A number of you have expressed concern for my well being. I'd like to assure you that I'm still in Delhi, and the attacks were on 5 star hotels. I do not stay in 5 star hotels so I'm not too worried. I appreciate your concern.
A little more about India
Hygiene in India is interesting. When you are planning your trip you are told, the water will be filled with bacteria, the food will give you worms, your cuts will be infected with tetanus, the animals will give you rabies and the bugs will give you malaria. When you get here however the people eat everything with their hands, they drink the tap water, they walk the streets barefoot, they pet the animals, they could care less about the bugs and the most contagious thing you encounter is this attitude. I watched Barak lick his fingers after a tasty dessert, I already broke my veg plan for some dumplings, when you order a coke you get it in a bottle that has obviously been reused, and not just once. Sometimes the coke comes flat because it was not sealed properly after being repackaged. Some places you go to order food and if you request silverware to eat it with they will quickly rinse some spoons in the water that will give you cholera and put these spoons right into your food.
Will it make you stronger if it doesn't kill you?
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Delhi first impression
I am back in my room at dusk from a day around the bazar. Barak Abraham, my Israeli guide is in his room eating some delicious momos. I just finished washing the bird shit out of my hair. For your reference it was the color and consistency of yellow dahl. On a completely unrelated note I'm never eating yellow dahl again. Btw the bucket method is a fun new way to take a shower that everyone should try at home. Where to start about India. When you hear people saying things about India your mind never fully registers what is said until you are actually here. For example: I as well as many of you have heard that they dont use toilet paper in India. Like the rest of you I hear this and my mind tucks it away in a little part of my brain next to facts about the Zulu conflict and interesting things I have heard about carnival in Brazil. However, when you find yourself on the shitter in the part of the world most likely to give you diarrhea your brain suddenly recalls that information except it comes back as THERE IS NO TOILET PAPER IN INDIA!!! There are actually a number of things the population of India just does not believe is very important. Many of them you can notice even before you get to the toilet. Traffic lights for instance, their color is not as important as you may think. Those lines on the pavement in some places known as lanes are actually there for decoration. Knowing the answer to a question is not an important part of answering it. I'm getting ahead of myself, I'll start at the beginning.
If one day you decide to undertake a voyage to India, I find that the experience is really enhanced by spending a day in Dubai first. I can imagine no sharper contrast. I was driven to the airport in the car we rented, which happens to be the cheapest car I have seen in Dubai, a 2007 Nissan. They gave us discount rates on the fact that it was old. The airport of Dubai is unnecessarily massive. The ceilings are so high you forget they are there. Even more so than the rest of Dubai everything shines and sparkles, the lights are bright, the people are friendly, Disney land. Emirates is a very classy airline. The in flight movie is on demand with 30 choices of the newest releases brought straight to the chair in front of you. You can even play tetris against the guy in the turban next to you once your movie is over. Before you know it you're on the ground. And walking around an airport with ceilings that a tall man might have to duck down for, the floors are being swept by an Indian lady with a broom that might be older than she is. Or at least it would be if straw lasted that long. For the first time ever I worried about whether my bag would appear on the first baggage claim conveyor I have ever seen that actually manages to indiscriminately lose a bag or two here and there. I arrived with 2 instructions. 1. find the prepaid taxi. 2. give them this address. Both I managed to do with relative ease. Finding the taxi was not hard either. I showed the address, now on a piece of paper that told the cab driver that I had paid and where he was paid to take me to. The man nodded, said some memorized phrases in broken English, told me to wait in the cab as he proceeded to ask every person in the airport where the hell he was supposed to take me. Twice I was asked “what hotel is this” sadly, this was the address at which Eliot is staying and all I knew were those 2 instructions I was given. We left the airport after a number of people made many direction-like hand gestures. At every opportunity my cab driver would pull over other cab drivers and most obviously ask them where the hell we were going. All of them made more hand gestures and told us a different direction. As you drive through Delhi you notice what you at first believe to be a fog and a faint, lovely smell of shit and car fumes. In the morning you notice the fog does not go away. Quickly you realize it never goes away, and it's no fog. We arrived at what looked very much like the address I needed to go to. I told the guard who I was there to see and he told me to go in. The building had 3 floors with a door on each. Eliot's instructions “the guard will get me and ask me to identify you” I knocked on all 3 doors. One of them had somebody behind it but that somebody did not want to talk to me. I went back outside and asked the guards if I was at the right address. They informed me that it was not and made some hand gestures to direct me to where the right address should be. Taking a hint from my cab driver, who upon delivering me to the incorrect address attempted to convince me that I need to “pay money” by repeating the phrase a few times with no success, I decided to ask just about every guard that I saw which way I should be going, and to no surprise found all gave different directions. Eventually, about 2 hours after my plane landed, I found Eliot's residence in time for her to quickly find me a rickshaw and direct me to the place where I could actually stay. Needless to say, my second taxi experience was too much like my first and about an hour later I finally found my destination.
