Anticlimax: Sometimes ya gotta know when to quit....

I know everyone is asking me "What Happened??" This one will be short and sweet..

Laura showed and got a super bad cold (probably on plane) and was wheezing when she was breathing. I thought she had pnemonia it was so bad. We tried biking but between the heat, humidity, killer traffic and pollution it just didn't work out. We decided to go to Katmandu Nepal instead where it was cooler, but instead landed in the (2003) #1 most air polluted city in Asia but still seemed worse than New Delhi...

http://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/englishdaily/ktmpost/2003/dec/dec31/index1.htm#1

Along with the fuel shortages (25% of normal), power blackouts, citizens hijacking fuel trucks, huge fuel lines and blocked roads outside fuel stations, political chaos and fear of political bombings. I know my lungs had enough after two months and so did Laura at this point so we just gave up the dream and headed home while there was enough fuel for the planes and to conserve vacation time.

It was REALLY REALLY REALLY good to breathe clean air again. If you have kids or grandkids, hug a tree.

Bangkok - Start Biking

Ok, arrived yesterday as soon as I got out of the airport I knew something was differnet. Those damn kids didn't follow me trying to steal my stuff! I think I'm in paradise. Oh Bangkok is soooooo paradise:

1) I had to walk 2 miles to see my first feces, the streets are so clean
2) The taxi drivers didn't rip me
3) No horns! No air horns, No beeping. The beeping stopped, its almost quiet
4) The beggars don't mob you, they just sit with their hands out
5) No one relieving themselves in front of me every 10 minutes
6) People aren't quite as forward nice as India. In Bengla/India they mobbed you wanting to be with you. Thai people are real docile and if they don't speak English they shy away. English speaking ones are super nice.
7) People seem to be heavier then 3 years ago, I was suprised even the kids. Supersize me
8) Orderly, they obey traffic laws
9) If you are into it, the shopping megaplazas are even better than Hong Kong. Incredible.

Downside:
1) Air pollution is bad, but it doesn't sting and I can bike and not kill my lungs. Taxis converted over to LPG and they use mostly flourenscent bulbs.
2) More expensive than Bengla/India
BigMac+Fries+pop: $3.50
Gas: $3.90
IceCream: $6 two scoops
Lunch some rice,egg, bean mush: 0.75 cents
Moderate room w/ breakfast,TV,air but clean: $31/night
Rose: $1.25
1/4 pound Mozzerella cheese: $4
Local beer: $2 bottle at popular bar
Bike Rental: $10/day



Well I didn't come here to shop so let's move on with it. I left India Monday 5:30pm and arrived in Bangkok 4:30 am and haven't slept since leaving India. I'm totally filthy I look in mirror and I have black marks from handrails or something on my face and pants. Hotel didn't check in till 1pm so I decided to check out our bikes. We rented from Velo Thailand and they guy was super nice. Here he is getting my bike read.




So I spend day 1 just cruising around the city getting my bearings. I use the subway system as my marker. They have this fantastic skyway subway probably about 100 miles of it elevated. You should see their freeways, everything seems elevated, they love building things in the air. And these skyways are massive, you can't tell from the picture.




Anyways I bike for a while, and return to the hotel around 7pm and crash super hard I was pretty tired.

Day 2 I get up and try and do this bike tour down to the Thai ocean coast. I only found one of the many stops along the way because either A) all signs in Thai B) Even the locals can't read the crummy map C) No one speaks english.




C) You get to these forks in the road that are suppose to be straight but have no directions and go off into lala land. And on the lighpost is a faded tiny dangling sign that reads in English (didn't get good shot) "Biking Tourism is Thai's Future". I took the right fork and it lead into some toxic waste industrial site floating in a mangrove swamp and lots of people waved at me but it deadended. I was suppose to see clam eating monkeys but maybe they didn't get the memo.



Anyways along the way I was hungry because I didn't eat much at the end of India. I was getting sooooo sick of rice vegetable mush ala flame thrower spices (not hot bossman!, yeah right). But I am now still out in the country so I'm stuck with more rice mush, I almost chucked up right on my table. I just can't eat the stuff any more. Soooooooo.

