Magic 6 and Me, a Bad Traveller (Varanasi, India)
I'm back in India now for a 3rd time! This time, I'm not escaping the heat. It's 35C / 95F+, dry thankfully. Boy, I guess I just can't get enough. :) I've just "come back" to India (Starting to feel like home - NOT) from Nepal where I spent 2 weeks, including 1 week hiking/trekking in the Himalayan ranges - Annapurna region.
ONE HUNDRED OR TWO HUNDRED DEAD PEOPLE
On One of those days I was a 6-8 hour hike away from a town (Beni) where fighting broke out between the Maoists (Terrorists?) and government forces. About a hundred or so people were killed. or a couple of hundred....a front page picture in the Kathmandu Post showed a couple of women walking past a body lying on the street.
That town lay at the end of a day's hike that would have avoided a 1600 meter/5300ft+ climb and descent over 2 days. Gruelling I might add. I guess it was good that my guide recommended we go the high road - literally. I have to recheck my calendar, but if we had gone the "easy" route, which I had thought about, we probably would have walked right into the action - or at the very least an army checkpoint which would have turned us away. Pleasant and happy traveling. I love South Asia!
I really should reconsider going to Pakistan where a fellow Dutch traveller on the trail informed me that he had heard that some men MASTURBATE ON THE STREET at the sight of non-Asian/fair haired women. Lovely. I haven't looked for the RENT-A-GUN picture yet on the Internet, but a picture of a Pakistani guy masturbating in public isn't high on my list. Heck, while I'm at it I should go to Afghanistan too and join my fellow Americans looking for Osama, as an International observer...yeah. Maybe I can use my new found Arabic language skills to help them.
I have seen Indians publicly peeing out in the open with little discretion while my taxi drove by - in Agra, among other places. Funny they don't mention that in the tourist literature when they talk about the Taj Mahal in Agra. Or the stench in the Taj Mahal tomb either. Really, you'll like India. Come here soon.
[ Terrorists? Hey...everybody is a terrorist these days. Can I call
anybody I don't like or consider a pest, a terrorist? For all those people holding
ideas that I'm attacking you might want to call me a _____ terrorist.
flipping the tables...Can I call Britney Spears an entertainment terrorist?
It is a bit much when I see her photo on a beauty parlor sign in India.
Overly greedy corporate chieftains - financial terrorists? Needless to say,
this is a list that could go on for quite awhile. Use your imagination ]
BAD TRAVELLER
Maybe the hallmark of a good traveller is one who doesn't compare and contrast so much. Enough to keep one out of danger, but not so much that it stops one from seeing the wonder in the moments apart from what they know to be life. Well for various reasons, which I may or may not have expressed - I do compare and contrast alot. That is how I learn. That is probably how most people learn. I do make judgements. While I certainly let places change me, maybe I don't go far enough. Maybe I'm a bad traveller at times.
MAGIC 6
...anyways...what is this Magic 6 stuff. Well, a friend (Whom I've mentioned before - don't get the idea that everyone I know is a long term traveller) who traveled for 6 months straight or so mentioned that he would have "gone over the edge" if he had been on the road any longer. This is loosely unscientifically validated by some other travellers I've met who have been travelling multi-month. It's about 6 months as I post this journal.
I'm in no danger of "going over the edge"- thanks to all my techie gadgets, but I have reached CULTURAL OVERLOAD. Which maybe is the step or two right before going over. I don't know. My ability to discern and appreciate differences is declining fast. My patience is wearing thinner. And so is my sense of humor. Which is really one thing
that one shouldn't lose while in South Asia if I haven't made that obvious already. Maybe that is why Indians like Laughter Yoga so much. Tonic for the chaos.