Breakfast consisted of milk tea, paneer tika-masala (no rice), naan. $2. The omlet breakfasts that the guys had cost half as much. I don't think I need to describe what the streets are like. Everyone knows before they enter. Everything anyone has ever told you about India is true. I'll try to make an observation you may not have heard others make. >95% of guys I see have collared button down shirts, they are well ironed. As I walk I find myself wondering what I am doing in this market. I have no need for anything they are selling, I almost like that my list of possessions slowly dwindles. All I can think of is that I'm here to experience the dreadful poverty off it all. It has been interesting but I am ready to leave Delhi. I won't meet people here. Even if I do I will not trust them.
I had an interesting experience with a fortune teller kind of guy on the street. The guys that tell you a bunch of truisms then perform a simple sleight of hand trick and want you to think they have telepathic powers. The magic trick I figured out before he even finished it. But it was the truisms that made me think. Are all of our lives really that similar? When he told me I'll live till my 90s and be married in 2 years I laughed and left. Some things may be true for everybody, but that was too hard for me to swallow. Bastard even told me I won't be rich. I'm going to figure out how to put stuff up online. I don't have any India pictures yet. I feel weird taking photos here. I can't explain it. One photo I wish I took. While riding on the back of a rickshaw my eyes met with some kid on the bus. He didn't look healthy but he gave me a big smile. I couldn't hold back a big bright one right back at him. He waved as the bus passed and I waved back. I would have liked a picture of that kid.
I have yet to eat anything spicy.
If one day you decide to undertake a voyage to India, I find that the experience is really enhanced by spending a day in Dubai first. I can imagine no sharper contrast. I was driven to the airport in the car we rented, which happens to be the cheapest car I have seen in Dubai, a 2007 Nissan. They gave us discount rates on the fact that it was old. The airport of Dubai is unnecessarily massive. The ceilings are so high you forget they are there. Even more so than the rest of Dubai everything shines and sparkles, the lights are bright, the people are friendly, Disney land. Emirates is a very classy airline. The in flight movie is on demand with 30 choices of the newest releases brought straight to the chair in front of you. You can even play tetris against the guy in the turban next to you once your movie is over. Before you know it you're on the ground. And walking around an airport with ceilings that a tall man might have to duck down for, the floors are being swept by an Indian lady with a broom that might be older than she is. Or at least it would be if straw lasted that long. For the first time ever I worried about whether my bag would appear on the first baggage claim conveyor I have ever seen that actually manages to indiscriminately lose a bag or two here and there. I arrived with 2 instructions. 1. find the prepaid taxi. 2. give them this address. Both I managed to do with relative ease. Finding the taxi was not hard either. I showed the address, now on a piece of paper that told the cab driver that I had paid and where he was paid to take me to. The man nodded, said some memorized phrases in broken English, told me to wait in the cab as he proceeded to ask every person in the airport where the hell he was supposed to take me. Twice I was asked “what hotel is this” sadly, this was the address at which Eliot is staying and all I knew were those 2 instructions I was given. We left the airport after a number of people made many direction-like hand gestures. At every opportunity my cab driver would pull over other cab drivers and most obviously ask them where the hell we were going. All of them made more hand gestures and told us a different direction. As you drive through Delhi you notice what you at first believe to be a fog and a faint, lovely smell of shit and car fumes. In the morning you notice the fog does not go away. Quickly you realize it never goes away, and it's no fog. We arrived at what looked very much like the address I needed to go to. I told the guard who I was there to see and he told me to go in. The building had 3 floors with a door on each. Eliot's instructions “the guard will get me and ask me to identify you” I knocked on all 3 doors. One of them had somebody behind it but that somebody did not want to talk to me. I went back outside and asked the guards if I was at the right address. They informed me that it was not and made some hand gestures to direct me to where the right address should be. Taking a hint from my cab driver, who upon delivering me to the incorrect address attempted to convince me that I need to “pay money” by repeating the phrase a few times with no success, I decided to ask just about every guard that I saw which way I should be going, and to no surprise found all gave different directions. Eventually, about 2 hours after my plane landed, I found Eliot's residence in time for her to quickly find me a rickshaw and direct me to the place where I could actually stay. Needless to say, my second taxi experience was too much like my first and about an hour later I finally found my destination.
