Day 128 (Dec 24) - Bangkok vs. Bombay

So here I am in Bangkok, 5 days after arriving. I'd intended to get out of the big smoke as soon as possible, but a couple of friends are here, and I was convinced by one friend (Sally) to visit an inmate in Bangkwang prison on Tuesday (yesterday) morning so I stuck around for that, and here I am, still wandering the streets.
On arrival in Bangkok I suddenly thought "wow, look at how organised this place is!". Meeting a number of tourists here and them saying the opposite ("the traffic is so crazy!") I find myself having to hold back from saying "this is nothing compared to India". The truth is it really is nothing compared to India.
India feels like absolute chaos. The crowded trains (both metro and long distance trains). The roads (lanes are completely irrelevant). The people physically pushing their way past you, with their hands on your shoulder or back.
Sure, in Bangkok there are a lot of people but they organise themselves so much better. Cars tend to stick to their lanes for the most part. People aren't touching each other, even in crowded places.

The best example of the Bombay (or India really) vs. Bangkok contrast is the metro trains.
India: getting on a train here is like playing a contact sport. You literally have to force your way on, as there will be 50 or 60 people trying to get into that same door. You have to use all of your strength to get through, otherwise you'll be left on the platform. Because of the number of people trying to get on, you can't wait for people to get off he carriage as nobody else waits, so it's a matter of throwing yourself into the throng with all your might.
Bangkok: the trains (well the BTS Skytrain anyway) arrive at the platform with the doors always at the same spot. That spot is marked with arrows. Two arrows in the centre point away from the door and there are two sets of diagonal arrows pointing towards the door on either side of the centre two pointing towards the door. People on the platform stand out of the way of the door, leaving space on the centre arrows for the passengers to disembark. After everyone's off, then they calmly embark, in an extremely organised fashion.

Hence I've had to hold my tounge often when meeting tourists here and them saying "This place is so crazy!".
I think I've also bored Sally, Steve, Matt and Nathan with my comments starting with the sentence "When I was in India...". I'm sure those 5 words have left my mouth a dozen or more times a day!

After a few days in Bangkok I've gotten over my "This place is nothing on India" and have started to see it for it's own charms. And besides, in many ways it actually has a lot that reminds me on Bombay. A big bussling city with a large contrast in what you can do. The Zen department store in Bangkok is more upmarket (and expensive) than anything in Australia that I've ever seen. There's another shopping complex where there's a Lamborghini dealership on one of the floors, with 6 or 7 cars inside. But at the same time you can get incredibly delicious and cheap food on the side of the road outside of these areas. In this way Bombay and Bangkok are remarkably similar, and it's part of the charm that attracts me to both cities with that variety.

I'm off tomorrow to a beach (Koh Samet perhaps) then back to Bangkok to hitchhike to Koh Phangan for New Years Eve. That should be interesting!

That is all.