-- All I know right now is that I miss my bicycle, I want to eat some "more" authentic Mexican food, I want my favorite yogurt, I want to cook my own meals, I want to eat a Burger King Whopper with an ICE COLD coke (Not Indian/Nepali cold), i want to hear true red white and blue American voices (Lesson 7 of Arabic done now!), I want to drive a car somewhere scenic, I want to watch a movie where I don't have to rush and fight my way to the food counter to get a popcorn (One of my enduring memories of chaos in India). And...I'm sick of people thinking that I am Japanese, both travellers and natives alike!! But this is another article in itself --
I realized it when I was trekking in the mountains of Nepal, which is quite the cultural experience. Once I realized the overload I actually hiked out one day faster than planned. This was not easy considering the altitude gain/loss and all the rocks to climb around and over. Let's just say consecutive 8-10 hour days of hiking weren't out of the question. Oh, let me not forget to mention I puked at 3500 meters from altitude sickness and promptly went down below 3000 meters on the same day. I have a picture of the spaghetti...before I ate it. :) I'll show you sometime. For a brief second, I thought about taking a picture of my puke for your entertainment
....never mind that I wouldn't leave Nepal itself any sooner, I would only get back 1 day sooner to my comfy hotel (And techie gadgets) I found in "healthy air" Kathmandu full of barking dogs and overly ambitious roosters cocka doodle dooing - but that was enough motivation. Anything so I could watch CNN and BBC and be connected to the world outside of South Asia.
LUCKY ME
So.....I have a week here in the holiest Hindu city of India where I will see people being cremated and maybe a body or two floating down the Ganges river. Then off to Dubai, UAE - where my plan includes Qatar and North Oman maybe if time and energy permits. I have the plan now! The last tour for the moment! I'm tired of planning. I just need to execute now. Capping it off with 5 days in London before returning to America for rest and re-evaluation of future travel plans.
I REALLY AM LUCKY
I really am lucky.....I have answered most, if not all, of my major questions that I had before I started traveling so my tolerance and urge to visit certain places is not as high now. How many people can say this at my age? Really...lucky me. This, as I mentioned before, will affect my travel plans more than any other. My curiosity is still there though...it just needs a recharge.
PS: I shaved my 3 week beard. Like you care. The beads of sweat from hiking dripping down on the beard really bothered me. Besides -- It really wasn't all that becoming of who the Waynester really is. I guess I won't blend in as well in Arabia.
I can only wonder at the difference in thinking between those who grow deep and full beards and those who are clean shaven. alas, that is another research project.
signing out from the South Asian Circus
ONE HUNDRED OR TWO HUNDRED DEAD PEOPLE
On One of those days I was a 6-8 hour hike away from a town (Beni) where fighting broke out between the Maoists (Terrorists?) and government forces. About a hundred or so people were killed. or a couple of hundred....a front page picture in the Kathmandu Post showed a couple of women walking past a body lying on the street.
That town lay at the end of a day's hike that would have avoided a 1600 meter/5300ft+ climb and descent over 2 days. Gruelling I might add. I guess it was good that my guide recommended we go the high road - literally. I have to recheck my calendar, but if we had gone the "easy" route, which I had thought about, we probably would have walked right into the action - or at the very least an army checkpoint which would have turned us away. Pleasant and happy traveling. I love South Asia!
I really should reconsider going to Pakistan where a fellow Dutch traveller on the trail informed me that he had heard that some men MASTURBATE ON THE STREET at the sight of non-Asian/fair haired women. Lovely. I haven't looked for the RENT-A-GUN picture yet on the Internet, but a picture of a Pakistani guy masturbating in public isn't high on my list. Heck, while I'm at it I should go to Afghanistan too and join my fellow Americans looking for Osama, as an International observer...yeah. Maybe I can use my new found Arabic language skills to help them.
I have seen Indians publicly peeing out in the open with little discretion while my taxi drove by - in Agra, among other places. Funny they don't mention that in the tourist literature when they talk about the Taj Mahal in Agra. Or the stench in the Taj Mahal tomb either. Really, you'll like India. Come here soon.
[ Terrorists? Hey...everybody is a terrorist these days. Can I call
anybody I don't like or consider a pest, a terrorist? For all those people holding
ideas that I'm attacking you might want to call me a _____ terrorist.
flipping the tables...Can I call Britney Spears an entertainment terrorist?
