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 5th or 6th 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
Meeting the Dalai Lama amidst the misty mountains of the
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