Breakfast consisted of milk tea, paneer tika-masala (no rice), naan. $2. The omlet breakfasts that the guys had cost half as much. I don't think I need to describe what the streets are like. Everyone knows before they enter. Everything anyone has ever told you about India is true. I'll try to make an observation you may not have heard others make. >95% of guys I see have collared button down shirts, they are well ironed. As I walk I find myself wondering what I am doing in this market. I have no need for anything they are selling, I almost like that my list of possessions slowly dwindles. All I can think of is that I'm here to experience the dreadful poverty off it all. It has been interesting but I am ready to leave Delhi. I won't meet people here. Even if I do I will not trust them.
I had an interesting experience with a fortune teller kind of guy on the street. The guys that tell you a bunch of truisms then perform a simple sleight of hand trick and want you to think they have telepathic powers. The magic trick I figured out before he even finished it. But it was the truisms that made me think. Are all of our lives really that similar? When he told me I'll live till my 90s and be married in 2 years I laughed and left. Some things may be true for everybody, but that was too hard for me to swallow. Bastard even told me I won't be rich. I'm going to figure out how to put stuff up online. I don't have any India pictures yet. I feel weird taking photos here. I can't explain it. One photo I wish I took. While riding on the back of a rickshaw my eyes met with some kid on the bus. He didn't look healthy but he gave me a big smile. I couldn't hold back a big bright one right back at him. He waved as the bus passed and I waved back. I would have liked a picture of that kid.
I have yet to eat anything spicy.
Dubai
I am in my room in Delhi. It's morning. I think I'm paying 300 rupies a night ($6) but this has not yet been negotiated. It comes with room service. I'd call it dirty by American standards, compared to the street however this is sterile. The Israeli stoner who is my guide while Eliot is finishing classes is making sure he's hungry enough for breakfast with his friend. They are speaking Hebrew so I excused myself to catch up on writing for a minute.
Lets get back to where I left off. Dubai. “Dubai is like LA” my host Servesh told me, as we proceeded to share our dislike of LA. He's Indian by origin but he lived in San Fran most of his life. You can tell. There is no such thing as a short walk to get somewhere in Dubai. Everything requires a taxi. They are not expensive but everyone complains about how difficult it is to get one. Nobody knows the bus system. Not that I met anyway. Dubai attracts a different kind of traveler. I met one person who has been in Dubai for 3 years, we were talking in the street as I was exploring the area around Servesh's hotel. Other than him nobody has been in Dubai longer than 2 years. Nobody plans on staying very long. They are all travelers in a new and more interesting sense. Unlike every traveler working in Australia at the moment, they are in Dubai to work first, and travel/party second. Maybe it's just because I'm sick of having the same conversation with everyone I meet in Oz: “where are you from, how long have you been here, where have you been, where are you going next, Oh I've been there you will love this thing that the guide book already told you to see...” .... my point was I really enjoyed all my conversations in Dubai. I hope to see everyone I met there again one day.
“Dubai is Disney Land” another Indian guy told me while giving me a ride to where I will find a taxi more quickly. Everything feels fake. How can it feel real when no more than 5 years ago most of it was just a desert. When you get a map of Dubai it comes with many disclaimers telling you that some parts of the map are either not even started yet or halfway built. I forget the name of it but that worlds tallest building is a perfect metaphor for Dubai its self. It's already the largest structure in the world but how tall it will be when it is done is still a secret. You can go to the shops and buy fake rolexes and fake cameras, or go to a sterile bazar next to a Venice-like river complete with fish indigenous to man-made waters with a view of big buildings that feel like they still have the shrink wrap on them built on man-made islands. All this is only a short taxi ride from the mall where you can ski on some very nice snow as people watch you while eating at a TGI Fridays that has a window facing the slope that I hear is redesigned frequently for variety. Halfway up the 3 minute lift you can stop on the 'mid-mountain' lodge to grab a hot chocolate, in case the constant -3c temperature is making you too cold. It feels like -3c with the wind chill.
