Over the last three days and nights we:1. Survived an annoying 15 hour bus trip from Delhi to Manali, a Himalayan trekking base in the Himachal Pradesh state, which included a miserable dinner stop at 10pm at a roadside bar, where we got charged mid-level Delhi restaurant prices for a bowl of bones in gravy (chicken curry) and stale rice. A royal ripoff and I'm sure the drive had a cut.2. Found the town delightfully cool. beautifully situated on majestic hill...

Over the last three days we:1. Were annoyed to observe taxis (when you could find one!) and rickshaw drivers were even more reluctant to use meters in Delhi than elsewhere in India.2. Learned that central Delhi is famous for so-called 'shoeshine tricksters'. Don't ask me for details, look it up. I'm still in stitches...3. Mastered the art of crossing the street in Delhi - and compared to Bombay that's a horse of a different color.4. Got into a...

Yesterday and today we:1. Saw sparrows scuttling happily about the brand new shiny terminal of the Bangalore International Airport and boarded the plane to the nation's capital.2. Excitedly rode the sparkling new metro in Delhi - airport to downtown - and realized a taxi would have cost us less.3. After specifically picking a hotel within a WALKING distance of the Delhi train station we rebelliously trudged that distance. With our elephant packs on our backs,...

Over the last three days we:1. Said goodbye to the coast for good.2. Took a train from Goa to Hospet - this being a daytime train we could admire the mesmerizing variety of its inhabitants large and small scurrying about the floor unmolested.3. We were still dumbfounded at the vast array of possibilities presented by an average electrical switch console in an Indian hotel room. As in the photo, there seem to be 12 switches on average, none of them marked, their o...

Yesterday and today we:1. Learned that when Indians say "PIN code" they actually mean a ZIP code as in: what's the PIN code of your hotel?2. Realized to my disgust that everything is so cheap here I lost my ability AND drive to haggle. Aargh!3. Despite not having a license, rented a motorbike anyway. Got a little uneasy when the owner did not care to show me the headlight switch but strongly insisted on me mastering the horn.4. Learned the rules of the Indian...