I decided it was time for emergency stomach repair and headed to this fancy schmancy mega mega import western stuff mall that was incredible. I'm normally vegetarian but at this point beggars can't be choosers because I am so sick of that damn mucus flavored fish they eat so I order the real stuff....







And topped it off with a $6 ice cream and covered it all with a big dusting of Doritos. What a great day! I thinked I biked about 30 miles and my stomach wants to urp up good old American grease, thank god, and not that week old bacteria strewn rice vegetable fish ear canal toxic waste. We'll see how it all comes out on the other side, but I'm heading to bed I'm so happy.

Laura shows tommorrow so life only gets better! Happy Valentines Day MOM!

Thailand - Expectation vs. Reality

So Laura and I are pretty juiced about Thailand. We are biking from Bridge Over the River Qui area west of Bangkok Kanchanaburi down to the the beaches of Hua Hin and Cha Am maybe 120 miles or something like that I'm not sure. Anyways it is suppose to be really hot 95 degrees so I know I'm going to die of either heat exhaustion or bike butt or tuk tuk runneth over. Laura is a biking machine so she'll probably have to just sit and wait for me most the time. I like military history so the bridge should be cool and of course once we get to the beaches I'm not sure we'll want to come home much less go to Nepal where it is 30 degrees at night ugh.

India - Outta here onto Thailand!

OK, killing time here in Bangalore getting ready for my flight 9 hours from now so just some mindless chatter about what I learned in India.

India was a life experience more than anything, and if you want to be a better person I'm thinking I should learn from this experience. This is what I learned.

#1: Appreciation: We have it really really good in the US. I cannot wait to return to some semblence of order, breathable air. real cheese/pasta/clean water/clean salad, swimmable water, walking more than 3 feet without tramping through feces, privacy, quiet, nature, our parks, etc. It will be really hard for me to listen to anyone (including myself) complain about poverty and how bad we have it.

#2: Attitude: Once again, once I changed my attitude India became a very cool place. I am now in Bangalore and people are extremebly nice. The first time I was here I just wanted to go back to the airport and fly home. What changed? I think most of life is like this, there is very few things we can really change outside ourselves so why do I waste time complaining when I can easily change my attitude and look for the good (but still be firm and friendly with those pesky kids trying to steal my stuff!!!), then you will find good.

#3: Expectations: Its amazing how many things us Americans expect to just be there. Like electricity or clean air/water or on time busses, etc. Its almost as if when we were born god gave us credits for things that are owed to us like clean water and electricity and we just merrily cash our credits in. A basic tenant of Buddhism is to expect nothing and you will be happy. I have hopefully took a huge step along that path, because in India you just can't expect anything or you will be disappointed. Once you lower your expectations, its amazing how much happier you become.

#3: Community: As with Bangladesh India has a great sense of community (we all sleep in the dirt together), more than in the US. Even the friggin monkeys seem to have more community spirit then Americans! I think I need to get out from behind my computer and TV and other isolative type activities and become more supportive of my community.

#4: Costs: For reference:

Gas: $4.80/gallon
Cheap room: $9
Moderate room: $17
Mosquito net room: $1.50
Lunch: $0.75 vegetable rice and bread
Rickshaw 1-5 miles: $0.50 about
Phones home: 40 minutes $10 about
7 hour bus ride on luxury bus: $9
1 hour massage: $11.50
Liter of beer: $1.50

