Indian Adventures

It’s Day 3 of my stay in Mumbai, India. Actually, I’m not in Mumbai city itself but in a region called Nasik. (I think it’s spelled like that.) I had to travel almost 6 hours by bus. And I can tell you right now, I truly believe that Indian drivers are all trained to be rally-drivers. But more on that later.

India is a land of extreme contrast. So far, from what I’ve seen from the airport to my base camp, is in a nutshell, simply amazing.

Life here is literally a universe-apart from S’pore. I can hardly understand how people can allow themselves to live in such squalid conditions. I’ve got some pics but I’ll have to upload them when I get back to S’pore.

More details when I get back to S’pore. Brief notes below.
- Lots of traffic honking. Apparently it’s a norm to honk. Trucks have “Please Horn” messages painted on them.

- Lots of abandoned / uncompleted buildings. - Buildings are very drab. Looks run-down. Some have ferns/lalang/grass growing in the roof-tops.

- Lots of garland sellers in the roadside. How the heck do they get so many flowers to string up from?

- Most cars and trucks have garlands hanging on the front too. Quite a sight to see.- Their cabs use a very 60s looking car. Talk abt being very retro.

- They also have their version of a Thai “took took” – a three wheeler cab. Seems to be main mode of transport for many.

- Buses look like what S’pore used in the 70’s.

- In fact, the entire place looks damn retro. You’d probably couldn’t tell which year from a photo.

- Too much spice in diet. After 3 days of spicy food for almost all my meals, I will almost kill for a nice bowl of kway teow soup. Think I’ll be shi*ing fire from tomorrow.

- Sky is spectacularly cloudlessly blue. Have yet to see a star filled night sky tho. Last 2 nights were very cloudy.

- Region around base camp is mountainous. Think we are on a plateau in a mountain range. There’s some really scenic areas. Wish I had my DSLR with me instead of this little dinky camera.

- Ironic – People poor but they have million-dollar views that most S’porean’s will never get to see.

- Sleep – Am sleeping at 10pm+ and waking at 6am+. Lots of things to do the last 2 days but still feel pretty good. A little chao tar from the intense sun. Where’s the winter climate we were told to prepare for??

- Preparations are pretty much done. Waiting for the main body to arrive on Fri. Main shi* will start on Mon. Not really looking forward to that.

- Base camp facilities are quite basic but heck.. there's Internet. I'm happy.