Ghandi and the Paper Towel

10/1

Okay, so it’s 3:45 a.m. right now, and I’m actually writing this blog from a paper towel I snatched from the airport bathroom. I kind of feel bad about wasting paper, since I could’ve been writing this on the journal that I accidentally left back home—big surprise there, Clarke, it’s just the millionth time you’ve done this in your life, that’s all—but at least the airport claims that this is a recycled piece of power towel, so I guess it’s not that bad.

This is probably the 5^th or 6^th time I’ve had to sleep overnight at an airport to catch an early next-day flight, and I gotta say that this airport in Taipei’s been the best equipped by far. Soft couches long enough to seat 4 people? Widescreen TV’s to entertain you until you’re tired? And this isn’t even inside a VIP room—we’re talking the regular lobby here!

And yet, I just can’t seem to fall asleep. I’m wayyyy too excited. My plane leaves for India in less than 4 hours, and I’ve been flipping over my Lonely Planet Guide (an amazing travel guide written by authors that were paid to travel… what a job, huh?) over and over again in a ridiculous attempt to map out a transcontinental trip within the one-and-a-halfweek stretch of free time I have between my volunteer work. There just seems so much to do in so little time!

Meeting the Dalai Lama amidst the misty mountains of the Himalayas. Tiger-sighting on the backs of elephants. Camel riding in the desert towards the golden city of Jaisalmer. Bathing in the sacred waters sacred waters of the Ganges River to wash away my lifelong sins of procrastination (or maybe not, considering how many people already rely on these waters to wash off their guilt … and body wastes)..Outsmarting unscrupulous liars who make a living off scamming tourists. Spending my nights in rustic hostels with cranky beds. And the list goes on.

getting kinda tired now.. and it's about time to check in for my flight. Later.

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10/2 - Ghandi's Birthday, national holiday of India

I've been in India in less than 12 hours, and I've run into.. let's see, 4 really persistent people who have tried to convince me into doing something I didn't want to do. It's been a drastic change from Ecuador, where there's no such thing as salesmen.. they just sit there waiting for you to ask what you want, preparing to give 1-word answers, if they bother answering that at all. Getting ignored was annoying, but this is just wayyyyyyyy too much attention and too much pressing for a 1st day tourist.

1. I let a taxi driver talk me into paying for a Delhi sightseeing tour, when I originally planned on just having him drop me off somewhere in the middle of the city where I could find a hostel by myself. It cost me quite a lot of money, and it wasn't all that worth it cuz I love traveling by my own timetable.

2. That taxi driver took me to a "government-run" store in which I was hounded by really really insistent people who convinced me to buy a scarf for a not-so-cheap price by Indian standards. A least I found out later that it really was a good price, compared to all the other stores around.

3. The taxi driver convinced me to stay at a hotel where I hadn't planned on staying. It was quite a lot more expensive than my originally planned one.

4. I was walking down a street looking for something to eat when I was invited into a "government-run" tourist center that tried to get me to go on one of their tours. The whole conversation must've lasted 3 hours, starting with some casual jokes about the local environment. Thank God I finally said no.. I would've paid money to give up the freedom of freestyle traveling. That would've made me a dumber person than I already made myself today.

5. When I finally got out of the tourist center, I returned to the hotel to call my parents from Skype, and headed back out to find something to eat. This time, the hotel security guard (who was probably the only non-English-speaking guy I met all day), tried to guide me to a restaurant. Originally I planned on going, but then I was like wtf I sick of this crap, and I turned away.


Lesson of the day: Either I'm just too nice, or I have some sort of inability-to-reject disorder. On the bright side, I'm learning to reject, it's just my first day, and yes, I've made mistakes, but mistakes become valuable when they teach you not to make them ever again. So.. let's never make the mistake of letting a stranger talk you into something you didn't want to do again =)


C-Hung, exhausted, hungry, but still enthusiastic as hell about my upcoming adventures

First Blog in 3 years!!

Random Facts from my travels in Ecuador:

1) High schoolers only go to school 4 hours a day

2) A piece of bread costs 10 cents, a bus ride costs 25 cents within the capital city of Quito, lunches with soup and juice cost $1.50, and lobster meals cost $4--all in American currency cuz that's what they use over there.

3) It can actually be cold around the Equator. Yes, I'm not lying, I've had to wear sweaters over there in the evenings, and there're mountains covered by snow.

Okay, so I'm on my last week in Taiwan, just chillin' away my time while all y'all are in school working your butts off. I once vowed to never use the world "y'all" cuz of its redneck connotations, but at one point I just realized how pathetic it was to hold cultural discriminations for a guy who's been all over the world like me (and especially after all those college essays about globalization and the need for greater understanding).

I met this Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador who put this idea in perfect words: "think We, not Them." The world'd be a much more harmonious place if we focused more on our common aspirations and dreams instead of trivial, artificial differences like religion and culture. It wouldn't be annually spending 1.5 trillion dollars on its military, while the entire United Nations can only afford to spend 1/73 of that amount per year, with all its programs that help fight world hunger and global poverty (http://www.globalissues.org/article/75/world-military-spending)

Anyway, back to regular small-scaled stuff. I'm heading to India in a couple of days after an entirely unproductive month of procrastination and relaxation in Taiwan. God I feel so guilty about leaving everything to the last minute (packing, booking tickets, medical examinations, etc) It's just like it was in Rabun Gap.

You know, sometimes, I really have this urge to quit procrastinating once and for all, I always fall short. I can never keep up the push-ups, jogging, and pretty much any other major new years resolution. Studies show that it takes 66 consistent days before a resolution becomes ingrained into a habit (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/5857845/It-takes-66-days-to-form-a-habit.html), so I hope I'll be able to a better job of making things happen in the future.

On the bright side, though, amazing adventures await me in India, so I know I can count on a lot of extra motivation there. I'm going to spend the first 3 weeks in the Himalayan Mountains in a village where the famous Dalai Lama's staying, and then another 3 weeks of learning some ancient Hindu Yoga in the province of Kerala. and then I got 2 full weeks of free time to just go wandering around wherever my heart takes me =)

and then after that I'll be heading to Palestine, hopefully not running into any Israeli tanks or helicopters. expect a lot of interesting stories and photos in the future!

Stay tuned.