So, it's 10.30 am here on Friday 14 September and my two nights of limbo are finally over. I stayed in the most elegant and luxurious accomodations i'll probably see for the next three months at the expense of 1/4th of my travel budget; but hopefully it's all worth it as my luggage has arrived and i can finally go collect it. Then onwards to the part of Mumbai i came to see - the real touristy parts, of which hopefully there will be pictures once i find an internet cafe which uploads those. ironically the fancy hyatt hotel is not so well equipped. it was worth the money just to not get eaten alive by mosquitos. I have three bites on my right forearm from the first night and hopefully they're not full of malaria.. even so i'm taking my anti-malarial medications (which makes my pits stank something fierce). I also took the opportunity to equip myself with plenty of fresh water to drink. some fruit. and i "borrowed" a pillowcase, which i forgot to bring with me. oh and some toilet paper. never have too much of that i'm sure.
So it feels absolutely 300% better to not be in limbo anymore. to know that my trip continues onward. I mostly hope to meet some compatriot travellers as that will make it much easier to be able to trust someone and watch each others back, etc. hopefully on the train to Delhi, which, if I'm lucky, i'll be able to catch 7.10pm tonight. otherwise at least i'll be staying in a better neighborhood than the first night, and for much cheaper than the second.
Another relatively sleepless night last night, but the train is 25 hours so plenty of time to catch up on that. Forced myself to eat breakfast this morning. Some Indian choices amongst the bacon and sausage, eggs, etc geared toward foreigners. Oh and some more good news (i suppose) is i haven't smoked a cigarette since JFK despite having a packful of them, smoking permitted in the hotel, and all the stress. Hope i keep that up. You'll be interested to know that National Geographic, Discovery, Animal Planet, CNN all make it out here. Also MTV india which is horrible. just like MTV america. Indian newspaper is interesting as well. very similar to american newspaper. not very fond of bush though.. big diff there.
Ah i can't tell you how good it feels to know one way or the other (glad it was this way tho). Ok nuff rambling. next you hear from me hopefully i am in just as good spirits having sloughed the safety of the western-style hyatt for the true indian culture. Will feel great to get out of Mumbai and even better to get out of Delhi once i do that i'm sure. But I'm focused on Dharamsala and can't wait to get there.
Much love all around.
Til next time.
