Why I am so far behind on my blog........
So I am, perhaps, maybe, just a tad behind on my blog. Maybe a week behind, maybe two weeks behind, honestly, I have no idea, and I don't see much reason to spend the time and energy trying to recount the exact days. Why is this?
The way I have been traveling has changed. When I arrived, I needed to have planned activities to feel comfortable. By this point, what I really enjoy about traveling is finding a place I enjoy just hanging out around, and then doing just that. Sure, I'll see some of the sights, if they seem particularly unique and remarkable.....one can only visit so many temples, forts, etc. before they all begin to seem the same.
For example, I fell in love with Jaisalmer. I stayed for 6 days, and I could have easily stayed longer. Other than going on a two night camel safari and taking the audio-guided tour of the Fort Palace, I spent my time just roaming around the old fort, which is a living fort, as in people live and work in it, lounged at rooftop restaurants, lassi shops, and cafes, and chatted up fellow travelers and locals. It was relaxing to not have a plan, and to some degree I feel like I took more of Jaisalmer in by doing less. Perhaps it is the case that sometimes you SEE more, when you look at less.
Another example. I just left Varanasi, and I didn't visit a single sight. Again, I spent my time wandering the snaking pathways of the old city, talking to people, just sitting by the Ganges, staring off over the waters or up at the kites flutter higher and higher into the sky, and people-watching, lots and lots of people watching.
By looking at less, I have been seeing more. One might think that I'd have more to report then, yeah? Which brings me to another reason I haven't been writing as much. Namely, the culture shock is over. I love talking to people who have only been here for a couple weeks or less, because for them, everything is so new and surprising. Cow just laying in the middle of a busy road. I don't even notice anymore. Train is several hours behind. Not a big surprise. The fact that no one in India waits in a line, but rather just crowds around whatever they are trying to get to. I shove past men, women, and children alike, to get what I need. But for the newer travelers here, all this is new. It's more exciting. It's more annoying. It's more shocking. It's more novel.
Now that I am comfortable in this backwards place, it's less surprising. Between that and seeing fewer sights, I have less to report on. At this point, I notice the little things, which are perhaps more personal. I notice more about myself, more about how I feel in this or that situation, more about what I think about this and that occurrence, more about what I SEE around me. Fewer major revelations, and more little bits of knowledge that are mostly about me.
It's funny, in the beginning of my trip, if I didn't see a lot, or do a lot, or slept-in late, I would get annoyed with myself for not being productive. Now, my least "productive" days, are actually my most productive days. By being less productive in an external sense, I get a chance to really be personally productive.
Part of me wants to break all this down in a more academic manner, which really means to describe the dynamics of this experience in as many ways as I can, in order to provide a really fleshed out and wordy analysis of what exactly in the human experience I am talking about. But really, I don't think it's so hard for any of you to relate to what I am saying. It may have been a while since any of us has just sat, watched, and contemplated to ourselves. Between work and netflix, who has time. But I am sure we have all had this experience at some point or another: that when we just sit around, without worrying about whats next, or ruminating over whats happened, we begin to notice more about ourselves as ourselves surrounded by a world.
