Blog Dump – Catching up!

Okay, so we’re far behind now. I’m going to try and make a timeline to catch us up quick.

• 1/5/13, Varanasi, India – 10pm – Going to bed, its cold. Get one more blanket.
• 1/6/13, Varanasi, India – 10pm – Slept our first night in Varanasi. It was cold. Got two more blankets.
• 1/6/13, Varanasi, India – 11pm – Take bike-rickshaw to Varanasi train station. We’re excited to get two overnight Sleeper-class tickets to Agra, site of the Taj Mahal.
• 1/7/13, Varanasi, India – 9 am – Learn from other travelers at breakfast that the fog has delayed trains by up to 20 hours. Sleeper-class has no heating. Windows don’t close.
• 1/7/13, Varanasi, India – 9pm – Going to bed, its cold. Got two more blankets. Six total now.
• 1/7/13, Varanasi, India – 10 am – Take bike-rickshaw to Varanasi train station. Try to upgrade to 2nd or 3rd class sleeper. Booked up. Learn of “Totcol” tickets, which open for last-minute travelers the day before the trip. None left for tomorrow.
• 1/7/13, Varanasi, India – 9 pm – Still cold. Got two more blankets. Extend with hotel for one more day, have to switch rooms.
• 1/8/13, Varanasi, India – 8am – We’re the first people in line for Tetcol tickets. Get two 2nd class tickets to Agra for the Taj.
• 1/8/13, Varanasi, India – 10am – Lose blankets in room switch. New room cold. 2 more blankets.
• 1/9/13, Varanasi, India – 6pm – Arrive at station for overnight train. Learn its delayed five hours. Hang out in couch laden, heated tourist room.
• 1/9/13, Varanasi, India – 7:45 pm – Guy running tourist room announces they’re closing. Tells us to watch our bags, don’t trust anybody, don’t pet the dogs, there is no heated place and good luck.
• 1/9/13, Varanasi, India – 8pm – Head to waiting room with Grace and Fergol from Ireland, a couple from China and Kieren from New Zealand.  People are sleeping on the floor EVERYWHERE.  Locals came prepared with sleeping bags, blankets and pillows.
• 1/9/13, Varanasi, India – 9pm – Indian Man becomes Man Asleep in Corner. Meet Shen To, a Chinese woman who knows almost no English.
• 1/9/13, Varanasi, India – 10pm – Mouse runs behind Bryan and Leslie, around the benches behind the Irishmen and tucks itself in with Man Asleep in Corner. Mouse crawls in with him. We discuss whether or not to wake him up. Decide he probably doesn’t care.
• 1/9/13, Varanasi, India – 10:15pm – Kieren becomes Man Asleep in Corner II.
• 1/9/13, Varanasi, India – 10:30pm – Train delayed three more hours.
• 1/9/13, Varanasi, India – 11:00pm– Its cold. No extra blankets. Put on all extra pants, shirts, sweater, gloves etc.
• 1/10/13, Varanasi, India – 11:15 – Kieren awakes.
• 1/9/13, Varanasi, India – 11:30pm – Kieren, Leslie, Bryan and Shen-to decide to go find food. Cross the crazy street.
• 1/9/13, Varanasi, India – 11:45pm – Buy nuts, chocolate, water and cookies.
• 1/9/13, Varanasi, India – 12:00pm – Cross back. Kieren almost gets run over by a rickshaw.
• 1/10/13, Varanasi, India – 12:30am – Get in line for Dosa and sandwiches. Leslie feels liquid on her head and Shen-to starts waving her hands like a mad-woman.
• 1/10/13, Varanasi, India – 12:31am – Realize Leslie got peed on by a monkey.
• 1/10/13, Varanasi, India – 12:35am – Bryan eats dosa, tries not to laugh about monkey pee. Fails. Leslie removes monkey-pee sweater and hat. Grace gives Leslie sweater.
• 1/10/13, Varanasi, India – 12:40am – Sandwich tastes like feet.
• 1/10/13, Varanasi, India – 1:00am – Kieren, with horn rimmed glasses, sitting on his knees in a moment of silence looks up at Leslie and says, “I’m sorry you got peed on by a monkey.”
• 1/10/13, Varanasi, India – 1:15am – Train delayed until 5:15.
• 1/10/13, Varanasi, India – 1:30am – Kieren becomes Man Asleep in Other Corner.
• 1/10/13, Varanasi, India – 2:00am Kieren awakes
• 1/10/13, Varanasi, India – 2:15am – Kieren becomes Man Asleep on Floor.
• 1/10/13, Varanasi, India – 2:30am – We become Group Asleep in Corner
• 1/10/13, Varanasi, India – 4:00am – Everyone but Kieren awakens.
• 1/10/13, Varanasi, India – 4:15am – Kieren’s bag starts to move.
• 1/10/13, Varanasi, India – 4:20am – Kieren awakens and Grace says, “We have reason to believe that their may be a mouse in your bag.”
• 1/10/13, Varanasi, India – 4:30am – Kieren opens bag, mouse flees.