Dubai is at the same time the most expensive and the cheapest place I have been so far. A hotel goes from $100 to No$Way$In$Hell$You$Can$Afford$This$ever! per night. The little hotel room where Servesh slept was around $500/night and while it was nice, there is no reason for it to cost that much. Those guys charging 2.5k/mo in Stamford for a luxury one bedroom are amateurs. Food can be as cheap as $1.30 for a kebab, $10 for a full meal that you can gorge yourself on with a smoothie and/or lassi. A taxi from one side of town to the other (a 45 min trip with no traffic) will cost about $20. US currency seems to be accepted almost everywhere. The prostitutes (I swear I don't ask they just keep coming up to me) quote the price in dollars. ($100 if you're curious) I imagine the locals Dubai does not have locals in the sense that you normally think of it. There are poor people who live there in less glamorous parts of town peddling their wares or working in one of the many construction projects. I'm certain if you ask the first 100 that you meet where they were born you might meet one that is from Dubai, but I doubt it. can find a reasonably priced place to stay and live incredibly cheaply. As you explore the city there are poor areas but I have not seen any crushing poverty. Only 1 person begged me for money, said he was hungry. When I told him to come with me so I can feed him he turned out to only be interested in the money and not the food. He looked healthy, moved from Pakistan.
When I come back I want to figure out what the “locals” do at night for fun. Also, I want to know what the night clubs are like. Though I hear the cover is like $30. There are bars in Dubai, they are expensive and filled with yuppies. Smoking shiesh (sp?) is very popular, just pick a flavor and they will bring a hookah to your table. You can meet someone from just about any part of the world in these bars. Even as you walk the streets you hear almost every language you can recognise being spoken. There are signs in Dubai in Arabic, English, Hindi and Russian. (as far as I have noticed). The map you get when you enter the mall to tell you where the shops are come in all of these languages. On one particular evening I went dune bashing. I reserved a tour where some guy drove because it was cheap. At first I resented the idea, “what makes this guy any better at driving in sand than me? I can just rent a car and do the same” 'this guy' proved me wrong. We hit the dunes faster than I would ever let myself do so. We turned blind corners and went over cliffs I would have never dared do at any speed never mind the speed we were driving. The most frightening part of the experience is the fact that there were maybe 10 cars on the same dunes around the same time. Though it did not look like it... in any way, there must have been some pre, programmed course to stop people from hitting each other head on, because there was no way to tell what lies on the other side of the dune as you're speeding up to the crest. I felt like I got my money's worth with just the 20 minute roller coaster. Everything that followed: food, drink, shiesh, entertainment, was all a freebie in my book.
Favorite Dubai moment: After skiing while waiting for my taxi I saw this guy backing in what must have been his brand new Lamborghini. A name I can not even spell properly. This guy quite obviously never drove stick before. I'm not a car connoisseur but the painful sound of hearing gears grind on such a beautiful car... I couldn't help but laugh.
Two of the people I met in Dubai, my host, and a very cool French girl, are going to be in India while I'm here. I hope to run into them.
Lets get back to where I left off. Dubai. “Dubai is like LA” my host Servesh told me, as we proceeded to share our dislike of LA. He's Indian by origin but he lived in San Fran most of his life. You can tell. There is no such thing as a short walk to get somewhere in Dubai. Everything requires a taxi. They are not expensive but everyone complains about how difficult it is to get one. Nobody knows the bus system. Not that I met anyway. Dubai attracts a different kind of traveler. I met one person who has been in Dubai for 3 years, we were talking in the street as I was exploring the area around Servesh's hotel. Other than him nobody has been in Dubai longer than 2 years. Nobody plans on staying very long. They are all travelers in a new and more interesting sense. Unlike every traveler working in Australia at the moment, they are in Dubai to work first, and travel/party second. Maybe it's just because I'm sick of having the same conversation with everyone I meet in Oz: “where are you from, how long have you been here, where have you been, where are you going next, Oh I've been there you will love this thing that the guide book already told you to see...” .... my point was I really enjoyed all my conversations in Dubai. I hope to see everyone I met there again one day.
