The things we take for granted in our world.
Off the plane, through customs, into a taxi. Traffic is nuts. Scientists marvel at how army ants are practically blind yet can navigate running through obstacles using only their sense of smell. It's like that here. The things people get agro about back home is just the norm here. You merge across any lane into others, but just honk while you do it. Cut through 5 lines, drive/ride within a mm of pedestrians, kids run loose and are just as good at navigating traffic as anyone else. It's just a huge mess of bikes, tuk tuks, motorbikes, cars, trucks, oh and lots of bloody people, oh yea and rubbish too, oh and stray dogs. Wild town!
I don't know what to say about the people here. It's just a ruthless world the part I'm in. You blink you die, you fall into a cycle of poverty. People here work there bloody asses off. There's no welfare system forget about that. If you haven't found a way to make money you will be poor. Not even two minutes out of the international airport and your eyes are met with sign of poverty, stray dogs, poor walking/working the streets. What you see in 5 minutes here you never see in 5 years back home. Below pics are just outside the airport.
As soon as I left my hotel i had a tuk tuk driver follow me around for 15 minutes. I said no, I ignored him for 14.8 of those minutes, but he still followed, constantly asking where i wanted to go. Maybe I'm just a noob and i don't know how to tell him to get lost. He was actually pretty scary, his dark and weathered face had these blood red eyes that just stared at me emptily "where sir? market sir? eat sir?" . I lost him for a good hour before he found me again. This time I asked him to take me to the CBD so I could find some food. As soon as I jumped in another guy jumped in with him and I felt suddenly out numbered. I don't think they meant any harm but the second guy just started barraging me with suggestions on where to go, places he'll take me to instead of my actual requested destination. Definitely a con-job of the mild sort and unfortunately for them I knew it. I was annoyed and by chance saw a bustling area so I asked them to stop and paid them 50INR (~$1) for their time which was still probably too much but whatever. As I walked away they were still yelling out that the place I elected to stop had nothing interesting (wrong)!
As soon as I was off the tuktuk some young girl approached me beg. I didn't really pay attention but heard snippets of "5 rupees 10 rupees" which is piss all in our world. I caught a glimpse of her face at times and she was such a beautiful young girl who had she been born in any other country, would be someone's darling little daughter; the centre of attention spoiled then raised to be someone who would have a headstone when the time came. It made me sad to think that when we're born into this world it's just pot luck whether you're born into poverty or privilege. Nobody gets to choose. Some are born into royalty while others are born on a dusty dirt floor and the rest of their life is already determined. I didn't give her any money, even if it would've cost me peanuts. Apparently it's not a good idea to give to beggars as they most likely work in a syndicate.
Being the only tourist here as it seems to be off season and I'm not really in a touristy place, I was the only foreigner walking the streets. The only. I was the centre of attention for a variety of reasons and none of them that great. I looked strange, they wanted me to buy their stuff, they wanted to take me for a ride (in many ways) etc. In the 4 hours walking the streets I saw perhaps 10 other pairs of foreigners, which is really quite sparse if you think about it. I probably looked the most touristy but I tried not to by acting disinterested in everything. That worked really well until I took a photo of something I thought was interesting. I didn't take as many as i wanted to because honestly I was pretty nervous and scared, and didn't know what the ethical thing to do is when you are a comparatively rich westerner travelling through the world of the poor. It doesn't always feel right taking photos of people just because you think it would get a lot of upvotes on [insert photo sharing app/site]. I tried my best to keep it simple and ask beforehand if it was going to be a bit contentious. Eg, see below.
Do NOT rob a jewellery shop in this town. You will have double load of buckshot up your lungs and it won't be rock salt like it was in Kill Bill (Uma Thermometer is HAWT). These guys were quite happy to pose and their guns actually had the most beautiful engraving on the butts. I'm guessing they are ex military or something. Other (I'm guessing poorer) shops just had unarmed security personnel. Actually most shops with glass window fronts (as opposed to just open plan) had security guards although they looked extremely weathered down and I think if I wanted to I could fly-round-triple-jump-kick their head and they wouldn't see it coming. Anyway guards are highly necessary in a place where poverty is so rife.
As I walked the streets I just saw things that you never see in pictures. It was really confronting how poverty, in its true sense of the word, manifests itself in the infrastructure, the people, their clothes, their lifestyle. A guy with no forearms was begging. Another man was sifting through rubbish taking out plastic pieces probably for recycling. Some guy was in his Lexus 4WD on the phone honking for tuk tuk drivers who earn peanuts to get out of the way. There were piles of rubbish just outside of shop fronts. Every alleyway, window, building, street space, was occupied by someone trying to make a living and every inch of wall space had advertising or a shop sign of some sort.
There were also powerlines running everywhere. It's the electricity equivalent of dreadlocks.
I saw a cow. It was just chewing. As cows do. They regurgitate the stuff they ate before and chew it more. It's either disgusting or really efficient depending on which way you look at it. Anyway debating it is a moooot point. hehe. It's reigns go through its nose. That probably hurts but I didn't get a chance to take a statement.
Finally found somewhere to eat. Interestingly there's not that many places to really eat. There were some isolated street vendors but they looked like their cooking oil was recycled diesel. I found some place that was selling 'fast food'. I'd rate it 6/11 for taste (average), 13/17 for freshness (high), and 0/9 for ambience (shit).
Fresh baked greasy bread-pancakey-thingy with lentil-curry-something-powdery-texture and a generous side of 1/18th cucumber salad (did not eat it).
An Indian dish called giant-Indian-style-crepe-but-crispier-than-French-crepes-with-weird-white-yoghurt-sauce-and-whatever-that-orange-bowl-is.
And that's the end. Need to sleep, have a 15 hour busride coming up and there is a 96.88% chance I will vomit.
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