No sleep for 2 days + Jet Lag = Time Warp....
Earlier, right as I arrived to the guest house here in Jodhpur, I was sitting on the rooftop of the guesthouse I'm staying in - not the highest of the rooftops at this guesthouse - it's sort of a small village here, really, just this house - but waiting for a room to open, enjoying some tea, wiping the sweat off my brow from hiking way up this hill where this place is
. It's beautiful, the restaurant upstairs looks good (and I haven't eaten yet- too tired to deal with it), and the proprietor is of the 8th generation currently operating the place. This building is 546 years old. THAT is cool.
Anyway, this morning, I'm sitting having tea, and this group of British kids comes up and they start chatting amongst themselves, and something came up where it involved me (specifically, one of their group didn't have a room, and anotther didn't understand how that could work, since she'd JUST checked out- guess they don't have "reservations" where this group hailed from in England)- and I said, oh, that's probably because of me, sorry... Blah, blah, I'd called yesterday, and I was waiting for the room to be ready.. Anyway, then one of the guys- further solidifying my opinion of their collective IQ- says to me, "Are you American? Just wondering because of your accent. ...Don't be offended if you're Canadian." I didn't even hesitate- "And what if I'm American, which I am?"
No comeback for that one
. Silenced him.
That's OK; I think they tried to make up for it by inviting me along on their stroll through Meherangarh, which is supposed to be one of the largest and oldest forts in India, at least that's what Kunal said. I am really, really tired today, though, and while tempting to join the kids, I really want to do this one by myself. ...Or, maybe, I'd just prefer to do it without them. The girl looking for a room asked if she could split my room with me (there are two beds that can be pulled apart). ...No.
Meherangarh will wait for me for tomorrow. I want a big energetic day to hike that sucker and spend lots of time checking it out. Plus I need a new freakin memory card. Irritating.
Flying in to Delhi was the bestt it's been yet, even though I forgot about the Seattle - Portland leg, so I had an extra 5 or so hours in aiprorts and whatnot for a total of four legs getting over there and thirty plus hours en route (I really have no idea- it felt like a week), but- I flew business class the whole way (thank you MILEAGE!!), which means that your seat basically becomes a BED, and they feed you the whole time, and I slept pretty well, all things considered
. Better than I ever have before, and this is the first time coming over here that I didn't have to take the first day in Delhi in bed, almost without getting up.. Which was good, since I got in to Delhi around 1am local time and asleep at about 2:30, up at 8, and then Kunal and I ran around town until my train left at 9pm. We did a bunch of errands (including getting this CDMA internet stick- which means I don't have to get kicked off the internet at cafes, or go to cafes to write- I'm in my room right now!!) and it'll be so much easier to check work email every day, and so on and so forth. It's a prepaid subscription that works really well; the initial investment in the device was 3200 rupees - which comes with a month of service - which is... about $65USD, and probably what I would have paid at internet cafes here and there along the way anyway. And, when I come back, I can just pay 200rps for a month of service, which is like $4.35. Unlimited monthly service. Sweet.
There's more... Kunal and I went to pick up Marcela in the evening, she's off to Paris, had fun seeing her in the taxi but then had to leave immediately as I was late to take off ofor the train... Drove with James Bond (this is how he drove, anyway), this motorickshaw driver to get to my train- which I barely made by 2 minutes- literally dripping sweat after running through the train station, over to the correct track, finding the right car.. My pack is WAY too heavy- I am already shedding things that I shouldn't have brought (huge, old hard drive that I can't figure why the files won't save to this new 64 gig memory stick, so I could have left it here with someone... No dice, and it has ALL my music on it, and photos from other trips, so either I lug it around or send it and hope that it it makes it home...) Anyway, figuring that stuff out here in Jodhpur.
I haven't left the guest house since I got here this morning, just checked email on the rooftop, broke my 16gig camera memory card somehow, tried to figure that out, gave up, had some tea, listened to that group of kids ass out (oh yeah, there was a story about some buddy waking up from passing out drunk with his face in a kebab...) got in my room, showered, plugged in my things that need charging, OH YEAH, BROKE THE SINK.. haven't crossed that bridge yet- I was doing a little laundry and sort of pushed on it, not realizing that it was just mortared on to the wall- no support from underneath. Whoops. It's in one piece, it's just that it's in one piece, now on the floor. Damn. I'll tell them tomorrow, I don't have the energy for it right now... It'll be a production. Opened the LP to see what it has to say about this town and Udaipur where I am headed probably not tomorrow but first thing the next day (I have no idea what day of the week it is. That staying up for days/dateline change thing really did a number on me.) I'm realllllyyyyy hungry right now, so I might head up to the roof or wander down the street- thing is, going anywhere is a HIKE because this beautiful 546 year old house is on a hillside on the outside of town, and honestly, after last night's mile sprint from where the rickshaw drops you to where I boarded the train, and today's hike up here (rickshaws can't fit on the little alleyways all the way up here) - I'm not feeling much of an adventure. All I really know is that I have to be in Ahmenabad by the 22nd or 21st so that I can take the train down the coast to Goa, which I've wanted to do since my first trip. Should be a beautiful coast train ride- long, but that's fine.
Anyway, not too exciting a first entry- I am not on my game yet with the time zone thing and I am FAMISHED. Til later....
Probably later tonight!
ME!
Let's do the time warp again!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India
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