Merry Christmas!

I'd like to wish you all a Merry Christmas, wherever you may be. I'd also like to thank my friends for all their, sometimes drunk, text messages and phone calls from around the world.  Giving holiday wishes and kind reminders that they are still traveling some exotic lands while I'm back home in the freezing Canadian prairies..

It will be just over a week until I'm back in my home city again and I have a post that will have to wait till then. I will be looking into my half unpacked bags to see what actually made it through the entire trip with me, what items I would never have survived without and which I would never take with me again.

Till then happy holidays!

Remember to eat, drink, and be jolly!

You've got mail!

I received a notice in my mail yesterday that a parcel had arrived. I thought it may be the one I sent home just over a month ago but didn't want to get my hopes up.

I went to the post office this afternoon and after searching around for a couple minutes they presented me with a dirty and beaten parcel from Neyyerdam Thiruvananthapuram, India! When I picked it up with my hands I could tell that there was no structure left to the parcel as it had a long and rough trip across the ocean. The only thing holding to together was the, originally, white cloth sewn around it. Eager to see what made it back home in reasonable condition I raced home to open what could be considered my Christmas present to myself as I had forgotten what I packed inside almost two months earlier.


The contents:

• My custom made-to-fit yoga pants (x2)
• Some white women's yoga pants (there was lack of guys & therefor guy clothing at the ashram)
• Hand panted t-shirts
• Shirts from the ashram
• Tons of book (religion, meditation, yoga, and various other topics)
• CDs (yoga and meditation)
• Chakra poster
• Ties, cufflinks, and handkerchiefs (I knew I'd have to 'suit up' again eventually)
• A gift for someone
• Various other things I bought for no apparent reason

Out of the entire package there was only one thing that I bought for someone else, but I suppose I have the right to be greedy with space when shipping costs so much!

Culture Shock (Reversed)

It's been a few days now since I arrived home. Not too many people know this, but every time I fly through airports I like to play little games with other people to keep myself entertained without spending any money. During my flight to India back in September I decided that people don't smile enough and set out to make as many strangers smile during my 5 hour layover in Minneapolis and 6 hour layover in Amsterdam. I ended up loosing track of how many people smiled back at me after only a couple hours but I'll consider that a good thing. Not only did it keep me entertained without spending money but I'm hoping it made someones day a little better when I was able to put a smile on their face.

On the way back from India, seeing as how I was constantly getting searched and questioned by security on my flights to India in September, I thought I'd dress as someone who fits the typical stereotype of a possible threat to airport security. I wanted to see how dressing in a foreign cultures clothing and having my ungroomed beard would play into the 'random' security checks and the racism of airport authorities. When I was in India, towards the end of the trip, everyone asked me if I was Muslim so that's the look I went for on my flight home as I was sure it would cause problems when going through the USA. I was quite surprised with the results of my little game.  I got through security at Amsterdam quicker then I had before and absolutely flew through the USA's security check, faster than any of the other people in my line. Sure I got a lot of stares as I waited for planes during my layovers, but it was nothing in comparision to the stares you get in India. Actually, I'm pretty certain that India took more pictures of me than I took of it.

Back home, my dog and a lot of snow.

Now that I am back home in Canada I'm facing some (reverse) culture shock similar to my first week in India. The structure to everything, the absolute quietness, and the way people isolate themselves from others is chipping away at my nerves. I'm not really sleeping yet. Wide awake every night until well into the next day, it's taking a long time to get my body back to its original time zone. Driving on the icy Canadian roads is stressful, I'd take an Indian road over an icy road any day. I'm glad to see family, old friends, and familiar faces once again. I have just over one week to prepare for a conference I'm facilitating and after three months of no responsibilities getting down to work has proven difficult.

I'm hoping that this is all just the effects of reverse culture shock but it almost feels like I don't belong here, I'm already looking forward to my future travels.

Coming home..

Today will be my last full day in India, and it's been a crazy one. I've done so much running around and spent hours this afternoon in Mumbai's 'red light district', all work no play, trying to find a certain Christmas gift for one of my brothers.

I can't believe that three months have already gone by. I haven't taken many pictures since I've been back in Mumbai so I'm bringing some old ones back for this post. The city seems so different but the pictures help remind me that its just my perspective that has changed, Mumbai is still the busy crazy place it's always been.

My suit is getting its final touches as we speak, I'm hoping its done in time. They assure me it will but India has taught me to know better.

