and I get the impression the main difference between a budget hotel and a midrange one (besides the price) is basically the presense of a tv.  From now on I'm sticking to budget hotels -- the first night I was here it was impossible to sleep because there were a number of indian families staying on my floor and they decided to all hang out together in the hallway outside my door.  Somebody's TV was going at full volume and their door was open -- probably so they could hear it from the hall over everybody elses shouts.  In the morning the noise started up again and I wanted to go scream at them. 

I eventually got up, had some "corn flex/pooridge" which was corn flakes with hot milk.  Then I hopped on my first bicycle rickshaw.  I offered 20 ruppees to get to the south most ghat -- he finally agreed and then dropped me off half way.  I walked the rest of the way along the river (I'm in varanasi by the way...) and ignored most of the people trying to sell me something.  The sales approach is usually the same.  It starts out with "Hello friend" or "Hello Uncle" or "Excuse me sir" and then progresses to "What country you are [sic] from?"  I generally respond with "United States". They apparently all understand America and most get USA, but I think United States might sound a little too much like "You something something" which confuses them.  Thats when they usually repeat the question and after a few more rounds sometimes I'm nice and just say America.  Then of course there's the "how long you are in India?" and "How you are finding Varanasi?"  That one had me confused for a second -- did they want to know how I got here or how I like it?  After about 2 minutes of chit chat they generally want you to come visit their store.

The rickshaw wallahs are much more direct.  Simply "Hello friend, where you going?"  I hate to be rude, but really, I didn't ask for a ride, so what business is it of theirs?  You can't walk 20 steps from your hotel to the internet cafe or just some street shop to pick up water without five guys asking where you're going and saying they'll take you there for 50 rupees.  The last few nights I walked back to my hotel from the town center -- I gues it's about 5 km. 

"Hello friend, where you going?" 

"This way.  For a walk."

"I give you ride.  50 rupees."

"No thanks"

"Ok sir, 40 rupees."

"For what, I'm just taking a walk!"

"Ok, 30 rupees sir". 

At this point I just try my best to ignore the guy for the next 5 minutes as he rides along side me waiting for me to ask for a ride.  Sometimes I have fun and offer to take them for a ride on my back for just 5 rupees, but yesterday I was tired and that game gets old quick. 

Ok, I should really get out of here.  I need to head over to the train station to see if I can get a ticket out of here in two days.  It's insane.  I went to the tourist office next to my hotel to ask if they could help me arrange a ticket out of town. 

"Sir, it's very easy.  We make nice office for you at train station"
"I know, I've been there.  Its a room with 50 people all waiting for one person to help them get their ticket"

"No sir, we have special room for tourists.  Very nice.  Very easy."

"Yeah, that's the room I was talking about -- there are 50 tourists sitting on the ground waiting to get helped.  Is that the only way to get a ticket?"

"Then now there will be 51."

"So that's the only way?"

"Yes sir, only way."

Time to go be number 51...

New pictures of an adventurous day trip

Ok ok, enough with the laundry jokes...  Sorry I didn't check in earlier, but that story had a happy ending -- the day I left all my left over laundry miraculously turned up and nothing was lost!

 

I'm in kajuraho now -- in between I stopped off at gwalior and orcha each for a night.  The orcha stop involved taking a train to jhansi and walking about five kilometers across town with my back pack.  I was looking for a hotel but didn't like what I saw so when I got to the bus station I took a cheap tempo (kind of like an oversized rickshaw) to orcha.  A private rickshaw probably would have been rupees 150 -- this was only 30 (It should have only been 10 but I was tired, hungry, didn't care and let myself got ripped off -- all I cared was that I didn't pay the 150 rupees).  The tempo had two benches facing each other, each about as wide as the back seat in most western style midsized cars.  We squeezed in 12 people (don't worry, four of them were kids) and my back pack. 

 

The next day I was fortunate to find a tempo back into jhansi. It was relatively empty -- only seven adults -- two of them were travelers with backpacks like me. They were both headed to Kajuraho and we all found our bus together.  It was kind of an unusual meeting in that we exchanged names immediately upon meeting in the tempo!  "I'm sarah." "Hi Sarah, I'm Jeff".  "Oh, I'm Jeff 2" the other jeff said -- the explained its actually jeanfrancois but gets shortened to Jeff.  We all checked into the same hotel and met a french guy named Damien that night.  Somehow that night we also met a few locals and i didn't find out exactly how we met them until a few days later but they showed us around and one offered to take us out to a tiger reserve with water falls 40 kilometers from town.  I don't have time now to go into the details of that adventure but I just uploaded the pictures and until I have a chance to say more I'll let them speak for themselves...

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dscheffy/sets/72157594495891495/

 

Until next time,

Namaste

Just uploaded new pictures

I just uploaded the rest of my pictures since thanksgiving so you can find them all over on my flickr account -- <http://www.flickr.com/photos/dscheffy>

I'd love to stick around a bit longer and say more at this point, but I've already been here a while and my bladders about to burst...  It looks like I'll be here one more day and then I'm going to head out early morning toward gwalior on my slow way to Calcutta.  My cold is SLOWLY getting better and I've been sleeping a lot since getting here, but my ears are still going crazy from the plane ride. 

It's like being home here, but there is one slightly annoying thing about staying at the shivalik house in Delhi -- laundry.  The moment I got here I hesitantly deposited a bag of dirty laundry knowing full well I'd likely lose about half of it...  I don't know that things actually get lost, I think they just get shuffled in the laundry queue.  Imagine a gallon of water with a small hole in the bottom.  Everyday half a gallon of water trickles out but another half gallon is added and stired into the vessel.  A week later some of that initial gallon of water is still waiting to spill out...  At the moment I'm missing 4 socks (not 4 pair of socks, but 4 socks -- two of which happen to be from the same pair) a hat and at least one pair of my precious underwear...  Another half of my things I can see hanging outside my door after having been washed this morning -- three days after I put them in the laundry.  Oh well, that's india for you...

Ok, I'm going to run off, grab a bite, use the facilities and go see the Red fort again (it was closed yesterday for monday...)

Namaste

Safe and sound at Shivalik

Well, after two short and pleasant flights (punctuated by a relatively long and uneventful stopover in bahrain) I arrived safely in New Delhi.  It took about an hour for my luggage to show up, but after that the prepaid taxi line was short and the way to my Auntie's house was familiar.  I wasn't sure if they even knew I was coming, but I knew I'd be welcomed with open arms...  Fortunately they were home and awake -- or maybe I woke them...  I had some tea, took a quick nap up in the room on the roof and then I was off on my hunt for idli, dosa and sambar!  Mmmm.  The sambar left a warm and loving feeling in my tummy, but now that feeling has moved to my intestins and it doesn't seem to be stopping so I'd better keep this short and skip my way back to a lieu. 

Just wanted to let everybody know that I'm cozy warm in sunny India.  I have an indian travel book now and a local sim card, so I'm ready to venture out into the world -- as soon as I recuperate from my cold...

Happy orthodox newyear everybody!

Leaving on a jet plane...

Don't know when I'll be back again.  Two days ago I was singing leaving on a night train...  Funny the songs that get stuck in your head.  All through aya sofia I kept thinking now its istanbul, not constantinople.

Anyway, my bag is broken down and stuffed in a duffle bag, my airport shuttle is coming in a few minutes, and I have eggs and coffee coming up for breakfast.  Just another day and I'll be home in india!

Till then...