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Considering I only have about 40 rupees left and the internet costs 40 rupees/ hour, I need to make this short and sweet. That shouldnt be too difficult, considering my last few days have not been as spectacular as the beginning of my trip- but they were still pretty good. Due to poor planning on my part, I had about 3 days to get from Varanasi (north-central) to Mumbai (southwest-ish). It was about 1500 kilometers, and considering a train ticket costs about 700 rupees and a plane ticket costs well over 4000, I decided to go with the former. In order to avoid 28 straight hours on the Indian rails (something I wouldnt wish on my worst enemy), I decided to make a stop for a day somewhere in the middle. Pretty much the only place that seemed like a good idea was a city called Bhopal, and it turned out to be a pretty good choice. Although far from being foreign tourist-friendly, I found enough to do to fill up a day. I stayed in an actual hotel my one night in town, where they actually give you a towel and soap and a tv in my room, although all the channels were in Hindi, so I was stuck watching classics like
Dumb and Dumber and
Predator with Hindi dubbed over it. I found the whole thing extremely funny, and was surprisingly upset that I didn't have anyone to share it with. There is a lake in Bhopal, and despite the fact that the water was far from clean, the walkway and park around one edge of the lake was very well maintained, and I greatly appreciated the peace and quiet after nearly a month and a half of constant horn honking, motorbike engines, etc. I spent the afternoon watching some young guys play cricket in a parking lot, and wandered around one of the many bazaars in the city before going back to the hotel to shower and head off to the train station.
Two train stations and 750km later, I found myself in Mumbai, which is extremely different from Delhi in the north. The city is full of British colonial-era buildings, and everything at least seems much nicer and cleaner than Delhi, but I have to admit that I didn't really get out of the area where my hostel is. Speaking of which, I'm staying at the Salvation Army, which depsite the slightly dingy rooms is in an amazingly cool building. And at about 4 dollars a night with breakfast included (boiled egg, banana, bread, butter, jelly and tea) is a damn good deal.
As you can probably tell from the title, it's pretty freakin hot here. I've been sweating the entire time- sweating when I eat, when I walk, when I sleep. It reminds me of home, but not in a good way. I could take the heat up north where it was dry with no problem, but this has really been a test for me. I guess it's a good warm-up (literally) for Qatar, considering Tommy and Katie told me when they were in Oman it was pushing 122 Farenheit in the afternoons.
So I'm off to the airport at about 11 oclock tonight to grab a couple hours of sleep before my 5:45 am flight tomorrow morning into Doha. I'm pretty excited about the possibility of going dune-bashing and camping in the desert, but other than that I haven't heard about very much to do there.
I think my internet time is running out, so I suppose I'll have to give my concluding thoughts on India once I get to Qatar. Until then, take it easy- I'll be sweating for you.
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Dad
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It's da Heat
Sounds like you're stuck somewhere between those two famous west-India cities, Yulbesari and Smelsobad... To paraphrase what your classmate said ... "If you've gotten to the point where you can smell yourself - well then you fit right in in India" Those red dots on Indian women's heads are actually thermometers; the dots turn blue (like the beer label) when they reach the right temperature. Ever notice that you never see blue dots? Hang in there, it can only get cooler... Dad