Everyday India

I think four months was a good duration of time to spend in India. It was long enough to get a real flavor for the place, but not long enough to get too sick of those little annoyances we've mentioned. (We still laughed when rickshaw drivers start by quoting an astronomically high price.) In my journal, I've compiled some "snapshots" of everyday things we saw around India. Here is my stream-of-consciousness list. Mind you, some of these things sound anecdotal, but if something made it on the list, I've seen it multiple times!

shoe-fixers on the street...religious music played way too loud...saris at construction sites...men lazing together on charpoys (steel bed frames with a woven mattress) outside their shops...women balancing huge loads gracefully on their heads...women riding sidesaddle on the back of scooters...a whole family on a motorbike (the most we saw was 5 people, including sleeping babe in the arms of sidesaddling mom)..."Where from?"..."One pen?"(this from Indian kids; it got really tiresome)...musical horns on cars...Christmas music coming out of a car in reverse...sweet tea...showers-cum-toilets (no bathtub and curtain to separate it)...skinny, skinny men slowly riding bikes with their flip-flopped feet in the middle of the pedal...pushing on/off/in/out of anywhere crowded...honking...shoes off outside the home/shop/temple...menus that "specialize" in Indian, Chinese, Continental, and Israeli cuisine...soda from a glass bottle...being called "madame"...light switches that flip down for on...drinking from a water bottle without letting it touch your lips (I never mastered this)...the affirmative head wobble(even after four months, it still sometimes looked like they were saying no!)...men peeing by the side of the road...kids pooping near the train tracks...fancy watches...gaudy temples...stores that spill out onto the street...no sidewalks...oily, black-skinned water buffalo wth a crisp white bird perched on its back...little girls in fancy dresses and bob haircuts...fresh lime soda...ripping naan with only one hand (the right hand)...macho men holding hands tenderly...couples sitting at the same side of the table when alone in a restaurant...men in mundus (sarongs) answering cellphones

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I'm sorry if the layout of that entry made you dizzy!

We are on the beach in Thailand, where we plan to stay put until after Christmas. Ever since we arrived in Bangkok, we have been surprised by how expensive Thailand is compared to India. But we're making do. After three days in Krabi, the rock climbing mecca of Asia, we headed to Ko Phangan on the night ferry. We arrived on the island this morning at 5:30 am and took a pick-up truck to our "resort". We managed to get a really cheap ($5) room right on the ocean. Anna and Tik, the owners of our guest house (ahem, resort) are extremely friendly; when Anna showed me to our room, she said how nice it was to meet me and gave me a hug! Okay, so we can't be with family for Christmas, but at least we can pretend.