#5: Travel advice:
1) Assume everyone trying to sell you stuff lies and get 4 quotes and be very friendly and smile and walk away from the first deal there will be 10 other deals down the road. don't bury yourself with American serve me NOW attitude. This is the game you have to play in their culture.
2) Assume kids will steal your stuff. Once again its a game and you have to play. The culture encourages them to survival of the fittest to live amongst 1 billion people and survive --- you would to.
3) If you want to bond with locals, buy their kids candy and spend time asking their names, etc. Buy people sweets to win them over. Sit and speak English they love it. Ask random people on bus what their names are and what they do, they love it.
4) Always have a Plan B and assume your confirmed busses and flights will fall apart. This is your problem not theirs, they have to live in this chaos all the time.
5) If you are pressed for time, do a guided tour where the locals do it for you. Bargain to get a deal. If you are on your own double your time by 2 or 3 just because you will spend so much time trying to get the truth and not getting ripped off and missing busses, etc.
6) I only ate cooked food and had a inline filter for my water bottle and was fine. Once the spicy food ate holes through my stomach was the only problem.
7) Defintely get a lonely planet or similar travel guide. I didn't use one and I could kick myself. I got ripped off so many times that I'm sure a travel guide would help. Also ask Euro or Isreali backpackers what is going on, they are usually wired into the local scene.

I'm sure there is more but I'm tired now. Signing off.....

dreez

Indian Paradise - Hampi

I admit I've been a little hard on India. The first 5 days I just wanted to get on a plane and leave. You have to constantly "defend the fort" and be on alert that someone or some animal is not ripping you off.... because in this country the default is it is all your fault. And the pollution, chaos, and beeping horns just drills into your brain after a while.

But as with everything else in life if YOURSELF decides to change and be accepting of other people and look for the good in the world....the world suddenly changes around you and you find the good. I have been meeting so many nice Indian people once you decide to open your heart and make the first move (while still holding onto your pocketbook, darn kids aren't going to suddenly turn into Mother Theresas). I buy people and their kids candy and ask their names and then you start feeling the love.

And then once I decided to change even the impossible happened. I had no clue India was capable of paradise after seeing all the pollution and 1 billion people staring over my shoulder. But after a 7 hour death ride in a taxi (that was suppose to be 2 hours), we wound up in paradise: Hampi.

http://www.travelpost.com/AS/India/Karnataka/Hampi/map/6757175
http://www.indiaplaces.com/india-monuments/karnataka-hampi.html

Now don't get me wrong. I'm still crapping with the cockroaches in a one-hole squatter in a bamboo shed. And I'm sleeping on the roof for about $1.50/night mosquito net included. But the noise is gone, the pollution is mostly gone, the darn kids are gone...and replaced with scuplted rice paddies, Hindu temples, amazing scenery, jovial Indian people, hippy dude yeah baby yoga loving meditating missedwoodstock 20'ish somethings expats and total peace. Its more like Bali Indonesia than India. I guess everything is relative though. I have been spending a month in chaos-ville....so this is just a respite heaven compared to Saigon or New Delhi. I'm going to rest up my lungs and ears here for a couple days before I move on to Thailand.


Scene from the bar.....rice paddies and cool rock climbing. Same as Joshua Tree rocks.




One of MANY temples we see from my roof.




Bungalows from my roof where I stay for I think $1.50/day.....All the groovy yoga people hang out in the morning and do their yoga and mediate. The dreadlock crowd. 1/2 climbers 1/2 world travelers lonely planet types.



Here is the French crowd I'm hanging with: Left to Right

Sam: 32 year old photographer for climbing mags. Travels the world taking pictures and selling them.
Alex: 26 year old 2005 world champ. Now traveling the world putting up hard climbs
Jaque: My mentor. 60 year old amazing climber can onsight 5.12b and does 13s (translation: really hard, I can't climb this hard)
Cloey sitting: 21 year old #7 best world champion 2008 very quiet but geez huge muscles
Malee standing: 25 year old daughter of Jauqe
(TBD): Malee boyfriend doesn't speak much English so not sure of his story




Mike and his $1.50 room and very happy!

More boring climbing stuff

This is boring again more climbing stuff. Have to make this quick, power outages are killing me this morning crashing the Internet.



First five days I was shaking like a leaf ready to give up climbing I was sooooo scared. Last two days it all kicked in and this is what happened. Even the French people couldn't believe I was same person because I stopped shaking.....




Finding my inner child....



