green tea and leeches

i went to bed with about 10 bites on my body...and woke up to find my arms, ankles, feet, and midriff covered with over 50 bites. all night i tossed and turned having nightmares of malaria and dengue fever. i'm one of few travelers i've run into who isn't taking laramine or malarone anti-malarial meds. at the time, i figured the side effects isn't worth the hassle but now i'm starting to think some night sweats and psychosis isn't bad compared to laying in an indian hospital with malaria.

i'm in a town called munnar, where they grow the most green tea india. the tea plantations are a spectacular sight--bright green tea plants stretch into the horizon and the air is scented with dusty tea that's a refreshing change from the exhaust of bangalore. the town is high up in the hills of kerala and the temperature at night dips into the 60s. now, i'm no entomologist, but i thought mosquitoes only lived in warm weather at lower elevations. i brought up this point to the guesthouse owner, then showed him my battle scars.

"ah madam, no mosquitoes. maybe small roach. or bites from leeches maybe. you stay away from woods. you keep bathroom door closed when you sleep."

finally...some pictures!

riding the famous indian rails























































so...i've been bathing in the toilet...it explains so much...

Mumbai-->Anjuna Beach (Goa)-->Hampi-->Bangalore-->Munnar (Kerala)

I've been hitting the buses, rickshaws, and railways like a madwoman. I've been in India nearly two weeks and have traveled through 5 cities and covered maybe 1,000 miles. This is typical to my usual traveling speed...we sped through nearly every major city in 6 countries of Central America in less than 2 months...i traveled the entire east coast of Australia and most of New Zealand in 7 weeks. the only difference between then and now is one major one i didn't account for: India is a different beast in every way.

It is nearly impossible to speed through the cities here. The country makes it hard both geographically as well as mentally. The subcontinent is massive, and despite an extensive railway system, the train can only run so quickly through 1.3 million square miles and a parameter of 13,000 miles.

But the distance is secondary to the main reason you can't rush through India; because you'll lose your mind. Imagine this: everytime you get into a big city you are bombarded with men staring at you up and down; children asking to take photos with you and shake your hand, "whats your good name (in india, everyname is good)?" "what's your country?"; crowds of people pushing and shoving through the streets; nearly escaping serious injury due to collision with [bus, rickshaw, car, motorcycle, motorbike, bicycle, the holy cow, and goat] at every intersection; touts hounding you to look at their store "just one look madam"; watching every step you take to ensure you don't step into [spit, a hole in the sidewalk, cow shit, broken cobblestones, glass, bricks]. And once you start to get the hang of things, you have to pack your bags and go...then you start all over again. This is traveling on the fly in India.

first night in mumbai

i enjoy peering from the airplane window at cities i've never been to. the snowcapped mountains outside christchurch, new zealand. the sunburnt desert in victoria, australia. the sprawling skyline in tokyo. today i'm adding one more to the list of images i'll never forget. through the orange haze all i could see were slums. makeshift homes, that from 20,000 feet up, looked like tiny sheets of tin foil stacked on top of each other. 55% of the population of 13 million lives in these slums.

this place is madness...people everywhere. cab drivers opening their doors in traffic to spit. more honking then there is silence. goats, cows roaming the streets. random parades. silver plated, technicolored horse and buggies. people selling things...cleaning ears...telling fortunes. hanging out. spitting. singing. cooking dinner. eating dinner. sleeping ... and this is all on the sidewalks. rats i mistook for rabbits share the gutters with babies going #1 and #2....and as thuy and i would say it...#3 as well. this is the mumbai i experienced in my first hour here. i can see why people take the next flight home after seeing India.

now i understand what people mean when they say it's a shock to all your senses. ive been having stomach issues since i landed. AND i haven't even eaten anything yet. must be from the smells.