Day 124 (19 Dec) - thoughts on India

Wow, so I finally left India. My last stop was Hampi, after a truely incredible time in Mumbai after having found my ancestors' homes in Tarsai, Gujarat. Mumbai was never on the plan, but after meeting Shirley (in Pushkar) and Satish (in the middle of the desert in Rajasthan) both from Mumbai, I was convinced. I spent 3 days/nights there absorbing the atmosphere. It was a place I can honestly see myself living. What a town!
Lots of Mumbai stories, and how I met Satish, and how he and Shirley knew each other, even if they didn't know that they did (before I introduced them).
After Mumbai was Hampi. Beautiful scenery etc. but I did get a little bored there in my 3 days.
From Hampi it was a 10 hour train ride, a 3 hour bus, then 7 hours at the airport in Chennai (I had my big bag with me so sightseeing Chennai for a 2nd time didn't appeal) all to catch a 3 hour plane to Bangkok!
More on India: It's such an incredible country. As Austin mentioned numerous times "anything is possible". It really is. I'm thinking of getting the Indian Tourism board to modify their slogan slightly. from "!ncredible India" to "Fucking !ncredible India".
The amount to see, the food, the people. And the cost, don't forget the cost. I was there for 4 months, and I spent $6,000 (Australian dollars). I can't think of too many places that you can stay that long, and spend so little. And I didn't even see half of the country!
The lifestyle of the middle class in India is, I think, beyond par anywhere in the world. Your milk is delivered each morning. You have a maid to clean your house, EVERY day. Going out (auto-rickshaws/taxis/food) is crazy cheap. Holidays within India are stupidly cheap (Rs 300 for a sleeper class train ride halfway across the country, then Rs 300 or less per night for a hotel!). And you have all this on your doorstep to explore. I'd love to live there for a while at some stage in my life. India, you'll be seeing this little Aussie again, that's for sure.
As you may have read on Twitter I was having such an incredible time. I was seriously contemplating changing all my plans for a 3rd time to stick around but I do need to start earning some money at some stage, and the ski season is almost over, so here I am on my way to Canada, via Thailand and Taiwan.
I met up with an old friend (Dom for those that know him) when I arrived this morning at 6am, and crashed on his bed after 2 nights of very little sleep. Tonight I'm seeing Sally, one of Leila's school friends, who's living here. I think Bangkok needs to be seen with a local, being a big city an all. And the area Dom and I are staying is SOOOO touristy it's kind of suffocating. Will be nice to have someone local(ish) to take me somewhere. Tomorrow is a Flickr meetup, so I'll tag onto that.
Hope you're all having a fun holiday season, where ever in the world you may be.
That is all.

Day 111 (Dec 7) - catchup

Forgive me Blog, for I have sinned. It's been 31 days since my last post.
(get it? pretending to give confession? no? ok, forget about it...)
So in the past month what has happened? If you've been following on Twitter you'll have some idea of what I've done/where I've been.

* arrived in Pushkar to meet 70 other couchsurfers from India and abroad, including Jaiprakash (JP) who I'd met in Kolkata 2 months earlier, and who'd invited me to come to Pushkar, and Rajasthan with him.
* participated in the Inaugural International Pushkar Fair Kabaddi match (as captain too!)
* interviewed on Rajasthani television after the match, and my photo appeared in two local newspapers
* travelled to Jaisalmer with JP and Austin (from Canada) on a bus with no windscreen, and almost misplaced a fellow passenger on route (unrelated to the missing windscreen)
* did a camel safari in Jaisalmer
* was spotted by an Australian friend who happened to be in Jaisalmer at the same time (neither of us knew each other would be in India)
* Jodhpur (saw the palace and a few other things)
* an overnight sleeper bus to Uidaipur on the bumpiest bus ride of my life. The window opposite us didn't close so Austin and I had to huddle together for warmth.
* Ahmedabad with Austin. Took in two ICL World Series matches (World vs. Bangaladesh, and India vs. Pakistan), and did an Auto-rickshaw tour. See my upcoming photos for more information
* Couchsurfed with Austin in Bhavnagar, and took in Alang, the ship destroying town. This was pretty incredible, as there are shops as you head towards the ocean, selling anything/everything from the ships. CD players, telephones, life jackets, glass, wood, generators, furniture, you-name-it.
* Palitana for the famous Jain temples on the hilltop. On the hike up (2 hours) met a couple from Delhi, who informed us of the Mumbai attack. Austin and I had tickets for the Live Earth concert on the 7th December, so we were planning to head there on the 3rd or 4th
* Palitana to Rapar/Lilpur to couchsurf again, and see Dholavira (a 4500 year old city)
* drunk "apple juice" (Austin's pseudonym for whiskey) in the dry (i.e. no alcohol) state of Gujarat on the highway passing through the salt plans of the Rann of Kutch.
* Headed to Bhuj (again) with Austin to do some family research (find my great grandfather's home)
* To Porbandar (where the Mumbai attackers boarded the fishing boat) which is 50km from Tarsai, my great-grandfather's village.
* took a taxi to Tarsai, and found (after much trouble finding an English speaker, and many phone calls to Janak in Bhavnagar to translate!) the homes of Tayob (my great-grandfather) and his brothers too.

Now I'm off to Mumbai for a brief 12 hour stopover before making my way to Hampi, then to Chennai on the 18th for my flight out of this terror prone country, to Thailand, another country in turmoil! I've picked them well!

That is all