On the road to Calcutta

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Good day everyone, I am now officialy in full on holiday mode. I do not know the date or exactly where I am. We left Chennai a few days ago and have been making ourway north (ish). For this update I thought I would give you a breakdonw on the group dynamics so far.

Group leader is and English fellow named Nick who looks like ke would be at home on a pirate ship. The second member of the crew is another Englishman named simply Bob. He is the driver and he too would look good on the deck of a pirate ship.

There are 12 passengers, 1 Canadian(me), 1 American, 1 Nambian and then a few aussies and english. With such a smal group there is lots of space on the truck so that is good.

Now on to the latest travel news. Spent a few days camping in the middle of nowhere which is tough to do in a country with 1.4 Billion people. The high so far has been 41 degrees. No sleep that night (way too hot)

AM now in a town in the hills in the Orissa tribal region. Will be picking up our local guide tomorrow for a four day trip into the hills to visit several local tribes. That is is Nick doesn't get arrested.

I gave away the first soccer ball last night. We had pulled up on this hill top outside a village (beside a church) andwhen dinner was being made I spotted 5 kids looking at us from a distance. I coaxed them out with the soccer ball and kicked it around with them for a bit before getting a few photos and givng them the ball. They were all smiles. It lookes like we will be going to an orphanage in about two weeks and I have a few people from the truck who are interested in helping give some balls to the kids there. That should be fun.

During the drive today we came across a local market and stopped for a look. I got some great video of a spice seller making custom spice blends from about 30 different ingrediants he had. He was suprisedthat I could name over half the spices. Food has been great and you would all be suprised that I have had NO meat at all for the last 4 days. Going to have some prawn 69 tonight. The 69 relates to the spice level I think so we will see if I am alive tomorrow.

That's about it for now, sorry no photos but internet cafes are pretty primative in some areas. Maybe when I get to Calcutta.

Mike

P.S. Can someone call Body Dynamics in Victoria and remind Wendy that I am on holidays for three months? I got her voice mail asking if I was coming in for a workout this Thursday. Sorry but can't make it.

As for the workouts, not been able to with the heat except for tossing tents on and off the truck. 40 degrees is just too hot to workout in.

Namaste

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