Boston to Bombay

Alright, so my laptop has finally kicked the bucket. The battery is completely toast. I've been trying to find some knock off Indian replacement, but no luck yet. Not that I would really trust an Indian knock off battery, as the knock off brand batteries here usually last no longer than fifteen minutes in my roommates camera. I've never seen a man go through twelve batteries in a single day before.

Anyhow, I've been traveling a lot, and I really haven't had a chance to go in to much detail about the details. Here is a brief recap of where I've been so far in my slightly more than two months I've spent in India:

First we traveled to Aurangabad by rented bus and driver, home of Bibi Ka Maqbara, also known as the poor man's Taj Mahal. Like the Taj, the Bibi Ka is a giant white mausoleum, but is made from cheaper materials, and was built by Azam Shah to rival Shah Jahan's Taj. While cool, it's a quarter of the size. There was some other info, but I don't really know what our guide was saying. He had a heavy accent and he may have been drunk. That's what you get for Rs 60. I do know he said something about girls jumping off the spinnerets, and therefor we couldn't climb up them.

The main reason we went there was the close proximity to the Ellora and Ajanta Caves. They're old cave temples/world heritage sites. Ajanta was set in some incredibly beautiful scenery, but the temples themselves were pretty much all the same. When they were first carved, every surface on them was painted with stories about Buddha, but the paint has mostly faded. Ellora was far larger, but by the time we went there, we only had enough energy to see about half the caves. There was also a large temple in the middle that was truly amazing to explore.

Later, when we went to Alibag, we rented a the same bus and driver again. The bus driver both times was half asleep while driving, and possibly drunk. I think him and the Bibi Ka guide would have gotten along pretty well together. We took a larger group this time, and had to break up in to two groups. One group had to pay 600 per person per night. I thought this was outrageous. My group ended up having to pay 1000 after looking for two hours. Oh well, so is life. Right after we checked in, my roommate started having horrible chest pains and had to be brought to an Indian hospital. Indian hospitals are what nightmare are made of. After spending the night at the hospital, we all headed out to the beach. What better way to relax after having some kind of heart problems then spending it drinking on a beach. We also drank on the bus, which is weird from an American perspective, but I guess very common in India. Warning: put on sunblock before you start drinking at the beach. My sun burns took three weeks to finally heal, and my back was pretty much all one large blister by the time I got home.

This last weekend we went to Hampi. Hampi is one of the most amazing places we have been to. Five hundred years ago, it was a giant Hindu trade city, and is said to have originally been home of a Monkey god and his Monkey army. The rocks in the area are all stacked in incredible positions, and the story is that they were made that way by this monkey god. Anyhow, the place is now largely inhabited by old Indian guys offering to sell us magic shrooms. We spent the first night in the charming city of Hampi. The next night we crossed the river that runs through Hampi, because it's supposed to be cheaper over there, and you can buy alcohol there. We did get alcohol, and the rooms were only Rs. 50 per person. Unfortunately, we ended up trapped on what turned out to be an island after the waters started to go up the next day, and had to take a glorified basket to get back across. We also discovered the wonders of a sleeper bus. It was far nicer than a crowded mini bus and an angry old man driver. Unfrotunately, on the way back I got food poisoning after eating at a truck stop. That made the ride home the longest 10 hours of my life.

Yup. That's what I've been up to lately. At work I've made a website.
I've now moved in to the other apartment, and now have a room all to myself. I am now living the life of a king here in India, and my German is coming along pretty well. Time to eat dinner.