“Dubai is Disney Land” another Indian guy told me while giving me a ride to where I will find a taxi more quickly. Everything feels fake. How can it feel real when no more than 5 years ago most of it was just a desert. When you get a map of Dubai it comes with many disclaimers telling you that some parts of the map are either not even started yet or halfway built. I forget the name of it but that worlds tallest building is a perfect metaphor for Dubai its self. It's already the largest structure in the world but how tall it will be when it is done is still a secret. You can go to the shops and buy fake rolexes and fake cameras, or go to a sterile bazar next to a Venice-like river complete with fish indigenous to man-made waters with a view of big buildings that feel like they still have the shrink wrap on them built on man-made islands. All this is only a short taxi ride from the mall where you can ski on some very nice snow as people watch you while eating at a TGI Fridays that has a window facing the slope that I hear is redesigned frequently for variety. Halfway up the 3 minute lift you can stop on the 'mid-mountain' lodge to grab a hot chocolate, in case the constant -3c temperature is making you too cold. It feels like -3c with the wind chill.
Dubai is at the same time the most expensive and the cheapest place I have been so far. A hotel goes from $100 to No$Way$In$Hell$You$Can$Afford$This$ever! per night. The little hotel room where Servesh slept was around $500/night and while it was nice, there is no reason for it to cost that much. Those guys charging 2.5k/mo in Stamford for a luxury one bedroom are amateurs. Food can be as cheap as $1.30 for a kebab, $10 for a full meal that you can gorge yourself on with a smoothie and/or lassi. A taxi from one side of town to the other (a 45 min trip with no traffic) will cost about $20. US currency seems to be accepted almost everywhere. The prostitutes (I swear I don't ask they just keep coming up to me) quote the price in dollars. ($100 if you're curious) I imagine the locals
When I come back I want to figure out what the “locals” do at night for fun. Also, I want to know what the night clubs are like. Though I hear the cover is like $30. There are bars in Dubai, they are expensive and filled with yuppies. Smoking shiesh (sp?) is very popular, just pick a flavor and they will bring a hookah to your table. You can meet someone from just about any part of the world in these bars. Even as you walk the streets you hear almost every language you can recognise being spoken. There are signs in Dubai in Arabic, English, Hindi and Russian. (as far as I have noticed). The map you get when you enter the mall to tell you where the shops are come in all of these languages. On one particular evening I went dune bashing. I reserved a tour where some guy drove because it was cheap. At first I resented the idea, “what makes this guy any better at driving in sand than me? I can just rent a car and do the same” 'this guy' proved me wrong. We hit the dunes faster than I would ever let myself do so. We turned blind corners and went over cliffs I would have never dared do at any speed never mind the speed we were driving. The most frightening part of the experience is the fact that there were maybe 10 cars on the same dunes around the same time. Though it did not look like it... in any way, there must have been some pre, programmed course to stop people from hitting each other head on, because there was no way to tell what lies on the other side of the dune as you're speeding up to the crest. I felt like I got my money's worth with just the 20 minute roller coaster. Everything that followed: food, drink, shiesh, entertainment, was all a freebie in my book.
Favorite Dubai moment: After skiing while waiting for my taxi I saw this guy backing in what must have been his brand new Lamborghini. A name I can not even spell properly. This guy quite obviously never drove stick before. I'm not a car connoisseur but the painful sound of hearing gears grind on such a beautiful car... I couldn't help but laugh.
Two of the people I met in Dubai, my host, and a very cool French girl, are going to be in India while I'm here. I hope to run into them.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Arrived in Dubai
It's my first morning in Dubai. My host works 6 days a week so I'm on my own. I forgot my phone charger and didn't tell the bank I'm going to be here. This is going to be interesting. I have a few local contacts who suggested meeting for coffee or something. as soon as I have a way to communicate I will call them. My host Servesh left his phone at home. Would it be wrong to use it today and pay him back for the credits? Surely this is a moral dilemma for the ages.
A quick first impression of Dubai before I make a decision on that moral dilemma.