I've payed for another night in my hotel room even though I won't be staying through till the morning. I'm just using my room as a preparation area for my packing that I really should start on soon.

Bollywood: Late this afternoon while wondering the streets of Mumbai, looking good as always, I received my first reasonable offer to be in a Bollywood movie as an extra. They were willing to pay me a salary on top of paying my room, board, and moving me out to Goa for a week. Of course this is terrible timing as I leave for home in less then 24 hours.

I gave the Chicken Maharaja Mac another try, three months later at the same McDonalds in Colaba, Mumbai. Although it will never quite be comparable to the original western 'Big Mac' it tasted a lot better then I remembered.




Well this is me signing off with my last post from India. It will be a long journey home full of many cups of coffee, random conversations, and more time zone changes then I care to think about. I've reached into the softer-side of my iTunes library to find my departure song.

Hope you enjoyed following along for my travels, you'll be hearing from me again soon.

Mumbai: Quick update

I arrived back in Mumbai yesterday but haven't had any time to write a post until now. I'm staying further to the southern tip of Mumbai this time and after going to several hotels that had no rooms I found a place called 'Delight Guest House' for 350rs/night. I think calling it 'Delight' is pushing it a little far as my room is the size of the old style prison cells with nothing but a bed and table but its clean and cheap (by Mumbai standards).

My guest house is only a couple hundred
meters from the gateway of India.

I'm spending today in alternating sessions of running around to shop and get everything done I want to before leaving India with periods of relaxation over the deliciously spicy and flavorful India food I'm sure to miss. But for now I have to run for a fitting as I'm getting a new suit made for myself [prices for hand-tailored suits range from 4,500-15,000rs($100-330+) depending on the quality of your tailor and the materials they use].

Still in Jaipur.. opps..

So yesterday didn't go exactly as planned as I'm still in Jaipur when I should have now been in Mumbai, but that's India for you. My ticket for the train yesterday was 'WL-1' which means I was the first person on the waiting-list and would be given a seat when someone canceled. 99% of the time anyone with WL-1 status would be confirmed, but seems I found that other 1%.

After a fair amount of paperwork I was able to get access of their 'tourist quota' seats and get a confirmed spot (AC3) on fully booked train at 2pm today. So I will be arriving in Mumbai a day later than planned but should still be able to get everything done I need to before leaving India. 


When I came to India Mumbai was the first city I saw and I ended up spending a week there so I'm looking forward to being there once again to see how my perspective on it has changed with my time in India. One of the things I'm not looking forward to about the big city, the overbook and ridiculously expensive accommodation

One week remaining

I just realized that one week from today I will be on a plane, on my way back home.

I booked a train to Mumbai tomorrow. Seeing as it will be my last train ride in India I thought it was worth splurging a little and booked a first class air conditioned berth for 2,350rs($50). I don't have a confirmed ticket though as every train was fully book so I'm waitlisted. Being waitlisted isn't anything new, but it is making me slightly nervous as I need to get back to Mumbai for my flight.

For those of you wondering what I've been up to in Jaipur, other then the entertaining first couple days, not much. Sure the city has ancient forts and temples, but it's nothing I haven't already seen a million times. I've been spending most my days sharing travel stories with other backpackers over a McChicken burger at McDonalds, fighting with rickshaw drivers, or wondering the endless bazzars in the old city.

"They want to end your life.."

There is lots more to the story but this is my best attempt to sum the last two days without writing a never ending essay on the subject.

Two locals friends recently pushed past a yelling hotel manager after he told them I wasn't there, banging on my door with a message. 'Don't go with them, they want to end your life' they warned me as we talked in my room with the hotel manager angrily pressed against my closed door.

The last two days in Jaipur have been interesting to say the least. With Jaipur being one of the major tourist cities in India there is a large high pressure tout/rickshaw walla population that rush towards tourists hoping for an easy rupee. I met two guys yesterday morning, at a McDonalds, and they offered to show me a new hotel as I had payed far to much the previous night (when you arrive at 1am 700rs for the night is something you just have to deal with). They showed me a new hotel at 400rs per night for an amazing room (sure they got a little commission but I couldn't find anything even close to this cheap & good on my own after hours of searching). After getting settled in they refused to take any payment and wanted to show me around Jaipur.. for free.. Of course I knew something was up but I thought I'd play it out as long as I could. We went up to Tiger Fort, they paid for all the entrance fees and teas, to watch the sunset over Jaipur. Around 7pm we went for supper as his brother and boss had 'just flow in and would like to meet me', okay so isn't as abnormal in India as it would sound in another country. Westerners are after all a hot commodity here. The conversation was good, plus the free beer and meal helped out. Once the 'boss' arrived and started talking I was able to put all doubts aside and knew exactly what scam they were trying to pass over, good news for me there was no risk and I could expect a lot of free things as they tried to gain my trust.