French people are discovering more walls like this and putting in new routes. There are two world champions with us and they are making professional videos of these guys climbing these impossible routes, its unreal watching these guys hang onto nothing... Wow...



I am the speck on top of this cave I climbed up.




This is the last day for sport climbing. Bummer. We are heading to Humpi next, where there is only bouldering. The French people kinda adopted me so I'm tagging along with them. Sunny had to head home on an emergency, friend got sick and Sunnyis taking care of her. Bummer.

I'm actually starting to like India. You just have to get use to the choas and culture, but it took me 5 days.

Next week THAILAND!!!! Can't wait.

This should be totally boring to 90% of the world.

My pal Sunny told me to come climbing in Badami India. At the time I had no clue where Badami even was, just knew the nearest airport was BLR and it was south and it would be WARM while all you Minnesooooootans are freezing your asses off HAHAHAHHAH!!!!

Anyways Badami is something out of an Indian Jones movie. Badami is the site of some important archeological dig and spiritual temples and so it’s a destination for people that dig up old stuff. Lots of foreigners here, but definitely not a tourist trap. People are a lot friendlier here than big cities not air pollution and friggin 12 MegBit Internet access. This just kicks ass. I finally getting use to the aggressive nature of the India people and now I’ve made a lot of friends with the vendors and the local kids. They are pretty cute when they aren’t stealing your crap or training their killer dogs on you. But HEY, its part of the culture and that’s what I’m here for.

SOOOOO. Sunny says there have been some access problems but I should come anyways. Turns out some of the French people were climbing too close to the temples so the guard comes over. The guard tells climber to come down. Climber can’t. So guard starts pulling his rope trying to kill the climber. Climbers freak and siege the guard pulling him off the rope. Guard starts screaming. Next thing you know the whole slum village shows up with sticks ready to kick some French ass, seriously kick ass. So cops show up and arrest the Frenchies. Then they arrest all climbers just strolling through the streets, not even in the area. Basically saved their lives.

Thus access problems is what I walked into my first day here. But seriously people have been really cool and I have got no attitude whatsoever. Aside from the multiple source feces, I’m just started getting use to being here.

So climbing is what I come for. Badami is just like Red Rocks pullout #2. I am here with a bunch of French people doing the development. Amongst them are 2005 world champ Alex Cherbot and 2008 #7 female champ Chloe Graftiaux. Its weird hanging with some of the best professional climbers in the world, but as it turns out they are just regular beer drinking Frenchies that move their hands a lot as they talk that French talk.

There are only about 75 routes and the place is still being developed. Tons of potential and the rock is awesome with lots of chicken heads, cracks, some trade. Most only one pitch. The French are putting in lots of new routes but the problem is that locals are stealing the hardware so its an uphill battle. I’m not sure why they are stealing the gear. I can’t really say this will be a world destination for a while. It needs about 1000 routes before I’d recommend it. Although it is very warm, cheap and the locals on the whole are a lot nicer than New Delhi. Just don’t climb near the temples, are they will kill you with sticks.




Alex Charbot, 2005 world champ and french stud boy. Great guy, love him. Working on 5.14c he put up.




Only phone booth in town that is quiet enough to make calls. People serve you coffe aftwards. About $10 for 40 minutes. These are some of the French people. Pigs at your feet here too.




This was actually from Bangalore at my "deluxe" hotel. Inside and outside was about the same.




Damn monkeys stealing Sunny's shirt. Kick his ass!



Painted Rock. These india guys climb up this with no rope like nothing. Really strong. Can you say HIGHBALL! One fell and broke his ankle even though he hit the pad. Damn.

India - Defending the Fort

Killer monkeys before the attack....







Pigs sniffing my feet in open sewer....




Only have a minute here folks, never sure when another power outage may hit.