It is a bit much when I see her photo on a beauty parlor sign in India.
Overly greedy corporate chieftains - financial terrorists? Needless to say,
this is a list that could go on for quite awhile. Use your imagination ]
BAD TRAVELLER
Maybe the hallmark of a good traveller is one who doesn't compare and contrast so much. Enough to keep one out of danger, but not so much that it stops one from seeing the wonder in the moments apart from what they know to be life. Well for various reasons, which I may or may not have expressed - I do compare and contrast alot. That is how I learn. That is probably how most people learn. I do make judgements. While I certainly let places change me, maybe I don't go far enough. Maybe I'm a bad traveller at times.
MAGIC 6
...anyways...what is this Magic 6 stuff. Well, a friend (Whom I've mentioned before - don't get the idea that everyone I know is a long term traveller) who traveled for 6 months straight or so mentioned that he would have "gone over the edge" if he had been on the road any longer. This is loosely unscientifically validated by some other travellers I've met who have been travelling multi-month. It's about 6 months as I post this journal.
I'm in no danger of "going over the edge"- thanks to all my techie gadgets, but I have reached CULTURAL OVERLOAD. Which maybe is the step or two right before going over. I don't know. My ability to discern and appreciate differences is declining fast. My patience is wearing thinner. And so is my sense of humor. Which is really one thing
that one shouldn't lose while in South Asia if I haven't made that obvious already. Maybe that is why Indians like Laughter Yoga so much. Tonic for the chaos.
-- All I know right now is that I miss my bicycle, I want to eat some "more" authentic Mexican food, I want my favorite yogurt, I want to cook my own meals, I want to eat a Burger King Whopper with an ICE COLD coke (Not Indian/Nepali cold), i want to hear true red white and blue American voices (Lesson 7 of Arabic done now!), I want to drive a car somewhere scenic, I want to watch a movie where I don't have to rush and fight my way to the food counter to get a popcorn (One of my enduring memories of chaos in India). And...I'm sick of people thinking that I am Japanese, both travellers and natives alike!! But this is another article in itself --
I realized it when I was trekking in the mountains of Nepal, which is quite the cultural experience. Once I realized the overload I actually hiked out one day faster than planned. This was not easy considering the altitude gain/loss and all the rocks to climb around and over. Let's just say consecutive 8-10 hour days of hiking weren't out of the question. Oh, let me not forget to mention I puked at 3500 meters from altitude sickness and promptly went down below 3000 meters on the same day. I have a picture of the spaghetti...before I ate it. :) I'll show you sometime. For a brief second, I thought about taking a picture of my puke for your entertainment
....never mind that I wouldn't leave Nepal itself any sooner, I would only get back 1 day sooner to my comfy hotel (And techie gadgets) I found in "healthy air" Kathmandu full of barking dogs and overly ambitious roosters cocka doodle dooing - but that was enough motivation. Anything so I could watch CNN and BBC and be connected to the world outside of South Asia.
LUCKY ME
So.....I have a week here in the holiest Hindu city of India where I will see people being cremated and maybe a body or two floating down the Ganges river. Then off to Dubai, UAE - where my plan includes Qatar and North Oman maybe if time and energy permits. I have the plan now! The last tour for the moment! I'm tired of planning. I just need to execute now. Capping it off with 5 days in London before returning to America for rest and re-evaluation of future travel plans.
I REALLY AM LUCKY
I really am lucky.....I have answered most, if not all, of my major questions that I had before I started traveling so my tolerance and urge to visit certain places is not as high now. How many people can say this at my age? Really...lucky me. This, as I mentioned before, will affect my travel plans more than any other. My curiosity is still there though...it just needs a recharge.
PS: I shaved my 3 week beard. Like you care. The beads of sweat from hiking dripping down on the beard really bothered me. Besides -- It really wasn't all that becoming of who the Waynester really is. I guess I won't blend in as well in Arabia.
I can only wonder at the difference in thinking between those who grow deep and full beards and those who are clean shaven. alas, that is another research project.
signing out from the South Asian Circus
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