Hong Kong Day 1

So far so good. I sat in front of the screaming baby. Cathay is starting to cheap out on the perks. Jon met me at the airport. We had cheap hong kong breakfast. Met joel for lunch. Talk about life. He think hong kong is doing really well and I should come out. Got three shirts taylored at sams on Nathan. Walked causeway. Couldn't find my favorite massage place. Probably just as well. Passed out for a few hours. Met jack and his friend Trevor and Abraham at phuket thai restaurant in Soho. Coicidentally they are going to taipei this weekend. So I will meet them there. Now just using cathays wifi on my iPhone to write this while waiting to board for Taiwan.

Touchdown Delhi

After a 15 hour flight (yay Cathay!) we landed in Hong Kong. Caught a tram up to the peak tram. I had no idea they renovated the building in 2006, and now have a super high observation deck. Hong Kong is as beautiful as I remembered, even in the morning haze. Not too many people go to the peak at 8 am, so we basically had the observation deck to ourselves, save for a couple of staff - "pollution consultants" - perpetuallly wiping fingerprints from the glass and a trio of fat germans.

We descended, from the bottom tram station, on foot through Lang Kwai fong and met Gladys and Jack for dim sum lunch.

Then it was back to IFC to catch the airport express to get to our gate (of course the very farthest one) at the latest suggested arrival time. But they still hadn't started boarding.

Then it's off to Delhi with a brief stop over in Bangkok. I wouldn't quite call it a layover, since we didn't get off the plane. I am not sure if tif even woke up. But the plane emptied of east Asians and filled with south Asians, who are a bit louder and demanding than their eastern counterparts. The man behind me demanded I not put my seat back and shook it violently every time I moved because he was "writing something". He also yelled at the stewardesses to hurry up dispersing the food. Quite a few people we upset when they quickly ran out of the vegetarian options. But us omnivores were quite content as the layover meant we got too meals, so we were thoroughly stuff. Ironically, we were forced to eat the vegetarian meal on the first leg because the cantos snapped up all the fish options before they were halfway through the cabin. Cultural differences are interesting, eh?

We landed early in Delhi, which turned out to be for naught, as after we sailed through customs, my name was conspiculously absent from the row of drivers waiting beyond the gates. Cue an hour of fruitlessly searching for our contact and racking up what I am sure will be exorbinent data roaming charges trying to contact Sid. I found a sim card stall and actvated my HK cell and called the hotel. Turn out the guy didn't want to pay for parking so he was just outside circling. My name "Mr. Erick" was printed on a small piece paper on his dash, completely invisible in the crowded darkness. The driver's style was "creative" as he clearly sees streets and signs as suggestions rather than hard and fast rules. But he cut off the one BMW I've seen so far, so he's all good with me So an hour and a half later we are on our way to gurgoan, a suburb of Delhi. The hotel was nice, as was the much needed shower. We meet up with sid and co and they help us settle in. Wedding should be fun.

So that brings us to this morning. 5:30, we wake up and are taking the same honk-happy driver. So we are blazing down the chaotic streets of India, dodging cows, people and head on collisions as we speed to Agra to see the crown jewel of the trip, the Taj Mahal.

