INDIA: Arriving at IGI Airport

The Indira Gandhi Delhi International Airport is rated one of the top airports in the world.  I would have to agree - I've had to spend my longest chunks of time waiting for a plane (10 hours) at this airport and it's a great, friendly, calm place to hang out!

Before I went to India for the first time, I had read some horror stories about people being taken to sketchy places in unofficial taxis. It's relatively straightforward to follow the signs to a prepaid taxi stand and go through the procedure to get a taxi to your location. If you have booked a room in advance, some hotels offer airport pickup. It's hard to say if this ends up costing more than just taking a taxi to the hotel.

Note that if you plan on staying in a budget hotel that you have never seen, it's probably a good idea to check it out before committing to a room to make sure it matches the description and fits your standards. You could pick a random hotel in the district where you want to say and have the cab driver take you there, then walk around the area and look for available rooms. With cab drivers, it's good to act like you have a room in a hotel so they don't try to talk (or trick) you into getting an overpriced room in a hotel that gives them part of the profit.

Yes you are taking a bit of a gamble by arriving without having a room reserved, but there are lots of hotels and people coming and going all the time so you should be able to find something. Alternatively you could make a room reservation for one night and then explore the area to choose a place for the remainder of your stay.

Next up, my take on Pahar Ganj, the "backpacker's district"!

Ch-ch-changes!

Now that I am no longer traveling, I have decided to continue writing in this blog, but shift the tone of the findings which I describe. Instead of my philosophical dwellings, which will continue to receive front-page status in my home-base blog:

http://balancedvishfocus.blogspot.com
(Gold medal for creativity, I know.)

I will use this blog to compile my findings in a more systematic and informational fashion. I am hoping that it can serve as a guide to other fellow travelers embarking on an exciting Asian Adventure.
Watch out for it soon! 

The irony, ask me, 'where have you been?'

I don't know, I don't know, I don't know where to begin.

SO Hat Yai

What a fabulous day of a meditative urban run, clean streets, a grocery store experience involving AVOCADOS and STOUT BEER and REESE'S - the things I was most craving for getting back to the States. Man, these mainland days are rough when you try to stock up on all the food that you've been severely deprived of.
Tomorrow is Malaysia, another approximately 12 days on a peaceful island, finishing class, DIVING - which terrifies and fascinates me at the same time. There are so many different worlds all part of one big world, oh man. Still no idea where I fit in and what my role is. The main lesson of traveling - when you think you know anything is when you know the least. About yourself, about humanity, about the world.

Good night!

Time is skin, not a dress

3 am, I am lying in a tent on Adang Island in southern Thailand, listening to the water caress the shore just several feet outside of my tent, inhaling the smell of leaves freshly washed by the evening storm. My tent was one of the few that held out, knock on wood, through the violent wind gusts and moderate downpour that made up our evening entertainment. Oh tent, you've been through so much with me, and you are getting only moderate beat up after three years of faithful service. Everything sounds pretty darn perfect, right? Then why do I find myself dedicating hours to daydreaming about silly things that are America? Cravings for Guinness and avocados aside, I found myself missing commuting the other day-time spent alone in your car. I miss cooking for myself. I miss Windexing the bathroom mirror on Sunday morning. Due to the incredible personalities of everyone on our program, the self-imposed lack of 'me time' has made me nostalgic for the solo activities that keep you from being overwhelmed in a buzzing crowd of people. And I'm realizing that the thing about impermanence is not so much a tangible lack of settling, but more the inability to build layers upon layers of good memories since you know you'll be moving on soon, possibly forever. The draw to familiar places is the rich multitude of happiness you can re-experience and build on every time you revisit the place. For what is reality anyway but a collection of perceptions?

Dear Bay Area Graduate Schools:

(To the tune of O-Town's All or Nothing):

I know that you've been through my files,
Your silence makes me agonize
Compared to Boulder realize,
You're slower, slower.

This waiting life you make me live,
Your answer you have got to give!
Cause sweating in this web cafe gets older, older.

When I applied to you
How could I know you would think for half a year?

I've sent my best to you, I want to invest in you, don't tell me you don't care!

Cause I want it all,
I wanna start this fall,
I'm waiting for your call,
It's now or never.

Am I in, or am I denied?
I need peace of mind.

more to come. ridiculous, I know. I wrote it on Valentine's Day.

In other news: Thailand rocks, except for the bugs and the sweating. Is it making me more patient? Is it character building? Do I feel like I'm living in a universe where the absence of sweating is impossible?

Internet is really expensive here so I will cut it off at that. We are hanging out on Lipe Island for the afternoon, across from Adang, where we are staying for a week total.

Thinking of getting my scuba certification after the program. Who would have guessed?!

Dear Wonderwall,

There are many things that I would like to say to you but I don't know how.
Why?
Thailand is sort of melting my brain.
It's amazing, don't get me wrong, but after about five hours walking around in the heat when you were actively sweating just as a consequence of being alive, any remotely literary contribution I may have had to add to the blogging world seems to have evaporated.
The highlight of my day slash life was definitely going to the water treatment plant with Jessica and Patricia and attempting to ask them for a tour. The lady proceeded to explain at length how to pay our water bill. We eventually understood what she was saying and tried to explain that we are not residents, we are just tourists, Patricia asks if they have a toilet, the lady continues to tell us to call some number as we all start losing it from laughing (me especially). The lady gives us the water bill to keep and circles some number we have to call, and says to come back when we know how much we owe. We remove ourselves from the building and take five so I can stop crying and hyperventilating from laughter, typical. Don't think my explanation does it justice but it was hilarious. I highly recommend doing scavenger hunts like this when you tour places. Next up was inquiring about the visa application process at the embassy of Zaire but unfortunately, we never found it.

Class is starting soon, but two more things that need to be said:
-I miss Nepal dearly. I don't know what it is about it, and Chris hinted at the same elusive quality by saying things like "aw, don't talk about it, I miss home"! but I have such warm memories for everyone I met there, warm and made slightly spiky by the fact that I am now removed from the beautiful place and its beautiful residents. So, love to Nepal, see you again.
-I am learning a lot about communicating with people who don't speak the same language as you. Not in terms of having conversation or anything but getting a couple of basic things across, or figuring out whether or not they are understanding. Clearly that is a consequence of traveling for a long time, but it was cool to notice that I am starting to learn a technique for it.
On the note of communication, BOY is my English deteriorating.

OK time to learn woo!