I'm in Badami India 600km NW of Bangalore climbing. I'm in a tiny one computer Internet cafe and the whole store is reading over my shoulder laughing at everything I write. That's the way it is here. Zero personal space, defend the fort at all costs. If you don't defend the fort the beggars will get it, or the tourist scammers or the little kids ripping off my water bottles, or the taxi drivers will pick what's left off the dead body. And if they don't get it, the monkeys will come into your bedroom to pick off what's left (like they did this morning) and if the monkeys don't get it in your bedroom, they'll attack you in packs at the climbing cliff attacking and gnawing their teeth and beating their chests. And if the monkeys don't get it the packs of attack dogs roaming the streets will rip you to shreds.







India is something you experience and survive while never letting down your guard or you are dead meat.

More later with pictures..... wild pigs are sniffing my feet while eating out of the open sewers.

mik

India - the story begins

From the instant I stepped off the plane I knew India would be a different experience. Let me tell you how I found this "Deluxe" hotel. I headed to my hotel in taxi. I get out of taxi instantly surounded by "helpers" screaming and tugging at me to pull me to their own hotel. I go into lobby and they follow me. Man tells them to leave. I ask for room they are full. I go back out into street and the horde hits me again. I look left/right and decide to walk straight ahead just whistling dixie and not looking or saying anything. I walk down skinny dirty alley towards a "Deluxe" hotel sign. The horde dissemates into one last screamer tugging at me. I totally ignore him.

I enter and screamer follows. I get to front desk and ask how much. He says 275rupee ($7), I'm thinking GREAT for deluxe, sign me up. He writes up receipt 300 rupee. I ask what about 275, he says its now 300. OK fine its late lets do it. I carry my own bags past the screamer to my room. They screamer yells "Bossman...what about my tip???". I started laughing hysterically "For what?". "For my service bossman!!!!, My Tip!!!". I'm just besides myself "You want me to pay you for following me down and alley screaming at me???? Are you crazy???" and left the scene of the crime. Some kid leads me to my room and opens door, we exchange small talk and I enter and take key "My tip sir!!!!". I ask for what???? "For my service". I close the door.

I sense India is going to be different and so far nothing to the contrary has changed my mind. Here is my Deluxe room....1 light bulb, no towels, filthy, no sheets, nothing. At 7am they knock on your door and say "turn on hot water now for shower 1 hour". I've slept in dumps before, but this is the first deluxe dump I ever slept in.




The pollution is incredible. Its like always being in a smoky bar. My lungs are seared and constantly hacking up. From the sky the pollution goes forever. This is worse than dhaka. On the positive side all the tuktuk/taxis/busses are natural gas so they say pollution is not as bad. But the # of people, cars factories is booming and its just overload. I'm joining a tree hugging political party when I get home, I'm so glad at least we consider the environment before we trash it, not here. I can't believe all these poor countries are at least converting their vehicles to natural gas and we are still dicking around with 6mpg Hummers. Its gotta end soon my friends or the kids are going to inherit a moonscape. OK OK, I'm part of the problem I admit it --- planes are the worst offenders.




The only big tourist thing I'm doing on this trip is the Taj. Aside from getting scammed $350 and having an autistic private driver that weaves the wrong way down streets screaming at people and then randomly clapping his wrists together singing Hindu songs, the Taj rocks. My only advice is to go see it, but ask me first how not to get scammed.

FYI: India closed 500 factories to cut pollution and setup a tax free zone around the taj for businesses that don't pollute. They also washed this beast by hand a couple years ago. I commend them, but it ain't enough. It is still so polluted from the cars and diesels. there is a huge refinery about 10 miles away also. You can see the sandstone building just falling apart from the acidic rain.




They are constantly doing renovation, and its all by hand. these guys are forming sandstone blocks the hard way by chisel and hammer. Every Friday an army of artists and crafts people descend on the Taj to do renovation. India is doing a great job trying to keep it up.






OK, I'm boring you to death again. Hey, there is a parade outside as I write this, wonder what that is about. I'm in Bandalore now. Heading out on 10 hour bus ride to see Sunny and go climbing! I'm crawling out of my skin for some death defying adventure like most my trips. Not sure when I will have Internet again. Just fYI, it takes me about 1 hour for each post, the pictures take time to format and upload and comptuers are kinda slow.