Yay! Finally found a wifi cafe. Unfortunately there's no wifi, so typing this offline.
My wish for drama was quickly fulfilled getting off the plane at Guahati. First, let me describe where the heck we are. We are now in Shillong, which is to the very, very east of India, surrounded by Bangledesh, Buthan, and Myanmar (I think). There's a narrow strip of land we cross through to get to the larger part of India. Our goal is to drive all the way west to Jaiselmer which is close to the Pakistan border. Unfortunately there is a strike on so everything seems to be a bit up in the air. What kind of strike? A 'general' one, which means generally no one is doing anything.
We prepaid a taxi to take us from Guahati to Shillong. It was $30 for a four hour ride. We considered taking the bus to save some money, but we'd probably still be on it. The ride did not bode well for our backsides, which were black and blue by the time we arrived, and this was in a car with presumably some type of suspension. How our poor little rickshaw with tires three inches thick will fare is debatable. One would think that getting a taxi ride to our hotel would deliver us to hmmm, our hotel perhaps? But our drivers, who looked about 12, had no idea where we were and drove us round and round in circles before leaving us on the side of the road claiming that cars weren't allowed in that area. So, we got another taxi, who convinced the official looking men blocking the street to let us through. I reckon, although what do I know, that driving up a tight street is best done going forwards. However our driver had the opposite opinion and despite no side mirrors and not being able to see out the back due to our luggage blocking the way, proceeded at least half a mile up the alley in reverse swerving all over the place and eventually hitting some poor kid who bounced off the trunk and carried on his merry way.
