The Grand Master of Indian Trivia

I have come to realise that a lot of people have an overinflated opinion of their own intelligence. Fortunately for the sake of my ego I am forever meeting people who are way smarter than I. In fact, it happens on a pretty regular basis. Just recently I met a fellow by the name of Tim. He is a lawyer from England and was travelling in India, apparently something he had thought of doing for many years. Tim was (in my mind) the quintessential Englishman: quiet and reserved but with an absolutely wicked sense of humour. Tim is also uber-intelligent. Not to say that he was vain in any way. Quite the opposite in fact. Tim's rather uncanny ability to retain information came to light one night when we were having a friendly little game of India trivia. There were very few questions that Tim couldn't answer. How many times does the average Indian driver honk his horn in a kilometre? What, don't know the answer? Ask Tim. I'm sure he would be happy to let you know (the answer is in fact 15). What day did India become a country of one billion? Tim knew that too (sadly I have already forgotten). No matter how obscure the question Tim was rarely without an answer. Needless to say he won the game. Thank God I was on his team. Otherwise my poor fragile ego wouldn't have survived...
The picture here was taken at dinner in Amritsar. We had left Chamba at an ungodly hour and travelled all day, first by jeep and then by train in order to get to there. Upon arrival it was straight off to the Golden Temple. We didn't get back to the hotel until about 10:00 p.m. Tim was looking remarkably fresh, all things considered...

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Bill

I wrote a blog about Bill and sent it off to him to ask if it was o.k. to publish. He never answered. So either:

1. he doesn't check his email all that much
2. he hated what I wrote
3. he really doesn't like me
4. or all of the above.

So I won't say anything about Bill.

I'll let him speak for himself.

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Mountains & Mystics

Well... This was the third and final leg of my trip... Saw alot of mountains. Not so sure about the mystics. I have to say the hellish thing about group tours is travelling with people to whom you would not give the time of day under normal circumstances. Although it is quite possible that I am being exceedingly ungracious. My fellow world travellers were nice people for the most part. In terms of places visited this tour was excellent, with only one town that I didn'tmuch enjoy. I'm not too sure what I expected of this trip (the Dalai Lama? He wasn't in town...), but the people I met along the way were charming and friendly (the glaring exception being the evil Tibetan child who punched me in McLeod Ganj) which I have discovered is the norm in India. Of all the tours I did this is the only one I would consider repeating.
The picture is of Christ Church in Shimla.

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An Indian Education

O.K.

What I learned in India...

• The Vegemite song. Well, most of it anyways...
• To exercise patience.
• Never, ever visit a predominantly Muslim town during Ramadan. Unless you happen to enjoy waking up to the sound of exceedingly loud Muslim prayer and music at 3:30 a.m. In which case, might I recommend Chanderi, India.
• Don't trust the Indian version of the Oxford English Dictionnary. It's not exactly an exhaustive listing of the English language...
• How it feels to really stick out from the crowd.
• No matter where I go, there I am (o.k., I know that sounds cheesy. It is nontheless true)
• British Airways sucks (actually I learned this en route to India, but whatever)
• Never throw a hissy fit in a hotel lobby without first putting on your shirt. You look like a total idiot and lose all credibility... (no, I did not learn this first hand.. it was still a valuable lesson.)
• Threatening to not pay someone is not a good way to get better service...(once again, a lesson learned by watching someone else's bad behaviour...)
• Apparently I am a walking disaster... Injuries /illnesses suffered in a short 6 week span in India and Nepal: cold, food poisoning, blisters, car sickness, scalded hand, sprained ankle, perforated eardrum (although technically speaking this happened on the way home. I think we were flying past Tashkent when I realized my ear was crusted with blood)
• How to play cricket, after a fashion...
• Cricket is not as easy as it appears at first blush...
• I suck at cricket...
• Not all Canadians are nice (o.k., so I knew this before I left. But I was reminded in India...)
• I'm not overly skilled at scrabble.
• Indian men are hot... Well some of them anyways... Honestly, I wouldn't have suspected...
• It is possible to climb a very steep hill with a sprained ankle. Just suck it up, baby...
• Some of the nicest people in this world are American... It's mind boggling, really...
• Australians are pretty damn funny...
• When crossing a busy road in India, don't make direct eye contact with the drivers. They seem to take this as encouragement to aim their vehicles straight at you...
• If you have to take an auto-rickshaw at night make sure the headlights work before you get in. Make sure the driver turns them on...
• There is only one kind of squash in Australia... Everything else is a pumpkin. Go figure.