The boss left as he of course had urgent business matters, but said he would like to have breakfast with me tomorrow morning. The two others and myself talked for another hour before they dropped me off at my hostel, refusing any payment once again.


This morning they picked me up at 10am and took me out for coffee at a Cafe Coffee Day branch for some espressos and breakfast. I offered to pay but they declined, the boss had to remain in character and pick up the tab. Then the business offer came, it was a simple idea but was well presented, you could tell this was a regular act for them.  All I had to do was have some precious jewelry mailed to myself back home (they would never actually be sent in the mail) and deliver them to their agents in Canada (who would pay you and reimburse you for any taxes you had to pay), allowing them to bypass the high tariffs on exporting. How the scam works is they will either get a small payment from you up front or a credit card so they can fake some receipts and undervalue the jewelery. After the pitch I politely declined and left, they gave surprisingly little effort (for India) to try and convince me to stay.

So with that I come to the end of my second day in India. Its been a fun, and free, ride but I knew it had to end at some point. For those of you wondering about my friends warning me that they 'want to end my life' its just a common lost in translation thing. They were actually just wanting to warn me that these other people were trying to scam me for $1,000-5,000 and it had nothing to do with my safety, just the end of my financial life.

For those planning to travel to India: I hope you venture outside of the famous golden triangle route (Delhi-Agra-Jaipur) as the rest of India is completely different, more friendly, and less stressful to travel. From what I've seen so far South India is without a doubt better for backpackers than Northern India.

Leaving the Taj behind

I leave Agra later today for Jaipur, Rajasthan (the desert state). My train bookings are always last minute so it left me with few options of when I would leave/arrive. The train will be arriving in Jaipur around 10pm, assuming there is a miracle and the train isn't late by several hours. This leaves me at the mercy of my rickshaw driver for the first night as my ability to wonder around and find somewhere on my own that has 24hr reception is limited.

I bought some dvd's yesterday (a dvd containing six good quality movies with subtitles/ surroundsound costs around 75rs) for the train ride as I'm not a huge fan of talking with everyone when I'm feeling sick. So I'm keeping my ear buds in and my sunglasses down today. I would love nothing more at this point than to have an entire day, just one, where no strangers talk to me, ask me where I'm from and try to devise a way to get rupees from, or take pictures with, me.

One a more positive note, I got a call from a familiar voice back home this morning that put a smile on my face and a good start to my day. Thank you :)

Big Spender

I went to the Agra Fort yesterday, it was only 2km from my hostel so I opted to walk rather then take a rickshaw.

View from outside the Agra (red) Fort

The fort, although it had an expensive entrance 300rs($6.50), was fell worth the money. It is a huge castle like fortress and one of the main attractions in Agra. The well persevered red brick walls that towered over twenty meters high make me wish I could have seen it back in it's prime days. I spent most the afternoon there wondering around, talking, and taking pictures, with random people. I couldn't help but think while looking around how much my brother Byron would love to see this up close as he's always been the one in my family with the strongest appreciate for history.

Me at the Taj Mahal

This morning I had my alarm set for 5:30am, I had to see the Taj Mahal! During sunrise before the crowds seemed like the best plan of attack. It almost hurt paying the 750rs entrance fee when you see Indians only paying 20rs for the exact same thing, but that's good old racist India for you. India likes to segregate everyone as much as possible, both race and sex. I know there are reasons for this but it still bothers me, anyhow that's a rant for another time.


The Taj Mahal was a glorious site! The pictures can't do it justice, the sheer size and amount of dedication that went into this ultimate monument to love is astounding! I lost track of time on the grounds, after walking around I just sat and watched the main building, just soaking in all the architecture that has fascinated so many people for hundreds of years. One of the seven wonders of the world only meters in front of me.

I should probably book some trains soon as my flight is coming up and I'm still quite far from Mumbai. Hmm.. on the other hand... I am hungry and ordering food is easier then planning future travels..