Udaipur update

Arrived in udaipur without a hitch, after a 13-hour train ride in AC class 2. Thank god for iPods and iPhone episodes of Entourage. At the station - far less sketchy than the monkey-overrun Agra station where we waited and napped for nearly two hours - we were promptly ushered to an auto-rickshaw driven by a nice, plump man named Salim. Seeing we only had 500 rs bills to pay with I offered 50 rs (~$1) for a ride into town if he could provide the change. My plan was to eat downtown, but when we arrived he offered to guide us for the day for 350rs ($7). We accepted. After dropping stuff off at our converted 19th century palace hotel (with a balcony and sun seat) we were on our way. First stop was breakfast at a hole in the wall stand, with delicious swirly thin donuts, saffron rice and potato cubes. Then, a quick stop at a crumbling water basin, where we spied on people washing their clothes. That was followed by a view of Pichola lake, and the floating palaces, which is what udaipur is known for. Then up some cable cars to a hilltop vantage point swarming with chipmunks, where we could see the full urban sprawl below. Lake Palace, of Octopussy fame (apparently many Udaipur hotels and restaurants play the movie non-stop) was gleaming white and beautiful. Too bad, then, that only guests can visit it. Also spotted the mountain-top Monsoon Palace, which we would end up skipping. Back down, Salim takes us to a rose garden with no roses but with a monkey enclosure featuring a pair of unsuccessfully amorous simians. And then back to our hotel where I showered...and Tiff didn't. Then on to the cenopath park, filled with the white mausoleums of dead maharanis and their sati-ed wives (which, grotesquely and appropriately, kind of sounds like "sauteeing"). Salim claims to bring so many visitors here that his patronage caused the cemetery to post guards to keep nosy tourists from taking photos. Didn't stop us! We even posed with Bessie...holy cow! Then the "girlfriend garden" built by one royal dude for his lucky concubine, and a monument for Mewar's (aka Udaipur) equivalent of George Washington. All hail the conquering hero! At this point, Tiff was once again stopped by a crowd of Indians clamouring for a photo. Say sayonara! Somewhere in here, Salim was kind enough to take us to a textile shop - where he clearly gets commision for leading in hapless tourists, since he knew everyone inside. We ended up spending $50 on clothes - real silk, really! The best quality! - for the wedding. Here's hoping our man got a hefty kickback, since we were also suckered into buying $50 worth of miniature art from an "art school" in the boondocks, where the proceeds would benefit the students, definitely not the head honcho who runs the place. Gift shopping partly complete, we went to the City Palace complex on the waterfront, where the main attractions are apparently an English tea, doorfront sets for Bollywood productions and room after crowded room of slightly shitty paintings of various maharajas and war heroes. Caught a boat stuffed to the gills with white people (we haven't seen many tourists so far, must be off-season) and checked out the least awesome of the lake palaces, which was charging more than American prices for beer and water. Eventually, Salim left us at a local museum for a nighttime dance show, featuring a woman balancing 9 pots on her head and a puppeteer whose marionette kept removing its own head. Alas, Tiff missed the excitement, having long since passed out on Erik's shoulder. Walked past more cows back to the hotel, where they tried to charge us 2500 rupees for our room, claiming we were in a suite. But I had specifically asked for a 880 rupee small room. Many back and forths and a 5 am citywide Muslim prayer wakeup call later, we compromised and paid 1500 rupees. Walked over to the Sunrise hotel for a delicious Lonely Planet-approved "breakfast of champions" and then were whisked by Salim's brother-in-law to the airport - nearly two hours early. We boarded our Kingfisher propeller plane, and readied for Jodhpur!

Desert escapade in Jodhpur

Flew into Jodhpur around noon with the fort looming in the distance. Had to settle for a rickshaw because our hotel, the Saji Sanwri Guest House, is in Old City, where the streets are too narrow for cars. After rattling through a crowded bazaar, we checked in. Indu, the lady who runs the joint, is chatty and a bit overbearing in a charming, motherly way. Her home doubles as the hotel, and is filled with weird knick knacks, colorful glass lamps and painted rooms. Our bed sheets were covered with Donald Ducks. Headed straightaway to the fort, probably second behind the Taj as one of the most incredible buildings I've ever seen. Someone would have to be nuts to try to invade this thing, rising high above a vertical cliff face overlooking the blue roofs of the city, hugging the contours of the moutain. The site is apparently maintained as a private enterprise by the maharaja, which probably is responsible for the nearly perfect condition of the fort and the awesome audio tour narrated by a stately-sounding Indian gentleman. The

Ready for takeoff

Airport

I guess it's not bad to be early sometimes.