The architecture is very cool. It's big western buildings with an almost forced arabic style pressed onto them. Think highrise mixed with arabic castle. I'll bring my camera with me today and take lots of pictures. Last night was fun. 2 pints of beer in Dubai cost 75 Dirhams. which is about 25 bucks. Everyone travels by taxi, and yet they are difficult to get. As I look out the windows of the Apartment building I'm in I feel like I'm in between 2 large business districts. Giant buildings are looming on the horizon on either side of me. Had an interesting conversation with a girl who is saving herself for marriage because the alternativve shames her family. You'd never guess by just talking to her, in every other way she's just a regular girl by my standards. (She's the one in the pictures) Also met some polish girls that work for the airline. They were less interesting. Traveling around with a girl does have its advantages though. When catching the ferry at night anyone wwith a girl in their company gets onto the ferry first and all the lonely guys need to wait. The city is very multicultural. You hear just about every language spoken in the streets. I even found a russian section where you could buy fur coats, it's advertised in russian as nobody would ever need a fur coat here. Thats all I can think of for now. More later
oh oh just forgot the guy hosting me is going to India to see his family The night after I leave.... I so want to hang out with them :)
A quick first impression of Dubai before I make a decision on that moral dilemma.
The architecture is very cool. It's big western buildings with an almost forced arabic style pressed onto them. Think highrise mixed with arabic castle. I'll bring my camera with me today and take lots of pictures. Last night was fun. 2 pints of beer in Dubai cost 75 Dirhams. which is about 25 bucks. Everyone travels by taxi, and yet they are difficult to get. As I look out the windows of the Apartment building I'm in I feel like I'm in between 2 large business districts. Giant buildings are looming on the horizon on either side of me. Had an interesting conversation with a girl who is saving herself for marriage because the alternativve shames her family. You'd never guess by just talking to her, in every other way she's just a regular girl by my standards. (She's the one in the pictures) Also met some polish girls that work for the airline. They were less interesting. Traveling around with a girl does have its advantages though. When catching the ferry at night anyone wwith a girl in their company gets onto the ferry first and all the lonely guys need to wait. The city is very multicultural. You hear just about every language spoken in the streets. I even found a russian section where you could buy fur coats, it's advertised in russian as nobody would ever need a fur coat here. Thats all I can think of for now. More later
oh oh just forgot the guy hosting me is going to India to see his family The night after I leave.... I so want to hang out with them :)
Saturday, November 15, 2008
4 nights till Dubai
First off I finally found a couch to sleep on in Dubai. Sure the guy looks a bit like a serial killer but I'm not really concerned. Beats sleeping in the street. Perth has been the same. I clean the hostel because I don't make enough money at the computer shop to both sleep and eat. So I work at the hostel to sleep and at the computer shop to eat... and to kite surf. I had my 2nd lesson. I did not do progress as much as the first lesson but I got up and rode. after that it's just a matter of time. before I get good. Practice is expensive though. I like it a lot more than surfing though and I can do it where there are no waves. All I need is wind.
I like the people here. I am friends with everyone at reception. I have a bunch of other friends that I cook with. I'm even interested in a girl for something more than one night.... you know 4 because I leave after that.
Got my overpriced shots for india. I'm ready to rock. And now it's saturday night and I'm not sitting at the hostel doing nothing. even though my abs actually are sore from coughing so much and I have a runny nose I'm not staying in tonight!
I like the people here. I am friends with everyone at reception. I have a bunch of other friends that I cook with. I'm even interested in a girl for something more than one night.... you know 4 because I leave after that.
Got my overpriced shots for india. I'm ready to rock. And now it's saturday night and I'm not sitting at the hostel doing nothing. even though my abs actually are sore from coughing so much and I have a runny nose I'm not staying in tonight!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Kite Surfing!
I finally took my kite surfing lesson. However before I tell you about it I'll tell you about how when I was a kid I took some lessons in wind surfing out in Cali. It was on a man made lake that never got too much wind. I know because I went sailing there all the time and it was always very barely enough to move the boat. My first day trying to windsurf however that all changed. The wind wasn't just strong, it was so strong that me and everyone else were swept to the edge of the lake, down wind, and none of us could escape it.
When I went kite surfing the first time the weather gods decided that I needed the same treatment. except this time, I was ready for it. The day would randomly switch from clouds to rain to sun. wind gusted from 20 to over 30 knots. or so my instructor thought. the lesson was amazing. I did not get to use a board but I was told I got much farther than most people do on their first lesson. honestly though, I didn't need it. I could almost stand in the water by just having the sail pull me. and you know how you always see kite surfers flying through the air like 20 feet above the water. I did that! it has nothing to do with hitting waves or anything. you just move the sail the right (or wrong when you're learining) way and it throws you out of the water. It was awesome! I'm going back for another one as soon as I can. Sure it costs me a weeks wage. but it is so worth it.