• 1/10/13, Varanasi, India – 5:00am – Train arrives, 11 hours behind schedule. Dash to platform. We lose track of the gang, fail to get Facebook contact and never see them again. Leslie steals sweatshirt.
• 1/10/13, Varanasi, India – 5:15am – Train departs for Agra. Fall asleep in heated sleeper-bunks.
• 1/10/13, Varanasi, India – 9am – Awaken. Bryan reads Lord of the Flies in one sitting. Good book.
• 1/10/13, Varanasi, India – 11am – Train stops. Hop off to get water and more cookies.
• 1/10/13, Train to Agra– 1pm – Guys come on the train to sell lunch. Leslie wisely orders Vegetarian Thali. Bryan unwisely orders Chicken Briyani. Chicken is cold.
• 1/10/13, Train to Agra – 1:08pm – Leslie looks at chicken and says, “Urgh”. Bryan says, “Leave me alone, I’m hungry.”
• 1/10/13, Train to Agra – 1:10pm – Bryan order Vegi Thali. The guy says he’ll be back with change.
• 1/10/13, Train to Agra – 1:10pm – Train leaves station. Guy steals $4. A POX on that guy!
• 1/10/13, Train to Agra – 5pm – Fall back asleep.
• 1/10/13, Train to Agra – 5:30pm – Bryan gets “Bad Chicken Briyani” Belly.
• 1/10/13, Agra – 11pm – Wake up in Agra. Find auto-rickshaw to hostel.
• 1/11/13, Agra – 10am – Awaken, get breakfast on room. Awesome view of Taj.
• 1/11/13, Agra – 10:30am – Realize we cannot go to Taj tomorrow, closed on Fridays. Have to go today.
• 1/11/13, Agra – 12:00pm – Go see Taj Mahal. It rocks. Completely made out of white marble. The grounds are as impressive as the Mausoleum. Surprising about of hawks circling the Taj.
• 1/12/13, Agra – 12:00pm – Refuse to let auto-rickshaw driver take us to commission-generating 3 hour tourist bus to Delhi. Want to save money on the local bus.
• 1/12/13, Agra – 1:10pm – Save six bucks by taking the local bus.
• 1/12/13, Onabus – 1:40pm – Seven hour bus ride to Delhi.
• 1/12/13, Dehli – 7:30pm – Guy wants 750 rupee to take us from station to Paharganj district. Leslie confronts him about trying to rip us off.
• 1/12/13, Dehli – 7:35pm – Find another guy who wants 150 rupee. We tell him the first guy said it was 22km. He answers in broken English, “that is because he lie”.
• 1/12/13, Dehli – 10pm – Bryan eats awesome mutton and cream sauce dish. Adds “Delhi Belly” to “Briyani Belly”. Not as bad.
• 1/13/13, Dehli – 11am – Visit Ghandi Srimi, where Ghandi lived his last days and was assassinated. Interesting.
• 1/13/13, Dehli – 1pm – Visit Kola Market. Very expensive, not so interesting.
• 1/13/13, Dehli – 2pm – Nathus for thali and samosas. Samosas rock.
• 1/13/13, Dehli – 4pm – Humuyun Tomb. Awesome white marble and red sandstone mausoleum that was the model for the Taj.
• 1/14/13, Dehli – 9pm – Breakfast at Ajay Guesthouse. Witness slapfight between owner and possibly-drugged streetwalker.
• 1/14/13, Dehli – 10pm – Go with Salaam Baalak Trust on a street walk. Former street kids teach about what its like to be a street kid in Delhi.
• 1/15/13, Dehli – 5am – Taxi to Airport
• 1/15/13, Dehli – 6am – Last Indian Meal
• 1/15/13, Dehli – 7:15am – Take of to Qatar
• 1/15/13, Somewhere in the sky – Realize we have a monstrous layover, airline offers hotel room for more than 8 hours layover
• 1/15/13, Doha, Qatar – 11am – Learn that they do not offer hotel because there was another flight we could have taken to Qatar closer to our flight to Buenos Aires. We’re stuck in the airport.
• 1/15/13, Doha, Qatar – 12:30pm – Use our first meal voucher. Bryan gets Qatari Belly. Worst one.
• 1/15/13, Doha, Qatar – 2pm – Claim reclining chairs by the plug. This is our home for the next bit. Chairs locked at about 45% angle. They look comfortable. They’re not.
• 1/15/13, Doha, Qatar – 5pm – Leslie gets dinner. Bryan gets water.
• 1/15/13, Doha, Qatar – 6pm – Try to fall asleep. Sleep poorly.
• 1/15/13, Doha, Qatar – 10pm – Flight to Washington D.C. appears on the screen.
• 1/16/13, Doha, Qatar – 7am – Wake, board flight to Buenos Aires.
• 1/16/13, Somewhere over the pacific, – 18 hours in the air with a layover in Sao Paolo. We don’t disembark.
• 1/17/13, Buenos Aires, Argentina – We step onto our fifth continent of the trip. Leslie’s jacket still has monkey pee on it.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized on January 20, 2013 by bryan