Living in the Alleys
The first mail, from Delhi 24/02/99
Well, so begins the travel. So far India has proved itself cleaner and far
less hassle than people have made it out to be. In fact, I'm feeling terribly
relaxed, but as always keen to head on from the big city. Delhi is wonderfully
third world, if with a new dimension of traffic chaos. To start with the
beginning. A week saw me get organized in London, while my wonderful hosts lay
about coughing with severe flu. Hope you're better kids. I have yet to feel the
slightest symptoms of any illness, and after 2 days in India, still produce
solid stools (what an achievement) The flight started with me sighting another
one of those dodgy 727's that I always seem to be waiting for in third world
airports. Mentally making a note to fly something flash back to SA, I squeezed
in for the hop skip and jump to Delhi. Our pilot was obviously fresh out of
fighter school, and did one sexy takeoff and bank off to Munich, leaving us
all feeling a little stunned in the near empty cabin. Still, none of that Andean
type turbulence made the flight pleasant, and after an hour in Munich, we
winged on to Syria. The landscape is stunning before Damascus, barren plains
lie lined with little volcanic cones, and Lebanon looms on the horizon. We
came in late afternoon light, to add to the beauty, before transferring to an
old 747. This was nearly empty until the next stop in Sharjar (United Arab
Emirates) where we filled to bursting with migrant Indian labor. And so, over
the skies of Iran, the India experience began. There were ten of us on the
flight, with one typical festy type having being a few times before, so he
showed us the ropes, and soon we were established in a nice cheap hotel. I've
only been running chores since then, collecting those supplies that are needed
for the weeks ahead. Thing here could not be much cheaper, and a hotel plus
food sets you back less than $ 4 a day. My 40-hour train ticket cost all of
$10, although I may yet regret the budget option. Compared to most travelers
here I'm wealthy, and very dull (so they would think) As I feared, it's a
terrible scene, but worth a good laugh. Most seem to come here to find
something, but on first impressions most only manage to truly mess themselves
up. Of course there must be a few who do succeed on their missions, but by and
large it looks like a country fill of hopeless cases. Which makes me all the
keener on heading to Nepal. The locals are great though. There are hardly any
beggars (by my standards) and those that are about are not at all aggressive.
The relatively constant pestering is very good natured, and you'd be a real
arsehole to have a go at these gentlefolk. Needless to say, I've seen some
travelers get irate, but there are no shortage of arseholes travelers here.
What happened to the wholesome Punta Arenas types? I've been fairly lucky
though, in that my room mate is a genuine bloke, and we met a couple other
really nice chaps on the plane. So tomorrow I head for the beaches, for a spot
only mentioned in the handbook, so hopefully should be short of LP types (the
druggie ravers) but mention has been made of some seeping into the area.
Apparently the beaches are good though, so who cares. Anyway, not really much
else to say. Perhaps some little incidents to relate, but as this is not as
cheap as Ecuadorian email, I'll spare you all the boredom
