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.