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Home again...

I'm finally back home in Deroche after 6 weeks on the road... Well, actually it doesn't seem like all that long a time. Less than 24 hours after getting home the power went out... 72 hours later, still no power... I should have stayed in India, at least the power outages there don't seem to last longer than a few hours...
Leaving home is a great reminder of things that are important to you. There are alot of things I missed while away (and as I seem to have grown fond of listing things)...

My girls

Anastasia& Katie

Alexandra

My car (I know, I know, it's not very flash... but it is paid for...)

My dogs

Emma
&
Eli

My mountains...

My bed... I really, really missed my bed...

My highspeed internet connection... Oh yeah, still don't have that... no power... dammit...

My kayak...

My fiddle...

Beef... I know, that sounds wrong somehow but it's true...
I suppose I could be a vegetarian and survive...
Probably would do just fine without my left ear too,
but that doesn't mean I'd cut it off...
Sorry this is going in an odd direction...

Of course there are any number of things I didn't miss while away from home...

Chores...

Dishes... why are there mountains of dishes when the power goes out?



Cooking for unappreciative, picky, critical children (and they look like such little angels)...



Climbing the god-damn mountain to fix the water system every time it rains hard...
Go ahead and ask me what I did my very first morning at home...

Still, I have little cause for complaint... Not that I've ever let that stop me before... It is good to be home, honestly it is... But India was pretty darn nice too.

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Rohit

So... Rohit... Rohit was my guide in Nepal. I'm pretty sure he said he was 29, but maybe it was 31 (apparently I wasn't paying much attention in Nepal). Rohit is the only surviving child in his family. His older brother passed away a few years ago.We found out in Pokhara, a nice little lake-side town. We were all talking about our families. It makes me wonder if he ends up telling all his groups, and how hard it must be to always dredge up a sad part of your life... In any case... Ro has been a tour guide for 5 years, and is the only income earner in his home as his mother is a housewife, and his father is retired. I have to say, he is pretty relaxed, which was a refreshing change after India... About a year ago Ro took vows and became a monk for two days... Apparently it wasn't the life for him (although how you could possibly know that after only two days completely mystifies me... I mean, you'd think that unless you were so inclined you'd never take the vows in the first place...), and it was back to tour guiding. I never asked, but I wonder if he did this on his down time, or if he officially quit his job to become a monk, and then had to ask for his job back...
The picture I have included here is Ro, relaxing on a boat on the lake in Pokhara, while we did all the work and peddled the damn thing across the lake... Try and picture him in monk's robes...

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Best of Nepal

So... Nepal... What to say, what to say... This would be much easier if I wasn't sitting in a cybercafe in Mandi, India, listening to a bad Rick Astley techno remix... Not that I suppose there's anything that could improve Rick Astley... According to Ro, Nepal is the second poorest country in the world, only slightly better off than Somalia. I have to say though that my overall impression of Nepal was of a country that is much less chaotic and poor than India. Maybe I just didn't see the right part of Nepal. The best part of my trip through Nepal was the people I travelled with. God save me, they've switched the music to Randy Travis... I must be praying to the wrong gods... Ten days just wasn't long enough for me to really absorb Nepal. I definitely want to go back again, maybe do some trekking. So that's it... Best of Nepal... Oh, I should add that I really, really liked the olly-phants and rhinos... Ooh... Greenday... Things are looking up.
Picture... Suppose I should explain it as at first glance it would not necessarily appear to have the slightest thing to do with Nepal... I took this picture at Swayambunath, Kathmandu. It was Dipawali. Not too sure if this was supposed to be an offering of some sort, or if someone just threw it away.

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