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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Hounslow

All my life I have owned dogs. I don't think there has ever been a time when I've been without one. The hard part about owning animals is facing the inevitable -they will die long before you do. Eleven years ago, I went to the pound to pick up a puppy. My dog of the day back then was Sheba, a black lab given to me and my brothers by my older sister Becky. Sheba was getting on in years and was no longer doing a very good job of keeping the property free of predators. The solution was obvious -add another dog. Hounslow was only 7 weeks old when we got him, all long legs and big paws, and as clumsy as all get out. We named him for a character from a British comedy. He wasn't a particularly bright dog, but made up for any shortcomings with his incredible enthusiasm for life. Last year I noticed that he was not doing so well, and off we went to the vet. Tests came back showing liver anomolies, but no clear diagnosis was ever made. Over the spring and summer months he lost weight, and it became obvious that we were going to lose him. Sadly, I had already booked my vacation; the best I could do was pray that he would still be there when I finally made it back home. I found out today that he is dead. I have been expecting the news for about a week now, but it has not made it any easier to bear. I will miss him deeply, and of course, as I am on the road, it will have to wait until I am home again before I can add a picture.

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