Millions of Things

Ok.

so where do i start? ive been wanting to write but its just been so damned hectic that i forgot or got sidetracked or traveled or anything and everything else. about five days have passed since my first post and ive experienced and seen enuff things to fill a book, or more. ill make it simple for myself by just doing a day by day thing.

day 2 (may 9):

woke and and went to Karul Bahd market to buy or rent a motorcycle. this is the reason i came to india, to ride around on an enfield. Michal came with me, which was great, because she was able to sit and talk with teh salesperson while i took the bike for a test run. Got there by metro, went around the local market, Michal looked for sandals because her flipflops were creating large lesions in her feet, kindof gross. Tried a thunderbird, blue, not that great. Then i tried a brand spanking new thunderbird from teh showroom, nto impressed. Finally ran into a place caled Smart Motor, and we decided to rent a red thunderbird, for about 150 ruppess a month, roughly 4 dollars per day. Michal is splitting this with me for the first two months so thats 2 bucks each a day. Great deal, its a 2004 bike, and runs fantastic. Mohit, the main guy at the store said it was his first deal with foreigners so he was giving us a great deal. Weird thing i noticed was that Mohit is tall and kinda good looking, and his workers are all small and malnourished, i think its connected to the weird caste thing they have going on in india. brutal. Well i took teh red thunderbird for one day test ride. Not sure what we did that night, but probably not too much considering teh 120 F weather, which is brutal, really brutal.

Day 3

Test rode the bike around Delhi. Michal stayed at the main bazaar to work on her CV for some program she wants to attend in the fall. I just kinda rode off and got lost and it was so damned hot i ended up in some weird part of delhi thats rich people and lots of high end rickshaws. Nobody could help me but i finally made my way to Karul badd where I was gonna get a second opinion on this bike. Got one, good review. Foud my way back to Smart Moto and mohit and finallized the deal. He said i should come back at three to finallize the deal. I went to pick up Michal and we came back, left the biek for him to get ready. He put a luggage rack, new exhast (super awesome) and lubed it all over with astroglide. His mini-men (untouchable caste?) did most of the work, and the level of disrespect they endure is astonishing. Finally after getting everything ready we took off, and made our way back to the main bazaar in some seriously sketchy traffic. Ummmmm....people in delhi drive poorly. Because of the nonstandard size of the vehicles, a combe of three wheeled richshaws, tricycles, horse carriages, oxes, cows, and pedestrians, lanes dont mean jack. Its one big bumper car race with surprisingly few accidents and many close calls. But thats really just the markets in delhi, if you get out of those areas things become more organized. Honking is a way of life, and if you dont do it youre just not considered cool. In fact, teenagers get loud horns, just to show off. The horn on the thunderbird is pretty loud, and i keep my thumb on teh trigger at all times. We got back to the bazaar and went to dinner, sat at the cafe. I think i set up a budget or something but honestly the heat and traffic are exhausting, we drank about five liters of water each that day, and just tried to hang on for dear life.

Day 4

We were gonna go ride around delhi, but after a nice breakfast at the local cafe, Michal got sick, stomack sick. That was her situatino for the next three days. I didnt get sick, so I decided I should get vaccinated. In fact, i didnt have all the proper vaccines, so I found a place in delhi thats pretty high end and reliable and decided to go there to get typhoid, hep AB and rabies vaccines. On the way there I passed Hanuman's tomb and rememberd that its one of the "must see" places in delhi, so i stopped there for a look around. Strange and quite retarded thing about india is that all the sites have Indian prices, and foreigner prices, so the foreigners pay 10-20 times more to enter and see these blessed tombs and temples. Great way to encourage tourism. My question is, what if you're a tourist from Cambodia? that must suck. Anyways after this i tried to find the doctor man and spent two hours doing this. I got lost, and found myself in small desolate side towns with people looking at me funny. Awesome, this is what im here for. Finall y found teh doctor in a place called GK1, which is kind of like where the rich indians live. I got a bunch of shots and went home, weary, but still able to ride. Got home and fell asleep. Long long day.

Day 5

I thnk i skipped a day somewhere because im not sure what happened. Saturday? hmmmm. maybe i just slept, it was so damned hot. wait no, i think what i did on friday happend on saturday.

Ok, my fingers are tired. I'll complete day 6, 7, 8, 9, and today, tomorrow.