I'm excited about tonight. the girl in charge of the front desk found out it was my birthday (I told her) and said she's going to throw me a party. I didnt take her seriously until I saw my birthday being advertised on all the doors. My room mate got me 2 cases of redbull cola (he worked for the redbull air race and got them free) I have procured a large quantity of rum. The girl at the desk will be handing out tequila shots and I told most of the people at the hostel to be prepared. Sam promised me a cake. It's going to be a crazy crazy night. I'll tell you all about it on Sunday when I am feeling better.
When I went kite surfing the first time the weather gods decided that I needed the same treatment. except this time, I was ready for it. The day would randomly switch from clouds to rain to sun. wind gusted from 20 to over 30 knots. or so my instructor thought. the lesson was amazing. I did not get to use a board but I was told I got much farther than most people do on their first lesson. honestly though, I didn't need it. I could almost stand in the water by just having the sail pull me. and you know how you always see kite surfers flying through the air like 20 feet above the water. I did that! it has nothing to do with hitting waves or anything. you just move the sail the right (or wrong when you're learining) way and it throws you out of the water. It was awesome! I'm going back for another one as soon as I can. Sure it costs me a weeks wage. but it is so worth it.
I'm excited about tonight. the girl in charge of the front desk found out it was my birthday (I told her) and said she's going to throw me a party. I didnt take her seriously until I saw my birthday being advertised on all the doors. My room mate got me 2 cases of redbull cola (he worked for the redbull air race and got them free) I have procured a large quantity of rum. The girl at the desk will be handing out tequila shots and I told most of the people at the hostel to be prepared. Sam promised me a cake. It's going to be a crazy crazy night. I'll tell you all about it on Sunday when I am feeling better.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Halloween
I think I made a real friend in Perth. Don't get me wrong, everywhere I go I meet people and travel with them or for some time or cook with them or hang out, drink, whatever. I was hanging out with such friends at the hostel, playing some cards, drinking some tequila a decent night, if it wasn't halloween on a friday night. I had to go out. None of them wanted to commit to anything or take the slightest risk ini walking somewhere they didnt know. Even when we got phone calls of good things happening elsewhere. So, as I don't put up with that shit, I left. 'politely' said goodbye and went out. I had no idea where I was going. The plan was to find a sign for where a party was and go to that party. On my way I ran into this guy named Sam. We have met before, he makes awesome brownies and we've done some communal cooking. He is from France and his English is awful. I said hello as I was walking down the street. He was heading home and asked where I was going. I told him the 'plan' and he was all about it. We eventually found the piercing party. It's what you'd expect metal, some gothed out people, lots of undeadish costumes, a girl that had her dimples pierced, it looks less sexy than it sounds, live piercing on stage, some burlesque and a suspension as the grand finale. It was not Sam's scene. Despite this and his lack of English, he talked to everybody he met. It was amazing. I never saw him ask someone to explain what they said he just kept the conversation going having only to explain himself when he could not get his statement across. After 1 beer he declared that he was drunk. Turns out he does not drink much. Can't blame him around here. He says it's harder for him to speak English when he's drunk. We left around 2 in the morning. Went back to the hostel where he continued talking to people and I went to sleep. We talk more after this happened. What I like about this guy, when I say “we should do this” he says “I can't today but how about tomorrow” this, I find, is a rare quality in people and I get excited when I find them.
Went to the Red bull air race today. Damn Tiwanese people woke me up at 7:30 because they wanted to get there early and there was nothing to do other than roast in the sun until 12:30. I really needed the sleep. Tonight Sam is taking me to meet some people he works with. Locals :) yay. Tomorrow, after surfing I'm going to meet some girls that Sam started talking to at the Halloween show. The weekends are suddenly not long enough again. And I love it.
Went to the Red bull air race today. Damn Tiwanese people woke me up at 7:30 because they wanted to get there early and there was nothing to do other than roast in the sun until 12:30. I really needed the sleep. Tonight Sam is taking me to meet some people he works with. Locals :) yay. Tomorrow, after surfing I'm going to meet some girls that Sam started talking to at the Halloween show. The weekends are suddenly not long enough again. And I love it.
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