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Published: October 20th 2006
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wild taxi ride
another day, another heart attack!!! yee haww Where to start? Holly cow, a lot of things have happened to me in the past 24 hours that I totally wasn't expecting. I was caught up in two scams, some ackward train situations, a wildlife encounter, and sweat more than a hooker in church! I guess it all started on Sunday morning when Jessica and I went for a morning stroll to see Mumbai in it's early morning glory. We were walking through a couple of T-shirt stalls when suddenly a person on the second story of the adjacent building threw a bucket of filth laiden water down upon my friggin head. Jessica was lucky enough to be just out of range, meanwhile I got a full dose to the body........soaking me thoroughly! I was PISSED! Literally, within 2 seconds a T-shirt vendor walked up and suggested I buy a new shirt "cheap" from him because mine was soiled. He quickly stepped back and left me alone once he saw I was about to go friggin postal. I'm normally a quite playful and fun type of person and this guy (and his associate above) had me steaming from the ears. As luck would have it, 1 street away (while I
the taj baby
it was so beautiful. What you really don't notice in the pictures is that all the writing and flowery art is all inlay work made with thousands of semi-precious stones. was still whiping away black chunks of stuff from my arms) a bollywood film studio guy walked up to me and asked if I was interested in being an extra in a flick. He was definately dressed to impress and even just suggested that I take his card, but I was still super pissed and shewed him away without realizing what I was doing..............I guess I still thought I was being scammed. Oh well........
THEN..........if you thought that the bucket of filth water was bad, a pigeon actually made it a little worse. We were walking around near Chowpatty beach, looking in really nice jewellry shops, when a friggin pigeon took a big old dump on my arm (which splattered on my shirt and pants). It was horrible! And to make it worse there weren't any pharmacy stores for blocks, so I couldn't whipe it all off immediately! Once again........friggin pissed.
So, after the green gem was washed from my arm, we found some interesting little silver shops and I bought a 1 ounce coin with a nice picture of laxmi stamped into it. I finally started feeling better. 😊
From this point, the day started to
akbars mosoleum
I thought that this was even better than the taj. not because is was prettier or more grand, but because their was only 40 or 50 people in the whole thing.........and there was wildlife roaming the grounds (gazelle things and monkeys and parrots galore) go our way. After going to the wrong train station, we finally made it to the CST and eventually found our train (we had to run! the moment we sat down the train started moving!). Once we were on the train I started to enjoy life again. The gloreous AC unit and turbo-deluxe jet engine style fan were absolutely terrific. The very attentive train guy brought us a couple bottles of water, newpapers, and then a lovely round of tea.
The next morning we arrived in New Delhi and were surprised to see that the capital of India was so much cleaner than Mumbai. The streets were wide and the lanes even had lines drawn upon them (not that they were used!). A little rickshaw guy took us to a hotel we wanted to stay in, which of course, was booked out. The hotel had a guy working in it that said he could take us to another hotel that was 2 km away and was quite similar in terms of rate and room quality. We agreed and his taxi friend picked us up (note: he showed us a business card for a hotel called the CITY CENTER HOTEL).
Africa?
these beautiful critters were making sure the grass lawns at akbar's mosoleum was kept short and looking good. So after about 3 kilometers of eastward travel, I realized that this was not going to be pleasant. I asked how far and he said 2 km. Uh-oh. So we start heading directly for the train station that we just left, and took a right turn into a slummy spot and pulled up to a crappy hotel that definately wasn't in the city center. The hotel was full. Hehehe. So they suggest we go to a different hotel.......2 km away. So, about 15 minutes before this, the guy tried to sell us a city tour (5 hours for 20 bucks US) which we didn't go for. I started to realize that these bums were probably going to drive us around for half the day and then demand a huge taxi fee. We bailed. I bee-lined it away from the taxi when we left the hotel and the guy followed us trying to convince us that he was legit. I told him he was a lier and that he should bugger off. After two blocks we lost him (probably because he was going back to tell the driver). We got out of the slum and got an auto-rickshaw and packed up.
More wildlife
More stuff from Akbar's. Just then the driver came up behind me and told me that we needed to pay him for the taxi ride. I told him that his friend was an idiot and agreed to pay for us. He said his friend wouldn't pay. I told him that he should have more trustworthy friends..........then we fired off in the rickshaw............HA HA BASTARDS! We took the rickshaw to Connaught Plaza and easily got a room at a little 3-star hotel that was quite nice. The madness had finally stopped!!!!!!!
The hotel had a flat-screen tv and a nice little roof-top terrace. Besides what felt like a 36 story stair climb w/ a 5.5 ft high roof, the hotel was excellent.
Well, sorry everyone, I just got a room in Agra (with a view of the taj mahal).......and am in desperate need of some Chai. Cheers.
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Al Lander
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Pobre cito
Pobre Pobre... on vacation seeing the wonders of the world being annointed with dirty water and pigion poop. Life is indeed good. Look at the bright side... Could have been doody water and HCl laden drops from the Banshee drift. Ahahhhh it is truly all good my friend. Sounds like you are having a ball but there was no report on food in this last blog. Thats what I enjoy as my mouth waters for Indian food! "And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair". Gahlil Kebran Al